(Context)
We’re starting the long weekend just right.
Steak, ribbetjies, chicken for the vegetarians, and the infamous Playlist for a Chilled Braai.
Perfection.
It’s a happy day for the family as my brother reaches a milestone birthday.
And a sad one, as we remember April 24th last year.
We’ll raise a glass to them both tonight.
Recommended to me laaaaast week (by a proper muso, nogal), and then the video goes viral.
GIVE IT A CHANCE!! was what I was told, and I’m glad that I did.
But honestly, I don’t know quite what to make of it, and apparently, neither does the internet.
Quite, quite incredible. All of it.
With all the space stuff going on at the moment, a space song by HENGE.
HENGE, described by HENGE:
Attention Earth! This is HENGE! We have travelled to Planet Earth from the far corners of the Galaxy to bring a kind of music new to your world!
HENGE, described by Wikipedia:
Henge (stylised as HENGE) are a British rock band formed in Manchester in 2015. The band play a type of electronic crossover rock which they call Cosmic Dross whilst performing as the fictional characters Zpor, Goo, Sol and Nom.
Well, whether they’re from Salford or Saturn, it’s… it’s quite something.
DO give it a go:
Flux magazine likes them:
Yes, we know it’s not real but we choose to believe. They are really good musically. If they weren’t then the whole edifice would collapse. It’s very infectious and quite dance-able too. They are the leader -backed with live drums and two brilliant aliens twiddling away on laptops and keyboards.
Yes, quite weird, but actually rather catchy. And I like it when people enjoy their work and don’t take themselves too seriously.
There’s a whole new world out there album available too, which I’m going to have to try.
Another 6 Music find, via Chris Hawkins. Girl In The Year Above.
This is their first official single, but they’re on the soundtrack of the new Peaky Blinders film with a cover of Massive Attack’s Teardrop. I was told to expect a lot from that track, and it didn’t really do it for me, beautiful though it is. But this is very nice indeed. Celtic vibes (as you might expect from an Irish/Cornish band), and a wonderfully expressive, emotive, powerful voice up front in Jennifer Ball.
Inevitable comparisons with Florence Welch.
Oh. And they are going to be at Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival in July.
Incidentally, although I’m not a fan of the series (I’m not not a fan either: I’ve just never watched it), the soundtrack to the Peaky Blinders film is pretty impressive: Grian Chatten, Lankum, Nic Cave, Fontaines D.C. and Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers.
Much like “World Tours” which don’t really take in much of the world, you only really begin to understand just how Northern Hemisphere-centric the world’s media is when you come to live down on the bottom half of the planet.
And yes, I get it. With somewhere between 87 and 90% of the world’s population up there, and “much less” of it down here, it does make sense. But we do still exist.
Here’s a message, ostensibly from popular composer Ludovico Einaudi, which I received via email this morning:
OK. There are a few points here. But let’s start with the elephant in the message:
I’m in South Africa. The days are not getting brighter. That’s not how things work in March down here.
Quite the opposite, in fact. The nights are closing in and I woke up (almost) in darkness this morning.
(Although that said, it’s going to be 27oC tomorrow and over the weekend, and my brother is currently covered in snow in Derbyshire. There are levels here.)
However, given that autumn officially started 4 days ago, they’ve managed to somehow be correct on their “Summer gets ever closer” line. I think that was more by luck than by judgement, but that’s just my supposition, and technically, they’re right.
They do finish that sentence off with a question though, and I feel that it deserves a question mark, rather than a full stop. They’re not ok on that one?
Either way though, it’s not a bad way to spend an hour or so this afternoon – whatever the weather, the hours of daylight, and the relative proximity of the warmer seasons – and I’ve been tempted into it.
Give it a go on that link just there [finger points upwards].