What i've been listening to...

Ahoy November! The days are getting darker and the leaves soggier and my converse browner, 2015 is getting sleeeepy...Things are starting to get all nostalgic and broody, this is the best time of the year. You get to watch old horror movies, eat soup, and lose yourself in really really long songs about wizards and space. Sian and i have been cosying up with sweetmilk, angel cards, and Ghost Hunters. It's lovely right here, right now. Here are a few things i've had on my walkman this week...

Stoneground Words by Melanie

(1972)

From the album of the same name, which has just been reissued...i've loved Melanie ever since i was a pup, my Dad had the Candles In The Rain record, which i still have and hold dear, but Stoneground Words is a truly beautiful, powerful, great album that captures that whole back-to-the-earth, self-exploration of the early 70's, and i can't get enough of it right now.

It Brings A Tear by Audience

(1970)

This gorgeous flutey goodness is off the Friend's Friend's Friends album, their second. Audience are definitely an underrated band, and this song is a deep mossy green delight.

La Serie Dei Numeri by Angelo Branduardi

(1977)

I've just discovered Branduardi, and i gotta say, i am blown away by this dude, and not just because of his massive hair. This song is originally from the 1976 album Alla Fiera Dell'Est, which is absolutely my favourite Italian album of all time right now. So, this song translates as something like The Series of Numbers, unfortch i couldn't tell you what it's all about because gosh it's quite esoteric and mystical, but this live version is a total gem isn't it! Branduardi specialised in an almost Medieval canticle style, and in parts he reminds me of The Incredible String Band. This guy was clearly off the charts genius.   

Pillars Of The Sky by Mondo Drag

(2015)

I am loving Mondo Drag! This instrumental from their self-titled album is a dreamy psych beaut, which puts you somewhere in the middle of a vast kaleidoscopic desert on some distant planet. The album is a brilliant organ-heavy proggy riff-fest, kinda Deep Purpley, with enough hooks, imagination and ace musicianship to keep ya titillated through your entire acid trip, or *cough* your nice warm tea under a crochet blanket trip.

What i read in October

Ugh, Autumn reading...it's the snugliest.

Odd Girl Out by Elizabeth Jane Howard

My bestie LOVED the Cazalet Chronicles by EJH, so Sian borrowed one and about 20 pages in was all like "this is so freakin' boring, fuck this shit.." (except that she would never use swears like that, she's a lady) which piqued my interest enough to try one of EJH's earlier (70's, obvs) novels. It was ace. A quietly devastating cat-scratch to the face of middle-class complacency, lush. 

Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood

An odd little novel about crazed aristocracy and the trauma of the lost generation...both worlds that Caroline Blackwood, heiress to the Guinness dynasty, writer, journalist, it-girl, knew well. I hate it when people are described as 'muses', ugh. I mean, this was excellent in every way and kind of reminded me of Franny & Zooey - it does so much with so few scenes.

Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

What i liked most about this memoir was how un-rock n' roll it was, but when you think about it, the food allergies, panic-attacks, self-doubt, all that stuff, actually seems pretty rock n' roll - like, the true spirit of rebellion and survival and reinvention are all there. 

Chilly Scenes Of Winter by Ann Beattie

Definitely my favourite book of the month! A whimsical, smart, New Yorky, 70's novel about absence and 20-somethings trying to find meaning and love. Beattie was touted as a bit of a voice of her generation it seems, and her debut feels fresh, beautifully self-conscious, and somehow full of warmth and heart despite all the post-60's dejection. 

The Signalman by Charles Dickens

Read this on Halloween as a lil spooky bathtime read. The BBC version with Denholm Elliot is one of my absolute favourite things so when i spotted this at work i was all like "hallo below theeere!!" and it was great. Turns out Dickens wasn't always shit.