Tír Na HiFi

Oldie but goodie from a pre-Roxy Phil Manzanera and Quiet Sun

one of the many records on the TT this afternoon

Dunno where I should put this, but here's what I'm listening to one way or the other!

It probably counts as rock... Conor O'Brien's third album and his most intimate and accomplished to date. Normally when I see an album is "recorded at his home" I fear for both quality control on the songs and the recording but in this case my fears were unfounded. It's beautifully recorded if a little sparse and the songwriting has moved away from the clever couplets that were just a bit twee on his debut (Becoming a jackal). It's a very honest and emotional collection of songs dealing with relationships and bigotry. It is, to my knowledge, the first album where Conor openly writes as a gay man. It's a short album at about 36 minutes but I found myself playing hitting the repeat button anyway... Highly recommended.

Just found a review in the NY Times.... http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/arts/ ... .html?_r=1

Just listening to it now, really like it, and agee it is step up in maturity in terms of writing and a great sound :)

A recent purchase.  Sufjan Stevens' latest album, Carrie and Lowell, is an exceptional achievement.  Heartfelt, eloquent, literate and, above all, deeply heartbreaking.  Ten listens in, I'm only beginning to skim the surface but I really get the feeling that this is a special album, a career highlight for Stevens.  At this point, two outstanding songs come to mind.  Death with Dignity sounds to me like the best song that Elliot Smith sadly never got a chance to write, a heartfelt farewell to a loved one.  John My Beloved is the best thing Stevens has ever written and a song that I can't get out of my head right now, a heartbreaking meditation on loss and the transitory nature of our existence.  But really, this should be taken as a self-contained suite of songs to be savoured in a single, if deeply troubling, listen.  An astonishing piece of work.

A live two CD offering taken from the second last night on the 2013 tour, no overdubs, 30 tracks.
Hit after-hit after-hit after-hit... it's brilliant.

Loving this at the moment...