I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Tag: music

I love music. Making music, listening, talking about it and anything else too.

WOMAD 2010

Posted by on in FestivalsLeave a comment

I spent last weekend at the WOMAD festival in Charlton Park, and what an amazing weekend it was. I’ve been going to WOMAD for several years now, but this year’s festival was one of the best so far.

The music was great, I saw some amazing performances from some great artists, and of course, as with all festivals there was a load of stuff I missed too.

If I had to say what was the most enjoyable experiences of the whole festival though, here’s what I would choose:

  • Nouvelle Vague – I didn’t know them before this year’s WOMAD and I’m off to buy some very soon.
  • Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – They were very funny and very talented, but I think that this is something to enjoy live rather than recorded.
  • Syrianan – I really enjoyed their performance and so I bought their EP CD and was disappointed. I might get their album when it arrives later in the year, but live they were great.
  • Lastly, Rango. Who were the last act I saw and were fantastic!

I thoroughly enjoyed WOMAD this year. The weather was good, I got to meet up and spend time with lots of friends and the music was awesome.

If that wasn’t enough though I actually got to play on the Roots Architecture Stage too! But that’s more in Palm Sounds territory, so I’ll write about that later.

WOMAD memories 3: The Portico Quartet

The first time I saw The Portico Quartet was at WOMAD a few years ago. They were amazing and made a really big impression. Of course, now they’re no longer the Portico Quartet, and they’re just Portico, which is fine. Their music is quite different now, but I still like it. However, for me I…

WOMAD memories 2: Nouvelle Vague

Another great memory from WOMAD days was of Nouvelle Vague. I went to see them in the Big Red Tent and thought they were amazingly good fun. I subsequently bought quite a lot of their tracks. I say their tracks, of course for the most part they are covers, but what excellent covers they are.…

WOMAD memories 1: Mitsoura

As I was thinking about WOMAD I started remembering some of the high points over the years and I thought I’d share them. One such high point was when WOMAD was back in Reading, before it moved to Charlton Park in Wiltshire. I remember seeing Mitsoura for the very first time there. They were amazing.…

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When did I stop listening to music and start consuming it?

Posted by on in ListeningLeave a comment

As many of you who are reading this will know, I am a big fan of mobile music technology. It gives you the ability to do so much on the move and take so much with you on the go too. I still have an iPod classic with my entire music library on it and that’s great to be able to take with me wherever I go.

But there is a downside though. Often I find myself flicking through my music library in the same way as you might flick through TV channels. There’s nothing wrong with that, nothing it all, but it does change the way we listen to music, and in my opinion, it moves along the line from listening to consuming.

Of course, there are now a vast array of services to help us do just that, from iTunes, to Spotify and lots more, and whilst lots of these services are great for discovering new music they do push us along this line from listening to consuming.

This was brought home to me a little while ago when a friend asked me over to play some of my vinyl. I hadn’t just sat and listened to an album for a long time. Sure, I’d had an album on while I was out, or while I was working or generally doing something else, but not just sat and listened to the music. I found the experience liberating.

It made me realise that I do consume music most of the time and I don’t really actively listen a great deal.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to have a soundtrack to my day whether I’m working, driving, walking through town etc. But the experience of just sitting still and absorbing music as an active participant rather than as a passive consumer is one that I rarely take part in.

As a result I started to think about ways of adjusting the balance back from consumption to listening. It made me think of book clubs. where people read and discuss a book at great length. It made me wonder if such a thing existed for music.

I think it would be wonderful to go to a sound club, or a music club where the point was to listen to a piece or an album once a month then get together and discuss it in great detail.

I’ve no idea if such a thing exists, but I hope it does.

A signed copy of Steve Jansen’s ‘Slope’

I already have this album, I got it when it first came out, but when I heard that Steve Jansen was selling off the last remaining stock and signing them I thought I ought to buy it again. It’s always lovely to have a signed copy of things and this album especially so. I hope…

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