Splendid Moments 2009
Atlas Sound – Shelia
Lotus Plaza – A Threaded Needle
Bear In Heaven – You Do You
Flaming Lips – Silver Trembling Hands
Neon Indian – Mind, Drips
Washed Out – Feel It All Around
Junior Boys – Parallel Lines
Animal Collective – My Girls
Delorean – Seasun
Memory Tapes – The Green Knight
Small Black – Despicable Dogs
Best Coast – Sun Was High (So Was I)
Boris – Black Original
Wavves – Vermin
A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Evil, With Evil, Against Evil
Volcano Choir – Still
Lucky Dragons – We Made Our Own Government
Banjo Or Freakout – Breath Out
Beach House – Norway
Mt. Eerie – Between Two Mysteries
Fourtet And Burial – Moth
Dan Deacon – Wet Wings
Kurt Vile – Beach On The Moon

Beach House – Norway
The land of fjords and extravagant heaters is honoured by Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally.

Fleet Foxes – Mykonos
The idyllic Greek island, a famous party destination, is cited for its “gentle coast” in the lyrics of this gorgeous dreamer.

Harlem Shakes – Niagara Falls
The world’s most famous cascades, in Canada, inspire this chirpy number by the American indiesters with their beauty. 

Air France – Gothenburg Belongs To Me
The second Swedish city is seized by natives Air France, who must admire it’s galleries, nice hotels and archipelago.

Beirut – Nantes
It’s just another night in Nantes for Zachary Condon, his meandering harmony interrupted only by a snippet of a conversation from Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris.

Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
Aaah, a classic – dreaming of the beautiful, Himalayan region in northern India.

Port O’Brien – Oslo Campfire
More Norwegian love, but this time specific to the trendy, and notoriously expensive, capital city.

Yellowman – Blueberry Hill
The slope in question is apparently a snog-spot in Taos, New Mexico. A much-covered song, but no-one’s done it better than the reggae legend.

Rainbow Arabia – Holiday in Congo
Hmm – not sure Congo, regularly steeped in violence, is an obvious vacation stop, but this blog will respect the California couple’s views.

Hieroglyphics – Fantasy Island
Not a precise location, admittedly, but the Hieroglyphics deserve inclusion simply for their unrivalled name-checking of global destinations in most songs.

When I was a real young’un, Beanos – a second-hand musical swap shop – was located in a narrow building on Surrey Street Market, thousands upon thousands of records crammed into three storeys of claustrophobic, charming chaos.  There I picked up my first albums – by the Levellers and Carter USM – and came to understand the wondrous feeling that comes with browsing boxes of discs or vinyl… flicking faster and faster with your forefinger, brain rapidly relaying ‘no’s and the occasional ‘whoa hold on a second’, and wallet registering a deep, easily-ignored objection on financial grounds.  Overhead a song plays, then another; people brush past or stand next to you, there one hour, gone the next; and slowly, ever so slowly, you build up a pile of choice musical goods to take home and make mixtapes from.

Beanos later moved a few yards north, to a much bigger building; again three floors, but far wider and more spacious. The staff were friendly, the stock laid-out sensibly and the catalogue impossibly deep and – unlike many second-hand record stores – very current.  There were live performances from local bands.  A small cafe appeared on the top floor.  A sister store selling videos and later DVDs opened two doors distant. Beanos was busy, bright-thinking and seemingly in its zenith.

Ever since years started beginning with twos and not ones, though, Beanos has been fighting a losing battle versus that most common of problems: the internet.  Large record stores it could fight price-wise, but sites like Amazon, with their sheer depth, floor-trailing prices and ease of use, held too many cards.  I’m quite part of the blame, having bought something on Amazon in 30 seconds in favour of journeying to Beanos in the hope they’d have the same record.  Then again, I do always try to visit Beanos when in Croydon; if more for the experience and memories, rather than in search of something specific (although I will buy things).

Less and less people frequent the shop’s magical floors though, and that’s why managing director David has finally called time on a sprawling, drawn-out final sale, and revealed that Beanos will close on 31 August.  True to style, he signed off with The Doors’ immortal line… “This is the End, my friend”.  In replacement will come an indoor market open for Christmas; David promises it will be fabulous; perhaps so, but it sure won’t be Beanos and that makes it a terrific shame.

As the final countdown ticks onward, bargains a plenty remain: everything in Beanos is currently half-price. Bearing in mind how cheap the stuff is in the first place, this is the musical equivalent of getting a fortnight in the Maldives for the cost of three nights at Butlins.  If you have any proximity to Croydon, get down there and experience the magic while there’s still time.

Beanos website
Middle Street, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 1RE
020 8680 1202
It’s a ten-minute walk from East Croydon station, which has 12-minute connections to London Victoria and London Bridge.

It’s taken from a couplet I adore in London Calling, surely The Clash’s most famous song:

“London calling, yeah I was there too,
And you know what they said, well some of it was true!”

So why this particular row of words?  Well, there be a few reasons…

1. This blog is going to largely focus on the London music scene – the experience of being a music-lover in London.  Given that, it seemed appropriate to name it after a song about the city.  Think of music about London and a few come to mind straightaway – stuff by Roots Manuva and Skinnyman, the Stones’ ‘Rain Falls Down’, various tunes by Bloc Party, and the Kinks’ Waterloo Sunset. And London Calling, perhaps above all others.

2. London Calling’s lyrics refer to the city’s growing nuclear obsession, and also about the end of the punk era and Beatlemania… but that still doesn’t quite explain that couplet up there. ‘London calling’ the phrase refers to the BBC World Service announcements at the time, but still these two lines are elusive. What does it mean??  What did ‘they’ say?? Who are ‘they’??  God knows.  I can only guess, speculate, impart my own meaning and enjoy the mystery. And that seems to me the joy of music in general – it’s so interpretative and personal, its lyrics and sounds so shadowy and rich with intrigue and triggers.  One person’s favourite song is the worst his neighbour has ever heard. Candle in the Wind can send some to tears and others to sleep. Just last night I read various websites arguing about New Order’s Love Vigilantes lyrics: is the soldier-narrator dead or alive?  It’s impossible to know – but such joy to be part of the discussion.  That’s what sucks us music fans in and keeps us coming back, begging for more. I hope this blog translates some of that joy.

3. This blog will probably spend most of its time talking about electro, hip-hop, mash-ups and generally all sorts of exciting alternativa; while devoting scant attention to this music’s forebears.  But that’s not to say I’m not aware much of modern music is influenced by previous genius, subconsciously or otherwise. In some cases it’s banal re-workings, and in others thrilling re-imaginations and next stages. I see (or rather hear) as much of The Clash in today’s music as any other past band, and this title honours that continuing influence.

4. London Calling’s exactly the sort of song I heard too much on Virgin Radio or Greatest Rock Songs-type compilations when I was small and New Kids On The Block were big (lord).  Meaning I hate it now. Except, in this case, I don’t – I still bloody love it. It’s a ball-grabbingly boisterous bundle of angry fun, the musical equivalent of a Ferrari and an open road, and it suits the thrasher that, let’s be honest, is in all of us. It’s the leather jacket of songs: heavy, never quite out of fashion, handsome and effortlessly cool.

There we go – I hope some of that makes some lousy sense.

MP3:
The Clash – London Calling (zSHARE)

Purchase Links:
London Calling (album)

Richard.