Check out the video below to Uncle Kid’s haunting cover of Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’. With dark, broody, understated trip hop and spoken word, Uncle Kid turns Satchmo’s 1967 classic on its head.
It’s not for nothing that the Scottish musician’s music has drawn favourable comparisons with the likes of Massive Attack and Arab Strap.
Uncle Kid told Even Butterflies Make A Sound: “I wanted to try my hand at something completely different. Louis Armstrong’s joyful delivery of ‘What a Wonderful World’ feels totally at odds with the sort of doubt-fuelled music I usually make. I’ve re-imagined it from a place of detachment from all of life’s wonder, which is often the experience of living with mental struggles. Louis Armstrong’s seemingly blissful experience of the world is a bit of an alien concept to me, something to envy.”
Uncle Kid first popped up on this blog’s radar a couple of years ago. It’s great to see him going from strength to strength. Uncle Kid plays at St Mary the Virgin, Melton Mowbray, UK on 16 September.
A Farewell to Arms is the new single by South London synth-pop act Sometimes Solitude Is.
Owen James is the band’s ever-romantic singer-songwriter. He said, tongue in cheek: “It’s about that moment when you have a perfect first date … but you know it’s doomed.”
The song started life as a piano ballad. However, after listening to a lot of the darker elements of early New Romantic acts and, as always, Berlin-era Bowie, Owen decided the synth route was the way to go.
“I like the shimmering sound of the bass on the track. It reflects that nervousness you get when you’re across the table from someone on a date and you’re hoping you don’t forget how to speak,” he said.
He continued: “The Hemingway thing just seemed to fit with this. The book A Farewell To Arms is such a beautiful tale of doomed love. Seeing as I’m massively over-dramatic I nicked it for the title. Although, unlike Hemingway, I haven’t suffered extensive injuries because of an exploding bomb.”
‘A Farewell to Arms’ is the most catchy song of the summer. It’ll be bouncing around your head for days! It’s a great taster for the upcoming LP Float, which is due for release on 2 September.
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