Every region is a good music region - Southern Africa

From now on I will go through every region of the world and present a suitable playlist for that region. The inclusion criteria is that the song or band name has to have a connection to the region, an album has been recorded there or simply that the act is from that region.

The regions are the same as the UN definitions.

I will begin with Southern Africa, the home of Miriam Makeba. She is included with a couple of other acts from the region and one song is about South African city Johannesburg. But there are a couple of inclusions which deserves some more explanation.

Paul Simon recorded much of his album "Graceland" there and the hit "You can call me Al" is included.

Zimbabwean Zeke Maniyika was part of my favorite band, the Scotts in Orange Juice. Two songs where Zeke provides the vocals are included.

The Brittish band Manfred Mann was named after their keyboardist from South Africa with the same name.

Another Brittish band, Kaiser Chiefs are named after the South African soccer team Kaizer chiefs. Kaiser Chiefs are from Leeds and well known South African international defender Lucas Radebe played for both Kaizer Chiefs and Leeds United. Possibly thats why they named the band after the club.

/ The Drumming Cat

God Jul!

Or Merry Christmas as they say in English! The blog has not been so active during the autumn, but that will change next year as it will be updated almost on a daily basis, that is a new years promise!

I should also mention I have started to dj every third Saturday on the club Musslan in Stockholm, instead of Thursdays. In a couple of days I will present the annual 100 best songs of 2011 from 100 different acts. Until then, you have to settle with my Christmas playlist.

So walk out to winter a sing a holiday hymn!

/ The Drumming Cat

The Drumming Cat is a DJ!

Tomorrow I will go into the dj booth at a bar called Musslan in Stockholm. I have had one gig there earlier this Summer and will continue to dj in the autumn. The upcoming dates are tomorrow, August 18th, September 8th and September 29th. In other words, every third Thursday! The address is Dalagatan 46 in Stockholm.

Expect a mixture of indie and soul in the best Postcard spirit! One Orange Juice song per evening is a promise. Every time I dj it is from 9 in the evening to one at night. Welcome!

/ The Drumming Cat

The great dj Kattis!

Recently I attended the best edition of the club Tropikerna so far and the icing on the cake was their best giest dj ever: Kattis Jansson played some great tunes and therefore I want to recommend her next own gigs this Summer. If you are passing by Stockholm at these dates, do not miss her!

July 2nd at Slakteriet/ The Black Banana Inn.

July 22nd at Trädgården.

She was also kind enough to send me this Spotify playlist.

The track list of one of the best Spotify playlists I have ever seen. The Drumming Cat is of course very pleased to see Orange Juice there:

Bobby Caldwell - Open you eyes
The Style Council - Long hot Summer
Orange Juice - Rip it up
Antena - Joppo + Eno (Pink Alert re-rub)
Lizzy Murder Descloux - Slipped disc
Sharon Jones and the Dap kings - How long do I have to wait for you
Asha Puthli - Right down here
Todd Terje, Prins Thomas - Reinbågan
Eero Johannes - We could be skweeeroes
Spliff - Tag für tag
Lienar Movement - Way out of living
Mikael Wiehe & Co - Hallon, blåbär, lingon
Tullio De Piscopo - Stop Bajon
Quando quango - Love tempo (Remix)
Sydney Youngblood - If only I could
Telex - Tour de France
Paul Davidson - Midnight rider

/ The Drumming Cat

Two concerts that never were and two longed for albums

The blog hasn´t been as active as usual. This is due to lack of time, but I have still had time to listen to music. The music aspect of my life has had two negative aspects in November and two positive ones.

I missed out on two concerts at Debaser in Stockholm because of certain circumstances. These were Beach House and Field music Both have released great albums this year, so of course it was a disappointment...:(

The month was saved by the release of Orange Juice´s box "Coals to Newcastle" containing their entire discography with extra material. I ordered it through Delcious Goldfish Records to make sure I got as soon as it was released. A brilliant box considering most albums are really hard to get hold of, at least in Sweden. And I love the cover of Al Green´s song Love (see video below)...

The other positive aspect was buying the new album from Edwyn Collins called "Losing sleep". A good album, but the best thing is to hear Edwyn has started to recover well.

/ The Drumming Cat

Sweden celebrates Postcard records!

To my liking, probably the best episode ever of Swedish radio show P3pop was aired yesterday. The show celebrated it was thirty years ago since the foundation of legendary Scottish label Postcard records and the release of Orange Juice´s single "Falling and laughing". The indie label who is one of the, if not the most, influential ever was discussed with a panel of Swedish Postcard lovers. Music from the label wa splayed during the show and also today´s music the panel thougt was influenced by the label. And a fresh interview with Edwyn Collins!

Of course its hard to understand Swedish, but for a real music lesson you can of course listen to the songs.
Listen to the episode here for the best music discovery of your life. Click on the microphone at the top of the site.

Some songs that were played:
Orange Juice - Simply, thrilled honey
Orange Juice - Falling and laughing
Orange Juice - Holliday hymn
Orange Juice - Blue boy
Josef K - Radio drill time
Aztec camera - We could send letters.
Some songs from Edwyn Collins new album.
Chic - Everybody dance
Four tops - Sugarpie (Honeybunch)

/ The Drumming Cat

Rip it up and start the blog again

Yes, now Im back! After a couple of hectic months with studying, a journalistic internship, work etc. I now have some time off to write on the blog!:)And this time Im back stronger than ever... I have now also started to write on a blog with political (neutral) theme. Please read it and tell me what you think. thecatgoespolitical.blogspot is the address.

Anyhow, I thought it would be good to start with a good book recommendation, something for you to enjoy in your hammock during Summer. This book is called "Rip it up and start again" by Simon Reynolds which I read during spring. Although I didn´t write on the blog, of course I took some time to engage in my biggest interrest.

The book is about the Post Punk era 1978 and 1984. Reynolds guides us through the history of post punk, how it emerged, the reasons to the development of the genre and how this creative era finally stopped in the mid-80s. Reynolds gives us brilliant details and each chapter is divided after record labels and bands. This is truly a brilliant book due to the fact that, as far as I know, no such comprehensive book has ever been written on this neglected but great and meaningful era in music history. Everything from Joy Division to Orange Juice can be found in this wonderful book.



Enjoy!

/The Drumming Cat

Edwyn Collins is home again

Found this wonderful documentary on Youtube. It is about legendary Edwyn Collins who began his career with 80s band Orange Juice (my favourite)and has since then had a solo career with for example the hugh hit "A girl like you" in the mid 90´s. In 2005 he suffered a stroke and has since then fought to recover with learning how to walk, learning the words to his songs again and also trying to fight his way back to the stage. In 2007 he finally was back on stage and this documentary follows his road back to a "usual" life again. This is part one, but there are four parts in total available on Youtube. Really glad you are back Edwyn!

/The Drumming Cat