dreams of a sister like Molly Ringwald

Another one that's going to figure in my 2008 favourites. What is it with me and French music?

is it a bat? is it a cat?

New Mogwai album out on Monday. I've been playing this rather a lot.

suddenly I'm unsure where do I call home

A rare night out without the girls for Lorna and myself as we went to see Jane Birkin at the Roundhouse - a suitably iconic venue for a 60's icon - a national treasure indeed, as someone shouted from the crowd. Although which nation was far from clear. She spoke in French at least as much as English; I did reflect at one point whether this was quite possibly the most ridiculously pretentious gig I could ever go to. But then, she is far more French than English these days, and whilst most of the set was drawn from her two most recent albums of collaborations and songs written for her by other writers, she will be forever associated with Gainsbourg and the songs that he wrote for her. She acknowledged the presence of his ghost at one point, and whilst Lorna and I were both sorry she didn't include our favourite Gainsbourg songs - Couleur Café and Comment te dire Adieu - many of the highlights were Gainsbourg compositions - Le moi et le je, Je m'appelle Jane (sung in duet with the soundman from the circle and ending with a kazoo solo by Birkin) and Ballade de Johnny Jane.
Her voice has never been strong - the breathlessness of Je T'aime (Moi Non Plus) is present in many of her songs - and there were times when the band seemed to overwhelm her. But her presence - her use of space, particularly when she left the stage, moved through the main space and ended up almost within touching distance of our seats in the circle - was captivating. A 61 year old grandmother, but there were plenty of flashes of the sex kitten first seen in Blow Up.
Some of the new material worked better than others - Neil Hannon's Home and Beth Gibbons' Strange Melody came to life, and Tom Waits' Alice could have been written for her. She played one new song - a sung/spoken tribute to Aung San Su Kyi, which could have been excruciatingly worthy, but was an unexpected highlight.
Performing for almost two hours, with no support, two standing ovations and encores of Ex-Fan des Sixties and L'Aquoiboniste, the evening never flagged, and we walked back to the car through the ashes of Camden Town with a smile on our faces.
The temptation to illustrate this post with one of the famous old photos we could not help but recall is strong, but instead, a lovely clip of her singing Di Doo Dah on the Russell Harty Show in 1973:

strong and warm and wild and free

It may have the most ridiculously pervy/sexist cover since The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, but I'm enjoying the lush electro sounds of the new Sebastien Tellier album



...and, talking of Sexuality, I'm looking forward to Monday. As well as the new Billy Bragg, the new Nick Cave album sounds great, and I'll probably get hold of Malcolm Middleton and Duffy as well. Before that, I've got Jane Birkin for a bit more anglo-gallic loveliness, tomorrow night in Camden.

not solid enough for the office

Listening to Martin Simpson being interviewed and playing on Simon Mayo's show this afternoon, and looking back on the Radio Two Folk Awards last week, I'm left thinking what a great year for folk music 2007 was. I went on at length at how great Cambridge was - given that I saw Lau, Bellowhead, the Winterset, Martin Simpson, John Tams and Julie Fowlis (albeit the last two as part of the Under One Sky collective), of the major winners only The Imagined Village was absent (it was being launched under two feet of mud at Womad that weekend). Some of the choices were close to impossible - how to pick between Lau, The Winterset and Bellowhead for band of the year, but, sticking to the nominated artists, this would have been my choice:
FOLK SINGER OF THE YEAR: Julie Fowlis (no argument there)
BEST DUO: Show of Hands. The bridesmaids again; their two cd retrospective was one of the releases of last year.
BEST GROUP: Rachel Unthank & The Winterset. Impossible choice. Lau are probably better live (though not as good as Bellowhead).
BEST ALBUM: The Bairns (no surprises at all).
BEST ORIGINAL SONG: Never Any Good - Martin Simpson. Bitter Boy is also good, but Kate Rusby's nod is yet to come.
BEST TRADITIONAL TRACK: John Barbury - Kate Rusby. Awkward Annie is Kate's best album for a very long time, and this was a delight.
HORIZON AWARD: Bella Hardy. The worst decision of the night. They had to give Rachel an award, but how can you give a newcomers award to someone whose debut album was Mojo's folk album of 2005? And I really like Bella.
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR: Martin Simpson. A great album, including a couple of really outstanding songs from one of the country's great guitarists.
BEST LIVE ACT: Bellowhead. Can't disagree at all, though again a great shortlist.

I've been haunted in my sleep, you've been starring in my dreams

Couple of nods towards free music - The Fabric podcast invites producers, record label owners and the like to put together music that has inspired them. Five sessions so far - I particularly enjoyed the Andy Weatherall and Doc Scott mixes. And whilst I should maybe be irritated that Erol Alkan has made freely available an album I hunted down and paid well over the odds for, his Bugged In remix is now available for download. As I said...gosh,is it really three months since I posted here....and I've picked up a lot of music since then...that is one of my favourite compilations. Highly recommended.