Wednesday, July 31, 2024
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 15 Queen
'She keeps a Moet Chandon, in her pretty cabinet..'
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 295 Duran Duran - Rio
Oh Duran Duran. Now where do I start. They were preposterously smug. They could play and some of their singles were alright but they were hideously smug and they epitomised all the worst apects of Yuppie Aspiration and Market Forces Thatcherism that ripped a decent society to pieces . It's never quite recovered. I lie The Chauffeur. Geerally I go for some songs from the debut and that's pretty much it. There is better music to listen to. If you're after this kind of sound I suggest Japan. They were better looking too.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,855 Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Sam Beam, who has been doing the Iron & Wine thing for over twenty years now is a gentle, winding New Folk taste that you will have clutched to your heart by now if you are ever likely to. If not, this is as good a place to start as any. I was softly enchanted.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 149 Mount Kimbie - The Sunset Violent
An upturned car in the ditch at the side of a road. An arresting sleeve image I thought. The record attached to it is equally arresting. Mount Kimbie's The Sunset Violent comes across as an Arthouse Noir Murder Mystery best experienced without knowing a thing about it in advance.
Dominic Maker and Kai Campos first record together since 2017 This is an album that defies easy labels. Pitchfork chuck any number of them within the opening two paragraphs of its review; Post-Dub, Post-Punk, Techno, Lo-Fi, Shoegaze and Post-Rock. Why not just call it original, because that's what this certainly is.
The Pitchfork reviewer gets more and confused the longer he writes. He ends up giving the record 6.8, I thought in frustration at his inability to pigeonhole and contain it. Typical Pitchfork I'd say. I think he sells the album short with his grade and his review.
It's an album which plots its own course and is a facinating ride as a consequence. Put your headphines on and enjoy the record. I wouldn't have thought it will be an experience you'll understand. Much like a stroll round an oddball art unstallation at your local Contemporary Art Gallery. That's not so say you won't find it a rewarding and memorable experience. I certainly did.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,812 Romi O
'Brooklyn artist Romi O (formerly Romi Hanoch) had to embark on both a literal and sonic journey before finding the formula for her debut album Edges.'
The album is a pretty damned fine one. Certainly genre defting as Cone Magazine describe it. Romi O moved from her hometown in Tel Aviv to Brooklyn eight years ago. It's a record that's constantly shifting,. In terms of language rhythm, pace and tone
'I have always had a very hard time picking just one thing, so this whole project represents the freeom to do whatever makes sense for the song.'
I won't bust a gut trying to describe it. It's a record best listened to rather than read about. It's sensitive, brave, refuses to be tied down and frequently gentle and touching. Go Romi O !
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 150 Emilee South - LUXURY
Election Day in the UK. Never mind that. What's Song of the Day on It Starts With a Birthstone? Very kind of you to ask. Well it's Emillee South and her new album LUXURY.
It's slightly generic Indie fare. At least on the surface. A little bit Billy Nomates. A little bit Courtney Barnett. Stir in some Nadiah Shah. Season with Anna Calvi. Bring to the boil.
In essence there you have it. It's not a bad ride. The kind of rollercoaster where you might find yourself heading straight back to the back of the queue once you're done. One that might go dowm well with adrenalin hunters.
Warrington- Runcorn New Town Development Plan - Your Community Hub
The latest Warrington- Runcorn New Town Development Plan record sounds much like previous installments on this remarkable set of musical conceits and journeys have.
This is not so much a development as a refinement,. Variations on a theme. Records that sound like a member of Kraftwerk's dreams if the member of Kraftwerk had been raised in Lancashire in the fifties and Sixties rather than the Ruhr gebeit.
I hope this series runs and runs. I'm not going to compare this with previous Warrington- Runcorn records. That would be missing the point. Anither excellent exercise in atmosphere.
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 16 Cockney Rebel
'An ode to flanboyance written by an arrogant young Steve Harley whose arch vocal mannerisms gave it a Carmen Miranda quality,'
I See You Live On Love Street - Music From Laurel Canyon 1965 - 1975 # 54 Crazy Horse
One of the saddest songs I know. The version you need.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 296 Orange Juice - Rip It Up
The second Orange Juice album, omce they'd shifted entirely, spirirually as well as physically from Postcard to Polydor was not as mich celebrated as their first. Even though they landed theur one and only hit and made it to Top of the Pops surely their spiritual home. This strikes me as slightly unfair. It's a terrific record. Their wings had not been clipped.
Nevertheless there's plenty to love and treasure about Rip It Up. It strikes me as a record company rather than a band failure that Can't Help Myself and Flesh Of My Flesh didn't frolic in the Yop 40 and on daytime radio for weeks, There's plenty else to cherish. Not least Zeke Manyika. They were a fantastic band and no mistake. There are more ideas, more vibrancy in single songs than other bands mustered in entire careers.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,856 Van Morrison - Into The Music
Van was becoming portly but he still had a spring in his chubby stride...
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 151 Antonio Adolfo - Love Cole Porter
Reviewed with loving attention by a friend of mine Lance Liddell from the Jazz Scene in Newcastle. Lance is a lovely fellow who worked in Windows Music Shop in the Edwardian Central Arcade just off the monument.
Now Lance tends the Bebop Spoken Here Jazz Blog. Yesterady I spotted a review of Love Cole Porter, a series of interpretations of the great man's workbu Antonio Adolfo the Brazilian Jazz stalwart.
It's a predictably laid back and sumptuous record. Embracing the best things i live at its own pace. Here's Lance's review if mine lacks the requisite detail.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,811 Peace De Resitance
A weak gag. The band name I mean. A strong record,.Mose Brown of Institute goes solo once again for the second time with Lullabye For The Debris and uses the opportunity to indulge his inner Iggy.
Who can blame him. Part of Iggy's appeal, particuarly during his golden run from 1967 to 1980 was the fact that he was always something of a dork. Quite deliberately so. An idiot savant. And Brown follows suiet here to deranged effect.
If you're looking for Iggy precedents for what's going on here.I'd go The Idiot and New Values.. The Ig influency is immediate and enduring here but I'm not complaining. Not enoigh people channel his influence to such good effect I'd say.
Artistic as Johnny Jewel always was. Urgent too. A fantastic set of songs. I've used this one before but if you've got a good line why not use it again. The most fun you can have with your close on. At least for this week. .
Monday, July 29, 2024
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 17 Sweet
'The Sweet's immortal chrt-topper, as cartoonishly suspenseful as a villain unveilling in Scooby Doo.'
I See You Live On Love Street - Music From Laurel Canyon 1965 - 1975 # 53 Carly Simon
There's more to Carly than that song.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 297 John Hiatt - Slow Turning
A 1988 album from a singer songwriter I'm unfamiliar with. Gritty and earthy and definitely has its moments. He has an author's eye for the moments in life.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 152 Amigo The Devil - Yours Until The War is Over.
Are you sitting comfortably? Amigo The Devil is going to tell you a story or several. Ones which might just frighten you a little bit. But the best stories often do. Ticking the Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits influence boxes on a tick list is pretty much a day pass for approval on a blog like mine. This generally means means you can skip the queue and make your way into my virtual club and head straight to the bar.
This was immediately the case with today's Song of the Day artiste Amigo The Devil . He's certainly born and bred on Tom which is never a bad thing and the healthy nature of the gallows humour influence is immediately readily apparent a couple of songs into latest record Yours Until The War is Over.
Danny Kiranos the Florida raised artist behind the Amigo The Devil project is an assured fellow. His songs are vivid and winding Dark Folk narrative journeys which frequently second guess even the smartest listener. Waits is the most evident inspirational hero. If I had to bet my shirt on his favourite Tom album I'd probably go Rain Dogs. It's up there on my list too.
Anyhow, the record's a treat. It's on my Albums of the Year list halfway through the records first play. There's nothing wrong with being heavily influenced if you burrow your way to the essence of the thing you love and use it well to create your own art. That's certainly the case here. This record has not a dull moment and you can't help thinking that Tom and Len are nodding their approval from their box seats.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,857 The Cure - Boys Don't Cry
Boy's Don't Cry is like no other Cure album. In many ways the first album is always the most interesting one. It finds them discovering themselves. Leafing through their paperbacks. Becoming. From 17 Seconds they find a groove. This finds them preparing themselves.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,810 Robber Robber
Backwards drumming. I've always been a sucker for backwards drumming. I'm not a musician in case you cannot guess but that's how I'd describe some of the playing of two of my favourite drummers; Billy Ficca of Television and Jaki Liebezeit of Can. Uncanny and remarkable, But frequently appearing to drum backwards.
Backwards drumming was one of the main things that drew me immediately into the orbit of Intro (Letter From The Other Sue Of The Operation) the first track from Wild Guess by Robber Robber, a duo from Burlington, Vermont with clear and intense Punk intent.
'All movement, - and consequently a lot of art - is a product of tension and release.' So says the band's Bandcamp bio. Ir's an interesting open gambit. And Wild Guess meets and surpasses the band's premise.
This reminds me in turns of Television, Pixies, Breeders, Throwing Muses, Sleater Kinney and Wire. The good stuff. Urgent, uptight and fierce. Ferocious. Barely caged. A good way to start the working week and no mistake. Grr! Go get 'em tigers.
Sunday, July 28, 2024
Nights Out This Year - # 1 The Chills & Rats on Rafts at the Cluny (June)
' Tell me a story. Let me drift..' Frantic Drift
The wonderful weather continues. So does my year of gigging recklessly. Last night was the twelfth by my estimation. I need to start looking for some more. The Chills are one of the most important ones of my year thus far. They take me back. Back to The Eighties. They're high on the list of bands that are absolutely sacred to me. When I listen to them, I'm transported back to my past, when I was discovering adult life for the first time. Monday night was like time travel. And judging by the faces of some of the people at the Cluny when they finished, I was far from alone.
I started late. I had my Sunday spent with Pete Astor and Nev Clay to itemise on the blog here. I'm having so many of these incredible gig experiences in 2023, it would be rude not to tell other people. So it was past four before I was done, had given mum a call and was able to get out and enjoy the sun. England is uncommonly good at this weather thing lately.
First I went to Beatdown Records opposite me. Sam was there. I love the other guys in the shop but I'm always so pleased when Sam is there. He's like a great big oversized kid, or doll. With his floppy hair and oversized dead mens charity shop suits, the way he's always studying something. Scrutinising some piece of paper without being able to work out quite what it is. He's always playing Syd Barrett whenever he can. I heartily approve of this.
Sam's my Rock & Roll friend. He's lead singer and guitarist for local band No Teeth. Ludicrous Geordie Dadaists who I saw giving their new album's launch party at The Cumberland Arms a few weeks back. I tell him about my night at Bobik's, show him my copy of C-86, signed by Pete Astor and describe the scene.
I flip through the book, remarking on how may of the bands might be of interest to him. There were so many bands at that time who wanted to be what No Teeth want to be. Ramshackle, chaotic experiments in living and gigging. In honour of Syd Barrett, Captain Beefheart and The Fall. Stump, Cud, Age of Chance, Bogshed. They couldn't play, they didn't make sense, they didn't care. You could make a good argument that they were totally crap. a waste of electricity. Again they didn't care. It was what being young was all about.
Sam is living that dream now. He wrote down the names of the bands I mentioned. Then in return told me his tale of overdosing at 18 on Jack Daniels and goodness knows what else at The Dog & Parrot, Newcastle's home for youthful over-indulgence. He almost died. Got rushed to hospital and got the telling off of his life from his mum. The wonders of youth.
Then onto The Dog & Parrot itself which is a stone's throw from Beatbox. More youth. The pool table, tattoos and an indie soundtrack over the system. A coke and basket of chips. But I'm running out of time. Onwards for a quick cider and songs on the jukebox with Chloe at The Telegraph.
This is Chloe's last night. She's bored and feels under-appreciated here, She can't wait to leave. She has plans to go to Australia. early next sure. I'll miss her though. Chloe's sweet and smart and I'll be sad to lose her bored look and her big bug eyes as she slumps across the counter mournfully as if she's at a wake in the invariably deserted Telegraph in the afternoons..
I haven't had time to swim or eat properly so I feel restless. I'm definitely one for routine. Aren't we all. So along the Quayside into the hills and down the slope into the Ouseburn Valley. The half mile stroll to The Cluny I've been taking so often recently. The Yellow Brick Road.
I'm thick with wonder and anticipation of what awaits me this evening. Because I'm going to see The Chills and they're one of the great loves of my musical life. The Chills, The Go Betweens, The Clean, The Triffids. Vistas of Antipodean experience and happiness. Some incredible pain too. That's what life has to offer you. Don't kid yourselves. It's all part of the package. There was more, the whole phenomenal Flying Nun roster, but this was at the core of it for me. A promise that is wonderfully only being fully realised now right now with all the great music coming out of New Zealand and Australia. The colonies revenge..
I wander down the slope and there they are sat around the table with beers and soft drinks. The Chills. And there he is. The man himself. Martin Phillipps, the band's guiding visionary. He's a large man and he has a large face. I know his story and he's experienced a lot of pain that often goes along with the gift of remarkable creativity. He's been compared with Brian Wilson and Syd Barrett and there are certainly parallels.
I'm lost in emotion. His songs have meant so much to me over the years. I think he's a complete genius. I'm not exaggerating. I'm really not. My eyes begin welling up, I approach him and his big face turns to me. I say something to him about how much his band and his songs mean to me, how they're one of the very best. He's obviously appreciative of my praise and thanks me.
I'm not sufficiently immersed in the history of the band to know which of the others gathered around the table are Chills. They seem a happy crew, basking in the sun like happy seals. There's a bearded American in a Scars T-Shirt who I'll chat to later. A pretty slim blond lady in a lovely coloured dress who looks like a New Zealand cousin of Amanda and Lindy from the Go Betweens with the loveliest beam of joy on her face. A thickset broad shouldered man in fabulously managed dreads which stretch down to his waist. I'll see them all later. Get to know them better.
Still shaken by the unexpected experience I wander into the venue, Walter, the guy from Wandering Oak who organises half of the gigs I go to, is there at the door. Exchanging tickets for a black stamp on the back of your hand. Next to him the merch table manned by a doe eyed young woman. The table is covered with fabulous product for The Chills and Rats on Rafts all of which I want instantly.
Next to me at the table are the strangest young couple. He's a tall slim man boy. Taller than me. He's wearing a Television Personalities T Shirt. The 'Mummy Your not Watching Me' sleeve. There's a small blond girl with him in blond ponytails. She resembles no-one so much as Jaws elfin girlfriend in The Spy Who Loved Me.
They are both frothing uncontrollably at the mouth in manic fervor. And when I write fervor, this does their condition no justice. We're talking Beatlemania. I'll refer to them as the Beatlemaniacs from now on. What are they frothing about? About The Chills and how they're their favourite band ever. About The Television Personalities and how they might be. About goodness know what else. I can't keep up. Still, I'm touched by them. They remind me of myself. Of how I was in my youth. I was never as bad as they are. But I remember my first beer. My first kiss, We'll stop there.
I tell Daniel and Catherine that The Chills are sitting outside and they start frothing again and rush outside to greet their heroes. I buy a Chills T-Shirt from the doe eyed girl and chat to those around me about how I love the Flying Nun label and The Chills particularly. Daniel is back and lends me the pen which Martin has used to sign his product. I go out myself. I'd like to get my t-shirt signed myself. Martin is otherwise detained so I chat with a Scottish guy who lives in Darlington, who I'd met up at the Pete Astor gig last night. Then I get in the queue to see Martin. I don't plan to talk to him. I know he's a sensitive man who's been through a lot. A signature will do me.
I'm confronted by a strange apparition. An intense, but clearly shy young woman lacking in confidence and rather full of herself at the same time. She says there'll be plenty of time for that after the gig when they'll do a meet and greet. I say I only want to get my shirt signed. I don't want to hang around after the gig, though I don't say that. I'm confused. She won't let it go. There will be time after the gig. I'm a bit lost again. 'What's it got to do with you.' 'I'm the tour manager' she says. 'Oh that's ridiculous' I tell her. She's a bit stunned. She doesn't know how to speak to people of my age. I slope back into the venue, determined not to lose my temper over such a trivial matter when I'm in such a good mood. She's hardly Peter Grant or Epstein.
Rafts on Rats are just on inside. They're five impossibly young Dutch people. Immaculately dressed in a cool for school way. Mostly in black. I've been very impressed by their 2022 album, Excerpts from Chapter 3; The Mind Runs a Net of Rabbit Paths. would you believe it and have been looking forward to seeing them.
There is plenty of room, the gig is well populated, but certainly not sold out. I plant myself at the lip of the stage. Initially I'm not as impressed by Rats on Rafts, apart from their look and stage manner which is intense and committed. Intensity had been what I'd been roused by in their record. The way they babbled frantically. Not unlike the Beatlemaniacs who are next to me. Leaping around like deranged escaped members from a cult..
It turns out that The Rats are largely trying out material for their forthcoming record. This is admirable though I'm not sure it's all worked out yet. Suddenly though, they click into gear and I get what I'd been hoping four. The four front people, the two young guys and the two girls flanking them start yelling at the top of their lungs.
It's apocalyptic. It's also brilliant and original. Most of all, the descriptions that fit best to Raft on Rats are apocalypse and dystopia. Think of the mood of The Clash's London Calling, (the single) meets the War of the World soundtrack and stretched out to a 40 minute set of Post Punk friction, melody and terror. It's the end of the world as we know it and the carnage stems and spreads from Rotterdam. I think they're terrific and tell their lead singer, who looks like a young Robert Forster, with a splendid perched hair do, just how wonderful they are. I mean highly promising really, I think they haven't quite realised the greatness within them yet, but they're on the way.
I switch wings of the stage and fiddle with the camera on my phone. I've been given advice in The Telegraph and am determined to get some half decent snaps this time.
The Chills slowly gather onstage and they're off. There is a keyboardist and drummer at the back and the three pronged front line of the blond lady, Martin and the braided prop forward. The feeling that they gave me when they started to play was one of the most extraordinary emotions I've ever had at a gig in almost forty years of going to them. I'll never forget it. I was finally getting to see heroes of mine after all these years of loving them and hoping to see them play. They were all I ever wanted and more. It was all going to be alright. I was bathed in light.
With The Chills, much of the wonder they create is anchored by their bass sound. It's like an undertow, an anchor around which their glorious melody and tales of escape into childhood love nd joy, gather and bloom. As someone said to me after it was over, they're like a perfect marriage of Joy Division and The Byrds. But they're also so distinctively New Zealand. Nautical wonder. You're swimming in clear water. Exploring the coral..
The prop forward and a fabulous whirling dervish drummer are in charge of the engine room. Martin and Amanda's cousin provide the melody and light. A keyboardist flits between defence and attack. They're a band who know exactly what they're doing and how to do it. It really doesn't matter what songs they play as I reflect with the Scars T-Shirt guy who is standing right behind me grinning from ear to ear. They have the formula, the sound and they're casting their spell. The story is about to be told. 'Show us the castle. Show us to their lair.' Rolling Moon.
They play plenty I knew. Plenty that I need to know. The Chills recording history goes back forty years now and contains plenty of wonder. They do Submarine Bells, Doledrums, Kaleidoscope World, I Love my Leather Jacket. Chills staples. What you'd expect. As part of the encore, they play a new song Counting which is about advancing years and appreciating the wonder. The man is a genus though it's not as widely appreciated as it should be. His band are one of the greats and I'm so glad I'm getting to witness and experience them in full flow.
There is more. Of course they play Pink Frost mid-set. It's one they really have to play. It's not necessarily their best, I love so many. But it's a song apart and one that has to be heard and fully appreciated to understand their wonder but also their pain. It's a narrative. About a death in the forest. A murder of a young girl. A moment of intense and ultimate dread. When they play it I'm taken to an incredible place. I'll never forget it.
But there are other blissful moments. Martin is wonderfully garrulous. He teases the Beatlemaniacs who never stop shrieking and babbling and appear to be speaking in tongues by now. But he's wonderfully indulgent with them, like a father with beloved, possibly spoilt children. Their youth, their sincere love. There is a banter back and forth but it's clear that he is always in control.
There is a questions round where Martin elicits stuff from the audience. 'Why can't you get Submarine Bells on vinyl'. I shout out at this point, 'You should have bought it at the time.' I'm naturally shy but I don't care in these situations. People laugh I'm pleased to say. I did buy it and played it earlier today. Then I ask a question, 'Who apart from you were your favourite band on Flying Nun?' Martin considers. 'The John Paul Sartre Experience were pretty good.' Then he says, 'that was the best question' and with a smile chucks me The Chills t-shirt that they're offering for this section of the evening. It feels like a bridal bouquet moment. I almost blush. Middle aged blokes and the Beatlemaniacs are looking at me. Sucks to you, officious and self-important Tour Manager lady. I have two Chills t-shirts now. Neither of them signed. I couldn't care less about that. Sucks to you.
There is one more moment I'll cherish. The chiming, celestial opening chords of Heavenly Pop Hit from 1990's Submarine Bells. The Chills hit that never was but damn well should have been. Their Streets of Your Town. Simon Mayo, who was Radio 1 Breakfast DJ played it relentlessly and I listened in my university room in my last months as I came towards graduation. It stalled midway in the forties of the UK singles charts. A crime.
I ask the American behind me if he's in a band. I'm fairly sure he is. He says 'Yes. I' in a band called The Brian Jonestown Massacre.' The Brian Jonestown Massacre. That must be some band to be in. 'That guy,' I said. He smiles. He says they're The Chills are the most wonderful, modest unassuming people. He lives in their vicinity' Tell them for me what a truly wonderful band they are. One for the ages ' 'You should tell them yourself.' He says. They'd appreciate it. They're hanging around after the gig.' I can't do this. I'm too modest. Shy essentially. I get embarrassed. Telling my heroes how much they mean to me and have meant. For so many years. I'd start crying and I don't want to.
I'm content to walk home. Down the Quayside which is utterly serene and almost deserted. I've had the most wonderful evening and I'm really happy..
Songs About People # 1,401 Voltaire
I found watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony on Friday evening in the company of my parents an unaccoutably emotional and moving experience. It was beautifully done. Full of joy, passion and spirit. Wonderfully realised and inclusive. It also acted as a reminder to me of my own personal quite unpayable debt to French culture, poets, writers, artists, philosophers, dreamers and visionaries. Here's a song for just one.
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 18 Roxy Music
'Exit the synth operator with the peacock feathers. Enter a no less glamorous Roxy, dashing from pavement to penthouse, shiehorning endless debonair one liners into the breathless reportage of 'Street Life.'
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 298 Gang Of Four - Songs Of The Free
'Shoot, shoot. I need an order...'
Entertainment will be the core cultural artefact when the Gang Of Four are concerned. What it was like to be a Marxist student before the arrival of Thatcherism and the consumerist and largely vacuous Eighties took hold. To pull your culture amd society apart and mount the barricade against encroaching Fascism and materialism.Much better than attendung your actually lessons
Songs Of The Free came at the point when you felt they wouldn't imnd being in the charts. It had its moments. Notably I Love a Man in Uniform at the outbreak of the Falklands War. Neither it or Songs Of The Free grazed the charts to any effects. Their moment had gone The critique remains impeccable.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,858 Pet Shop Boys - Please
There's lot of opportunities. If you know how to take them...'
The Pet Shop Boys departure point. One of the great Pop journeys of the Eighties.The first of their texts. They'll be read one day as documents of the way life was lived.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 153 Orcas- How To Color a Thousand Mistakes.
When I get up I search for somethung that's going to help me organise my thoughts, Put me in a composed, structured and organised frame of mind for the day ahead,
This morning, as we reach the mid-point of the working week I've found the ideal record. Orcas', How To Color a Thousand Mistakes.
It's a florid, slightly precious title which describes a florid and occasionally precious record. But precious in a way that consistently endeavoyrs to uncover and wallow in beauty. Beauty is always something I appreciate and seek.
It;s ambient, textured Pop exercise. If you want a comparison point think John Grant fronting early R.E.M. Even Michael Stipe needed a day off sometimes.
Orcas have been doing what they do here for over 15 years since the main players first met in Seattle. They're getting good at doing what they do. They've uncovered treasure here. A slightly precious comment of my own. But preciousness is great sometimes.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,809 Sinai Vessel
'Victim of a leaking pen..'
Browsing through the playlists on a Saturday morning you can chance upon the shiniest catches, like gold glittering in a net trawl dragged aboard a fishing trawler in the early morning sunight.
Reminders of Pavement, Elliott Smith and Beck. But this is I SING. The fourth album by Caleb Cordes out of Chicago going by the Nom De Plume Sinai Vessel, a great new personal discovery.
This is great post Nineties singer songwriting that deals with introversion and the universe. Two of the great modern Internet obsessions.
Sinai Vessel manage a great balancing act here. The songs here burrow inwards and gaze outwards. An incrediblbe balancing act which is incredibly sustained and never succumbs to self pity. This is an extrordinary record.
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Songs About People # 1,400 Giselle Bundchen
Top Brazilian model and activist gets top Brazilian tribute.
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 19 Wizzard
'Like a Glam Phil Spector, Roy Wood performed this nostalgic teen epic on Top of The Pops.... a star painted on his forehead, and spent a month at Number One.'
I See You Live On Love Street - Music From Laurel Canyon 1965 - 1975 # 51 Judee Sills
Judee Sills was a particular talent. A fragile, troubled soul who sand like an angel. Albeit a fallen one.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,859 The Stone Roses - The Second Coming
So many had so much invested in The Stine Roses that many tried desperately to invest themselves in it when it finally arrived in 1994. Now it seems slightly sad. A band that had blown their early promise. Everyone loves to celbrate their youth and it had its moments, most notably Love Spreads but really the debut is all you need.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 299 The Prisoners - A Taste of Pink ?
Garage Mods. Gnarly and coiled from the off. Brings back a vision of the Eighties I was aware of but never fully embraced in the Eighties because it looked permanently backwards itself. To the kind of lifestyle celebrated in Quadrophenia..
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 154 Callum Easter - Get Forever .... Delete Don't Want
Willy Wonka had his 'little helpers' and I've got mine. Willy had his Oompa Loompas, I've got my first mate Darren 'Starbuck' Jones and my Bury correspondent Jo 'Napoli' Adkin. Invaluable advisors both. I'm very grateful for their direction and support. And pleased to spread the word further.
Here's Jo's latest suggestion. Callum Easter an Edinburgh based maverick who she caught in his support slot for Nadine Shah few days ago. I've been listening through to his latest record Get Forever .... Delete Don't Want since. It's idiosyncratic stuff which shares some DNA with early Beck and early Baxter Dury I'd say.. I like it.
It's a protest record of the best sort. There's a lot to make a stand against these days. We appear to living through unhinged times. But there are also plenty of good times to be had here too. An eccentric and cherishable vision. Out now on Lost Map Records. Nice work Jo.
Wand - Vertigo
Wand, the Los Angeles, Alternative Noise sensation contunue to wave their magic and weave their spell. Vertigo their latest record does what they've being doing so well for over a decade now. In spades.
They're an odd band, as are so many from their contemporary West Coast family tree. See Ty Segall. See Oh Sees. I'm not quite sure what everyine is on exactly but Wand are always particularly welcome at my place whenever the return with fresh product.
Somewhere between Sabbath Sparks, Radiohead and theur own headspace. This is brimming with fanaticism. Inventive glee. The joy of being alive, In the words of another Angeleno, A man who may or may not have expired in a Parisian bathtub. 'Stoned. Immaculate.'
.As so often they seem to have hoovered up the choice drugs and spew them out here with glorious abandon. A splendid Freak Flag Feast,
Song(s) of the Day # 3,808 Crack Cloud
Red Mile the latest from Calgary collective Crack Cloud places itself firmly in a nonconformist tradition. Zappa, Beefheart and the likes of Flaming Lip and Black Lips come to mind, It's a representative of a certain sensibility as much as an album of music,
I wonder how much I'll come back to this, though I enjoted listenung this morning, It's rather jarring. It doesn't attempt to hit the right notes. On the cover a member of the band in ied vermillion hair is shown, skydiving in shades.
It flies the Freak Flag, of the kind that Kesey Kerouac and Ginsberg birst planted themselves under. It's a but more discordant than the kin of thing I'm looking for but I respect its insurrection.
Friday, July 26, 2024
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,860 Iron Butterfly - In A Gadda Da Vida
Iron Butterfly have some claim to be the prototype Heavy Metal band. This is occasionally hard work sixty years on but has curiosity value.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 300 The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
Has its moments. Opening track Start Me Up where The Rolling Stones momentarily seem relevant. In 1981. Mostly they're your embarassing older uncles.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 155 Odie Leigh - Carrier Pigeon
The new bohemian beatnik schtik. Singing about your college days, and good time you spent with your roomie. If Odie Leigh had been coming of age in the early Sixties she'd have been consudering her options. Whether to relocate to Greenwich Village with her acoustic in its guitar case. Or else for the West Coast and the new dawn.
Instead she's releasing her debut album Carrier Pigeon with a fantastically designed cover which looked it was cut and pasted together with scissors, coloured paper and glue but was actually [robably done on a Mac.
As for the record. It's a delight. I' warrant that Odie knows her Joni and Rickie Lee. One glance at her Spotify lists confirms this. She knows her Marty Robbins. Her Fiona Apple.
She's used her listening and her creative skills to come up with a captivating record I was pleased yo chance upon in the early morning hours when I was struggling for shut eye. Either Way sounds like a hit to me.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,807 Snowy Band
If in doubt on It Starts, turn to Starbuck. AKA Darren Jones, first mate to this blog and faithful guide. To steer us into calmer waters from the eye of the storm. Into port for the weekend, Another excellent tip.
This morning. The Snowy Band. Not the most inspiring band name perhaps. But persevere. Because the record itself, their latest album Age Difference, is a still a gem of the most valuable kind and no mistake.
A Melbourne band. I'm always pleased to tumble across another one of those. In the words of a review I tracked down ' each song ambles through big themes like religiosity , existentialism, fear of regret, time and love.'
This is dappled, nuanced stuff. Textured. Like meeting a whole new set of people one evening from the other side of the world and realising you might have known them your whole life. You have so much in common. Thanks Darren. Another pearl.
Thursday, July 25, 2024
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 156 Vera Sola - Peacemaker
Vera Sola self consciously ticks all the classy bird, boxes you possibly might have. Latest album Peacemaker, (and that's a funny name for a record like this) flounces out of the traps with its stiletto heels clicking and frilly dress flashing. A knife between its teeth.
This is a record of a certain sort and not one you haven't heard before. Anna Calvi, PJ, Nadine Shah, Mattiel and all those other dames have been throwing these kinds of shapes for many years.
It's all wonderfully entertaining anyhow. Melodic, dramatic and up for a fight. Cast in her Spotify bio as 'the lost love child of Leonard Cohen and Nancy Sinatra' , Vera is a record company ad man's dream realised in silk and chiffon.
Peacemaker, is a devilishly accomplished record. I'm far too old to pretend it hasn't all been done before, but still young enough to be perfectly happy to experience it all once more for the road.
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