Elevator Music

Elevator Music - music that elevates my heart and soul, and boy have I been in need of a lift since the shock to my system of leaving the EU..

I seem to be making the transition to digital music this year. With my wish-list increasing dramatically over the last couple of years the price of CDs against the download price has been brought into focus. Space is also a consideration.

I’ve been methodically recording my CD collection onto a HDD to use in the car and have filled in a few holes in the collection digitally where a complete album would not have been of interest. Any recommendations tend to get a good Spotify listen before I add them to the wish-list. There will undoubtedly be groups I will always buy everything released on whatever format they are available but with a resurgence in vinyl I have lately been buying the album on that format and getting a download code to add to my HDD. Must get a second HDD to back up the first though!

There may be a fault in my logic here. I would love to continue to support the artists I adore and am happy therefore to always buy my music but I do wonder how much they get of the price I pay, does it differ by format? Buying directly from the band / artist is similarly preferable for me because of that. 

Having catalogued my collection, which I drastically reduced about three years ago, mainly through selling on CD singles, I will have another cull once I have everything on the HDD and backed up. Curiously, I am in two minds about the limited edition CDs I have, the odd shaped cover and the like; are they likely to get me a better price or should I keep them for their uniqueness? Again, with certain artists the question answers itself but if I can fund the wish-list in its entirety that would be very exciting.

Anyway, with the first half of 2016 slipping away here’s my list of the most exhilarating finds this year (in some sort of order):

Breathless - Three Times and Waving

Blonde Redhead - Misery Is A Butterfly 

Poliça - United Crushers

And Also The Trees - Born Into The Waves 

Son Lux - Bones

London Grammar - If You Wait

Desaparecidos - Payola 

Son Lux - Lanterns

Kirk Brandon - Anthology

Killing Joke - What’s This For..? 

Son Lux - Strange Forms E.P. 

Daughter - Not To Disappear

Cuba - Leap of Faith

Kera - 1 by 1

Paul Haig - The Warp of Pure Fun

Metronomy - Love Letters

Lovisa Samuelsson - Main Magma Chamber

‘It’s the music that I love’ [Spearmint - ‘Julie Christie’]

Bloggers love a series of articles don’t they? Well I’ve decided it’s time to go through my music collection. It is the one constant amongst the myriad of obsessions I have had running throughout my life. There’s a song for every moment of the day, every emotion, every thought. But where to begin? A, obviously. And by artist. Good. Plan made.

And Also The Trees would be a sensible band to begin with however I think they might deserve a series of their own so we’re off up to Dundee for The Associates. Billy MacKenzie’s suicide came into my life via BBC teletext. I was struck with sadness that this incredible voice was one I would never get to hear live. I loved the strength of his voice, the unexpected patterns, the Scottishness of it. It was only in the aftermath of his death that I learned about his life, his perfectionist nature, his early marriage in America, and his ongoing battles with depression.

Strangely, I do struggle with some of the albums, some of the songs. They can be a little difficult in that I find I need to be in a certain state of receptiveness for them. That there are countless others I adore and can listen to at any given moment is a rare treat. There was a huge amount of material released following his death showing how much that perfectionism had prevented so many songs becoming public. I weighed up whether he’d want it all out in the public but was grateful that it was. Some artists ‘worst’ songs are far superior in my eyes than the majority of mainstream releases. Commercialism is music is horrendous, possibly the heaviest for any art form. Don’t get me started!

Final thoughts on Billy. I have a beautiful full page black and white photo of him, his whippets and Alan Rankine from the 24 April 1984 edition of NME. It is framed and hangs proudly in my world. I have missed him growing older, performing live, working with other interesting artists. His voice is unique, beautiful, obstreperous and hugely alluring to me. He is one of my all time heroes.

My favourite albums (in order): The Radio 1 Sessions; Outernational (Billy MacKenzie); Fourth Drawer Down

Favourite songs (not in order!): Breakfast; It’s Better This Way; A Severe Bout of Career Insecurity; Kitchen Person; Q Quarters; Tell Me Easter’s on a Friday; Outernational; What Made Me Turn On The Lights; Love Hangover; The Girl That Took Me; Perhaps

Best line: ‘I cook offal for two, it lies there getting cold, then I cook your shoes, then I cook your shoes, you have so many shoes.’

Obsession, Hobby or Collection?

Male. Hunter / Gatherer. In the Twentieth Century the role evolved more than a little and now, who knows? Collector is what I like to think. Some call me a hobbyist - terrible word - and others, ‘obsessive’, as if it’s the worst thing a person could be.

As you may have guessed I’m a board gamer. I like playing board games. I love the mental challenges, I love the little gaming components, and I love the social side of it too, it’s about having some fun with like-minded people. It seems it’s the latest in a long list of hobbies I have had although some people have called them my obsessions.

Perhaps it’s because I become completely engrossed in the topic, trying to find out as much as I can about anything to do with it. Maybe it’s because it takes over my allocated space within the Hora home. Or could it just be that I have a passionate nature which is lurching towards the psychological unbalance that has become my life?

From childhood I remember being completely infatuated by Subbuteo, those little plastic men. I had a reasonable collection, much larger than my friends come to think of it. And I had the football, rugby, cricket and 5 a-side versions. I’d play for hours on my own, creating leagues, cup completions, test matches. Solitary it was. There was a little bit of other gaming then too although, with no-one else interested unless it involved a standard pack of cards, it was more something for me to get out and look at in those days. Some things haven’t changed there much.

I was very keen on sport as a youngster too. Hard to believe looking at my stature now but I’d spend hours down the playing field chasing a football around. Loved it. Hence the Subbuteo I guess, and the devotion to Ipswich Town. My first live game was in the 1971/2 season, Ipswich v Derby and we won 3-1. After that I was smitten and hardly missed a home game until Sebastian was born in 2000. I still have a good lump of programmes from those heady days and will try and sell them on if we ever get promoted again..

During the summer my time was split between golf, dad had made me and sis’ learn very young, and cricket. For the amount of golf I have played I should be so much better than I am. However, it’s been one of those off and on relationships and more off since we moved to London all those years ago. Cricket began with test matches on the telly and then learning to score for the game ’Owzat! A dice variation which worked pretty well. I’d buy a nice score book, usually from the sports shop in Southwold I seem to remember, and fill it with match after match, all neatly filled in.

Around the age of 13/14 I discovered music in a huge way. All through a friend, David Hogg, who introduced me to the Incredible Shrinking Dickies and my interpretation from there of punk/alternative music. It was soon off to taping everything on Peel and spending any money I could get on 7”s. A new hobby was begun and this one’s managed to remain constant throughout. I used to dream about going to gigs and now I get to go to them. I used to dream about travelling to exotic European cities to see bands play, and now I get to do that too.  

Another constant has been reading. I love books and have always read. I wish I’d kept a record of all the books I’ve read, it would fascinating to me now. Ah well. There was something very special when I was allowed to raid next doors boxes of books collected for a fete to see if I wanted any of them. Bizarrely, I picked out Susan Hill’s ‘In The Springtime of the Year’ and Jean Genet’s ‘Miracle of the Rose’. Hill is by far my favourite author and I have two new books by her on order at present, can’t wait! Genet’s work was such a beautiful piece, so glad I got to read it. Other authors have come into my life and once enchanted by one I will read their entire output if at all possible. 

When I moved to London my love for film really took off. Cinema City in Norwich still shows the art films and foreign works I adore but to have to pass by the BFI every evening on my commute home was blissful. Cheryl and I were soon watching two or three films a week, and at home I was recording everything possible accumulating a hideous fire hazard of a collection of VHS cassettes. Again the passion for this knew no bounds and I was soon taking holiday to coincide with the London Film Festival and attending as many lectures as possible with film makers. 

For some reason around this time I also began collecting Swatch watches. They were so different in design, and affordable too. I joined the Swatch club and have several rarish versions. There’s a great second hand shop in Zurich we found for older models too. Getting them from the airport was also a good way to buy them cheaper back in the days when the tax made a difference.

When the children were born these forays into collecting turned to Playmobil and Scalextric. Not quite to the extent of previous hobbies I’ll admit but still overwhelming for the children! I was working from home when they were first born and with no travel time I rekindled first the Subbuteo collection and then the board gaming hobby too. Gradually I have sold the Subbuteo as needs must but am sticking it out with the board games. There’s a truly incredible number of games released every year and among them some brilliant designs. I hope this hobby/obsession remains with me now. It’s looking good so far with Wednesday evening sacrosanct and a little family gaming and an odd evening elsewhere too.

Spearmint - News From Nowhere - Buffalo Bar

This week is very very special for me. Of all the things I love in life there is nothing that gets close to my love of music. Within that love are a myriad of bands and artists that I adore passionately, they mean everything to me. I can't imagine life without their songs being around me, without gigs to go to. Never let me go deaf, that's all I ask.

And then there's the top of the tree, the star upon that Norwegian spruce in Trafalgar Square. It seems almost inappropriate to choose just one band. If you ask me what my top 10 albums are I'd have to rattle off a list of at least thirty, impossible to pick only ten... but, sorry, that should be, BUT, this band are the specialest, the most perfect, I have ever heard. I understand they might not do it for everyone but there's nothing but wonderful about them for me. They are quirky, funny, catchy, melodic, they really are purrfect. There's not a single song of theirs I have ever felt lukewarm about, and every single time I play their music it does it to me over and over again, that hairs thing, on the back of my neck. What a great invention that sensation is.

Stumbling across them back in July 1997 at the Water Rats Mrs Hora and I were blown away by this fun-packed live performance, handclaps, swirling harmonies, choppy, edgy guitar and pulsating beats and bass. We tracked them down again, and again, and eventually plucked up courage to thank them for the pleasure they were giving us, and eventually we got to know them little by little. Band-stalking is quite a profession for many and we didn't want to get too caught up! And then I was asked to drive three of them around Germany for seven acoustic gigs in January 2005 and my tour driving began. Imagine sitting in a Renault Scenic with three of your heroes for a whole week. It's a wonder we arrived anywhere, especially in the snowfall that winter.

Get it here!

Over the years the albums have come out, what a selection. I hosted a lyrics website for a few years, must dust those files off sometime perhaps, I packed them full of photos and useless/useful info on hidden pages, why did I hide them I wonder now? Never mind. I love that they run their own label, and always have done. A true Indie indie band. And the man Shirl, the main songwriter, well, he's a gem. Hell, they all are. Some of the loveliest people you could ever hope to meet.

There's a new album coming out, on the 26th May, News From Nowhere. I haven't heard a single song on it yet. I will love it. Simple.

Wednesday evening, they play the Buffolo Bar in Upper Street, by Highbury and Islington tube station. It's their first gig in a couple of years. It will be the 106th time I have seen them live... I can't wait. I really can't!

Wordsmiths

I love lyrics. All those things people sing out that I wish I could say, those clever lines, enticing, romantic, all of that. And how cool would it be to have an orchestra following you around playing the music too, adding to the atmosphere, genius? Imagine what a place the world would be. Damn, I just have. It would be full of Chris Rea, Freddie Mercury, never mind Elton Trousers and those beautiful boy bands. Full of cliches, manufactured pop. It would be horrendous if we could all do that. It'll have to be just me, and a few others I allow this incredible capacity.

That's put me right off the topic! I was going to go searching some of my favourite lines and spread them liberally around for you amusement, but the moment's passed. It'll save for another day.

It's been a Barry White afternoon. Stumbled across a 9-minute mix of 'Let The Music Play', top. It has such a wonderful intro, Barry chuntering on about going into town, to see what's going on, 'she's at home', he calls back to someone, 'yeah, she's at home'. What a superb line. Barry was my mum's favourite, along with Gilbert O'Sullivan, what a duo they could have been!

This morning I listened to the Soul Family Sensation's one and only album 'New Wave', a gem of indie-house. It has a gorgeous track I Don't Even Know If I Should Call You Baby plus the lyrical treat that is the Sheffield Song:

it was summer, i was younger, 

when i saw her by the boats on the sand,

i should have told her that i loved her

i don't want baby to go home

i don't want baby to cry

i don't want to say goodbye

but she's gone, back to Sheffield... it was Wednesday.

the passage

for all and none. It’s the title of an album from the passage. lower case is important. The first group I really obsessed over. They were relatively so obscure that I felt that they were mine and mine alone. Dick Witts was the man behind the group, a former percussionist with the Manchester Philharmonic Orchestra he worked with Tony Friel, later involved with Mark E. Smith and The Fall, to release two singles on an obscure label. I guess the first song I ever heard by the band would have been ‘Do the Bastinado’ and my Peel tape from them has him explaining that it was a torture being hit on the underpart of the feet. Next up was definitely ‘Shave Your Head’ with a brilliant bass synth line and the lyric, ‘take it out on your friends, shave your head’. I was hooked.

As was my thing at the time I wrote to the passage at the address given out and Dick replied. His writing was striking, neat, odd. He was very interesting too. We swapped a good eight or nine letters over a couple of years and the music they released continued to be experimental electronica with some great guitar chords over the top, superb drumming, and the lyrics of someone evidently very intelligent. I was completely in love with them, and always will be. Their four albums will always feature in my top 50, and certain songs will be with me forever. I never understood why they weren’t more popular, but then that seems to have been the case for a lot of bands I fell head over heels with. 

taboos - sleeve art

Bizarrely, around 2004 I was travelling back from Brighton on the train and this chap looked so like Dick I was awestruck. I didn’t what to do, whether to say anything or just let it go. We’d never met, he’d never remember me and yet, yet I must say something surely? He was writing for quite some time so I decided to get up and walk past, see if I could check out the hand writing. It was him, no doubt. So, how the hell was I was going to approach him? I was still trying to figure that out when he started gathering his possessions together, as if he was getting out at the next stop, Gatwick. No turning back. ‘Hi Dick, I used to write to write to you when you were in the passage, thank you so much for writing back and giving me so much pleasure with all your albums.’ He was so nice. So polite, telling me about a recent website set up by another fan Keith Nuttall. I’d sent Keith some info on a cassette I had in my collection. The discussion was short but wow, another hero I’d met. How brilliant was that?

The passage remain one of the more obscure bands I have liked and yet their music is as fresh and as relevant as any of it. Their commentary was profound, genius to an impressionable lad back in the day. I loved all of their songs. Quirky, experimental, brilliant. I love that their artwork was so consistent over all of their releases. I was annoyed that Cherry Red released a sort of ‘best of’ without informing the band. I wrote to Cherry Red to complain about that but never received a reply. One of the novels i am working am is titled after another passage song, and the chapter titles similarly so. That my tutor doesn’t think it’s appropriate is difficult for me, it means so much you see. I guess time will tell whether I stick with that plan or not. Whatever happens I will still love the passage, their ‘difficult’ music, their opinionated lyrics, the genius of Dick Witts.

The Beloved

When I was younger, so much younger than today... I used to write to the bands I loved whenever Peel gave out an address on air. Through that I managed to correspond over time with Elizabeth Cocteau Twin, Morrissey, Dick Witts of the passage as well as forge two life-long relationships. The first of these was through Steven Burrows of And Also The Trees, and I've driven them around Europe on eleven of their last twelve tours, great fun! The other was with Jon Marsh of The Beloved. In their Peel days they were indie pop and for me were as perfect as I now believe Spearmint are. There are several songs I listen to over and over; L'Amour Dure Toujours, Seppuko Glory, and Idyll, plus their two Peel sessions: one of which was the most played Peel session of whatever year it was... yes, I jotted all the sessions down in those days.

When they moved into the house arena I loyally followed and found massive enjoyment in so doing. Dancing to proper dance music rather than indie pop was so much much easier and man did i like a good groove in those days. I loved all the remixes of their tracks, and Jon's remixes of others' work too: Depeche Mode, Alison Limerick, Blur, Nyam Nyam, to name but a few.

It's been a while but we've stayed in touch and today we met up for the first time in a while, chatted on about respective life problems, footie, music, had coffees at the RFH in the sunshine and then went shopping in the Speedo shop in Covent Garden before having lunch at Eat Tokyo just round the corner from Jon's studio. Jon's children managed to April Fool first thing, taping up the underneath of his mouse with him only realising upon the third restart of his computer... hilarious! Excellent to catch up, also interesting for me to be up in town too. It's been a long time but I managed it all fine.

There's Something Going On

Four years ago this week I went to see Stephen Jones play at the Scala. It was wonderful, he was entertaining, self-deprecating and played a good range from his large back catalogue. I was there with James from Spearmint and it was good to see him that evening too.

The following day I snapped. I cannot remember many details - have managed to throw them aside - and it was only a couple of weeks later that I spent the day going from the doctor's to A&E and into the Priory. Twenty-four hour observation for just over a fortnight and I began this lengthy process to keep myself safe.

Babybird were never that popular with Mrs Hora. She always found them too depressing. That one of the tracks Stephen performed that night was 'Failed Suicide Club' is obviously hilarious now. Until this morning I have not listened to any of Stephen's output, and I have everything. I would consider him to be one of my most favourite artists, he'd sit beside Billy Mackenzie, David Sylvian, Barry Adamson, Bjork, Nick Cave. I haven't consciously avoided him, although there must have been something preventing me I guess.

Anyway, this morning, looking for a short couple of songs to play in the car whilst nipping to Aldi and the Post Office, I selected Aim's single 'Good Disease' featuring Stephen Jones, and including a remix by him under his 'Arthritis Kid' moniker. It's a chilled down track, he sings falsetto, the lyrics are cute and I enjoyed it. I can feel some more Babybird coming on. For a long time I considered 'There's Something Going On' one of my top ten albums. They made so many good catchy songs, and Stephen's lyrical stories are quirky too. I've read his novels too, now they are full of strange characters.

Four years on then, time to get back into his world. He's just released 'Havoc' under the project name of Black Reindeer. It appears to be the 14th or 15th album of work he's put out. Some catching up to do then. I'm ready.