Musical Journey

We haven't really written much about music, which is surprising given the importance it has in our lives.  Our office sits right next to our kitchen; both of which are really the heart of our house.  From our kitchen we discover, explore and create food and from our office we discover and explore new and old music via the wonders of the Internet.  Food is music and music is food.  That is how we roll; cooking and listening.  It knocks the socks off of TV.

Perhaps, because music is such a personal thing, we have so far shied away from sharing many of our discoveries and loves; after all there is nothing worse than somebody insisting that this track or that track is the most amazing thing since 'sliced bread' when you just don't get it.  However, we are not insisting or 'ramming it down your throat'.  If you are anything like us you will constantly be searching for those yet undiscovered special auditory delights and if any subtle pointers lead us in that direction then they are more than welcome.  After all, music hunting is a lifetime mission; an infinite one but then that is part of the delight of it.

We like all sorts too.  Take right now.  Phil has recently been rediscovering his love of Suns of Arqa.  Pull out your meditation stool, get down and dubby and have a listen.  It might not be your thing but you never know.

Then there is Laura Marling.  She is only 23 at the moment!  How about that?  What a talent.  Some tracks from a previous album 'A Creature I Don't Know' were enough to bring tears to my eyes (especially 'Sophia') and I really didn't think she could top it but then I bought her new album 'Once I Was An Eagle'.  It was slow burn at first but then I realised quite how exquisite and ballsy it was.   I can't get enough of it and so much so I had problems choosing which track to feature here.  I chose 'Master Hunter' in the end for the sheer 'in your face' passion.

Changing again to a completely different way of listening; how about The Heliocentrics?  Wow, what a journey that has been.  Where to begin?  Well, we watched the film 'Broken Flowers' and loved the music of Mulatu Astatke that featured.  That's a whole different journey; but Mulatu did an album with The Heliocentrics and we would like to thank him sincerely for the introduction.  I bought the new album, '13 Degrees of Reality', recently.  A slow burn for me for some of the more 'industrial' tracks on there but I would have bought it purely on the basis of just two of the tracks alone.  The deeper than deep grunge of 'Wrecking Ball' currently echoes around my head on a daily basis, and the 70's Californian wide sweeping thriller vistas of driving along Highway One, whilst pursuing the latest dangerous deal, whirl around my over imaginative mind whilst listening to 'Collateral Damage' .  To me it's pure cinematic glory filmed in Agfa Orange...but hey, that's just me.

On to gentler stuff, but back to the real 1970's.  Our musically encyclopedic friend Steve suggested the mysterious Linda Perhacs to Phil over a year ago in response to a request for artists similar to early Joni Mitchell .  He forgot to tell me.  Over a year later, and with my wanderings into the world of Vashti Bunyan, he finally remembered.  Sitting amongst a virtual 1976 sun-drenched field of daisies whilst gently nibbling at a vegan Cadbury's Flake, I defy you not to be taken in by the sounds of this American songstress.  Just beautiful; and a potential life saver, with eyes closed and headphones on, against the stormy and cold Cornish winter.  She is rather a Nick Drake of American folk too; being truly discovered years beyond the release of her original 1970's album 'Parallelograms'.  Again it was difficult to choose a track but this evening 'Dolphin' won the day with it's water filled cascading melodies and harmonies.

Whilst we're on the subject of 1970's gems, I've already mentioned Vashti Bunyan.  For those of you that remember the British children's TV series 'Play School', just look through the round window right now and you'll get it.  Her wispy, nursery school voice whispered into the ear of the 1970's child and then promptly vanished to the Outer Hebrides after her first album, 'Just Another Diamond Day' failed.  That was until 2000 when she was rediscovered,  much in the same way as her American equivalent Linda Perhacs, when her first album received cult status. 

Well, let's just say that once you get us going on music, we are hard to stop.  However, and perhaps thankfully, the homemade samosas, dhal and rice that Phil has composed in the kitchen next door are calling me.  So without further ado, I will leave you with hopefully some musical titillation to contemplate.

Enjoy!