My Ear Candy #28 Luke Ellix

I wish the surname of tonight's guest was mine, I'd be called Alex Ellix. Instead, my guest Luke is beneficiary of said moniker and, as we were to discover, many other assets too. A blokes' pride is easily dented, it doesn't take much for us to feel inadequate, so you can imagine how a guest about to climb Everest made me feel. (*mental note, make sure next guest is a couch potato).

In just a couple of weeks, Luke is climbing to Mount Everest's base camp to raise funds for Children In Need. That's a 19 day trek reaching altitudes of 17,000 feet, makes your eyes water thinking about it. Temperatures will drop to -20, possibly the only element of the project which he'll be comfortable with given he lives in Aberdeenshire, that's a summer's day.  Luke and his friend Gerard have raised over four grand so far, if you think you can top that up do visit this link which tells you all about the expedition and how to donate.

On to the music and I found myself faced with six tracks I'd never heard of but it makes a pleasant change to try new stuff. In the event none bowled me over and none offended me, each selection I enjoyed yet wouldn't buy, that sure reads as damnation by faint praise but isn't the intention. P'raps I'll stop digging and start a new paragraph instead.

There was quite an eclectic mixture of guitar slaloms, earthy singing and mellow ambience (despite tracks from Disturbed and Linkin Park) and very pleasant they were too. I think it was the John Butler Trio track which boasted a twelve string guitar and one of the others seemed to incorporate every musical instrument known to man, I can't remember which. The final track was a dance floor filler, were you that way inclined, I'm not cos I've three left feet never mind two. It was performed by a Danish singer which completed an impressive tour of the world taking in Iceland, Australia, America and, of course, Scotland. We enjoyed a good night of music and an inspirational talk about climbing, despite my lack of knowledge on the subject since the highest I've ever journeyed is the back of Villa Park's Holte End, although that can be classed as dangerous territory in itself.

We send Luke all of our prayers for a safe and enjoyable Mount Everest experience and look forward to hearing about it when he returns as my guest again.

Luke's selections
1 - Skerryvore - Blown Away
2 - Kaleo - Way Down We Go
3 - John Butler Trio - Take
4 - Disturbed - The Sound of Silence
5 - Linkin Park - Iridescent
6 - MØ - Final Song