Released in 2009, Thea Gilmore's Christmas collection Strange Communion is a gem of a record that never seems to receive the annual radio airplay it so richly deserves. This well-crafted collection of songs opens with the goose-bump inducing Sol Invictus, an ode to the Roman Sun God whose festival fell upon the 25th of December, includes a cover of Yoko Ono's Listen, The Snow Is Falling and takes in part of Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal along the way.
As Christmas albums go I'll admit it's not your usual collection of festive sugar and cinnamon; there are no songs of magical snowmen or pleas for presents under the tree here, instead the songs have a refreshing feeling of a cold Winter about them, replete with observations on the family festivities that most all will find familiar.
One such ditty is a rousing cover of an Elvis Costello and Paddy Maloney song, the St. Stephen's Day Murders, which was written for The Chieftains' 1991 album The Bells of Dublin. This tale of drunken the-day-after-Christmas-Day hijinks, of too much Tia Maria and Irn Bru, of Gin-soaked whiskers and exploding televisions, is a suitably wry take on celebrations for the feast of St. Stephen as you would expect from Mr Costello.
Thea's version of the song features the vocal talents of famed ex-Shirehorse and BBC Radio DJ Mark Radcliffe, his dry delivery balancing Ms. Gilmore's melodic vocals. If you've recovered from yesterday's over-indulgence, and need a tune to soundtrack your lunch of cold Turkey and baked potatoes, you could do no better than playing this to your loved ones.
Showing posts with label Thea Gilmore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thea Gilmore. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Thursday, March 08, 2007
The Gigwatcher 08/03/2007
I feel like a military academy, bits of me keep passing out.
No, it's not the latest song by Panic at the Disco, it's genuinely how I feel today. After helping Banto move house yesterday (hence the 24 hour delay in the Gigwatcher hitting the streets) I appear to have discovered muscles that I'd long neglected. After discovering them I gave them a good kicking and told them not to bother me again.
Does anyone have a girdle I could borrow?
*koff*
Eyes down for a full house, here's what I found listed in the back pages of this week's NME:
The Xcerts @ The Joiners, Southampton - 12/03/2007
The Electric Cinema @ Pressure Point, Brighton - 27/03/2007
The Rakes @ The Guildhall, Southampton - 30/03/2007
Camera Obscura @ The Joiners, Southampton - 04/04/2007
Fortune Drive @ Ocean Rooms, Brighton - 07/04/2007
The Moths @ Audio, Brighton - 13/04/2007
Camera Obscura @ Komedia, Brighton - 17/04/2007
The Electric Soft Parade @ The Joiners, Southampton - 29/04/2007
Mr Hudson & The Library @ The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 20/05/2007
If I'm not liberally spraying parts of myself with Ralgex (which, as everyone knows, has a more potent effect than Lynx) I'll update the SoMC Events Calendar to include the above gigs. The Events Calendar is sprinkled with a wide variety of gigs in this here locale, to access it all you need do is register on the SoMC forum. For your consideration I've snipped the following gigs from it:
Jack Peñate @ The Railway Inn, Winchester - 09/03/2007
Dragon Eye Morrison @ The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 10/03/2007
Rachelle Van Zante @ The Railway Inn, Winchester - 14/03/2007
Mastodon @ The Pyramids, Portsmouth - 14/03/2007
Perfect Alibi @ The Brook, Southampton - 24/03/2007
Keith Waith and the Macusi Players @ The Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham - 24/03/2007
Martin Simpson @ The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth - 28/03/2007
Scott Matthews @ The Pyramids, Portsmouth - 03/04/2007
Racketeers @ The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 13/04/2007
Julian Cope @ The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 15/05/2007
As nearly every other date on the Cold War Kids current tour has SOLD OUT it should come as no surprise that their gig at The Wedgewood Rooms on Thursday 19th April has done the same. Grobbits. The 36 Crazyfists gig at The Wedgewood Rooms on Sunday 22nd April has also SOLD OUT.
The Red Stripe Music Award 2007 Tour, effectively a countrywide battle of the bands competition (though the website says otherwise), pitches up at Talking Heads in Southampton on Thursday 12th April. Local acts Hijera, The Young Brothers Band and I Falter will be plying their trade in front of press, promoters and A&R types. Once the tour finishes in April a judging panel (made up of A&R teams present at each gig) will pick the best six acts from the whole shebang. The final will be held in London in May with the winning act receiving a support slot on tour with "a profile band". Which is nice.
The most excellent Erin McKeown has been announced as the support for the equally excellent Thea Gilmore on her imminent tour (which visits The Brook on Sunday 18th March). I'll be there, as will Smudger and The Shar, and hopefully I'll have recovered from whatever St Patrick's Day shenanigans I inflict on my liver the night before.
And that just about wraps it up for this week, this afternoon I mostly listened to Pure Reason Revolution (which doesn't sound like a good name for a band, but it is.. a band I mean) and the sonorous offerings of Mr Perry's Didgeridoo (which isn't a band but sounds as though it should be).
:o)
No, it's not the latest song by Panic at the Disco, it's genuinely how I feel today. After helping Banto move house yesterday (hence the 24 hour delay in the Gigwatcher hitting the streets) I appear to have discovered muscles that I'd long neglected. After discovering them I gave them a good kicking and told them not to bother me again.
Does anyone have a girdle I could borrow?
*koff*
Eyes down for a full house, here's what I found listed in the back pages of this week's NME:
The Xcerts @ The Joiners, Southampton - 12/03/2007
The Electric Cinema @ Pressure Point, Brighton - 27/03/2007
The Rakes @ The Guildhall, Southampton - 30/03/2007
Camera Obscura @ The Joiners, Southampton - 04/04/2007
Fortune Drive @ Ocean Rooms, Brighton - 07/04/2007
The Moths @ Audio, Brighton - 13/04/2007
Camera Obscura @ Komedia, Brighton - 17/04/2007
The Electric Soft Parade @ The Joiners, Southampton - 29/04/2007
Mr Hudson & The Library @ The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 20/05/2007
If I'm not liberally spraying parts of myself with Ralgex (which, as everyone knows, has a more potent effect than Lynx) I'll update the SoMC Events Calendar to include the above gigs. The Events Calendar is sprinkled with a wide variety of gigs in this here locale, to access it all you need do is register on the SoMC forum. For your consideration I've snipped the following gigs from it:
Jack Peñate @ The Railway Inn, Winchester - 09/03/2007
Dragon Eye Morrison @ The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 10/03/2007
Rachelle Van Zante @ The Railway Inn, Winchester - 14/03/2007
Mastodon @ The Pyramids, Portsmouth - 14/03/2007
Perfect Alibi @ The Brook, Southampton - 24/03/2007
Keith Waith and the Macusi Players @ The Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham - 24/03/2007
Martin Simpson @ The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth - 28/03/2007
Scott Matthews @ The Pyramids, Portsmouth - 03/04/2007
Racketeers @ The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 13/04/2007
Julian Cope @ The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 15/05/2007
As nearly every other date on the Cold War Kids current tour has SOLD OUT it should come as no surprise that their gig at The Wedgewood Rooms on Thursday 19th April has done the same. Grobbits. The 36 Crazyfists gig at The Wedgewood Rooms on Sunday 22nd April has also SOLD OUT.
The Red Stripe Music Award 2007 Tour, effectively a countrywide battle of the bands competition (though the website says otherwise), pitches up at Talking Heads in Southampton on Thursday 12th April. Local acts Hijera, The Young Brothers Band and I Falter will be plying their trade in front of press, promoters and A&R types. Once the tour finishes in April a judging panel (made up of A&R teams present at each gig) will pick the best six acts from the whole shebang. The final will be held in London in May with the winning act receiving a support slot on tour with "a profile band". Which is nice.
The most excellent Erin McKeown has been announced as the support for the equally excellent Thea Gilmore on her imminent tour (which visits The Brook on Sunday 18th March). I'll be there, as will Smudger and The Shar, and hopefully I'll have recovered from whatever St Patrick's Day shenanigans I inflict on my liver the night before.
And that just about wraps it up for this week, this afternoon I mostly listened to Pure Reason Revolution (which doesn't sound like a good name for a band, but it is.. a band I mean) and the sonorous offerings of Mr Perry's Didgeridoo (which isn't a band but sounds as though it should be).
:o)
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