Mark Eitzel and Franz Nicolay

A rainy Monday; deepest, darkest Leeds 6 and two be-hatted miserablists. How's that for a recipe for a fun night? Pretty irresistable from where I'm standing. Eitzel was headlining, of course, and Nicolay admitted he was a bit starstruck and had learned the guitar from Songs of Love. I'm just posting up the cover of Nicolay's album because, well, it's a good 'tache. And he's sporting a similar number.

So, a night of tears in beers, jokey openings and jumping in the crowd for Franz, Rabelasian stories from Mark (samples: "this song is about a whore I knew.... this one's about a sad male stripper"), not many girls in the crowd, handsigned merch and general good times. With extra banjo.

Listen: Franz Nicolay - Cease Fire or Mrs Norman Maine

Listen: American Music Club - Nightwatchman

Buy Franz or solo Mark, or some classic AMC. Sigh.

Invitation to the Blues

"My heart was all dressed up to go dancing..."
Ah, Julie. If there's a better opening line to a song about having the blues, then I don't think I've heard it.

I like the duality of this pair of songs; they're like binary opposites female/male, slick/rough, knowing/desperate. I can't help but imagine Julie singing this with a wry smile on her lips - and you don't get that with Tom, do you?

Both utterly, utterly melancholy - so just the ticket.

Listen: Julie London - Invitation to the Blues
Listen: Tom Waits - Invitation to the Blues.

Buy some Julie, or some Tom.

Some days just call for a bit of Porter and Dolly

It's grey and murky outside, it's a bit dark and gloomy inside and you're fed up and fighting the urge to put the heating on - what to do? Only one thing for it - stick on a bit of Porter and Dolly and let yourself be cheered right up.
Fantastic talky bits.

Listen: Dolly and Porter - Fight and Scratch (miaow)


Listen: Dolly and Porter - I've Been Married Just as Long as You Have

And because the woman is bloody marvel, let's have a bit of classic Dolly whilst we're at it.

Listen:Dolly Parton - Dumb Blonde

See, that's better, isn't it?

Track down some classy Dolly and Porter here or buy one of Dolly's best ofs.

Frightened Rabbit - Swim

...Until You Can't See Land

The sentiment is lonesome, even if the music isn't.

Round up from the last month or so

As my work with my current project draws to a hectic close, I thought I'd share with you some of the soundtrack to my last few weeks - it's mostly been about the lyric. Me? I'm just about out of words after writing thousands of words of hand-over documentation and the like, so just listen to the songs, write something nice in the comments and go buy the ones that appeal most to you.

Caroline Herring - Golden Apples of the Sun


Listen: Caroline Herring - Long Black Veil [Play]

Caroline Herring Official
Buy it

The Cave Singers - Welcome Joy


Listen: The Cave Singers - Summer Windows [Play]

The Cave Singers - Official
Buy it

The Mountain Goats - The Life Of The World To Come


Listen: The Mountain Goats - Genesis 3:23 [Play]

Mountain Goats - Official
Buy It

Jolie Holland - Escondida

Howard and I were talking about this album earlier this week whilst we were popping some edamame beans and waiting for this. Now, given that he's a fan of the Be Good Tanyas, I was quite surprised he hadn't heard this. I figured that there must be a fair few of you out there that are in the same boat, so I thought I'd post this to break the drought.

Escondida is a fantastic Sunday morning album, brilliant for keeping you company and keeping your interest, whilst never outstaying its welcome. It's quite a mixed bag and I could have chosen nearly any of the songs to put up here, they're all winners. It ranges from folksy picking to white girls blues to piano and brass ballads. There's even a song called 'Darlin Ukelele' - what's not to love? Here are a couple of favourites, but do yourself a favour and get hold of a copy to sample the full Jolie spectrum.

Listen: Jolie Holland - Old Fashioned Morphine

Listen: Jolie Holland - Do You?

Buy

Linda Perhacs

Started the day with a little Linda Perhacs, the leaves have edges of yellow and red as Autumn creeps in. I've made the jam, picked most of the apples and all the cobnuts. There was the vague smell of burning leaves in a low mist. I'm still holding out for an Indian Summer, but it looks like I'll be very, very lucky to swim in the sea again this year.

Listen: Linda Perhacs - Hey, who really cares?


Official

Buy It

Lonesomes Up North

A mix of circumstance and luck has brought both of us up north this week, with the parents in town too.

So to celebrate love, laughter, impromptu teas, train museums, day riders and charity shop treasures, let's have some northern treasures.


Listen: Catherine Howe - Up North (this beauty is making it's third Lonesome appearance in this post - please buy it)

Listen: Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies - A Call For The North Country (Buy)

Listen: Gene Clark - Lady of the North (Buy)

Happy Birthday to us - Lonesome is Five

Here we are again - Lonesome is five today. Happy birthday to us.

As we've both said, this site is a bit like a public extension of the kind of rambling conversation that we've been having for a good couple of decades now - we used to swap tapes, then CDs and now we do most of it here on the web.


It's a source of wonder and delight that you lot listen, seem to like it and even join in. So let's celebrate with some cracking old-school country, a bit of folky oddness and a double dose of Eitzel and Gainsbourg. Think that just about sums it up, don't you, Howard?

Listen: George Jones - I've Aged Twenty Years in Five (Buy)

Listen: Mark Eitzel - Chanel No. 5 (Buy)

Listen: Sir Richard Bishop - Elysium Number Five (Buy)

Listen: Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55 (Buy)

Listen: Steve Wynn - Highway Five (AMC cover) (Buy)

Listen: Serge Gainsbourg - Wake Me at Five (Buy)

35 Rhums and French Fancies

I went to see a film called 35 Rhums last night and the music was fantastic, a mix of gallic whimsy, bassoon, strings and melancholia. Spot on lonesome. Especially when accompanying shots of people looking a bit glum on trains, and we all know how I feel about that.

So - to coin a phrase - imagine my surprise when the titles popped up and it turned out that the soundtrack was by Tindersticks. Perfect, somehow. Sadly, there don't seem to be any plans to release it, but you can hear the music from the closing titles on their MySpace here.

In the meantime, here are some ooh la la echoes of what the soundtrack reminded me of. Ah bon.

Listen: Calexico - Old Man Waltz

Listen: Yann Tiersen - L'autre Valse d'Amelie

Listen: Jeff Buckley - Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin

Buy Calexico's The Black Light here, Yann Tiersen's Amelie soundtrack here, or get a mawkishly overpackaged Live at Sin-e here.

Howard here - In a bizarre francophonic simultaneous post here's what I had planned to post today:

Montreal's Monogrenade sound like a francophone The Acorn on this track Ce Soir, taken from their brand spanking new debut EP "La saveur des fruits". It's a bit pacier than we normally post, so steady yourself or sit down before clicking the link.

Listen: Monogrenade - Ce Soir

MySpace

Buy It