One Evening And Another Morning

I think of many of the albums on today's selection as recent, but they're all from 2004. Hard to believe that they - and the ears listening to them - are twenty years older.

One of the things I love about posting a daily blog is that it inspires me to seek out new music as well as diving back into my collection, dusting off and (re)discovering albums, EPs and songs that I haven't heard in a long while. All of the selections today have been languishing too long and their parent albums and singles will be added to the Casa K playlist where I can enjoy them all over again.

 

1) This Is That New Song: Badly Drawn Boy (One Plus One Is One)

2) Hummingbird: Wilco (A Ghost Is Born)

3) Another Morning: American Music Club (Love Songs For Patriots)

4) Knees: Pony Club (Family Business)

5) Nimrod's Son (Cover of Pixies): Frank Black ft. Two Pale Boys (Frank Black Francis)

6) You Do (Cover of McAlmont & Butler): Claudia Brücken & Andrew Poppy (Another Language)

7) One Evening: Feist (Let It Die)

8) Stay Out Of Trouble: Kings Of Convenience (Riot On An Empty Street)

9) Cherry Blossom Girl (Cover of Air): Hope Sandoval (Cherry Blossom Girl EP)

10) Stop, Look & Listen: Belle & Sebastian (I'm A Cuckoo EP)

11) Sleepy California (Super Furry Animals Remix): Her Space Holiday (The Young Machines Remixed)

12) He Gave Us The Wine To Taste: Jonathan Richman (Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love)

One Evening And Another Morning (44:56) (KF) (Mega)

Years & Years & Years

Nothing clever or sophisticated about today's post, just a mix of 'year' song titles, in chronological order. I've taken a liberal attitude to the song's actual meaning: I mean, 1234 by Feist could be a paean to the Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty if you stretch your imagination, couldn't it? I'll also make no apologies for including the bowel-troubling Moby remix of The Smashing Pumpkins' 1979 over the original version for the simple reason that there's less Billy Corgan in it. Some are irreplaceable - The Clash, New Order, Prince - but hopefully a few surprises along the way. No surprise that Julian Cope and Andrew Weatherall have snuck their way into yet another playlist, of course.
 
2,111 years, 25 songs, 2 hours, done.
 
1) 1234 (Album Version): Feist (2007)
2) 1300 (12" Version): Putsch '79 (2003)
3) 1517 (Album Version): The Whitest Boy Alive (2009)
4) 1901 (Album Version): Phoenix (2009)
5) 1917: David Bowie (1999)
6) 1959: Patti Smith (1997)
7) 1963 (Single Version): New Order (1987)
8) 1967: The Auteurs (1999)
9) 1969: The Sisters Of Mercy (1983)
10) 1973: The Glimmers (2009)
11) 1977: The Clash (1977)
12) 1979 (Moby Mix): The Smashing Pumpkins (1996)
13) 1981: Public Image Ltd. (1984)
14) 1984 (Summer Of Lovefingers Mix): Lovefingers vs. John Martyn (2008)
15) 1987 (Prins Thomas Diskomiks): diskJokke (2010)
16) 1993: Dananananaykroyd (2008)
17) 1995 (Album Version): Julian Cope (1995)
18) 1997 (Doctor Rosen Rosen Remix): Department Of Eagles (2008)
19) 1999 (Edit): Prince (1982)
20) 2000 (Original Version): RPM (1994)
21) 2001 (12" Remix By Donald Ross Skinner & Hugo Nicolson): Melissa Etheridge (1992)
22) 2012: Gossip (2009)
23) 2013 (Andrew Weatherall Remix): Primal Scream (2013)
24) 2080 (Brenmar Remix): Yeasayer (2009)
25) 3345 (GHP Whole Lotta Velvet Mix By Mark Vidler): The Black Velvets (2005)

Years & Years & Years (1:55:22)

Norwegian Would

Peace Or Love (full album preview): Kings Of Convenience

 

Twelve years since their last album, and just over 20 years since their first, Kings Of Convenience release their fourth album, Peace Or Love, today (18 June) and it's like they've never been away. Built as usual around the beautiful-with-a-hint-of melancholy melodies and harmonies of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, a couple of songs feature Leslie Feist, my favourite currently being Love Is A Lonely Thing.

 

Kings Of Convenience videos also make great creative use of the seemingly dull concept of two guys strumming acoustic guitars and lead single Rocky Trail is no exception:

 

Rocky Trail: Kings Of Convenience (2021)

Despite the small-but-perfectly-formed Kings Of Convenience catalogue, Erlend Øye is a prolific artist, with solo albums, collaborations (La Comitiva) and more funky four-piece The Whitest Boy Alive.

Here are a few highlights from You Tube, in no particular order and not intended as a 'best of':

Lockdown Blues: Erlend Øye & La Comitiva (2020)

Misread: Kings Of Convenience (2009) 

Sheltered Life (Radio Edit): Erlend Øye (2003)

Toxic Girl (Monte Carlo 1963 Version): Kings Of Convenience (2001)

Golden Cage (Album Version): The Whitest Boy Alive (2006)

La Prima Estate (Cover of Bruno Martino): Erlend Øye (2013)

And here is a fun live performance by The Whitest Boy Alive in a Berlin shop window:  

 

1517 (Live in Berlin): The Whitest Boy Alive (2009)

And to finish on a (natural) high, here's one of my favourite ever Fred Falke remixes. The uplifting beats are underpinned by a sense of loss and regret and the simple but brilliant couplet,

 

So of course I miss you and I miss you bad
But I also felt this way when I was still with you

 

Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix): The Whitest Boy Alive (2006)

 

Sorry, I got a bit sidetracked there. Did I mention that there's a new Kings Of Convenience album out?

Buy Peace Or Love via Kings Of Convenience official website