This week I have had the pleasure of listening to Joan As Police Woman. My thanks to Rory for the recommendation.

I didn’t know anything about Joan Wasser until this came my way. It’s been a joy to listen to her cool indie songs including the two albums of cover songs. Joan As Police Woman, Wasser’s performing name, came following her work with The Dambuilders, Black Beetle and Antony And The Johnsons, with a name referencing the Angie Dickinson series, Police Woman.

There’s a real mix of stuff in there, with appearances from other indie favourites including Anohni themselves. The songs have a European tinge and all sound like they would fit in your favourite 21st century indie romcom with a flourish. Wasser seems effortlessly cool in her approach and I found myself straining to listen to the various elements at play in her music.

A playlist of my favourite songs from this project is available on Spotify.

This week, it’s time for a legend. There have been other legends but only one was being painted by Lucy in Fear and Loathing. Only one changed the trajectory of a young Richard E Grant’s life. Only one was mentioned and not seen in Liquorice Pizza. That’s right. It’s Barbra Streisand.

Now, it’s impossible to make it to 35 years of age without having heard some Streisand, and I’m no exception but it’s a different thing altogether to indulge myself in Guilty, cry at the soundtrack to A Star Is Born or to be left aghast by that note at the end of Funny Girl.

Streisand is a legend of the highest order and there’s not a lot more I can say about it. I’d like to thank Elisa Adams for the recommendation and then for insisting on over delivering with all the songs I should be listening to and how good Omar Sharif looks in Funny Girl.
I have nothing but respect for Streisand. That voice is amongst the most incredible to grace the earth.

A list of my complied Music Jar recommendations is available on Spotify.

This week, I have even listening to Ella Fitzgerald. It doesn’t take a lot for you to realise what a big deal this has to be. There are so many songs, so many albums and only so much time.

So how best to approach one of the biggest and most influential singers of the last century. I listened to as much as I could (without listening to Christmas songs) and these are the lessons I have taken from the experience.

Ella Fitzgerald is very much a force for good. She worked with everyone, adapting her style and all the while maintaining her position as the queen of jazz.

You know her. You love her. There’s not a lot I’m going to be able to teach you about her work. Go and listen to it and marvel at what she did.

Well, this is a big one. You know her. You love her. This week I have been listening to the mighty Carole King. Does someone of that calibre even need an introduction?

Carole King is one of the most adored, prolific and cited American singer-songwriters of the last sixty years. She’s sold an estimated 75 million records worldwide, won four Grammy Awards, been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is a Kennedy Center Honoree. As far as I know, she’s also the only Music Jar entrant to have a Broadway musical about her life. There. Did you even need that?

My introduction to King’s music is a strange one because I didn’t realise it was her. On The Beatles debut, Please Please Me, there’s a song called Chains which I took as a Lennon/McCartney original, not recognising how many rock standards they were using at the time as they toured the seedy underbelly of Hamberg. I even learnt to play it and didn’t clock who the song was accredited to.

There are other markers along the way. It’s impossible to have got anywhere without knowing at least all of Tapestry, King’s second, and maybe most lauded album. Every song that came in was a reality check that I do know her and her music. I’d just never put a name to those beautiful lyrics. In the summer, I met with a friend to talk creative endeavours and he waxed lyrical about Carole King, so I messaged him this week to ask which of her twenty-two albums is his favourite. Pearls he said, so Pearls I listened to. It’s great. It all is.

I don’t feel there is anything I can say that hasn’t been dealt with in a much better way elsewhere. If you know Carole King, then you know. If you don’t, trust this fool and go and discover what you already know.

This week, I have been listening to Ego Ella May, another brilliant recommendation from my mate Becca. Well done, you’ve smashed this project for me.

Ego (pronounced: eh-go) Ella May is a singer-songwriter from South London. Her music is a mix of jazz, soul and some cool beats that set it apart from her contemporaries.

Her voice is absolutely incredible. It’s so rich and layered on songs like Miss U that it’s a near sensory overload to listen to with headphones. Both of her studio albums, So Far and Honey For Wounds are loaded with a variety of soulful, heartfelt songs that I got lost in completely.

Again, she’s not an artist I would have been aware of so I am very thankful for the introduction and will continue to sit with these songs for a long time.

This week I have been really enjoying listening to Liverpool’s own, Zuzu. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my buddy Sam for the recommendation. You know me very well.

It seems that Zuzu had somehow slipped under my radar despite being exactly the kind of thing I would be into and should be into. That’s what Sam is here for – filling in the gaps in my knowledge.

There’s a lot to be said for an artist who sings in her own accent and from the start of debut album, Queensway Tunnel, it was clear that Zuzu was unabashedly Liverpudlian. There’s a cool level of skuzzy cool to her music that sets her in the same space as Sam Fender and Courtney Barnett. I’m always going to enjoy artists who are still making music that reminds me of my formative years and there are nods to it here.

On songs like Timing, All Good and What You Want, I wonder if this is the biggest thing going and I’m just out of the loop. She’s a fucking star and I am going to keep an eye out for any gigs I can make it to.

This week, I have been listening to Belgian musician, Sylvie Kreusch. You may know her from her previous work with Soldier’s Heart or alongside her boyfriend in Warhaus. I didn’t know either. My thanks to my good friend Sarah for the recommendation.

Other than the 2021 album, Montbray, there’s limited work to be found from the young performer but what I did get, I really enjoyed.

Songs like Walk, Walk and Girls belong in a Richard Ayoade film of cool awkwardness. She has a beautiful, breathy voice that is immediately going to catch my attention.

Go and check her out.

This week I have really enjoyed returning to the work of Marina / Marina & The Diamonds. F

For those of you who are not aware, Marina Labrini Diamandis (incredible name) is a Welsh-born singer songwriter best known for the singles Hollywood, Primadonna and How to Be a Heartbreaker. She’s pretty incredible.

Now, you may say, Paul Schiernecker, I thought this project was aimed at musicians you didn’t know. I’m gonna stop you there. While I had The Family Jewels on loop on my iPod, I hadn’t listened to anything beyond Electra Heart, which certainly left a decent amount of wiggle room.

Marina continues to focus on synth pop bangers, reinforced by the up and coming poplettes doing similar things. She’s smart, sassy and most of all fun, and that’s to be applauded in an age where everything else feels a bit like bullshit.

While my ears prick up anew each time I hear one of the singles I remember from my first job where we had to have Radio One on all day, there’s a general feel and quality to her work right up to Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land which was released last year.

If you haven’t listened to Marina in a while, then go and do it.

This week, I have discovered Malvina Reynolds – all thanks to Benjy. Now you might not have heard of Melvina but she was an incredible folk singer-songwriter whose song Little Boxes you must have heard.

Malvina was born in San Francisco in 1900, and is known for her songwriting as much as her political activism – as any good folk singer should be. There’s an element to early recordings that is so raw and honest that you can’t help but sit up and listen. She’s a woman with a lot to say and it certainly bears repeating.

On songs like I Don’t Mind Falling and It Isn’t Nice, there’s no escape from her message and tone. I’m all for it.

This week I have been listening to an absolute legend, someone it has been impossible for me not to have some awareness of. A musical legend who inspired everyone from Jeff Buckley to Jordan Gray. It’s Nina Simone!

Nina Simone (as if you need me to introduce her) was an American singer-songwriter, activist and pianist. On top of those base level accolades, she had one of the most beautiful and iconic voices this world has ever encountered.

As mentioned, it’s impossible not to know about Nina Simone or to recognise her impact. Her versions of songs like Here Comes The Sun, I Put A Spell On You or Just Like A Woman aren’t just vastly different to the originals but cast the songs into a new line through her spirited piano playing and soaring vocals.

It’s the opposite direction that brought Nina Simone to my attention – in covers of her songs performed by other artists. In particular, I recall Jeff Buckley’s Be My Husband on the Live at Sinè bootlegs that I allegedly owned. There’s no escaping her but I’d never listened to anything beyond Sinnerman.

I’ve really enjoyed listening to Simone. There’s so much talent and passion within her that comes across in every performance and that in itself only comes from a true artist.