Benedict Cumberbatch narrates the conclusion to ‘Flat Of Angles’, the story by Simon Cleary that has spanned the previous three editions of Late Night Tales (Friendly Fires, Royksopp, Bonobo). 

Late Night Tales: Django Django is released 12th May.

iTunes: goo.gl/oCfZrk
Late Night Tales Webshop: goo.gl/HyYIZ.

******

Django Django is the latest band invited to curate a prestigious Late Night Tales collection. Like many of the best British groups, the Djangos met at art school, specifically Edinburgh College Of Art, before reconnecting in London. Django Django released their self-titled debut album on UK independent label Because Music in early 2012 to some acclaim, winding up in many critics’ end of year lists (Top Ten in the NME and Top 30 in Rolling Stone, among them) and a Mercury Prize nomination.

Their oddball approach to music, which sounds like the rich harmonies of the Mamas & Papas beamed through a refracting prism pointing towards Bo Diddley, Chicago house and outer-space (it’s no surprise to learn that Django producer/drummer Dave Maclean’s brother John was in the Beta Band, who also shared the same cinemascopic view of the pop landscape). 

“Rollicking sing-alongs, galloping into disco sunsets like whisky-addled and leather-saddled bandits on the stolen backs of prairie wild mustangs,” is how Django Django describe themselves. Which is another way of saying they’re pop adventurists, as at home with Mad Mike’s Underground Resistance as they are the blues rumble of Canned Heat. A bit like this delightful mix, then, which darts about like a gurgle of guppies after two too many espressos.

Check out mixes that rock between two-step delights like Roy Davis Jr’s ‘Gabrielle’ to Nilsson’s lyrically winsome ‘Coconut’. At one end of the Django spectrum there’s James Last, the terminally unhip Teuton, whose ‘Inner City Blues’ shows you can never underestimate the Germans, while at the far reaches of the mix, they manage to sneak in Ramadanman (‘Bass Drums’) and Hudson Mohawke and Lunice collaboration TNGHT’s ‘Bugg’n’. You can hear the echoes of influences in some of the selections, like The Beach Boys whose peerless ‘Surf’s Up’ makes a welcome appearance halfway through, while Seals & Crofts’ ‘Get Closer’ show what sun-drenched pop can sound like when it’s done well. 

And because it’s Late Night Tales there’s a sparkling cover version of ‘Porpoise Song’, the theme from The Monkees daffily brilliant ‘Head’, an admirably lysergic termination to this waltz through pop’s nooks and cranberries. “You should never be afraid to make a fool of yourself for art,” Dave Maclean once said. Let’s raise a dram to Scotland’s favourite fools on the hill. 

“We wanted to produce a mix that represented the band. It’s what we’re all into, so everyone put forward suggestions. It’s what we are as a band; and we’re kids that have grown up with an obsession about our mum and dad’s record collections, like ‘50s and 60s stuff and then got into hip hop and dance music as we grew up. At the heart of it all is our parents’ collections, with our tastes mixed in. Our Late Night Tales pays homage to that.” - Dave Maclean (Django Django)

Follow Late Night Tales:

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Bandcamp: https://latenighttales.bandcamp.com/

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Flat Of Angles (Part 4)

musique originale : https://soundcloud.com/deepman1/ma-m-lodie-variante

lyrics (Takaka NZ inspiration):
Là-bas
les oiseaux chantent 
et c'est bon signe
Là-bas
tu peux poser ton sac
tout est paisible

C'est le paradis
des hippies kiwis
au rythme tranquille
une petite ville
peuplée d'indociles
peuplée d'âmes libres

C'est l'alternative
des styles de vie
en marge de la machine
Takaka
où l'Art et l'art de vivre
se cultivent

Là-bas 
les oiseaux chantent 
Là-bas
à Takaka

C'est là-bas 
que tu trouveras 
ta mélodie
C'est là-bas
que tu trouveras
ton utopie

à Takaka

Ma Mélodie À Takaka - musique deep man

Annotations and transcribed highlights: http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/16/neil-gaiman-how-stories-last

Recorded at the Long Now Foundation (http://longnow.org/) on June 9, 2015. 

Follow @https://soundcloud.com/longnow and subscribe to the podcast of their excellent seminars on long-term thinking on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/seminars-about-long-term-thinking/id186908455?mt=2

MORE / TRANSCRIPT

Neil Gaiman on how stories last

Cover #22 from the series "Songs I Love" by Piers Faccini
Free download: http://www.unlock.fm/4g7

Given my love of her writing, I really should have already covered a Joni Mitchell song in the series by now. As a lyricist she's in a hallowed place all of her own and I can't think of anyone else who writes with such invention and grace. Little Green almost hurts to sing. It tells the story of the daughter Joni Mitchell gave up for adoption. One can only imagine the torment of a young mother having to give up her child and it's tempting too as the verses unfold to question her for doing so. Perhaps that's what makes it such a moving piece, taking us as listeners, deep into complex and ambiguous emotional waters where compassion, sorrow and forgiveness can mingle? I wonder how Joni's biological daughter feels about the song, would she have preferred it to have remain unwritten, unsung? It makes me think that writers are inevitably selfish beings as nothing is ever off limits for them. Shining a light on events that others might rather hide  is hard for the people that inspire the stories. But despite the sorrow Little Green calls up, I have no doubt the rest us are better off for hearing it.  The beautiful guitar part here was played by my friend the South African Guy Buttery. We met when I toured South Africa in 2008 with Nibs van der Spuy, I've collaborated on a few songs of Guy's over the years,  including one on his next album, I encourage you to discover his amazing music, he has a crowdfunding thing going on for his next album, I hear guitar buffs can even bid for one of his guitars! http://igg.me/at/guybuttery/x

----
Franchement, vu comme j’adore ses compositions, il y a longtemps que j’aurais pu inclure une chanson de Joni Mitchell  dans la série!  Comme parolière, elle évolue dans une sorte de sanctuaire qui n’appartient qu’à elle – je cherche en vain quelqu’un qui écrive avec autant de grâce et de sincérité.  ‘Little Green’  est une chanson très sensible, poignante. Elle raconte l’histoire de la fille que Joni Mitchell a dû abandonner et confier à l’adoption. On peut imaginer les tourments d’une jeune mère acculée à laisser son enfant ; mais au fil de l’histoire, on a aussi envie de l’interpeller sur son geste… C’est sans doute ce qui rend ce récit si touchant, et qui plonge ceux qui écoutent dans les hauts fonds des émotions complexes et profondes, là où peuvent se fondre la compassion, la tristesse, et le pardon… Je me demande ce que ressent la fille biologique de Joni à l’écoute de cette chanson : aurait-elle préféré qu’elle demeure non-écrite,  jamais chantée ? Je réalise que les auteurs sont en fait des êtres assez égoïstes, qui ne se posent aucune limite. Porter au jour des événements que d’autres préfèreraient cacher n’est pas sans conséquences douloureuses pour les personnes qui inspirent ces récits. Malgré la tristesse que ‘Little Green’ éveille, je suis convaincu qu’une autre part de nous est heureuse de l’écouter.  
Sur cette reprise, la superbe partition de guitare est jouée par mon ami Sud-Africain Guy Buttery.  Nous nous sommes rencontrés lors de ma tournée là-bas en 2008 avec Nibs van der Spuy. Je vous invite à découvrir son incroyable univers musical. J’ai contribué à quelques chansons de Guy ces dernières années, y compris pour son prochain album. Il y a une campagne de financement participatif en cours sur ce projet, et je crois même qu’il y a des enchères possibles pour une de ses guitares. Avis aux amateurs ! http://igg.me/at/guybuttery/x
__________

Order book/cd 'Songs I Love' vol.1: http://shop.beatingdrumrecords.com

Also available on:
http://iTunes: smarturl.it/songsilove1
http://Spotify: spoti.fi/1jbGOfl
http://Deezer: www.deezer.com/album/8050372
http://Google Play: bit.ly/songsiloveplay
__________

Piers Faccini : http://www.facebook.com/PiersFacciniMusic
Beating Drum : http://www.beatingdrumrecords.com

FREE DOWNLOAD

Piers Faccini - Little Green [Joni Mitchell Cover](Songs I Love #22)

Rio Ranger EP

Always Feeling Good

this is the audio recording of my poem, "empathy is nothing".
to read the backstory, please go here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/poem-recording-26177383

Empathy Is Nothing

Poem text and vital context: https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/08/14/wendell-berry-questionnaire-amanda-palmer/

POEM TEXT / CONTEXT

Amanda Palmer reads "Questionnaire" by Wendell Berry

Tobin Sprout 
New album 'Empty Horses' 
Out 18th September

Pre-order link: https://fire-records.lnk.to/TSEmptyHorses

▪ Limited-edition CD artbook and vinyl LP.  
▪ Available with extremely limited edition of hand numbered prints. 
▪ A true collector’s piece, the CD artbook is beautifully packaged with 24 pages of paintings and lyrics from Tobin.

Artist, illustrator, writer and lo-fi innovator, Tobin Sprout was the super-productive partner of Robert Pollard in the legendary Guided By Voices. The gifted songwriter returns with a pensive, expansive part autobiographical new album ‘Empty Horses’. 

The album is a meticulously observed study of America and Americana (not the music, but the state of mind). An alternative American Songbook, if you will, a collection of laments to simpler times and the struggle for what’s right, peppered with an examination of faith and the search for a sense of justice.  
And, as it unravels these gritty anecdotes span the generations from the dividing and the American Civil War through to today’s confusing times. 

Tobin: “It was never intended to be a concept album, it just sort of rose out of a lot of recording we were doing. ‘On Golden Rivers’ is the focal point. I always loved American history. My grandfather was always reading about the Civil War and when I was around 10, or so, he took my brother and me to Gettysburg and Shiloh. It had a real impact on me; realizing what these men must have gone through, maybe that comes out in the songs.”   

He’s part Townes Van Zandt, part John Prine, part Robbie Robertson at his retrospective best; his heart beats super-slow on his sleeve – he’s in the cabin at Big Pink, a raconteur on a mission to reminisce; telling stories as only he can. 

Close up and personal, ‘Empty Horses’ is a poignant carefully etched experience, a rolling journey in modern times, nodding back to tradition, a personal snapshot filled with honesty.

Tobin Sprout - On Golden Rivers

Music For Quiet Moments 2 - GentleScape

Music For Quiet Moments 2 - GentleScape (Barcelona 24 Jul 2009)

By Neil Gaiman. With James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer, David Harewood, Sophie Okonedo, Johnny Vegas, Bernard Cribbins. An act of kindness catapults Richard from his ordinary life into a subterranean world. Episode One.

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman - BBC Radio 4

Paul Turner 8