The second Song of the Day album in as many days from New York musicians. Start spreading the news, again lads. Sophomore album Your Day Will Come sounds neat in my living room on a Thursday evening.Endorsed by big hitters like Lorde, Rosalia and Billie Eilish. The record is elusive and high;y seductive.Chanel Beads
What more could you want on a Friday morning than More Songs About The Sun. Just on cue here come Pye Corner Audio with just that. Feelgood electro throbbing chugging into clear waters and heading for the distant horizon. It seems clear we have the wind in our sails !
The best way to be drawn unto a new record I find is to hear it first time in a record shop.Yesterday I wandered into Canterbury after a long day teaching. I made my way down St Margarey's Lane and poppped in at Vinylstore Jr to see my pal Nick making last minute preparations for Record Store Day. He had the new Squarepusher album Kammerkonzert on his turntable.
It sounded great and now it sounds great again as I'm listening to it in my parent's living room as the evening draws to a close.. Punchy, Jazzy exercises that might surprise those who associate Tim Jenkinson with more obviously 'Street' exercises from way back when . This is a thrilling record
I listened to Jesse Ware's latest album Superbloom last night. I'm listening to it again now. She takes the heady essential ingredients of original Seventies Disco. Distuls them to the essence and then unleashes the cork and allows you to rise to the ceiling like Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins. So you're floating up towards the ceiling. With all your favourite people. The helium fuelled staircase to heaven !
I have this album on record and every time I play it it immediately makes me want to own all of Broadcast's albums on vinyl. They were a quite extraordinary band . A band that sound as if they are turning the world spinning backwards in time.
It's that Velvet Underground sound ! Full of great tunes this one. A good song to me is like a narrative. Something that takes you in and takes you away. That has a melodic, lyrical, rhythmic or dissonant resonamce that transports you to a magical space and rises up to the challenge of your rival.
The Fragiles third album Sing The Heat Of The Sun is full of such narratives. And they knit together with propulsive and compelling energy. Kicking off like The Feelies adandoned offspring. They switch and change throughout the album but always take the weather with them. Heaven ! Independent heaven.
This is by turns wan and suburban. But it's also rather fearsome and deceptive. Fragile and wan. There's something just beautiful about this sound even if its instantly familiar
You can buy a vinyl copy of Parachutes in Waterstone's if you wish to. Well 'We live in a beautiful world' as the song goes. I was in Sicily when Coldplay broke. I found them a bit wet . Then I went to Poland. A Rush of Blood To The Head came out and a beautiful Polish woman drove me from Katowice To Krakow and back one wonderful day and I came round to them rather. But I'm listening to this and it still sounds rather wet
Lenny Kaye strikes me as an admirable man. A Rock & Roll Man. Goin' Local his debut solo album at the age is simplicity and wonder and really rather lovely. This strikes me as tapping on a seam of honey. Into an essence. It's a quite beautiful record of childlike wonder.
Philadelphia's Labrador's first album for four years The Rosy Red World has a wonderful sleeve. An image of unwashed plates and cups in a sink. The scene that greets most of us at some point every day. Also a wonderful opening song 'It's mine all mine.' The resounding sound of clanging chords. Crazy Horse reborn.
Labrador are an American Bar Band im excelsis. You can hear the sound of the left of the dial AOR Alternative Classics echoing in every song . Creedence. Sir Douglas Quintet , Replacements, Reigning Sound. Labrador keep it simple. And bring home the bacon for breakfast.
'The moral of the story is fish....'
Theres always space in the pop marketplace for the new loundmouth on the block. You're Gonna Need a Little Music Leeds band Yard Act's album tells you very early on that it has nothing to say and then goes on for 40 minutes anyway, after namechecking David Gedge and Howard Devoto in the first three minutes . And piling it on from that point on as if the Arctic Monkeys never even happened
It's like spending an evening in a pub with someone twenty years younger than you who thinks they're hilariousy funny and you're lucky to be in their company and never stop to ask you what you think. It's reasoably diverting but never really makes its own case.
Let's face it many some us grew up with Morrissey, Ian Curtis, Ian McCulloch, Paddy MacAloon and Mark E.Smith. Those before us had John Lydon, Joe Strummer and Pete Shelley. Ten years earlier their were Lennon, Jagger. Ray Davies and Townshend. A few years earlier they had The Kitchen Sink and Thr Angry Young Men. Sillitoe, Braine, Osborne and Amis.
One thing these lists have all got in common . There are no women there. You're Gonna Need a Little Music is all very well but it might have cast its net slightly wider. But Stop Me If you Think You've Heard This One Before.
I went to a Record Player event when thinks suddenly clicked into space about Kraftwerk. They were describing the future.
Chicago's National Photo Committee are a proper throwback on long awaited debut album Red Hot Photo Committee. To eccentric American alternative days of yore; Silver Jews, Sebadoh and Pavement, Dinosaur Jr, , The Colorblind James Experience, Camper Van Beethoven. Eccentric misdirections that take you back to the Eightires and out onto the open road.
This is joyous flying of the freak flag. This kind of expression cannot and will not be repressed. The best way to go forwards is sideways. The record sleeve is emblazoned in resplendent tigers. The album itself is pure joy and artistic expression and camaraderie of the kind that will never go out of fashion.
Relentless.Strangely exhiliariating. See how long you last
It's Robyn Hitchcock the grand old dame of English Psychedelic Rock with his latest album The Confuser. He's as unashamedly reto as he ever was. Looking back to '65-'67. The Byrds and Barrett's Floyd. This will not change your world.. It may brighten up your day. Songs about Dead Astronauts played by a man with a floppy fringe in a polkadot shirt
In the high summer of Punk, while I was between Primary and Secondry School John Lydon (nee Rotten( went onto Capital Radio in discussion with Tommy Vance and played a number of his favourite records. This didn't go down down well with NcLaren and Glitterbest but left an incrdible document and an indication of where Jonny was heading,
Notwist always make me think of a late friend who loved them. Music is like that. They have a new record out there which is excellent. They stay the course. Neon Golden is from the start thoughtful, reflective and rewarding. Wordy. Good words.
'Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and the world laughs at you.'
Getting through the day by the skin of their teeth. Bristol's Langkamer are up and at them on tour in an Indie venue near you in support of fourth album No .
It's old school Indie guitar joy. A kissig cousin of Courtney Barnett and Bill Ryder Jones. Dating back to Teenage Fanclub, Pavememt, Lemonheads et al. And beyond that to XTC, Neil Young and The Velvet Underground Attitude and swagger, And devil may care shrug,
I warmed to No immediately. It lives in the moment. And encourages you to do the same/Old fashioned fun. An excellent record. Yes from me !
Nagoya's finest. A bowl headed quintet Trooper Salute release one of the most evocative and versatile records you'll hear this or any other year in debut album Tomodatchi (I Had Friends). Talking about the important frontiers between youth and adulthood. The record draws on recognisable genres like Shoegaze and Math Rock in a by turns yearning, unashamedly emotional, playful and daring manner. It strikes me this has staying power.
Saturday morning becomes Saturday afternoon. And Jesca Hoop's new album Long Wave Home suddenly is a preferable option to.... well anything. It's like sitting diwn and switching on your TV to find The Clangers or Noggin The Nog playing. And.getting yourself a cup of tea and some toast. And leaning back on the settee.
Long Wave Home is a reminder that's not really needed of what makes her such a singular and cherishable artist. It's a playful, intricate set of songs shifting fluently between the personal and the political. From the off the album feels like a process of gradual accumulation if beauty.
The songs feel complementary. Not showy. Music like this is a placebo fundamentally. A message that things are going to be OK. Calm your nerves and make yourself anither piece of toast. Curl up. Which is precisely what I intend to do,
Pavement were always rather wilful. That was their charm . And their flaw. Stereo is one of the mst annoying songs I've ever heard.It was chosen as a single for some reason. Elsewhere they pile on the quirks and the melody. The whole point of the band was that they were smarter than thou and incredibly pleased with themselves. Their influence is quite measureless. They predateand chime with the Post Millennial condition. We're all too clever for our own good.
It's Robyn Hitchcock the grand old dame of English Psychedelic Rock with his latest album The Confuser. He's as unashamedly reto as he ever was. Looking back to '65-'67. The Byrds and Barrett's Floyd. This will not change your world.. It may brighten up your day. Songs about Dead Astronauts played by a man with a floppy fringe in a polkadot shirt
The Strokes and I have history. Twenty five years ago, between their first and second albums I went to New York City with a good friend and his partner and we seriously considered moving there. Partly because of the Strokes and the scene they'd inhstigated and spearheaded there.
We saw Interpol and The Walkmen while we were there. Aso Mo Tucker and watched Alan McGee DJ-ing . Visited Trump Tower. Had some intense and memorable experience. It was a few months from 9/11. I met a guy in a bar who I later suspected might have been there. The idea haunted me for a while. We drank a lot of beer walked, experienced the great city to the full. I haven't been back. I'm not sure I will.
The move was not feasible. New York City like everywhere then and now was in the process of gentrifying and I didn't have a skillset that was required. I also decided it probably wasn't for me much as I loved it. . Instead I went to Wroclaw, Poland by train and got the teacher training qualifications and skillset that I required to get to where I needed. To gain some kind of authority and have at least some idea about what I'm doing inside and outside the classroom. I'm glad I became a teacher. It's the great road.
While I was in Wroclaw that long hot summer of 2002. I listened to Is This It ? a lot. I went out with a Ukranian girl who was on the course. She was working in Katowice and I was offered a job there during the course. I accepted partly because of the girl and partly because of the school she was working at which sounded like a place I needed to be.
This proved to be the case. I went to Katowice and found the road I needed to be on . The relationship didn't last but I learned a lot from the Ukranian girl . In Katowice I learned pretty much what I needed to know about what I do. I worked hard and also played hard. Learned about life and love. Met the most beuatiful woman I'll ever know. Had an incredible and joyous experience with her. Which still continues.
Now I'm 60. I'm listening to The Strokes seventh album Reality Awaits in my parents living room. . It seems pretty good to me. Veined with life and experience like we all are. But unashamedly emotional, goofy and intense and maverick and true to what made them such a great band. I'd say they remain one. It also feels like they're finding new roads. Which is something it's always a good iea to try to do.
Dogwood Tales working with Euphoria Again. Destination Heaven.. Where we're all going to meet again I trust. An emotional Alt Country band from Harrisonburg, Virginia. Another recommendation frim best friend of It Starts With a Birthstone Darren Jones, aka First mate Starbuck. Thanks again Darren, this is rather lovely.
Records like this see, rather commonplace but always hit the spot. Tou get the sense that every small town in America has a bend like this. Setting up their gear onstage and getting ready to play. Steel pedal player sat at a desk at the back of the room. Letting the days go by. Same s it ever was.
All Clouds Bring Rain by MEMORIALS is a Psychedelic Folk Album of the Modern stripe.. It's warm and and full of inventive and melodic. moodshifts. File beside Jane Weaver and Naima Bock.
England are labouring in Atlanta against. I have the TV on, but the volume down. I'm afraid I've seen this too many times and I have Francis of Delirium's Run Run Pure Beauty. on at my desk. Luxembourg's finest woe is me merchant. Some things never go out of fashion
Accessory is one of the less inspired band monikers I've stumbled across of late. But I'm altogether taken by their latest album Dust. The man behind accessory is jason Ball and the band come out of Chicago. The record is like its title . Indie motes in sunlight, coming together and then drifting apart. There's much beauty and wonder to be experienced here.
The one that was hige. Before MGMT decided that what they really wanted to be was the Television Personalities. There's nowt as strage as some American.Folk. But the album is magical and charts fresh pathways. It's unconstructed by genril constraints and considerations like all great Millennium records.
My Uncle Malcolm died recently. He was my last remaining Uncle. We had a special friendship in his last few years. From COVID on. We corresponded on Whatsapp about film and books and family. Work and aging. Rail travel. All kinds of things.He was an incerdibly funny and erudite man. Sweet and wise and sometimes sad. Like the best people who you know ,I'll always miss him.
We sometimes spoke about music as it's my central preoccupation. Hence, this. But it wasn't worth dwelling on things too much as we had much more to talk about when it came to books and films. Malcolm didn't care for Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie or Kate Bush who I raised as converation points . I didn't really feel it worth pursuing though he was interested in the writing I do on here. He wrote himself.
He said that he liked Julia Holter which surprised me as it seemed out of character. He wasn't someone who ccould be pigeonholde.and I'm listening to Aviary now as I make my way into my Wednesday morning journey my lessons. My 'work' .
Aviary is symphonic and mysterious. Enigmatic. Reminds me of Bjork sometimes. Of an orchestra warming up at others. It's rather incredible and mysterious. I have Malcolm's dialogue with me on my phone this morning to remind me of his singular voice. As for Aviary. It's like being in a conservatory. A hothouse.Tendrils. Palms. Interior life. There's a lot here. . It's rather wonderful. I'm glad Malcolm liked this. I do too.
'The moral of the story is fish....'
Theres always space in the pop marketplace for the new loundmouth on the block. You're Gonna Need a Little Music Leeds band Yard Act's album tells you very early on that it has nothing to say and then goes on for 40 minutes anyway, after namechecking David Gedge and Howard Devoto in the first three minutes . And piling it on from that point on as if the Arctic Monkeys never even happened
It's like spending an evening in a pub with someone twenty years younger than you who thinks they're hilariousy funny and you're lucky to be in their company and never stop to ask you what you think. It's reasoably diverting but never really makes its own case.
Let's face it many some us grew up with Morrissey, Ian Curtis, Ian McCulloch, Paddy MacAloon and Mark E.Smith. Those before us had John Lydon, Joe Strummer and Pete Shelley. Ten years earlier their were Lennon, Jagger. Ray Davies and Townshend. A few years earlier they had The Kitchen Sink and Thr Angry Young Men. Sillitoe, Braine, Osborne and Amis.
One thing these lists have all got in common . There are no women there. You're Gonna Need a Little Music is all very well but it might have cast its net slightly wider. But Stop Me If you Think You've Heard This One Before.
A horse of a different colour. Wry, dark. Could have written novels.Did really !
Missed Dunks at Summer League debut album Fared Well. The band hail from Greensboro North Caroline. They find a subdued groove somewhere between Built To Spill and Murray Street Sonic Youth. Then ride it round the block onto the highway and into the sunset.
This is a record that builds a fabulous atmosphere of its own drawing evidently on that Nineties sound but building its own nest. And it's a snug rug indeed. Highly more-ish !!!
It's Monday morning and I have a fresh Lido Pimenta album Caribenya to empower me and kick start the working week. It's a wonder which reminds you if you require a reminder of the wonder of the world and how little we understand of the sheer miracle of existence.
I don't speak Spanish though perhaps I should as I have any number of Spanish relatives. But this has rhythms and tendrils that speak a universal language and summon the listener to the dance and the feast,
Waxahatchee, Kevin Corby and todays Song of the Day Star Moles chart new American highways. There will always be a need to tell old stories in new ways.
Speculative Fiction. Wipe that Smirk off your face Punk. Wondrous West Coast Dread Art Punk. X, Crime and Wipers, and Gun Club come to mind. This is a blistering entre to my evening. Breathless, claustrophobic and clutching for the divine. Or failing that a good three minute tune.
Emily Moales is Star Moales and she's on the Highway to Hell . Heading out of Philadelphia where she dwells and onto the Great American Road. Frankly this is an enchanting record akin in some ways to Kevin Morby's Little Wide Open. None of this stuff is over yet. depite the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the glass half empty brigade. Refuge can be found in the magic of the past. Back to the future. On a well travelled road.
There's magic in the desert and the soil. The well travelled roads.Highway to Hell evokes any number of signpost and further reading and listening. Learning. ; Judee Sills, Laura Nyro Joni Mitchell. Same as it ever was. Press your foot on the pedal . Wind down the window. Towards the horizon. Believe in magic
Deep breath. From 2006. Is Bob drunk? He seems in a loose mood. There's fun to be had !
Pop Matters had a tagline which caught my attention yesterday 'Dorea's second album is vulnerable and seaworthy' Like a gullible carp casting its gills around a meaty hook I couldn't help myself. Or alternatively as a Blog writer who enjoys sea metaphors myself.
It's an altogether enchanting record. I'm very taken by albums that make you feel like you're in a dream and O Que Mais Voce Quer Saber De Mim Has that intent and impact. Sometimes Brazilian records in the Tropicalia tradition do this best. It casts a spell that broadens and stengthens its grip with cunning stealth.
Searows Death in the Business of Whaling. An album that I was naturally disposed to warm to given that I've adopted the pursuit of whaling as a metaphor for the journey, guiding principles and momentum of this blog. We drive into the coming storm prow aloft head onwards in the face of it because it's all we can do. Where was I? Ah yes Searows,
This is folk essentually and dispenses atmosphere and tenacity in spades. This record has precedent; Big Thief, Alex G, Phoebe Bridgers and Ethel Cain.Glum resilience and digged and admirable durability. I'm much taken with this.,
Cindy from San Francisco. They're playing songs from The Velvet Underground Songbook, Their latest album Another Country. As I rise and pack and prepare for a train journey South to be with my elderly parents.
Now I'm down South in my family's bosom with all the madness that entails. I have Another Country on again and actually it feels rather like Christmas. Perfect soundtrack. Mum is downstairs preparing tea. All is right in the World. Frankly, if this is Another Country, I'd like to go there immediately.
We must live in the moment and appreciate our good fortune. I appreciate mine. Cindy make me appreciate it more. They don't veer from a well established formula that has kept me happy for my adult life and will do so as long as I'm on this earth. Until it ends with a tombstone as the blog I write's title implies.
Lenny Kaye strikes me as an admirable man. A Rock & Roll Man. Goin' Local his debut solo album at the age is simplicity and wonder and really rather lovely. This strikes me as tapping on a seam of honey. Into an essence. It's a quite beautiful record of childlike wonder.
I've been keeping this in reserve for a few weeks. Planning to post it on a Sunday. Now is the time. It's no longer Sunday Morning but here are the Sunday Mourners. You know what you're getting very early on with A Rhythm Absolute . And that's what you get for ten songs and 41 minutes.
Strokes, meets Nap Eyes meets Television meets Richard Hell & the Voidoids . 'We were saying let us out of here before we were even born. 'There's little deviation from the set script but if it's broke as the saying goes, why fix it ! This is an album that seriously rocks in an appropriately unhinged manner.
Wilco don't really sound like a Millennium Band. If anything they sound like the band that picked up the torch from R.E.M. after Bill Berry left. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has a grand majesty and scope. It's old school but feels like a cool set of dads hitting the dance floor on the High School Reunion Ball.
I saw Wilco in Newcastle about 16 years ago fairly soon after I'd arrived in Newcastle. I'm glad I've seen them. I always get the sense that they're actually quite modest in the way that bands I really love tend to be.
Sometimes you hear a record that you're not at all sure about initially which gradually insinuates itself as the tracks succeed one another to a point at which your under a spell and falling fast and falling free. Such has been the case this evening with Miserable Chillers Innocent Victims. Their first for six years I'm told.
Wilco meets Astrid Gilberto meet Everything But The Girl at a bus stop and make their way into town on a Friday Night. This will do for a Thursday.
So do you want the good news? Or the good news? I only have good news here. What do you think this us the Daily Telegraph.? Fox News? Well where exactly should I start. It's only February and I seem to have enough great new albums on my playlist for songs of the day for the next week and a half at the very least.
Leeds Noise Pop Merchants Tulpa are first up. and make playung guitars made me feel like I was sevnteen all over again on latest album Monster Of The Week. It's an unreconstructed alternative guitar record and you can trace the bans inspirations within seconds. But that's no burdem for anyone who loves the sounds if streamlines guitars and harmonised reflectuins on the life condution,
Pavement, Teenage Fanclub and theur cpntemporary equivalents are the reference points. We're all twenty four hours from Tulsa. Heading towards Spring.
I saw That Petrol Emotion several times between 1985 and 1987. They broadened my plate. Directed me towards Beefheart and Ubu. Reminded me why I liked the Stones run of simgles from 1965 to 1967 so much. Thrill is the operative word.
But they were also highly politicised and they look the camera straight in the lens. They could play at time when a lot of British bands couldn't . I'm listening to Manic Pop Thrill and its making me feel young again.It's a claustrophobic album. Plenty of contrast. Fury. Melody. It's one that I come back to and will keep doing so.
It's Wednesday. But I'm going through the day. Sweeping through Thursday and Friday to the weekend. And SUNDAYCLUB by sundayclub. A duo from rural Manitoba who appear to have been reared on Shoegaze and The err Sundays and swept through to Allvays. This is precisely what you might expect. But life is not always about taking risks and this will do me as I make some breakfast and make my way to lessons two and three.
Another day. Another Euro. Bibi Club are a Canadian Pop Duo operating in French to a large degree though not exclusively. Latest album Amaro has a fractured intensity that lit up my Mercredi..
Apparently they explore the Liminal Spaces between the here and beyond. It's a response to the passing if lived ones. Letting the days go by. Another recommendation from Starbuck, Darren Jones Meilleure Ami pour It Starts With a Birthstone. Merci Beaucoup Starbuck. Encroyable.
Lauren Auder's Whole World as Vigil is exactly the kind of album that the chattering classes like to chatter about. Precious and drab and probably shortly off to the South of France to recline by a pool. It's the kind of record that seems mostly intent to irritate and enrage the likes of me . Did she really just rhyme BREXIT with taxes. I'm not stopping to fact check. . This is the kind of thing which seems designed to get under the skin of Blog writers like me who are looking for something that reminds them of Pavement to set their Tuesday off on the right foot . Oh it's insufferbale. Bring back Nik Kershaw !.
Life's Too Good is an album I associate with a difficult time in my life. Life always has dangerous aspects to it and we're foolish if we think that danger will ever completely dematerialize or vanish from the horizon. That's the joy.. That's what makes life the great adventure. John Peel fastened onto Birthday and this strange and uncompromising and wondrous album appeared a few months down the line. I didn't really appreciate it at the time. I find it reckless, jittery and altogether wonderful now/ like the best records you feel a new colour has been invented. Willy Wonka has arrived with an entirely new taste !
You carry the people who depart before you for the rest of your days. The ones who leave too soon. You do what you can to bear them with you. To carry their joy with you. To live each day with their flames inside you. It's not always easy but you owe them that. As well as those who are also going forward without them.
A very good friend of mine, the music friend of my lifetime, told a story about this album. About how he was going through a religious phase at school and had been listening to God from this album one day when he was at boarding school and had jumped at a key point and he'd wondered whether it was a religiously inspired moment. And then I imagine he then took a toke of his spliff. The stuff that probably went on to kill him. I miss him. Still.
I think about Matt when I listen to this record. But I also think about Lennon. I didn't really know who John Lennon was until he died. I thought Paul McCartney was The Beatles because he'd been the ever present one while I was growing up in the Seventies. 'Someone's knocking at the door on the Mull Of Kintyre on mists rolling in from the sea...' I was a late developer. Musically. And in other ways.
But Plastic Lennon / Yoko Ono Band helps you to catch up and takes your breath away in quick succession. You're shocked then charmed. You smile. Then feel ike crying. At his rage . And pain. And sense of love. And drive to go on. It's an astonishing record . You get the sense that if he was in the same room as you are in now that he would be hard work frankly. But that you'd be sorry when he left the room. Don't be like the folks on the hill. Whoever they are. Turn over the record instead...
