There may have been many singer/songwriters over the years, but few have had quite as much impact as Leonard Cohen. He has been writing and recording his music for the better part of half a century and there is no sign of this changing anytime soon! He may now be at the ripe old age of seventy-seven, but this has not slowed him down one little bit. In fact, Mr Cohen has just released his twelfth studio album… to great critical acclaim.

Now a lot of people will immediately link the name ‘Leonard Cohen'with depression, loneliness or suicide… and this is a tad unfair. After all, this singer has penned some of the world’s most beautiful songs and he has inspired countless other musicians, writers and poets. His words may be a little dark in places, but that is simply because they concern life. And we all know this is far from being a perfect world.

It would be quite difficult to accurately describe Cohen’s lyrics to someone who is unfamiliar with his music. They are deeply poetic and thought-provoking (without a shadow of a doubt), but they are also extremely intimate. This makes listening to Leonard Cohen’s songs something like listening to the voice of a very wise and wonderful friend. And that is one of the main reasons why his tunes have always remained on the outside edges of the music scene. After all, so many singers will prefer to sing about anything rather than ‘the real’; from Barbie dolls and milkshakes to sports cars or office furniture London.

Whichever way you look at it, Leonard Cohen is one of the most influential figures of all in modern music. His songs are deeply personal, his lyrics are utterly amazing and he has an intuitive understanding of our mortal journey.

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Normally I find classical music about as interesting as a four-hour conversation on the subject of biodiesel storage tanks. In fact, there is only one classical CD in my vast CD collection, and that’s only because it has a part that is used by my favourite soccer team when they run onto the pitch at the start of the game! But the other weekend my hubby and I had gone away for a few days to stay in a caravan by the sea (a very old, married couple thing to do, but it was also very cheap) which had a terrible TV reception AND we hadn’t thought to bring any CDs, thinking we’d be out exploring the whole time. Turns out the weather had other plans and we spent most of the weekend indoors, reading, playing Scrabble and heating tins of soup that we bought from the on-site store for a vastly inflated price.

Rather than sit in silence, we decided to listen to the radio, something I haven’t done for any length of time. It soon became clear that radio stations fell into three distinct categories; “youth” stations which played abysmal X-Factor-style pop, local stations with DJs who loved the sound of their own voice far too much and Classic FM. As the best of a bad bunch, we decided to give the classics a try and it actually turned out to be a great choice. Inane chatter was kept to a minimum, I recognised a lot more of the tunes than I expected (thank heavens for adverts!) and they even played quite a lot of music from film soundtracks, which is, apparently, the ’new'classical music.

It was the perfect soundtrack to a chilled weekend of middle-aged and middle-class activity, and I’ve even found myself listening to the station every now and then since we got back. It suits a chilled-out evening when there’s nothing on TV and the rain is lashing down outside. Oh, and I beat my hubby at Scrabble, in case you were wondering…

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As the summer starts to draw to a close and that week spent in a hotel in Looe becomes a distant memory, thoughts inevitably turn to winter. And if our thoughts are turning to winter, then you know Christmas cannot be far behind.

OK, you probably think I’m crazy for writing a blog about Christmas tunes when August isn’t even over, but I saw crackers on sale in my local supermarket the other day, and also the Jacob’s Cream variety, so that was all the excuse I need to start ranting about my favourite subject - or least favourite if you look at another way – X Factor.

The suspense has been taken out of the whole Christmas number one experiences by Simon Cowell and his pop-robots. It was only thanks to a massive and unprecedented Facebook campaign that poor Joe McElderry (who?) missed out on the Christmas top spot, which instead was filled by the very un-festive “Killing in the Name Of” by RATM. By the time the next Christmas rolled around, normal service had been resumed and X-Factor champ Matt Cardle was sitting at the top of the Christmas charts. Confession time; I actually didn’t think his cover of Biffy’s “Many of Horror” was all that bad, though like a lot of acts that come off the SyCo production line, he seems to have disappeared from view for a year, while they mould him into a perfect pop machine behind the closed doors of Cowell’s LA mansion…

I miss the days when the Christmas number one was not only hotly contested, but when novelty acts and festive tunes had a chance of making the Top Ten. These days anything with sleigh bells in or even the briefest reference to chestnuts roasting on an open fire is slammed by critics and the record-buying public alike. Only the cheesiest bands would dare attempt a genuine Xmas tune these days; which probably explains why the most successful in recent years was by The Darkness!

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What struck me immediately about the band was how​up for it they were

The Junction, in Cambridge, might sound like the kind of place which driving-horror-stories are made of, but in fact it has nothing to do with cars or rages. What it does have everything to do with is great live music, and Fernando’s Kitchen are one of those rare bands who you just have to hear live – that’s the only way to do it, if you ask me. They’re fantastic on CD as well, don’t get me wrong, but their recent gig at Cambridge’s top live music venue was mesmerizing.

Comprised of a number of musicians – I believe there are eight in total – FK are very unique: one of those bands who you see and think How come everyone hasn’t heard about this band?

But that, in a way, is also where they excel. FK are an intimate band who love to play. You can tell that they’d much rather be out there playing loads of these kinds of gigs – to real music lovers, rather than just revellers looking for background noise – than stuffed in some dim venue, performing just for the sake of money and their name on a flyer.

Fernando’s Kitchen, if you’ve never heard them, are an eclectic mix of Latin American acoustics and folk music from europe. That might sound disjointed, but the effect – as my good friend

Rowan Dartington put it – is “fantastically weaved together, natural music”. None of it sounds rehearsed or over-practiced.

And that’s why they are such a success and rapidly becoming more well-known. In this day and age of so-called progressive music, Fernando’s remind us that some of the best music comes right from the heart.

I have to admit, I am basing this opinion on more than one gig. I have seen FK twice: once at the Junction and once in the street. The market square, Cambridge, to be precise – and that was how I heard about them.

What struck me immediately about the band was how up for it they were. The female lead singer didn’t care that only a few people were watching, and she didn’t care that it looked like it might rain. She sat there through the drizzle and performed as if this was just as important as any other occasion. Which is another reason why you have to love this band: they take their music seriously, whatever the occasion, however many people might be tuning in.

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Rock is a genre of music with massive following across the universe. The following is so huge and most of us probably have no idea of the vast rock music audience in continents like Africa and Asia. Rock stars are not only good musicians; they are equally good with other vices such as tax evasion, drugs and many more. A certain standard of behavior is expected from celebrities which is the reason no one goes to impose even military forces insurance on them because their status in public life demands that they responsibly do the right things at the right times. Despite the numerous bad habits of rockers, we still love them. I t is easy to castigate bit we sometimes forget that these guys are human like us.

Their nature makes them prone to mistakes as well but the whole world expects them to be angels. It is funny how paparazzi follows rock stars and celebrities alike around the globe looking for any slip in character or actions. Journalists make life miserable for them and despite the fame they enjoy they also crave for privacy especially when it comes to matters that involve family life. It does not speak too well of anybody who monitors the life of all members of the family of a well-known person. Personally, I think it is wrong to follow an innocent 5 or 6 year old child because his/her mum/dad is a star. All I am saying is that these people should be left alone once in a while so that they can continue to serve us with the very best of our favourite music.

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I still think I’m pretty cool, you know. OK, I might be on the wrong side of 30 and work in a boring office job, but as soon as the working day is done, on come the Converse trainers, the tight jeans and the skinny fit band t-shirt. I can talk with knowledge and passion about all the great new musical acts and fads, and have even been known to have the odd pint or two with some real live rock musicians. So why am I starting to feel so old and out of it when I go to gigs these days??
I was at a gig the other night – a Scottish rock band called Twin Atlantic – and was preparing myself for the usual fight to get to the bar, when I looked over and saw that the drinking area was almost completely empty. Just one couple and some bored-looking bar staff. Confused, I looked around to see if I could figure out why none of the gig-goers were drinking. Did Twin Atlantic have a large Muslim following? Was the venue full of pregnant women? Did it look like everyone was on call, checking their mobile roaming rates, shouting into their phones? Worse than that; almost everyone there was too young to drink. And obviously too young to drink. No borderline cases here. More than half the kids at this gig were under the age of 16!
That’s when it hit me. It’s not that I’m too old and out of it. It’s just that in comparison to the average age of the rest of the crowd, I’m a wrinkly old fart. I only went to my first gig when I was at university, having been banned from attending concerts by my hypocritical parents who rolled in smashed from a Jimi Hendrix show when I was about ten. These days'kids are attending gigs and festivals when they’re still in nappies. I suppose it’s cool that children are being exposed to good music from a young age, but it doesn’t half make me feel past it!

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A colleague of mine, who is into music almost as much as me, invited me to watch his friend play a gig recently. As per him she played “electronica” which is not my favourite label, but I’ll give anything a try!
Well, this gig certainly was an experience. My colleague’s friend basically sat on stage, alone, creating twiddly, twirping tunes, with a sort of dance beat behind them, with Game Boys. Yes, old-fashioned Game Boys are now being used as musical instruments. It’s called Chiptune and is definitely not my cup of tea. The girl we’d gone to see was one of the better acts, as at least she had tried to create something musical; other “artists” seemed determined to show us how clever they could be with their old games consoles, regardless of whether it sounded good. And often it didn’t. One duo sounded like they were banging on biodiesel storage tanks for their entire half hour set. I pretended I had an important phone call to take and nipped outside for the last fifteen minutes…
I used to say I would go and see any music played live – from thrash metal to classical – but I think I’ll have to make Chiptune music the exception to this rule. What made the whole experience worse was watching the gig with my colleague and his friend, the performer, who obviously loved every minute, tapping their feet and nodding their heads along with often non-existent beats. I began to think this was all some elaborate practical joke!
I was never into games consoles as a kid, and have never got into the more modern versions as I got older, so maybe that’s why this kind of music doesn’t appeal to me. I’m all for musicians using computers to enhance their music, both in the studio and on stage, but when the computer, or in this case the Game Boy, becomes the focus, then something has gone wrong somewhere…

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A good artist can spin a yarn with songs, while at the same time knowing how to release excellent hits which have no real message to them but make you smile nonetheless. To boot, some of my favourite albums incorporate a whole tapestry of emotions and feelings, ranging from the sad stuff to the cheesy feel-goods.
But that’s just on the recorded medium. Ideal qualities for a live musician? It sounds obvious, but the artist should be able to pull off their own music at least as well as they do in the studio, if not better. That’s sadly lacking for many these days.
In addition, a musician who can meld the audience like putty in his hand with his natural charm and ability to command the stage is a bonus. Of course, there’s only a handful of artists that have all these qualities as well as being great songwriters.
One of them is Jason Mraz.
The guy is so naturally talented that he’s well known for his ability to completely reinvent a song on the spot. His catalogue shows not just inventiveness and great technical skill, but a way of showing it all off without pretension in any genre he puts his hand to - from Jazz (see the song Butterfly) or magical flamenco (such as Bellamy Luna).
If you want great investment returns, you check out Galvan research and trading. If you want to broaden your musical horizons, you check out a maestro such as Jason Mraz. Never let the fact that he’s a ’pop'singer or that he’s mainly known for only two songs stop you from experiencing one of the world’s few true talents.

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Despite needing to build an extension to my house to provide storage for my CD and vinyl collection, very little of it dates from the 1980s. My friend pointed this out to me when she asked if she could borrow some of my stuff for an 80s party she was throwing. After she’d spent an hour raking through everything and come out with just one Human League album, one by Heaven 17 and a collection of 80s electronica, I started wondering why the 1980s had failed to have an impact on my musical taste…
It’s not because I don’t like music from the 1980s. I’ve been to a fair few 80s parties or club nights myself, and you can’t get me off the dance floor. Whether it’s the avant garden electronic stuff or early Kylie, or even the poodle rock of Bon Jovi and Europe, I can happily bop away for hours.
I guess part of the problem is the lack of serious artistes in the 1980s. Looking back from a distance of 30 years, it all just seems a bit silly and flippant, doesn’t it? I mean, Adam Ant and and his crazy Prince Charming dance, the Bros-inspired craze to have Grolsch bottle tops on your shoes and Bucks Fizz and their torn off skirts? You wouldn’t get that in the serious noughties or even the cooler than cool 90s.
I’ve decided to start checking out the local charity shops and bargain buckets to see if I can’t increase my 80s collection. After all, music is supposed to be fun and no decade has emphasised that more than the 1980s. Even the 70s with their (now) ridiculous clothes and hairdos took themselves seriously at the time. Even the artistes themselves approached 80s music with their tongues firmly lodged in their cheeks. How else can you explain So Macho by Sinitta?

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