Day in in Venice @labiennale with @jo__smith wrapping up warm and dodging the showers in The Arsenale #venice #venicebiennale #thearsenale #sketch #art
I am fascinated by a origin story, the beginningss of a band are often of more interest to me than where they are going next. This feels all the more prescient as I spend my days transcribing my diaries as part of the process of understanding my own past. "Ascending" is a collection of Icicle Works demos that Ian McNabb recently discovered. Recorded on cassette and sold at gigs they were discarded when they recorded their debut album. Ian hadn't listened to them in nearly forty years but was still able to sing the songs in the same key and has made a great job of bringing them back to life. In the process he discovered that he was still the same man at sixty as he was at twenty, something I also find. #ianmcnabb #icicleworks #ascending #vinyl
There were not many occasions in the early 90s when this didn't find it's way onto the turntable, usually in the early hours of the morning. One of my all time favourites, a stunning collision between the gorgeous country flecked voice of @hopesandoval384 and the bluesy, Velvets tinged music of David Roback, formerly of Rain Parade. It was a perfect companion to the end of a night in my flat on Old Compton Street in Soho, dissipated and blissed out #mazzystar #shehangsbrightly #hopesandoval #dreampop #vinyl
Released in October 1996 the debut album from @matchboxtwenty seemed pretty out of step with what was going on in the U.K. They loomed large in my life as they were signed to EMI Music in America so we would receive regular bulletins from across the Atlantic as they went on to sell over 15 million copies of this record around the world. Listening to it today it’s not hard to see why, they managed to combine the alternative sounds of a band like @pearljam with classic American rock from the seventies. They can certainly write a tune and front loaded all five of their singles onto side one. I encountered producer Matt Serletic when he was running Virgin Records in the early noughties. He went on to be Director of Product at Google and is currently Director of AI at Amazon Music. #matchboxtwenty #yourselforsomeonelikeyou #vinyl
The joy of listening to a catalogue like @manics is that you get to grow older with the songwriters and compare your life experiences with theirs. Their thirteenth album arrived in 2018 and lyrically charts the challenges of living through the onslaught of the digital age. It also touches on the inevitable process of life as Nicky navigated the decline of his parents. Despite this there is always light in the darkness and it is through art that salvation comes with the brilliant single “International Blue” about Yves Klein and the duet with @theanchoressofficial “Dylan and Caitlin” about the relationship of Dylan and Caitlin Thomas. I also love “Liverpool Revisited” a tribute to the city and the joy walking its streets can inspire. #manicstreetpreachers #resistanceisfutile #internationalblue #theanchoress #vinyl
@manics headed off to Europe in 2011 to promote their “National Treasures” compilation and the spirit of travelling through the continent pervades this album. James has often referenced @simplemindsmusic and they are a band for whom travel was important. I totally agree, working with musicians and songwriters enabled me to travel around the world and I watched cities change so much. Some of the record was recorded in Berlin’s legendary Hansa studio, and the highlight of the record for me is “Europa Geht Durch Micht” featuring @ninahoss_actress , up there with their very best. #manicstreetpreachers #futurology #ninahoss #hansa #vinyl
After the success of “Postcards from a Young Man” and their most extensive U.K. tour, @manics released the compilation “National Treasures” in 2011 and capped the year off playing all 38 singles at The O2 Arena in London. Taking time out to concentrate on their families they reemerged in 2013 with enough material for two albums. The first of these “Rewind the Film” dispenses with electric guitars and lets James step back from all the vocal duties with Nicky Wire stepping up along with features from @lucyrose and @richardhawley . It’s an introspective record, Nicky’s words reflecting on his life and what it means to be a parent, the horrors of growing old and the failures of politicians. The music whilst restrained is full of heart and never lets you lose hope in the future. #manicstreetpreachers #rewindthefilm #lucyrose #richardhawley #vinyl
A fantastic evening of music in St Laurence Church Stroud with the prodigious talent that is @gweniferraymond and then @nickhayesillustration leading his Ramshackle band through a glorious ceilidh to bring @neoancients to a close #gweniferraymond #nickhayes #ramshackle #neoancients #art
