Category: music

Day 345 – Geoguessing Glada

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The 6000 miles… album of 2020 was Future Islands’ As Long As You Are, and they’ve just released a video for the opening track on that album, Glada.
It starts quietly, with some degree of goose involvement:

It’s directed by Julia Ragnarsson, and I played a little bit of Geoguessr as I watched; it was the combination of evergreens and silver birch, a bit of Kite and some interesting pylon design, plus the fleeting shot of half a number plate that got me (correctly, I might add), to Sweden:

“’Glada’ is a song that was written about the exact place that I’m now quarantined, with my parents,” Julia adds. “A song about a past grown over, the coming of a budding spring, and the birds that regularly circle our house and the fields and forests surrounding. We wanted to capture the beauty of nature here, pulling from the images which Sam describes in the song. The ups and downs of a long term relationship. And how you sometimes have to stop and think about how lucky you are, especially in the midst of this seeming breakdown.

It’s a gentle song with a powerful message. And the way the melody opens up into the chorus is just beautiful. Tonight’s braai will definitely be better with a Future Islands soundtrack.

Day 337 – Ritchie Sacramento

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The Best Song Of The Year (So Far)™ for me, and a new album to go with it.

Step forward Scottish rockers Mogwai and their new one, Ritchie Sacramento.

Best played LOUD (as with all their stuff) and often, I love the grinding bass and soaring, dreamlike guitars. So, so good.

The new album As The Love Continues begins with a track called To The Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Planet Earth, the latter part of which sounds like a great idea and the whole of which is just a great title to open any long player.

We’re long overdue some time off – it’s been a rewarding, but punishing few weeks – so downtime in Agulhas is happening from this evening. I would suspect that Mogwai will play a large part in the soundtrack for the weekend.

Day 330 – Quota cover

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Step forward Emily Linge, the 12 or 13 year old singer who apparently wowed audiences on a UK TV singing competition last year.

Lovely mature voice, if a little over-produced, and the song a little too slow for my liking, but it’s a-ha so it’s still good. And she’s 12 or 13, so it’s actually pretty impressive.

Here’s the original, shared on this blog just several (or more) years ago.

I’m knackered. Can’t keep up this unpacking, sorting out, mending pace.
Might take a break tomorrow.

Day 298, part 2 – Remember nights out?

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Here’s Tove Lo’s Habits (Stay High) – we’ve had her on the blog before, and we’ve had this song on the blog before, but that’s not what this post is about.
This one is the Hippie Sabotage Remix. But that’s not important right now, either.

Sure, I know that music videos are all staged and set up and rehearsed and planned and stuff, but if this one isn’t shot on an actual night out in the pubs and clubs of Stockholm, then it does at least make a very good approximation of having being done so.

And I’m certainly not saying that I would get up to all of that sort of nonsense on a night out in Stockholm or anywhere else, but I would have at least done some of it.

Look at it! The people, the crowds, the drinking, the laughter, the live curling on the pub TV…

Remember all that stuff?

Of course, if you’re an arsehole, you’ll remember all that stuff very well because you were doing it on any given recent weekend, but for those of us with any sense and respect, it is but a fleeting memory.

Those were good days. And good nights.

I wonder when – if ever – we’ll be able to safely do these sort of things again?

[sighs gently, gazes wistfully into middle distance]