We Have Love - "A Scratchy Spotlight"

Digging through dusty old records, sorting the wheat from the chaff, is a breeze compared to attempting to do the online equivalent. To say that trawling through the never ending virtual crate of online music, clamouring for attention in the brave new world of myspace accounts, is an overwhelming task is something of an understatement.

Yet here, at 'Scratchy Towers' we have grasped the internettle and are delighted to bring to your notice, some of the the daisys that stood out in the field of weeds.

First up is a band who have covertly crept into my consciousness, We Have Love are a lo-fi electro outfit, with tendencies to stray into dance beats. A debutante from the finishing school of icy cool pop.

This trio are from Stockholm in Sweden and Bethany May is on lead vocals, Per commands the software and Anna also contributes vocals. Out of the collection of tunes up on their myspace site, there are a clutch of songs that show great promise. Currently, these are still in a sketchy demo format, but with a bit of spit and shine, could polish up into magnificent jewels.

'Goodbye' is the type of pristine cool yet perky pop, that those masters of the genre St Etienne, penned throughout their career and would sit very comfortably in their back catalogue.

Eponymous track 'We Have Love' is a taut minimal track stripped down to just the essentials. Imagine something along the lines of Laurie Anderson covering Talking Heads 'Psycho Killer' fronted by a voice reminiscent of the legendary glamour of actress Louise Brooks.

'Fay Wray' has been given the benefit of a remix treatment from Sven Fröberg and Fredrik Persson, of Greek Theatre and is perhaps the strongest song of the pack. It's a delicate slice of psych pop with an intoxicating piano hook, which whirls with a wistfulness of a silent movie star, contemplating the the onset of the talkies: "I am big, it's the music that got small"

Blog blips on the radar...

http://www.swedesplease.net/ (01/05/09)

http://www.hallockhill.net/ (05/05/09)

http://www.digfisongs.com/ who describe them as

"A fantastic mixture between shoegaze and electropop, between soundwall and fluffy beats, between shyness and self-confidence, between decadence and glamour"

We Have Love - Dancing - a teaser video featuring Shunda K from Yo Majesty guesting on vocals and giving We Have Love a hip hop flavour. buy it here

DancingTeaser


www.myspace.com/wehavelove

http://www.wehavelove.se/

www.myspace.com/yomajesty

http://www.myspace.com/430590514 (The Greek Theatre)

ioktember

If you like your post-pop rock to be angsty, folksy, dramatic and lovely all at the same time, then ioktember, have recorded some songs in the basement of an old mental institution, that should get your hairs on the back of your neck standing on end.

I was ear wigging a conversation, during my weekly supermarket shop at the weekend, between a security guard and the till assistant. They began discussing and analysing their attempt to chat up two Swedish ladies, who had chanced upon the checkout of these budding romeos, which became the highlight of their day. The gist of the conversation was based on how the guys' charm and smarm could have been more finely honed, as their tactics evidently bombed. The opening gambit of asking the girls "where are they from?" quickly followed by a "Where's Sweden?" then culminating with the killer lines "Isn't that the country full of trees? no wait! are we confusing it with the the land of lakes?" the outcome of this charm offensive was a miserable strike out and the guys were left ruing their opportunity and lack of geography knowledge, as they contemplated the rest of day processing the meagre food rations of hordes of poor, disposed, music blog writers and middle class credit crunch refugees. I yearned to interject, that Sweden actually should be currently be known as 'the land the great bands' and here's another one..

Hailing from Stockholm, ioktember, risen from the remnants of a previous incarnation known as Infinite Regress and have leanings towards the big commercial sound of say Snow Patrol with the finely crafted songwriting of The Blue Nile and finely wrought offerings of This Mortal Coil.

The band list My Bloody Valentine, Godspeed you! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros, Joy Division, Wu Tang Clan, Johnny Cash, Chris Isaak, Einsturzende Neubauten and The Pixies, so as influences go, you can see an interesting mix going on there.

The collective names of ioktember are Emil Henricson,Johan Augustsson, Daniel Andersson, Hanna Eklöf, Hannes Holmqvist and Max Håkan Holm. They describe themselves as "People gathered behind the old dumpster, randomly at first, to play the organ and have themselves an occasional sing-song" Actually, judging by the songs on their myspace.com/ioktember site, they're creating something very mournful but marvellous.

There are just the four tracks up on this website: Shine, Be There, For The Last Day Of Spring and My Love Something, of which the latter is the stand out tune for me, making good use of the boy/girl duet vocals singing an emotionally wrought tune, with a with a lilting horn arrangement.

The only significant blips on the blogging radar so far come from http://meadowmusic.se/en/?p=261 and http://absolutnoise.blogspot.com/2009/05/from-old-mental-institution.html

http://ioktember.com/

http://www.myspace.com/ioktember

The Rosebuds

The Rosebuds are a duo Ivan Howard (vocals/guitar/ drums/ bass/keyboards/programming) and Kelly Crisp (vocals/keyboard/drums/guitar/accordion) who have four full-length albums of electro indie folk/pop, plus a digital-only album of remixes, under their belt. They operate out of Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A and have been doing their musical thang since 2001 They have also contributed to a couple of compilation tribute albums for The Pixies and The Cure so their musical taste is impeccable.

The video for the title track from their latest album Life Like is an absolute corker, with a stripped back to nature feel and a touch of blue wode Green Man tribalism within the visuals. However these dalliances with Pagan imagery always puts me in mind of The Wicker Man film (original 1973 version) which has to rank in my top ten films to see EVER! as well as having a great soundtrack that is well worth tracking down. Though I never tire of watching those jolly sun worshipping island folk hunting down Edward Woodward, as an unreconstructed city dweller, this horror romp with our rustic cousins always leaves me slightly uneasy.

Another detail that left me slightly perturbed was that our antler and fur wearing chums are suspiciously beautiful, in a way that smacked of a model casting agency booking for an overpriced perfume advert kind of way. 'Rutting Stag pour homme' anyone? Nevertheless, overlooking that minor glitch, it's a killer video for a killer song.

Check out the alternative version on their myspace, it's a reworked version involving T-Pain, Lil Wayne and our very own Rosebuds. I believe the youth of today call it a "mash up" or something like that Listen here I especially like the vocoder vibe on on vocals which makes it sound super cool. It's always the sign of a strong song that it can be subjected to very different cover versions yet still hold up.

The Rosebuds - Life Like - taken from the album Life Like (2008)

Released via Merge Records Buy It Here
Executive Producer: Steve Choo Director: Daniel Garcia



Upcoming Gigs

09-04-09 Pizza Lucé, Duluth, MN
10-04-09 Whole Music Club at Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
13-04-09 Lee's Palace, Toronto, ON
16-04-09 The Bellhouse, Brooklyn, NY
19-04-09 KiDROCKERS at 92Y TRIBECA, New York, NY
24-04-09 Golden Belt - Benefit for Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC
14-05-09 LaSalle Power Company, Chicago, IL
06-06-09 Band Together for Lucy Daniels Center at Lincoln Theatre Outdoor Stage, Raleigh, NC
http://www.myspace.com/therosebuds

http://www.therosebuds.com/

http://therosebuds.blogspot.com/

http://kellycrisp.blogspot.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_rosebuds

Built By Snow - Mega

Now, I've never stepped inside an American High School in my entire life, yet I believe that I would be able to get to grips with all the rituals and strange nuances of these education institutions fairly quickly. This is mainly due to regularly digesting many hours of television programmes and films, set in these locations, over the years. A lifetime of absorbing John Hughes films, classics like Pink In Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Clueless, Dazed and Confused (a personal favourite) Schlock Horror movies, My So Called Life, Beverley Hills 901234556789 and ahem High School Musical has equipped me with all the preparation one would need to seamlessly fit in this universal part of the American Dream.

(Full marks for the vinyl copy of 'Back To The Future' Soundtrack)

The concept of parking up at the school gates in an smart open top car with stretched fenders is well within my grasp (a long way off the rusty banger of a V.W Polo with mould growing on the back seats, I used to actually limp into college in, back yonder) A quick dash into lessons via the metal detectors, "Sorry officer, I forgot about the Magnum lurking in my gym bag!" running along those wide polished aisles with hundreds of lockers on either side and saunter into the classroom parking my butt (see, I know the lingo) on one of those single seats, the ones with the funny pull out writing desk attachments, ready to give a quick run through of relative merits of the forty three (four) presidents.

Of course, learning facts is the way down the list of priorities at these places.. everyone knows High School is about learning to being COOL! Getting in with the right crowd is all important and being seen hanging out with the right people is vital. These places are a microcosm of life's big pecking order, packed with enough complex animal groupings, to give a David Attenborough Wildlife Documentary, a run for it's money.

Teenagers instinctively herd together and are acutely aware of the sliding scale of social order, that keeps everyone in their place. The alpha males of the jocks rule the roost, they swagger and bray, knowing they get first dibs on any prey, as they display their physical prowess, by bashing into each other at high speed on the football pitch. The cheerleaders display their physical attributes, in routines designed to remind everyone, that beauty is the major asset in this society. The valley girls know what to wear, how to talk and where to access all the right parties. The alt/emo scene are the flip side of these scenes rejecting accepted conformity and rebelling against the system. Every educational establishment has the stoner scene, who are kept on side by all cliques, because everyone needs their access to the drugs. Halfway down the pecking order are the regular kids, keeping their scores up by actually working, but not standing out too much. Then, there are all the groups based on racial, class and gender lines to tick off. Finally, we have the geeks, at the bottom of the pile, excluded and exiled from most socially inclusive activities, busy doing Spelling Bees, hanging out in the library or sitting in a dank recess of a room, solitary nerds busy typing away at a computer, in the middle of the night (oh hang on, that sounds familia...ahem!) These guys know their place and it doesn't really matter, because in ten years time, they'll have sold some Web 2.0 application for millions, letting them magically rise to the top of the heap.

So, I know the score and I'm ready to assert my place in the pantheon of High School Life. Thirty years of watching films like 'Never Been Kissed' have not been wasted, it's all been usual research and I now know how to high five with the jocks and give a wide berth to the invites to Math Club.

But hold up, Arrrrrghhhh! I'm all confused, Built by Snow have come along, thrown a rock hard snowball in my face and now the consequences are melting down the back of my neck. Why? well they look a bit nerdy, dress a bit square and profess to be interested in computers and retro games and such like. Yet instead of channelling these youthful indiscretions into a project for the science fair, they've formed a band. Not just any old band, one that plays edgy, antsy, synth punk pop. The BBS sound is The Buzzcocks meeting Hot Chip with a cough of Weezer, the towering wit of They Might Be Giants all driven by new wave power pop of The Cars. They also name check Scratchy favourites Tegan and Sara, so all in all they've turned all my stereotypes on my head. What a dilemma, I want to hang with the geeks, they're iglcool..! BBS will get an invite to the High School Prom; they'll go down a (snow) storm.

Built By Snow - Mega nine tracks, twenty two minutes. released on January 20th 2009
As they sing "I'm a weird kid so come with me let's go!"

Built By Snow - Underneath directed by Matt Murray and Andy Garibay



Built By Snow -All The Weird Kids Know - Directed by a Fan?



Usually, when I'm drop one of these band big ups, as the youth of today tend to say these days (I'm down wid da kidz, daddio) I tend to cherry pick the interesting parts of a band's press bumph and fill in the gaps with my personal slant on the proceedings. However, BBS have produced a rather wonderful press release done in the style of a Golden Age comic, so I might as well reproduce this as it has all the relevant information on, it's the bees knees.

Live Events..
18 Jan 2009 22:00 KVRX Local Live-STREAM THE SHOW-http://listen.kvrx.org/ The entire world!

24 Jan 2009 21:00 Club DeVille - Built By Snow, "MEGA" CD Release Party! Austin, Texas

4 Feb 2009 21:00 Creekside Lounge - 101x Homegrown Live Show Austin, Texas

25 Feb 2009 21:00 at Emos w/ The Authors Austin, Texas

http://www.builtbysnow.com/

www.myspace.com/builtbysnow

Small Feral Token - Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 11

Small Feral Token unleashed a corker of an album this year called 'Digipop' which popped out back in October. They were favourably featured in the national press in their native Sweden, but mystifyingly have barely registered in the U.K music press so far, thus I'm determined rectify the error of music blogland's ways and correct this oversight.

The 'Feral' sound could be pigeon holed as 'electronica pop' chirping from the same perch as highly commercial acts, like Kylie Minogue and Robyn. Yet they also have some of the musical magpie tendencies of Gwen Stefani and soar amongst the experimental clouds of Björk or Kraftwerk. All the while, lurking beneath the beats, is a brooding undercurrent of foreboding and implied menace, a la Portishead, so whilst all of these elements combine to produce a sumptuous mainstream peacock, concealed beneath the fine drapery, lies the heartbeat of an avant-garde Hitchcockian crow, slyly feathering the nest.

Small Feral Token is made up of the creative partnership between Lotta Westholm and Natalie Sjölund, who are based in Stockholm. Song writing duties are divided up with Lotta composing the foundations of the songs and Natalie writing the lyrics. Together they self produced their debut album 'Digipop' with some collaborative input from Aron Lamm. It was released via mondonuevorecords and is well worth checking out.

Here is the fantastic but spooky new video for the song 'Passionate Glue' It peeks into a nightmarish world, set within a padded cell, trapped within a German Expressionist painting. Lotta and Natalie play 'Alice in Wonderland' type characters, partaking in a nutty knotty knitting circle. Nurse, more meds please, I've dropped a stitch! It was filmed in collaboration with author & director Sandra Nilsen and the crew from Branbomm Film.

Small Feral Token - 'Passionate Glue'



http://www.smallferaltoken.com/

http://www.myspace.com/smallferaltoken

http://mondonuevo.se/

Little Boots

In my humble opinion Little Boots stole the show on last weeks edition of 'Later with Jools Holland' first shown on BBC 07/11/08. Sure, Fleet Foxes were sublime and The Killers were on top of their game, but for pure quirky energy and out of the foil freshness, Blackpool's finest power pop pixie, Victoria Hesketh (Little Boots) shone out, amongst a very strong line up.

Now I realise that I'm a bit slow out of the blocks on picking up on this artist, as she is already getting lauded by those in the know in muzbizland, but better late than never eh! The mix of lo-fi piano pop mixed with electro grunge, is brought alive by her keen ear for a blistering pop hook in the melody and has there ever been a better use of a stylophone in music history? Joe Goddard from 'candonowrongatthemoment' electro nerd band Hot Chip spotted her potential and was moved to polish her demo, producing her debut single Stuck On Repeat. She previously served her apprenticeship with Leeds based Dead Disco, who released a self titled album back in 2007.

If your not convinced yet that Little Boots is the future of pop, let me tell you that she uses a Tenori, this is a hand-held screen that acts as an instrument, with the aid of a grid of LED switches, that can be activated to create an evolving sound scape. "It is intended as a toy, but we've pushed it to its limits" quotefromhere It looks like a space invaders console, crossed with the head from Marvin the Paranoid Android of 'Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy' infamy; if that doesn't get yer feet a toe tappin, nothing will.

Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat (Live On Jools Holland)


Little Boots - Meddle (Live On Jools Holland)



http://www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/

http://www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/

http://www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/blog/

http://uk.youtube.com/littlebootsvideos

http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/artists/littleboots/

http://www.myspace.com/deaddiscohq

Air France

November: it's cold, dark, miserable, the economy imploding and it's raining down in biblical proportions.. time to jet off to sunnier climes, for a feel good three minute escape, courtesy of Gothenburg's chill out pilots Air France.

Surely it can't be an expertly cut montage of clips taken from David Hamilton's 1983 romantic film 'A Summer in St Tropez' set to the song 'Windmill Wedding' Yes it is and don't call me Shirley!

This was originally on their E.P 'No Way Down' which has just been re-released in an expanded form, including tracks from the 2006 'On Trade Winds' E.P The stand out song, spooky dreamlike 'Collapsing At Your Doorstep' with it's hypnotic loop"It's all like a dream, isn't it, no, better" will lift you off in business class, heading towards the Maldives, with it's lush tropical arrangement and sensual ambiance. File these guys next to The Avalanches, Air and Lemon Jelly and let them whisk you off into the clear blue sky.

Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep



David Hamilton is renowned taking controversial photos, favouring fragrant young ladies as the subject matter. This style of soft focus has become his calling card and periodically been de rigueur with fashion style magazines like Elle and Vogue throughout his career, influencing many other photographers with his grainy, blurry technique.

Watching the video below, reminded me of when I spotted the soundtrack to Hamilton's 1977 film Bilitis, with music composed by Francis Lai, resting in the vinyl bin at a local chazzer. From the saucy cover, featuring wistful maidens getting sapphic, I deduced this was a come on for what was obviously going to be very average ambient music. I left it, determined not to be a sucker for such an obvious merchandising ploy, yet a few weeks later, curiosity got the better of me and I shelled out the dosh in a moment of weakness, reasoning that it might actually be a lost classic soundtrack. However, on first listen, yup you've guessed it, very mediocre Vangelis lite music seeped out of my speakers, never to be played again: if only Air France had been around at the time to provide a proper soundtrack!

Air France- Windmill Wedding



http://www.myspace.com/theairfrance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hamilton_(photographer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilitis_(film)

Jack Davis and Sailcat

One of the great losses of modern popular culture is the lack of opportunity for an artist, designer typographer or musician to make their mark and express their creative vision on the 12"x 12" canvas that is a record cover. No amount of creative packaging within CD covers can replace the record sleeve as an ideal forum to create a visual impact, as for mp3's, no matter how convenient they are, the accompanying visuals are a non starter.

As a nipper, I used to seek out Mad magazine paperbacks, featuring many of artists that influenced and informed my early scribblings, Duck Edwing, Don Martin 'Mad's Maddest Artist' and Sergio Aragones were particular favourites of mine. The cartoon work of Jack Davis also caught my eye, with his accomplished pseudo realistic brushwork, usually illustrating wacky parodies of popular t.v and movie culture. He was an intregal part of the Mad team, indeed his work had featured right from the first issue and continued to feature in another 241 issues.

Jack's draughtmanship was also put to good use in other fields of illustration like movie posters, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World being a particularly appropriate example. Jack's instantly recognisable style also adorns dozens of album cover sleeves as well.

Jack's appealing style was particularly suited to the medium of the album sleeve, as he could convey an impression of the music/sounds that lay within, using his wild, surreal imagination to paint an eye catching scene. Let's face it, his artwork not only enhanced the record, but was sometimes the best thing about the product. London Record's legendary Phase 4 label, particularly favoured his style, often using his services on some of their more esoteric pressings.

What is the finest Jack Davis album cover? I hear you ask.. in the faux sincere style of a reality show presenter, I can truly say that it's been hard to narrow down a particular favourite as they're all winners, but if I had to pick a champion, it has to be Ray Martin's 'The Sound Of Sight' album. The sheer chaos and frenzy of the cover art is a delight to behold and captures the very essence of the varied styles of music that are recorded within. The artwork explodes off the page, as do the sounds from the stereo, making this a very successful realisation of what must have been initially, a tricky brief.

I leave it to endlessgroove.com to sum up exactly why this is the pinnacle of Jack's cover art career. This next bit is sourced from www.endlessgroove.com/issue4/lp4s2.htm

"The Sound of Sight may very well be the summit of the London Phase 4 concept. Like Battle Stereo, the album sounds as if one is listening to a movie soundtrack without the picture. In fact, with the subtitle Music For an Experiment in Imagination, that's exactly what Phase 4 had in mind. One of the best uses of sound effects I've heard on any album of this type."



Another Davis cover that I hold dear to my heart, is the debut album from Sailcat. They were formed by Johnny Wyker and Court Pickett in 1972, both of whom previously were in The Rubber Band. They brought in many established players from the Southern Rock music scene and legendary Muscle Shoals guitarist Pete Carr produced the album. 'Motorcycle Mama' was released on the Electra label and they had a radio hit with the title track which reached number twelve on the Billboard chart.

This was the soundtrack to a period when every self respecting dude was cruising the freeways of America on a chopper straight out of Easy Rider. As you can deduce, there was enough room for his ole lady and the kids riding pillion, all of whom are sticking it to the man, flicking the system a metaphorical bird, by clearly breaching health and safety guidance/rules, as they're not wearing any helmets on the album's front cover.

This slab of Southern country rock is a pleasant enough listen, but the star of the show and the main reason for owning this, is the fantastic artwork by Jack Davis. It's a concept album of sorts, based on a self destructing drifter, who dreams of settling down and starting a family, he then meets a woman who turns out to be more than a match for him.

An entertaining account of how the album got made, written by Richie Unterberger, can be found here. Johnny Wyker briefly resurrected the Sailcat name in 2002, with an album called 'Wild Water-Ski Weekend' on the Mighty Field of Vision label and is currently involved in this project.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Davis_(cartoonist)

http://lambiek.net/artists/d/davis.htm

http://hairygreeneyeball.blogspot.com/2008/09/jack-davis-goes-on-record.html

http://hairygreeneyeball.blogspot.com/2008/09/more-jack-davis-on-record.html

http://lpcoverlover.com/category/jack-davis/

http://www.endlessgroove.com/issue5/jdintro.htm

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/darb321/album_covers_by_jack_davis

http://www.collectorsquest.com/blog/2007/01/11/jack-davis-album-covers/

Matt & Kim - Daylight

Brooklyn's finest dance duo, Matt & Kim have come out of a two year hibernation to release a real doozey of a feel good track 'Daylight' that has a killer piano/drum lick, which will burrow it's way under your skin and head straight for your cerebral cortex, pretty much from the first play.

Now I'm usually pretty slow on picking up on zeitgeist tunes in the media, as my friend can bear witness when I came home from a hard day's vinyl digging last year and commented that I kept hearing a toe tapping tune song about a brolly, blasting out of every car/shop in the town centre, to be informed that this was Rhianna's current number one smash hit that had topped the charts for weeks. However, I reckon this tune could bubble up, at least amongst the more discerning crowd, if there's any justice left in the music meedja.. it's also a free, legal download, what more can you ask for! Enjoy...



It also reminds me of Justice vs Simian's 'We Are Your Friends' which became the soundtrack of indie hipsters back in 2006, becoming omnipresent, as essential backing music to all 4music type of t.v programming, you know the kind of show, where impossibly cool and attractive presenters deliver witty 'off the cuff' post ironic comments, linking frothy filler American teen lifestyle shows. Despite this, the 'Friends' track still puts a smile on my face and 'Daylight' brings out the same sunny disposition in me, this is quite an achievement, as friends and acquaintances can testify to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dcDPBnz3rQ

http://www.mattandkimmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/mattandkim

http://www.greenlabelsound.com/

http://profile.myspace.com/justicevssimian

Small Feral Token

Let me introduce a bit of glamour to your life during these grim times of austerity and bring to your attention Lotta Westholm and Natalie Sjölund, who look like they've walked straight off the cover of an early Roxy Music album. Together, they create an intoxicating mixture of hypnotic electronic pop and go under the slightly less alluring moniker of Small Feral Token, which sounds like a type of fresh roadkill currency, used by Cleatus out there in the hillbilly hinterland. These ladies have been making music from their Stockholm base since 2003, though they have known each other from schooldays, their official debut album 'Digipop' comes out on 13th October 2008, more info at http://www.mondonuevo.se/

SFT's music is distinctly tinged with an Eighties New-Wave vibe and hints of Voice Of The Beehive and Alisha's Attic are audible in the vocals, yet the sound has a malevolent beat with claustrophobic sequences giving an ever present threat of something more sinister going on beneath the lip gloss and legwarmers. The lead track 'I am Entertainer' has a sunny girl group disposition about it and is probably the most obviously commercial tune, yet 'A Girl's Best Friend' is probably a better signature tune to sum up the territory SFT are lurking in. It takes a few listens to connect, but slowly yet assuredly, it will creep up and pounce on you, and the song 'Passionate Glue' squeezes into Aphex Twin's minimal experimental musings. The formula of David Cronenberg does eurosynthpop, set to the backdrop of a plush gentleman's club is a heady mix.



http://www.myspace.com/smallferaltoken

http://www.smallferaltoken.com/

Lemon Jelly and John Pearse

Mike, Is this you?

I can't play the guitar, in fact I can't play any musical instrument at all, but if I was to try to learn, it would be with the help of John Pearse and his marvelous gramophone record 'Teach Yourself Folk Guitar' released in 1963. It does what it says on the tin, with full examples of basic licks and picks, illustrated by fifteen folk songs standards, all narrated and sung by Mr Pearse, who has a comforting classic 'Noaksy' era 'Blue Peter' type of voice. There is a little pep talk written on the back as well as a chord bank diagram, so there is no excuse for not identifying your 'Mississippi lick' from your 'Memphis lick' from now on.

John Pearse is a remarkable man having recorded this and written the accompanying book at the age of 19. In 1965, the BBC offered him presenting duties on a T.V series called 'Hold Down A Chord' based on the book, which led to a certain kind of celebratory status for him. This was obviously done in the days before attending stage schools and looking squeaky clean was an absolute requirement to present anything on the box. He did another similar series for the American market called 'String Along' and developed a successful company selling guitar strings. There are three albums of his to track down from the late sixties/seventies and he has made a comeback from a career threatening medical accident, to begin performing again. Oh! I nearly forgot to mention, he wrote a book called 'Cooking with Wine' What a bloke!

Lemon Jelly was the nom de plume of a duo, Nick Franglen and Fred Deakin, who specialised in creating ambient electronica, which was notable for it's heavy reliance on quirky samples, set to a laid back beat. They released two albums 'Lost Horizons' in 2002 and '64-95' in 2005 to critical acclaim, with the former producing an unlikely hit with 'Nice Weather For Ducks' which reached number 16 in the U.K charts in 2003. A third album called 'Lemonjelly.ky' released in 2000, which compiled three earlier E.P's of theirs, contains a track called 'The Staunton Lick' which liberally samples the voice of the aforementioned Mr Pearse on 'The Basic Plucking or The Ballard Lick' track. It's a beautiful melding of two talents that delivers a tune that's bound to put a smile on you face; lovely stuff. I can't leave without mentioning the sumptuous artwork of the Lemon Jelly albums which are a a joy to behold, like candy covered dreamscapes of mellowness, these are real achievements considering they are working within the confines of the devil's coasters - C.D's, with all the associated plastic problems that come with designing around that format.

http://www.lemonjelly.ky/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_Jelly

http://www.johnpearse.com/index.html

http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/print/173786319.html