David Bazan (previously playing with Pedro the Lion) has released a new album.. it’s on repeat in our house at the moment keeping me thinking.
Listen here on Spotify (or three bonus acoustic mp3s: Hard to Be | Curse Your Branches | Bless this Mess)

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Quite an busy few weeks in terms of gigs .. last week we dropped into Oran Mor to catch Duke Special and Foreign Slippers (Gabrielle Fröd).
We walked in while Andy Knox finished off the last song of his supporting act, and a few minutes later were beautifully surprised by Foreign Slippers’ unique combination of an intricately handmade hat replete with bird and fast but delicate vibrato.

Duke Special was up to his usual theatrical tricks with lots of energy including a few songs based around the silent films of Hector Mann (although you’ll be hard pressed to find them in any archives, a Duke-style twist I only realised when trying to write this post!). There there were a few moments where you noticed was the final gig of the tour, but otherwise an brilliant evening with two excellent artists

currently listening to: duke special | foy vance | mumford and sons | laura marling | foreign slippers | van morrison (especially “Never Let the Spirit Die”| pedro the lion | oscar peterson | iain archer | dan lyth (although i’ve nearly had enough of all of them, i’m open to other suggestions..!)

Also.. Dan Lyth’s album is free to download on his site in exchange for your email address.. lots of luscious acoustic music to enjoy for the next wee while…

Of course, no one thinks that copyright owners are going to send lawyers after either President Obama or the Queen over this. But none of us should want a world where even our leaders–much less the rest of us–can’t figure out how copyright law operates in their daily lives.

There are few who can ingeniously slip in regae tragedy in the style of Madness (Diggin an Early Grave), a song ending with a pseudo-charismatic repetitive riff with a few “amens!” thrown in for good measure (Why Does Anybody Love), Music to Watch Pete Rollins Go By (Let me go.. please please please), and a track possibly co-composed with Mary Poppins (I never thought this day would come) end up at number 6 at the Irish album charts on their first week of release!

Duke Special, a fine addition to any musical Canon.

A little bit of an unusual gig last night.. Beth Rowley headlining in Oran Mor, supported earlier in the evening by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Both were exceptional.. two amazing voices!

some little scribbles from my notepad:

different questions | having the same “grammar” but different content/meaning, it’s at that point that the christian and muslim paths diverge

some tentativel thinking about kenotic (emptying) love as something that differs between christian and muslim understandings of love

misunderstandings of “law” – loads of christians still think have the impression that jewish law is the big oppressor (i.e. keeping in the vein faith in NT vs works in OT) and not “law as the heartbeat of the universe

+++rowan using “imagination” as a core christian role/value.. liked that

+++rowan clarifying some remarks he made about marx – he liked marx’s critique of humans giving life to systems, so much so that they seem like autonomous beings or insurmountable. They should be reclaimed.. brought back to human transactions and relationships – getting out of the market mythology

repeated use of “the market mythology” – not that fact that it’s pretend (that’s be the market myth maybe?) but that the market is a whole enveloping market story (or metanarrative if you like that kinda word..)

when talking about the recent atheist bus adverts in London he comments that God isn’t really needing marketing that much.. (in the sense that God is a product that needs a good bit of selling.) perhaps another little invasion of that market idea

I’ll try and add some correct quotations when/if the transcript appears here. (Some more coherent thoughts appearing from David and probably from Brodie)

drop in to the real gig this wednesday

It’s not the gear that matters. It’s you and your ideas that matter. Tone is in your fingers.

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