Head Space Daily Words...

I watched a lot of Glastonbury on T.V over the weekend. There is such a variety of music, it is incredible. Not all of it is to my taste but there is plenty for everyone to enjoy. Kate Tempest absolutely blew my mind on Saturday afternoon (see HSD Tune.) The music was more stripped back, allowing her spoken word performance to dominate. Her message is powerful, her performance intense, yet delivered with a smile and a sense of joy. She doesn’t preach but makes you sit up and take notice. She speaks, you listen - no argument. Not to sound too OTT and all highfalutin – which is a word I have never written before and needed to look up in the dictionary, but it’s a good one – but the vibration of her voice makes me think of Martin Luther King’s tone in his I Have A Dream speech, which is possibly the greatest ever series of creatively strung together, message laden words that have ever been uttered by another human being. It is like there is a tremolo built into her voice box which makes the sound flutter and vibrate with a profound depth, kind of hypnotic. What Kate Tempest does is make me believe in humanity again. I saw her at Village Underground last year (HSD Words November 13th 2014) and her words “Battle your greed, cultivate your empathy,” have lived with me. Last night I tweeted that Kate Tempest will one day be Mayor of Lewisham, carried shoulder high down Lewisham High Street, by a joyful crowd chanting Hold Your Own...

She would get my vote anyway.

Life is a patchwork at the moment. Looking for work, not getting work, picking up a days script writing and my youngest son going on a school trip for a week, to a farm in Devon; a life defining moment, that first real sense of freedom and big wide world. I have learnt that I am not qualified to teach, so your kids are safe!! I am keeping on top of washing and ironing chores, whilst continuing to convert my vinyl to MP3. I have rediscovered my collection of 12” singles from the Bottom Line label. Deep house at its best (see HSD tune.) I finished writing a short story that has been lingering in my mind for a while. England ladies football team have shown our overpaid, overhyped, over indulged and unmotivated men’s sides how to do it. Raheem Sterling take note!! A couple of our dearest friends and their kids came by, which is what it’s all about. Watering the back garden on long summer evenings has made me appreciate colour and outdoor space, as well as the sun, clouds and hayfever medication. Now the longest day has passed, we race into the second half of the year and I don’t want to be left behind. A glimmer will come and I’ve got to see it and be ready to pounce!! Check out the tunes...

Head Space Daily Image...

It's not exactly Gardeners' World but it is my patch of straw - due to the lawn being destroyed by young footballing feet - and things that flower, have colour and green leaves are growing in it. What more could you ask for???

Head Space Daily Tune...

Kate Tempest was incredible at Glastonbury, the music was stripped back from the album Everybody Down, with this version of The Truth being completely spoken word.


Kate Tempest - The Truth Glastonbury 2015

I have recently rediscovered my collection of Bottom Line records, a Brooklyn based label which I came across whilst a student in Sheffield and was very much into in the early '90s. This is very nice deep house.


Devastating - Tell Me What (Deep Inside Mix)


Groovement - HeyaChi

Head Space Daily Words...

It must surely be enshrined in law that you can’t have a night out in Bristol without bumping into a member of Massive Attack and that is exactly what happened at The White Bear on St. Michael’s Hill.

We are making the trip horizontally West from London a couple of times every eighteen months or so, with our friends doing the return trip a couple of times themselves. I like the look of Bristol, with its old houses and hilly streets and the place has a good feel to it. There seems to be a lot going on and it is small and compact enough for things to catch on and thrive.

The main issue in driving anywhere in a North, or Westerly direction, from South East London, is the length of time it takes to get across London itself. It took an hour and a half on Saturday morning to travel the 13 miles to Hogarth Roundabout in Chiswick. The following 113 miles to the centre of Bristol were completed in the same length of time. London's network of roads didn't evolve with cars and traffic in mind and the size of the population could never have been envisaged. As the city’s claustrophobic carriageways are unable to deal with the volume of traffic, London is in a permanent state of stop-start, go-slow.

The easy going and non-judgmental feel of Bristol, must to a large part be down to its creative streak, which is surely one of its main attractions. Gigantic artworks by Banksy adorn the whitewashed walls of non-descript streets (see HSD Image,) taking art to the masses, free of charge, in a two fingered salute to the establishment. This encapsulates a sense of not only getting up and doing things for yourself, of making things happen but also of pushing the boundaries and being provocative.

When I think of Bristol, I think of music. Music that moved things forward, sounded new and fresh and which was jaw droppingly profound in its brilliance and originality. The music of Smith And Mighty, Portishead, Roni Size and Reprazent spring immediately to mind but the most influential in my view, was Massive Attack (see HSD Tune.) They were true DIY mavericks, taking the techniques of hip-hop and pioneering a distinctly British and uniquely Bristolian sound, engineering a template for others to follow. The test of great music is its longevity and Blue Lines, which is one of my all time favourite albums, sounds as fresh today as it did when it came out in 1991.

To go out clubbing these days is a novelty and to be doing it with a large group of like-minded people is like stepping back in time. After leaving the kids with babysitters, there was quite a posse gathered at The White Bear, many of who are going to the Green Man Festival in August, which is an event to look forward to. Jamie XX, amongst others, will be playing and his new album In Colour has been regularly flirting with my ears recently (see HSD Tune.) Some local DJ talent kept us entertained in the small room, with a selection of rare groove and soul and Sir Norman Jay was to take it to the close in the main room. As one of the DJs played Change Of Heart by Change (see HSD Tune,) who should walk in? None other than Daddy–G, Wild Bunch original and founding member of Massive Attack. The law had come to pass!!

We danced, drunk and made merry and as I am prone to do, when I see someone I respect from the world of music and am in a suitably intoxicated state - Reuban Nielson from UMO was my previous victim - I shook Daddy-G’s hand and thanked him for the music. What else can you do?

Sunday saw hangovers cured with bacon sarnies from Brunel’s Buttery and a walk around Bristol harbour, before a quick drive, horizontally East to London, which was followed by the stop-start, go-slow, through the city and back home...

Head Space Daily Image...

Here is the most recent Banksy art work, close to Bristol docks, titled Girl With The Pierced Eardrum. According to an article I read on line the, the black paint splatter at the bottom is 'vandalism' but I think it works really well...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Here is a selection of tunes, relating to Head Space Daily Words:

Massive Attack - Five Man Army

Written by Daddy-G, taken from Blue Lines, this track features on vocals, Daddy-G, Tricky, Mushroom and Horace Andy.

Change - Change Of Heart

Played by a local DJ in the small room at The White Bear last Saturday.

Jamie XX - Gosh

Jamie XX's new album is sounding good and I am looking forward to seeing him perform at Green Man.

Head Space Daily Words...

This morning I was at the Monmouth coffee shop, just outside Borough Market, to buy our regular 500g bag of ground coffee, sourced from some far flung corner of the globe.  Coffee is the current opium of the masses and I always like to indulge in a distinctive flavour with a bit of a kick to it. I sampled the current Indonesian, Brazilian and Ethiopian offerings. The Indonesian was incredible but ultimately quite bitter, the Brazilian was relatively mild and the Ethiopian was strong and fruity. Get me a slot on a food and drink programme why don’t you!! I settled on the Ethiopian. A place like Monmouth, sourcing its coffee beans direct from farmers in the country of origin, has genuine expertise and is doing things the right way, unlike the mass market Starbucks slop, served up with your name written on the cup.

I started writing this, as I often do, from the balcony of the Members Room at Tate Modern, looking across the Thames to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The sky was blue, the sun blazed down and a couple of middle aged women sat behind me were talking about drinking gin and tonic. Chimes from a bell tower drifted across the water as they struck 11 o’clock. The women’s conversation drifted onto how their bamboo had shot up and I was off to the Sonia Delaunay exhibition. I didn’t know anything about her, so it was good to be discovering her work.

One of my life’s ambitions, of seeing Aston Villa win the F.A Cup fell horrifically flat on Saturday, as the team was played off the park by Arsenal. As good as the Gunners were, we were equally as bad. To have not recorded a single shot on goal in 90 minutes is embarrassingly pathetic. The mood of the fans was one of acceptance, that we had come up against a better team. There were no dodgy decisions to complain about, or a sense of grievance. It had happened and that was that. One team on a great run of form, playing with great confidence and newly qualified for the Champions League, had come up against a team that had been through a traumatic season, having lost twenty league games – and it showed. There was to be no Cup magic. As Villa have played in three Cup Finals in the past 58 years, I may be able to fit in one more before I’m pushing up daisies. They had better bloody win the next one!!

In music, I saw Unknown Mortal Orchestra at Islington Assembly Hall a couple of weeks ago. They had stepped things up from the previous time I saw them, at the Electric Ballroom in Camden (see HSD 8 November 2013.) They were much more of a band this time round, rather than a front for the main man Ruban Neilson. The drummer had some serious bouts of expression; the bass player kept it tight and simple and the addition of a keyboard player has given the music more room to breathe.  Ruban is a master guitarist and showman who transports you to other sonic dimensions. He is a small guy, with a low centre of gravity, similar to Lionel Messi at Barcelona and whilst Messi appears to have a football fused to his foot, Neilson is fused to his guitar – an extension of his being.

It often amazes me how when played live, the recorded music you love can be completely transformed and lifted to a higher plain. A live sound is always going to differ sonically as the music is being played in a concert hall and not your front room or directly into your e ears via an mp3 player. There is plenty of scope to push the sound, try new things and the tunes will have developed since they were first recorded. There was certainly much more of a guitar influence in UMO’s live performance, which was fantastic and I look forward to seeing them again at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in September.

Today has been a beautiful day and whilst I have been sat on my bed writing this post, the sun has set, the bright blue becoming a fading grey. The sun is rising early and setting late as we approach the longest day of the year. Sunshine is essential and a complete mood changer. . .

Head Space Daily Image...

Coffee tags at Monmouth Coffee...

The Tate Modern Tower points to blue sky...

The Villa flags wave before Wembley disappointment...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Here are a couple of tracks from Multi-Love, the new album from Unknown Mortal Orchestra...

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - The World Is Crowded

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Necessary Evil

Unknown Mortal Orchestra perform at Islington Assembly Hall...