Shamik Das


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Wag-gingity-gwan! Ed Sheeran shows ’em how to strum

Ed-Sheeran

ED SHEERAN. Remember the name. He’s the (relatively) new boy of UK music. And he’s good. Very, verrrrrrry good. He signed for Atlantic at the turn of the year, and will be releasing his new album in the autumn; the first song off that album to be released was out on Sunday, and all this week he’s been talkin’ to the papers, tourin’ the airwaves and feelin’ the love.

Last night, he was live in session on Geoff Lloyd’s Hometime Show (33:35-48:40) on the home of live music, Absolute Radio, talking about his background, influences and future. In sum, he used to play the cello, first picked up a guitar at 11, started writing music at 13, has been releasing music since 14, is 20 now, is ginger, from Suffolk (though born in Halifax), “kind of hippyish” and “went to a normal comprehensive school”.

On the substantive, the music, he said:

“I did have really terrible music taste in primary school and then my dad kind of got me out of it, and got me into Dylan and Damian Rice... I owned a couple of Slipknot CDs and Limp Bizkit and I was really into Kerrang and heavy metal and stuff... I think I had a Stepz CD actually...

“[My dad’s] a big fan of Dylan and Van Morrison and the Beatles and stuff like that... [I was inspired by] Eric Clapton actually. I saw Eric Clapton at the Queen’s jubilee play Layla and I was like that’s a sick song, I wanna learn that.”

And here’s what he said when quizzed on his new record deal:

You’ve just signed for Atlantic - any attempts to mould you or suggest you do things a certain way?

“Not at all, no, ’cos I achieved a certain amount of independent success before I signed, I kind of signed off the back of having a large fan base and a good touring audience and was basically just allowed to go in the studio and make the album that I wanted to make, which is really cool.”

That's such a luxury though isn’t it?

“Yeah, it’s good, it’s really, really nice and its kind of paid off ’cos the single’s out now and it’s kind of, it’s, it’s doing alright.”

And you chose which song came out as a single?

“Yep, and how the video was done and everything.”

Phenomenal!

Just the word to describe his live acoustic rendition of You need me; listen to the mastery and feel the buzz, feel the passion, feeeeeeeeel the noise:

Ed Sheeran "You Need Me" live on Absolute Radio (mp3)

Oh. Yeah! Listen up all you reality show wannabes: that’s what you call talent, that’s what you call class, that’s what you call music.

Ed Sheeran official website
Ed’s MySpace page

Sunday, June 05, 2011

Quaint, quirky, classy... The majesty of Lord’s

Lords-in-the-sunshine-England-Sri-Lanka-03-06-11

LORD’s in the sunshine, for a Test match, white fluffy clouds above, a perfect pitch below, the world’s best players, the best ground in the world... is there a more beautiful sight?

The current match, the second Test between England and Sri Lanka, is well poised, the visitors 255 runs adrift with nine first innings wickets in hand, following Tillakaratne Dilshan’s unbeaten 127 off only 166 balls, described by Scyld Berry in The Sunday Telegraph as “outstanding in his shot execution - if not always in his shot-selection”.

A man to watch - especially if you’re in the Pavilion...

MCC-member-hit-on-the-head-in-Pavilion-England-Sri-Lanka-Lords-04-06-11

The peerless Andy Zaltzman describes the carnage:

“Dilshan hoists Swann into the Pavilion. Clonked an MCC member on the head with it too. Imprisonable offence in the old days.”

He can console himself with membership of the most exclusive, most undeniably unrivalled club in the world, at the most special place in the world.

As Berry said:

“...if there has been a hero in this game - an English hero, that is, to go alongside Dilshan - it has been Thomas Lord, for laying the foundations of a special occasion.

“This match has been as good as a Lord’s Test in the second half of the season, the sun shining, the crowd at full capacity, spectators grazing on the Nursery or in the Warner garden, the band playing at the intervals.

“It has not been heaven, but it has been a haven, an enclave removed from an increasingly troubled world, or a world with ever more people who are troubled. Well played, Lord’s, and those who run it tastefully well. Just get a bit more pace in this pitch.”

Just seven weeks and counting to that midsummer Test, which will be even better than this one, England v India, the top teams in the world; a fervent away crowd, not a spare seat in the house... There’s no place in the world that can compare, no place I’d rather be, from morning bell to evening close, Lord’s is, quite simply, the greatest place on Earth.

Cricinfo: Live ball-by-ball text coverage of day three
Test Match Special: Live ball-by-ball audio