Category: music

Concierto de Aranjuez

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I heard this on BBC 6 Music earlier today and felt it worth sharing.

For all that it’s lovely to listen to and Tara Fitzgerald is (apparently, anyway) lovely to watch, the two don’t go together very well. I mean, we all know that she’s not playing the solo here, but it’s actually horribly obvious that she’s not playing the solo here. Brassed Off surely had a big enough budget to make it a bit less obvious.

However, for all that the scene lacks in believability, it makes up for in the juxtaposition of the young girl playing the fragile solo against the silent yet volatile scenes around the negotiating table as the final nails are hammered into the colliery’s – and with it, the community’s – coffin.

Passion comes in many forms.

London music tonight

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If you’re in London tonight, lucky you. You get the chance to go along to this:

Baroque Remix is a new classical club night launching at the arts venue, IKLECTIK, Old Paradise Yard SE1 7LG, on June 3. The night will feature baroque DJs alongside live instrumental performances from Carla Rees (baroque flute) and Liam Byrne (viola da gamba). Combining music from across the centuries including drum loops, hip hop and R&B samples, the evening will reimagine the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Live sets will showcase the diversity and beauty of the historic instruments, presenting a mix of old music and new.

Yes, Baroque music and hip-hop. That’s right.
I heard some of it on 6 music yesterday morning, and it’s really different, really refreshing, really GOOD. Here’s Benjamin Tassie‘s Baroque Remix:

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A project to bring classical music to a new audience, to educate, to remove the ‘stuffiness’ which dissuades a lot of younger people from approaching it. And, in doing so, creating something incredibly new and unusual.

I cannot wait to hear more of this.

Sugar for the pill

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I was sitting in the traffic on the M3 this morning, listening to the new Slowdive album.

The traffic was awful, a thousand cars, each occupied by a single individual, waiting in line merely for the opportunity to join another queue on the other side of the lights.
And then, just as the amazing release kicked in on this track at 3:08, the peachy morning sun hit the top of Table Mountain.
The timing was impeccable.

And suddenly, everything was alright.

For a while, at least.

Coles Corner

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This, from Richard Hawley, just seems appropriate this morning.

Hold back the night from us
Cherish the light for us
Don’t let the shadows hold back the dawn

Cold city lights glowing
The traffic of life is flowing
Out over the rivers and on into dark

I’m going downtown where there’s music
I’m going where voices fill the air
Maybe there’s someone waiting for me
With a smile and a flower in her hair

New Muse Song!

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There’s new stuff from Muse? So why would I blog anything else today?

It’s called Dig Down, and the video is – once again – set in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic, digital world full of cyborgs and flickering monitors.

Remember Madness from their last album? Well, this is basically exactly the same song. The trouser-wobbling electronic bass is there, the Queen-esque theatrical guitars and vocals are there, Matt Bellamy’s imploring voice soaring over the lot of it. Not much progression here, to be honest.

Hmm. Jury’s out.