The Magnetic Moment of the Antiproton by Cinema du Lyon

DW on 21 February, 2021

Cinema du Lyon aren’t a cinema, they probably aren’t based in Lyon and they haven’t released an album in 15 years. However… this new one is a corker. Presently available on Bandcamp, rumour has it that physical copies will be produced (vinyl? cassette? cuneiform?) and that live concerts may be entertained. Live? In this day and age? The album sticks to the non-genre pretensions of the podcast and their previous album The Particle Zoo with 12 tracks of varying mood and duration which take the illustrational ‘foley’ productions further, each one feeling like a film scene. Presumably the film is about French scientists, trains and exceptionally delicious cuisine.

Either way, listen here.

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Quincy Jones, Jacob Collier

DW on 8 February, 2018

I read this excellent and frank interview with Quincy Jones, which has startled a few. Some questioned the veracity of some of this answers but it all rings true to me. A long time Quincy fan, since I heard his beautiful arrangements on Paul Simon’s 1973 album ‘There Goes Rhymin’ Simon’ – I particularly love ‘American Tune’ – he has by now become one of music’s unabashed greats.

Favourite quote:

Is there innovation happening in modern pop music?
Hell no. It’s just loops, beats, rhymes and hooks. What is there for me to learn from that? There ain’t no fucking songs. The song is the power; the singer is the messenger. The greatest singer in the world cannot save a bad song. I learned that 50 years ago, and it’s the single greatest lesson I ever learned as a producer. If you don’t have a great song, it doesn’t matter what else you put around it.

Still discoveries proliferate. In 2016 the BBC staged a prom concert as a tribute to the man, and that is where I chanced upon Jacob Collier, a beautiful talent who Quincy picked up early and produced.

The first time I heard this, the hairs on my neck went up, and my eyes filled with tears. Not for sadness, but for beauty. I couldn’t even begin to grasp what the music was doing, how it was formed, as its immediate effect was overwhelming. If you aren’t particularly romantic, or a lover of jazz and soul, it may leave you cold. But if you do appreciate jazz, soul, and great musical talent, and you don’t yet know this song, ‘In The Real Early Morning’, prepare to be astounded.

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Do you remember the old times?

DW on 7 February, 2013

A song called “Old”. I’ve coined a new musical genre, as you do, for this song – Plantagenet. It seemed both timely with the rescuing of Richard III from his carpark grave in Leicester and appropriate for this muse on mortality. The sounds of the clock chiming and the dog are from my childhood home.

The line “Old, I don’t wanna be, lying awake scared of burglary” sometimes gets misheard as “scared of buggery”.

I don’t mind this addition of sexual paranoia, though it wasn’t intended. The listener’s mind completes the work.

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Just Like London Buses

DW on 4 February, 2013

m b v - My Bloody ValentineJust Like London Buses, you wait a couple of decades and then two come along at once. My Bloody Valentine are by no means the most hasty of bands, with a twenty year lay off in their release schedule, but as if by magic they have produced and released a new album, tantalisingly entitled m b v.

They must be miffed though – Bowie nipped in there and stole the WOW moment for ancient acts making a comeback in January. I predict by the year’s end there will be a baker’s dozen of such miraculous events, possibly even a new Elvis Presley album.

Here it is in a slightly hobbled try-before-you-buy format.

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