#ThreeCheers - reasons to keep your chin up
If lockdown and 2020 in general has taught us anything, then it's being grateful for the small stuff. With an enforced slower pace of life, now's the time to make time for things you may have previously overlooked or taken for granted.
Three things keeping me cheery this week are:
Podcasts - Sam Baker's The Shift.
As the promotional blurb goes - The Shift is a frank, funny, painfully honest look at life as a post-40 woman. Journalist, former Red magazine editor and author Sam's contacts list is enviable, which makes for an impressive guest line-up. Tune in weekly to hear radio royalty Jo Whiley talk fashion, confidence and...gardening. Listen to best selling author Marian Keyes' take on ageing, menopause and Botox.
Sam's relaxed style makes it less interview, more two mates having a chat - one we're all invited to earwig. As a person of a similar age, it's hugely relatable, has me nodding vigorously, and makes the ideal cleaning/walking/running soundtrack. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the accompanying book of the same name.
Subscribe and listen to The Shift here.
Music - the return of Bent
News of the Nottingham electronica duo's comeback had me foraging through my Spotify playlists in search of melodic memories. After a whopping fourteen years, Bent will release a new eight-track album - Up in the Air, in November. As temperatures drop, this seems the perfect time to treat your ears to their unique blend of chilled beats.
Bent's soothing tones were for me 'hangover' music - a Sunday morning antidote to the thumping BPMs of my early noughties Saturday night clubbing expeditions. Along with their equally pleasingly named counterparts, Lemon Jelly, Zero 7 and Lamb, Bent's downtempo lyrical balm formed an important part of my music collection. Their new offering promises more of the calming ambience they do best, which to be fair is EXACTLY what we need right now.
Reacquaint yourself with the best of Bent here
Music/social media - Tim's Twitter Listening Party
A ray of light in the gig-goer's notably emptier diary - Tim's Twitter Listening Party brings the music and its makers into your home for a virtual party like no other! The near-nightly occurrence - brainchild of The Charlatans' front man Tim Burgess - began back in peak-bleak April, and has continued to thrill music fans with its simple but addictive concept.
In a nutshell - you tee up the designated album, grab your device of choice, and follow your favourite artists as they live-tweet the story behind it using the #TimsTwitterListeningParty tag. Get Twittering and chance a like or a retweet from one of your idols, or sit back and absorb the album in the comfort of your own front room.
Tim's not scrimping when it comes to album choices - past parties have had Oasis' Bonehead share the shenanigans behind the bands first two albums. Blur revealed the origins of Parklife's plate smash. Masterpieces from New Order, Pulp, Doves, Hot Chip, Michael Kiwanuka and countless others have all had a social spin. October looks set for greatness with a Saturday afternoon run through of Soul II Soul's Club Classics Volume One, and Roisin Murphy's new disco-tastic powerhouse, Roisin Machine.
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