Sounds Good! : OTT - Blog

TAPE Me Back To The Future — MADE For Tape # 29: Brian Eno—David Byrne, “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” (1981)

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:06:02 GMT

Brian Eno—David Byrne, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981)

For an album that means the world to me, I have no idea when I first heard it. I know, roughly of course, but I cannot pinpoint it. I’ve been close to a lifelong fan of Eno and almost everything he touches (fuck you, Coldplay!) and I’ve been a lifelong fan of Talking Heads and David Byrne. So wh…

The First Smile: The First Smile

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 15 May 2025 19:45:38 GMT

The First Smile

Rattle

The gamelan is a traditional Indonesian music ensemble — comprising gongs, drums, xylophones and percussive (but melodic) instruments. Well, the melodic component is in the layering and combination of the sounds — the spaces between notes, the pauses between phrases, the overall shape made from the musicians when ham…

Poem: Art Intimates Life

Simon Sweetman — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 20:59:15 GMT

The painting happens at the palette,
that’s the source of the colour —
The painting happens because
of the way we hold the brush.
The same colours exist for all of us,
we have the option to use the same shades,
to tap into the same blues, to share
the same greens. It all comes down
to how we hold the brush.

The purpose we work with, the way
we approach it, the …

Short Story: Michael

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 05:50:37 GMT

Michael made up his own language, and stole a tractor from the side of the road. His adopted sister once gave him a blowjob in the spa pool. And he stood there laughing, staring right at me. There were horrible stories about abuse suffered as a child. He used to be my cousin. But that lasted for only a little bit longer than that awkward time we were sa…

Poem: How Miles Davis Played It Cool

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 20:14:14 GMT

love the story that Coltrane
didn’t know how to stop his

solos, so caught up was he,
in full service to his god, his

devotion in every note and
the phrasing (his sax an

extension of his body), he
asked Miles who stared

through his soul and
without speaking made

him think deeply about
himself; then finally when

he spoke, like so many of
his solos he only…

The Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame 2024

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 08:49:49 GMT

The Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame list for 2024 is one hell of a starter-kit if you want to check out many of the classic 20th Century film scores, with some 21st Century titles in there too. Lots of John Williams, John Barry, Hans Zimmer, and Ennio Morricone, as one might expect. On the longer list you’ll find a few names less familiar, and plent…

Ambient: Half A Cookie

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 20:56:39 GMT

An attempt at making some music. Just simple loops and beats. But I am thinking about making an ambient album over time…

AI Music Demo: "Urban Reflections"

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 11:21:26 GMT

Using “Udio” to make a silly piece of music to share for a wider discussion around AI Music creation. I took a short, silly poem I wrote about seeing someone wearing a “Who Farted?” T-shirt, and actually hearing them fart as I walked by. I had just been to see the poet Peter Bakowski. He had read several aphorisms, and one-line poems. And was encouraing the use of them. It would have been rude to not make a poem out of that experience, after that prompt.

Poem: Small Talk

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 20:03:45 GMT

If it’s Monday, that’s easy: You say
“How was your weekend?”
And on Friday try: “So, any plans
for the weekend?”

But the rest of the week offers
no prompts. It’s so easy to get
lost. A fucking nightmare really,
So you just keep your head down

and, ugh, do work…But be sure to hit
Mondays and Fridays like they ow
you money. They’re the big paydays
In the topsy-turvy…

Gig Preview: Dirty Spoons on the bill for Folk-elmorn @ Vogelmorn, Friday, June 14, 2024

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 19:30:14 GMT

We are thrilled to be part of this line-up, a quality gig in a wonderful venue. With music from 7pm on your Friday night. Doors open at 6.30, so get in and secure your spot. There’s great food and drink at the Vogelmorn, and then the bands are on upstairs — it’s $20 on the door, or you could buy your ticket first for just $15.

Here’s the lineup:
Ari Leas…

What A Good Score! – #35: Phantom Thread by Jonny Greenwood

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 19:21:54 GMT

Even when I not listening to Radiohead at all — burnout, too much, too often, PTSD from playing (bad) cover versions in a band at uni, and of course the overzealous fans (of Radiohead, not my covers band at uni) — I have still loved the soundtrack work of Jonny Greenwood. In fact, it’s fair to say it was something of a way back into the work of the band…

Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 25 – Roger Taylor (Queen)

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 23 May 2024 10:28:08 GMT

I have often written about how much I don’t like Queen. But it’s more about a) how overhyped/overplayed they became in the wake of Freddie’s death, and b) just a symbolic break, I moved on. I loved Queen when I was a kid. Right up until Freddie’s death really. And then, almost overnight, that switched. I moved on and away from them. The music isn’t as s…

R.I.P. Keith LeBlanc

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 10:49:21 GMT

Keith LeBlanc has died. He was 69. The drumming legend was there at the birth of recorded hip-hop entering the mainstream (Sugarhill Gang) and was part of the pioneering-from-the-fringe groups Tackhead and Little Axe. He was also a vital presence in the studio as producer, programmer and session drummer, working with Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel, Seal…

Poem: God Moved Through His Fingers

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 23:05:37 GMT

Carlos Santana had a good decade,
it was called the 1970s. He wasn’t
the only one. Joni Mitchell and
Stevie Wonder too. Randy Newman
and Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, and
Patti Smith. Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt —
but once a year or two, I work through
the Santana catalogue, and cannot
believe the world he built, the way that
music still sings with a vit…

R.I.P. Albert "Tootie" Heath

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 07:24:53 GMT

Courtesy NPR

Albert "Tootie" Heath has died. The jazz drumming great was a month off his 89th birthday.

He was still playing — brilliantly too. Philadelphia Beat, recorded a decade ago, with Ethan Iverson and Ben Street is a gem, with the then-nearly 80 year old Heath in full command, sounding as good as he ever did. But that wasn’t my introduction to hi…

Dirty Spoons' Final Show For 2023: MOON, Sunday, December 17, 3pm with Topdresser and Interlopers

Simon Sweetman — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 20:22:25 GMT

This coming Sunday, December 17, will be our final Dirty Spoons show for the year. And we’ve organised a cracker, this Christmas! The doors open at 3pm, with music from 4pm on the dot. It’s $10.

Topdresser (aka Steve Rendle) from Masterton will be up first. Then it’s us, the Spoons. And the early evening headliner is Kapiti Coast’s Interlopers. See clip…

The Beatles Playlists

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 06:19:32 GMT

I was raised on The Beatles. And in turn raised my son on The Beatles. I don’t mind who does and doesn’t like listening to The Beatles, but I can’t see myself ever stopping. I mean, sure, there are pauses. I feel like I know the catalogue very well. But then I’ll get on a run and just listen to everything. Including some bootlegs and all the officially …

What A Good Score! – #31: The Killing Fields by Mike Oldfield

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 19:14:09 GMT

I remember loving the film – though that feels like the wrong way to say it. Brutal, but beautiful movie, I thought at the time. It was also one of the first Journalism Films I had seen, and I’m a lifelong sucker for those. But I was probably listening out for the music as I watched it.

Because I was already a Mike Oldfield fan.

Part of the legend of Oldf…

Keeping up with the King: On reading and watching Stephen King

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 20:32:28 GMT

I surprised my son yesterday by having read more Stephen King books than he (or I) realised. He started reading King with a vengeance last year, and over the summer he powered through many of the tomes I still haven’t touched (Salem’s Lot, Dead Zone, Firestarter). And we both read Christine - starting at the same time. But Oscar left me for dead, readin…

The New "Off The Tracks" Here on Substack...let me know if you want to to be comped a premium sub.

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 19:50:40 GMT

Hey there, and welcome to “Off The Tracks” - which might look an awful lot like “Sounds Good!” on Substack since it’s arriving to you in the same way.

Last week, I mentioned this change. Everything I ever wrote over at Off The Tracks (a website I started in late 2011) is now available here. It’s all been migrated over to Substack. And if you have one of …