Late-night other-wordly sounds . . .

Sometimes I stay up late and watch Jules Holland. He has a knack of filling in pieces of my musical education. He tempts me with sounds I would never go looking for. He makes me feel that he is letting me in on a secret. I heard Corinne Bailey Rae before anyone else. Jules introduced me to her. He is our mutual friend and I look on her success with pride. Jules and I knew she would do well. It’s a talented group of friends.

I was round at Jules’ place once when Anthony and the Johnsons popped in. It is the clarity of voice and the perfect enunciation spread over several octaves that casts a spell over me. I’m not sure about the lyrics though. I think that with my slightly prudish tendencies it is better not to ask for illumination. Definitely music to be listened to by candlight with no questions about what lurks in the shadows. Anthony has always been the lead in this act and he plays the piano while he sings but the overall effect would not be the same without the impressive range of musicians, currently five in number, that have and continue to contribute to the sound.

The latest person I bumped into and felt an affinity with is Vashti Bunyan. You may have heard her “Just Another Diamond Day” in a TV ad for some mobile phone company. I was so taken with her music that I scribbled her name and other names mentioned by her and Jules and then madly googled them all when Jules’ little soiree finished. So now I am the proud owner of two CDS , “Just Another Diamond Day” and Lookaftering”. A clear, simple, breathless, haunting voice. If you can find your way to YouTube you will find several videos of her. I thought I’d share this one with you:

help! what’s happened? I was so proud of myself for getting this youtube video to appear and now it’s disappeared!

– just gone to youtube.com and they have “scheduled downtime” so it’s not my fault!