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The Unthanks “Shipbuilding”

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From The Unthanks’ fifth album The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons. “Shipbuilding” was written by Elvis Costello, and also covered by Robert Wyatt, June Tabor, and Costello himself on 1983’s Punch the Clock. Becky and Rachel Unthanks’ lovely chamber folk vocals are a perfect fit for Costello’s anti-war lyric. “Is it worth it?” the song begins. Listen.

Kathy Burke meets Joe Strummer in Little Crackers’ Better Than Christmas

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By Johnny Foreigner

I knew actress Kathy Burke mainly for her brilliant performance in the 1997 film Nil By Mouth, when she played a battered woman terrorized by her brutish husband (played with equal brilliance by actor Ray Winstone.) As comedienne, Bates also played “Magda” on  AbFab, and delivered a hilarious line in Sid and Nancy – “John got beaten up by fascists.” (wonderful!)

When I came across this great short biopic from 2010 about a young London schoolgirl (Ami Metcalf portraying a teenaged Kathy Burke) meeting her rock n’ roll hero Joe Strummer – it left me wanting to see the rest of the series. IMDB describes Little Crackers as “a series of short comedy-dramas with a Christmas theme, written by British artists recalling moments from their childhoods.”

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Jake Bugg “On My One”

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By Johnny Foreigner

Jake Bugg is just the kind of hobbledehoy I’d like to enjoy a pint of Bitter with, sitting by the fire in a toasty pub with my pals, listening to … well, to someone who sings and plays like Jake Bugg.
Musically, I love this boy from Nottingham’s merrymaking (“Lighting Bolt”) and his Blues (“Broken.”) At just 22 years old – his best work is surely yet to come. “On My One” is his latest release, and it is a fine piece of country blues. The future of British folk music is in good hands with Jake Bugg. “Rise and rise again until lambs become lions!”