Neil Tolliday - Bent’s Nail
Click on the banner and you’ve nailed it… straight to bandcamp bounty
I’m usually in these parts with a more extended post to encourage you to cook something. The regular(ish) playlists of my music choices are over at #CheoffsCookers but since we’re here please allow me to point you in the direction (there is always more than One Direction!) of the plentiful musical offerings from Neil Tolliday.
I’d been aware of Nail (Neil’s preferred AKA) for a while without truly realising it. I’ve spent a lot of cash supporting music and its artists but there was a short period when the filthy corruption of burning CDs from the local library descended upon me. And in that short period, swayed by a recommendation* from an early manifestation of the now manifestly vile James Delingpole, I ‘borrowed’ a copy of Bent’s ‘Programmed To Love’. At this point it should be pointed out that, along with Simon Mills, Nail is half of Bent,.
That album’s year 2000 release means that we were slap-bang in the gentle maelstrom of our two late-teenage sons and the music which they brought into our house. I was already perfectly willing to receive and enjoy the likes of Massive Attack, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Aim and Lemon Jelly. I would even occasionally uncover something in return to impress two of the younger generation I’d helped to create. Introducing Plaid’s ‘Restproof Clockwork’ to them went down particularly well - even more so than Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band’s ‘Lick My Decals Off, Baby’. Win some, lose some.
So it was twenty years ago that I began to relish the inclusion of Bent music in my life. Bent’s music? No - that first combination of the two words fits best.
Bent are available on many platforms but thanks to internet algorithms social media regularly throws other interesting and relevant musical diversions my way. The availability of Nail’s self-described “solo meanderings” has been thrust towards me several times lately. And I haven’t minded one bit.
I met Nail once. Just the once. It was on the day he married a woman who I had met only a few times more than once. Enough times to recognise her stunningly generous human qualities and her luscious capacity to disarm anyone - even had their arms already been removed. I don’t recall asking/telling Nail to “treat her right” but I reckon I shot him a silently mouthed look which spoke more or less the same sentiment. Nail and Nicola** are still very much together and I’m sure that’s down to their efforts and bugger all to do with mine.
Gloss over the fanciful flights of my own nostalgia included in this post and press the ‘Play’ button for one of Nail’s tracks on his Bandcamp pages. With so much to choose from you are almost bound to find something to your liking. Made even more likely since, even when noodling, Nail always noodles with intent. Toe-tapping while listening is fine by me. But being compelled to put down your carefully prepared coffee in favour of drinking in compositions every bit as delightfully soundscaped as any Amon Tobin track is even finer. I refuse to go further into Pseud’s Corner and I’ll stop by saying that Nail very rarely gives me cause to press fast forward. Too creative to be easy-listening - but so darned easy to listen to. Check out his collected works and be prepared to check out using your preferred payment method.
I leave you to explore.
I rather envy you the discoveries you’re going to make.
#BuyGoodArt
#BuyGreatMusic
(89:GHOST is Nail’s record label. More do-not-miss material there as well)
* Nail might like to see again that aforementioned review from ‘The Torygraph’ (I grudgingly admit that the Sunday edition entered our house over a few years for its puzzle pages and a regular dribble over Diana Henry’s recipes in ‘Stella’ magazine)
Looks like I still have Delingpole’s review for Bent’s second album. Might as well share that too.
** Something extra for the unforgettable Nicola. Here are food details from your weekend visit to us (gotta include one culinary reference, eh)