Verity

[Lateralthinking1]

.....Like a fool, I ended up listening to the 31 December show by mistake. Then I heard a record that I just had to get back to. Had no idea what show it was from. I could only remember half the name too. Anyhow, after much annoyance, I found it. Turned out to be Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter's "Grown A New Heart". Bob Harris must have played them loads of times. Furthermore, they have been around for a decade and the guitarist was in Whiskeytown. So it is "alt" and I really should have known them.

She has a very good voice. Thought they were outstanding in the context but Doug does that, doesn't he? If you remove a track from his wonderful soundscapes, it can seem more ordinary. Having been through a few tracks on YT, Jesse and Co. are not quite the sum of their parts which is a pity. Still, I do think that her voice and that guitar both get close to being something really great, even classic. So atm puzzled. I still might end up raving about them. I obviously like them enough to post three here. (Additional note: Realise that this isn't WM but it emanates from the Give the Drummer Some broadcast so that is the slightly tenuous link).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyBSJKPizLw&playnext=1&list=PLFDA03FDC664A6655

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLzu4FIDmQM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMd2TrUdsKc

[Paul Sherratt]

lat,


I think the secret to the Schulkind formula is the fact his ears do not permit him to play filler
You certainly may not like some of the stuff but bland and unsurprising it will not be !
Jesse Sykes has one of those voices that you treasure when it arrives by surprise.
I seem to remember JC being knocked for six by a sykes some while back.
He may remember !

[Lateralthinking1]

Paul, yes, I think you are right. Never know what to expect. One moment it could be Dillinger and the next Ten Benson.

Incidentally, what do you think of classical music types doing pop music? Call me odd but I could get to like it -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXEDZy4Z8os

[Paul Sherratt]

>>what do you think of classical music types doing pop music?

My prejudices would steer me to thinking of them in the same way as those who do ( for ? ) jazz.




Saw that Jesse Sykes once on a bill in Manchester with Laura Veirs and some quite well know US alt country band whose name
escapes me. The audience only just outnumbered the musicians !


JS works very, very close to the mic, btw.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-vhLwSgWZgeA/SiplZpL9UzI/AAAAAAAACz0/byDmT6PKcbc/IMG_6217.JPG

[Globaltruth]

lat,


I think the secret to the Schulkind formula is the fact his ears do not permit him to play filler
You certainly may not like some of the stuff but bland and unsurprising it will not be !
!

that is, as they say, a good point well made.

You can replace the word 'Schulkind' by 'Sharp' 'Talkington' 'Reinhardt' or 'Kennedy' imo...and I deliberately include MAK because we can predict there will be some Celtic music in there - but hey, so what.

However the main 'radio station' other than r3 I seem to listen to nowadays is on Spotify.... (there's a competitor coming up on the rails - http://www.boinc.com/)




PS Sad to hear about Len Ganley. I don't follow that sport, but I will always remember his stance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVSd74XdZ_E

[Lateralthinking1]

GT, Oh yes, I would definitely include MAK. I like her. She is one of the best.

The question on any competition to Spotify is "will they offer more or less than 2.5 hours per week for free?". The sudden move to 2.5 hours pw was not terrific for the unwaged and constraining.

Paul, You were at Tmesis on Sunday 13 July 2003 perhaps? Only the two acts are mentioned in the listing but three months later they were touring a lot in the States with Iron and Wine who arguably had their biggest year in 2010. At one event, they were with Death Cab For Cutie.

Interestingly earlier in the year, they toured on occasions with one of my all-time favourites, Mark Eitzel of American Music Club and also John Wesley Harding, among others. In fact, they were also at Tmesis in the January but with no listed supprt.

And towards the end of the previous year - 2002 - they were in the States variously with M Ward, the excellent Neko Case and Richmond Fontaine, who are my long shot at your band on the night!

[Paul Sherratt]

Lat,

That was the very gig. I've tracked the band down following your date detective work, via the Bob Harris site.
The young band who came over for a BBC session weren't actually booked by the venue but wanted to play anyway were The Ashtray Hearts
see the big pic:

http://freeelection.org/press/AshtrayHearts3.jpg

So there must have been around twelve musicians playing to an audience of fifteen, I think !

[Paul Sherratt]

Not much better ratio for those nice young lads playing in someone's large lounge, somewhere up near John !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLlzUSBrIc4&feature=related

[Lateralthinking1]

Interesting. I don't want to put huge pressure on but number 1000 has got to be outstanding.

[Paul Sherratt]

Coming soon ( but not to a cinema near you, me etc ! )

http://vimeo.com/18901948

And in a couple of weeks, Brosseau fan, VS.

[Lateralthinking1]

Thanks for this clip Paul. Is it a drama? I didn't realise he was an actor too.

Three very good LJs from Verity "it is all in the breathing" Sharp this week. Some of her programmes are so wonderfully coherent it almost seems wrong to pick out specific songs and tracks.

Tuesday was very folk. I enjoyed the Cecil Sharp Project who were formed at last year's Shrewsbury Festival, the Appalachian offering from Hedy West and the excellent medieval song from Daughters of Elvin. I didn't think I liked Vashti Bunyan but may have changed my mind with "Rainbow River". Loved Caladh Nua's "Templehouse Reels". The Matmos track was interesting - a peculiar title though - and the raga by Purbayan Chatterjee and Satyajit Talwalker was sublime.

In my humble opinion, the programme on Wednesday was slightly weaker. However, good to have Moondog, Tinariwen and Mariza. I liked "The Low Highland / Farewell to Erin" by Fidil. The outstanding track was "Libera Me, Domine" on which Ernst Reijseger and Alan Gunga Purves were joined by Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei. Sardinia's answer to A Filetta? I also very much enjoyed "Armonica" which featured Patrizio Mura and while sounding very different is from the same album by Reijseger.

Thursday was the best, more eclectic, and great from start to finish. Apart from the more obvious - Diabate, Farka Toure, Ferrer, Bocoum, I liked the Angolan Women from the film "Life In a Day" and the two Smithsonian tracks from Dock Boggs and Demarco & Burke. The best segment though was from "Bamboleando" by Oficina de Cordas through to the terrific, Manu Chao like, "Per Soleta Companhia" by Moussu T e lei jovents from Marseille. I will definitely be trying to listen to them more.

Track Listings - The track listing for the programme shows these two as having been back to back and this is my only criticism. I do wish they would sort out the listings because they invariably miss several of the tracks out. There were actually two tracks between these two - Marcia Castro with the Tom Ze song "Frevo Pecadinho" which was one of the highlights and then one from the Shibusashirazu Orchestra about which admittedly Verity said they didn't have the title. There was also a track from Juan Carmona in one of the programmes that I currently can't find on the lists but I'm tiring at this point so I guess it could be there!

[DracoM]

Terrific selection last two nights on LJ. And all wrapped by the super-cool Verity. Loved the Icelandic stuff.

[DracoM]

So calming to tune in late night to 'that voice' and that under-stated link work. Professional, R3 at its very best. Thanks, V.

[Globaltruth]

So calming to tune in late night to 'that voice' and that under-stated link work. Professional, R3 at its very best. Thanks, V.

I totally agree, my only minor niggle would be there can be a certain predictability in the music that is played - for example both Verity and Fiona are clearly fans of Susanna Wallumrød, so, whenever she has new recordings, it's guaranteed she will appear.
Emily Portman was a superb track on which to end and prior to that, Alexander Berne and The Abandoned Orchestra, someone I shall be investigating further.

Oh yes, my other niggle would be the music that gets played at the end of LJ and which has been played for years - totally destroys any atmosphere which has been generated but at least it reminds me to switch it off....

[zola]

I don't have the time to listen every to every edition of Late Junction as I once did. And I think it is inevitable after over ten years of the programme that some predictability might creep into the selections. I still think that they do a pretty good job. My solution to the time poverty I currently suffer is to make a point of listening to the Verity weeks, which fit the most closely with my tastes, and letting the other weeks slide. So....loved Malouma with the Hadouk Trio on Tuesday night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq9NWtuXFpE

And Charlie Parr last night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlF0aOxANFo&feature=related

Amongst much else of course.