SIMON profile picture

SIMON

obsessed with discovering music that excites me

About Me

son of ivor raymonde, 60s song writer and string arranger of dusty springfield, the walker brothers....among many others...joined Cocteau Twins in late 1983 aged 21 and spent next 14 years writing, recording and touring. 1997 i set up the label bella union . totally independent, work with Dirty Three, Explosions In The Sky, Devics, Midlake, My Latest Novel, Lift to Experience, The Dears, The Czars, The Autumns, Decoder Ring, Art Of Fighting, Francoiz Breut, Josh Martinez, Howling Bells, Fionn Regan, Bikini Atoll, Astronautalis, Gwei-lo, Mandarin, Jetscreamer, Stephanie Dosen, Fleet Foxes, Beach House, our broken garden, Snowbird, among many others ... i produce bands when i like them, such as Clearlake, James Yorkston ( both on Domino ) and The Duke Spirit and The Open (both on Loog/Universal )..and have done special mixes for bands like TRISTEZA, HOWLING BELLS, THE DEARS, ASTRONAUTALIS, & i also managed a brilliant band called Archie Bronson Outfit who are signed to Domino Records, and manage Stephanie Dosen and Paul Marshall, i have recently started doing Music Supervision on a couple of great independent american films, which i will be doing more of...soon i hope... i have a beautiful labrador called Molly. there is more of course, but this is all you need to know...

My Interests

music, literature. films, art, photography, listening to people on the train, cricket, walking, pandas, chocolate, coffee..

I'd like to meet:

tina weymouth....i think the bass playing on talking heads' "more songs about buildings and food" is complete perfection...her melodies are just genius...

Music:

DIF JUZ DIF JUZ DIF JUZ fleet foxes, sleeping states, jens lekman, peter von poehl, loney dear, st vincent, mugison, midlake, beach house, vetiver, lily electric, patti smith, under byen, port o'brien, our broken garden, Peter Borderick, Sarah Jaffe, clear tigers, animal collective, panda bear, grizzly bear, von sudenfeld, ohbijou, bowerbirds, the ACORN, television, birthday party, wire, magazine, prag vec, pop group, slits, PiL ( Metal Box period ), Robert Wyatt, Stevie Wonder, Associates, Stephanie Dosen, MBV, all Bella Union Recording Artists past and present, south san gabriel, Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, Elizabeth Fraser, Lee Perry, Linton Kwesi Johnson, John Coltrane, Nico, Vashti Bunyan, Arvo Part, Gorecki, of montreal, menomena, stravinsky, always the runner, arcade fire, tristeza, south pacific, mogwai, everything on Ache Records, cabaret voltaire, centro-matic, early human league, black mountain, neil young, bright eyes, howling bells, ISLES, john coltrane, alice coltrane, godspeed, doris day, nina simone, eden ahbez, john cale, voice and drumming of karen carpenter, satie, eno, laura veirs, singers and players, a certain ratio, billy mackenzie, durutti column, generation x, orbidoig, jose gonzales, london underground, ar kane, rider, can, jah wobble, iron and wine, buck 65, sort sol, crispy ambulance, konono no.1, beastie boys, martin denny, clearlake, james yorkston, the duke spirit, go! team, cut copy, talking heads ( first 3 albums ), carl orff, jack dangers, bim sherman, noah house of dread, jane's addiction, low, henry mancini, clinic, smog, sufjan stevens, wolfgang press, abe vigoda, miles anthony benjamin robinson, j tillman, bon iver, wildbirds and peacedrums, our broken garden, ultra vivid scene, amon tobin, dj shadow, michael edwards, danny elfman, ennio morricone, frank sinatra, lust for life-period iggy pop, heroes-period bowie, early joy division, early clash, early buzzcocks, subway sect, the velvets, sufjan stevens, peter broderick, nancy sinatra, groucho marx, pere ubu, early scritti politti, the go-betweens, smith and mighty, postcard records-josef k, orange juice, fire engines, some primal scream, debussy, mahler, joan as policewoman, sex pistols, slint, fourtet, archie bronson outfit, the shortwave set, jeniferever, laura gibson, andrew bird, yndi halda, ohbijou, clear tigers, bowerbirds, papercuts, paperchase, paul marshall, birds on strings, heidi spencer,

Movies:

The Misfits, cool hand luke, anatomy of a murder, fargo, kiss kiss bang bang, the third man, lost weekend, the jerk, broadway danny rose, midnight run, midnight express, midnight cowboy, night of the iguana, the glenn miller story, the philadelphia story, pi, the punch and judy man, stalker, duck soup, north by northwest, sabrina, touch of evil, big liebowski, la confidential, stalag 17, amelie, irma la douce, harvey, capote, jean de florette, magnolia, raging bull, casino, goodfellas, twelve angry men, pat and mike, the music of chance, bringing up baby, double indemnity, casablanca, night of the hunter, last american picture show, spinal tap, clerks, mirror, almost famous, the trial, pyscho, peeping tom, taxi driver, french connection, all the presidents men, carlitos way, dog day afternoon, the sting, in a lonely place, stalker, mirror, arsenic and old lace, stagecoach, it's a wonderful life, the stranger, the cincinatti kid, the godfather, a girl from trieste, annie hall, the red shoes ( amazing !) the life and death of colonel blimp, rushmore, withnail and i, sexy beast, meantime, goodbye lenin, my life as a dog, gilbert grape, once around ( most people hate this i think it's genius )

Television:

the sopranos, six feet under, the avengers, the prisoner, morecambe and wise, green wing, rob brydon, les dawson, shameless, nighty night, the mighty boosh, my name is earl, dead like me, BIG TRAIN, cricket on channel 4..

Books:

in cold blood by truman capote, the outsider by camus, the fight by norman mailer, on broadway by damon runyon, king of the world by david remnick, putin's russia by anna politkovskaya, the mayor of casterbridge by thomas hardy, anything by douglas coupland, hype and glory by william goldman, love all the people by bill hicks, seeing the blossom by dennis potter, morvern callar by alan warner, in the country of last things AND leviathan ,both by paul auster, the hawkline monster by richard brautigan, my indecision is final by jake eberts, making of The Misfits by James Goode. The Man Who Was Bilko by Phil Silvers, Legs That Dance to Elmers Tune (Elmer Batters) Without Feathers by Woody Allen

Heroes:

my late father...i don't mean his timekeeping. mohammed ali and all the members of the best band i ever saw DIF JUZ..the phrase 'if only..." was coined when DIF JUZ broke up...if i were rich i would pay them to play the whole of their catalogue of music at my funeral..well you know what i mean...i'd leave a sum in my will...

My Blog

Music Supervision on ’Naked Under Heaven’

hi,the trailer is now up for the movie 'Naked Under Heaven' starring Rebecca Stauber and Tim DeKay.i was lucky enough to make my debut as Music Supervisor on the film and it proved to be an excellent ...
Posted by SIMON on Fri, 16 May 2008 12:35:00 PST

our broken garden

a real treat for us to work with such a band as Our Broken Garden...music that will transport you, soothe you and elevate you.these words are from anna bronsted the singer behind the band...http://blo...
Posted by SIMON on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:15:00 PST

splitting my atom

What to do? My newest signing to the label, danish discovery Our Broken Garden, the voice and music of efterklang's Anna Bronsted, is here in London tonight on her first uk tour for her 815 perf at Qu...
Posted by SIMON on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:10:00 PST

woodpeckers

going for a walk has changed quite dramatically over the years...i used to walk with my head bowed, uninterested in meeting the gaze of others, wary of engaging in any kind of social communication.as ...
Posted by SIMON on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:21:00 PST

jose gonzales, stephanie dosen and ME!!!

i dont get seen out very often as you know, but yesterday one of THE great days in my life...jose gonzales and stephanie dosen, met for the first time in the morning, and six hours later where perform...
Posted by SIMON on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:12:00 PST

TONY WILSON R.I.P.

TONY WILSON R.I.P. Current mood: sad Category: MusicTony Wilson founder of Factory Records died last night of a heart attack. Diagnosed recently with cancer he was apparently fighting it quite well, ...
Posted by SIMON on Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:59:00 PST

loney, dear....beach house...farah....

dont tell me that the music business is up shit creek and that anyway it is just all  sounds the same and that hip hop is dead (the gray kid will tell you otherwise and nas new single is act...
Posted by SIMON on Sat, 13 Jan 2007 08:13:00 PST

Bella Union

if you are my friend then you might like to find out what i do with my spare time when i am not on myspace! i run a very nice record label. you might like to go there: www.myspace.com/bellaunion  ...
Posted by SIMON on Mon, 08 Jan 2007 07:49:00 PST

Loney,Dear...Sologne

this is one of the most incredible albums i own.....   if you do one thing this week, you should go and buy it...it will seriously make your life better. i mean, seriously... simon xx...
Posted by SIMON on Thu, 04 Jan 2007 06:57:00 PST