Showing posts with label Janelle Monáe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Janelle Monáe. Show all posts

Saturday 20 February 2021

Le Son

I'd lost my Bluetooth Emospeak headphones and yesterday I found them, so thanks to the milder weather I don't have to wear multiple coats and hats so the headphones are now an option once again. I wasn't sure what to listen to but I have a Disco playlist featuring Donna Summer , Lipps Inc , Marcel King , Janelle Monae and The Emotions although I have a hell of a lot of choice to listen to on my Google Pixel 2XL phone and it's still half empty so when I can be bothered I can add more from my collection.

This week one the original album series boxes that I picked out for listening was the first five albums by Little Feet , and though the albums are all under forty minutes and they are so good that they just seemed to disappear immediately . Steered by Lowell George they were on a similar level to The Band in terms of shaping the sounds of Americana.

I am quite shocked I have never mentioned Little feat before on this blog, but at leas this short post will rectify this and will share two live numbers from an Old Grey Whistle Test performance in 1975 , "Rock and Roll Doctor" and "Fat Man In The Bathtub" (maybe should be my theme tune).


Tuesday 12 November 2019

Take The Skinheads Bowling


Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I walked to and from work. Both walks were in the dark as it's autumn and the days are still getting shorter as we are still on the way to the Winter Solstice and the shortest day. I did about 18.5K steps which at 2.5K steps per mile is about 7.5 miles. I don't think I will do that today as I need to be at work a bit longer today but I will definitely be walking in , and my step cout is ahead of schedule for the month.

I got to listen to the excellent "Dirty Computer" by Janelle Monáe, my favourite album of the last two years, repeating a couple of songs as I played it then finishing off with Marcel King's "Reach For Love" , one of my favourite singles and Shaun Ryder's favourite Factory single. That's the great thing about walking, these days (and really since the dawn of the compact cassette) we have the ability to listen to music on the move. Although cassettes are having a revival, the problem has always been their fragility, but they did combine that with convenience. A friend of mine had a cassette player that allowed you to program the playing order, but the fact that it had to fast forward and rewind between songs sort of negated the convenience, but an impressive piece of technology none the less.

The blog is now eight posts away from the annual record (last year I hit 316) so that will be easily surpassed this year and that will probably be it for posting records.

One of the points of this blog is to share music with friends and I was thinking of something by Janelle Monáe or Marcel King, but Chris Hawkins on 6Music has just put on "Take The Skinheads Bowling" by Camper Van Beethoven who once retired to a cabin and recorded Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" (my favourite Fleetwood Mac album and even got album of the week from NME despite being a double album by "dinosaur rockers" in the middle of the UK punk explosion, and the CVB one is good as well). So we will go with "Take The Skinheads Bowling".

Just as I was writing this , my tablet box somehow fell out of my pocket. It is round. I looked down it was nowhere to be seen. I guessed right and it had rolled under the chest of drawers. C'est la vie.

Wednesday 30 October 2019

Chart Plan - #Oktoberfest #36 - Janelle Monáe - I Got The Juice


I think tonight I will put together a chart of all the drinks mentioned in my #Oktoberfest sequence. Normally when I do things like this I plan them to ensure I know what's coming next and ensure I don't repeat myself.

Early last year I heard what has been my favourite and most played album over the last two years , "Dirty Computer" by Janelle Monáe , and I often listen to it when walking to work. I thought about buying it on vinyl (which I could do) but it is naturally digital and here is my original post about it. This features the Dirty Computer Emotion Picture and fifty minute science fiction story / music video based on the album well worth watching on your big screen.

So #Oktoberfest continues with "I Got The Juice" by Janelle Monáe and again I am stretching the nature of drink, but you can drink any form of juice , even from Janelle Monáe so it does fit into my definition for #Oktoberfest and I am way over the 31 I expected for October (on 36 now) and will probably do two more.

Janelle Monáe also appeared in the Channel 4 Electric Dreams episode "Autofac" based on a short story by Philip K Dick.


The last couple of days the number of visits have increased from 1200 to 1800 a day , an increase of 50%.  October has had over 40K visits which is the highest ever (39K last month) so I don't know if 400K visits before the end of 2019 is a possibility as it stands at 334K now.

Thursday 11 July 2019

Not The Best


Today I thought I was getting a lie in as they burglar alarm service team were coming. They did ... late ... and will be charging me for a new battery as they only last five years. Prior to that a serious roof leak reappears soaking a mattress and sheets and I am trying to get the person who should have fixed it to fix it..

This is what causes stress, when something affecting you is out of your control. Because of that I didn't go to the Queercastle finale party even though it was only six to nine with people I like to see, although I wasn't missed.

The day has been muggily hot so not comfortable at work. There's been rain and sun but I managed to get some stuff done at work then left phone messages about the roof.

I then watched some catch up TV finishing off with Janelle Monáe and The Cure's Glastonbury sets.

It's still hot and muggy so I hope to be able to sleep.

A work colleague recommended the Youtube Subliminals for weight loss and other things but the rten hours of rain sound is very relaxing although at odds with what is happening to my roof ate the moment. I listened to a few ten minute ones and an hour of the rain this morning , may download some as MP3s to listen to when walking into work.

So what music should we have,  Last night I listened to "Go" by Stomu Yamash'ta and it's one of my many favourite albums, so we'll have a live take of "Crossing The Line" featuring Stevie Winwood from the album.

Sleep  well.


Saturday 11 May 2019

Going Back With Janelle Monáe


In my opinion the best album of last year was "Dirty Computer" by Janelle Monáe (I hadn't noticed the acute accent on the a before today, but that's just my English linguistic ignorance),and this is what I thought of it here which includes the accompanying album length video. This album is where she was getting to at that point and it is a damned near perfect album, which I still play regularly and is definitely on my top ten.

So I decided it may be a good idea to revisit here earlier output. The actual production quality is consistently excellent and the songs are good from the off although throughout her albums there is a definite upward curve.

It started with a planned multi part suite "Metropolis" starting with  the mini album "The Chase" which sets the story in "The March of The Wolfmasters" , one of five suite overtures over her first three albums. She collaborates with other writers and all her output has a heavy science fiction presence, but it is so well executed it enhances rather than detracts from the music.

The Chase ends with an expected take on Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" , which does fit in with the dystopian future that Monáe's narratives display.

"The ArchAndroid" , containing "Suite II" and "Suite III"of "Metropolis"features her developing soul / rock with attitude style taking in The Slits, X-Ray Spex and Todd Rundgren , check "Mushrooms and Roses" that closes "Suite II" . She has no fear of collaboration and really the best way to experience this is to listen to the album.

"The Electric Lady" consists of "Suite IV" and "Suite V" of "Metropolis" as is a step closer to artistic perfection. The thing is the closer you get to "Dirty Computer" the harder it is to pick something that says this is Janelle Monáe because you know that you will always miss something.

She really is one of the most important artists performing and producing today. We will go with here collaboration with Erykah Badu "Q.U.E.E.N."  and this gives a great idea of what she is about.