My Heart Is Made Of Gravy

"Maybe, someone's gonna save me. My heart is made of gravy, and the laps I swim from lunatics don't count." (Pavement)

2007-06-04T13:29:00.000+01:00

At & T, Pavement

"I won't last a day without you." (The Carpenters)

2007-05-20T11:32:00.000+01:00

"We are pleased to announce neurons in the human brain, bubble trouble." (Rifle Nice)

2007-05-15T18:34:00.000+01:00

"There is no control there is no control there is no control there is no control there is no control..."

Bubble Trouble, Rifle Nice (Listen)

When I'm feeling troubled, RN jerk my girdle.

Slicing up eyeballs, ha ha ha ho!" (The Pixies)

2007-05-15T14:34:00.000+01:00

"I am un chien andalusia,
I am un chien andalusia
I am un chien andalusia
Wanna grow up to be
Be a debaser."

Debaser, The Pixies

For Rob.

"Can I ride with you until the sunset gets all red and we'll be chased by the moon?" (Architecture In Helsinki)

2007-05-12T19:02:00.000+01:00

It'5, Architecture in Helsinki

"You could have it all if it matters so much" (Razorlight)

2007-05-02T19:01:00.000+01:00

Golden Touch, Razorlight

"The hardest part is letting go of your dreams."

2007-04-29T12:41:00.000+01:00

Jeanette by Gravy (1st half of a portrait swap)

Framing my Switchskies

2007-04-25T19:39:00.000+01:00

I now own two, count 'em, TWO amazing pieces of collage work by the most-talented Switchsky. A reason for celebration.

Song: I'm Happy
Artist: Ivor Cutler

Less is more - Indiana

2007-04-07T12:41:00.000+01:00

I had the immense good fortune of seeing Indiana doing a searingly intimate gig at a venue just round the corner from chez Gravy. Absolutely blown away by these guys. Listen to 'em, see 'em, doff your caps.

Song: Less Is More
Band: Indiana

Same old shit, day in and day out? Snap.

2007-03-30T21:59:00.001+01:00

It's kind of sweet we way we all live our lives according to empirically positivist mantras like 'onwards and upwards' and 'everyday in every way I'm getting better and better'. Truth is: we never change, do we?

Song: We never change (Coldplay)

I spy...a lot of people desperate to be seen and heard (the human condition).

2007-03-29T12:23:00.000+01:00

Song: My Declaration
Singer: Tom Baxter
Drawing after Blake.

Welcome to Barcelona

2007-03-29T11:50:00.000+01:00

Group: I'm from Barcelona
Song: We're from Barcelona
Why you should listen to them: Almost puts Seroxat out of business. Almost.

Where gravity is dead

2007-02-18T12:24:00.000Z

Laura Veirs, Where Gravity Is Dead

Here comes de backlash: CRASH!

2007-02-11T13:43:00.000Z

'We live in de world that time BeGATT
Time to check de data debris an change de format
All de way from de frontline here comes de backlash
Bad news outnational announcing de crash!'
(Asian Dub Foundation: Crash)

An 'Impossible Invention'...but oh-so beautiful.

2006-11-25T23:45:00.000Z

Bach, Invention 1

Just be thankful

2006-11-19T20:04:00.000Z

"Though you may not drive a great big cadillac,
Gangster whitewalls tv antenna in the back.
You may not have a car at all,
But just remember brothers and sisters
You can still stand tall:
Just be thankful for what you've got..."

Be Thankful For What You've Got, Massive Attack/William DeVaughn

"Waiting for Pete Doherty to die..." (The Indelicates)

2006-11-12T19:43:00.000Z

Forget the Arena hagiography, this song by The Indelicates says it all.

A Buckley fan can't believe that Jeff is actually dead (having seen him the night before on YouTube).

2006-11-12T17:55:00.000Z

Jeff live(s)!

"Only wish that you were here, you know I'm seeing it so clear, I've been afraid." (David Gray)

2006-11-12T17:41:00.000Z

Babylon, David Gray

For IF.

Dresden Dolls at The Roundhouse (Camden) November 4th

2006-11-04T19:39:00.000Z

Your Ghost (Kristin Hersh)

2006-10-21T19:04:00.000+01:00

"So I pad through the dark
And call you on the phone
Push your old numbers
And let your house ring
Till I wake your ghost...."

Your Ghost, Kristin Hersh

Falling Slowly (The Frames)

2006-10-21T18:40:00.000+01:00

So the Guardian wants to know about our undiscovered musical treasures. If I told you that the missing link between the current batch of pan-ethnic troubadours (Bonnie Prince Billy, Damien Rice, Sufjan Stevens) and the epic noisemeisters of the 90s (Pixies, Nirvana, Flaming Lips) was an Irish band whose lead-singer played Outspan Foster in Alan Parker’s ‘The Commitments’ and had Jeff Buckley pitching in as his roadie, you’d tell me to feck off back to Shamrocksville.

But Glen Hansard and The Frames are this band, and ‘For The Birds’ is this album. Their new one, 'The Cost', ain't half bad either.

I’m not Irish, I’m certainly no Bonophile, and I don’t need obscurities as an external validation of cool. I just know that if this album doesn’t make your secret weapons list, we may as well remove the word ‘ecstasy’ from the dictionary and replace it with ‘critical consensus’.

Falling Slowly, The Frames [LISTEN]

"She was smitten from the first by a curious fellow, she said I love the way you talk." (Elvis Costello)

2006-10-14T10:05:00.000+01:00

"And if you want
We'll make it good
Before my mood swings."

My Mood Swings, Elvis Costello

Quiet, I am sleeping, in here, need a little hope. (Smashing Pumpkins)

2006-10-04T08:44:00.000+01:00

"Be ashamed
Of the mess you've made."

Quiet, Smashing Pumpkins

"You sit there in your heartache, waiting on some beautiful boy to save you from your old ways, you play forgiveness, watch it now, here he comes..."

2006-10-02T19:46:00.000+01:00

"I'm over the ocean, over the hills, over the dell, over the fireline." (Low)

2006-09-29T19:12:00.000+01:00

You can't get much quieter than a Low song. Not sonically quiet, because Mimi Parker is whacking that snare drum laconically but fairly insistently. But quiet in a slow-down, quell the monkey mind's insistent chatter manner.

I used to go to sleep listening to lullaby-Low, I'm sure we all have. It's music that encapsulates that moment when you're just about to drop off and bed is the best place to be: cosy and quiet and agreeably empty. Like the grave.

Over The Ocean, Low

Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above (Cansei Ser Sexy)

2006-09-28T00:35:00.000+01:00

For Ben.

Music sounds better on grass

2006-09-25T19:40:00.000+01:00

Don't Be Afraid, You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed

2006-09-25T18:40:00.000+01:00

Don't Be Afraid, Mum

"They tell us "autumn's a-comin', and soon everything around us will die..." (The Flaming Lips)

2006-09-24T15:20:00.000+01:00

My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion, The Flaming Lips

For Josh.

2006-09-16T12:41:00.000+01:00

"How bad, how good does it need to get?"

Change, Tracy Chapman

For IF.

"If you knew that you would die today, saw the face of love and God, would you change?" (Tracy Chapman)

2006-09-16T12:35:00.000+01:00

"How bad, how good does it need to get?"

Change, Tracy Chapman

For IF.

"Punks in the beerlight, two burnouts in love." (Silver Jews)

2006-09-15T21:16:00.000+01:00

"Ain't you heard the news?
Adam and Eve were jews."

Punks In The Beerlight, Silver Jews

For Karl.

Diventa Blu (Arizona)

2006-09-15T21:01:00.000+01:00

Diventa Blu, Arizona (LISTEN)

For IGIF.

"I like you mostly late at night" (Life Without Buildings)

2006-09-15T17:37:00.000+01:00

Super Shine (Boredoms)

2006-09-11T22:08:00.000+01:00

My shine
My shine

His shine
His shine

Super Shine, Boredoms (LISTEN)

For Mark.

"What a drag it is, the shape I'm in" (Razorlight)

2006-09-11T19:31:00.000+01:00

"I'm not happy when I try to fake it." (Lionel Richie/Faith No More)

2006-09-11T18:48:00.000+01:00

Easy, Lionel Richie/Faith No More

For Rebekah

"You're on the bottom." (Bob Dylan)

2006-09-11T18:20:00.000+01:00

Idiot Wind, Bob Dylan
Listen

For Andrew.

"Nothing's gonna change this painted frown." (The Magnetic Fields)

2006-09-11T17:51:00.000+01:00

"Nobody wants you
When you're a circus clown.
I should know
I looked all over town."

I Looked All Over Town, Magnetic Fields.

For Ken.

"People say she looks like a cow. Let them laugh, you're a real cowboy." (Jocari)

2006-09-10T14:04:00.000+01:00

"Love is an animal of the farm,
If you don't fear it.
If you feed it,
Love will do you no harm."

Love Is An Animal of The Farm, Jocari

For Fabien and IF.

"Can you treat it like an oil-well when it's underground, out of sight?" (Pavement)

2006-09-09T18:48:00.000+01:00

"And if the sight is just a whore sign
Can it make enough sense to me? "

In The Mouth A Desert, Pavement

"Hard to choose from all the riches of the Slanted and Enchanted album. Am a massive believer in all of it though. I believe in a voice that squeaks for a generation of fragile and pissed-off flaneurs. I believe in cheap, scuzzy, squiggly guitars zipping around like pollocky streaks of strop. I believe in false starts (cf. 'Loretta's Scars'). I believe in the falsetto gibberish of a melodic bonbon: all those lovely woo-woo-woos ('In The Mouth A Desert') and sha-la-la-las ('Trigger Cut'). I believe in snazzy tunes that grow on you after the third (or fourth, or fifth) listen. But I also believe in a certain amount of deranged howling (cf. 'Conduit For Sale', and the neurotic 'Chesley's Little Wrists'). I believe in titles that have (seemingly) nothing to do with the songs they're appended to. I believe in dippy, fleshwound lyrics that make more sense than senescence. I believe in the lackadaisical (at least as an idea). I believe in the effortless, induplicate coil of fiddle-faddle. I believe in drummers who are more interested in standing on their heads and serving french toast to their fans than snapping their snares (cf. Gary Young). I believe in combining West Coast serenity with East Coast sarcasm: 'I'm the only one who laughs/At your jokes when they are so bad/And your jokes are always bad...' I believe in the soul as part of the whole megillah, off the cuff, but swift as a kissing bug: 'I've got one-only life to live/I've got one-only life to give.' I believe in beginnings that that are also endings and vice-versa ('Everything's ending here', sings Malkmus on the ninth track, when in fact, if rumours are to be believed, three albums later, everything's ending here. Wherever that is. ) I believe in cool Italians. Not cool as in de rigueur Rigid-Cool (all Armani shades and slicked back pubes), but cool as in Claudio Galuzzi Cool, my first Musical Guru, who in 1992 who sold me this album from his little shop in Casalpusterlengo saying it would 'shake my cack, kedgeree constellations' (you lose something in translation). And it did. It made me a believer. Believe me."

For Steve (29 and 3/4 years old).

"Come on over baby and I'll make you obscene." (AC/DC)

2006-09-06T23:15:00.000+01:00

"I feel safe in New York city,

I feel safe in New York city,

I feel safe in New York city.

Throw away the key."

I Feel Safe In New York City, AC/DC

For IF

Pull Peep (Mortimaz)

2006-09-06T23:06:00.000+01:00

Pull Peep, Mortimaz

For Andrew.

"Never for money, always for love." (Talking Heads)

2006-09-05T23:37:00.000+01:00

"Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me round
I feel numb - burn with a weak heart
So I guess I must be having fun."

This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), Talking Heads

Suggested by Jonathan (go see his play, it's brilliant!)

"This is the end of the summer." (The Young Knives)

2006-09-05T10:49:00.000+01:00

"Hot summer, what a bummer
Me oh my, think I’m going to,
Pull a sicky, do a runner."

Weekends and Bleak Days (LISTEN) The Young Knives

For Jim

Collided with the sign, you're staring at the sun (TV On The Radio)

2006-09-02T19:41:00.000+01:00

"There is no such thing as normal." (Morrissey)

2006-08-28T19:43:00.000+01:00

The Youngest Was The Most Loved, Morrissey

For Susan.

It really doesn't matter how fast you pedal. You ain't going anywhere.

2006-08-28T10:43:00.000+01:00

Almost (Tracy Chapman)

2006-08-27T11:04:00.000+01:00

"Almost got what I want
Almost found what I lost
Almost saved you and myself
Almost won but it doesn't count
And never does
Never does
Never does
Never does."

Almost, Tracy Chapman

For Michelle.

"Do you realize, that everyone you know someday will die." (The Flaming Lips)

2006-08-26T14:48:00.000+01:00

Do You Realize, The Flaming Lips

For Glen.

Up All Night (Razorlight)

2006-08-23T15:19:00.000+01:00

For Juliet.

"Shut me up." (The Strokes)

2006-08-23T14:06:00.000+01:00

You Only Live Once, The Strokes

For Gerry.

"I don't want to be old and sleep alone." (Keane)

2006-08-22T12:54:00.000+01:00

I need a place
That's hidden in the deep
Where lonely angels sing you to your sleep
Though all the world is broken."

Atlantic, Keane

Five minutes

2006-08-19T14:46:00.000+01:00

"Free to be sure of what I am and who I need to be." (Stevie Wonder)

2006-08-05T11:02:00.000+01:00

Free, Stevie Wonder

I Want To Live (Talking Heads)

2006-08-05T10:55:00.000+01:00

"I want to live,
to feel a face that isn't there
I want to live
I roll over and you're not there."

I Want To Live, Talking Heads

"Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be." (Nirvana)

2006-08-04T19:01:00.000+01:00

Come As You Are, Nirvana

"I have been terrified, by the thought of losing you." (The Dears)

2006-08-03T10:55:00.000+01:00

I
Have
Been terrified
By the thought of losing you
So very terrified
By the thought of losing you
Stop telling me
I don't want to know
Stop telling me because I just don't ever
Want to know
No no no
No no no
No no no
No no no

Pinned Together, Falling Apart, The Dears

"Are you really going to do it this time?" (Razorlight)

2006-08-02T11:16:00.000+01:00

In The Morning, Razorlight

"Here I stand, victorious, the only man who made you come." (Robbie Williams)

2006-08-02T11:12:00.000+01:00

Ghosts, Robbie Williams

"Challenge is for lovers, but when I run my feet hurt." (Tapes 'n Tapes)

2006-08-02T11:09:00.000+01:00

Insistor, Tapes 'n Tapes

"There was a man, a lonely man, who lost his love through his indifference." (Neil Sedaka/The Carpenters)

2006-08-02T11:08:00.000+01:00

""A little hope, goes up in smoke."

Solitaire, The Carpenters

"I want Moshiach now!" (Matisyahu)

2006-08-01T11:08:00.000+01:00

"I give myself to you from the essence of my being
And I Sing to my God, songs of love and healing
I want Moshiach now."

King Without A Crown, Matisyahu

(Colours: Marc Chagall's Music)

"The more I try to erase you, the more that you appear" (Thom Yorke)

2006-07-30T11:20:00.000+01:00

The Eraser, Thom Yorke

"Now they're going to bed, and my stomach is sick, and it's all in my head." (The Killers)

2006-07-29T11:22:00.000+01:00

"And I just can't look its killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr Brightside."

Mr Brightside, The Killers

"So I turn myself inside out in the hope someone will see." (Tori Amos)

2006-07-26T11:24:00.000+01:00

Jackie's Strength, Tori Amos

"I wanna squeeze you but I'm scared to death I'd break your back." (Tom Waits)

2006-07-24T11:26:00.000+01:00

Fumblin With The Blues, Tom Waits

Colours: Munch - 'The Scream'

"But you'll find those lingering voices are just your ego's attempt to make it all clean and nice and make a moron out of you." (The Shins)

2006-07-24T11:25:00.000+01:00

"Most ideas turn to dust as there are few in which we all can trust
Haven't you noticed I've been shedding all of mind?
So let's abandon that track and leave our fathers fighting in a sack
Cause we are way too wise-assed for that."

Fighting In A Sack, The Shins

Let's get lost

2006-07-18T19:43:00.000+01:00

However you feel, whatever it takes, whenever it's real, whatever awaits me." (Pavement)

2006-07-11T17:32:00.000+01:00

Spit On A Stranger, Pavement

Say Yes (Elliot Smith)

2006-07-10T10:55:00.001+01:00

"Crooked spin can't come to rest
I'm damaged bad at best
She'll decide what she wants
I'll probably be the last to know
No one says until it shows and you see how it is
They want you or they don't
Say yes."

Say Yes, Elliot Smith

"Everybody's going out and having fun. I'm just a fool for staying home and having none." (Don Gibson)

2006-07-10T10:55:00.000+01:00

"I'll bet she's not like me she's out and fancy free
Flirting with the boys with all her charms."

Oh, Lonesome Me, Don Gibson

"When you first left me, I was wanting more, but you were fucking that girl next door; what did you do that for?" (Lily Allen)

2006-07-03T15:44:00.000+01:00

Smile, Lily Allen

"Grant my last request and just let me hold you, don't shrug your shoulders, lay down beside me." (Paolo Nutini)

2006-07-03T10:53:00.000+01:00

Last Request, Paolo Nutini [LISTEN: Realplayer/Mediaplayer]

The Legendary Pink Dots

2006-06-18T19:47:00.000+01:00

Soft Toy, The Legendary Pink Dots

"So what you going to do with all this stuff piling up, filling up, taking up?" (The Feeling)

2006-06-05T16:01:00.000+01:00

Fill My Little World, The Feeling

"Time, all the long red lines, that take control." (Mercury Rev)

2006-05-26T15:19:00.000+01:00

"Holes, dug by little moles,
Angry jealous spies,
Got telephones for eyes."

Holes, Mercury Rev

Gratitude Walks (The American Music Club)

2006-05-18T19:42:00.000+01:00

"Oh I'm so easily led..." (Dirty Pretty Things)

2006-03-28T11:20:00.000+01:00

Bang Bang You're Dead, Dirty Pretty Things

"I'm making my escape, making my escape..." (We Are Scientists)

2006-03-26T15:04:00.000+01:00

"I've got a great idea
I'm gonna wait right here."

Great Escape, We Are Scientists

"You see I'm feeling everything, nothing gets by." (The Frames)

2006-03-04T11:43:00.000Z

"There is a love that flows between us
Ever-changing everyday."

What Happens When The Heart Just Stops, The Frames

"There was a man, a lonely man, who lost his love through his indifference." (Neil Sedaka/The Carpenters)

2006-03-02T11:11:00.000Z

""A little hope, goes up in smoke."

Solitaire, The Carpenters

"I remember when, I remember when I lost my mind." (Gnarls Barkley)

2006-02-24T11:37:00.000Z

Crazy, Gnarls Barkley

(Big) Boys Don't Cry (The Cure)

2006-02-10T12:35:00.000Z

"And when the evening comes, we smile." (The Carpenters)

2006-02-01T11:18:00.000Z

"And when the evening comes we smile
So much of life ahead
Well find a place where there's room to grow"

Song: We've Only Just Begun, The Carpenters

"Living isn't easy, no need to make it harder." (The Divine Comedy)

2006-01-26T12:13:00.000Z

"Everybody's running
Round and round in circles
What is it they're trying to prove?
Exercise your freedom
Exorcise those demons
You have got to love what you do."

Love What You Do, The Divine Comedy

"Man means nothing..." (Randy Newman)

2006-01-24T11:25:00.000Z

"Man means nothing he means less to me
Than the lowiliest cactus flower
Or the humblest yucca tree.
He chases round this desert
Cause he thinks that's where I'll be
That's why i love mankind."

-God's Song, Randy Newman [DOWNLOAD]

"I'm not o-fucking-kay." (My Chemical Romance)

2006-01-10T10:47:00.000Z

"You said you read me like a book,
But the pages all are torn and frayed."

I'm Not Okay (I Promise), My Chemical Romance

Troubled Times (Fountains of Wayne)

2005-12-17T12:33:00.000Z

"Maybe one day soon
It'll all come out
How you dream about each other sometimes
With the memory of
How you once gave up
But you made it through the troubled times."

Troubled Times, Fountains of Wayne

"They say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known." (Billy Joel)

2005-11-23T12:43:00.000Z

"How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies
Perhaps we don't fulfill each other's fantasies
And as we stand upon the ledges of our lives
With our respective similarities
It's either sadness or euphoria."

Summer, Highland Falls, Billy Joel

"Here I stand, victorious, the only man who made you come." (Robbie Williams)

2005-11-14T12:45:00.000Z

Crazy, Gnarls Barkley

"Take a lesson from me, don't get stuck on a dream." (Radiohead)

2005-11-13T19:00:00.000Z

I Want None of This, Radiohead

"Old pirates, yes they rob I." (Bob Marley)

2005-11-02T19:32:00.000Z

Redemption Song, Bob Marley

"The worlds collide, but all we want is a shady lane." (Pavement)

2005-11-01T19:36:00.001Z

"Freeze, don't move
You've been chosen as an extra
In the movie adaptation
Of the sequel to your life."

Shady Lane, Pavement

"The worlds collide, but all we want is a shady lane." (Pavement)

2005-11-01T19:36:00.000Z

"Freeze, don't move
You've been chosen as an extra
In the movie adaptation
Of the sequel to your life."

Shady Lane, Pavement

"And you're so much like me, I'm sorry." (Ben Folds)

2005-10-29T15:16:00.000+01:00

Still Fighting It, Ben Folds

I Can't Help You Anymore (Aimee Mann)

2005-10-28T11:23:00.000+01:00

"I'll get a pen and make a list
And give you my analysis
But I can't write this story
With a happy ending "

I Can't Help You Anymore, Aimee Mann

"You've been digging in the rubble, getting bitches in trouble." (The Magnetic Fields)

2005-10-21T19:44:00.000+01:00

Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long, The Magnetic Fields

"Still I don't know what I can save you from." (Kings of Convenience)

2005-10-13T15:31:00.000+01:00

I Don't Know What I Can Save You From, Kings of Convenience