July 21, 2011

254 to Go…A Quick Beer Update Part 2

Last time I update the 300 Hundred Beers to Try Before You Die challenge it turned out I’d had only 289 left. Since then I’ve been to Belgium and Sweden, so let’s see what I can tick off now:

  • Goose Island IPA (drunk most of the US beers at The Hand bar in Falmouth)
  • Brooklyn Brown Ale
  • Black Sheep Best Bitter (Novacon, of course)
  • St Peter’s Organic Best Bitter
  • Timothy Taylor’s Landlord
  • Anchor Old Foghorn
  • Blue Anchor Spingo Special (in Helston, obvo)
  • Traquair House Ale (in the Bishop’s Arms, Stockholm)
  • Brooklyn Chocolate Stout
  • La Choufe
  • Duvel
  • Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted
  • Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer
  • Orkney Dark Island
  • Rodenbach Grand Cru
  • Chimay Blue (had a 3L one for my 40th, and yes I didn’t drink it on my own)
  • Chimay White
  • Chimay Red
  • Orval (Triads, Brussels, etc…say no more)
  • Tripel Karmeleit
  • Koningshoeven Tripel
  • Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus (at the brewery)
  • Cantillon Gueze-Lambic (at the brewery)
  • Cantillon Kriek (at the brewery)
  • Brooklyn Lager
  • Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (smokey…on Christmas Eve)

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July 20, 2011

100 Songs: #19 Little Star – Stina Nordenstam

And She Closed Her Eyes - Stina NordenstamThere are songs that remind you of a specific time and place, Stina Nordenstam’s Little Star is one of them – I just need to hear the opening bars of this track and I’m instantly transported back to the mid-nineties.

It was an odd period of my life, I’d just been laid off from a job I loathed at a horticultural firm, and as a result I moved back to the parental home to save money. Back then my days were spent endlessly applying for work during the day, and listening to Radio 1 in the evenings. It seems odd now, but in those days there was such a quality line-up of music and presenters in the evenings, with Steve Lamacq, Mark and Lard, and of course the legendary John Peel.  It was on Mark and Lard’s evening show that I first heard Little Star.

This haunting and beautiful song is largely acoustic and displays the same childlike fragility heard in many of the songs on her LP And She Closed Her Eyes from where it is taken. It opens with a lone acoustic guitar and Stina’s trademark girly vocals, but quickly evolves into something jazzier. With its laid back feel, choirs and dreamy keyboard sounds, Little Star transcends being just a song into something more like a dreamscape. After opening up in such a glorious fashion, the song collapses back on itself leaving you with just Stina’s voice and that simple acoustic guitar. This is a precious and finely crafted track, and excellent late night fare – just the sort of music to cheer yourself up after a grim day of rejection slips.

As a side note I should say that no matter how much I listen to the Kermode and Mayo Film Podcasts, Mark Kermode will always be the crazy bloke who did the cult movie spot on Mark and Lard’s show.

Listen to Little Star:

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June 30, 2011

Kaknästornet – Stockholm’s TV Tower

KaknästornetNo trip to Europe would be complete without a picture of a TV tower!

Here’s Stockholm’s famous Kaknästornet which stands tall at 170 metres (or 560 feet). In common with a lot of TV towers you can take a lift up to the restaurant at the top. The view is supposed to be stunning – unfortunately on my recent holiday I didn’t have enough time to take a ride to the top, so you’ll just have to make do with this photo taken at a distance while on a bicycle tour around Djurgården.

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June 28, 2011

The Birka Cow

Wooden Cow Statue - BirkaWhilst on holiday in Sweden, we took a boat ride out to the island of Björkö, where the archeological remains of what is generally regarded as Sweden’s oldest town exist – Birka. It was a good day mixing boat trip, culture and a little bit of walking. Towards the end I noticed this interesting wooden statue of a cow.

I’m not quite sure why there is a big gaping hole in the middle of the poor beast though…

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June 26, 2011

100 Songs: #18 Dry The Rain – The Beta Band

Scottish folktronica experts The Beta Band were one of those acts I largely ignored when they were around in the late nineties. Looking back, I can’t see why I didn’t pick up on them back then; their mix of acoustic folk, good tunes, and experimental sounds qualified them for instant cult status and that would normally have propelled them right into my playlist. Anyway it wasn’t until after they split up that I discovered them through a link with Fernsehturm favourites – the Fence Collective. Still, better late than never.

3 EPs - Beta Band

Dry The Rain starts all acousticy with some rough slide guitar, subdued trip-hop beats and some nice introverted lyrics. After a couple of verses in the same mode, the bass kicks in, hinting that the song is evolving. Before you know it drums and electric guitars are beefing up the sound, propelling the song forward into another place. Horns and vocals carry the tune forward over a descending chord sequence that is as fun to play on guitar as it is to listen to, climaxing in the repeated mantra of “If there’s something inside that you want to say, say it out loud, it’ll be okay, I’ll be your light”.

Things tagged with the label “life affirming” are often derided by modern hip culture, but IMHO there is something genuinely uplifting about this song. It is a great piece of music, a bona-fide classic and one that always makes me smile. It still sends shivers down my spine each time I hear it, almost like I am hearing it for the first time again, and that is a very special quality that most music just does not have these days.

Listen to Dry The Rain:

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