dark is normal and pop is trivial

Looking for videos for this morning's post, I came across this, which I'd not seen before. I'm not sure if folk is as cool as some critics make out, but I think there is a new appreciation of the influence folk has had on popular music. Thommo says himself "I'm not a folkie. I'm a singer-songwriter with traditional roots" - maybe that's as good a definition as any other of the music I like (says the man who is happily supping from his new Spiritualized coffee mug - a replacement for my late lamented Pogues one).

Part One:


Part Two:

I see young girls with old faces. I see good girls in bad places.

I'm through the last few weeks of travelling. Early morning drives or taxis to airports, trying to catch up on sleep on nasty cheap flights, up late drinking beer and pontificating about work. In short, not listened to much or read much.
Cara's third birthday party last weekend, I put together a play list which I thought would appeal to 3 year olds - Yakety Yak, Hey Good Lookin', Green Onions, Hey Ya, Wipeout, Everybody Wants to be a Cat, Charlie Brown etc. Which Lorna thought was a self indulgent middle aged male thing, but I thought added to the party.
(Unsurprisingly, almost expectedly) dodgy cover aside, I am enjoying Sweet Warrior, the new Richard Thompson album (which the record man on the market - who is pretty good on all things Folk Rock - was flogging on Saturday, as I knew he would, 2 days before the release). And there seem to be plenty of Thommo fans in St Albans judging by its' prominance on the stall. I do lose superlatives for Thommo, and owning so much by him, it's easy to forget the good albums, and the great songs on average albums. First couple of listens are favourable. His Iraq war song Dad's Gonna Kill Me was pretty widely promoted ahead of the album. Genuinely scary, but I don't think it will reach the pantheon of great RT songs. Take Care The Road You Choose might though. A great anti-love ballad. This man can do bitter. When you follow that with Mr Stupid, and you're into the well-worn tracks of Shoot Out The Lights and Razor Dance.
I'm reading Bad Men by Clive Stafford Smith, about his experiences acting as a lawyer in Guantanomo Bay. I guess it won't be read by too many people who might change their minds about torture and detention without trial as a result. But his account of the torture (or "Human Resource Exploitation") experienced by one of his clients in Morocco after a CIA rendition flight did not help me sleep last night. I know that I would confess to anything in the face of torture. But if your thoughts about torture extend no further than a 30 second segment in 24, to even imagine 18 months of systematic abuse out of the eye of the media in a Rabat prison is horrifying enough. To think that the "confessions" extracted by such methods have been used to attack civil liberties at home, both in Europe and in North America, and certainly contributed to the decision to go to war in Iraq only increases the horror. Not to say the disgust when you read Tony Blair's comments in the Sunday Times that, as a society, we are "misguided and wrong" to have chosen to put the civil liberties of the suspect, even if a foreign national, first.
A different type of horror in Shane Meadows latest - This is England - on Sunday night. A really impressive film. Most of the reviews I had read had rightly praised Thomas Turgoose's performance as Shaun. But Stephen Graham's performance as Combo is central.

take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy

In Borders last night, buying the first two albums from The Hold Steady, and they were playing a great cover version of Life on Mars? in Portuguese. It was taken from the Life Aquatic Studio Sessions by Seu Jorge, an album from a couple of years ago, but which I'd never heard. Now, not only am I a sucker for a good cover version, but he was also in City of God, which I have regularly referred to as my favourite film of all time. And, of course, that song has been running through my mind thanks to the time traveling cop show, which was the best thing I saw on TV last year, and survived it's move to BBC1 for its' second season. I know that I should make an effort with Bowie - I've allowed his 80's radio friendly crap to overshadow his good stuff.
This really is pretty cool.

all I want in life's a little bit of love to take the pain away

I got a text on Sunday morning from Tom, who was enjoying the sun the sea and the sand at the ATP festival at Minehead Butlins.
"acoustic spiritualized just incredible" (slow website; maybe it just doesn't like Firefox). I've downloaded their live sets from Edinburgh and Manchester last November which, in spite of the audience noise (of course he's going to play "Oh Happy Day" - you don't have to start shouting for it after the first song), would seem to confirm that impression.
Still remember the first time I heard Spiritualized; listening to the Abbey Road EP over a cup of instant coffee which Tom had managed to rustle up from the back of a cupboard at his old house in Sherwood. One of those moments which gets you straight out of the house and down to a record shop. In this case, Selectadisc. Bought Abbey Road and Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (in the pill box packaging; I wish I'd bought two).
I'm on the train to Paris tomorrow; I think I know what I'll be listening to. I'll also be burning the next couple of episodes of The Sopranos to watch (since my hotel only has CNN in English); the first couple of episodes have suggested that we're building up to a very unpleasant conclusion.
I'm between books at the moment. Not sure whether to dive into Claire Massud's The Emperors Children (though comparisons with the massively overrated The Corrections concern me) or I’ll Take You There; Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence, both of which have been sat on the shelf for a few months. That said, as I'm travelling a fair bit in May, I might just settle for Mojo, Word, Wired and a few 33 1/3 books.