What music are you listening to? (2025)

"Slaughter To Prevail" Most people probably aren't familiar with them. It's Russian death metal. 🤘
 
Song #16

Billy Bragg - Between the Wars

I've never hidden my political views, formed at the height of Thatcherism, and coming to Leicester in the middle of the miners strike. It was inevitable that I would latch on to Billy Bragg, an articulate and principled man, whose contribution to political debate is still relevent and much needed in the current climate.
Here he is singing live on Top of the Pops in front of a totally confused audience who had come hoping to see Duran Duran.

View: https://youtu.be/OYI8HBREvYY?si=8Q0IG9uYiMp0PeMt
 
Songs #17

Olafur Arnalds - Particles
Olafur Arnalds - Near Light.

A long post.

We were going to see Air at the Camden Palais, as was. I found out that their support act was an Icelandic woman named Olof Arnalds, so I Youtubed her to get an idea what she was about (look at her performance of Klara, mad as a box of frogs). Along with a few of her videos were many more by a guy called Olafur Arnalds, I started watching them, then watched more. He got under my skin straight away so I googled him, two things came out, firstly he is Olof's cousin and secondly he was playing Leicester Cathederal in less than a month. Tickets were bought immediately. Once I saw his performance he became locked in as my favourite composer ever.
Of course we saw him more times including when we flew to Paris on a Saturday afternoon, went straight to the Louvre via a beer and croque monsieur, and watched an all night improvisation by Olafur and his friend Nils Frahm (more another day) under the pyramid, sat in deck chairs, before spilling out into the Paris dawn and heading to a cafe near to Notra Dame for coffee and baguettes. This remains the best concert I have ever attended by a mile.
My favourite Olafur Arnalds composition is my favourite ever piece of music, and I will save that for a post in a few months time. Here though I am going to give you two, because I make the rules:
Particles: A rare time Olafur works with a vocalist, and the result is quite beautiful.
Near Light: More typical of his work, this was composed, arranged, recorded, mixed and performed in just 24 hours as part of his Livingroom Songs project. Joining him on keyboards are his mum and sister.

Particles

View: https://youtu.be/wEj7xYyj9n4?si=BXjIF1v6MOA-tfqR


Near light

View: https://youtu.be/UHVh_L_kv1Q?si=mNzcjazZv6POtURq
 
The Velvet Curtain said:
Of course we saw him more times including when we flew to Paris on a Saturday afternoon, went straight to the Louvre via a beer and croque monsieur, and watched an all night improvisation by Olafur and his friend Nils Frahm (more another day) under the pyramid, sat in deck chairs, before spilling out into the Paris dawn and heading to a cafe near to Notra Dame for coffee and baguettes. This remains the best concert I have ever attended by a mile.
Click to expand...

You just transported me there... beautifully described.

Particles is haunting stuff. For some reason I couldn't get Near Light to play.
 
Song #19

Blur - Tender

When I finished Poly and started work, for some reason I completely switched off from music, meaning great bands like The Stone Roses, the Charlatans and others flew straight past me. I did wake up again in time for Britpop, particularly having a fondness for the female fronted bands like Sleeper and Echobelly. I also liked these cheeky London scamps, whilst having no truck with those humourless Manc lads.
I finally saw Blur at their reunion show in Hyde Park in 2009, the one where Damon Albarn stood on stage and cried because he couldn't believe the fantastic reception they got from the sell out crowd. The show was brilliant and if course they wheeled out Phil Daniels to do Parklife.
As the band left the stage at the end the entire crowd started singing the chorus from Tender, the gates were opened and we all spilled across Hyde Park still singing. Past Speakers corner and down Oxford Street, still thousands of us singing, into Bond Street station down the escalator and still hundreds of us singing, finally on to the platform with dozens of us still singing. It was only when the tube doors shut that silence returned - hairs on the back of the neck stuff, never to be forgotten
Here they are at Glastonbury a couple of weeks later, with the crowd there getting it too

View: https://youtu.be/pB8_8tsmg2Y?si=LUlt8GfvHMse8Wex
 
Song #20

Pet Shop Boys - Go West

Back in the day I definitely shunned the Pet Shop Boys, they were a girls' band with silly pop songs, not the kind of music a post punk lad was interested in.
In 2010 they headlined the Splendour Festival in Wollaton Park, Nottingham. Lu fancied it, so I bought tickets. They put on one of the best live shows I've ever seen, hit after hit, great staging and choriography, and a frontman in Neil Tennant who held the audience. I danced and sang with a beaming smile and left a complete convert.

View: https://youtu.be/aISop8QpR-A?si=K296yovfKz5GFagZ
 
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