Cosmic

, originally uploaded by Basss clefff.

apologies for the radio silence this week

I have been in space

What do you sleep?

It's not every show that you get to play in a giant concrete world war II ex-nazi bunker that contains a nightclub, rehearsal and recording studios, artist studios and more...



Many thanks to Raf and Thomas from mfoc for taking such good care of me, it was a great party, really nice crowd. I got to play on the same bill as the one and only John Callagher.
Although I wished I'd planned a slightly more 4/4 set!



I got taken on a great walk around Hamburg the next day, including this fantastic tunnel under the Elba, across the miles and miles of docks, learnt about the Hafenstrasse and Klaus Stortebeker, walked through a giant building site the size of Hackney, and of course this:



Anyway, here's a couple of songs that were soundtracking my night flight home...

James Carr 'the dark end of the street'

Buy it- seriously - it is an amazing body of work. I'm no expert on soul, let alone the ins and outs of the deep southern stuff. But this album really hits me.

Irma Thomas 'while the city sleeps'

'Straight from the soul'
24 tracks for £7...so good

"tell me a story...about how I wasn't so tired"

The Fiery Furnaces "slavin' away (bass clef remix)"

Guess I'd never get clearance for the vocals on this...so now it's a remix. Just for me really, as I deeply love this song.
And next week I am lucky enough to be appearing here:

come see me - I don't bite.

Bristol channel

Konono No 1 @ Fiddlers 2007, originally uploaded by oliverlindberg.

"that's a k'nono"
(copyright Sam Shackleton 2007!)
oh what an honour and a privilege to play on the same bill as these wonderful people - so inspiring.
((Of course my polska friend managed to cross the language barrier and make friends with them all. Then again he does communicate by mime most of the time anyway))
All around a great night, from Appleblim dropping Arthur Russell to bad pun competetions with Shackleton in the car home.
Followed by a visit to Pinch's house - he's got an absolute stormer of an album waiting to drop by the sounds of it...

does it remind you of when?

divaca, originally uploaded by Basss clefff.

Many apologies to all at Glade who turned up for my set - I had badly hurt my back, and couldn't even get out of the house let alone wade through torrential mud. I was gutted as I was really looking forward to it...
Managed to make it to Newcastle the weekend after though - a great show, with Coki and Ras Mundo, in an archway under a bridge - fun times. Indeed, a shout to all you Toon bass warriors...

And this friday I am deeply honoured to be supporting the mighty Konono no.1 on one of their very rare trips to the UK, and closing out the show in fine style none other than Appleblim. It's going to be a good one!

So yes, I've been spending more and more time on trains (which I love) so here is another train tune:
"Faster Hammers....take a late train to my lost love....ribbon-spinning-and-computer-colours....spun steel spark on three rail thin lines....chatter down the tracks....does it remind you of when?"

The Fiery Furnaces 'The Garfield El'

buy me