Tag Archive: Nick Drake


I hate critics who, when rating an artist’s discography, choose an obscure release as their  favourite. Most of the time, the smug subtext is ‘I’ve heard this album and you probably haven’t but it’s the best thing they ever did’.

One of the best aspects of the download culture is that these pseudo-hipsters can quickly be exposed if/when they’re talking bollocks.

I write to preface my assertion that Aerocalexico is Calexico’s finest album.

This CD was originally limited to 2000 copies and available only at shows or via the Calexico website. This was in the year 2001, back in the day when ‘limited edition’ meant more than it does now. Nowadays, of course, there’s an unlimited supply of just about anything from your friendly neighborhood P2P file sharing website.

I bought this CD at a show the band from Tucson, Arizona played at the Vidia Club in Cesena, Italy and giving it a spin again now it struck what a truly great album it is.

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DANCING TO THE BLACK DOG

I’ve just reviewed Lisa Hannigan‘s ecellent new labum, Passenger for Whisperin’ & Hollerin’ which you can read here.

Her cover of Nick Drake‘s Black-Eyed Dog isn’t on it but it shows what a great interpreter of songs she is. Her version, from a performance at the Barbican in London,  manages to capture the bleak brilliance of the original whilst adding a spirited defiance to the depression that inspired it.

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The delicate charm of Rob St John’s ‘Tipping In’ EP shows that inspiration of New Weird America is far from being just a stateside phenomenon.This is a magical record which I had no hesitation in giving a 10 star rating in my Whisperin’ & Hollerin’ review.

Three tracks and less than 15 minutes left me wanting to hear more and also made me curious to find out more about the man behind the sound.

Rob very kindly agreed to answer some questions.

So if you want to know why Jack Johnson sucks, how musical dots can connect Godspeed You Black Emperor with Bert Jansch or simply need a hearty veggie meal in Edinburgh, read on …….

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