Izzy S.O. came charging out of my computer speakers, aimed directly at the part of my brain that stores sticky music, conveniently located next door to my auditory cortex, the place that holds musical memory. Izzy S.O. makes music that is very listener-friendly, memorable and guaranteed to generate Involuntary Musical Imagery.

West Midlands native singer-songwriter Izzy S.O. delivers music with a style that one would expect from a recording veteran, this is her debut, and it is a keeper. Captivating listeners with her anthemic tone and lyrical originality, the London-based artist is building a reputation for her signature poetic lyricism. With a voice loaded with emotion and power, Izzy S.O. plays on heavy guitar rhythms and soft melodies that will fill you to your core. She has released her debut single, Flirting With Strangers, accompanied by live performances at some of London’s staple venues. Izzy S.O.’s debut EP ‘Can You Hear Me’ comes out on 29th June 2022 via Silent Kid Records, accompanied by a launch party at Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch on 28th June.

Izzy S.O. delivers emotionally drenched lyrics that feel so very real. They are relatable and honest, sometimes hard to hear but so relevant that I can’t stop listening. It is a bit deceptive to hear her singing a pop-oriented song until you realize that the message is more profound than the sound would suggest. It takes repeated listens to get where the music is taking the lyrics.

Speaking of the music, it is good, VG+. Piano threads its way through guitar and dances with sublime percussion. The percussion is so good it can often get lost in the mix, which it does excellently. BTW, I think Flirting With Strangers is the best track. The lyrics are deep, and the music moves the lyrics forward and drives the song home with a punch. 

The up-and-coming artist sheds light on mental health issues and the complex emotions attached to growing up while moving listeners through heartfelt tunes that give off a comforting sense of familiarity and warmth. Izzy S.O. explains creating her debut EP: “It started with me and [my producer] Dustin Doole talking at a party and promising to have a session together. I was apprehensive as although I’d left school to do music when I was young, the pressure of it had gotten too much, and I ended up backing off from it and focusing on acting.

In our first session, we worked on Lost The Feeling, and I came away re-energized and excited with a new belief that I could bring something unique to the table. The idea for Can You Hear Me came to me the night after working with Dustin on that first song, and I remember the first verse being in my head as I reached the end of a lockdown walk. We sat down for about three hours, talking about inspirations and creating a playlist which included artists such as the Pixies, Hole, Nirvana, Bush and Radiohead. I’d also made a Pinterest board, and by the end of it, we felt like it all made sense. We then restarted Can You Hear Me, and that really led the way for the rest of the EP. 

In between these sessions, I had written Laughing in my Sleep – I had been having a tough time with my OCD with the January/February Lockdown, and I remember making porridge one morning and feeling so overwhelmed. The energy was weird in the house I was living in because mine and my housemates’ individual anxieties were triggering each other – she had just left the house, and I sat at the table and sang Laughing in My Sleep into a voice note. By the time we had finished re-working on Can you Hear Me, we had gotten quite drunk, and Dustin started playing a guitar riff – I started singing Laughing In My Sleep to fit what he was playing, and within an hour, we had the full demo. 

Again Flirting with Strangers started as a voice note; I brought in the first verse to Tadhg Daly one evening, and we sat outside at Strongroom in Shoreditch discussing what the song was about and when we got back inside, we wrote the rest of the song within forty minutes, a few lines flew into my brain from old poems of mine, and it all just fell together in one quick lyrical mess that somehow made sense.”

Good job, Izzy S.O., a great EP. I look forward to more music from you. I heard Can You Hear Me loud and clear and want to hear more.

Izzy S.O.’s debut EP ‘Can You Hear Me’ comes out on 29th June 2022 via Silent Kid Records, accompanied by a launch party at Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch on 28th June.

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TIKTOK | SOUNDCLOUD

For press enquiries, please contact jack@silentkid.co.uk 

From the first notes of 99 MPH, the lead track from the debut EP of The Austin-based Americana-rock duo The Caughtery, I thought I had some excellent listening coming my way. Those tempting notes came from the talented David Gayler, multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter and studio owner based in Spicewood, Texas. And the vocals were supplied by Lisa Tingle. Her resume is impressive, to say the least, http://www.lisatingle.com/about-lisa-tingle/

These two talented people came from the east and the west, David in New York and Lisa in California, to meet in Austin, Texas and test the musical atmosphere in that city. Hailing from opposite coasts, Tingle and Gayler grew up in musical families. Lisa and David’s shared diverse musical loves (rock, indie, fusion, jazz, blues and R&B) sparked a creative connection that led to the creation of this most excellent EP of original music.

This EP features contributions by Ricky Phillips (of Styx and previously with Coverdale/Page, Bad English, The Babys, Angel), bassist Brian Lippman and drummer Tom Brechtlein, who has performed with Chick Corea, Kenny Loggins, Eric Johnson, Robben Ford, Al DiMeola, Jean-Luc Ponty and Rickie Lee Jones.

“After two years of being sequestered, we are finally able to release our 5-song EP to the world. With a common thread throughout the EP and the support from our fellow musicians, each song has its own musical place and we hope you enjoy listening to them,” says David Gayler.

Ahead of their new Americana-rock focus track ’99MPH’, the duo teased two powerhouse singles – ‘Fragile’ and ‘The Uninvited.’

“The song 99MPH is about how you can control love just about as well as you can control the weather… YOU CAN’T! And how the one you fall in love with can affect you in a multitude of unexpected ways… Often times you are like a ship tossed about on the ocean, in a hurricane,” says Lisa Tingle.

Two musical soul-searchers originally hailing from opposite coasts, Tingle and Gayler both grew up in musical families. Lisa and David’s shared diverse musical loves (rock, indie, fusion, jazz, blues and R&B) sparked a genuine connection, their mutual addiction for creating unique music ultimately moving their storytelling note by note.

The duo originated in 2020 when David called Lisa to record a song that fit her vibe. What started as a one-off collaboration ultimately became this full EP of material under The Caughtery. On this debut EP, Lisa’s lyrics explore such themes as relationships, new and old, the passing of friends and the state of our world today.

Described as a mix of Robert Plant, Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin, Tingle has received multiple honours at the Austin Music Awards (Female Vocalist of the Year, Band of the Year, Best Song, Musician of the Year, Album of the Year0. She’s also toured and performed with many legends, including Etta James, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble, Eric Johnson, Stephen Bruton, Monte Montgomery and Marcia Ball.

Check them out. The Caughtery make music that is easy on the ears. They do not make cut and paste music; they are treading new musical paths worth taking the time to get to know.

‘The Caughtery’ EP order  https://bit.ly/3yEPi8l
’99MPH’  https://youtu.be/w8M0PumU83A
‘The Uninvited’ video  https://youtu.be/dm1RRil3NBk
‘Fragile’ video https://youtu.be/XquJQFONQ1Y
Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Qql92W8Q6tGeGiujCU0K9
Amazon  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09V3C9HTW
Soundcloud  https://soundcloud.com/thecaughtery

I love that album title. Even When I’m Happy I Listen To Sad Music. Magic, there should be an award for the best album title, song title and best album art (which would need a few sub-categories).

This title comes from the fertile mind of music maker Ollie, aka Ollie Raps. I’ll go with Ollie because while it is true that some of his songs sound like rap, I hear spoken word and some parts that come dangerously close to singing. Either way, Ollie delivers the goods with confidence and skill. Mystic Sons delivers the album to us via popular music streaming platforms.

Ollie is a gifted music creator from the rural hinterlands of Ontario, making street-legal urban music. I correct myself. I only know that he lives in a small town not far from Toronto, and I think his music would play well on Yonge Street or Marsville.

Speaking about the new album, Ollie said, “This project has been something I’ve been working on for over a year with the release date being delayed twice already. This goes without saying, but these songs are very close to my heart and represent everything that I am. Throughout my past, like most, I’ve experienced my fair share of pain, some of it a direct cause from my own actions. Let’s just say if I could go back in time, there are a few situations that I would like to change, unfortunately that isn’t possible. I struggle sometimes with that reality, regardless of my shortcomings have ultimately led me here. This is where music comes into play, I’m not a very emotional person and typically withhold a lot of my feelings. But somehow music has the ability to extract all of that from within me without my egotistical conscience realizing, it’s an emotional heist guised in melodies. Some of my biggest self realizations have come from this, I see another perspective, sometimes the exact one I wish I couldn’t. Life and ultimately God has a funny way of showing us what we don’t want to see, simply put, nobody is perfect. Each of our stories is a combination of good times and bad times, beauty and chaos, success and failure. The balance of these two realities shape who we are, give us purpose and help us understand and appreciate the opposite. So, even when I’m happy I listen to sad music.”

Ollie starts this album with two slow songs backed with only an acoustic guitar. Gutsy move, Ollie. There is no place to hide with this simple but effective arrangement. The first song is Only You and sets the tone for the remainder of the album with these lyrics:

“These melodies

They’re stories

They’re sadness

It’s comforting.”

That tone is honesty. Ollie is laying all the cards out on the table. He is telling us a story accompanied by melodies. And these stories are both sad and comforting. Wow! That’s a lot to take in, and I can’t wait to hear those stories and the music that carries them along.

In track two, Ollie sings of rain falling on the roof in a lightning storm. I can spend hours watching a lightning storm disperse its majestic power. That past time alone can do wonders for clearing the depression in my head.

Ollie builds the album around being alone in his head. In a recovery group, there was a saying about this idea that I liked. “Our heads are a scary place to be alone.” 

Throughout the album, Ollie shifts between rap, spoken word and singing and the use of backing singers (and occasionally sharing the song with backup singing). The Rolling Stones sang about Dead Flowers, and Ollie narrows that down to Dead Roses. I wonder what happened to the other flowers in the trash bin. The floral industry is weird. We buy something that isn’t cheap, knowing full well that it will dry up and be in the compost bin within a week. We have flowers growing in our backyard and inside the house. If we want flowers, we buy ones that last, either the growing season or longer.

I am skipping ahead over a few songs that deal with the topic of broken relationships. We then come to “Where Do We All Go,” which I like due to a couple of lines:

“Somedays, things get overwhelming.

Not because of what you’re currently experiencing, but

Because of the realization that you have no control over so much of your future

Certain feelings are inevitable, inescapable, and unpredictable

They’re what make us human

And without them, without the need for adversity, who would we be?

Difficult choices create character

And character is how we’re remembered

I can promise you you’re not the first person to go through what you’re going through

And you won’t be the last.

Have faith that everything you experience in life is for a purpose

It just might not be clear yet what that purpose is”

Some more boy loses girl songs, albeit well done, lost love songs. I love the song Home; I think it is about living with arthritis, “I feel aches in my bones.” Ollie then closes the album with More Than Music IV, another song with some deep philosophical questions and a dash of Christianity.

“Guess the closest to your heart can deal you the worst cuts.” That line can be read backwards and still be dead-on accurate. You can deal the worst cuts to the ones closest to your heart.

“Start to question my existence.” That is deep, man, real deep. Who am I? What am I? Why do I exist? The list goes on and on. That is a question that philosophers have been kicking around for as long as people could contemplate their existence.

“What if I dropped a song and no one relates to me in the end?” That is a great question that I have contemplated myself. What if I wrote a blog about an album, and no one read it?

I will close this blog with a lengthy cut and paste from the song More Than Music IV.

“This ain’t what I planned, not even close to what I was hoping

But there’s beauty in the struggle, something I’d come to find

God tests His strongest soldiers to keep ’em present in mind

And in mine, would you stay? Never leave from my side?

‘Cause in Christ, you strengthen me, I’m so powerful I could fly

But I stumble often, I’m not as perfect as I seem

All this anger in my chest I keep hidden behind the scenes

Along a journey and my growth, I’m only a human being

More Than music is precisely what all of these lyrics mean

It means I’m incomplete, broken, often misunderstood

On this lonely road we walk, never gave up when others would

Found in a lost place, done everything that I should

Just ’cause there’s darkness in my past; it doesn’t mean I’m not good.”

I enjoy music. Specifically, listening to music. I attempt to strangle my guitar now and then. I don’t know how the gods of music from Aiode to Väinämöinen feel about my feeble excuse for playing the guitar. I was blissfully unaware of how many gods are devoted to music. A quick Google found over fifty of them, and there are probably more. With that many gods, I think they would be more proactive in giving me the ability to play the guitar like Jeff Beck without the hassle of practicing.

Stepping away from that random thread of useless information, I like listening to music. I think there is something magical about music, how a bunch of noise gets transformed into an emotional response from the listener. Now and then, something extra special happens and a bit of music will transform into fireworks in my head and a quickening of my soul. I like when that happens.

It takes an extraordinary piece of music to happen; it is the exception, not the norm. Sometimes it is an immediate rush of blood to the brain, and I know I am listening to something special.

That happened to me over the weekend. A neat little bouncing back and forth from the first strains of music led to the lyrics, and I knew this was special, and I wanted to move to Montecito. I was listening to the new album from Rich Jacques; Everything Must Change, and the first track is Montecito. I’ve got a California theme in the music I’m listening to this week; coincidentally, the temperature was a balmy 27c today.

The title track, Everything Must Change, laments that everything changes when we long for the familiar and the necessity for change to keep everything moving forward.

Track three, Can You See It, immediately caught my attention with the first two lines,

“I remember last July

 Lying underneath a starry sky.”

My son and I love driving out into the country and spending hours watching the starry sky. This song moves along with an almost sleepy feel of being somewhere comforting and reassuring.

“Even in the worst of times

We could always Seem to find

Everything we needed.”

These lyrics brought to mind a saying that a coworker of mine used to say, “Every day is a good day, just some are better than others.”

If only we could see it. When the going gets tough, it can be challenging to see past “the voices in our minds, if only we could see it.”

“Can you see it?”

Burn Me Down, track four, has a lovely pan flute sound going on with a synth bass line weaving between the words and lilting strings. And then, a way into the song, there are synthesized clapping hands. I love this song for the music; it is absolute magic to my ears. Just now, I put the song on repeat. I listened to it four times while I wrote this paragraph; good stuff, man, good stuff.

I am glad I didn’t just leave it on repeat for Burn Me Down, or I wouldn’t have heard the next track, New Design. I can’t tell you what is happening in this track. It blows my mind. There is so much happening, and some of it is so discrete that it takes more than one listen to sort it out. Then there are the multi-tracked vocals that are a bit disconnected. It leaves me a bit disconnected, “everything’s fine.

 I just had to invite it in .”

The closing track, The Stars Above, has some commentary on the state of the world. For example, “Any words that we say

 can be twisted in so many ways.” In the age of alternate truth, this rings true. It is not what sets this track aside for me. It is the sentiment that we don’t need what the world offers. 

“someday, we may live like kings.

Be nice to have the finer things,

but right now, I just need your love

the firelight and the stars above.”

I don’t need the things of this world to be happy.

I just need your love

and the worlds made of gold,

but all that shines can’t compare to the hold

that you have on my heart.”

Beautiful words set to compelling and exciting music that demands a second and a third listen to catch all that is going on between the words. I am at a loss for what else I can say. Magic, Everything Must Change is magic. I don’t know how Rich Jacque made the magic happen, and a magician never tells, so sit back with your beverage of choice and take the time to really listen to this music. Pay attention to the lyrics; if needed, read along on Apple music. Put down your phone, turn off the television, and tell your spouse that you don’t want to be disturbed for the next half hour. Let his music wash over you, and the words speak to your spirit. This album is magic.

As of July 8, the ‘Everything Must Change‘ EP was released via Cousteau Records, available digitally across the net, including Apple Music and Spotify.

‘Everything Music Change’ EP order https://apple.co/3ym8Bo8 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/4Nt2W57QHaCKepzcBMAJJy ‘Everything Must Change’ video https://youtu.be/iHSSSKAAcEY ‘New Design’ video https://youtu.be/qFojhzQzD_s

 ‘Can You See It’ video https://youtu.be/vtLPWQpsjW0

 ‘Montecito’ https://youtu.be/9HeUo2a_f3c

 LinkTree https://linktr.ee/richjacques 

There is a band in California making some music that I think you would enjoy hearing. They are called Maple Mars, and I would like to know how that name stuck to them. The people behind that name are as follows—Rick Hromadka on lead vocals, guitar, piano and keyboards. Steve Berns is the guitar slinger and adds his vocal noises. On drums, we have Ron Pak, who adds more vocals. And holding everything together on bass, we are entertained by Joe Giddings, and guess what, more vocals. I am always impressed when a band can sing together; think CSN&Y.

“Pop Muzik” is a 1979 song by M, a project by English musician Robin Scott. It gives me an earworm with the refrain, “Pop, pop music.” It apparently got trapped in a lot of people’s ear wax because it charted very well, reaching number one on Billboard’s Hot 100.

1979 was ages ago, and I think we are ready for another pop music earworm. I nominate Maple Mars‘s new album, Someone’s Got To Listen. Someone, that’s you, needs to hear Useless Information, the lead track. This song is the perfect foil for the “Words and tangled webs” in our age of information overload and dubious new sources. This song charges out of the starting gate. It ploughs a path through the dregs of the world wide web, touching on some of our favourite nemeses, scammers, aggressive advertising, pointless chatter, twisted truths and “too much useless information.”

A couple of tracks into this album of sunshine, we have the track Goodbye California. Rick Hromadka tells us that he wrote this song “about my love-hate relationship with the Golden State. Including the good, bad and the ugly. I also mention how I arrived here on the day of my 21st birthday, which is true.” This little ditty will get you humming along and wishing you were driving there yourself. I am immediately attracted to this tune because I drove into LA when I was 21. I left before it fell into the sea, but it is a good memory seared into my brain folds. I am enamoured with the orchestral quality that this song delivers.

I won’t go into detail on every song, they are all good, but I will close this blog with a tip of the hat to Silver Craft; the sci-fi nerd in me can’t let this one slip by without a comment.

Crooked Smile is a sentimental favourite of mine. I played a song called Rachel Delevoryas years ago that has a similar feel and tugs at our heartstrings for the people with crooked awkward smiles.

From start to finish, Someone’s Got To Listen is an excellent earworm generator. The future of modern pop music is in good hands, the hands of Maple Mars. Presented to us through our good friends at Big Stir Records.

Paul Clark’s album Out of the Shadow is generic 1984 Christian pop flavoured music. Pick any contemporary Christian artists from the 1980s; there is a locked-in sound. That goes for radio hits across the genre spectrum.

There wasn’t a lack of good music hitting the turntables in 1984. The Seventy Sevens released All Fall Down, an album that has passed the time test. It is still relevant and good music 34 years after it was released. There are a lot of hard-core Seventy Seven fans out there, and Mike Roe does a music vlog every week. Paul Clark has remained in the recording and performing Christian sphere. He performs primarily in churches but hey, a tip of the hat to him for keeping on making music. His latest album is from 2018, and while the lyrics are still full of Christianese, the music is quite good, with kind of an Americana feel to it with some good guitar pickin’ with fiddle fills.

Unfortunately, Paul Clark was still trying to find his place in the music pallet in 1984 and Out of the Shadow doesn’t pass the time test, although Paul Clark, as a recording artist, has grown and developed his career up to the present.

Petula Clark is still going strong at 89 years young. Her last release, according to Wikipedia, was in 2018. Discogs justify the fact that I only have two compilations. Petula Clark was a music factory with roughly one album for every year of her life. Another interesting tidbit of information, in October 1942, the nine-year-old Petula Clark made her radio debut while attending a BBC broadcast with her father. She never looked back.

In 1960 she embarked on a concert tour of France and Belgium with Sacha Distel, who remained a close friend until his death in 2004. Gradually she moved further into the continent, recording in German, French, Italian and Spanish. – Wikipedia. Hells bells, I trip over my tongue trying to sing in my native language, English.

Singing along with Downtown and the other hits was a nice trip down memory lane. Petula Clark continued to record, hit after hit, with lots of good memories; thank you, Ms. Clark. She also toured up till 2019 with an appearance in my native land, Canada. We have a large French population and she sings in French. A versatile performer, I am impressed.

14 June, 2019Details Théâtre Masionneuve 
Montreal, CANADAFrancos de Montréal Festival
Petula Clark et invités [Petula and Guests]
Guests: Louis-Jean Cormier, Antoine Gratton and France D’Amour
Opening night of the annual Festival. Over 10 nights, the festival presents shows by legendary francophone performers from diverse musical backgrounds and nationalities, as well as a wide range of up-and-coming artists. 

17 June, 2019Photos Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Toronto CANADA

Some Days is an EP by a band named Khartoum that I have been listening to since June 17th. This EP has been a real pickle for me. I like the music contained within this music package, but I don’t know how to convey that emotive quality via words. To give a bit of context, I will quote a couple of lines from the lead song, Some Days.

“I can tell I’m disconnected …

Your trains left the station.”

I have felt disconnected trying to write something about this bit of musical and lyrical magic. The train left the station without me, and I was left standing on the platform waiting for another train to come along with my musical muse on board and carry the two of us away to some beautiful land of words.

That never happened. I listened to this EP over and over and came up blank every time. I hesitate to call it writer’s block because I have been able to write some other bits of music up. Is it a lack of inspiration? I don’t think so. I found this EP to be at least moderately inspiring, not entirely on the level of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, but they are working their way up the ladder, one gig at a time.

Khartoum is an engaging band, and they have a modern sound that is easy on the ears but can be easily dialled up a notch for the dance floor. I get the feeling they would be an excellent band to hear live; they generate that feeling, that energy.

In their own words:

“The EP title came about from the sample that’s heard at the very beginning of the title track ‘some days’… it’s actually an old iPhone recording of an early song that we never properly recorded. It’s been slowed down to match the key of the track, so that’s why the vocal sounds so freaky. 

“Creating music is like going to a library and taking out a few books, ripping out your favourite pages that day and sticking them together to form a story. 

“This EP is simply the result of ‘some days we visited the library and tore out some pages. 

“I like the feeling that ‘some days’ evokes as a stand-alone statement. Some days can be great, some days can be bad, and for no particular reason, but always different. These tracks came together on those great days where we knew from the moment we woke up that something exciting was brewing.”

I couldn’t glean much about the people who call themselves Khartoum. It would have been nice to put names and faces to the music. I’ll like them on Facebook, Soundcloud and whatnot in the hopes of getting to know them better. I would enjoy spending some time getting to know them as people, and not just some music streamed over the internet of things. I did find this excellent video which features the song Ten People from the EP Some Days.

At the end of the day, since there will only be about an hour of daylight left today, this is a good listen. Check them out. Tight musically. Literate, which is a good thing for any band. It is nicely packaged as an EP named Some Days. By Khartoum. Do your ears a favour and give them a listen.

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I listened to three albums from my tour through the vinyl catalogue, each requiring more than one listen. The three albums are Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music by Ray Charles from 1962, Chicago V from 1972, and Tracy Chapman’s self-titled album released in 1988. These three albums are pretty distinct, but they also have some commonality that threads through them.

I will not follow chronology but rather the sequence I found in my in-box. As I tap this blog out, Chicago is up first and on the turntable. This album is interesting from several different angles. It is Chicago’s first single album release. Notable, isn’t it? The fifth album and the first release on a single slab of vinyl. Their first release, Chicago Transit Authority, was a double album that made one hell of a splash for their inauguration. Then came Chicago, their second double album but released simply as Chicago. It has since become known as Chicago II in deference to the string of albums to follow it that are all named Chicago with a Roman numeral. Chicago III is also a double album, with II and III garnering immense praise from fans and critics alike. Then came Chicago at Carnegie Hall, also known as Chicago IV. This recording was the first live album and fourth album overall. It was initially released as a four-LP vinyl box set and was also available for a time as two separate two-record sets.

And then came Chicago V, the album on my turntable. This album contains the twelfth and thirteenth singles to chart for the band, as well as the album being considered the Best Small-Combo LP in Playboy magazines Jazz & Pop Poll for 1973. The album received generally good accolades, getting a 4 out of 5 from ALLMUSIC. It charted at #1 on Billboards 200 list and is certified Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum.

But Norman, this is all very interesting, but this is mostly stuff I could read on Wikipedia. And you are absolutely correct; here is the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_(band)

As I listened to this, I heard a link from the jazz-infused rock and roll of 1972 rushing straight into the modern jazz I am listening to coming out of New York, London, and Africa. I think Chicago was way ahead of the curve and broke ground for countless other music groups walking the line between genres. I love the horn work; they had some tight playing going on and bouncing off each instrument as they moved along. I don’t hear big solos, but I hear good musicians playing together, which can sound better than a five-minute solo if it is cut right. And Chicago cut it just right, and they cut it fast. This album took just over a week of studio time, cutting it right the first time.

I like this album because I can sit back and get lost in its groove, or I can work on a blog, for example, and have this playing as the soundtrack. I can pause at the tight passages or tap my foot along with the beat, and I can play it over and over. It is that good.

Chicago V, give it a listen, especially for the jazz fans out there. I think you will find it a good listen.

The next musical morsel is the self-titled album by Tracy Chapman. This album hit number 1 on the Billboard charts and garnered immense critical acclaim. From Wikipedia: “Just two weeks after its release, the album sold one million copies worldwide, becoming a big commercial success.[4] In total, it sold over 20 million copies worldwide and is one of the first albums by a female artist to have more than 10 million copies sold worldwide.”

I fell in love with this album from the first time I heard it until the last time I heard it, which was yesterday. Chicago is still hogging the turntable but should be done soon. There are certain albums by certain musicians that can grab onto me for reasons that are beyond my reasoning ability. Chicago V is back in the catalogue, Tracy Chapman is Talkin’ About a Revolution. This album grabbed way out of proportion to my general listening back in 1988. I listened to If I Should Fall from Grace with God by The Pogues. 

Naked by the Talking Heads is an album that has stayed in my listening profile forever. People by Hothouse Flowers is a band that I enjoyed seeing live and on record. The Indescribable Wow is an excellent album by Sam Phillips. The list goes on and on, but these are not folky protest albums, which is what I hear when I listen to Tracy Chapman. She single-handedly revived folk music in the era of metal and hard rock; not an easy task, but this album shot to number one and stayed there. It would be best if you went to Wikipedia to fully appreciate the impact of this album as far as sales and accolades go.

A lot has changed in my life since 1988. I became an ordained pastor as an evangelical Christian and then left the faith. I sold a large portion of my music catalogue twice. Thick as a brick, I didn’t learn my lesson the first time. I got married to a beautiful woman who supports my music endeavours, and we have stayed married for better, for worse, yadda yadda. We have a son, a terrific young man who inherited my passion for all things musical. Pre-Covid, we were averaging a concert every week, and our catalogue gives us ample music to choose from.

All this to say that a lot has changed but not my appreciation for Tracy Chapman, the album. I must say “the album” because none of her subsequent albums kept me listening to them, just her first one. Perhaps it is my association with the black community; she is black, and many of her lyrics fall into the category of protest songs. Maybe it is because of George Floyd and the countless other black people who suffer needlessly. I don’t have a definitive answer, but I know that I love this album and the song ‘Fast Car’ is one of the best car songs.

The third side of this musical triangle is Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music by Ray Charles. The title should serve as a shot across the bow. You will not hear traditional country and western music on this album. You will hear Nashville Country. You will hear lush orchestral arrangements and backing chorus instead of fiddle and banjo playing. This album is in a whole new category of musical genres. It has more R&B than traditional Country & Western music. Ray Charles didn’t start the trend towards the marriage of country and western music with other genres. Still, he broke the bubble that ushered in the movement of slick productions, studio musicians and lush instrumentation for the Nashville Sound.

I understand the significance of this record, not just for country and western music but for a black artist playing C&W music. Having said that, I must say that this album has not sustained its listenability for me. I have always kept my heart close to more traditional Country and Western music. Moving the music forward, I have listened to Outlaw Country music through its many revivals, Texas Country, Tulsa sound and other musicians who held traditional country and western music close to their hearts. An interesting anecdote: I enjoy the music of Sturgill Simpson and his breakthrough album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, which pays homage to Ray Charles and his Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. I also enjoy the more traditional albums from Sturgill Simpson, especially his Cuttin’ Grass Sessions.

Ray Charles and his Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music are on a long play record, but I won’t be playing it long.

London Plane is a six-piece musical entity composed of David Mosey (guitar and vocals), Jessica Cole (vocals), Bryan Garbe (drums), Grant Parker (bass), Julian Tulip (synths) and Kristofer Widholm (guitar). Their roots trace back to 2014 backstage at a tribute show to the recently deceased Lou Reed when Psychedelic Furs’ Joe McGinty introduced David to Jessica, who were both performing.

London Plane will be releasing their sophomore album ‘Bright Black’ via Declared Goods on June 17. The press release tells me that London Plane would have appealed to fans of Bowie XTC, Gary Numan (this is a for sure, I hear Mr. Numan loud and clear in London Plane), Interpol, Bauhaus, Yeah Yeah Yeah (yeah, that fits), Shriekback, Protomartyr, The Primitives, The KVB, Iggy Pop (I didn’t hear that) and The Cramps.

That cuts a wide swath and establishes a very high bar for London Plane to reach up to, let alone jump over. Allow me to tell you what I heard when I listened to Bright Black.

I heard nonsense. Consider these lyrics, if you will. 

“Zizza zizz resister/wholly adore

Vizza vizz aglister/when there were more”

There is no Zizza in my dictionary. There is a zizz, and It means a whizzing or buzzing sound. No Vizza, or vizz, or aglister, nothing. Pure nonsense. Is this a problem? No, of course not. Just yesterday, I was mulling and musing on the poetry of Lewis Carrol. David Mosey is in good company when it comes to nonsensical literature.

The song changes gears in the following two lines of the song Bright Black.

“Armies are all the same/When they fall; they’re replaced.

If it goes black/let it go bright black.”

Our history as humans consists primarily of one war followed by a conflict followed by a coup. One job after another for armies, it’s always the same. The soldiers fall in battle, and another one steps in to fill the gap; they all get replaced.

Now we come to a line that caught my attention.

“If it goes black/let it go bright black.”

If it goes black, in other words, if everything fails and there is no colour left, let it be bright, bright black. Can black be bright? Can black have gradients of colour? Yes, yes. I paint dioramas and scale models as a hobby, and there are many black colours. There is carbon black, gloss black, metallic black, NATO black, tire black, flat black, matte black, etc. There are dozens of variants of the colour black. Which technically is the lack of any colour. But for argument’s sake, we will treat it as a colour. What can I do if it is going to be black if the world is falling all around me? I can go down and give up or rise above the muck and the mire and paint my world bright black. If it has to be black, it might just as well be bright black. A glimmer of hope can be found even amid blackness, a radiant glow of black hope.

Watch That Madman Go is another interesting song. I think the song is about leaders behaving like madmen. The list is long, so I won’t bore you or I with it. I like the concept in the song where things like blackness, or corrupt politicians, can creep up without people raising alarm bells until it’s too late; the madman is loose. It’s along the lines of the frog in the pot. The temperature goes up so slow the frog doesn’t realize it’s in danger until it’s too late.

Bright Black is an interesting album. The lyrics aim at blackness and then offer a glimmer of light. There is a good balance, and the world isn’t all black. Musically they are very talented. I can’t nail their sound down to any single “it sounds like” example, but you can take some of the fans’ suggestions as examples. No, it would be best if you listened to Bright Black and then told me what London Plane sounds like to you.

I look forward to hearing what others hear. No two people hear a song the same way; we all have unique perceptions. I enjoyed this album, perhaps not a ten, but it is a good album.

FOR SHARING

Bandcamp https://londonplane.bandcamp.com/album/bright-black

‘Bright Black’ LP pre-order / pre-save https://found.ee/yM0q4

‘Come Out of the Dark’ https://youtu.be/x_9Rj6WgmRA

‘Come Out of the Dark’ order  https://found.ee/kvlFm

‘Bright Black’ single order https://found.ee/vFw9O

‘Francesco (Italiano)’ https://youtu.be/g0PQQvJVJLk

‘Watch That Madman Go’ https://youtu.be/ODXMrKP0Uyc

‘Francesco’ (original version) https://youtu.be/UT6Ct3jUlBw

Keep up with London Plane
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“BIG STIR RECORDS and SPYGENIUS are delighted to announce the June 24 release of JOBBERNOWL – a brand new album from the celebrated Canterbury, England masters of literate psych-infected pop rock – on CD and all digital platforms.”

http://www.bigstirrecords.com 

That gem of a quote is the opening salvo in the press release for a delightful new album that I have been thoroughly enjoying. The band’s name is Spygenius, which sounds like something from a James Bond movie. The album’s name is Jobbernowl, which sounds like something from Through The Looking Glass. Bruno Pontecorvo has been called a spy genius, two words. The band merges the words into one, Spygenius. Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem penned by Lewis Carroll, which is very close to the name of this album, Jobbernowl.

Needless to say, I was hooked by the combination of the band’s name and the album title. I must confess that I prefer “The Walrus and the Carpenter” when it comes to nonsense poems. My dad used to recite one stanza from it that I now have on my office wall.

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,

“To talk of many things:

Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—

Of cabbages—and kings—

And why the sea is boiling hot—

And whether pigs have wings.”

All of this preamble brings us to a few observations about the album.

# 1. What is a Jobbernowl? 

There are 195 synonyms for Jobbernowl in the dictionary, which can be summed up as a blockhead. A blockhead and a jobbernowl are nice ways to call a person a stupid idiot.

#2. What is Spygenius?

Spygenius is a singer, guitarist and chief songwriter named Peter Watts. 

Spygenius is Matt Byrne laying down the smooth keyboards for our listening pleasure.

Spygenius is a drummer Alan Cannings, and bassist, Ruth Rogers. These two keep everything on time.

I would be remiss, not to mention the cover art; Champniss. Cover art is one reason I like having the physical copy; in this case, it’s a CD. I want to be able to peruse the art and literature that gets lost in streaming media. I don’t know who Champniss is, but it is some trippy art reminiscent of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.

#3. I got lost on some rabbit trails while doing research for this blog. I went from Jobbernowl to Jabberwocky, a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named “the Jabberwocky.” The poem was in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass.

#4. Then I took a left turn and listened to the band Ambrosia and their excellent self-titled album from 1975. The album opens with the song “Nice, Nice, Very Nice,” a poem by Kurt Vonnnegut Jr. that Ambrosia set to music. However, the link to this album, Jobbernowl, is the third song on side two. Yes, I am listening on a slab of vinyl, so there are two sides to play. That song is “Mama Frog,” which contains a narration of the poem Jabberwocky from ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ by Lewis Carroll.

#5. Can we get back to the topic, please? I will make no promises but here is an effort. I have listened to this album several times, and I kept asking myself what was connecting the neural dots that lit up every time I heard this album. I finally made the connection today. Sort of, maybe, I think. I listened to the album Seconds of Pleasure by the band Rockpile. Rockpile significantly influenced the new wave and pub rock scene in the late 70s and early 80s. They technically only released one album, but they have a considerable legacy. I won’t get too lost on this rabbit trail but suffice to say that when I listen to Jobbernowl, I can hear echoes of Rockpile and their all-star cast, as well as a few others from that era. Names like Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Ian Gomm, Elvis Costello, Brinsley Schwarz, and the list goes. Suffice to say that I consider it a compliment of the highest order that Jobbernowl sound similar to these musicians.

#6. Jobbernwl does not have your typical love songs, either lost or found. They have wise words that touch on many themes, from epistemology to nonsense. I have included a few examples below, the song’s names and quotes from the band cut and pasted in. I won’t put all the notes and quotes up here.

I Dig Your New Robes, Pierre!

“The “Robes, Pierre” thing is just punning on the name Robespierre.” Spygenius’ P.

Sky­Pie, Century 21

“is about actively deciding not to believe in some­or­other­big­idea, just because believing in something is sort of emotionally easier than admitting to yourself (and the world!) that you simply don’t know. And after all, Socrates said that all he knew was that he knew nothing, so I’m in reasonably good company here… and the use of anachronistic hep­talk (and a bit of Cockney rhyming slang!) is a sort of poke at political nostalgia… that idea crops up more strongly later…”

Screwy… 

“very, very British; it ended more like a mashup between Motown, Kirsty MacColl and Ringo Starr. The whole song is based around the short descending bass line in the bridges, which is a bit of nonsense that came to me one day whilst goofing about on Matthew’s guitar. I really wanted to turn it into something, and this is what it became.”

Metamorphosis

“…lots of books referenced here… and in the next song too… books I never got to discuss with my lovely friend who died…”

Foucault Swings Like a Pendulum Do

“Just a bit of nonsense to close the record, a gag tune based on a dreadful three­way pun… or possibly a labyrinthine series of mis­directions intended to expose the futility of seeking absolute truth and the processes of sense­making we go through to fill in the gaps when we don’t actually know… in effect it’s about conspiracy theories, I suppose…! …nods here to the Bonzos and the Tiger Lillies, and also a little bit to the Jazz Butcher and Stump… ah, bless ’em all…”

I am listening to Jobbernowl as I write this, and I cannot help but hear the influence of the new wave and the British pub rock scene. Spygenius are genius’ when it comes to making good music, including lyrics that keep me listening, if for no other reason than to try and understand what they are singing about. It’s not just the lyrics that draw me into their circle of influence; the musicianship is top drawer with Spygenius. These guys know how to mix good vocals with potent music.

I think that will suffice for my meandering rabbit trails. I will wind it all up and put a little note on that says, “Open on June 24, sit back in your comfy chair with a beverage of choice at hand, set the volume at a moderate level, and peruse the album artwork while you listen to this contender for the best album of 2022.