Robyn Hitchcock – Zonker.net

January 26, 2023

Coming soon: Instrumental album from Robyn Hitchcock

Cover of "Life After Infinity" by Robyn Hitchcock. It features the title in cursive, with a fish on a blue background with a rose superimposed on top of the fish.

The past few years I’ve been seeking out more and more instrumental music. Khruangbin, The Comet is Coming, Material, Pharoah Sanders… but I wasn’t expecting to add Robyn Hitchcock to that list!

Robyn has released a few instrumental tracks in the past. I Often Dream of Trains is bookended by two short instrumental tracks, “Nocturne (Prelude)” and “Nocturne (Demise)” that are hauntingly beautiful. But the vast majority of his catalog includes his unique vocal stylings. (If you’ve never listened to Robyn, you should correct that immediately. But if you want a description, just take equal parts John Lennon and Syd Barrett with a dollop of Bob Dylan and there ya go.)

Anyway, I was excited to see the announcement this week that he’s releasing an all-instrumental album Life After Infinity in April. Two tracks are already live on Bandcamp, and you can pre-order the album there in the format of your choice. Unless your choice is 8-track, in which case you cannot, but why would you?

“Celestial Transgression” reminds me a lot of the aforementioned Trains. “Come Here, Little Ghost” has a twangier, folkier feel than I’m used to with his music. Maybe a touch of bluegrass? That’s the genre that comes to mind, but admittedly I’m not a big bluegrass listener so I could be way off target there.

At any rate, I love both tracks and can’t wait for the full album to drop in April.

November 16, 2019

A little Robyn Hitchcock

Went to see Robyn Hitchcock Thursday night at The Arts Center in Carrboro. This was a solo acoustic show, joined for a few songs by Emma Swift. Before the show Emma was working the merch table and we bought a few t-shirts, she asked if we had any requests.

My brain sort of short-circuited because it’s super hard for me to single out one or two songs by Robyn as favorites. I finally asked for “A Skull, a Suitcase, and a Long Red Bottle of Wine,” since it is one of my favorites and I know he doesn’t do it live very often. (Though I’ve gotten to see him do it live three times now, so.) Was super-pleased he did play it towards the end of the set.

Here it is from his show at Rough Trade in NYC, back in 2017 when he did the entirety of Black Snake Diamond Role with Yo La Tengo.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/310841138″ params=”color=#050505&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” iframe=”true” /]

nyctaper · Robyn Hitchcock – A Skull, a Suitcase, and a Long Red Bottle of Wine (Live at Rough Trade)

If you prefer electric, here’s Robyn & the Sadies doing a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Astronomy Domine” and “Lucifer Sam.”

[youtube https://youtu.be/aHweEQNtZfc]

Have a great Saturday!

October 4, 2016

“Element of Light” by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians (No. 7)

If Robyn Hitchcock hadn’t gone into music, perhaps he’d have become a novelist like his father. His penchant for storytelling shows through heavily in Element of Light.

Hitchcock has a pretty solid catalog of music as a solo artist, with his backing bands The Egyptians and The Venus 3, and (of course) with The Soft Boys. It took a lot of mulling before I decided on the ones that would make the top 100, and two things put Element of Light at the top of the stack – the music (obviously) and the stories.

Musically, Element of Light features some of my favorite Hitchcock compositions (and that’s saying quite a lot). But Element clearly features some of the most developed stories in his songs. Continue reading ““Element of Light” by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians (No. 7)”

September 20, 2016

“Queen Elvis” by Robyn Hitchcock ‘n’ The Egyptians (No. 21)

Album cover: "Queen Elvis" by Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians

Watching “alternative” bands like The Cure, R.E.M., and U2 punch through to mainstream success, I had high hopes that Robyn Hitchcock would break through with Queen Elvis.

Released in March 1989, Hitchcock was opening for R.E.M. on the Green tour. Queen Elvis, by Robyn Hitchcock ‘n the Egyptians, was on a major label and they were putting money into videos for MTV. It seemed to me that the rest of the world would surely notice what they’d been missing so far.

By rights, Queen Elvis should have garnered more attention than it did. Musically, it’s phenomenal, and it’s one of Hitchcock’s most accessible (read: there are no songs about “furry green atom bowls,” or men with lightbulb heads) albums.

Continue reading ““Queen Elvis” by Robyn Hitchcock ‘n’ The Egyptians (No. 21)”

August 14, 2016

“Black Snake Diamond Röle” by Robyn Hitchcock (No. 59)

The first solo Robyn Hitchcock album, Black Snake Diamond Röle, literally opened a new world of music for me. A friend in high school declared that I’d like it, and handed me a cassette recorded from the LP. She was wrong, though. I didn’t like it, I loved it.

This was around 1986, and at the time I was mostly into classic rock – The Beatles in particular. I dabbled a bit in popular 80s music, but I hadn’t really gotten into alternative yet. Robyn Hitchcock was my gateway drug. Continue reading ““Black Snake Diamond Röle” by Robyn Hitchcock (No. 59)”

July 18, 2016

“The Minus 5” by The Minus 5 (No. 85)

The Minus 5 may be one of the best bar bands ever assembled. Made up of a rotating cast of alt-rock heroes like former R.E.M.’er Peter Buck and drummer Bill Rieflin, and headed by Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows, the self-titled The Minus 5 is a loose, rollicking set of songs that practically beg to be performed live.

I can thank Robyn Hitchcock for my introduction to The Minus 5. Several members of The Minus 5 (Buck, McCaughey, and Rieflin) backed Hitchcock on his 2006 album Olé! Tarantula as “The Venus 3,” and I had the chance to catch the bands in Seattle, playing the Crocodile Cafe in November 2006. So I nabbed The Minus 5 too, to see what they had to offer. Quite a lot, as it turns out. (Spoiler alert, this isn’t the only time Hitchcock or Buck will appear in the top 100.)

Continue reading ““The Minus 5” by The Minus 5 (No. 85)”

October 13, 2013

Autumn Is Your Last Chance

Perfect song for an Autumn Sunday. One of my favorite Robyn Hitchcock songs – and that’s saying something, really. He has an amazing body of work, but this is quiet and beautiful little song that always catches my ear when it’s on.

I chose a YouTube video of him playing the song live, rather than a “perfect” clip of the song with only the album cover. Continue reading “Autumn Is Your Last Chance”