Head Space Daily Words...

The time for the Head Space Daily Top Ten Albums Of The Year is fast approaching and the countdown will begin on December 1st. To whet your appetite and to remember some of the great music from last year, here is the top ten from 2015. Whoop, whoop...

HSD Top 10 Albums 2015

In other news, I have been without work for the past few weeks and made the most of it. Regular readers - and I know there are thousands of you - will have read that I have seen Ezra Furman at The Roundhouse, BadBadNotGood at The Electric in Brixton and Sleaford Mods, again at the Roundhouse. Tuesday night was Kate Tempest at Rough Trade East, playing to a tiny audience of 100 people. Being that close to an artist as they perform their work is a wonderful thing. If only Stevie Wonder had been performing to 100 people, instead of the 75,000 at Hyde Park. Kate Tempest is a majorly important voice for our times and I have nothing but admiration for her. I even waited for her to sign my album and spoke to her about how the ending of Let Them Eat Chaos reminded me of a snowball fight on our street. If you know the album, you may get what I am talking about.

If you are in London and like your exhibitions, the Abstract Expressionism show at the Royal Academy is seriously good. It is the first time that work from this group of American artists has been gathered together in London for 50 years. Walking from the Jackson Pollock room, to the Mark Rothko room, through to the Clyfford Still room is something else. There is so much wonderful art to see, it is almost overwhelming. At Tate Modern, The Radical Eye photography exhibition, a collection of photographs which have been bought and put together by Elton John is also impressive and inspiring. He is in a privileged position so we should be grateful that he has loaned the works out to the Tate to be viewed by the public.

You can't have a break as a freelancer without going to the cinema and the film I have seen is Nocturnal Activity, starring Amy Adams. Enjoyable and thought provoking.

Apart from that, I am managing my eldest son's football team, which is a labour of love. The boys are getting a lot out of it and we are winning some and losing some, which is no bad thing.

Back to work next week and keep your eyes out for the Head Space Daily Top Ten Albums Of The Year...

Head Space Daily Image...

A selection of photos from the past few weeks...

Ezra Furman up in lights...

Sleaford Mods in the dark...    
        

Abstract Expressionism...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Kate Tempest was fantastic at Rough Trade East on Tuesday evening. Here is a tune from Let Them Eat Chaos, her latest album...

Don't Fall In - Kate Tempest

Head Space Daily Words...

I woke up this morning to the sad news that Sharon Jones had passed away. What a fight she put up against the cancer that eventually took her life. She had the true spirit of an original soul sister. For the music and the live shows, we must all be happy. For the gifts of this exceptionally talented woman to have been discovered and realised at a later point in her life, later than the average music star at least, we must all be thankful. The world would be a lesser place without her tunes. Sharon knew how to perform. I only saw her the once, as part of the Daptone Soul Revue at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, in June 2014. What a great night that was too. Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings headlined, with Charles Bradley and Antibalas also on the bill. Sharon and her Dap Kings were just telepathically tight. The connection and joy between them was palpable. Souls were lifted and the funk reigned supreme. I can still picture Sharon with her post treatment, close cropped hair, shimmying around the stage in a silver sequinned dress, letting loose with her powerfully stirring voice. Thanks for the music Miss Sharon Jones...

Head Space Daily Image...

Sharon Jones. Thanks for the music...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Here are two tracks from Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings.

This is the first track from their debut album, Dap Dippin With Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, released in 2002...

Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings - Got A Thing On My Mind

And here is the final track from Give The People What They Want, their final album which was released in 2014...

Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings - Slow Down, Love

The tracks show different sides to Sharon Jones's wonderful voice...

Head Space Daily Words...

JUST SEEN SLEAFORD MODS. TELLING IT HOW IT IS. TAKING NO PRISONERS. BHS. TCR. SOUNDING LIKE JOY DIVISION. THIS IS ESSENTIAL. ANGER. RAGE. ENGLAND IS FUCKED. WHERE WERE THE YOUNGSTERS? HAVE THEY STOPPED GOING OUT? HAVE THEY STOPPED FEELING? WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ANGST? HAS YESTERDAY NOT SHAKEN THEM UP? HALF THE AUDIENCE WAS OVER 40 AND BALD. I'M OVER 40 BUT I'M NOT BALD. COME ON LONDON. LETS DO BETTER NEXT TIME. MET A HOMELESS GIRL CALLED SASHA AT LONDON BRIDGE. HOPELESS. GAVE HER MY SHRAPNEL. SHOOK HER HAND. GAVE HER SOME WORDS. WHERE WILL YOU STOP, I ASKED. SOMETHING ALWAYS TURNS UP, SHE REPLIED. HOW FRIGHTENING IS THAT???

Head Space Daily Tune...

Sleaford Mods - TCR

The latest tune...

Head Space Daily Image...

Sleaford Mods from the Roundhouse gig...

Head Space Daily Words...

This has been a week of resetting the dials, recharging the batteries and reigniting the spark that is required to appreciate being alive and what is going on around you. The people. The sights. The sounds. The smells. The sense that life is actually happening and not something that is passing you by. Going through the motions is not living, you open your eyes and six months has evaporated. It’s been head down, nose to the grindstone and the way in which I come back up for air and reconnect with the world, is through music and a collective, shared experience. Musical artists take you away from the norm and what is expected of you. They offer up a sense of freedom, belonging and an alternative point of view.

On Monday night I saw Ezra Furman play The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm. His Perpetual Motion People album, which I bought early this year, has been a firm favourite of 2016. Ezra’s voice sounds as if it is on the edge of cracking up, which lends it a raw sense of urgency and emotion. He truly connects. His words, his lyrics, what he says to the audience. He challenges as well. A sexually ambiguous Jewish boy from Chicago, he entered the stage wheeled on in a pink coffin (it being Halloween and all that,) before stepping out in a figure hugging full-length black dress, with a string of white pearls wrapped around his scrawny neck. A glorious sight!!

There are many influences. Hints of 50s rock n roll, doo wop backing from his band – The Boyfriends – a flavour of The Ramones coming through and a saxophonist who brings an 80s sensibility when saxophone on pop records was ubiquitous. The originality of Ezra Furman is what drives the whole thing. He is completely in the now. His first solo album The Year Of No Returning is Ezra alone – his words and a guitar, with minimal accompaniment. It is excellent. The band allows him to express himself and project his presence even further. It really was a great show. Perpetual Motion People may be a firm favourite but it had been a while since my last listen, so it is good to have it back on heavy rotation.

If it was Ezra Furman at The Roundhouse on Monday, it was the turn of modern day jazz pioneers BadBadNotGood at The Electric in Brixton on Tuesday. Their album IV which came out in the summer is rather excellent and yet more great music to get into. All four members are superb musicians but the drummer is sensational. He seriously takes the drums to a whole new level. What a band leading, virtuoso performance he gave.

To get this type of music out to the masses and for it to be accepted and loved, is a great achievement. As Kamasi Washington, Thunder Cat, Flying Lotus and the Brainfeeder label have proven, along with Manchester’s own GoGo Penguin, jazz is a great form of music. It doesn’t have to be pigeon holed as niche, highbrow, or pretentious. If BBNG were an old time established band who had been around the block, with major success, this gig would have cost £100 a ticket at Ronnie Scotts. This new breed of jazz music has to remain fun and accessible. A whole new audience must be opened up. Jazz keep reaching, drummer keep drumming!!

Next week is a completely different vibe at The Roundhouse, with sweary Nottingham boys Sleaford Mods. Not really my cup of tea but the offer of a ticket and meeting up with a mate will mean a good night out...

Head Space Daily Image...

Ezra Furman bathed in light at The Roundhouse on Monday night...

A Halloween couple looking scary on the tube home on Monday night...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Here is Lousy Connection from Ezra Furman....

Ezra Furman - Lousy Connection

And here is IV from BadBadNotGood...

IV - BadBadNotGood