The Lockdown posts: Alternative Kitchen Disco

God I'm bored. I thought this lockdown thing would be easy. I'm not a very sociable person and come the weekends I'm usually more than happy to stay in and not venture outside unless it's to tidy up the garden. So whole weeks of being forced to remain home? Bring it on, I thought. And for a while, it was great - no commute, working from home, bliss. 

Except that after a few weeks it becomes tedious. On Saturday I was bored shitless and got quite moody and low. So on Sunday, MrsRobster and I took the drastic decision to - wait for it - wash the car. Yep, our crappy, 11-year-old Corsa hasn't seen soap or a sponge since about 1863. I was afraid bits would start falling off it if I washed it, but it seems to have held up pretty well. It's now at the state where most people would think about washing their car, so I'm happy with that.

A couple hours later, I went into the kitchen to start preparing our dinner when I noticed MrsRobster had graffitied the splash guard above our cooker - see the picture above. Now, she likes a dance does MrsRobster. She's always fancied taking up ballroom dancing, but the problem is I hate it. I mosh and that is as far as I go. She could never face dancing with someone else so instead of taking classes, she contents herself with something she calls "dancing" around the house when the mood takes her.

And it was this silly act of homegrown vandalism that inspired me to get back to the keyboard and open the blog back up for a bit. Well, that and the desperate need of something to do. What the heck, it might stave off some of the tedium, but don't expect much.

Listeners to Steve Lamacq's teatime show on BBC 6Music will know he has a slot called the Kitchen Disco in which he plays a classic dancey track requested by a listener for us to dance around our kitchens to. Well, to put my own spin on that, I thought I'd post some songs I've been playing in my kitchen while beavering away at keeping my family fed. I can't promise that you'll be able to dance to them though.

And where better to start than Sunday's soundtrack - three albums I played while making our tea after washing the car. First up, something from the new Cowboy Junkies album 'Ghosts'. I love Cowboy Junkies, ever since their seminal record 'The Trinity Session' which as you'll know is one of my albums to take to my grave. Eight excellent new songs, the only downside being it's too short. Desire Lines is not a cover of the Lush song. That would have been interesting, but this is fantastic all the same.



Another band I used to love was Electric Soft Parade. I thought their debut was a great record. I lost track of them for years and was surprised a few years ago to find out they were still going. Their new record only has seven tracks on it, but they are rather lengthy. I can't decide if they really need to be as long as they are, but they are pretty uplifting which is no bad thing in times like these.



Finally, not new, or even an album, but I have a self-compiled Best Of Wire that I played a few tunes from before dinner was served. A band that, even after 44 years, still makes incredibly interesting music. There's a new record of unreleased songs recorded over the past decade that was going to be put out on Record Store Day, but the world has been cancelled so we'll have to wait a bit longer for it. In the meantime, here's one from 2011's 'Red Barked Tree' album.



That's it for now. More musical morsels at some point if I get bored and desperate enough.