09/22 - Please Don't Confront Me With My Failures

This is the calm between the storm. Got back from my UK holiday on Monday, heading to Clandestino Festival tomorrow. But these five exquisitely sequenced tracks have been waiting on their turn for a while, so here's for a little breathing hole:

Donovan - The Lullaby of Spring

As I said, this has been in the works for a while. Even since spring, when chiff-chaff eggs were indeed painted by motherbird eating cherries. And Donovan is one of the foremost poets of the kind of child-of-nature bliss I feel when I get to spend some days just romaing about the island.

 

 

Lambchop - Smuckers

Speaking of poets of the everyday, few can turn mundane details into beautiful couplets quite like Kurt Wagner. This little melody is so unassuming, so subtle, that you might not notice how absolutely gorgeous it is until you've listened to it as many times as I have. Just stick with it.

 

 

Kathryn Williams - These Days

Yes I know, Nico's version is the definite. And Jackson Browne's is the ingenious original. But sometimes you just want the sugary warmth of Kathryn Williams' voice to lull you into an afternoon nap, and I have quite the soft spot for this entire album of covers, even though it is predominantly taken up of songs that really shouldn't be covered again.

 

Kings of Convenience - Winning A Battle, Losing The War

Another long time companion, this album, and its gorgeous harmonies.

The sun sets on the war
The day breaks and everything is new

 

Arooj Aftab - Mohabbat

I, and everyone else, have already raved about this fantastic record, but one of the lasting rules of this Top 5-project is that if a song has made me cry recently, it goes on the list. And listening to Arooj speak about this song on the Song Exploder episode for the track, I did indeed start to well up. Not because of any particular personal connection I found with it, but because of the pure beauty of the music, and her reverent treatment of this traditional tune. Learning to listen for the details of the arrangement just makes it all the more stunning.

08/22 - El Mundo De Los Luciérnagas

Here's the list that never was. I put this together right after an outstanding, fantastic weekend of Clandestino Festival back in June, but I feel like I haven't caught up with myself for a couple of months now, so never got around to post it. And now I'm off on vacation, so better get this out the way, because when I come back it's already time for the second Clandestino weekend. Can. Not. Wait.
Don't have time to write much on these tracks, suffice it to say that all these acts were jawdroppingly good live. Some live up to that standard on record, some pale in comparison, but still bring back great memories.

Marina Herlop - miu

So complex and quiry it's teetering on the edge of too pretentious. But seeing her, backed by the girls from Tartat Relena, pull all the harmonies and shapeshifting off live was utterly mesmerising!

 

 

Lova Lova - Libundu Mbisi Ya Mai

The sweatiest, most unrelenting dance gig I've been to in years and years. Why stick with one bass player when you can have two? And why add anything more than drums to that, when you've got the voice and charisma of Lova Lova? Congolese hardcore... something, of the highest caliber!

 

 

Los Pirañas - Todos tenemos hogar

Endlessly inventive, endlessly engaging colombian bouncy bouncy.

 

KOKOKO! - Buka Dansa

Congo x2! The clubs of Kinshasa must be the most exciting in the world! Plastic bottle drumset on stage makes the audience go wild.

 

Tarta Relena - Las Alamedas

A close to perfect concert on the last day made me absolutely well up with tears, purely because of the beauty of the music. I love this Catalan progressive acapella group now. LOVE.