Montag, 10. Februar 2025

Monday's Long Song

 


It's simply not possible to know all the bands and records and so it takes a coincidence if you discover a band that you've never had on your radar. That's what happened to me recently when I was looking for Scandinavian guitar bands on the internet.

One of the results was a band that simply calls itself Studio. It is a band that was founded almost twenty years ago by two art students, Dan Lissvik and Rasmus Hägg, in Gothenburg, Sweden. They have only recorded one album, West Coast, which has been unjustly overlooked.

The two Swedes seem to love herbaceous trance states, which they play themselves into in extremely long sessions. On the one hand, the songs, carried by guitar licks, are strongly orientated towards krautrock, but leave enough room for meandering rhythms, borrowings from new wave and meditative scenes. In better times, their songs would have been remixed and much better known.

Studio - Life's A Beach

Sonntag, 9. Februar 2025

New Song On Sunday

 


Last week Orion Belte, a three piece band from Bergen, Norway, released their last album Mint. It's an album that seems disturbing at first, because you're tempted to believe that old wine is once again being served in new bottles.

Orion Belte play familiar music that was played several decades ago, only that they play a retro sound that can be considered contemporary due to their fresh style. It doesn't matter whether they play a flawless blues with reverberated guitars like on Joe Frazier or take a much more dynamic trip into the atmosphere with a driving beat and swirling riffs in Atlantik Surfing. All in all, one of the better new releases this year.

Samstag, 8. Februar 2025

Saturday's Three

 


Another round with songs that have Saturday in the title. We start with the Leyton Buzzards, a former pub rock band that adapted new wave in 1979, Sadly they were a one-hit wonder but their second single Saturday Night (Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees) a paean to the first wave of skin and ska culture in late 60's Britain made them unforgetable.


The next song is from the debut album by Ultravox, a band from the past glam days that turned into new wave in 1977 to become a leading band by the new romantics. This is one of those tracks that shows that they had more energy in their early days than later.


Never thought that Grateful Dead will make an appearance on this blog but this footage from 1972 shows why so many people follow them.



Freitag, 7. Februar 2025

Prisoner Of Beauty

 


The Limiñanas, a neo-psychedelic band from the south of France, are back with a new album, which is due to be released in a fortnight. As usual, they manage to span the musical spectrum from Velvet Underground to Serge Gainsbourg to Jesus and Mary Jane.

In addition to Jon Spencer, Bobbie Gillespie was also invited as a guest this time, whose voice fits perfectly with the sound underpinned by distorted guitars.


Their homage to the YéYé sound of the sixties is also very beautiful, as they cover a song by Francoise Hardy and transform its sound perfectly into the here and now.





Donnerstag, 6. Februar 2025

Small Axe

 


If he were still alive, Bob Marley would be 80 years old today. Much has been written about his life, his music and his political stance, and better than I can. For me, his music was the ticket to another musical dimension and I probably couldn't have delved so deeply into reggae and dub.

Bob Marley - Small Axe

In 1975 we were on a school trip to London. For me, this city was impressive because everything was so much bigger and different than I was used to. A lot of the music was also different and reggae was played in many places. If my teachers had allowed it, I would have bought tickets for a Bob Marley concert and listened to his album Live while chatting away.

Bob Marley and The Wailers - Burnin' & Lootin'

How great he could be shows this little footage, when he played together with Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh.



Mittwoch, 5. Februar 2025

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 


A broad review of notable publications without a contextual link.

1967 - Buffalo Springfield released their only chart success. For What It's Worth became an anthem of the opponents of the Vietnam war.


1977 - Boz Scaggs is an musician which has never been mentioned in this blog before. He is well known in America but he was never the big thing with his honest rhythm & blues. His album Silk Degrees reached the top ten at the time, was pleasant to listen to and very similar to the sound of Graham Parker.


1986 - Simply one of the best pop songs from this year and one that made The Bangles everybody's darlings.


1978 - American Girl was the last song on Tom Petty's debut album and shows his ability to write catchy songs that have lost none of their class even after decades.


1965 - Martha Reeves & the Vandellas are one example, why you should dive into 60's soul from time to time.


1982 - ABC released their their debut album The Lexicon Of Love. One that you can either hate or love, because their completely arranged songs are very close to kitsch. But there are some damn good songs on the album.


1956 - Hard to believe that this song by Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps is almost 70 years old. For me is this song more rock and roll than from other artists of this era.

1981 - The Jam. Just another great song from them.




Dienstag, 4. Februar 2025

A Love From Outer Space

 


15 years ago, Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnson founded the club series A Love From Outer Space, which quickly developed into a British institution, expanded and reached an international audience. ALFOS took a slower, more sustained approach at a maximum tempo of 122 bpm and became known for his eclectic and hypnotic sound, blending everything from cosmic and house to dub and post-punk.

Sean Johnson has now put together an anniversary sampler that reflects the music of ALFOS over the last 15 years, which stands for unforgettable club nights that I was unfortunately never able to attend. Sean Johnson has now put together an anniversary sampler that reflects the music of ALFOS over the last 15 years, which stands for unforgettable club nights that I was unfortunately never able to attend. The double album contains numerous tracks that are sometimes lost or only available at horrendous prices. The album will be released on Valentine's Day.