Falling Sky

Life Ain't Nuthin' But Fillies And Farthings

Isn't modern life ghastly?  So much rudeness and crudeness, vulgarity and inanity, devoid of manners and sense?  Where once were men of honour and wit, we now find lads, grown adults with the minds of vile boys, bellowing and staggering around wretched town centres in vomit-spattered shirts, while women of grace and sophistication have been drowned out by ladettes, seemingly determined to out-drink, out-bellow and out-vomit their male counterparts, cackling, clawing and eventually catatonic in the back of an ambulance.  Is it any wonder that one reaches for solace in The Chap, Jeeves & Wooster and anything else that presents a politer, cheerier life seen through a rose-tinted monacle, albeit with the wryest of grins?

So it was that my ears were suitably pricked when listening to Tom Robinson on the wireless a couple of months back and heard the musical stylings of Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer.  Rich with banjo and beats, it's a thorougly well-spoken and geniuinely amusing hippity-hop ode to Tim Westwood, titled Timothy.  Hark ye!

Of course, mocking Westwood is as easy as shooting a morbidly obese tuna wedged in the proverbial barrel and has been going on for as long as there's been a wireless, so much so he's practically beyond parody, yet it's done with such panache that it feels fresh and funny, rather than reheated gags from a decade ago.  Further digging around in the depths of the British Library (oh, very well, Google) revealed Mr B to be a practitioner (thus far the sole practitioner) of chap-hop, described like so:

Aiming to dazzle with dignity, Mr. B takes to the stage with his Banjolele and stiff upper lip to perform ditties of pipe-smoking, high society, Cricket and sexual misadventure, as well as some more well-known pieces from the world of Hip-Hop, re-worked in true Chap-Hop fashion.

It also revealed that he had produced a complete long-player, Flattery Not Included, which I decided to acquire from the gentleman himself via the website (fie on thee, record companies!).  Blow me, it's a cracker!  There's certainly a novelty hilarity value to the whole thing, much like reading The Chap, the juxtaposition of plinky-plinky and boom-tiddly-boom working nicely while the well-written lyrics are a hoot, suitably enunciated and knowingly naive.  Unlike many novelty/comedy albums, however, this actually has staying power - the music is strong enough to stand on its tod and the words continue to amuse after numerous replays.  Some tracks are stronger than others, particular highlights for me being the Winehouse/Doherty-baiting The Crack Song, the awkward romantic shenanigans of Sherry Monocle ("I -  thought - you were an awful tease / but you - had - venereal disease!"), More Kissing In Porn Please, We're British with the plea "Why can't there be more kissing in porn? Where's all the romance gorn?" and the below funky number, a real treat.

Splendid!  Having given the above a spin or two, amble in a brisk but respectable fashion to his Myspace page, from whence you may purchase your very own copy of this splendid long player in shiny-shaving-mirror format (click on the big yellow Buy Now button and let nature take its course).  Perfect for playing loud as you cruise down the streets in your tricked-out 1928 Aston Martin.

Office Workers Of The World Untie

Not that I wear a tie to work, granted. Still, these are for all of us who spend our days staring at a glowing screen, tapping at keyboards, the mouse grafted to our hand... and then come home and do it all over again for fun.

SONG: Electronic Plantation by the No WTO Combo. (Feed readers, come on over to play it)

VIDEO: Clip from Mike Judge's spot-on Office Space, a DVD of which should be included in every admin job induction.

Bonnie Prince Billy: I See A Darkness (Live in Edinburgh 2006)

Rejoice muckers!  The long-awaited recording of Bonnie "Prince" Billy's gig at Edinburgh's Queens Hall in 2006, one of the finest concerts I've ever seen, is finally out and is pretty much the perfect soundtrack for these Arctic Autumnal nights.  Honestly, it's fucking brilliant, a good crisp clear recording that lets you savour the moments of silence (at points its almost as though you can hear the audience holding its collective breath) yet also keeps the instruments and vocals clear when they're raising merry hell.  Man, those voices: while Harem Scarem's music just isn't my bag, baby, there's no denying their musical skills, especially the vocal harmonies which add an extra layer of depth and soul to songs already rich in both.  Playing the album back last night, there were moments of genuine chills, goose-bumps tingling up and down my arms, and some harmonies so sweet that the only thing to do is close your eyes, sit back and drink it in.

As live recordings go, this is definitely one of the best out there, a worthy contender to the throne currently occupied by Controversial Negro, the only downside being that it doesn't document the entire show.  The two solo numbers played by BPB at the start of the concert are missing - a shame, as they were fab, but understandable in that the album focuses on the performances by Oldham, Harem Scarem and Alex Neilson.  Mind-bogglingly bizarre, however, is the decision not to include the final track of the night, I See A Darkness, which was for me the perfect ending to an exceptional night - it's all the more odd considering the song was recorded and broadcast on BBC Scotland at the time.  SO!  In an act of public spirited musical evangelism, I'm plonking up the MP3 recording I have of that song's performance here, for the sole reason that this performance, notably different to the original, isn't commercially available anywhere, yet is quite possibly the finest rendition of what is already a masterpiece of a song.  As soon as someone at Domino or Drag City thinks to put this up on the iTunes Music Store, I'll yank the file right off this site, but until then this is for all of you who weren't at that show.  Lose yourself in those gorgeous voices, the echoes of silence, the rattle of drums, the sheer goddamn perfection of it all.  And then buy the album.

I See A Darkness - Bonnie Prince Billy, Harem Scarem and Alex Neilson (MP3)

Byetone: Plastic Star

After five years, the MP3 of the week, it is no more. No flowers, please.

Instead, I'll be going with song of the week which sounds far more accurate, given as I'm not actually putting MP3 links up for downloading. Instead, a track will be put up for you to be able to play from this here site in its entirity (as opposed to the 30 sec blips of iTunes and Emusic), plus links to where you can acquire said song should you wish to own it permanently. However, those reading on RSS feeds won't see the Javascript-based music player in the post, so if you're reading this on Bloglines, Google Reader or owt like that, follow the link to the proper post, press play, and open another tab or window to go about your web-browsing business while lovely music wraps itself around you.

So! Last week I put up a thoroughly pleasant piece of pop goodness, all vocal harmonies and sweet guitars, so in balance this week it's something completely different - a throbbing piece of electronica, all beats, clicks and bass. It's by Byetone and called Plastic Star: give it a spin.

(Single edit)

Most likely I would never have heard this if not for going to see Radiohead earlier this year. Between the support and main act there was some excellent electronic music that filled the air nicely, heavy beats yet strangely light, which helped the rainsoaked waiting pass by nicely. A few days after the show I checked online to see if anyone could place the music, and the internet delivered. It was Byetone's Death of a Typographer, released in May this year on Raster Noton Records. There's an excellent review of the album here, on top of which I can't really add much, except that it's well worth getting. It's somewhat reminiscent of Burial in the sense of atmosphere, deep layered sounds, but while Burial conjures up images of a cold urban nightscape, all concrete and rain, Byetone's music is 'cleaner' (for want of a better word), a cool relentlessness better suited to space and robotics. It'd make a fine soundtrack to a sci-fi bank robbery, if that makes any sense - listen to it while walking down the street and pretend you're off to assassinate rogue androids.

Buy the album from Emusic / iTunes / Amazon UK.