ben folds twelve

I've been on a massive Ben Folds (and his Five) trip recently, reminding myself why they (and he) are so absolutely fantastic and one of my favourite ever artists.

My colleague Quinty however, made the shocking admission the other day that she didn't like them. When discussing further it turns out she was getting them confused with someone else and she didn't know them at all. So I swore I would educate her. What follows is an attempt at a twelve-track best of that reflects the Five and Ben Folds' solo stuff.

I did just want to give the whole of "Whatever and Ever Amen" over, as it's one of my favourite albums of all time, but decided instead to go for a representative spread. The original rule was a maximum of 12 tracks, and was going to be no more than two tracks from each album, but I've broken that for WEAE because it's so very, very good. However, I've tried to be as varied as possible. Thoughts welcome please, particularly from those Folds connoisseurs out there...

1. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces (from "Whatever and Ever Amen", Ben Folds Five)

2. Zak and Sara (from "Rockin' the Suburbs", Ben Folds)

3. Don't Change Your Plans (from "The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner", Ben Folds Five)

4. Hiro's Song (from the Japanese edition of "Rockin' the Suburbs", Ben Folds. NOTE: the version on Spotify is the demo from the recent Ben Folds Retrospective. I can't track down the studio version anywhere)

5. Where's Summer B (from "Ben Folds Five", Ben Folds Five)

6. Kate (from "Whatever and Ever Amen", Ben Folds Five)

7. Your Dogs (from "Lonely Avenue", Ben Folds & Nick Hornby)

8. Effington (from "Way to Normal", Ben Folds)

9. Selfless, Cold & Composed (from "Whatever and Ever Amen", Ben Folds Five)

10. Time (from "Songs for Silverman", Ben Folds)

11. The Last Polka  (from "Ben Folds Five", Ben Folds Five)

12. Lullabye (from "The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner", Ben Folds Five)

Click here for the Spotify link

That is all.

synthetic sounds of april

So, this week's playlist started life as an attempt to compile my favourite bass lines in one playlist. But then it went a bit wrong and ended up as some bizarre 80s synth mix with a couple of modern bits thrown in the mix. Let's see what you all think:

1. Blue Monday - New Order (because let's face it - it's an absolutely stone-cold classic).

2. This Charming Man - The Smiths (not synthy, but definitely got one of the best basslines in the history of popular music. Plus, the lyrics are frankly hilarious).

3. Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds (my friend Matt and I were driving to the coast a few weekends ago listening to this and singing along. I'm very glad there weren't doors in the back of the car, though, or I think Lou may have made a bid for freedom. She definitely doesn't like this one...)

4. The Rip - Portishead (actually from only a couple of years ago, but I really like how the song breaks down into that one repetitive synth riff at the end. I think it fits well with the mood of this playlist).

5. Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode (a key track on "Now That's What I Call Music 17", the first album that my sisters bought me when I was young 'because they thought I was really weird' because I only listened to jazz and classical).

6. Get Down on It - Kool & the Gang (you'd never credit that the same guys also did "Jungle Boogie". This was definitely during their more commercial period...).

7. This Is The Day - The The (great song, really fantastic lyric).

8. Rio - Duran Duran (another survivor from the "great bass tracks" project. Plus another great singalong tune).

9. A Celle Qui Dure - M (another modern one. One of my favourite artists, M (Matthieu Chedid) is a really famous French multi-instrumentalist, and he's got some amazingly funky tracks. It was a toss up between this and a track called "Bonobo", but this one won because of the bass line...again...)

10. Close To Me - The Cure (another one from "Now 17", but a gloriously cheery sound. Interestingly, covered by M on the album that track 9 is taken from, and also included in a track from Sufjan Steven's "Illinoise" album).

11. On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Propellerheads (it is my life's aim to produce a bass sound like this one. Absolutely magnificent).

So, here's the link. Let me know what you think.

P.S. I wrote this a while ago, but never published it. There'll be a new list following shortly.

more march tunes

this time I decided to make a mix of more dancy, electronic stuff, mostly from about 20 years ago (and quite a bit of which was from Moore's CD collection).

1. The Sea - Morcheeba (this track served as my morning wake-up call when we were all living in Langley Moor. Some of you may remember it.)

2. Hustle - Tunng (more recent than most on this mix, but a lovely little song recommended to me by Andy L)

3. Music In My Mind - Adam F (ahh, mid 90s drum & bass. is it just me who misses this stuff?)

4. Walk Now, Talk Now - Day One (a Mr Beard recommendation which I first heard in Copenhagen. I love the guitar in this. although the use of the phrase 'information superhighway' does date it somewhat)

5. Windowlicker - Aphex Twin (can anyone hear this without thinking of the frankly terrifying video? much more scary than "come to daddy" in my opinion...)

6. Stoney Street - Amon Tobin (from a mix tape Danny sent me when we were living in Nice. magnificent double-bass. cheesy sax. what's not to love?).

7. Aisha - Death in Vegas ("aisha! I'm VIBRATING!". Iggy Pop. scary man).

8. Velvet Pants - Propellerheads (ridiculous cheery slice of big beat. why did they only do one album?)

9. Alpha Beta Gaga - Air (first heard while bed-bound recovering from knee ops. managed to make me smile through the codeine...)

10. Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out - Bentley Rhythm Ace (thanks nick!)

11. At The River - Groove Armada (possibly the finest trombone sound on record. lazy, easy, and a nice ending).

Here's the link to the playlist on spotify.

Toodle pip.

top ten this month

this month's top 10 is mostly dominated by guys (and a girl) with crunchy guitars:


1. Into The White - Pixies
3. Why Bother? - Weezer
3. No You Girls - Franz Ferdinand
4. Bittersweet Bundle of Misery - Graham Coxon
5. Unfair - Pavement
6. Fat Children - Jarvis Cocker
7. Comfort Me - Dan Melrose
8. Whisky & Green Tea - Supergrass
9. You Can't Break a Heart and Have It - Black Francis
10. Beginner's Luck - Eels


here's the Spotify playlist Mr Bielby.


that is all.

the 'head

a while back, I did a playlist of Radiohead B-sides and off cuts from recent years - mainly to get most of the "single-only" releases of the past few months into a playable order. below is what I've come up with - a kind of "King of Amnesiac Rainbows" if you will.

1. these are my twisted words
2. supercollider
3. go slowly
4. fog
5. i am citizen insane
6. staircase
7. the butcher
8. talk show host (i know, very early...)
9. the daily mail
10. 4 minute warning
11. Harry Patch (in memory of)
12. gagging order

still not quite sure i've got the running order ideal, and i'm tempted to lose "the butcher". what do you reckon?

answers on a postcard (or in a comments box) please.

musical schizophrenia

Yesterday's listening was a bit varied - partly reflective, partly a happy celebration of a day almost like summer. Here is my two-by-five playlist for you to enjoy. First the reflective numbers:


1. When It Rains - Brad Mehldau
2. So Long Frank Lloyd Wright - Simon & Garfunkel
3. Lonesome Tears - Beck
4. Beirut - Ibrahim Maalouf
5. Tide of Trepidation - e.s.t.


...and then the cheery numbers (you may spot a theme):


1. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life - Stevie Wonder
2. For Once In My Life - Stevie Wonder
3. All I Do - Stevie Wonder
4. As  - Stevie Wonder
5. Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder


If this was an album there'd also be a bonus track which departs from the theme above - "Dusty McNugget" by Brad Mehldau.


Today's listening will be mostly Alive 2007 (Daft Punk). 


That is all.

music of my mind

so I'm a little bit insomniac tonight as sometimes happens, particularly when on my own. I was messing around on instruments and then I remembered something I meant to share with you all.  Most of you remember my two main bands at home and Uni, Wug and Chaulk. I think you're aware that I uploaded the complete oeuvre of Wug to last.fm (http://www.last.fm/music/WUG).

but I remembered too that a couple of years ago or so I uploaded all the finished recordings we made with Chaulk to MySpace. You can find them here:

http://www.myspace.com/chaulktheband

I know it's a bit 'navel-gazey' but I'm really proud of the music we produced and wanted to get it out there to share. I suppose I wanted the chance for people to randomly happen across it too. You never know, one day we might still be famous...

a brief interlude

Before I get properly going again with the blog, I have to share the following with you:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4Czla6tXc


Magnificent.

A clean slate

Returning by "popular demand", I think is the phrase.
Mo(o)re will follow.