Patio

Does patio rhyme
With ratio or is it
The other way round

Emperor Tomato Ketchup by Stereolab

I was initially confused by this as I think I’d mixed up Stereolab with Stereophonics for obvious reasons. When I realised my mistake, this album really grabbed me - experimental, bloopy, Anglo-Gallic fun, somewhere between The Velvet Underground and Air with a diversion via the krautrock styings of Can and a touch of Bristol trip hop. The lyrics don’t make a lick of sense (“Crazy, sturdy, a torpedo”) but they don’t need to. 

Galloise-tastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/1230526714

Turnip, Flirt

Is that a turnip

In your pocket or are you

Just pleased to see me?

Invincible Compendium One by Robert Kirkman

 Mark Grayson is, by all appearances, a regular American teenager struggling with the usual adolescent concerns of schoolwork and girlfriends. However, he has a secret - his dad is Omni-Man - the most powerful superhero on Earth. When Mark turns seventeen he also gains superpowers - flight, super strength and all round invincibility, so he assumes his superhero soubriquet of ... INVINCIBLE!. 

This is a fun superhero romp, with some fun twists along the way. It's not quite superheroes in the real world in the style of Alan Moore, but the fights are noticeably bloodier and more impactful than typical superhero comics. Invincible and his super team mates regularly get pummelled to a pulp and costumes usually end getting shredded and needing replacing.

I mainly picked this up out of interest because I am looking forward to playing the licenced RPG from Free League which is based on this setting, but it is generic enough that it could easily be adapted to any superheroic setting without too much work. 

Clear Sky

The weather vane turns
Yesterday’s clouds now fading
South wind, clear morning

North Wind

Of the wind’s quarters
The north is the cruelest by far
Heralding winter

The north wind doth blow
No snow though, just a little
Cloud and light drizzle

Nilsson Schmilsson by Harry Nilsson

For most people these days, if you mention the name Harry Nilsson you’ll be met with a blank look, but there was a time when he was one of the biggest selling recording artists in the 70s. By all accounts though, he was a shy, private man who hated the limelight and preferred to spend his time getting outrageously drunk with his best friend John Lennon. 

If you listen to this album, then there will be at least a couple of tracks that you will recognise from the jaunty Gotta Get Up, the maudlin Without You, the genuine rock banger Jump into the Fire or the (borderline racist) novelty song Coconut. This is a great example of a 70s album that mixes genres and moods with gleeful abandon but whether that makes for a cohesive listen is another matter.

Lime-in-de-coconut-tastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/304815001

Moon Rise

Standing on the shore
Surveying a wine dark sea
Watching the moon rise

Future Days by Can

Well, this is all kinds of awesome. It was released in 1973 but still sounds startlingly contemporary and timeless, ranging from dreamy ambient flow states to full on freakouts, with metronomic drum beats, electronic sound effects, abstract vocal stylings and noodling keyboards in the mix. Parts of this genuinely sound like trip-hop dance music released this year.

With typical boneheaded reductionism this got labeled as simply ‘Krautrock’ by the UK music press but there’s a lot more going on here than just a motorik beat.

Can-tastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/711461112

Pine Sap

Sharply splintering
Sticky sap slowly seeping
Sweetly smelling spruce

Dry by PJ Harvey

In one of those happy coincidences that this list sometimes throws up, yesterday’s album was PJ Harvey’s 2000 release Stories from the City and today’s is her debut. I’ve gone from not knowing much about her to being a fan in the space of 24 hours. This is a great album, unjustly overlooked in 1992 whilst the media at the time were obsessed with those cob nobbling bands over in Seattle for some reason. 

Harvey is a great musician and her songs are boldly and unapologetically feminist without falling into riot grrrl cliches. The highlight is Sheela-na-gig which takes the idea of the male gaze and shoves it right back into the face of the patriarchy. I hope that some of the critics who were snooty about this record looked that word up and were suitably surprised when they did!

https://album.link/gb/i/1450131752

Woodpecker

A flash of scarlet
Heralds a new visitor
Pecking at peanuts

Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea by PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey was another artist I missed out on in the 2000’s for various reasons, so I was glad to get the opportunity to listen to this today. This is solid, reliable indie rock with a great selection of songs tangentially inspired by New York City. Her voice reminds me a little of Chrissie Hynde, with a similar level of confidence and assurance. The only odd bit is when Thom Yorke turns up on one track and he felt out of place to me. 

https://album.link/gb/i/1442556188