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Richard In a tweet after his Hammersmith Apollo gigs last week I described Nils Frahm live as equal parts piano virtuoso, club DJ and mad scientist … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #9 Nils Frahm
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Richard I don’t know, you wait ages for an album influenced by 80s video games and analogue synth sounds and then two come along at once, … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #10 – Muse, Laura Marling & Little Simz
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Richard Is it me, or has the general quality of videos improved this year? This effort from Father John Misty certainly has a lot of effort … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #11 – Father John Misty, Hen Ogledd & Franz Ferdinand
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Amongst my 2018 choices this could be seen as something of an outlier, given my current level of boredom with guitar bands, but this track from … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #12 – Idles, Khruangbin, John Misty & George Fitzgerald
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InterpolRichard Normally, when a band leaves a decade between their debut album and the follow up, you would accuse them of Stone Roses levels of indolence … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #13 – The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Interpol, Teleman (again) & A$AP Rocky
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Richard Following Andy’s selection of Courtney Barnett’s ‘Nameless, Faceless’ back at # 17 here’s my own favorite track from her second album and the most recent … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #14: Courtney Barnett, Willaris K, Gaz Coombes & Teleman
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Ólafur Arnalds is no stranger to my end of year lists. Neither is Nils Frahm, as nominated by Andy a couple of days ago. However, for … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #15 – Ólafur Arnalds, Shame, Slaves & The Presets
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So farewell then Pete Shelley. Just this Monday in my graphic design class we were admiring the work of Linder, who designed the Orgasm Addict image … Continue reading Farewell Pete Shelley
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Richard There is an aquaduct channel in Los Angeles that seems to be the go to place for video and film makers, perhaps most famously in … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #16: Moby, Running Touch, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Hercules & Love Affair
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Richard Today’s track from me is ‘Count It Up’ by Field Music. This definitely has a Talking Heads vibe, both in the vocal delivery and the … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #17: Field Music, Courtney Barnett, Montaigne & Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
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Richard In hindsight, my first three Festive Twenty choices all have really good animation/collage videos and this is probably the best of the three. It makes … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #18: Superorganism, Skeggs, Nils Frahm & Public Service Broadcasting
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Richard: For my second ‘Festive Twenty’ entry, let’s head North from Brighton’s Go! Team to a married couple from Lancaster – The Lovely Eggs. I am … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #19: The Lovely Eggs, Shame, Billie Eilish &Mason
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Richard: Hard to believe that this is the seventh annual online version of our lists of the top tracks of the year, although we go much … Continue reading Top tracks of 2018 #20 – The Go! Team, Boy Azooga, Adwaith & The Coral
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Richard: I dropped a fairly clear hint to Andy in my day 8 posting that I thought he was going to post this, but he hasn’t … Continue reading ..and finally. Covered In Glory Day 10: Thomas Dolby, The Unthanks, Little Roy, Deep Purple & Zoot
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Richard: Allowing for all the various contributions, we are about 50 cover versions into our marathon with just one day to go and I have to … Continue reading Covered in Glory Day 9: Madness, Husker Du, The Delgados, UFO & Rolf Harris
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So, only three choices left. I’ve still quite a few to choose from on my long list, even allowing for pre-emptions from others. There is one … Continue reading Covered In Glory Day 8: The The, Maria McKee, Manic Street Preachers, 801 & Cat Power
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Richard: Moving from yesterday’s 80s East German TV clip to one from Spanish TV in 2010, from the final Faithless album comes this inspired cover of … Continue reading Covered In Glory Day 7: Faithless, Associates, Blancmange, Youth Group & The Bangles
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Richard There are many fine versions of Billy Bragg songs around, Kirsty MacColl’s ‘New England’ and Dubstar’s ‘St Swithin’s Day’ to name but two. However I … Continue reading Covered In Glory Day 6: The Redskins, The Clash, The Wedding Present & Nirvana
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Richard: I came across this little gem on a wet Sunday afternoon at the French Institute in January watching an animated film called ‘Ma Vie En … Continue reading Covered In Glory Day 5: Sophie Hunger, Africa Bambaataa, George Michael, Trespassers William & Weird Al
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This theme is proving to be quite the debating point over on Facebook where I post the links daily, so at the risk of sounding like … Continue reading Covered in Glory Day 4.5 – Listener requests!
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Richard: ‘On Broadway’ is perhaps most famous for The Drifters version, but I have always adored this version which featured on Gary Numan’s Living Ornaments LP and … Continue reading Covered In Glory Day 4: Gary Numan, Chaka Khan, Manfred Mann, Ballboy & The Sex Pistols
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Two years ago I posted Lizzy’s ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’ during our celebration of songs related to summer, to some debate. It was variously claimed that … Continue reading Covered In Glory Day 3: Thin Lizzy, Sarah Blasko, XTC & Scissor Sisters
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Richard: Arguably Satisfaction by the Stones is the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s David of rock music. Thing is, I don’t actually like it. I’ve heard it … Continue reading Covered In Glory Day 2: Devo, The Fall, Joe Cocker & Saint Etienne
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Richard: Some of my upcoming choices in our celebration of the cover version will be obscure, other may be highly contentious, but I suspect my opening … Continue reading Covered In Glory Day 1: Johnny Cash, The Leather Nun, G n’R, Sinead O’Connor, Muse & Housemartins
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The summer challenge the Uncertain Smile is setting for its musical hive mind of bloggers is (drum roll)…. Covered In Glory: Cover versions that are … Continue reading Coming soon: Covered in Glory
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Here’s something I started in a recent cartoon course, which I have only now got around to finishing off. Clearly I needed to get it done and posted before the next series of Doctor Who starts in October… Continue reading Doctor Who and The Millennials
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The first in a strictly non-sequential series…. Continue reading A clear view of the stage….
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If one theme emerges as I look back through the choices we have all made over the last twenty days then, aside from all the wonderful … Continue reading Top Tracks of 2017 #1 – Slowdive, Algiers, Arcade Fire & Parov Stelar
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The blog has been running for over five years and this is our sixth annual ‘festive twenty’ When the blog was named The Uncertain Smile, there … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #2 – The The, The Belligerents, The Charlatans, James Dean Bradfield
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Richard: I loved ‘Everything Now’ after about 30 seconds and have continued to love it all year. Perhaps the album didn’t quite live up to expectations … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #3 – Arcade Fire, Winston Surfshirt, Fleet Foxes & more Beck
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A couple of days ago I was listening to an Ultravox track and lamenting that bands don’t seem to do ‘proper’ videos anymore. Promos tend to … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #4 – The Horrors, Slowdive, Elbow & Beck
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Richard: So Christmas is less than a week away and we are now into our all important top five choices… Prophets of Rage remind me of … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #5 – Prophets Of Rage, Frank Carter, MGMT & Eli ‘Paper Boy’ Reed
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A second appearance for Gary in the rundown so far. Roy opted for the lead single ‘My Name Is Ruin’, but I am going to go … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #6 – Gary Numan, Conor Oberst, Methyl Ethyl & Ride
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We have had a couple of overlaps between our lists so far, but I suspect that, based on conversations this year, this may well set up … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #7 – Public Service Broadcasting x2, Liam Gallagher & LCD Soundsystem
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Ian’s #9 from Robert Plant was mighty fine for a 69 year old, but here is – I suspect – the oldest artist to feature on … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #8 – Roger Waters, Loyle Carner, The Slow Readers Club & BNQT
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One of the albums of the year for me (and a lot of music journos, judging by the end of year lists) was Home Counties by … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #9 – Saint Etienne, The Horrors, Teleman & Robert Plant
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So we are into the top ten. Two things can tend to happen as we approach the summit, based on previous years. Our choices tend to … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #10 – Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark, Gary Numan, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever & The Breeders
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After my last choice led to accusations of my being ‘wilfully eclectic’, I am heading back onto safer territory with Future Islands, a band most right-thinking … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #11 – Future Islands, St Vincent, Cherry Glazerr & Alejandro Escovedo
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I suspect today’s choice could prove to be divisive. The moment I heard this track I loved it, but I suspect it may not be everyone’s … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #12 – Tom Adams, the National, Everything Everything & Mac De Marco
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My number 13 choice is a rare (for me) bit of guitar-based indie rock. This is ‘Babes Never Die’ from Scottish duo Honeyblood. Shame that Buffy … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #13 – Honeyblood, Daughter, Tash Sultana & Mogwai (again)
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If this track wasn’t on the soundtrack of the revived Twin Peaks then they missed a trick (I don’t know, as I don’t have Sky Atlantic). … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #14 – Cigarettes After Sex, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alt-J & Kasabian
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As Ian highlighted in his first post, this list is primarily about single tracks as opposed to albums, but sometimes I will post a track mainly … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #15 – Soulwax, Seaford Mods, Ist Ist & Mogwai
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Followers of this blog may recall that I am a sucker for a gospel choir, so this immediately stood out on the radio and I resolved … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #16 – Loyle Carner, Orbital, Gang Of Youths & Jesus & Mary Chain
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My second instrumental so far, Hannah Peel’s Archid Orange Dwarf is taken from her album ‘Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia’. As I hinted on Roy’s #18 … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #17 – Hannah Peel, Pumarosa, Todd Rundgren & Ride
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From the LCD Soundsystem ‘comeback’ American Dream album this is the lead track Tonite. I use the inverted commas, as for some artists the gap between … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #18 – LCD Soundsystem, Bishop Briggs, Morrissey & Gulp
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My next artist, Kieran Hebden – aka Four Tet – was born just across the river from me in Putney. I heard this a few times … Continue reading Top tracks of 2017 #19 – Four Tet, Fatima Yamaha, Grandaddy & Confidence Man
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So we’re back, against the odds we have nearly made it through 2017. So every day for the next twenty we will pick a favourite track, … Continue reading Top Tracks of 2017 #20 – Gorillaz, Cabbage, Nadine Shah & K. Flay
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In making my choices I’ve tried to avoid songs that have already appeared on this blog at some point in the past. So that has ruled … Continue reading Protest Songs Day 10 – Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Bob Marley, Archie Roach, King Crimson, The Who & XTC
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Has there ever been a Protest Song more misunderstood than ‘Spasticus Autisticus’ by Ian Dury? Released in 1981 to mark the International Year of the Disabled, … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Nine: Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Asian Dub Foundation, Skyhooks, The Farm & Cyndi Lauper
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As we have established, not all protest songs are about global realpolitik, some operate at a very basic human level and the message of Aretha Franklin’s … Continue reading Protest Songs Day Eight: Aretha Franklin, Gossip, Midnight Oil, The Herd & The Wonder Stuff
