Stalwart figure of Irish roots and folk music Dónal Lunny has reportedly passed away
"We are heartbroken to confirm that our beloved Donal passed away peacefully this morning in Dublin following a short stay in St James's Hospital. Thank you for helping us to remember and celebrate his immense contribution to music, to culture, and to so many people’s lives all over the world.” Dónal’s Facebook page reports
Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.
"There Will Never Be Another Like Him"
On Raglan Road - Sinéad O'Connor with Donal Lunny & Band, 1996
The Soul Queen of New Orleans headed up to Muscle Shoals to record for Chess records in 1967. Several songs were released as singles but the majority of songs (like this one) remained unreleased for years. There’s no incredible hidden treasure but this Dan Penn/Spooner Oldham penned tune is still pretty great.
The 1988 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame class included arguably the greatest British and American rock performers of all time, The Beatles and Bob Dylan. The former Mr. Robert Zimmerman was inducted by Bruce Springsteen, one of the countless rock stars who at one point in their carrer was labeled the "next Bob Dylan". Dylan played All Along The Watchtower and Like A Rolling Stone at the ceremony supported by Harrison on the first and Springsteen on the second.
This soundboard recording captures Dylan ten years aftter his induction, on October 23, 1998, 28 years ago today, in Minneapolis. Dylan was on tour in support of his 30th studio album, Time Out Of Mind, which had been released in September 1997. The disc was a comeback for Dylan, who had not released any original material in over 7 years. Time Out Of Mind reached #10 on the Billboard charts in the US and won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
'Clementine' is another original song from my Blackwood Pew EP.
It was a collaboration written almost entirely in the studio with producer Declan Gaffney and Ella Walker (Wildes) and is completely different from anything I’ve done before.
I was after a dreamy kind of Velvet Underground sort of feel. After we demo-ed the song I took it home and made some changes until I was happy.
I am also performing at London Jazz Festival and Take Root 2026 festival in the Netherlands.
again a really interesting if strikingly personal thesis from Butterboy about truly ambient music that is musics that fill and room and change the air within it . . . .
Butterboy says:
MINIMAL & BEAUTIFUL
I hope you like Bare-Beautiful Universe, a four-disc journey into the spaces that music usually leaves untouched.
There are records that fill a room, and there are records that change the way a room feels. This collection belongs to the second kind. Its music is drawn towards restraint, intimacy and silence: voices that seem to arrive from the next room, guitars reduced to a few carefully chosen notes, pianos allowed to breathe between phrases, electronics that hover at the edge of hearing. Nothing here needs to shout for your attention.
Across four discs, the journey gradually turns inward.
CD1 - Falling Into Silence, begins with solitude. The world is still present, but increasingly distant, leaving the listener alone with a voice, a melody, a thought.
CD2 - Ghost-Tone Echoes, moves further away from the physical world. Drones, textures and slowly shifting sounds create a place where time seems to loosen and disappear.
CD3 - Bare-Soul Confessions, brings the human voice back to the centre. These are intimate songs, strange songs, vulnerable songs: music that feels less performed than revealed.
CD4 - Negative-Space Reveries, is where almost everything unnecessary has fallen away. What remains is fragile, skeletal and intensely human. A breath. A voice. A few notes. A memory suspended in silence.
That is the heart of Bare-Beautiful Universe.
This is not music designed to overwhelm you. It asks you to listen more closely. To notice the space between the notes, the hesitation in a voice, the sound that almost disappears before you have fully heard it.
Because silence is not the absence of music. Sometimes, it is where the music lives.
Bare-Beautiful Universe is a sanctuary built from those moments, four discs for quiet rooms, late nights, solitary journeys and the rare occasions when we are willing to stop filling the silence and simply listen.
The universe is vast. This one is deliberately small. And within it, there is more than enough to hear. (Butterboy)
I guess it doesn't click into focus as a thesis until we see the track listing including much that I hadn’t heard before but the fourth disc seems to be full of sounds I really appreciate so am looking forward to the rest
Track lists
CD1
01James Blake-Wilhelms Scream4:362011
02Sampha-(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano3:342017
03Keaton Henson-You4:422010
04Sufjan Stevens-Blue Bucket of Gold4:442015
05Agnes Obel-Riverside3:482010
06Moses Sumney-Plastic3:082017
07Rhye-Open3:372013
08xx-Angels2:492012
09Arthur Russell-A Little Lost3:181986
10Julianna Barwick-Forever5:302013
11Nick Mulvey-Cucurucu4:272014
12James Vincent McMorrow-Red Dust4:002013
13SOHN-Artifice3:182014
14How to Dress Well-Suicide Dream 24:212010
15Grouper-Living Room2:222008
16FKA Twigs-Cellophane3:242019
17Bing & Ruth-Starwood Choker6:172014
18Oliver Coates-Perfect Love6:532016
19serpentwithfeet-Bless Ur Heart4:232018
20Leif Vollebekk-Elegy5:242017
CD2
01Bing & Ruth-Broad Channel5:562010
02amiina-Seoul7:012007
03Colleen-I’ll Read You A Story6:512007
04Nils Frahm-Says8:182013
05A Winged Victory for The Sullen-Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears4:252011
06Tim Hecker-In the Air III4:012006
07Loscil-Endless Falls7:552010
08Hildur Guðnadóttir-Elevation5:572009
09Max Richter-Fragment1:272015
10Ólafur Arnalds-Near Light3:242011
11Harold Budd; Brian Eno-The Pearl3:131984
12Stars of the Lid-Requiem for Dying Mothers Part 27:372007
13Eluvium-Radio Ballet3:122007
14Kyle Bobby Dunn-The Tributary (For Voices Lost)10:372012
15Ryuichi Sakamoto-solari3:512004
16Jóhann Jóhannsson-Odi Et Amo6:252002
17Helios-Halving The Compass5:262004
18Goldmund-Threnody4:392005
19Arovane-Seaside3:362004
20Hammock-I Could Hear the Water at the Edge of All Things5:402010
CD3
01Frank Ocean-Godspeed2:582016
02Arca-Piel4:072017
03Tirzah-Gladly3:412018
04Perfume Genius-Learning2:432010
05Julia Holter-Meyou5:552024
06Ichiko Aoba-Asleep Among Endives5:062021
07Arooj Aftab-Mohabbat7:422021
08Antony & The Johnsons-Hope There's Someone4:222005
09Elliott Smith-Between The Bars2:221997
10Florist-Shadow Bloom3:402019
11Broadcast-Tears in The Typing Pool2:122005
12the Microphones-I Want Wind to Blow5:322001
13Adrianne Lenker-Anything3:222020
14Marta Forsberg-Slowa (Not Saying a Word)5:372025
Despite Baker's well-deserved reputation as one of the most influential guitar players of early rock & roll, The Wildest Guitar was one of the few chances he really got to strut his stuff as a solo artist......This entirely instrumental set features keening, sharp, bluesy riffs in much the same distinctive style that gained him fame on "Love Is Strange" and other tunes with Mickey & Sylvia. The choice of material, though, is a bit surprising, favoring some surprisingly cornball standards: "Third Man Theme," "Autumn Leaves," "Lullaby of the Leaves," and Cole Porter's "Night and Day." Baker (who also arranged the album) manages to invest all of these with a snazzy R&B feel and biting solos. And he does actually write four of the 12 tunes himself, on which he fashions the kind of straightforward R&B that one would more likely to expect. This is a pretty good showcase to hear Baker's unadorned virtuosity. But he's really better-appreciated within the context of stronger material, either as half of Mickey & Sylvia or on the innumerable '50s R&B cuts (many on Atlantic) that feature his session work.
track listing: 01 Third Man Theme 02 Whistle Stop 03 Night And Day 04 Midnight Midnight 05 Autumn Leaves 06 Baia 07 Milk Train 08 Old Devil Moon 09 Chloe 10 Baker's Dozen 11 Lullaby Of The Leaves 12 Gloomy Sunday
So back in the trenches! And mostly after being AFK for six hours or so I am pleased to report all finally went well and the public transport DID in fact turn up today (brilliant, helpful friendly driver ad couldn’t have asked for better to get the 20 odd miles in the pouring rain!!bit of a contrast to Tuesday when they didn’t even turn up!) and arranging to arrive an hour early for my appointment surprised to be seen so quickly and early much to the chagrin of a waiting room full of people who didn’t seem to be quite so welcoming after realising I was to be seen and scanned before anyone else!?
Still, I now feel pretty much like this!
but is it art I hear you say?
Well seeing as how it’s a painting (sic!) the answer must be “Yes!”
not the usual sounding African band style! But nice none the less! Dig that bass!
I Guess I'm Dumb as I venture out to a specialist hospital over twenty miles away in worse conditions than when public transport didn’t even bother show up on Tuesday! I won’t hold my breath . . . . . .this time!
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