Listen up: TuneSmith’s musical recommendations for December
Posted by Anthony on December 3rd, 2009Looking for the perfect music to take on your trips? Well, there’s Mr & Mrs Smith’s new In bed with… CD , of course, but you may need some additional inspiration. Here, our very own TuneSmith, DJ Rob Wood, the brains and ears behind our albums, makes his essential monthly recommendations…
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH
Originals – Volume 4 compiled by Matthew Burgess and Jolyon Green
When? House music ain’t enough
Why? This is the dance music that slipped between the cracks
The small but loveable record label Claremont 56 has been quietly celebrating the record-detecting talents of committed vinyl junkies who are finely tuned to the art of unearthing well-buried music. Allowing people who have spent large swathes of their lives flicking through (sadly increasingly) dusty record shops, in an unending search for musical oddities and under-played treats, was always going to be a good idea. The latest in the series is a prize selection from the resident DJs at underground party Lowlife, namely Matthew Burgess and Jolyon Green. The uninitiated will only find a couple of familiar names on the track listing – Sly & Robbie and A Guy Called Gerald. But what makes this one of the year’s best compilations for any one interested in the area left of dance music, is the slow-burning selection of Balearic nuggets, electro-disco, house, 1980s boogie and funky rock from the likes of the unknown and mysterious. Amaziah’s ‘Slowly’ might not be appearing any time ever on a radio near you, but it has been saved from the charity-shop record bin, and given a rightful airing as a groovy thing of beauty. Expect the unexpected and you will be surprised and delighted.
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THE SMITH CLASSIC
Coles Corner by Richard Hawley
When? Kicking back in style is the only option
Why? Soak up these warm vintage sounds for echoes of Cash and Orbison
It is always something of a mystery why Richard Hawley is not celebrated as the national treasure that he clearly is. Of course he has supported Elbow, played Glastonbury, and Wembley Arena even, as well as sold a good few CDs. But for a songwriter who straddles the gulf between classic and contemporary with such panache and craft, it seems strange that his albums aren’t clutched more firmly to the bosom of British culture. Alongside the likes of Jarvis Cocker (who Hawley played with in Pulp), he’s one of Sheffield’s most individual voices. This year’s Truelove’s Gutter should be snapped up, as should 2003’s Lowedges where pedal steel and South Yorkshire were happily married. Yet it was his breakthrough and Mercury-nominated Coles Corner that remains Hawley’s masterwork. Its sheer sense of vintage style, vivid lyricism, and evocative guitar made it a career-defining statement. When Alex Turner of the Artic Monkeys won the Mercury Music Prize the same year Coles Corner was nominated, even he had to admit: ‘Someone call 999, Richard Hawley’s been robbed!’
We already stock your fab books, looks as though we should start selling these ambient little numbers too.
By Handpicked Collection
On December 3rd, 2009