Buskr - second single: Numbers and Codes

The second single, from our Buskr project is up for download - Numbers and Codes is a home-spun slice of lo-fi, trip pop, night vibes -  getting repeat plays in Canada (Radio Coolio) and Canberra (Liquid Sunshine)...

Numbers and Codes is brought to you by -  Hottwerk 

Dig in and DL here 

A Re-up Harry

Photo by Markus Reeves who's down with us this weekend and will be in session between 1 and 2 on Saturday here...

I'm on my hol's this week - at home. Well, half term innit? so not much time for the usual bloggings and banterings.

Being in lazy blogger mode, I'm going to play the occasional Re-up card and pitch in a couple o' home-made comps you may have missed. Two acoustic autumnal mixes of slow burning smokey smoulderers..

It's back to all the regulation rattling and rambling next week

Autumn Tales



Autumn Falls



And this swamp based seasonal was the perfect soundtrack to our ride out to Canewdon Church on Tuesday

Autumn Tales

Is it really that time of year already? Time for blackberry picking, pumpkin
sculpting, showing out the hiding spiders, russety-woodland walks and cosying up in country pubs.

This year's harvest of seasonal songs - featuring selections from Clair of Woo (Angel Eyes) and Davy of H (Celebrated Summer) - is more of a UK/US crossover comp than usual, with each tune telling a tale of love, loss or longing. And, in what at first appears to be a Fab free zone, 'Hari Georgeson' can be spotted hiding in the writing credits for So Sad, while adding slide and bass guitars alongside Ron Wood's 12 string and Mick Fleetwood's drums.

So settle yourself around the fireside and let this patchwork platter warm you through the winter, as Auntie Enid sets the tone for this year's autumn trail.....

Dear Boys and Girls,
I wish you could come with me and walk over the hills, through the fields and down by the river, finding a hundred exciting or beautiful things by the way. I should like to take you fishing in the ponds, and fill your jars with snails and tadpoles. I should like to help you to make a bird table, or to prepare a splendid aquarium. I should like to give you a garden of your own and show you how to make it a place of bright colours and sweet scents. - Round the Year with Enid Blyton, Autumn Book. 1935.


Autumn Tales



The tracklist is in the comms to avoid being blog whacked. If you're new to the Lazy Sunday series you can dip into previous postings here or more Mondo Mixes here...

Your Starter For Ten

Happy New Year bloggers, blogettes and browsers. Hope you had a goody without overindulging too much. How are you naming new year? Personally I can't bring myself to say twenty ten, so it'll be the large format two thousand and ten for me..

We had The Elms Annual CD Swap last week, where a few music loving ol' gits ( Coops, Piley and I, plus others) got together for a few scoops and to swap CDs of our handpicked highlights from 2009. My selection box was probably too heavy on the vintage vibes rather than new finds, but one name that cropped up across comps was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz, an album that's had regular run outs on my trusty ol' Creative Zen last year..

If you haven't heard It's Blitz yet, there's a taste test here..If you have, you may want to lend an ear to to this stripped down alt.take.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Soft Shock(Acoustic Version)



On a similarly wintery theme, why not try Nancy Wallace's folky refit of Cliff's hit..

Nancy Wallace - We Don't Talk Anymore

There's No Business, Like Seventies Show Business

Had a visit to the local 'Unseen 1963' exhibition recently, possibly the most historically-boggling photography collection I've ever seen. Piley's got all the info on it, but in essence, 'Unseen 1963' is over fifty candid, posed and offstage shots of sixties Pop Stars snapped at Southend's Odeon cinema. A mixture of dead-legends and heavy-hitters including The Beatles, the Stones, Cliff, Bo Diddley, Roy Orbison, the Everlys and The Kinks all caught backstage or meeting and greeting local competition winners in our very own Southend cinema .

One of the faces, I recognized was Samantha Jones. Originally one of The Veronons Girls, a group orbiting in shadow of The Beatles early career. Samantha eventually went solo, becoming something of a hit with the Lowlanders in Belgium, the Netherlands and winning the Knokke-Heist music festival. During the seventies she settled into the showbiz circuit of clubs, cruises and occasional TV appearances.

So what does she sound like? Well there's two sides of Samantha on offer today

A cheeky hotpants, Bakers Boy hat and suede boots sounding slinky piece of pop-funk. The sort of tune you'd get during a disco scene in Please Sir

Samantha Jones - Today Without You



And a belting evening-dress and show-closer 'Handbags and Gladrags' type soul ballad

Samantha Jones - Do I Still Figure In Your Life



Morecambe & Wise


Wheeltappers & Shunters (it's well worth watching this clip to the close, for the 'all together now' sing-a-long of Show Me The Way To Go Home)



That's Samantha, sat on Macca's lap..

Wristory

One autumnal number I'd been hoping to place in last Sunday's Autumn Falls mix was Humble Pie's Wrist Job. An oddly titled outtake from As Safe As Yesterday Is. A performance rumbling along on a slow-shifting tidal swell of heavy Hammond, roof-raising gospel vocals and one runaway bass, all of which come crashing together in heady perfection between 3:00 and 3:30

As much as I love the track, it's just too, well, potent and powerful to sit alongside the soft footfall required for last Sunday's mix.

Humble Pie - Wrist Job



However, a Wrist Job-lite can be traced back to a track from Steve Marriot's previous band The Small Faces, where it had an instrumental run out under the title of The Pig's Trotters.

The Small Faces - The Pig's Trotters



Oh, and the tweety-bird samples bookending Autumn Falls come from this and this.

Lazy Sunday - Autumn Falls

Did you put your clocks back - and what are your plans for that extra hour? If you've nothing doing, lend an ear to one last blast of autumn colour by way of this homemade seasonal stew. A soft, smoky mellow blend harvested from autumnal acoustics, outtakes, alt.takes, oddities and obscurities. You could cosy up around a crackling fireside with a glass of something fruity to suit the tone of the tunes. Or perhaps stow it away red squirrel style for a splash of russet colur to brighten up the grey-day gloom of a bleak mid winter.

Autumn Falls



PS - the track list is in the comms to avoid being blog-whacked

PPS - In case you've missed them, the other seasonal Sunday sessions can be collected here : Winter, Spring and Summer

Gather Round For Rumors

One of the tracks used in this winter collection was Gabe Durham's beautifully blended Beatles and Sufjan Stevens tune Yoko in Idaho a gentle melter that fitted the mood of the mix. Last week Gabe unveiled Rigid Rumors a set of eleven similar remixes that are more musical chairs than mashups and somewhere Radiohead bustle about with Dave Brubeck and Simon and Garfunkel, where The Swell Season, Sufjan Stevens, Biodome 5 get bounced around in bootleg blender. With a rock 'n' roll call which reads like this..

15 step, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, Beck, Ben Folds, Beyonce, Big Poppa, Biggie Smalls, Biodome 5, Bjork, Blind Melon, Cake, Daft Punk, Damien Rice, Dave Brubeck Quartet, David Garza, David Gray, Ella Fitzgerald, Glen Phillips, Going Back To Cali, Goldspot, Idaho, John Lennon, Josh Ritter, Kanye West, The Klaxons, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., Madonna, Margot and the Nuclear So & So's, Medulla, Morning Bell, Morris Brown, Not, Notorious B.I.G., Of Montreal, Once Soun, Once Soundtrack, Outkast, Paper Planes, Pavarti Khan, Radiohead, Rilo Kiley, Show Me Forgiveness, Simon and Garfunkel, Sonnets, Spirit of Shackleton, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, The Arcade Fire, The Beatles, The Decemberists, The Mountain Goats, The National, The Proclaimers, The Swell Season, The Travelling Wilburys, The Waifs, The Wrens, They Might Be Giants, This Used To Be My Playground, TV on the Radio, Volcano, Wednesday Night Worship, When Your Mind's Made Up, Wilco

There really is something for everyone, and the cherry on top being - Rigid Rumors is entirely free and available for download at Gabe's blog Gather Round Children..

Yoko in Idaho



First You Reel Me Out



Oh. and don't forget to pick a couple vintage sparklers from Gabe's last batch of booties - here

Song Of A Baker

You may remember last week, how we noted the signature Alessi sound has a chime of the Chet about it, so for anyone who hasn't heard the muted toot of his trumpet or the lullaby-lilt of his politely stoned vocal tone here's your chance to check in with Chet Baker. The James Dean of the jazz-scene.

Chet Baker - The More I See You

There's an almost heavy-overload of Chet albums too choose from - but this, this or It Could Happen To You ..are all good hopping on points for Baker-beginners

A Big Brassy Beehive Of A Ballad

That's what I'm all of a buzz for today...

Think Of You Baby - Liz Christian



PS - that's not Liz Christian in the pic - couldn't find one of her. So Martin Parr 'Union Hotel Manchester 1976' it is then.

Lazy Sunday - April Flowers

Photo by Bleech

Well I’m off t’north for a few days break – between Holmfirth and Huddersfield in fact. So being the season when buds bloom and blossom and the sap starts to rise, thought it may be time to snapshot the outdoor action by way of a new Lazy Sunday mix ‘April Flowers’. Bedding together a sequence of sunny delights, spring breaks and chirpy numbers for your breezy listening pleasure

April Flowers



Telepopmusik - Genetic World
Moderato - Him
Danmass - Happy Here (Vocal Edit)
Abraham - Magpie
Kinobe - Grass Roots Horizon
Evolved Monkey - Naked Lady
Josh Rouse - Under Your Charms
Kevin Ayers - May I
The Noveltones - Left Bank 2
The Frank Cunimondo Trio - We've Only Just Began
Piero Piccioni - L'italia Vista
Saint Etienne - Sun In My Morning
Mother Earth - Apple Green
Lennie Hibbert - Village Soul
Norma White & Brentford Disco Set - I Want Your Love
Bill Cosby - No One Can Love
Arty Fufkin - All I Need's A Smile (Lily Allen vs Air)
Go Home Productions - Marvins Not In Love (Marvin Gaye vs 10CC)
Jellyfish - Russian Hill
XTC - Chalkhills And Children

See you in a week's time or thereabouts, and I’ll leave with you two other seasonal sounding nugg’s..

The Wolfmen Nothing To Say (Moulder Monitor Mix)
A softly wafting version of the original - you can catch the full basket of Wolfie alt.versions here – including one by ex-Ants producer Merrick/Chris Hughes and Depeche/Numan/Bloody Valentine mixer Alan Moulder



Evolved Monkeys - Like The Tsunami
Something loose and luscious from the Evomons – mixing the taste of sunshine honeycomb harmonies with the Tao of Bruce Lee

Lazy Sunday - Last Of The Winter Mixtures

Photo by Bleech - he's in today's Observer you know

So as this year's chill begins to fizzle, perhaps it's time to take a reflective look at that was the winter that was - by way of a mix that's perhaps more downtempo, frosted - and some may even stretch to bleak, than the usual mondo mania. With a collection of cool jewels and crystal melts, from mainly Northern European icy climes.. Get Carter(Newcastle), Serge, Yves Montand and Air (France) John Martyn (Scotland), Baltic Fleet (Liverpool) and Stina Nordenstam (Sweden) ...threaded together by a motif of movment and travel - which I'd like to claim was planned, but in truth, is entirely random...

Last Of The Winter Mixtures



Roy Budd - Carter Takes A Train
John Martyn - Smiling Stranger
Yves Montand - Pour Faire le Portrait d´un Oiseau
Serge Gainsbourg - Melody
Minnie Riperton - Take A Little Trip
Dennis Hoppers Choppers - Ballad Of Fu Manchu and The Red Bride
Harsh Reality - How Do You Feel
Money Mark - Cry
Gather Round Children - Yoko In Idaho (Sufjan Stevens and Beatles mashup)
The Beatles - Flying
Stina Nordenstam - On Falling
Air - Soldissimo
Ian Brown - F.E.A.R
Easy All Stars - Karma Police
Baltic Fleet - 48 Hour Drive (Boston)
Boards Of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy
Soundhog - The Doves Are Mine

Soundhog's booty of Brandy & Monica meet The Doves is a thing of such slow shifting pure beauty it really does deserve a solo posting..

Soundhog The Doves Are Mine

The Carnival Is Over

Hats off and Happy New Year - but, ho-hum what a heavy effort lumbering yourself back to the same ol', same ol' after a full two weeks of naught but loafing, lazing and lie-ins - however there is a way of lightening the load - simply soak yourself in the blue eyed soaraway soul of Bobby Sansom, who, has fine eye for a barnet, and the look of one of those rug-u-like photos used in Gent's barbers..

Bobby Sansom - Handbags and Gladrags




Normal service should be resumed by Friday

Funky Friday - Lazy Sunday

Well I'm off again next week - no plans as such, just a bit of buzzing about, hoofing around and putting the handbrake on so to speak. And, if the evenings heat up, I may even have a stretch out and sip to this 'Lazy Sunday' mix - a medley of modish, acid jazzy, lower tempo beats and bobs - hope you do to.

I've also reloaded the 'Summer Sounds' mix up on the other side if you fancy grabbing that.

See you soon pop pickers.

Lazy Sunday



Mother Earth - Jesse
Patricia Marx & 4Hero - Menino
Jackie Mittoo - Stereo Freeze
Little Barrie - Just Wanna Play
Paul Weller - Always There
Corduroy - Ponytail
The New Jersey Kings - Dream Waves
Beastie Boys - Ricky's Theme
Handsome Boy Modeling School - Sunshine
Lloyd & Devon - Push Push
Pete Jolly - Plummer Park
Aim - Original Stuntmaster
DJ Z-Trip – 3rd Gear
Soundhog - A Day In Tracy's Life

'brilliant green' photo by Chocolate Girl 64

Mellow Monday - Jackie Mittoo

Mellow - but on the bright side of blue, and just the thing for a blazing hangover

For all we Know



Alone Again Naturally



Telstar



Followed by a 'hair of the dog' down at the Rovers

corrie (not Jackie Mittoo)

There's some uptown uptempo Jackie Mittoo here

And as a late addition here JM's downtempo dub version of.....

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Blue Monday - Johnny Adams

Had a hard week and a heavy weekend? Overdone the sipping and stodging?
Don't worry Johnny Adams is here with his soaraway Soul to soothe those jangled nerves.

Johnny Adams - Reconsider Me.mp3