Month: July 2020

Today I want to take you back to the beginnings of YouTube. The platform first launched inthe USA in 2005 and quickly became the vehicle of choice for those who wanted to showcase their talents. In these early days the site was full of hopeful singers performing in their homes for the world to see. […]

If the lockdown has any positive side effects, it is that it has brought some excellent performers into our living room. These are folk that we might not otherwise have encountered. Such a act are GreenMatthews who via several lockdown shows including the inventive ‘Keeping It Local’ tour, during which they went on tour in […]

And now, in a complete change of pace. Question: ‘What would happen if you mixed Jpop and Heavy Metal? And the answer is: BabyMetal. BabyMetal are a Japanese ‘kawaii metal’ band. The band consists of Suzuka Nakamoto as “Su-metal” (Vocal and Dance) Moa Kikuchi as “Moametal” (Scream and Dance)and Yui Mizuno as “Yuimetal” (Scream and […]

I thought this morning that it was time for some hot jazz and so I turned to the music of the Avalon Jazz Band. The band was formed in New York in 2014 by vocalist Tatiana Eva-Marie and violinist Adrien Chevalier. Their musical style is inspired by the sort of jazz played in Paris in […]

We first met Chris and Caitlin in 2015 when they supported the Hall Brothers at the Workshop Theatre, Halifax ( a lovely little venue). At that time they were part of a group called Bric-a-Brac along with Bella Gaffney and Hether Sirrel. When Bric-a-Brac disbanded (largely due to the distances involved in meeting) Chris and […]

This weekend in the USA many people have been celebrating the life of Congressman John Lewis. Lewis was an American politician and civil-rights leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He was one of the 13 original Freedom Riders. There […]

“Summer”, composed by Antonio Vivaldi, becomes the stage for a musical competition. Salut Salon fight acrobatically and with a special sense of humour — this is a Salut Salon classic. Salut Salon is an all female chamber music quartet from Hamburg, consisting of two violins,a cello and piano. They were brought together in 2002 by […]

Every now and then the internet rewards your hours of browsing with a little gem. Today I am delighted to share with you the unconsidered trifle that is Dodie Clark. She is an English singer-songwriter, author, and YouTuber from Epping, who is known for her light melodies juxtaposed by emotionally complex lyrics. Clark began her […]

Yesterday’s post discussed various covers of The Cure’s song ‘Lovesong’. This reminded me of Richard Thompson’s excellent ‘1000 Years of Popular Music’ project. He finishes the album with an awesome cover of Britney Spears’ ‘Oops I Did It Again’ complete with some 16th century guitar stylings. Richard who began his musical careeer with Fairport Convention, […]

Sometimes it is possible to judge the quality of a song by the artists who cover it. Lovesong by The Cure is one of those songs. It has been covered by a variety of artists, even appearing on the soundtrack of the movie ’50 First Dates ‘ and being sampled by Perfect Circle on their […]