Gemma Ray, Nancy Sinatra, and The Playmates...

What do these four have in common? - just my possibly odd connections, made on hearing the first - a lyric here & there, an opening chord sounding nicely reminiscent on the last one... and they're all rather good I think. Slightly surprisingly so, in the case of The Playmates; very much a novelty number, which has worn wery well.

A rather loping along, Spanishy Western feel to this, good for driving along to, a great guitar & backing vocals break round 1:45, cool strings too. Gemma Ray's from England, as it happens, but darned if I can find out much more from her myspace or record label, nor have I heard a great deal of the album - Lights Out, Zoltar! . Lazy so & so, that's me.
♫ 100 Mph (In 2nd Gear) - Gemma Ray
Lights Out, Zoltar! (2009)
buy | myspace

Here comes Lightning down the street, while you stand there just talkin'
If I were you I'd start to move, and tell my story walkin'....
and you can guess how fast, right?
♫ Lightning's Girl - Nancy Sinatra
Lightning's Girl b/w Until It's Time for You to Go (1967 - Reprise Records)
buy

Too young to hear this first time out, it was a popular comic turn on kiddies radio programmes; although the BBC seemingly insisted on a re-recorded version, which lacked the words identifying the vehicles involved - saving us from subliminal advertising eh - those were the days.
♫ Beep Beep - The Playmates
7" single (1958 - Roulette Records)
buy

♫ Palimend - Benoit Pioulard
Précis (2006 - Kranky Records)
buy | myspace

Willoughby

It's really nice to come across one artist you like, do some digging, (or in this case, get a welcome promo tip) & find more really delightful music from someone closely involved with the first... extra rewarding somehow, as it is with Willoughby, performed and produced by Gus Seyffert, who also produced the EP by Charlie Wadhams, that I liked a whole lot recently. Truly, there's some marvellous talent & music out there, no matter how dispiriting the charts & gloomy local gigs might seem to be, and how chuffing cool it is to discover it.

Willoughby are hard to pin down, which I like, and the album as a whole is a marvellous confection, musically and lyrically. Mostly fairly gentle, even introspective, a country feel here on Frankenstein, a little rockier there on Dust Bunnies, quite Beatley on 'I'm Losing You'; at least things seem pretty soothing, until the wonderfully even more calming & love-filled title track - I Know What You're Up To - and near a cappella charms of 'You Don't Love'.
The sublimely beautiful 'Wonder', with its lovely harmonies, also deserves a mention here

I've a feeling that I might quite like the album - I Know What You're Up To - having played it over & over these last few days, singing along... I'd have happily picked any or all of the songs to include here - but have a couple to whet your appetite.

♫ Intentions - Willoughby

♫ I Know What You're Up To - Willoughby

from 'I Know What You're Up To' (2008 - Sargent Records)
buy | myspace | last.fm | amazon | facebook

Turns out I've heard Gus's voice before now - he's worked with The Bird and The Bee, in particular, on this cover of Tonight You Belong To Me, one of umm, far too many I featured back in February.

♫ Tonight You Belong To Me - The Bird & The Bee
One Too Many Hearts EP (2008)
iTunes | myspace


Should you be lucky enough to be in southern California (never rains, you know) late this month & next - you'd do well to catch Willoughby at one of these two gigs:

28 Jul 2009 21:00 Bootleg Theater Los Angeles, California
29 Aug 2009 20:00 Fox Theatre Pomona, California

and definitely check out the splendidly Beatley 'I'm Losing You' in the player below

Giuseppe

The problem (one of 'em) with a whole bunch of free music sitting there, is you tend to skip skip skip through it, waiting & hoping for some toned-down Archimedes moment, or some days, even just a "mm, this is ok". The thirty seconds to impress me movie script guys have it easy, I reckon, compared to the hours of musical effort & creativity that gets pre-judged in a few blinks of an eye. So it nearly was with the latest free EP from Astor Bell, skip, skip, not my thing; skip skip; you get the idea... so I almost chanced upon the last track, a splendid elctroniccy waltz, and loved it to bits - really.


♫ From Going to Going - Giuseppe
Lamu (2009 - Astor Bell)
free download | myspace

A Soundtrack Mind

I've mentioned this before, as wegular weaders will wealise (sorry, Elmer - couldn't help myself), but d'you get days when most everything suggests a song or piece of music to accompany it?, just a word might prompt a whole tune, or it could be a mood or theme that goes along with things rather nicely.
...or as below, something far, far more obvious, ha!

Yes indeed, it's Sunday, it's Sunny after an 'orrible rainy evening and night, and hoo-ray - it's umm washing day chez Marvellous, courtesy of my Dad's machine & dryer... but noo, that's not it up the top there - shame eh?.


♫ Washing Maschine - Iris waves
The Non Exclusive EP (2008)
buy | myspace

♫ Washing Machine - No And The Maybes
No And The Maybes (2008)
buy | myspace

♫ Laundry - The Voluntary Butler Scheme
Trading Things In (2008)
buy | myspace

♫ Wash in the Rain - The Bees
Free The Bees (2004)
buy | myspace

♫ Coney Island Washboard - The Roulette Sisters
Nerve Medicine (2005)
buy | myspace

Peasant

I have been greatly enjoying the second album by Peasant - On The Ground - which was originally a 2008 issue, re-released in January this year on PaperGarden Records... so I'm late as hell, even on the second release, but who can keep up with everything? - not I.

Peasant is the work of one man - Damien Derose, and he surely has the happy knack of creating beautiful music, with words to make you think some, should you be in the mood to. There's something, I dunno, very English-sounding about it all too, has me in mind of Things in Herds, who are very fine also. He's a bit of a Wandering Minstrel, for my money - tuning his supple songs to suit the mood, be it for very open, acoustic tunes, on the Folky side; or something more Country; or even a bloody good, gentle pop song. Very much recommended.

There's actually some drums on this one, so perhaps it's rockier than most of the album?, but a lovely, delicate, song even with that said... definitely one of my favourites; even if the intro always has me thinking of Slade's rather famous Christmas hit.
♫ We're Good

Mmm - sublime, this is - love the lyrics & the guitars & harmonies.
♫ Stop For Her

The album title track, with some splendidly percussive guitar strums, that I'm very taken by.
♫ On The Ground

all from: On The Ground (2008/9 - Papergarden Records)
myspace | buy | amazon

Catch Peasant live, if you can:
16 Jul 2009 16:15
Jammin In The Plaza @ The Plaza Allentown, Pennsylvania
8 Aug 2009 16:00
Lincoln Park Festival Chicago, Illinois
20 Aug 2009 20:00
Monkeytown Brooklyn, Alabama

Charlie Wadhams - Someone To Kiss

I'm finally starting to catch up with what must be months of music, found, but not listened to; and one small gem that shone brightly is 'In A Goldmine' by Charlie Wadhams; a delightful four-track EP that has me thinking of Richard Hawley somewhat, having some excellent love-songy lyrics, delivered in a disarmingly laid back, even casual, fashion. Charming I say.

"...If I have to, I'll set hills on fire to light your way"

♫ Someone To Kiss - Charlie Wadhams
In A Goldmine (2008)
iTunes | myspace

My Gold Mask - Bitches Remix

Goodness - three months and a lot of water have passed since the release of My Gold Mask's album, which you may recall, was bloody excellent. Gretta & Jack have done a flurry of gigs, all of which I've missed due to the small impedance of the Atlantic Ocean... but likely next year, I'll come to the mountain - I'd certainly love to see 'em play live.

Anyway, this isn't (entirely) a trip down recent memory lane, being prompted by a rather dandy remix of MGM's Bitches, neatly combined with bits of Roxy Music's 'Love Is The Drug'... very catchy it is too, although on subsequent plays I was wishing for more of My Gold Mask, and less umm remix - ahh well, can't win 'em all - and no-one forced me to listen twice eh.

♫ Bitches - My Gold Mask vs Hood vs Roxy Muisc
Hood vs Chicago & Beyond (July 2009)
free download - here

If you don't know the original... here it is, for your listening pleasure, as well as a streamy thing of the whole darned album - which I do thoroughly recommend listening to and buying ( assuming you like it too, of course ) indeed, should you still possess a cassette deck (ha! my 2001 car, came with one) - you might purchase their very limited edition cassette tape (what, no eight-track version? - I'm appalled)

♫ Bitches - My Gold Mask
My Gold Mask (2009)
buy | myspace

The Lure

After owning pinball tables since I was seventeen or eighteen, and the two I have now for over twenty years, I'm finally going to sell one of them... it was going to be both, but the promise of a new place with adequate space, has made me decide to let my Fathom go now, and hang onto the Eight Ball Deluxe a while, then see what pans out - hopefully I'll get back into playing again, and if not - well, they do look pretty cool, right?.

I never gave pinballs more than a glance until 1981, when being able to drive meant seeing more of some friends from the school I'd attended before being booted out for really quite triflingly bad behaviour, or attitude, more likely. I found that they had a regular Saturday night routine - off into Portsmouth to smoke & play the tables at Clarence Pier (a modest amusement park/funfair, part of which sat on piles in the sea, although 'pier' was stretching things a bit). Then fish & chips in Albert Road, followed by a drink or two before heading home. The fascination completely eluded me at first - I'd hang around, a bit bored, wondering why they laid money into the things; occasionally having a crack myself, but being mostly unimpressed, and yeah, rather unskilled.

♫ Pinball Wizard - The Loose Acoustic Trio

There was no Damascene conversion to the lure of the silver ball, I just found myself, along with said friends, visiting pubs because they had a good, nicely maintained pinball table, trying out all those in an arcade - and in time - getting better at playing them. I know what sealed the deal though: I switched jobs within the same company, and found myself mostly mindlessly punching invoice numbers into a computer located in an office not far from the seafront at Bognor Regis... lunchtimes very soon became an hour of playing, mainly at a pokey arcade where either through lack of punters - or in fairness, a maintenance man who actually gave a fig - the machines were usually working well. Soon hooked I was, and chatting with the guys there led inevitably to the purchase of an up & together machine, just a few years old, put out to pasture by the newer, computerised, talking models... no more buzzers & bells, these young upstarts had snazzy electronic sound effects & samples, and spoke to you; impressive in 1981, still engaging after all these years.

I ended up the proud owner of a Bally 'Bow & Arrow' - an American Indian themed game, one of the last electro-mechanical games, and neatly crammed with motors, switches, relays & wires - a fully working mechanical computer, if you will, since oddly, the pinball industry appeared to have been blissfully ignorant of electronics, valves & transistors & integrated circuits, until the late 1970's; perhaps there was no advantage they could see?, no extra profit, but to a tech-minded young man, this was a weirdly anachronistic modern marvel - easily could have have been built in the thirties, not forty years & a few wars later.

♫ Pinball Number Count - The Postmarks

Some years later, a brash Bally 'Eight Ball Deluxe' joined the clanking, whirring, ring a ding ding bow n Arrow - then later, an alluring and atmospheric 'Fathom' , all mermaids, trapped divers & seaweed, and multiball, three at once - woo hoo!.
It may sound daft, but I felt sorta guilty allowing the two flashy pretenders alongside my beloved & well-worn original, which even at under ten years old, felt aged & rooted in the past; guilty too at it not being played much any more, and despite, or even because of that, it was regretfully sold to make space.... a giant Rosebud, more fondly noticed in its absence.

♫ Xanadu - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich


And now, the Fathom has to go - not as hard as it could be, since I've played them very little, if at all, these last five years, but a wrench still, and a pleasant reminder too, of hours whiled away - immersed, captured; by sound, light, and imagination... Marvellous.