Candle, Sunset

Winter ritual
Light a candle at sunset
Holding back the dark

Water from an Ancient Well by Abdullah Ibrahim

Something a bit different today, with a jazz album from South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim that mixes jazz rhythms with the some of the distinctive moods of the townships around Johannesburg. It probably sounds more like New York style jazz than I’d hoped, but it’s engaging nonetheless. I wish I knew a bit more about this album and the musicians than the fairly sparse notes on the wiki page.

https://album.link/gb/i/287950999

Eggplant, Rage

Eggplant emoji
With lascivious intent
Often causes rage

loveless by My Bloody Valentine

“Wall of sound” is an expression that is often thrown around to describe particular production techniques, but I think that it genuinely fits here. In this case the band played the guitar parts on vintage equipment, sampled the output and layered it multiple times to create an effect of a huge soundscape. At points the sound becomes almost abstract and looped, reminding me in places of experimental pieces by Steve Reich and other avant garde musicians.  

It’s been described as shoegaze but it’s a little bit too discordant to be comfortable listening for me. I think it would depend heavily on the right atmosphere and volume to work properly.

https://album.link/gb/i/1556921230

Thaw

After the big freeze
And the return of the sun
We get the big melt

Ten by Pearl Jam

For a debut album released in 1991 at the height of the Seattle Grunge boom, this has more in common with 70s classic rock and even a touch of metal in places. I mean, it’s perfectly fine and I recall playing some of these tracks in Rock Band on the Xbox, but they’re all pretty interchangeable and nothing has stuck in my head even after two listens.

For all of their greasy hair and baggy jumpers, it turns out that Pearl Jam are just a bunch of lame-stain cob nobblers.

https://album.link/gb/i/425465247

Cold, Melon

Hotel breakfast choice
Should I have some cold melon
Or a full English?