Music For The Jilted Generation

 

In the early 1990's Liam Howlett and Keith Flint formed The Prodigy a band that was the blueprint of many other bands that would follow. After a short release they made a groundbreaking album with Music for the Jilted Generation. On this album they mixed hardcore breakbeat, dub, reggae, rap, jungle and acid-house to a new sound I never heard before. After this album rave and everything else could be possible. Their manifoldness is probably best shown with this both songs. The Prodigy were one of the first bands that turned away from classic songwriting turning into a never ending sound for the dancefloor. Sadly less people remember the quality of their songs and their possibility of seeking the future of sound.

The Prodigy - 3 Kilos

The Prodigy - Skylined

Monday's Long Song

 

Today's song is from The Sound Of Love Unlimited a compilation compiled by London based producer and DJ Ben Williams also known under his moniker Gatto Fritto. I found this on the hard drive of my laptop during the last weekend. I have to admit that I didn't listen to it for a very long time but have to admit that the whole album is still a gem. Love International is an annual festival of underground dance music held in Tisno, Croatia since a couple of years. Free of Life is a hybrid of Balearic sound combined with an impulsive drum rhythm. Not the worst way to start into this week.

Mi Ami - Free Of Life

The Demon Haunted World

 

A few days ago Duncan Gray,a British DJ, producer and founder of Tici Taci label released a song written and produced in 2016. The reason why after a long time is is own words: This track was written in 2016 but never released. It is named after the book by Carl Sagan. Recently Martin from the excellent The Flightpath Estate (curator of the Weatherdrive and all things Weaterall related) got in touch with me to ask if this had ever been released - reminding me that Andrew had played it on BBC radio back in summer of 2016. So here it is, giving a fresh mixdown and a sparkling master from Rich Lane at Cotton Bud. This song is not groundbreaking but another example of how good this kind of music was/is. For me a very good start into the weekend, hoping that my team will confirm their last win one week ago. Have a great weekend all of you.

Looking For Lewis And Clarke

 

Thank God that the foolish times and the carnival season are over now. I know that in the Cologne and Düsseldorf area this time is considered one of the highlights of the year. In my city, too, they have been trying to do the same for decades in a considerably slimmed-down version. For me, it was a time when I met up with few friends and kept away from all the hustle and bustle and the prescribed merriment. So it was all the nicer when I was able to meet up with some friends for a beer again yesterday without having to comply with all the conventions. So I had time enough after work to grab out some music I didn't listen for a very long time. This is the reason why I came back to The Long Ryders, an American band that was active between 1982 until 1987. They released three albums at this time and I own only their 1985 release State Of Our Union and I think this record shows everything good of this band. A perfect fusion of Byrds inspired country including and the sound of British pub-rock from the early 70's. Great guitars and songs with hooks were their trademark and it is always a pleasure to come back to them from time to time.

The Long Ryders - State Of My Union

The Long Ryders - Looking For Lewis And Clarke

Violent Drive

 

Yesterday I featured Jesse Fahnestock's latest release that grabbed me from the start to the end. Today is the time to feature the latest release by Kerala Dust, a band regular visitors know that they appeared at this place for several times. Kerala Dust is a band formed in 2016 by Edmund Kenny in London and now switching between Berlin and Zurich. During the last years they played their very own version of Brisish Americana but now they left all their roots behind and made their own unique sound between Velvet Underground, Can and bluesy Americana. Kerala Dust made one of those albums you can hear in a row and it never gets boring. Hypnotic rhythms changes into progressive sounds to return into a bluesy mood with picked electric guitar lines to include Portishead sounds into their music. Since I got this album it was on heavy rotation and I can only recommend this here. 

Transition Theory

 

Last Sunday our dear friend Khayem released a post featuring 10:40's new album. Jesse Fahnestock made an album that I never expected in this way. He left his usual ways in mixing great music and turned into many kinds of music and sounds he was inspired by. And he made a record that grows for me the more I listen to it. If it was a slow-mo dub-inspired journey on Regime Shift Dub that could appear on every album by The Orb or a bleeping experience on At the turning of the time with a chilly groove  or Jimmy Ripp, a psychedelic krautrock inspired song with an analogue inspired groove. He makes everything right on this record. For me a highlight of this year because I didn't listen to any other album I can find more details in many songs the more I listen to them.

 

Monday's Long Song

 

1986 saw the birth of one of the most innovative rock combos of the 80s. Jane's Addiction were one of the first bands to break down the rigid boundaries between heavy metal and rock with a confusing mixture of brute riffs, hypnotically aggressive rhythms and approaches foreign to the style (punk, folk). Not to forget Farrell's high-pitched eunuch roar. In those days, by the way, the first stereotyped thinkers spoke of "alternative rock" and a few years later of "Grunge". In 1990 Jane's Addiction released their masterpiece Ritual de lo Habitul for me their most complex work. The album is filled with ideas and influences of earlier decades and formed to a new and heavy sound. From early progressive rock over to blues fragments and a bit of funk made this album extraordinary. And not only because of it's cover.  America's guardians of morals do not find the image of a naked sculpture of Farrell at all demure. In accordance with the band's wishes, the censored version comes with a white envelope with the words of the First Commandment written on it.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Jane's Addiction - Three Days

Blood And Butter

 

Many different newspaper release on Friday their recommendations of new albums. Last Friday a few of them agreed by naming Caroline Polacheck's album Desire, I want to turn into you as a top release. This made me curious not knowing if it is just the hype of the month. Polacheck is a singer/songwriter from Brooklyn, New York, and active since more than a decade. To be honest, her name is new to me and I can't remember listening to any song by her or her bands. Polacheck has an extraordinary voice and she is able to write songs that fit to this voice. Blood and Butter is a piece of light-footed synthy pop with a reluctant guitar and a catchy rhythm. The whole album is very nice but certainly not the one that will reach higher rankings in year end lists. 

No One Is Smarter Than History

Many of the regular visitors on this small piece or internet will know that I have  huge affinity to David Holmes, an Irish musician, producer and DJ. For me he creates sounds that fit to my ears and his mixes were more than worth to listen. A few months ago he released a single that is more over the average in this genre than many others I listened to the last weeks. A catchy song that doesn't get out of your head if you listen to it the first time. A song that could appear in many year end lists. 

 

It wasn't intended to make a little series after I released a post when Trugoy The Dove passed away too soon. But after this news I turned the last days into hip hop of the late 80's. Another band that made groundbreaking music were the Beastie Boys. If their first album Licensed To Ill was just a party album when they started to experiment with samples they learned quickly to do it in a glorious way. Paul's Boutique was an aural experience for me and showed how to include old music of every kind of genre into a very new sound. And finally the video clip of Sabotage is still one of the best from this era.

UDS

 

After yesterday's post I listened to some more records from that time and rediscovered a band I didn't listen for ages. Urban Dance Squad were a band formed in Utrecht during a jam-session on a festival in the Netherlands in the late 80's. They released their first album Mental For The Floss in 1989 and grabbed me with their unique mix of various genres. Urban Dance Squad's music encompassed funk, soul, heavy metal, hip hop, reggae, jazz and ska. They were close to the level the Beastie Boys or Red Hot Chili Peppers had in the United States but sadly didn't got the critical acclaim they should have. Listening to them after decades I have to admit that they did some very good songs and were ahead of their time.

Urban Dance Squad - Deeper Shade Of Soul

Urban Dance Squad - No Kids (Acoustic Version)

David Jude Jolicoeur RIP

 

It was in 1989 when rap/hip-hop everyone talked about. Most people I knew talked about the so called gangster rap where boys from the hood and the the inner circle were going to get critical and chart access. It was also the time when De La Soul appeared on the scene with an album that changed a lot in listening to new African-American music. When the most artists in hip-hop tried to show us their bad habits De La Soul showed us the very different way. They came to my ears with their very own sound filled with samples from heavy bands like Led Zeppelin over Steely Dan to country to James Brown and funk. An album that opened my ears for something new and different. Trugoy/Jolicouer was the forming member of this fantastic and groundbreaking band and died last weekend much too early at the age of 54. Three Feet High And Rising is their legacy and still an album that works still after three decades.

Rest easy Trugoy

De La Soul - The Magic Number

De La Soul - Me Myself And I

De La Soul - This is a Recording 4 Living in a Fulltime Era

Monday's Long Song

 

During the weekend I rediscovered an EP from 2016 that I had almost forgot. Bahia is by Leeds based DJ and producer Joe Morris. He is one of those who brought me a couple of fantastic Balearic inspired songs and remixes. Always able to play songs inspired by the sun and the Ibiza feeling with good guitars, great flow and perfect arrangements. A true sound to relax.

Joe Morris - Stars Over Benirras

Joe Morris - Bahia

Vitamin D

 

Manchester's Lewis Olsen aka Psychederek announced his first album later this year. Almost two years ago he released Space Arcade, an EP with various mixes which became one of the most played records at my place. This song is an appetizer from his upcoming album and it nothing more or less superb psyche-pop with good guitars and great harmonies that can brighten your day.

Ya Mahla

 

These days a new album arrived from Acid Arab, a Parisian duo by Guido Minisky and Hervé Carvallo that made a record a few years ago that was played often at my place. Jdid is a record that combines dancefloor/hypnotic beats with influences of primary music of Algeria, Tunisia, Syria and Turkey. To be honest, their new songs don't grab me like the ones a couple of years ago. But I think I should listen to their music because they offer me a new spectrum of sounds that are possible to be combined in the way we consumed music during the last decades. And I am not thinking about the possibilities north African musicians have to be listened by us.

Staifia is one of the songs I really enjoyed from their first album and explains why you should give them a listen.

Acid Arab - Staifia

Gargoyle

 

These days I recalled that Mark Lanegan died almost a year ago. Much too early of course because he ever made a records he refined with his incomparable voice. So I spent an evening with his output from the last decades and finally I came to the result that his legacy should be Gargoyle from 2017. He celebrated for me the last time all his influences, if it was grunge, blues-rock, stoner sound or just heavy ballads, he made an album that stood the test of time for me. And he had a voice that I really miss in rock music.

Mark Lanegan Band - Old Swan

Mark Lanegan Band - Nocturne

News From The Past

 

After the split of London based Northern Ireland post-punk band The Undertones brothers O'Neill returned to their home in Derry to form another band. That Petrol Emotion returned from the ashes with a new sound. More guitars as The Undertones, different arranged songs full of hooks on their first two albums. They combined the energy of new wave with the ability to write great pop hymns. I still love their early output from the mid 80's because they hit my nerves. Someone once said that they combine The Clash with CCR and listening to their songs I can't say he's wrong. Babble is for me the better album than their debut because it more raw than their first one. An album that is almost complete when you listening to it in full length in a row. 

That Patrol Emotion - Swamp

That Petrol Emotion - For What It's Worth

But TPE weren't only a post-punk band they also experimenting with new sounds like remixes, samples and other stuff like this and prepared the floor of the upcoming sound of Manchester that came popular in the following years.

That Petrol Emotion - Abandon (Boys Own Remix)

That Petrol Emotion - Hey Venus (Mad Thatcher Disease Remix)

Monday's Long Song

 

The past years have seen Duncan Gray champion a sludgy, slow-mo take on dance music that favors chuggy bass guitars and psychedelic sound palettes and drag and drop samples. He was featured at this place several times and often with new releases that were all over the usual average of new releases in electronic music. Now he's back with a new release on London's tici taca label. Short Haul is a bassy song inspired by the sound of Bill Laswell and Eno's/Byrne's Bush of Ghosts with great guitar parts in the second half. Anyway a one of the best songs this year so far.

Surf Rock Never Die

 

Sometimes I wonder in which corner of the world there are no musicians who have a deep love for surf-rock and psychedelic, form a band and release a record. This thought crossed my mind when I heard the debut Skeleton Ranch by Los Palms, an Australian band from Adelaide who musically venture into the 1960s in California and Texas. On their debut album we get surf, western and classic sixties psych of the unexciting kind. All played very true to style with their own touch. A lot of reverb and a bit of fuzz, always more committed passages as well.  What more could you expect from a psych record.

Chasing Rainbows

 

A couple of days ago Ripley Johnson announced a new album by his project Rose City band in April. It seems that they didn't changed their style. Sunny westcoast country songs with a sparkling guitar that drifts into a psychedelic mood to the end of the song. This song is the perfect recipe to get rid of the cold, wet and windy weather outside and shortens the time until spring will arrive.