Sunday Soundtrack - Wake me up when the bluebells are ringing.

Wake me up when the bluebells are ringing. from raloup on 8tracks.

This week's mix is slower than the last. A more pensive, expectant feel for spring sunshine, featuring Patrick Wolf, Chet Baker, and 16 Horsepower, among others. 

Under this weather such shadows are blossoming; Beili Liu.

Aerophyte #1  

Aerophyte #4

Aerophyte #1 detail

Aerophyte #4 detail 

These Wind Drawings by Chinese-born Texas-based Beili Liu, created with sumi ink on birch panels, have me enraptured. 

I believe an aerophyte is actually a plant which derives life force from the wind & rain. Alongside these images, for some reason I pictured them as some sort of mythological wind spirit.

These beautiful works also brought to mind a song by Patrick Wolf, titled This Weather - the title is taken from the lyrics. 

I feel the song below is also fitting - in terms of sentiment, but even somehow through his movement. His slightly torturous twists seem to echo Liu's  slowly spreading dark ink. 

Sturm und Drang.

Approaching thunderstorm (taken a couple of years ago in the garden).

This British Library thunderstorm soundscape is stunning.

I would urge anyone to take ten minutes out of their day to experience it...

And explore the sounds archive further.

Sturm und Drang. Storm and Stress.

April Showers.

Here.

(Karol Hiller).

Rain, rain, go away.

Sunday Soundtrack - Snow.

The world outside my window this morning is very white and wreathed in mist.

The snow started yesterday afternoon, and has hardly stopped since. I crunched my way round the corner to a friend's house, and walked back at about 10pm, the world completely silent under the snow.

Chet Baker - Almost Blue

Music seems slightly out of place on this muffled and misty Sunday, but Chet Baker fits the bill - and the video is perfect.

Feeling the Frost; Peter Doig.

White Creep, 1995-6

Walking back from the bus stop this evening I was bitten by the cold. My feet crunched on the frosty pavement and my ears started to ache. Since I was away in the sunshine for a fortnight, I missed the gradual "white creep" of winter coming on, and tonight it crawled into the folds of my coat and I felt its fangs.

The sublime scale of Peter Doig's painting perfectly presents the shock of the cold; it's snowing elsewhere this evening and feels like it could reach here very soon.

In White Creep, a vast snow-capped mountain juts upward in a way that dwarfs the sky. The snow is white and fresh, yet there is depth to it, implying that this mountain is permanently covered in snow. The snow is an abstract tapestry of white with craggy black rocks peeking through.

Return from Cape Town; Radio Rats.

Back from a fortnight of fieldwork in South Africa - the dramatic drop in temperature when I got off the plane this morning, was, as expected, pretty painful.

After about 21 hours of constant traveling, a proper post is beyond me; still, I thought I would share a South African band I stumbled across in an awesome record shop on Long Street.

Soaked to the Skin.

Walking home this afternoon I was caught in a freezing downpour.

A change of clothes and a cup of tea later, sat at my desk looking out of the window, these photos I took a few years ago came to mind.

These macro shots were taken on a similarly gloomy November afternoon, back at home in Italy. Being stuck inside because of the bad weather, I was lying on my bedroom carpet playing with the settings on my camera, and ended up with this pair of photos. I like the layers to them; the stark skeleton of the wintery trees behind the rain-spattered glass.

What an "English" post this is - the British being so famed for their endless ability to discuss the weather.

Looking out at the dank, dark afternoon, it's hard to imagine that tomorrow night I'll be headed for Cape Town, where it's currently summer, for a fortnight of fieldwork.

Wishing everyone a good couple of weeks, and hoping that the weather doesn't worsen too quickly. I'm going to try and pack, to the peaceful notes of Bert Jansch.

Bert Jansch - Rosemary Lane - Tell Me What is True Love