Django Django

I picked up Django Django the 2012 debut album by the band of the same name in a St Andrews charity shot.
I had it in my head that they were from Edinburgh and that they played jingly jangly pop music.I got it about a third right.
They did indeed meet at Edinburgh College of Art but only formed the band after moving to that London.
I got the jingly jangly bit totally wrong.
Apparantly they are an Art rock band. No, me neither. I am told that Art rock is
is a sub genre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist,experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an artistic statement, opting for a more experimental and conceptual outlook on music. Influences may be drawn from genres such as experimental rock,avant-garde music, classical music and jazz

Avant-garde? Check  me!
Sounds more electronica to me with synths and drum machines to the fore.
Not normally the kind of stuff I go for and after a first listen I was ready to offload it. I've mellowed slightly after a second listen

Django Django - Hail Bop

Django Django - Skies Over Cairo

Letting Off The Happiness

I was pleasantly surprised to find Letting Off the Happiness the second album by Bright Eyes from 1998 on the Saddle Creek label in a St Andrews charity shop and eagerly snapped it up

The NME described it thus:
As album titles go, ‘Letting Off The Happiness’, is as blackly ironic as they get. By track two, old Bright Eyes himself, Conor Oberst, has got drunk, buried his brother, considered suicide and ruminated on a dreamless coma.

So clearly not a laugh a minute then.
I'm an admirer of Mr Oberst. Indeed his latest album with Phoebe Bridgers as Better Oblivion Community Center is a strong contender for my album of the year.
However I feel that on occasions he doesn't always get it right. Sometimes his voice verges from the quirky to the irritating and some of his songs are all over the place or just plain weird. There are a good few on this album.
When he gets it right though with his ballads there are few better.

Bright Eyes - The Difference in the Shades

Bright Eyes - June in the Shade

State of the Union - Nebraska

George writes

The previous week’s state was not inspiring, so I checked my list to see if this week’s state could somehow inspire me, get the creative juices flowing with it’s many interesting cities, landscapes and references. And I recall that Penny from  the Big Bang Theory is from Nebraska. It’s a start. There is also an album called Nebraska, surely that can yield a suitable and good song???

A powder called Kool-Aid was invented in Hastings, Nebraska. You add water to it and get a fruit-flavoured drink. I’ve never seen it in the UK, not that I’ve ever looked for it. It sounds something like Creamola Foam (middle-aged Scottish people will be familiar with that disgusting stuff). I think some Weegies liked to mix vodka with their Creamola Foam. Made a change from Buckie and Eldorado, I suppose.

Also from Nebraska, and more famous in the UK certainly than Kool-Aid (or Creamola Foam) are Henry Fonda and Nick Nolte. And Marg Helgenberger (original CSI). And Fred Astaire. The website furnishing the above four did not think Marlon Brando (born in Omaha) was sufficiently famous to be included on their precious list. It also excluded de facto president of the USA from 2001-09 Dick Cheney. Also excluded were ex-President Gerald Ford, and Malcolm Little (Malcolm X), Montgomery Clift and James Coburn. And, again one for the middle-aged, Bosley of Charley’s Angels was born in Omaha. He appeared in every episode, all 110 of them. He was born David Doyle. That Ranker website, it’s not the greatest at this “famous people” thing, is it? 

And after all those blethers about Omaha-ans, here’s a track called……….Omaha………

Counting Crows - Omoha

And Omaha is going to supply the second song as well, by Sonny “Young Love” James, with a great banjo interlude half way through.

Sonny James - Three days out of Omaha

Arbor Day in the USA began in Nebraska in 1872, when one million trees were planted.

That’s Nebraska, where in Blue Hill, a woman wearing a hat that might scare a timid person can not be seen eating onions in public.

That’s Nebraska, where Prague allegedly holds the world’s largest kolache festival. Kolache, that’s a Czech fruit flan.

Over to CC for his tune. And another one next week.

CC writes:

In his first paragraph George alludes to one of the the greatest albums ever made.Here Andrew and Peter collectively known as The Cash Brothers pay hommage:

The Cash Brothers - Nebraska

The Life Pursuit

Before I subject you all to recent holiday purchases here is one from a haul from the charity shops of St Andrews following a pre-holiday visit to nearby Crail.

The Life Pursuit from 2006 is the 7th (of ten) studio albums by twee Scottish indie band Belle and Sebastian.
It joins If You're Feeling Sinister and Dear Catastrophe Waitress on the shelves together with the EP 3..6..9.. Seconds of Light.
While maybe not as good as the other two above it is perfectly pleasant reaching number 8 in the UK album charts and acquiring silver status.
After a couple of listens I prefer the two tracks below to the three singles from the album namely Funny Little Frog, The Blues Are Still Blue and White Collar Boy. Probably just me being contrary again.

Belle and Sebastian -Another Sunny Day

Belle and Sebastian - Sukie in the Graveyard

Untypical Girl

Back from two weeks far from the maddening crowd. Hopefully relaxed and ready to foist some more music on you poor souls.

My holiday reading during my first week was Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys the 2014 autobiography of Viv Albertine. And what a great read it is.
As you would expect her time as a member of Punk group The Slits features heavily as does her relationship with Mick Jones and her friendships with Sid Vicious and Johnny Thunders.
Equally interesting is her life after her time in the Slits came to an end when she was beset by health problems and an ultimately unhappy  marriage.
She is nothing if not a survivor and after years in the musical wilderness she commenced a solo career leading to the release of her debut solo album The Vermilion Border in 2012.
If you haven't already read her book I would urge you to track it down.

The Slits - Typical Girls

The Slits - I Heard it Through the Grapevine

Viv Albertine - Confessions of a MILF

State of the Union - North Carolina

George writes:

The state capital of North Carolina is named after Sir Walter Raleigh. It took the Raleigh part, not the Walter part. And by the way, there is no city or town anywhere in the USA called Walter.

North Carolina is famous for one thing and one thing only: the Orville Brothers’ first flight. Despite what some sites on the Web are trying to tell me, it is famous for nothing else. Such is the extent of barrel-scrapingness several people ramble on about barbecues. For some reason, the fact that one of only twelve people to have walked on the moon, Charles Duke, does not seem very noteworthy, to the extent that one website calls him Charlie Brown.

Reasons to avoid North Carolina: (1) it grows more sweet potatoes than any other state

First song, by Townes Van Zandt, and after my research I am convinced that the Greensboro of the title is the Greensboro of North Carolina. This involved listening to a podcast of an interview Raleigh-born singer Tift Merritt.

Townes Van Zandt - Greensboro woman

I know someone who has a story about his friend assaulting Townes Van Zandt……….

The Avett Brothers have a song about the state capital. And the Sonic Youth have a song that is connected to a small city in North Carolina, referencing the shooting of a bookstore owner. There are other Chapel Hills, of course, in the USA, and in England, for example, but on checking the lyrics and even more extensive research, the song is definitely about the Chapel Hill in today’s state.

Reasons to go to North Carolina (specifically Durham): (1) The birthplace of Clyde McPhatter

                                                     

A second relevant track, a lo-fi track by The ORanges Band

The ORanges Band - North Carolina

Reasons to avoid North Carolina (2). Cape Fear is in North Carolina. You’ve seen the film (and/or the remake), there’s some seriously deranged happenings there.

And the state frog, pictured below, is the Pine Barrens Tree Frog. It is very small (25-75cm) and does not live in trees. It is the winner in today’s Frog Of The Day competition.

                                                    

That’s North Carolina. Sorry it’s a bit flat but I could not get inspired but it.

CC writes

More on the alleged assault on TVZ

I'm surprised that George neglected to inform you that North Carolina is the Cigarette State

Robbie Fulks - Cigarette State

This October

The final monthly instalment from Julie London's Calendar Girl album - or is it?


You may recall that this series started in November last year  given it was one of the September/October holiday purchases.
Given that we are currently on holiday again at the moment it seems appropriate for the series to conclude now.
Julie is wearing traditional Halloween attire I see. As an aside, Halloween appears to be much more of a thing with our American friends than on this side of the Pond. Here a few kids go out guising and that's about it. Annoyingly Trick or Treat now appears to have entered into the vernacular.

This October is a song written by her husband Bobby Troup and is according to the sleeve notes  a bouncy effort which would have made Larry Hart (who he? -Ed) proud

I hope that some of you have enjoyed this indulgence or maybe even parts of it. I suspect that only Alyson and perhaps Brian have made it to the bitter end.

Julie London - This October