iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

#NowPlaying Tired Lion - Breakfast for Pathetics (2020). Described at the time by NME as 'gloriously grungy anthems of personal growth,' Brisbane based frontwoman Sophie Hopes plays everything bar the drums, she even manages some whistling on an album full of hooks and memorable lyrics.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

#NowPlaying Sylvie Kreusch - Comic Trip (2024). Belgian singer/songwriter Sylvie Kreusch's second album, you can play spot the references, from Stereolab to Morricone via The B52's on an album that is engaging throughout.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

#NowPlaying Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos (2025). @djpunctum.bsky.social was right, this really is a very good album.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Here's Jim Standen looking for the one he lit earlier.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

#NowPlaying Ethel Cain - Perverts (2025). 'Perverts is seventy per cent white and brown noise, unsettling whispers and synth throbs,' according to one review, which puts it right up my street. Parts remind me of Jenny Hval, others of Du Blonde, but it's original, unsettling and rather wonderful.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

#NowPlaying Leyla McCalla - Sun Without The Heat (2024). When so much music seems to be trying too hard to reinvent the wheel here's an artist and band taking their roots and producing something new. Simply joyous and uplifting.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

#NowPlaying Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive (2024). Alynda Segarra consistently produces good albums, I keep coming back to this one.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

#NowPlaying Saya Gray - QWERTY II (2024). Seven track follow-up to the previous years EP 'QWERTY,' this is packed full of musical ideas and the lyrics sound less a stream of unconsciousness than its predecessor.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

#NowPlaying Peter Cat Recording Co. - Beta (2024). I think @djpunctum.bsky.social on his excellent warmrationalism.blogspot.com/2024/12/reco... is the only person to mention this glorious album in their 2024 EOY summary.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

#NowPlaying Walter Smith III - three of us are from Houston, and Reuben Is not (2024). Walter Smith III: tenor saxophone; Jason Moran: piano; Reuben Rogers: acoustic bass; Eric Harland: drums. Described in one review as 'showcasing elevated levels of musicianship,' no argument with that from me.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Happy New Year to all you lovely people. The fireworks around here have been welcoming in 2025 since Moscow and I suspect they will continue until Nuuk (or even New York).

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Merry Christmas all. Have a good time.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

You will be visited by three spirits.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

#NowPlaying The John Rutter Christmas Album (2002). Like a Christmas version of George Costanza I have no words.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

#NowPlaying Jennifer Castle - Camelot (2024). First came across Castle when fifth album 'Angels of Death,' was released six years ago. This is album seven and as with its predecessors it needs a few plays to get to grips with the lyrical nuances. Hopefully this will get her a wider audience.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Emmanuel Carrère - V13:Chronicle of a Trial. An extraordinarily powerful book. The journalist was present everyday of the trial into the November 2015 Paris attacks. 14 defendants, 2,400 plaintiffs, 350 lawyers and a moving, multi layered, narrative that grips you from the first paragraph.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

#NowPlaying Sahib Shihab - Sahib's Jazz Party (1963). Recorded live in Copenhagen, the CD release includes a version of 'Someday My Prince Will Come,' which was from Disney's 'Snow White,' and was also recorded by Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck among others. Good quality live sound on this.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Shindig! issue No.159), which has arrived a couple of weeks early, features an article on Linda Ronstadt. One of my personal music highlights of the year has been the reappraisal and acknowledgment of her varied and great career and importance to other artists over 50 odd years.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

#NowPlaying Dua Lipa - Live From The Albert Hall (2024). "What a dream it is to be in this room.” Must have been great to be there, it looked and sounded spectacular on the box. Everybody from audience to the orchestra, backing singers and the singer herself having a good time plus added Elton John!

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

20 December. International Human Solidarity Day, which seems more of a challenge every year.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

#NowPlaying Les Musiciens De Saint-Julien - Noel Baroque (2015). Maîtrise de Radio France - the youth choir of French radio are in superb voice on this recording of Noëls. Some pieces are sung in dialect, including two in the Huron tongue of Canada.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Anybody who knows a fan of 1970s Sunday night soap 'The Brothers,' currently showing on @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social, might want to buy them this curiosity. Released only in the Netherlands in 1976 it apparently went 'gold' over there. Available online from €1.19 plus postage.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

#NowPlaying - Christie Laume - Pas de Nouvelles (1967). Somebody who was part of the ye-ye French scene. Laume is the sister of Theo Sarapo who was Edit Piaf's second husband from 1962 until Piaf's death a year later. Laume lived with the couple, toured with Piaf and opened many of her shows.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

A contrast in mood to one of his other paintings 'A Letter from America'

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

#NowPlaying Angele Dubeau - Noel (2010) Canadian violinist Angele Dubeau and her all-female ensemble La Pieta run through a mixture of familiar seasonal tunes and some melodies you can't quite place but which sound so familiar you have to check the track listing. Beautifully played.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

#NowPlaying Kirsty MacColl - The Stiff Years (2005). Just great pop songs, and no sign of somebody with imposter syndrome and a chip shop.

Kirsty MacColl - The Stiff Years. A 2005 collection of perfect pop songs, minus that dreadful one about somebody with imposter syndrome working down the chippie.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

#NowPlaying Nathalie Stutzmann - Contralto (2021). French contralto and conductor sings and conducts Handel, Vivaldi, Porpora and other Baroque composers. Includes five world premiere recordings.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

#NowPlaying Django Reinhardt - Belleville 1940-1942. One of the few artists to beget (possibly) more compilations than The Who or The Kinks. Recorded whilst Paris was subject to Nazi rule, Reinhardt even plays violin on some tracks. A good collection of one of the great pre-electric guitarists.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

#NowPlaying - Angel Olsen - Cosmic Waves Vol 1 (2024). Five tracks by artists chosen by Angel Olsen followed by five tracks of her covering their work. “If you like what you hear, please support these artists by buying some of their music... or telling your friends about them. Love, Angel”

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

#NowPlaying Island Presents Dub (2014). Compilation for giving that bass speaker a good work out.

Island Records present 38 Hard and Heavy Dub Cuts. Like a Trojan compilation but dubbier.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

#NowPlaying Bat For Lashes and Lara Somogyi - Dream of Delphi (Harp versions) (2024). As remixes/re-imagined versions go this is one that wasn't on my 2024 bingo card. Five vocal (plus harp) plus five instrumental versions, it's quite beautiful.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Pauline Boty by Marc Kristal. It took the author ten years to write and it is a book that I keep finding myself going back to. A comprehensive and cultural contextualising of her life, I found out where the phrase 'pop art,' came from. The epilogue is eye stingingly sad.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

#NowPlaying Kris Davis Trio - Run The Gauntlet (2024). Dedicated to the beacons who have guided her, including Carla Bley and Sylvia Courvoisier among others, there are thrills (no spills) a plenty. The title track comes in at just under fourteen minutes and showcases the talents of all involved.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

With apologies to my vegetarian followers, the tin of Spam Christmas decoration is £12, an actual tin of Spam only costs £3.50. Time to get creative!

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

#NowPlaying - Lauren Mayberry - Vicious Creature (2024). Chvrches lead singer strikes out with her debut solo album and it is a pop record full of bouncy guitars, some piercing synths and good tunes.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

#NowPlaying Rema - Heis (2024). Nigerian artists second album opens with a chuckle and it just gets better from that point. Every track just makes you feel alive. Man, it's got rhythm to spare.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

#NowPlaying Megan Moroney - Am I Okay? (2024). Country singers second album and possibly better than her debut 'Lucky,' which was pretty special. The lyrics are funny, self-deprecating, pointed and brutally honest and there are a few songs in there which will become instant, sing-a-long anthems.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Certainly the first single with my own money. Still have it.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

#NowPlaying Leo Sayer - 1992 (2024). Recorded in 1992 when he didn't have a record deal, these tracks have been dusted off and sent out into a world that bar his fans probably doesn't care. His vocals sound good and 'Rainbow's End,' may well have been a hit back then.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

#NowPlaying John Hassell - Seeing Through Sound (2020). His eighteenth and final album. The trumpeter worked with the great and the good over a long career: Eno, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, David Sylvian, Ry Cooder. Music to immerse your ears in.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

#NowPlaying - Tashi Wada - What Is Not Strange (2024). One of those records where each time you think you've got it worked out a left or right turn is taken and it remains elusive. This is so good, drone sounds, synths, ethereal vocals from his partner Julia Holter and some cracking percussion.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

#NowPlaying Galina Grigorjeva - Nature Morte (2016). Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Theatre of Voices & Yxus Quartet conducted by Paul Hillier. Described by Gramophone Magazine as 'bracing,' it is certainly that.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

The use of that photograph is a bit cheeky! To be fair it is probably in the public domain now.

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Paul Kay @roughguide1960.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

For no reason other than its a good tune I'm listening to 'Thunderwing,' by T.Rex. Which is a good excuse to tell again the story of going to Birmingham in 1972 to play in a national five a side and our only music was a home taping of 'Metal Guru' plus two b-sides for the journey there and back.

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