Griff says: Solstice Reborn

Don't worry about the title, this site hasn't suddenly shifted from blogging about music to blogging about games. The Solstice reborn I'm referring to is the latest precious musical offering from Streetlamp favourite Syd Lane (pictured). You may be a little confused at this point, and may even be asking yourself; "Has Griff lost it? Why he rhapsodised over Syd's new album, Hypatia, only last month." Indeed I did, and for those who are not yet acquainted with the very lovely Syd, you can catch up 'here'. But tonight I'm talking about a newer album, or rather a new, old album. Confused? Let me explain.



On the 21st December (the day of the Winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere) 2009, in her home studio in Dublin, Syd Lane recorded nine songs in a couple of hours, with no breaks in the recording process. The album was named The Solstice Sessions and can still be found on Syd's bandcamp page. Syd felt at the time that she didn't want to hold the songs back and, in January 2010, she released the songs as they were, but deep in her heart she knew that, like all great works of art, they weren't quite finished, but instead abandoned. Syd has now returned to these songs and, with Jason Raspa of frogville originally ear-marked for mastering duties but unable to do so, has herself produced the fully realised conception of that which she heard in her mind back on that short Winter's day in 2009. So how does the remastered Solstice compare to the original? Well, magnificent, of course, but whatever I have to say about it I doubt very much that I could top either this review 'here' by the poet Jeremiah James for insight and affection or this 'here' by the irrepressible Smally of Quixodelic Records for sheer enthusiasm and passion. Please check them both out as they really will make you want to listen immediately to this wonderful album. Incidentally, the album now contains 10 tracks due to the inclusion of Love Far Away. I'd like to write more about how beautiful and sincere this music is but I feel constrained not to. I guess that sometimes I feel that Syd is like a tiny, fragile bird that I'll damage if I hold her too tight with my words, so instead I'll let her fly free and leave you with my two favourite songs from the album.






Beautiful! If you loved those, and I fervently hope that you did, then you may also want to check out Syd assisting Jason Raspa on frogville's brand new Syd Barrett covers EP; Songs In the Key of Barrett. As with Syd Lane's, all of Jason Raspa's music, including new album Love, is free to download from bandcamp.






Griff
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Griff says; Hypatia - beautiful, brilliant, accomplished and free.

I took the above title from a description of Hypatia of Alexandria, the 4th century CE philosopher mathematician, and one of the greatest women of classical antiquity, but it applies equally well to the other Hypatia, who I am introducing this evening. This Hypatia is the brilliant new album by Dublin-based, singer-songwriter Syd Lane (pictured).



Syd Lane has been writing and recording music in her own home-studio for the past seven years, and in that time has released eight full-length records, all of which she has released for free. Many of you will, no doubt, be familiar with her as one of the recurring artists on the excellent Daydream Generation compilations released through the lovely, Scottish-based, Quixodelic Records label.

Originally, however, Syd formed a creative collective in 2004 with poet Jeremiah James under the name The Loaded Whispers. Later the duo changed their name to Chansons De Geste, but the dynamic remained the same with Syd writing, arranging, recording, and performing all of the music and Jeremiah James providing lyrics. The songs they recorded can be heard and downloaded for free at the respective last.fm pages as well as at Syd's tumblr page and the Quixodelic Records site. Do check them out as they are very, very good.

Nowadays, Syd records her music under the Syd Lane name and describes herself as; "a recluse preferring to write and record songs in my home studio than to play many gigs."

So, while you can't expect to see her at your local venue any time soon, at least give thanks that she is still writing and recording because, quite frankly, whatever name she chooses to give herself this is one very special talent. Syd Lane's music can be hard to pin down as it often shifts brilliantly from genre to genre but basically it should appeal if you like dreamy, psychedelic folk-pop with beautifully harmonised female vocals.


The new album, Hypatia, contains 12 tracks, each given a single feminine name and, even now after listening to it several times, I'm hard pushed to pick out favourites. Every song seems to come replete with a clever, unusual arrangement but still manages to contain a catchy melody. The lyrics are dense, implicative and pregnant with myth and meaning. It's the sort of album that will bear repeated listenings as slowly and magically the full hidden treasure of each song is revealed. But don't take my word for it, after much thought, I've embedded three tracks below to illustrate what I mean.

First up, conventionally enough, is track one; Maya. This is a hymn to the mystical concept in Hinduism which manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality in the phenomenal universe. And what's more, it opens with 'In Heaven (the lady in the radiator song)' from David Lynch's incomparable 1977 classic Eraserhead; any song that incorporates that particular cultural nugget was always going to be a Streetlamp team favourite.




The next song I'd like to feature is track 7; the short and much more playful 'Kate'. This song owes an obvious debt to the kooky pastoralism of Syd Barrett, and again this was bound to immediately endear it to the Streetlampers.




Finally, here's track 9; Siren. This is a cover version of Tim Buckley's renowned and remarkable Song to the Siren. It's generally agreed that this is Buckley's greatest song and I, personally, absolutely adore the This Mortal Coil version (which interestingly enough featured on another David Lynch masterpiece; 1997's Lost Highway). However, the Syd Lane version stands it's own ground in this accomplished company. Syd's ethereal, gossamer-light vocal floats over the top of a doomy, bassy accordian/organ accompaniment. It's the song I love, but played as a funereal sea-shanty; and you know what? I love it even more.




Hypatia is available as a free download on Syd Lane's bandcamp page or, if you like, you can donate a little money. As regards her attitude to art and commerce Syd has this to say:

"So I recently joined bandcamp.com. On the front page, there are praises being sung by users of the site, and on more than one occasion I have seen musicians referring to their customers.

I don’t like the idea of musicians and artists having customers. Something about that makes me feel strange and uncomfortable.

I have set my records for free, and there is also an option to donate upon downloading if you like. I’ve done that because over the years people have wanted to have a way to send me money for my music. Certain people have felt wrong about taking it for nothing, and have asked me to allow them to send money. I appreciate the thought behind this - it’s a beautiful idea that they want to support me to continue making music. But I personally love to give my music away for nothing, I don’t like having a price on it… There is no price in the world that could denote all of my thoughts and dreams and tears and love going into these songs."

I think that is a beautiful, well-expressed and profound sentiment; much like a Syd Lane song, in fact.

Enjoy!

Griff
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Griff says; Come down from the mountain, Top Montagne

I have a nice combination of music and visual arts for you this evening. As you'll hopefully know, I'm rather keen on artist/musician fusion (see Colorform, mkf, entertainment for the braindead) and, as I'd like to begin blogging a little about lo-fi artists, as well as musicians, I admire, I'm confident that this should be an agreeable little taster for you. The band is called Top Montagne (pictured), they come from Paris, France, and remarkably the band line-up contains, not just one, but two excellent visual artists.

I'll begin at the beginning. Back in the days when Myspace was a thriving community for aspiring musicians to meet and share their art, I became friendly with a young musician and graphic artist called Pierre Chandeze. Pierre had attracted my attention as he was a rather fine purveyor of that most evocative, and yet most neglected instrument; the musical saw. Rather infuriatingly, he also seemed to have an almost inhuman work rate and every other week he was playing on someone else's song, or producing their cover art, or designing their website. He also found time to create a distinctive series of art works featuring 'ugly animals' (pictured).




I was rather fond of these and for quite a while the above freaky sea-creature was my pc desktop picture. Anyway, Pierre is still at it and last month one of the bands he plays with, Top Montagne, released their album 'J'aime Pas La Musique'. The album contains 14 brilliant little, quirky, home-produced, folk-pop masterpieces and features those perennial Griff favourite's; the glockenspiel, the melodica and the concertina, but of course, this time with the added bonus of the aforementioned saw to add a bit of whimsical Gallic charm. Naturally, this being Streetlamp, the album is available as a free download but, interestingly, not from one of the usual sites. No, 'J'aime Pas La Musique' is available only on comic book artist David Snug's website. In fact, 'J'aime Pas La Musique' is also, the name of the next David Snug comic book and will include the Top Montagne album inside. Unfortunately, the comic book is not yet completed but, for now, feel free to download the album. So, you're no doubt wondering, who is David Snug? David Snug is the psuedonym of Guillaume, the band's main composer. He also provided the wonderful album cover art as well as other diverse artworks (below) for the band. Like Pierre, he has his own distinctive and idiosyncratic style and his site is well worth a visit.


While it's creditable to laud the band's in-house artists I shouldn't neglect the other band members, so I'll correct that now. The full Top Montagne line-up is: Aude (vocals, glockenspiel, melodica, concertina, flute...), Guillaume (guitar and percussion), Hélène (oboe and backing vocals) and Pierre (guitar, musical saw). I've added two songs from the album to soundcloud so that you can have a listen (below). I think you'll like it!
08 les animaux - Top Montagne by SadPanda

11 c'est pas fait - Top Montagne by SadPanda


I hope you enjoyed that. If you want to hear similar I should also mention that; Guillaume and Pierre also play with the band Quetzalli who have free music available at CLLCT, Guillaume also fronts The David Snug Trio, Pierre is a member of Sean Croft, and finally (phew), Pierre's solo music work goes under the name of Carton Sonore. Carton Sonore's music is free and can be found on last.fm, CLLCT and bandcamp. You may also remember that a Carton Sonore track 'Dérive' was also featured on Daydream Generation No. 9 (along with a sighrens track), which can be downloaded here.
If you liked Pierre's 'ugly animal' art then you might want to buy one of his rather fine self-produced t-shirts or bags from here. As it's getting close to Christmas might I suggest that these would make excellent presents for family and friends. Now, how many music blogs do you know that help with the Christmas shopping? Yes, as always, The Streetlamp likes to go that extra mile.

Salut!

Griff
xx

Griff says; Time to become a Daydream believer

When you spend most of your life playing, talking about, listening to and generally obsessing about music and you realise that you're spending more and more time on-line trying to satisfy your new music fix it's refreshing, and a bit of a relief, to find someone else who has it even worse. When that person also comes from your own tiny part of the world and can point you in the direction of a multitude of excellent bands with one click of his mouse then you know you've met a kindred spirit. I'm referring here to Smally, the head honcho and living, breathing heartbeat of both Quixodelic Records and the Daydream Generation website. Quixodelic is a little Scots-based record label specialising in lo-fi, DIY, home-made, psychedelic, folk, pop, and experimental music. The label has a huge roster and a long history of releases covering a dizzying variety of styles and genres but, as you've probably already guessed, it's all done for arts sake and is freely available for you to download. In Smally's own words:

I'm not so good at blowing the DG trumpet but here goes: it's really just a bit of fun, but over the years I've met some exceptional people and realised that quite often the best music being made isn't on the shelves in HMV, or playing on any radio station I can find, but it's happening on bedroom floors and in basements around the world. I always love the hiss and fluffed notes of the Dylan bootlegs or the Beatles' Anthology series - the songs we feature are from the same back garden... real people, living real lives, and singing their guts out just for their love of making music or expressing themselves. You can't really argue with that, can you? This is a revolutionary time for music... before you had to hand-make tapes and give them to your friends, now you're a couple of clicks away from a genuine global community of people who are eerily like yourself, daydreaming the same daydream. It's good to be a little part of it.

Amen to that, it is indeed. When you visit the Daydream Generation website there's such an embarrasment of riches it's difficult to know where to start. Luckily for you, The Streetlamp is here to give you a little helping hand.
The Daydream Generation compilations are a regular feature from Quixodelic Records and give them a chance to showcase songs from both new and existing artists. This week sees the release of Daydream Generation No. 9, a huge undertaking which provides 45 songs over two discs.

I must admit at this point that I have a little inside interest in this compilation as it features a song by sighrens. However, leaving that aside I can genuinely say that the variety and quality of music across both discs is astonishing. Last week I asked Smally to send me his two favourite songs off the compilation so that we could feature them on the site. He responded with much uhmming and aaahing and a story of how he couldn't possibly pick just two. I suspected at the time that he was merely being diplomatic and so I downloaded the compilation and set to some serious listening myself. Almost immediately I saw that he was simply being truthful. Song after song on both discs jumped out at me as a possible candidate for the Streetlamp video treatment. Each time I picked out a favourite track another song would come along and supplant it.

In the end, thoroughly confused but mightily entertained, I picked one song from each disc virtually at random and I hope that they'll serve to give you a very slight taster of what's on offer on this compilation. After you've heard them go download the complete compilation 'here'. Enjoy!

Griff

xx