My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights #95 – edition is broadcasted Monday 20th and 27th 3-4pm (London time) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
Amazing Songs & Other Delights #95 – The Of Light & Gentleness edition is, as the title says, a programme that mostly revolves around light in different ways, and gentleness.
There’s grief, there’s groove, there’s dust, but the tone is mostly gentle and luminous. Even when the lyrics subject is heavier.
Tracklist: 01: José Gonzalez – The Light 02: The New Pornographers – Pure Sticker Shock 03: Francisco Fontes – Copiloto 04: Laurie Shaw – Chimney Breast 05: Kevin Morby – Badlands 06: Stone Dead – Plasticine 07: Bruce Springsteen – Rainy Night In Soho 08: Tinariwen – Imidiwan Takyadam feat. José Gonzalez 09: Butler-Black-Grant – Not Alone 10: The Lemon Twigs – I Just Can’t Get Over Losing You 11: Michael Weston King – Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore 12: Red Sun Atacama – Sundown 13: Hanemoon – We Didn’t Know 14: Baby Suicida – Se Me Deixares, Eu Digo 15: The Dharma Chain – Clockwork 16: Special Friend – Isolation
Modern Nature performed as a trio, with Jack Cooper on vocals and guitar, Jim Wallis on drums, and Tara Cunningham on guitar and vocals. And for anyone who thinks a band operating within alternative rock / indie pop rock, in contemplative, nostalgic worlds and a slow-motion cadence, might deliver monotonous or dull concerts, they are completely mistaken.
Modern Nature are an excellent example of the opposite. With simple lines, without any kind of embellishing effects on the instruments, and an almost static stage presence, they gain in subtlety, in melodic richness, in soft worlds and warm breezes. The voices of Jack and Tara complement each other perfectly and draw us into a sweet, comforting calm, almost hypnotic. The drumming of Jim Wallis is magnificent, always exactly where it needs to be, carrying the melodies like a cradle rocked by maternal, steady hands.
They came to present their most recent work, The Heat Warps, and of course a range of tracks representative of their essence. From Pharaoh, Things, and Radio, with which they opened, through Jetty, Performance, Liverpool, and December, they maintained the audience in perfect alignment, with masterful control and a shared sense of sonic richness and delight.
After a demanding and intense week, it was exactly what I needed to reconnect with the universe, serenely.
Calcutá, composer and multi-instrumentalist Teresa Castro from Porto, presented her debut album Soon After Dawn. Opening with Fleeting Grace an infinitum drone in crescendo, from which, at a certain point, voice-sounds began to emerge.
There’s a mélange of baroque music, folk, and experimental in Calcutá’s sound, carried by eerie, hypnotic vocals. The voice is like another instrument moving through the music.
Calcutá is sparse, atmospheric, slow, drifting. Adjacent in texture to Tinariwen, but not in pulse, and, to me, closer to Sigur Rós in feeling.
The last song performed, Run Come Rally, had a different feeling. Almost a ballad, with a beautiful, more grounded guitar presence.
This year, Tinariwen came to present their new album Hoggar, named after the mountains in the Algerian Sahara.
Hoggar was recorded in Tamanrasset, Algeria, and features José González singing in Spanish on Imidiwan Takyadam, and Solafa Elyas singing in Arabic on Sagherat Assani, alongside Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, who moves between Tamasheq and Arabic.
Both Imidiwan Takyadam and Sagherat Assani were played, as well as four other songs from Hoggar: Amidinim Ehaf Solan, Erghad Afewo, Asstaghfero Allah, and N’ak tenere Iyat.
Tinariwen started slow with Alkhar Dessouf, but by the second song, Imidiwan Takyadam, the audience was already clapping along.
Clapping, standing up to dance, even moving into the side steps of the aisles, all became part of the performance, as is common in their concerts.
Whether as a sextet or septet, the band marveled with their syncopated rhythms, chants, and extraordinary use of three or four guitars, depending on the song.
Tempering the set between faster and slower moments, including the almost spoken Erghad Afewo, Tinariwen were as compelling as ever.
As José González sings in Imidiwan Takyadam we are all “navegando bajo lo mismo sol”.
Imidiwan Takyadam (feat. José González) English translation:
Tinariwen in Tamasheq Friends, See what has befallen you. You’re scattered across So many different lands That you barely exist. Have you forgotten your sisters, Who you left behind, Living under a hellish tyranny That scalds every living heart? This life is ever-changing, And it prowls around those Who are still alive.
José González Don’t forget your sisters Nor the mothers nor the daughters With eyes cast to the ground Sharing the same sky
Friends, lift your gaze What are our chains? Asking who we are Sailing under the same sun
Looking at the same sky Sailing under the same sun Looking at the same sky We live under the same sun
Calcutá setlist: Fleeting Grace (Soon After Dawn,2026) Weep Valley (Over Night, 2017) Eterno Retorno (Soon After Dawn,2026) Mountain Valley (Soon After Dawn,2026) Background of Purpose (Soon After Dawn,2026) Run Come Rally (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Aries New Moon – On Not Acting Too Soon my new post on The Polymath site is about not every impulse to act is true timing. The New Moon in Aries, the tension between action and restraint, and why the most accurate beginnings are sometimes the ones that wait. The Aires New Moon is the beginning of the Western Astrology New Year. You can read it on The Polymath site.
When Doing Everything Yourself Becomes Sabotage the new post at The Listening Room HQ HQ, my men’s practice, is about that point where doing everything alone stops being strength and becomes sabotage. It speaks on capacity, control, why it’s best not to overdo, and knowing when to let others in. It can be read at the Listening Room HQ site.
Mondo Bizarre Magazine 