Time out track with genres - She's The One

After enjoying a portugese tart with Alison Croggon's genre-bending feature in this month's 'The Victorian Writer' magazine, I sat back to do some work, after a quick Twitter check.

Thanks to Steve Palfreyman asking if anyone needed some entertaining, I listened to this song by Quintessential Doll, and discovered a new music genre that will now be one of my answers to the question, 'What music do you like?'

Folktronica

YouTube have again shown me that I am well behind the music, and genre times. But though the f-term was coined years ago, like finding Voodoo Jazz in August last year, it's an exciting discovery for me.

And then I find that I own quite a few artists who are classified here on various sites…well shame on you iTunes with your 'Electronic' tag.

Here's one from my vault.

Now, back to that work thing.

Time Out Track - Dialogue

I've taken a long online time out, but having settled back in Melbourne I'm now settling back into a desk. Well, many desks at the moment, floating around houses and using libraries as an office.

Yesterday I joined a writing group, and during the discussion we were steered to studying Elmore Leonard for great dialogue. I've always struggled with dialogue, and therefore tend to avoid it, so will certainly take the heads up.

And then driving home this track came on the radio, and seemed a perfect way back into my Time Out Tracks - here's some NZ dialogue in song.

Time out track: Wolf's Law

This week I've caught up on a few new and not so new releases: Boy George's first album since 1995, Arcade Fire's Reflektor, the latest from Cut Copy and Mercury-award winner James Blake.

But the title track from The Joy Formidable's latest album is one I'll keep going back to.

This is one of the most dramatic and powerful alignments of image to lyric, melody and rhythm I've seen in a music video.

Time Out Track - Bristol

It's a slightly tenuous connection for the clip today, but I'll try and stitch it together.

At the Writers' Workshop festival in York last weekend, the panel on Sunday morning was 'New Opportunities for Writers in the Digital Age'.

Tom Abbott described one of the most innovative and interesting 'products' I've heard of, combining different mediums to create a whole new way of storytelling.

These Pages Fall Like Ash

Two cities, each overlapping the other. 

Two people who can no longer remember each other's existence.

Two books.

Two platforms.

A singular reading experience. 

The physical component is a limited edition book with a wooden cover. Handling it I felt like I was in a rare books section of a library, and naturally nervous that my tired/hungover hands might inflict some damage. It's beautiful. It reminded me of how much I treasure 'real' books, hardbacks, second-hand books and second-hand bookshops.

But then there's the digital element. There are hard drives set around Bristol that transmit digital content, and through this the two stories come together.

Amazing.

Despite a career in change management I'm no early adopter, but this is a great way to get me, and other readers I'm sure, to see and feel the potential for the many many new ways writers and readers can come together.

The circumstance team have an exciting portfolio of other collaborations and ideas - hopefully the plan for 'These Pages...' to travel to other cities isn't too far away.

So I was looking for a soundtrack to this idea, trying to find something that might match mood-wise, which is a little tricky because I've only had a few seconds with the content. To keep it Bristol I was looking at local bands, but figured rock wasn't right and neither Massive Attack nor Portisehead need any more promo. So here's a clip from what I gather is a Bristol(ian?) institution...

From Iceland to Canada

Last week I was in Hannah Kent's Iceland. This week I finished the wonderful collection from D W Wilson, 'Once You Break A Knuckle.'

I started reading it a couple of months ago, and knew straight away that this was something to savour.
The line up of names praising the stories on the cover and for several pages inside is absolutely justified.
As usual I'm not going to try to review the stories, you can find plenty of those, but my experience of reading it was the powerful relationships between men, with friends and sons, and their remote Canadian setting.

His novel, Ballistics, is high on my To Read list.

So while we're in Canada, here's a track I thought matched quite nicely.

Gold & Youth are from British Columbia, and though they tend into a more electronic sound than would naturally match D W Wilson's stories, there's something about this pared back version that fits.

Time out track: immersed in Iceland

Following last night's Icelandic evening in Chelsea, I wanted to share some more magic from that country. My music knowledge was limited to Björk, Emilíana Torrini and Sigur Rós, and though I do like all of them, and their very different sounds, I wanted to discover something new.

Last year, at the age of 20, Ásgeir Trausti set the record for the most copies sold by a domestic artist in Iceland.

So perhaps you've already heard of him? But in case you haven't, well here's a track in Icelandic, and one in English that seemed to fit the Icelandic evening.

And if you're interested in more Icelandic music discoveries, there's a fascinating range - including Icelandic reggae - here.

Even If We Try

You know when you read a book or see a movie or a painting or or or we all have our things that just stop us. Dead halt awe.

And you read over passages or rewind or circle round again, and it stays with you, well, forever.

You never forget that feeling, how your life feels now. Now that you have this as well.

For me it's not quite "filling a void you never knew you had". It's almost enough to make me want to stop what I'm trying to create, because how can the world need my work when THIS exists. But then it starts to encourage me as well.

Anyway, I'm talking this up a bit much, but as soon as I heard the vocals on the album 'Country Sleep' by Night Beds, I had to stop.

I hope some of you might feel something like that, and come back to it when you need to feel it again.

And I'd love to know what book, song, painting, movie, sculpture, wine...does the same for you.



nb this isn't my favourite song on the album, but I couldn't find an official video for the opener, Faithful Heights.

But they are touring across Europe over the coming months. I'll be at Scala (London) on December 3rd.

Time Out Track

Not wanting to be controversial or push any particular agenda...it's a quick fast track, and if nothing else may remind you how beautiful and inspiring silence is.

I don't mind what you call it, just make sure it's available

I've heard and read a lot of discussions about categories lately, particularly on the 'new adult' debate - is the term patronising, what is an appropriate target market for books with detailed sex scenes - and at the crux of it for some, what shelves do you put them on in a bookshop?

I don't have any answers, or really strong opinions, but it did make me think about the categorisation creativity in the music industry, where it's almost a challenge to come up with something new. A bit like the names of paint colours, or car models.

A few of my favourites are:

Low "emerged as an experimental reaction to the predominance of grunge, the indie-rock's sub sub genre: slowcore".

Here's one of the hits from their latest album

John Paul White (The Civil Wars) "could well be the co-inventor of a new musical genre: the gothic-folk power ballad"

A hit from their debut album -







And genius - apparently coined by the Haitian band, Foula - "voodoo jazz".



Be it books, music, films, art, as long as I can find it and try it, I really don't mind what you call it.

Time out track - Pink Martini

Doing some writing warm-ups this morning I was listening to Mary Robinson, on Desert Island Discs. Her second song of choice was 'Non, je ne regrette rien.' Edith Piaf entered my room and curled her finger, and I followed her to a radio station based on similar sounds. When Pink Martini joined the party I knew I had my soundtrack for the relationship I'm working on.

They've been playing to me for the last 1,000 words, and maybe they'll help you with your characters.

Or you can just enjoy a little time out  Friday sway?

I love the combination of awe and care through the opening - analogous to a successful romance?

Time Out Track - Amazing

Our first holiday was a road trip up the east coast of Australia in mum's car - power steering and air conditioning luxury, camp sites on the beach, pubs with balconies.

We drove from Byron Bay home to Melbourne in one day. Hadn't planned it that way but after two weeks on the coast, there was nowhere inland that we wanted to stop.

Instant coffee in a thermos, a one dayer between Australia and Pakistan, Tamworth, Dubbo, the dish at Forbes, Wagga...thinking this is it.

Bare feet on the dash, windows down, salty hair flying, singing loudly the song that even radio saturation couldn't spoil. Him smiling at me, even when I was off-key. Thinking this is the man for me.

More days have passed than the miles we covered then, or the days we ended up spending together.

Summer in London, no longer feeling loss or regret, for 3:20, while the kids are playing in the courtyard next door, singing loudly out the loft windows. And smiling. And it's Amazing.

Time Out Track - no one said it would be easy

Inspired by my fortunate success in the Write To Run challenge (Uh Oh, below, where embarrassment paid off), I was thinking of posting a clip to a song I used as motivation for running.

But I don't listen to music when I run.

Apart from a delirious "home straight" the first time we ran over 15km, when my training partner and I jogged through a local high street on a Sunday morning belting out the Rocky theme song, there is only one song I can recall coming in to my head while running.

I was using a marathon training programme in which the longest run was 30km, two weeks in a row. I'd nailed the first week pretty comfortably, and went out far too confident the following week.

Dragging myself along the track beside the Yarra River by rowers with coxes yelling at them, looping over and over in my head was Sheryl Crow.

'No one said it would be easy, but no one said it'd be this hard. No one said it would be easy, but no one thought we'd come this far.' I mustn't say what I wanted to do to her for those last few kms.

Unfortunately, now that I've mentioned it, she's looping again with me while I wrestle the writing targets for my manuscript.

But let's take her on! So here's a time out track that gets me fired up to take on anything that looks daunting...like going back to swimming training tomorrow night after a considerable time out.

It also made me quite a 'cool Auntie' when I played it loud in the car for my nephew.

Time Out Track - from the Continent

Awake since 5am with day-before-holidays-and-it's-sunny-outside-excitement. And a moment of regret for that third pint last night, but have you had Moor No'Or Hop and stopped at one? It's worth ordering another just to see if you can say the name. By the third I think I pointed at the tap, but could still taste how good it is.

And if I don't read what I wrote at my window seat in the pub I can rest happily in the knowledge that a paragraph of hand scribbled notes was embellished into a 1,500 word story of commendable quality.

So this morning I wanted to post a couple of current and cool songs from Spain and France, my destinations. In both countries Daft Punk are killing the charts, and they don't really need more promo. Just so it's clear, I'm a big fan, and seeing them live is an unforgettable experience.

From Spain I like We Are Standard (but a lot of their music videos star puppets) and Phoenix from France (but I just couldn't find that holiday feel track), so here's a few old school sound numbers from these fine countries. They're good packing tracks...and I'm excited!

Caveat: I have no idea what these lyrics are about, and don't really want to know. I'm just going for the sound. And the clips!

And if you've got any other bands from these countries you like I'd love to listen to them. Or if there's a country you're looking to explore, just let me know.

Adios, au revoir, hasta luego, santé

Time Out Track

Went to Barbican on Tuesday night to see Iron & Wine. Friends who haven't been there before - "This is the future of gigs for us. Comfortable seats, great acoustics, people actually listening."

Read Maria Popova's 100 Ideas That Changed Architecture - like many of her posts I've bookmarked it to keep going back to when I'm writing about space and place.

Beautifully raw and loosely relevant to both, 'To Build A Home'

Time Out Track... from America

Continuing going global with time out tracks, today it's a magical clip from Iron & Wine. The animation and stop motion effects will surely mean different things to different people, I see something new every time I watch it.

Maybe it will inspire some journeys into fantasy that you might not otherwise take?

I can't wait to see them next Tuesday at Barbican. Must listen to the new album, but for now, here's Joy.

Time Out Track - Another Tale From Another English Town

With the excitement of the Fiction Uncovered 2013 titles, this week's Time Out Track has moved hemispheres to showcase a band from Newcastle, Lanterns On The Lake.

I often listen to their debut album when writing - here's their beautiful new video.

Time Out Track

Dan Sultan with a fabulous B&W tour of inner city Melbourne



Today's backing tune for writing a piece to submit to 'Stories For Homes'