Graceland

New music is all well and good, I do plough thoroughly worthwhile time into looking for new music. I vividly remember my first trawl of the internet whilst hungover after a mate's birthday - my first plunge into Hypem to find cool House remixes of my favourite songs, and the start of my Spotify deluge.

My mates and I have always enjoyed a good foray into the live scene in London to catch up-and-coming artists...The Borderline has been a good venue for us to catch the likes of Nathaniel Rateliff and Benjamin Francis Leftwich.

Nothing though, quite matches the sense of discovery of a piece of music or an artist who has already achieved critical acclaim or has already established a good back catalogue. They may be considered masters of their art by their past audience, but for me, when I discover a past gem, I do take a lot of satisfaction from it, knowing that their music has probably shaped today's scene. 

Taking a look back at the Fairport Cropredy Festival line-up of past years can reveal some sickening missed chances. If, 5 years ago, we'd have all been aware of John Martyn's genius. There are some other missed opportunities with the likes of Ralph McTell, Seth Lakeman and Supergrass! 

I don't think music will ever reach a place where it has gone stale. There may be a current trend with the Top 40 of today, with the recipe for a chart hit consisting of David Guetta. Period. But the periphery to the mainstream is bursting with fresh, exciting new acts across all genres. To a certain degree our auto-tuned chart is actually bustling with good vibes if you're keen for some mood-improvement. One of my favourite things to see in the chart is a well used sample, like Etta James' vocal sampled in last year's Avicii - Levels. It reinforces to me that some of the stand-out material derives from the old-school music scene, which is the most rigid reassurance that music will continue to surprise. 

My current wonderment does come directly from the past and links back to the satisfaction I get from knowing older music can shape today's.

I interviewed Jack Savoretti a while ago and during the conversation we hit upon the subject of best albums of all time, where he remarked Paul Simon's Graceland was the one he'd take to a desert island with him. I thought nothing of this at the time, despite the popularity I have since grown to learn it had commanded in it's hey day, I wasn't aware of the album.

A few weeks later I was shopping in Milton Keynes with my girlfriend and we hit upon a vintage market outside John Lewis. She went off in search of bunting, I set about looking for vinyls and retro music. I found a stall who had turned CDs into place mats, sim cards into ear rings and among many other things, vinyls into book ends. These book ends immediately caught my eye and I had a browse through their selection. A Thomas Dolby 1984 Parlophone vinyl immediately struck a chord - complete with Hyperactive! I then hit upon Paul Simon - Graceland; the artwork was pretty standard, but I decided to make a purchase anyway... I remembered Jack has mentioned it, and there wasn't much other choice... 

I got home, immediately fired up Spotify and hit play on Graceland. Oh my goodness.

I listened to the album twice through, then listened to the audio description of Graceland. It's one of the most diverse, instrumentally sound and pure records I've ever heard. One of the most amazing things about the album is every instrument/vocal track on a song could easily be isolated and played on it's own and it would still captivate you.

The other incredible thing I took away from my listens was how worldly it was. With so much African influence and an embellishment of tribal sounds, you feel as if you're on a journey. I now feel well-travelled after listening! It actually evokes more of a desire to hit the road and discover. 

The lyrics are so genuine. You've probably heard those kinds of songs where you are shocked out of listening passively by hearing two or three poetic lyrics strung together. It's the same story with this album, you keep hearing eloquent lyrics all the way through it. 

You wait for a bus then three come along at once, after having had that first indirect introduction to this album by Jack, then by chance igniting the fire to have a listen in Milton Keynes, the final straw was earlier this week when we had Liam Blake in the studio to lay down some covers for my radio show - he brought along his loop pedal and started to build up a familiar pattern... all of a sudden You Can Call Me Al bursts into life and the Paul Simon incendiary sparked up again...

Refresher

Meet on the ledge!

It all went down smoothly last night, the Tales of Cropredy hit the air! The listen again page is on www.banburysound.co.uk and it's on again Monday night at 9pm.

Incredibly proud of the result of months of hard work - have you seen Connor's brilliant Introductory video yet?



Full of vibes... I want to be back there!

One month on...

It's pretty much a month on from the Cropredy festival and we're all still on a big high from it! It was a completely different dynamic from previous years, where you'd walk 20 paces and bump into a familiar face. This time round we had a very tight-knit group of pals and if you lost them then you were on your own for a bit!

Not too much of a drama, with my flitting in-between backstage, main stage and campsite to record more interviews for the doco, stock up on ciders and watch some bands, we were a more transient bunch this year. I quite enjoyed the continual changes of scenery though. There were moments where we had been sat  on some camping chairs in the main arena watching some music when all of a sudden I wanted a quick change or something new to do. Usually that meant going and getting a chinese, I did spend a lot of money on food.

The music was bizarre as well - ahead of this festival, one of our good pals Tom had confessed to spending a day in a grump after hearing the lineup announcement! There wasn't much familiarity in the bill this year, but normally it's those unknown bands that come out of their shell and surprise everybody! We had expectations for Joan Armatrading and Squeeze, but when they took to the stage we realised quickly that we only know 1 or 2 songs!..and the rest seemingly blended into one another. But then again we weren't listening overly intently, we busied ourselves with catchups and more trips to the Chinese.

What did pin our ears back were some phenomenal up-and-coming bands like Larkin Poe! Their hearty American similarity to the technical guitar-work of John Mayer really commanded my attention. Similarly, the eccentric lineup of Welsh trad-folkies Calan brought with them an exuberance that went down really nicely in the Saturday heat!

Their tour video with Chris Leslie from Fairport Convention is insanely good! How good must it feel to play with somebody quite clearly a master of his craft! Top work.

What really stood out about this year was Fairport Convention themselves. For years they've been a band I've always appreciated for the last half-an-hour of their set, where they pull out the musical rabbit from that hat. All the classics come forth and provide an enjoyable end to their marathon 3hr set on Saturday night. This year, with a more informed knowledge about the band through researching the documentary we'd be producing and through reading the hype about the band's 45th celebratory year, I was excited more than ever for their set! 

On stage were some truly phenomenal musicians... guys who had come back to play with the band and join in the celebration who were at the top of their game back in the 60s/70s and have only got better! It felt amazing to witness old school lineups of wonderful musicians, they are in a class of their own and I had never even realised it!

Despite the lack of familiar faces, our group of three as it was provided enormous fun through the weekend - we, as ever, had a cracking time and are now looking eagerly towards next year's festival. However as we drove our ridiculously large but packed up campsite back upto the village on Sunday morning, we were casting guesses towards next year's lineup...hoping Tom wouldn't be brought down to a grump again.
But alas, for myself and Connor who are working on this year's documentary aspects for Banbury Sound, it was time to reflect on the content gathered over the weekend, which on my part, shines as some of my brightest work.

Almost as soon as I was back infront of the laptop on Monday morning, I was racing through the material I had recorded, methodically piecing unexpected audio gatherings to the timeline I had previously drawn out in detail that was about to be remoulded for something better.

The core backbone of that initial plan did stick, but with so much audio to work with - unexpectedly vibrant clips of the Fairport atmosphere, confident vox pops, deep interviews and more -  I began dissecting the bulky conversation pieces and putting them up in a rough audio timeline.

I had the pleasure of interviewing some of the biggest names in the business over the course of the weekend and in the weeks leading up to the festival - Simon Nicol, one of Fairport's founder members. Dave Swarbrick, widely acclaimed to be one of the greatest fiddlers! Dave Mattacks, a supreme drummer of great longevity in the business. Chris Leslie, whose authentic descriptions of Cropredy were wholly agreeable... and many more.


Of the chaps who you'll hear on the doco - that's Swarb in there on fiddle, with Dave Mattacks on drums, Simon Nicol guitar.

With each of the members of the Fairport repertoire of past and present, I tried to angle my questions in such a way that I could arrange answers on a timeline and there would be no need for narration to fill in the gaps. I realised this was a conversational lottery, but amazingly it worked out well!- the doco flows without any narrative bridges, there is a surprisingly clear story, told wholly by responses - I was chuffed with that!...time for another Chinese.

It was the most challenging piece of radio I've worked on in that respect - particularly with Dave Mattacks, a guy who commands a lot of respect in the industry. That interview with DM is something I am proud of but we certainly parted ways with my feathers ruffled!- he knew I wasn't going to be an acclaimed Fairport historian, who, at 19, would know the entire history of a band who's heritage spans 45 years! With that loophole to exploit, it was through picking DM's brains for his influences that my musical knowledge hit boundaries. The musicians he cited as pivotal in his musical development just weren't striking and chords with me! - which, being one of the first questions I asked, immediately lost me some credibility.

Suffice to say, the interview continued for 10/12 minutes and I was trying to stay on my toes for the duration, which eventually ended well, but it was definitely one of the most insightful experiences of the weekend!

With the Fairport guys interviwed and making up one lengthy part of the doco, the other half was left open for Cropredy village to fill. It was something I was keen to focus on last year too, but this time round it's become more wholesome as a clear section. The thing with Cropredy is that the festival isn't just a main-stage event. The music and the cheer continues through the village, which kind of orbits this grand festival a short walk away.
The pubs all put on music, which makes up the Fringe Festival, local community groups provide activities and breakfasts. The Old Coal Whaft opens up as a site for traders - particularly enjoyed my visit to the ladies of Hairport this year! - hairdressers for the festival, how clever. Making up a nice meaty section of the programme is interviews with the vibrant people who come to Cropredy each year, the landlord of the Brasenose Arms, the Cropredy School Breakfasts ladies and people who remember the early days of the festival.

So all in all, it's a way more thought-out project than last year and I'm very proud of the finished result, which I hope will go down smoothly!
We've done a little trail for it - ahead of broadcast on 107.6 Banbury Sound on Saturday 15th Sept at 6pm before being repeated the following Monday 17th Sept at 9pm.