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Shambletracks: TV On The Radio are always on my TV and my Radio.

So I forgot that Laurie is technically on holiday this weekend and I was meant to do all the Shambletracks. Erm. Woops. But I’m here now so it’s totally fine, and boy oh boy woah check it out wham bam thank you ma’am have I got a treat for you sonny Jimbo. It’s here, it’s now – it’s TV On The Radio.

Ever since I emerged from my bio-egg as a tumbling cub (/happy-go-lucky scamp) I have been filled with a yearning – an insatiable thirst for something to wow me. I frolicked for years, heading from port to port (not sailing, just tumbling) trying to find a seemingly unobtainable high. It never came.

UNTIL ONE DAY.

I was stood outside The Star (a sleepy pub just off Cowley Road in Oxford), having one final pint with my brother Walter before I boarded the bus to move to London. I was scared as I had lived in Oxford my entire life and the prospect of moving to the big smoke was in equal measure tantalising and petrifying. You know when you’re sort of unsure about whatever you are about to do, and as a result you end up making your current task last as long as possible to try and procrastinate your way to not having to face the inevitable? I was doing that. I’d been nursing the Guinness for a good 45 minutes when my brother approached.

“I have something for you, you know, to listen to on the bus.” He grinned and handed me a mix CD, and suddenly everything was fine. You see Walter always accents big moments in my life by making me mix CDs. He gave me one every Christmas as I grew up, every exam period, every birthday, every failed relationship and every major accomplishment. The mixes were always there, helping me on my way, and they were always fucking sensational.

I remember this one so, so clearly. I listened to it all the way to my new flat and I fell in love with every single band on there. It had some storming tracks on it (Sin (Live) by Nine Inch Nails, It Fit When I Was A Kid by Liars, Televators by The Mars Volta, Last Nite Of The Proms by Youthmovies – and many more gamechangers) but one in particular stood out for me: Love Dog by TV On The Radio. It genuinely made me smile, and suddenly everything was going to be okay. Sometimes songs resonate in that very special way – this was one of those times.

Love Dog is a restrained, heartfelt and honest song, with perfect harmonies and haunting strings pulling it all together. It draws inspiration from Persian poet Rūmī’s ‘Love Dogs‘ (the final lines of which read “There are love dogs, no one knows the names of. Give your life to be one of them.”) and manages to become a topic for debate in its true meaning – the main question being is it about falling in love with partner, or is it about finding God. Give it a listen and draw your own conclusions – I truly love this song.

I know this has been a bit of a serious one, but hey I spend so much time dicking about it’s actually quite nice to show a different side of things sometimes. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Without further ado, I present TV On The Radio‘s ‘Love Dog‘ from the album ‘Dear Science‘.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfUv6r3iVOw

That’s it from me today – I think the Hamburglar/Corporal #coolmoves/Magic Magic Johnson/CrumpetKing1000 (Laurie) will be back tomorrow!

Big love,

Paddy XX

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Shambletracks: The Staunton Lick rejuvenates your faith in happiness.

hello it is paddy i am 24 and one month old and i like songs.

That’s how I would start if I had my way – but I don’t. So I’ll begin like this:

Hello! It’s me again (me being paddy who is 24 and one month old and likes songs). Perfect.

I hope you are all well – apologies for the delay on this instalment of Shambletracks – last night I ended up going out to buy chicken and then sort of…didn’t make it home? It’s just one of those things isn’t it. You guys know. We ALL know. I ended up discussing the best party build for Dragon Age Inquisition (#coolmovesdragonwhatsup) and then watching the film Heathers – a film that I was promised was good, and ended up sort of destroying my faith in cinema. It was a long night, but don’t worry friends – I made it out alive.

Today I have chosen The Staunton Lick by Lemon Jelly. I was going to go with something horrendously depressing, but decided to try and cheer up and revisit my favourite British TV show of all time. That show is Spaced, and this song is the music in the final scene. Spaced basically changed everything for me. It got me interested in comedy, which is now my job, and gave me a whole new slant on how to construct humour. Spaced was everything I had ever wanted, and I still cry every single time this gorgeous song bleeds in the background of that fateful finale. If you haven’t seen it, go and watch all of Spaced right this minute. You can burn through it in a day, and you will never regret it – I promise.

The song itself is simplicity at it’s finest. Built using the most basic of chords and melodies, gradually building and stripping into a tune that will a. get stuck in your head, b. force a grin onto that surly face of yours, and c. make you admit that you’re scared of mice and spiders, but oh-so-much greater is your fear that one day the two species will cross-breed to form an all-powerful race of mice-spiders who will immobilise human beings in giant webs in order to steal cheese.

Laurie, Zac and I sometimes put this on in the flat when we need to remember everything is going to be totally fine. You should too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBLWDF2nfP8

That’s it from me – have a drink. Go on. I fucking dare you. I’m going to have a drink. Drinks drinks drinks.

Big love,

Paddy XX

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Shambletracks: Woop, woop, it’s the sound of Edith Piaf

Hello and hurrah, it’s a brand new week and I have the honour of kicking it all off for you.

I imagine by now the February blues have begun to overwhelm you; you have realised there are whole days of monotony separating you from now and the glorious possibilities of a free weekend and that must be frightening. Your morning coffee was not as sweet as the one which you lazily enjoyed yesterday, your morning meeting has presumably dragged on for far longer than necessary and you’re beginning to wonder how you wound up at this job you loathe.

So, feeling pumped?

Don’t worry. I have the cure. Sort of. If you like this kind of thing. If not, this song could tip you over the edge. If you do fall on this side of the fence, don’t worry, follow the final link in this post for a pick me up.

I’d like to caveat this introduction however and explain, before you judge me, that today’s post is kind of wanky. Not in the sense that, for example, Piers Morgan is a wanker and thus could be described as a wanky human being, but in the sense of ‘I’m a semi-pretentious twat’.

Last week I was shown the film La Haine, Mathieu Kassovitz’s stylized social commentary detailing the lives of three young men the day after a riot, sparked by police brutality, engulfed the estate in which they live. I won’t tell you any more about the plot, but simply implore you to watch it this week if you have a spare evening. I’ll only warn you that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, being a French indie film from the early 90s, with subtitles and shot in black and white (I told you I was going to sound a little wanky before the end of this post…)

One scene sums up Kassovitz’s approach to telling this would-be grim tale. Rather than focusing on the scars the recent violence has left on the estate, which are ever present nonetheless, Kassovitz constantly attempts to let the colour of life on the estate shine through despite it’s apparent bleakness.

As Cut Killer’s Assasin de la Police remix blares out over the oppressive cityscape, the audience is witness to an impossibly optimistic sentiment, that however depressing and downtrodden life may be there are those that will improvise and reinvent, making the best of a bad situation. And, uh, also that guys who scratch over massive speakers while overlooking a 1990s Parisian estate with a backwards snapback on – and do so in black and white – are fucking cool.

The remix in question samples seven songs in total (for a full list see the end) but in the main blurs together two songs which have no right to function in tandem, KRS-One’s Sound of the Police and Edith Paif’s, Non Je ne Regrette Rien. The result is awesome and has stuck with me since seeing the film for the first time last week.


I hope you enjoy it and, if you get a chance to see La Haine, that you enjoy it, too.

For all of you who don’t enjoy gritty black and white social dramas, and whom I’ve pushed over the edge into the February abyss with my choice in song, fear not, I have not forgotten you: try this on for size and hopefully it will liven up the start to your week.

Love love love, Zac x

(Three loves, aren’t you all ever so lucky).

Full sample list a.k.a ‘a list of fucking tuuuuuunes for you to enjoy’:

KRS-One, Sound of the Police

NWA, Fuck da police

Edith Paif, Non Je ne Regrette Rien

Notorious B.I.G., Machine Gun Funk

NTM, Nique la Police

Busta Ryhmes, Woo Hah

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Shambletracks: Oh, Beck, I’m so glad you could make it

And it’s a Shamble-Ho to you, my mine fillies, and would you know it’s a Hi-De-Shamble to you too.

With the pleasantries out of the way, I think it’s time we got down to brass tacks. Cut the crap. Got to really mutually beneficial solution. Mano a mano. With a cherry on top. Without messing around, or elongating sentences, or looking for a quick getaway, or even- HOLY GONADS, BANANAMAN, HERE, ON A SUNDAY!? LAURIE AWAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaay.

Ah. OK, well, the truth is I’m very bloody tired today. I made the unfortunate mistake of ‘going’ on a ‘run’, if you can call ‘stumbling’ ‘vaguely’ towards ‘a park’ that. Then I ate a massive bowl of gnocchi and forgot to do Shambletracks until after midnight.

But it’s fine, guys, gals, centaurs, goblins and any other marginalised high fantasy beast! I’ve got something upbeat to shake you out of the funk, whether you spread across the sofa on Sunday night or sloppily dragging yourself to work, school or The Camelot School of Jiggery-Pokery and other Wizard Activities on Monday morning.

Yes, it’s everyone’s favourite secret scientologist and genre-hopper Beck ‘Beck’ Hansen, screeching in at the last second (just in time for your morning break, I suppose?), guitar and hand and a hell of a tune up his non-wizarding sleeves. ‘Girl’, taken from his 2005 album Guero, is a bleep-blork-tastic tale of summer love and the singer’s admission that ‘I know I’m gonna make her die / Take her where her soul belongs’. It’s really cute like that.

It’s a choice cut of gameboy sound samples, pumping acoustic guitar and fevered slide playing, combined with little snips of other clips to round out the sound. Aided by the amazing production of the Dust Brothers and Tony Hoffer (Tonys are always great), the rest of the album is also a electronically shaken up feast of similarly upbeat romps. Other favourites – if you ask me, which you are, just so we’re clear – are bombastic opener ‘E-Pro’ and ‘Black Tambourine’, which has an incredible ASCII Art video.

Guero as an album is a natural successor to his madly popular LP smash Odelay rather than Beck’s previous album, Sea Change, which is a bit of a mopey ballad mine (which is no problem – ‘Lost Cause’ is one of the greatest fucking songs ever written, but might be a bit distracting on a grey, cold Monday Morning). It’s well worth ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-checking out, you little minxes.

Till next time, make mine a quadruple scoop with extra chocolate sauce, tickle my hammock and hand me a badger on a plate of wasps,

Laurie x

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Shambletracks: Oh wow – it’s The Martin Harley Band. OH WOW, OH WOW.

I, Paddy, have returned from the fields of battle and I bring word of the ‘monkeys riding dogs in order to herd goats’ uprising – basically, stuff is not looking good. Some of the chimps even have tiny lassos and novelty hats. I cannot begin to describe the destruction I have witnessed (though I did just begin to describe it – I think what I’m trying to say is I am now going to stop trying to describe the destruction I have witnessed as I’ve really backed myself into a corner here with a joke which is fine at best and relies heavily on the ‘monkeys riding dogs chasing goats’ google search I did earlier).

Anyways, hello. I’m here – isn’t that lovely? Over the past few days you have been lucky enough to experience two people who are really, REALLY good at writing writing really, REALLY good things about the good realities of good, REAL music (fuck me – that was even difficult to write down, let alone say out loud). NOW YOU HAVE ME. SUCKS TO BE YOU, DICKHEAD.

The Shambletrack I have chosen today is ‘Love In The Afternoon‘ by The Martin Harley Band and there are many reasons behind this – such is the nature of choosing things. The main reason is ‘these guys are shitting brilliant‘.

I was introduced to TMHB (The Martin Harley Band)…(I’ve just noticed that it really defeats the point of giving an acronym if you then have to explain it immediately afterwards…and then further defeats it by going on for like 42 words explaining the situation you now find yourself in) ANYWAY me and TMHB (see before OH SHUT UP PADDY) go way back. I was introduced to the band by Shamblefriend and genuine friend James Utechin back in 2007ish. Now I know what you’re all thinking – “Paddy, is that the same James Utechin who played Young Remus Lupin in the flashback scenes of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix yet due to the editing of the full movie only actually ended up in it for two-thirds of a second?” YES IT IS GOD WOULD YOU STOP GOING ON ABOUT IT ALREADY? Christ alive. Anyways, James is one of my heroes and has an impeccable music taste (as long as you like music that is either balls-to-the-wall rock’n’blues, hairspray-fuelled glam-metal, or anything happy that manages to rhyme words such as ‘drinking’ and ‘thinking’, ‘smoking’ and ‘choking’ or perhaps even ‘whiskey’ and ‘frisky’).

Long story long, The Martin Harley Band were his discovery, and I am so indebted to him for the gift he gave me from that day on. The band manages to combine genuine virtuosity, fist-stomping rhythms and brilliant lyricism – wrapping it up in some ol’ timey blues motifs to boot. They’re everything I want in a feel good band (although their more restrained, slightly sadder stuff is equally excellent) and to top it all off they really know how to put on a show.

I don’t think there’s a huge amount I can say about the song itself – the video has about 40 seconds of pre-cursor setup (which I do love) but when the guitar kicks in you know you are about to have a fantastic time. The main merit for me would be it proves they are a band that cares as much about rhythm and feel as they do about fancy footwork and solos – and being a rhythm guitarist myself I have so much time for that.

So make sure you have a drink in your hand and a partner to smile with – and throw on this tune. Not recommended for people with bad ankles as you will, I repeat will, tap your foot.

All my love,

Paddy XX

p.s. expect a return to coherent sentence structure and viable use of the English language upon Laurie’s return to Shambletracks tomorrow.

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Shambletracks: Lay it down, Nujabes

I feel like I’m going to be nothing but a disappointment after yesterday’s barnstormer of a review, courtesy of Shamblepal Zac – if you missed it, check out his beautiful homage to Mark Ronson’s funkathon here.

But, alas, what holds for life also holds for the musical section of shambolic comedy podcasts: the show must go on. Like a beaten-up, one legged tortoise next to a particularly spritely and beautiful hare, who has defied convention to win the race, steal my wife and alienate my kids, I’ll plod towards the audio finish line with my pick for today: one of Japan’s finest hip-hop exports, Nujabes.

If the name’s not immediately familiar to you, I only discovered Mr Jabes – real name Jun Seba – through the cracking anime series Samurai Champloo. It’s the tale of homeless sword-swisher Mugen, Jin, a calm but sarcastic ronin, and Fuu, a young lady slightly hopelessly searching for a florally perfumed Samurai (literally the fulcrum of the plot). Though it’s set in Edo-era Japan – a time of long robes, wooden sandals, cowering peasants, wicked feudal lords and kickass sword-fighting – the soundtrack is all frenetic, jazzed-up hip-hop produced by Nujabes.

The result is that every clash of swords is punctuated by a shuffling beat, every quip by the twang of a syncopated bassline, every beautifully drawn sunset by a soulful lament. It’s gorgeous stuff. Highlights of the two Samurai Champloo soundtrack LPs include Aurarian Dance, an instrumental that borrows an old Spanish guitar song, complete with orchestral backing, and Shiki No Uta, a seedy funk ballad with vocals from Japanese soca singer Minmi.

Nujabes released five stunning albums, alongside a host of EPs, singles and collaborations with rappers and DJs. Devastatingly, however, his last album Spiritual State was released posthumously: on February 26th 2010, Seba was killed in a car accident at the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo.

Even since then, both Spiritual State and its predecessor Modal Soul are considered two of the finest hip-hop albums ever made, and still attract thousands of new young fans and admirers. Nujabes’ undeniable talent was for pairing scattered, heavy hip-hop beats with a myriad instrumental samples, which in his hands and through some weird alchemy were stitched together to create amazing new hybrids.

Feather, the track I’ve picked out today, is one of the few that featured rappers before the numerous re-releases that followed Seba’s death. Florida hip-hop outfit CLYNE and long-time collaborator Cisse Star alternate verses and choruses, their relaxed and slick words taking in nods to John Steinbeck, Flowers for Algernon and Don McLean’s American Pie. It’s all borne from a single piano lick, split up and cut back together, slowly joined by a growing backing of booming horns. It’s stunning stuff, and well worth a listen even if you’re not a huge hip-hop or rap fan. Chekkit.

Paddy returns tomorrow! Till next time, beloved Shambles,

L-Dwag 9000, owner of nubz and slayer of DARGONZ x

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Shambletracks: Zac does Mark Ronson

HELLO and good day.

You lucky (maybe) readers have the pleasure of getting stuck into a guest blog-post today: I, Zac, will be stepping into the role usually held by either one of Messrs Paddy or Laurie, and doing my best impression of a shambolic human being. I am, in fact, quite a coherent and organised individual, but I will try my hardest to fit the Podshambles billing. You could even say I am quite literally a ‘sham’ Shambler.

I’m going to come at this from a slightly different angle to the manner in which Paddy and Laurie invade your Internet. All the songs put forth by the Podshambles blog (Shamblog? Podblog? Blambles?) thus far have been brilliant, and I am a fan, but I shall veer away from the Indie/Rock/Niche vibes which have dominated until now and have a think about someone far more mainstream – hear me out, OK?

It being Wednesday – in my opinion the worst day of the week – I thought people could use a pick-me-up. Sitting slap-bang in the middle of the week, Wednesday’s far enough away from the previous weekend that anything fun you got up to begins to fade into a fuzzy memory and so far away from the coming weekend that freedom is nothing more than a distant dream. Goddamit Wednesday.

To pick you up out of the spiralling whirlpool of misery that is the middle of the working week, I thought I’d propose a song to help you all get your funk back. Your Uptown Funk that is…and seamlessly we segue into today’s topic. (See what I did there? Or did I ruin it by telling you exactly what I did?)

 

I’ve never been totally sure of Mark Ronson: not in the sense I mistrust him as a person – I am sure he is lovely – but rather I can never make up my mind as to whether he is a talented musical producer or some sort of musical dilettante.

On the surface, he seems able to throw his hand to any genre of music and turn it into a popular hit. He was able to (in my opinion) better an already great song in The Zutons’ Valerie, improve a rather rubbish song tenfold with Oh My God, create a unbelievably catchy hit in The Bike song and all the while doing so using the input of rather irritating musicians. Generally, I am not one to sing the praises of Lilly Allen, Amy Winehouse or the front man from the annoying band who sing about having the same jeans on for more than one day, but throw mark Ronson into the mix and I find myself bobbing my head along nonetheless.

That’s not to say Ronson has never missed the mark: his interpretation of Radiohead’s Just is a jazzy but ultimately soulless facsimile – but then Just is a fantastic song to begin with, so he was perhaps biting off more than he could chew with that one.

In addition, Ronson is almost always his own worst enemy. His songs are catchy and ultimately great pop songs, getting people to bop along happily but then thanks to his prowess at writing such melodies or reformulating existing hits these songs are played incessantly by unimaginative radio DJs. His hits then become omnipresent, played on every station and in every shop, seemingly appearing everywhere. Inevitably we (or, at least, I) begin to hate these songs, and in turn blame poor Mark for ever subjecting us to his music.

Mark is, of course, not to blame for this, but the people who think because a song is great we need to hear it every second, of every day, ever, definitely are.

But, I digress. Enough of rambling on about Mark Ronson, and to my original point: helping you all get your mid-week funk on.

Fortunately for me, I came to the Uptown Funk party late, and by the time I even realised it was a thing the song’s buzz was already beginning to fade, so I haven’t heard it a million-and-one times. It’s reminiscent of the great tunes that powered the 70s soul train, helped keep afros perfectly spherical and made flares cool despite all evidence to the contrary. Uptown Funk has of course been updated for the 21st century but stays true to the pillars of 70s funk: a great bass-line beat, an optimistic guitar riff and a charismatic front-man. Throw in some saxophone fun and you end up with something it’s impossible not to bob your head along to and imagine yourself donning a pink blazer about town (just me?)

Well, anyway, I hope this tune does act as a pill to fight the midweek blues. If you have already heard this and you’re sick of the sight of Bruno Mars – completely understandable – then I apologise and can assure you you’ll be back reading the wit and whimsy of either Paddy or Laurie tomorrow.

I hope that stream of consciousness was shambolic enough for you all; if not, check this wonderful mess of a scenario out.

Have a groovy day,

Love,

Zac x

 

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Shambletracks: Sharon Van Etten is better than lots of things.

OH LOOK. IT’S ME AGAIN. HOW PREDICTABLE.

Paddy is back on the mic and when he rocks the mic he rocks the mic right* – and don’t you forget it pal, because woah hey here I am and with me I’ve got both Tony & Guy. In my head that whole intro bit sounded really very brilliant but now that I look at it I don’t think it comes across in the same way on a page as it does in a funny voice with actions and so on.

So as Laurie III (Duke of Snug) outlined, we’ve been hungover. And there is now confusion. I think I was meant to release this last night? I have no idea. Maybe Laurie XIII (Earl of Cuddles) will do another today. We have no idea. We’re on track though – right? GET IT. ON TRACK. CAUSE OF TRACKS. OH GOD I AM SO ALONE.

Anyway, today I have chosen the sound of Sharon Van Etten. Laurie sent me this about a year ago and I’ve been hooked on her ever since – she’s just brilliant. I had a real struggle trying to choose one track to show you, but the beauty of Shambletracks is that I can just do another/I have to do another. I have something like 26000 songs on this laptop, so after roughly 142.368240931 years you will have heard all of them. And that’s assuming Laurie and I never have any musical taste crossover. Oh God.

I’ve decided to show you ‘Give Out’. It was a toss-up between this, ‘Serpents’ (as heard on The Walking Dead OST), ‘Peace Signs’ (which reminds me of ‘Disarm’ by Smashing Pumpkins in a big/good way) and ‘I Know’ – along with all her other songs. I really really had to think about this one and I hope I’ve chosen wisely. The song is (to me) about finding love and losing it (but isn’t everything these days). Following someone to the ends of the earth only to have to make the return journey alone. Wow that sounded more upsetting than I meant it to.

Give it a listen and see what you think – it’s pure and haunting like a good-natured spectre who has just cried for an hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exJ3AG0JIeo

Also this may be against the spirit of things, but check out her acoustic version live on the KEXP Pickathon. It will hopefully blow you away. I’ll put it here:

Well that’s it from me today – keep on being great people.

Big love,

Paddy XX

*You should see me do it. It’s genuinely quite astounding. Some even say that if you’ve got no love then you’re with the wrong man (and therefore) it’s time to move your body**.

**Especially if you’re struggling with attracting a partner but your main buddy/pal is really good at it. Maybe you should…dance?

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Shambletracks: Easy like an Alt-J morning

Alt-J looking like moody buggers

Oh Shambles. We’re feeling delicate today. Paddy and I have finally done it – we’ve finally bust through to HANGOVER TOWN. Next stops, QUESTIONABLE TOILET NOISES and ADDICTION TO LEMSIP, passing briefly through REGRETVILLE, with a lovely view of HEY ALL THOSE THINGS YOU DID WHEN YOU THOUGHT NO-ONE WAS LOOKING BUT SOME PRICK WITH A CAMERA PHONE HAS IMMORTALISED FOR AT LEAST, LIKE, A WEEK.

Anyway, that’s my excuse for why I missed the deadline for Shambletracks yesterday and instead have crawled in late, piss-soggy and incoherent, groping for my dignity and trailing trousers. Sorry.

We did the classic one-two of ‘Host a Birthday Party then go and see the hottest indie quartet in town’ this weekend, celebrating both the anniversary Paddy-shambles’ brave liberation from the womb and Alt-J’s delicious introduction to London’s favourite tit monument, the O2 arena. They put on an absolute barnstormer of the show for us, Zac and Chloé, who accompanied us because we needed responsible adults to stop us doing naughty things. Everything from moody set opener ‘Hunger of the Pine‘ – helped by arrays of pulsing red lights, glowering like some enormous pan-galactic android – to perennial hit ‘Tessellate‘ was upgraded for the massive O2 stage, but the four Cambridge lads remained friendly and inclusive rather than aloof or arrogant, which is always lovely to see.

Paddy even managed to swank himself into the VIP area and sit next to Ellie Roswell, lead singer of supporting band Wolf Alice; they were an unexpected treat, their songs heavy, lairy and disjointed, like a souped-up Sonic Youth, and the pleasingly-named ‘Moaning Lisa Smile‘ was particularly brillo.

The only thing they didn’t get round to was playing their stripped back cover of Thin Lizzy’s ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’, trading in the funked-up bass and finger clicks for a glockenspiel and Joe Newman’s typically swallowed vocals. It’s far more a starry-eyed walk of wonder home than the original’s swagger up the street, but it’s absolutely beautiful. May it soothe you this Sunday morning and make you forget how many times you made that slightly inappropriate joke about ham hocks and imams while pulling ‘that Roy Chubby Brown face’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSHygiOnwTA

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Shambletracks: Lovecraft In Brooklyn is my jam.

“A new day, a new Shambletrack” as the really really famous saying definitely goes.

Wow guys it’s been a crazy ride getting here but we made it. When we started Shambletracks back on January 21st 2015 we could not have imagined this kind of runaway success – it’s just been amazing. Thank you all so much for your unending support through this mental and emotional time – I really feel like we deserve this; and hey, here’s to another 2 days!

Wow I think I just accurately used a semicolon (Zac helped). (Zac wrote it) – Now I, can go back to misusin-g ‘punctuation” at Will*!#coolmoves.

*like at will, not targeting someone called William. Although we could totally do that.

ANYWAY.

Today I have chosen Lovecraft In Brooklyn by The Mountain Goats. I have done this for many reasons. These will now become clear through the medium of information.

1. Laurie and I have given two relatively soft and melodic choices to you guys so far so I thought I’d add something a bit more thumping and drum-driven.

2. I’m currently reading The Lovecraft Anthology and this came on shuffle and I was all like ‘whaaaaaaaaaaat!?’ but then realised no one cared and broke my self-made surprise tableaux THAT I WORKED ON FOR AGES MIND YOU ROBERT.

3. I love this band. I love this song. I love basically everything about them and it, respectively.

4. I will be in Brooklyn next month. I feel that’s perhaps relevant.

You should (if you haven’t already) go and buy everything they have ever released. This album is called ‘Heretic Pride‘ and is wonderful, although if you’re looking for something to hook you onto The Mountain Goats I’d recommend picking up a copy of ‘The Sunset Tree’ or ‘Tallahassee’ first?

OH and the other thing that’s interesting about this song is it’s basically about a man who starts to identify with H.P Lovecraft at the height of his paranoia, racism and fear of everyone. Lovecraft moved to Brooklyn pursuing his love for a lady, and found the whole place terrifying – don’t worry though, the song’s overriding feeling is of disconnection and being alienated as opposed to ‘what it’s like to fear immigrants’.

Anyways, give it a listen and see what you think. It’s definitely the band’s heaviest song (by quite a long way) so if it doesn’t click with you, check out some of their more acoustic/folksy stuff on youtube.

BIG LOVE.

PADDY. XX