Drop Out

 

While I was saving some files on an external drive I found in the deepest corner a record that I almost forgot. Drop Out is the only album by East Village, a band from Buckinghamshire (the only one I know). The first time I got aware of them was in the late 90's when I traveled through Thailand and stopped for a late afternoon drink in a small bar in Kho Chang. From the first tunes I loved their songs and had to ask the bartender, a bloke from Leeds what's the name of this band. Back in Germany I tried to get a copy of their record but all were sold out. Because the main figure of the band, Martin Kelly, is now a leading person in Heavenly Records from time to time there will be a re-release of this album. The next one is planed for January next year and I have to subscribe for this. The music is another step to make the perfect pop album and finally they are very close with their mixture of Byrds/Buffalo Springfield inspired songs. Great harmonies and a voice that reminds me of Michael Head makes this album to another underrated gem. Worth to check out.

East Village - Circles

East Village - Silver Train

East Village - Everybody Knows

Monday's Long Song

 

Last year Polish duo Jazxing released their debut album Pearls of the Baltic Sea, a homage to 80s electronic classic with massive influences by Saint Etienne and Air but also fragments of New Wave and Dub. I liked what I heard and put it on my list. And to be honest I can't tell they reason why I didn't bought this little beauty and forgot them until I got the news that they released a remix album. Formed by musicians, producers and DJs Jakub Sautycz and Mateusz Filipiuk in their hometown Gdansk they were able to combine all the influences into a full concept that still works. On Vijnana Nottinghams Coyote adds some acoustic instruments to the song and the result is a laid back construct.

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Karaoke

 

At the end of this week, I overcame all the bureaucratic hurdles and submitted my application for a pension, which was also accepted by the competent authority for further processing. This means that my professional life will be over by the middle of the year and I can now start thinking about how I can make good use of all the free time I have. Knowing that it will be a hard break to leave behind habits acquired over more than 40 years, I am looking forward to this day. I'll probably spend a lot of time working more intensively on music and keeping this blog alive. Until then, I will enjoy the new freedom and take a more relaxed approach to the work that lies ahead. 

Today's song is by an artist I didn't know until I heard her song. Viji is a young musician with Austrian and Brazilian roots currently living in London. With Karaoke, which came about at the end of a session when she more or less uninspired tried out some bass lines, she hangs on to a trend that puts guitar-heavy sounds in the foreground. In the beginning there is a pumping, distorted bass which is successively joined by clear guitar riffs and drums to accompany Viji's lascivious voice. Definitely a song that should be heard.

Trash

 

Can't believe that it is 50 years ago when a band appeared on the scene that visual and with it sound was groundbreaking. The music scene in these days was filled with dinosaurs of the rock age playing the same thing over and over again. But the New York Dolls changed everything with the release of their debut. Filled with short guitar driven songs and a cover version of a song by Bo Diddley. Not only that they brought a very fresh wind into music their outfit was extraordinary. Dressed in glam outfits with platform shoes and all done up they was the sensational thing in this year. I remember a lot of people hating them for their outfit and music but very soon you could see all the glam bands in Great Britain doing the same. And that they were punk before punk started was an another story.

New York Dolls - Trash

New York Dolls - Pills

New York Dolls - Personality Chrisis

Observatoriet

 

Like every year at this time, the last few weeks were marked by a lot of work and the eternal availability for external examiners. There is hardly a day on which I left the office before nine hours and I was correspondingly tired and hardly had the energy to write regular posts for my blog. I was content to come home, drink a glass of red wine and browse through my music collection to relax. In the process, I came across another band that I haven't heard in a while and that I wanted to feature here. Datasal are a Swedish group who have been releasing their songs for several years on the great label Höga Nord Records. The datasal (a classroom for computers) was an ordinary classroom with few changes to fit the school’s 10 newly leased computers. The room represented the change of times in Sweden during this period: the fixed institutions and the awaiting digital flood wave. The sound is built around repetitive sequencer loops and programmed beats where electric bass, electric guitar and flute improvise around a theme, creating a sound that is best described as cosmic flute house. Obsivatoriet was released as an EP exactly one year ago and an overlooked highlight in electronic music and worth to be featured at this little place in internet.

Run Run Run

 

Run, run, run, run, run, take a drag or two says the drug anthem of Velvet Underground. This was my first thought when I heard that the lead single of The Libertines new album share the same title.  I thought that they were just a part of history but it seems that they are still alive and able to record a whole album. To be honest I was never a fan of The Libertines and the extroverted self-portrayal of Peter Doherty got on my nerves. Of course they made a couple of very good songs at that time but I can't remember playing them during the last years. Nevertheless, I was curious if they were more relevant than before. I only know this song and they recorded a traditional/poppy indie song, still with elements of punk and rock with punchy guitar riffs and an energetic rhythm section and remarkable hooks. The song is more than okay and I think this will be a hit for them and a big hype will be started. For me not the road in music I go right now.

Drone Logic

 

It is autumn and the time before Christmas. Many record companies release anniversary editions of classic albums to make their business. Many of them are useless if you have copies of the originals but it is good that they remember you to releases you might have forgotten. So it happened these days when I read about that Daniel Avery is going to release his debut album from 2013 in a remastered version. He was the shooting star of the London club scene of 2012. Within twelve months, he made the rise from unknown provincial DJ to resident in the London cult club Fabric, published restlessly and on a high level, so that he also gets a standing as a producer. From a local DJ in Bournemouth he went to London to find his own way supported by Andrew Weatherall who opened several doors for him and he recorded his debut in Weatherall's studio. Drone Logic was groundbreaking because he combined techno with implied noise and a whole series of driving, crisp beats infiltrated and also playing with acid. For me this record was one of those my musical taste changed and opened my ears for new electronic sounds. A classic record.

Daniel Avery - Drone Logic

Amazing Grace

 

20 years ago Jason Pierce aka Spiritualized released their fifth album Amazing Grace probably one of his most underrated albums in his career. I came back to this album when he announced a remastered version to release early next year. You can find variations of his space-rock in tradition of Spacemen 3 as well as soul and gospel influenced songs. A perfect balance of spaced out rock in combination of traditional ballads were new and great decades ago. It is great to hear these songs again after a long time and I have to say that this album should have more credits than it had. Not only a sentimental trip back to the old days - more an experience of how much time he was ahead.

Monday's Long Song

 

Back in 2017 I got in contact to AMOR a four piece music collective from Glasgow introducing a new way of electronic music. They fused acoustic instruments with electronic precision and are since then well known for long bassy songs with piano improvisations. Their sound seems in the first time homogeneous but the longer you listen to their songs you can join a short trip different spheres. Higher Moment is a good example for what I tried to explain. One of a band I come back regular.

AMOR - Higher Moment

Zuma 85

It's not often that a group that impressed you quite a bit live a few years ago comes back with an album that is barely off your plate. It was eight years ago when Allah-Las performed at the Maifeld Derby in Mannheim on a late sunny afternoon and surprised the audience with a set, quoting the music of the last 40 years and yet making everything seem like it was from them. Now they are back with Zuma 85 and celebrate the past again in their songs, with other influences added. Now they also incorporate elements from krautrock and Soft Machine into their semi-instrumentals, dare to approach relaxed and partly dreamy melodies, but do not forget to strike hard tones from time to time. This little band from Los Angeles is great today and worth to give them a listen.

Kaolin

 

Kombynat Robotron were featured at this little place in the internet several times during the last years. The four-piece band from Kiel, Northern Germany, is on duty since five years releasing several albums and EP's since. Now they released Frohe Zukunft another EP. Recorded live last year they celebrate once again their interpretation of krautrock meets psychedelic jams. Still guitar based sounds that floats into space. For me a band I would like to see live if they ever will come to Southern Germany once. If you are into this kind of music - give them a small chance and you will agree. 

Monday's Long Song

 

To Rococo Rot were a German electronic band. Formed in the mid 90's by Robert and Ronald Lippok and Stefan Schneider they released in 1999 The Amateur View one of the most underrated albums of this era. Filled with small sound patterns full of melancholic moments and excursions in electronic fields. It marked the leave of classic krautrock and the start into new electronic fields. No wonder that John Peel invited them to three sessions. This version of Cars by Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones from 2012 shows the potential of their songs according the sound of Andrew Weatherall.

To Rococo Rot - Cars (Sunroof Remix

Fontana Di Luna

 

It is time to feature one of the best composer and musician once again at these pages. I think Michael Rother is well known for his works with NEU!, Kraftwerk and La Düsseldorf. He was one of those who created krautrock and his influence to new sounds in the 70's was immense. Together with Jaki Liebezeit on drums he recorded three albums under his own name and every one is worth to be listened. If I have to describe his music I would call it relaxed psychedelia with a get out of hand guitar over a steady beat. This one is from his second album Sterntaler and a great start into another sunny Sunday.

Michael Rother - Fontana Di Luna

AR Kane

 

Last week I grabbed AR Kane's debut album 69 from 1988 out of my rack to listen to it once again. While listening to this record I thought it will be a good idea to write about this underrated band. A few days ago Adam made a superb piece of writing about them and with his 40 Minutes Of AR Kane the most is said. I discovered this record in our local record shop and and was fascinated by the cover. The plate cover is emerging as also on white background a dark circle in the middle of which we can faintly make out the number 69, which is shaped like two dark, undulating spirals. Inner-case's intricate shading shows the blue background and more clearly six-figure as a pregnant woman and nine-figure as a man, both swimming, in harmonious movements. After a few minutes watching the cover I bought this record without listening to any sons because I thought artist, that are able to create a cover like this couldn't make a bad record. When I came home I put the record on the turntable and started to listen. It seldom happened that I was so confused about what I heard. Not that I didn't liked what I heard but I was unprepared about the facets of their music. It started with a jazzy scat intro on Crazy Blue to turn into one the best pop songs of this era (they described it as dreampop later). Rudy Tambala once joked years later that AR Kane sound like a band with a bit of Velvet Underground and a bit of Cocteau Twins, Miles Davis and Joni Mitchel. And this describes their sound very good. A lot of everything good and always the ability to combine their influences with a massive pop attitude. An outstanding band and an outstanding album and the blueprint for a new generation in music.

AR Kane - Crazy Blue

AR Kane - Suicide Kiss

AR Kane - Baby Milk Snatcher

Their roots are certainly on bands like JAMC and noisy feedbacked guitar sounds. Best shown on their debut single.

AR Kane - When You're Sad (Long Version) 

Borderland

 

I have to admit that I love the pictures and footage of erupting volcanoes and hot magma running down the hills. It one of the wonders of our earth bringing us back to the days when the earth was a very young planet and of course I know that an eruption like this could destroy everything and bring death to many people. Scientists suppose that the next big volcano eruption will take place at Mount Etna, Naples because of the shift of the tectonic plates along the coastline. 

Two days ago Woodleigh Research Facility a video filmed by Iceland's Jon Arason during the last years. This video was accompanied by Andrew Weatherall's remix of a song by Nina Walsh. It seldom happens that the music and video seem to be one. The remix with strings, keyboards and a little touch of early New Order makes this 8 minutes a perfect harmony. Look, listen and enjoy 

Monday's Long Song

 Another long song Monday with a new release by Andy Bell/GLOK. I really don't want to get on someone's nerves featuring this artist but his output is always on a high level and I still can't get enough of it. This live experience is the result of a session by Norwich's Electronic Sound magazine where he was invited to rework songs from Dissident and Pattern Recognition. Most of these songs were played often at my place and it is great to see what Bell can do with these songs. He lifted these songs into another dimension while he was using a feedbacked, psychedelic guitar. Surely another album for a years end list.

October

 

It is now October and once again I realize how quickly the has year has gone by. Three more month until the turn of the year and two of them filled with work at the office until I can go on vacation again in December. Like another nine months until I retire. Everything moves fast and what was important this year is mostly arbitrary in retrospect. Things come and go and you should be happy about here and now. For example that VfB Stuttgart is in second place in the Bundesliga after six days, after the supporters had to suffer for years, were only bland football was offered and hat to experience two relegations to second division. Autumn will ever be the time for me when I pick out some classic folk music because I think that fits to the season when the leaves are starting to fall. While I was thinking bout a song with October in its title I remembered a song by Roy Harper form his debut album The Sophisticated Beggar. Released in 1966 after Harper stopped travelling around Europe and North Africa to force his musical career. Harper is a member of the 60's folk-rock triumvirate beside John Martyn and Nick Drake. Listening to this song again after a long time I think that this kind of music is timeless and could be played to every time.

Roy Harper - October Twelfth