DJ Alchemi's blog

69 Love Songs book now out

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:10:50 -0700

LD Beghtol has written 69 Love Songs — A Field Guide, an illustrated history of the album. LD was a member of The Magnetic Fields for the recording of the album, singing on several of the songs. He has also contributed several comments to the 69 Love Songs wiki that I started a few years ago. So you are warmly encouraged to buy his book (Amazon UK, Amazon US).

Get the whole story here: 69 Love Songs book now out.
...

Alasdair Roberts and Mary Hampton in London, 2006-12-05

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:10:50 -0700

The venue (The Fly on New Oxford Street) wasn't the best place to see Alasdair Roberts, but happily the audience were really paying attention, so it turned out well. He must have played seven or eight songs from the forthcoming album Amber Gatherers, and was bemused that people were calling out requests for songs that weren't out yet, including Firewater (which I don't think he played) and Where Twines the Path (which he did). The new material sounds good, but will probably improve with age and ...

Sonic Boom and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:10:50 -0700

I've seen Sonic Boom a few times, playing with Yo La Tengo, Luna, and (back in the '80s) as part of Spacemen 3. But I've never caught on to his approach as well as I did last week at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop event, where he played solo for half an hour or so.

To be honest, I'd assumed that most of the fuss about the most famous Radiophonic Workshop staff, Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire, was down to the romantic and slightly kinky idea of these blue-stocking women with horn-rimmed gla ...

Review of Shhh! All Day gig, Spitz, London, 2 December

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:10:50 -0700

Nancy Wallace opened the evening — filling in for Last of the Hard Men — with a mix of two traditional songs, a few originals, and a cover of I Don't Believe in the Sun by The Magnetic Fields. Great to hear it sung with a Northern English accent. Anyone goes up in estimation by acknowledging the genius of The Magnetic Fields, but I was already enjoying Nancy's performance before that. Like Kate Rusby, only better.

Morvern Callar, playing with Larkin Grimm on tambourine and backin ...

James Blackshaw - O True Believers

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:10:50 -0700

I ordered James Blackshaw's latest CD after seeing him at Green Man, and it arrived today. (I got it via Boa Melody Bar in Glasgow — linked from James's site — and I'd definitely recommend them/her for a wide range of folky/droney esoterica at cheap prices, in this case £8.50 inc p&p.) I'm on my second listen now and really enjoying it. I could barely hear James at the festival, and he said he could barely hear himself, but I had a hunch I would enjoy his stuff. He plays a ...

69 Love Songs book now out

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:26:36 -0700

Get the whole story here: 69 Love Songs book now out.
...

Alasdair Roberts and Mary Hampton in London, 2006-12-05

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:26:36 -0700

The venue (The Fly on New Oxford Street) wasn’t the best place to see Alasdair Roberts, but happily the audience were really paying attention, so it turned out well. He must have played seven or eight songs from the forthcoming album Amber Gatherers, and was bemused that people were calling out requests for songs that weren’t out yet, including Firewater (which I don’t think he played) and Where Twines the Path (which he did). The new material sounds good, but will probably imp ...

Sonic Boom and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:26:36 -0700

I’ve seen Sonic Boom a few times, playing with Yo La Tengo, Luna, and (back in the ‘80s) as part of Spacemen 3. But I’ve never caught on to his approach as well as I did last week at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop event, where he played solo for half an hour or so.

To be honest, I’d assumed that most of the fuss about the most famous Radiophonic Workshop staff, Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire, was down to the romantic and slightly kinky idea of these blue-stocking wo ...

Review of Shhh! All Day gig, Spitz, London, 2 December

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:26:36 -0700

Nancy Wallace opened the evening — filling in for Last of the Hard Men — with a mix of two traditional songs, a few originals, and a cover of I Don’t Believe in the Sun by The Magnetic Fields. Great to hear it sung with a Northern English accent. Anyone goes up in estimation by acknowledging the genius of The Magnetic Fields, but I was already enjoying Nancy’s performance before that. Like Kate Rusby, only better.

Morvern Callar, playing with Larkin Grimm on tambourin ...

James Blackshaw - O True Believers

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:26:36 -0700

I ordered James Blackshaw’s latest CD after seeing him at Green Man, and it arrived today. (I got it via Boa Melody Bar in Glasgow — linked from James’s site — and I’d definitely recommend them/her for a wide range of folky/droney esoterica at cheap prices, in this case £8.50 inc p&p.) I’m on my second listen now and really enjoying it. I could barely hear James at the festival, and he said he could barely hear himself, but I had a hunch I would enjo ...