Category: music

The Mother We Share

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One of those songs that tickled my fancy when it came out, but then got forgotten until Lauren Laverne played it on the 6 Music Breakfast Show this morning while I was being pestered for a share of my biltong by the beagle.

It’s Chvrches big hit (you may remember them from this cover of the Arctic Monkeys Do I Wanna Know?), and it had slipped my mind just how good it is. Gorgeous.

The electronica is good. Unsurprisingly, I am there for the electronica. But equally, there’s an acoustic version here, which also has its merits. Many of them.

I’ve added the radio edit to the 6000 miles… Inspired by 6 Spotify Playlist, which you should be following and enjoying.

Particles

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My latest favourite album: Island Songs, the neo-classical Icelandic genius of pianist Ólafur Arnalds.
And this is one of my favourite tracks from that favourite album, Particles:

Vocals from Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, lead vocalist with Of Monsters And Men.

Hats off to the violinists in this one. Not much elbow room on that staircase.

Particles is on my Inspired By 6 Spotify playlist. Please share and follow.

Silverlinings/Eels

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The first day back to normality as the kids’ extra-murals kicked in and I actually had time to do a few jobs around the place before having to go and fetch the offspring at different times and from different locations across the Southern Suburbs.

Sadly, one of those jobs wasnt blogging and thus, once again, I am left wondering what to put here. Music would be the obvious answer, but if we’re going to go down that road, which of these two songs, revisited today in varying formats, would it be?

The strong favourite was First Aid Kit’s first “big hit”: Silver Lining, the happy-go-lucky, Wild West feel really suited the balmy Autumnal weather here in Cape Town.

And yes, it all goes very nicely, but then also, there was The Mighty Boosh’s #Eels – this video released to mark the arrival of all the back episodes now being available on iPlayer. (We don’t get iPlayer in SA.) (sad face emoji.)
But I’m a huge fan of the Boosh, so this was a welcome memory jog this afternoon as well.

OK, so not quite the gentle, rolling sound of First Aid Kit, but every bit as arty in its own special way.

Tomorrow: a real post (possibly).

Deadpan Robert Smith – preserved for posterity

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I spotted this on twitter and shared it amongst friends yesterday, but I just heard it played again on 6 Music and couldn’t help but laugh.

It needs to be preserved on more than social media.
So here it is on 6000 miles…

Robert Smith of The Cure – fresh from touring SA – simply slaying the unfortunate squeaky interviewer as the band were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

I didn’t go to see their recent local concert – I’m not really enough of a fan – but by all accounts, they were really impressive.

And this is the sort of line you can only get away with when you’re big enough to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I guess.

You need a lot of documentation to see Ed Sheeran

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Going to see Ed Sheeran at one of his upcoming concerts in Johannesbeagle or Cape Town?

Think you can turn up with just a ticket and walk right in?

Think again.

There are several (or more) documents that you might need to provide on the night if you’re going to be allowed in to see and hear the ginger crooner. I found this out quite by chance – Big Concerts hasn’t yet been in touch to tell me about it. That’s why I’m sharing it with you.
Because I bought tickets for Mrs 6000 and The Scoop and they wouldn’t have got in if I hadn’t seen this page, featuring this information:

There’s a similar one for Joburg too.

And yes, it’ll be a mess and they’ll end up not checking everyone’s documents and people will complain that they brought them along for nothing. And yes, some people who do get checked will not have the documentation and there will be some shouting and a fight.

It’s even a bit vague about what you actually need to bring, and given that this is an event in South Africa, so the security probably won’t have been suitably briefed anyway, I’d bring everything on the list. And lots of other things too.
Smile nicely, be polite throughout, baffle with bullshit, gain entry.
Standard practice.

As usual, I would wholeheartedly advise parking in the P1 parking at the CTICC for a quick getaway once you’ve shuttled (free) into town from the stadium.

Please share this information so no-one gets locked out. Ed might not be your cup of tea (he’s certainly not mine), but imagine missing a concert you had bought tickets for, simply because you didn’t have a printed A4 PDF with someone’s name on it. Madness.