Paul Schiernecker

Photo Credit: Tony Winter Photography

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  • Music Jar – week 16

    Like Groundhog Day, but every week, I take an artist’s name from a pickle jar and listen to their back catalogue. It’s better than facing the inevitability of the news.
    This week I had the exquisite pleasure of listening to British singer-songwriter, David Gray.

    What I Knew Before: I knew Babylon and therefore I knew White Ladder. I also knew “O” but this turned out to be by Damien Rice.
    What I Know Now: David Gray is from Sale, Cheshire. He has a lot of studio albums as well as a number of live performances available on his Spotify. I am fairly sure that if I ever got the opportunity to see him live then I would cry. I have no doubts that he will be an artist I continue to listen to and maybe I should have listened to certain people and got here sooner.
    Favourite song(s): This is difficult because there is so much material. The obvious ones are This Year’s Love, Babylon and Sail Away. I liked Shine and Birds Without Wings from A Century Ends and Faster, Sooner, Now from Sell, Sell, Sell. His cover of Buckets of Rain was lovely. Some of the tracks on Gold in a Brass Age reminds me of Bon Iver. I’m working on a theory that it was his reaction to 22, A Million.
    Favourite album: I’m going to do the obvious thing and not say White Ladder, and that’s because the way he sounds on A Thousand Miles Behind is raw and sublime.

    I’ve started a Spotify playlist where you can listen to my favourite songs across this project: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3vjalT7B0EFZOv0k3610CX?si=pI1ivFnORwGXKYW8jbjqjA

  • Music Jar – week 15

    At the start of 2020, not realising what a hotbed of disease it was going to be, I started a fun project inspired by The Larson House. I took the names of 52 musicians or bands that I didn’t know enough about, and I put their names in a pickle jar. Each week, I take a name out and listen to them as much as possible for that week. This week was the go of Canadian soothsayer and prophet, Leonard Cohen.

    What I Knew Before: My knowledge of Leonard Cohen was very much missing. I knew he had a song about the Chelsea Hotel, but only because it had come up when I was obsessed with the Chelsea. I also knew that I would probably really dig him. He very much felt like a musician’s musician.
    What I Know Now: It’s probably for the best that I’ve only hit upon Leonard Cohen now that I have grown slightly into my tastes and don’t cling to every word they’ve written like a lost fanboy of anything I can possibly find. If I had found Cohen ten years ago then I would have been an insufferable fan. The fact remains that listening to him this week has not had the impact that it once would have done but I am grateful for the opportunity. I struggle to think of anyone else who has written about the human condition in the way that Cohen was able to capture. The way he talks about religion or death or sex (my Starter For Ten in a lot of conversations) is so beautifully eloquent that it makes me sad to know he was taken in The Great Cultural Wipeout of 2016.
    Favourite song(s): Hallelujah (even if I prefer the Jeff Buckley version and will not apologise), So Long Marianne, Happens To The Heart and You Want It Darker.
    Favourite album(s): Well, it’s all of an uncompromising standard but there’s something Waits-esque about the latter day Cohen that I cling to. Give me You Want It Darker and Thanks For The Dance any day.

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  • Music Jar – week 14

    At the start of the year, I put the names of 52 artists into a jar. Each week, I take one out and focus on that musician, singer or band. This week I had the absolute pleasure of listening to Memphis’s own, soul sen-goddamn-sation, Aretha Franklin!

    What I Knew Before: It’s pretty hard not to at least be familiar with Aretha. The woman was (I’ve found out this week that she’s dead) a powerhouse performer with a legacy of songs that are a force to be reckoned with. I knew her best for her performance of Think in Blues Brothers and unfortunately from the version of Respect in Blues Brothers 2000.
    What I Know Now: There are a lot more Aretha songs that I knew and didn’t necessarily associate with her. Her version of Son of a Preacher Man is something else.
    I also watched Amazing Grace, the 2018 documentary show of her 1972 show at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

    Favourite song(s): All the big hitters I suppose; I Say A Little Prayer, Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Think, Preacher Man, Chain of Fools, You Send Me.
    Favourite album(s): Everything from The Electrifying Aretha Franklin through to Runnin’ Out of Fools is damn near perfect.

    This is unprecedented in the fourteen weeks I’ve been posting my music jar listens, but please, watch this. Everything about it is incredible. What a woman.

     

  • Music Jar – week 13

    Each week, inspired by The Larson House, I put 52 artists in a jar. Each week, I take one name out and dig down into their discography. This week was the turn of North Shields cutie-patootie, Sam Fender.

    What I Knew Before: I saw Sam Fender last summer at a BST gig in Hyde Park. He opened for Neil Young and Bob Dylan. I was impressed with what I heard but didn’t take the time to listen afterwards. It was for this reason that he made the cut for the Music Jar.
    What I Know Now: Sam Fender is also an actor, having appeared in the first episode of the British drama series Vera as well as in season one, episode six of Wolfblood in 2012. This is pretty impressive considering he is still so young. Sam Fender’s debut album, Hypersonic Missiles, released in September 2019, reached number one in the UK.
    I really enjoyed having the time to listen to Sam Fender. It helped to distract from everything else going on in the world. On a couple of occasions I’ve got out the house for a run and it has been a welcome accompaniment. I can imagine this becoming a regular listen for me.
    Favourite song(s): Hypersonic Missiles, Call Me Lover, White Privilege.
    Favourite album: Hypersonic Missiles (his only album to date).

  • Music Jar – week 12

    It’s been a strange week and I’ve not really taken the opportunity to really delve into the music on offer from this week’s artist. As my wonderful friend Elisa put it, Jessie Ware probably isn’t my bag anyway.

    What I Knew Before: Jessie is short for Jessica.
    What I Know Now: Jessie Ware has three albums.
    Favourite song(s): Spotify recommends Say You Love Me, Spotlight, Selfish Love and Alone. I’ll go with those.
    Favourite album: Glasshouse.

  • Music Jar – week 11

    I cannot pretend this is an original idea, but it is a very good one. I put 52 musical artists in a jar and each week I focus on one. This week was the turn of LA art-rock four-piece, Warpaint.

    What I Knew Before: Their debut album, The Fool, is absolutely blinding.
    What I Know Now: The band formed on Valentine’s Day 2004, which is the day that Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind takes place. They also do a fantastic cover of Ashes To Ashes.
    Favourite song(s): Undertow (obviously), Love Is To Die, So Good and Whiteout.
    Favourite album: The Fool remains blinding, but the self titled second album is even better. Boy howdy!

  • Music Jar – week 10

    Every week I take an artist’s name out of a pickle jar and learn as much as I can about them. This week was the turn of Chicago-based alternative rockers, Wilco.

    What I Knew Before: At my friend’s 30th birthday, I was in charge of the playlist. He requested Wilco. I played a lot of Wilko Johnson before he broached the subject with me.
    What I Know Now: Wilco have a commendable amount of music and a “golden era” in the eyes of their fans. They’ve been active for nearly thirty years and have had twelve members in that time. They received a lot of press following their fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, being rejected by their record label who didn’t feel it was commercially viable. They had to buy the masters of their own album back and make it available through their own website before finding another label, who were just under Warner anywhere, so the whole thing felt pretty fucked up.
    Favourite song(s): Jesus, Etc., Love Is Everywhere (Beware), Wilco (The Song), Chain of Broken Hearts.
    Favourite album: Mermaid Avenue Vol. II might take it. It sounds absolutely mental.

  • Music Jar – week 9

    Names go into jar. Hand goes into jar. One winner appears (each week).
    This week was the turn of the real (Canadian) People’s Princess, Alanis Morissette.

    What I Knew Before: I knew Jagged Little Pill very well. I could shout a lot of the lyrics at you when drunk. I also knew that people like to pick Ironic apart like they know better
    What I Know Now: There is a lot more to Alanis than the album that I knew and loved. I’d never dipped in any further and it just so happens that her new single, Smiling came out at the start of the week. It’s her live performances that really take the biscuit though – Live At Montreux 2012 and Unplugged are another level entirely.
    Favourite song(s): Front Row, All I Really Want, Hand In My Pocket, You Learn, 21 Things I Want in a Lover,
    Favourite album: JLP, every time.

    Oh, I’ve also learnt to spell Morissette.

  • Music Jar – week 8

    Inspired by The Larson House, I put 52 bands/artists in a pickle jar. Each week I take a name out and focus on listening to them.
    This week was the turn of empirical sad girl, Lana Del Rey.

    What I Knew Before: Lana Del Rey is a mystical and beautiful beast who has a significant number of albums I hadn’t heard. I associated her music with a girl I was seeing for a while. There are memories around her first album, but they aren’t necessarily negative.
    What I Know Now: I’m in the same mind but aware I have been missing out on everything Lana has done since I was into Born To Die.
    Favourite song(s): Video Games will always have a special place in my heart but I also really like Venice Bitch, Summertime Sadness, Shades Of Cool and Fuck it I love you.
    Favourite album: Born To Die but with a special commendation to Norman Fucking Rockwell.

  • Music Jar – Week 7

    After reading about a project by The Larson House, I put the names of 52 bands/artists in a pickle jar. Each week I listen to one in the hope of finding new favourites and eventually, the leap home.
    This week was the turn of the thinking woman’s crumpet, Guy Garvey, and his sticky wicket band, Elbow.

    What I Knew Before: I have seen Elbow. I’ve been in their presence. At a Muse show in 2002 (approx), they were the support group. In a review I wrote for my student paper, I described the lead singer as “Samwise Gamgee with a capo”. That certainly hasn’t changed. I also think they played at Glastonbury for one of the years I was there. I don’t know if I saw them, which says a lot.
    I knew all the big songs. The ones that get played at festivals stuck in a perpetual sunset. The big choruses that everyone sings and that bit that goes BAAUUU BAAAU BUM BUM BAAA BAAAU BUM.
    I also remembered that they did an M&S version of Golden Slumbers that people got really mad about but which I quite enjoyed.
    What I Know Now: In the words of Talking Heads, I suppose it’s the same as it ever was. I enjoyed the earlier stuff more, almost found it to be diminishing returns as far as albums go. Saying that, Giants Of All Sizes (2019) sees something wonderful back in the fray.
    Favourite song(s): Anyone who says their favourite Elbow song isn’t Grounds For Divorce needs their head examined.
    Favourite album: I hate to say, I was into this band before they were cool but Asleep In The Back is probably the most interesting album they’ve put out. My opinion isn’t going to diminish the astounding career that they’ve had, it’s just not 100% my cup of grease.

Paul Schiernecker

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