Jamcod

 

Yesterday the news arrived that The Jesus And Mary Chain will release a new album next year. JMAC were 40 years ago the band that had a massive influence in today's music with their combination of noise, feedback and sweet hooks. I was excited what they could offer after all those years. The album's first single, jamcod, combines dark electronic sounds with the huge guitar sound that can only come from William Reid, creating an instant Mary Chain classic that is also undeniably fresh and radical. Listening to them, I have an ambivalent feeling and I can't decide whether they are great or whether it's just another time for them to show how great they can be. In any case, it will be interesting to see what the rest of the album brings.

It was not able to embed the video in this post - so here is the link to the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3_NOCiRbII

One Up From Five

 

Another great piece of music was released at the end of the week by London's tici taci label. A few songs by Sons Of Slough, a band featuring label owner Duncan Gray and Ian Weatherall. It is the result of a preparation for Convenanza festival this year. This one shows another time how great electronic music can be. A steady beat mixed with synth snippets for a short excursion in another sphere. Not to bad to start into the Sunday with a cup of good coffee.

Monday's Long Song

 

Last Friday Jesse Fahnestock released his latest output Other Skies a collaboration with singer Emilia Harmony. Regular visitors know that I like the music of Jesse Fahnestock and featured him at these pages several times. The whole year saw him busy with several releases but this one is ace and will surely appear in my year ends list. As he said he tried to be like Primal Scream on Higher Than The Sun or The Doves on Fallen. And yes he fulfilled everything you can expect. Other Skies is dominated by a pumping bass and a psychedelic mist. How to make a great song better is showed by Sean Johnson and Duncan Gray on their Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Uptown mix when they added a lot of dub to this song. The original and other version can be listened to here. A little masterpiece

Love In Constant Spectacles

Earlier this week Jane Weaver returned with Love In Constant Spectacles the first single from her new album that will be released next year. Her last album from 2021 Flock was one of the best ones that year and I played it often. I still like this album because because she never commits herself to a single style. From sweet, delicate dream-pop to a funky up-beat song with a krautrock synthesiser to a song clearly inspired by glam-rock, this album offers so much variety that others need several. Above all, her ethereal voice makes each track unique. My expectations were correspondingly high and they were not disappointed. And again, the sound cannot be clearly defined. Dream-pop, chamber-psych or something completely different? I don't want to commit myself here either, except that it is one of the most refreshing songs of the last few weeks. 

 

Forgotten Alternative Part II

 

Another few files I found from a compilation I made a few years ago. First one is a song from Siouxsie And The Banshees from their later period. They became famous in the first wave of punk and their debut is still a classic. On Peek-A-Boo they tried to combine their late post-punk sounds with samples like many others did. Not their best song but in the context of time a good one.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek-A-Boo

From Athens, Georgia in 1979 The B-52's appeared on the scene and their self-titled debut was one of the records of the year. A new wave band that played just a retro sound with a Rickenbacker guitar, organs and harmonies was the big thing this year. And Planet Claire is probably one of the best opening tracks of a debut album.

The B-52's - Planet Claire 

In 1987 Andrew Eldritch and his band Sisters Of Mercy released Floodland their second album. The lead single was This Corrosion a melange of gothic meets Meat Loaf with a 50-piece choir. It is a song that worked at this time and was played in many places and brings back memories. Nothing more or less.

Sisters Of Mercy - This Corrosion

XTC were on of the finest new wave bands from their beginnings in the late 70's until the mid 80's. Always on the search for the perfect pop song and always very close to it. I don't know many other bands that made so many remarkable albums in this ear. Still a pleasure to listen to them after decades.

XTC - Senses Working Overtime

I entered the cosmos of Julian Cope with his third album Saint Julian and the lead single World Shut Your Mouth. This song was the beginning of a long lasting fondness to him and his music.

Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth

Prayer Remembered

 

During the last days I made thoughts about a year end list and listened to various albums I owned during the last months and I asked myself why Slowdive didn't appeared on this pages during the last months. Everything Is Alive is another album by them that is far over the average of other released records. Slowdive are filled under shoegaze but this is not all. For me they are one of the best in slow-motion rock. A reduced speed and space for guitar excursions are their trademarks. I was lucky enough to see them several times live and at every venue they fascinated me with their sound. Their last album shows less more than I expected on a high level but there was one song that grabbed me. The instrumental Prayer Remembered is a song that could appear on a late record by The Cure in the days of Seventeen Seconds or Pornography. What in and of itself would be great praise. If someone shouldn't be familiar with their sound, this song will be a perfect entrance into.

Monday's Long Song

 

A Mountain Of One is a long going collaboration between London based musicians and producers Zeben Jameson and Mo Morris. Now they handed over a few songs from their fantastic album Stars Planets Dust Me over to Chile born DJ Ricardo Villalobos to give their psychedelic/prog rock a new techno-influenced outfit. I liked their album very much and I skeptical if their songs will work in the remixed versions. But I have to admit - it works more than well. Black Apple Pink Apple appears with a early 70's West Coast inspired song. A groovy, hypnotic and relaxed great piece of music.

With The Other Hand

 

It is difficult to make a perfect pop song but Norway's Lost Girls comes very close to it. A great pop song is for one that you can listen several times and still love it. This is what chanteuse Jenny Hval and her husband-guitarist Havard Volden did very well. With The Other Hand, the second song from their new album shows flashes of brilliance among experimental/avantgarde sounds. Sometimes you don't need more than a pumping rhythm, a few guitar chords and a fantastic voice to create something beautiful.

Forgotten Alternative

 

A few days ago I found in the deepest corner of my hard-drive a compilation of songs from the early 80's and I couldn't resist to give them a listen. Some of the artists were just a small chapter of history, others were well known and some are just obscure. But well worth to take a sentimental journey back to those days. 

Theater of Hate was a post-punk band formed by Kirk Brandon and their first album Westworld from 1982 was produced by Clash's Mick Jones. The lead single is typical for this era, were bands searched for new sounds. Based on a phenomenal bass-line and a tribal rhythm Do You Believe In The Westworld is still a song you can listen to with fun.

Theater of Hate - Do You Believe In The Westworld

Split Enz were formed in the 70's by Tim Finn and Phil Judd in New Zealand. The started as a good progressive/art-rock band to switch at the beginning of the next decade into power-pop and new wave. I Got You was their only remarkable song before they disbanded a few years later

Split Enz - I Got You

Stan Ridgway formed Wall Of Voodoo in 1980 after he tried to express himself in electronic sounds. Mexican Radio is probably their best known song and is the trademark of the band. Sharp guitars, steady rhythms and synths combined with surrealistic lyrics was the next big thing back then.

Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

One of Iceland's finest exports appeared in the late 80's. Influenced by the guitar and drum work of Siouxsie and the Banshees and  Cocteau Twins The Sugarcubes made it great with Birthday, one of their early singles. The difference to others was Björk with her mighty voice that could turn every song into another sphere. That this concept worked live as well I can testify when I saw them live at an open air festival in 1989.

The Sugarcubes - Birthday

Blind On A Galloping Horse

 

It's November and, like every year, I'm thinking about a year-end list and, as always, there's another album that shouldn't be missing from such a list. David Holmes, an Irish DJ and producer who has managed to gain respect in the DJ camp as well as in the alternative scene over the past few years, recently released Blind on a Gallopping Horse. Together with Raven Violent, who already left her unmistakable mark with her voice on his side product Unloved, an album of positive songs in a negative time was created. Blind On A Galloping Horse is a multi-faceted record with a lot to discover and an absolutely positive example of how the gloom of the world can be addressed without letting despair win out. On Necessary Genius he pays tribute to 'dreamer, misfits, radicals, outcasts' who are no longer with us and includes shout-outs to Weatherall, Terry Hall, Sinéad O'Conner, Serge Gainbourgh & Jane Birkin and more. Still underlaid with a dancable beats.

Yeah x 3 is proofs that he's able to make a softer pop song that should appear in every top 40 this year,

Garonne Express

It has now been almost a month since the Palestinian terrorist attack on Israel took place. As a German, it is difficult for me to articulate a critical stance on Israel at the moment. Knowing full well that for decades the legitimate demands for a separate state have not been fulfilled in any way. If I express understanding for the rights of the Palestinians, I am labelled a Nazi. If I relativise the whole development in the Middle East, I am not listened to because of our past. I have no idea how this ongoing conflict can be brought to an end that both parties could live with and how I can escape from this dilemma.

I remembered a song I heard a few years ago by Arabian Panther, a French/Lebanese DJ and producer from Toulouse, France. He's an artist that is very close to the Palestine scene and oscillate between downtempo, italo disco, techno and Drum n' Bass. Not knowing if it is political correct to feature this song at these days but it is a good one if you leave all politics behind.

Babble

 

After the fabulous The Undertones separated the Derry's O'Neill brothers formed with lead vocalist Steve Mack That Patrol Emotion. Following their post-punk hymns they created a new style in indie-rock and included elements of Television and CCR to their sound. When their debut was a very good one, Babble their second one from 1987 was one of the albums that was played at my place often decades ago. Sharp guitars and great hooks were a trademark of TPE and there were so many classic tunes on this album. Not to forget that many of their songs had political statements in their lyrics. For me another underrated album of this era.

Monday's Long Song

 

Last Thursday Khayem from the fabulous blog Dubhed featured Stinky Jim, a main figure in New Zealand's DJ-scene and dub artists. I think both of us were inspired in his music by the recommendation by Adam over at Bagging Area. Sand Gustures is the final track of Stinky Jim's remix album Social Awareness from July this year. The remixes by fantastic acts like Rude Audio and The Long Champs are one of the best songs this year and highly recommended. 

Lovesong Industrial Complex

 

South London's Meatraffle appeared after a couple of years with a new album and a new single that I got aware earlier this year and I couldn't get this out of my head. I like them since they released their first album Hi Fi Classics back in 2015. As far as I know they are the spearhead of a new music scene in South London. Certainly because they always on the search of a perfect pop song combining their socio-politcal attitude. Lovesong Industrial Complex is the perfect example. Starting as a classic slice of bleak, mesmerising disco when later guitars joining the song when the singer philosophise about the vast numbers of meaningless, futile and emotionally hollow love songs. Seldom heard wiser word in a great song.

People pay for love songs or download them illegally 

Kids as young as 3 sing about them, incredibly 

There is nothing wrong with a song about love 

But they are rarely ever platonic Lots of full bloodied lust and crying in your gin and tonic

Cut

 

A working men's club is an association of the working class in parts of Great Britain, Ireland and Australia. The clubs originated in the 19th century and are still regarded today as social gatherings for leisure activities. However, many of the former clubs are now used as cultural and event venues. The Working Men's Club is also a pretty cool synth-pop band from Yorkshire in the UK. With punk influences, the four-piece band moves on open genre definitions. With electronic synthesizers and indie guitars, Working Men's Club deliver a track that creates a mixture of post-punk and synthpop, but also fascinates in the dub mix with bleeps and a great bass line. 

The Wicker Man

 

50 years ago The Wicker Man, a British movie was released. A crime movie that combined elements of folk-horror and musical. The main actors were Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland and Edward Woodward. I saw them first in the mid 80's by a VHS-copy and has to admit that I was a bit confused about the story and the way the movie was produced. But after all I could enjoy this movie because it was so much different to many other horror movies in this era. During the last weeks I read various features about the 50th anniversary of the movies. The last days I got aware that Bristol's singer/songwriter Katie J. Pearson re-recorded songs from the soundtrack of the movie. I really enjoyed Richard Norris remix of Willow's Song a small dubbed highlight for the rest of the year.

 

Mr. November

 

Now it is November, the leaves are changing colors and windy and rainy weather will appear. Time to reduce and focus on different things. When I was thinking about a song with November in it's title or lyrics my first thought was November Rain, a song by the much overrated Guns 'N Roses and only another boring mainstream rock song. So I go to a song by The National from their third album. A song that shows how good they are - in their arrangement and lyrics. At this time The National were many's favorite and not wrongly. 

The National - Mr. November