Burundi Drums

 

Inspired by the African odyssey of our good friend Ernie, I recently landed in Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world. Burundi is located in East Africa and is surrounded by Rwanda, Tanzania and the Congo. It was formerly a Belgian colony and has still not recovered from the bloody ethnic conflicts at the end of the last century.

Musically, the Royal Drummers Of Burundi are typical, traditionally playing for ceremonies such as birth and death. In principle, a leading drum determines the rhythm, which is followed by many other drums. 

It is thanks to Malcolm McLaren, who managed Adam and the Ants in the late 70s, that this percussive sound found its way into the punk scene. With their mixture of tribalism, rockabilly guitars and a thoroughly conceptualised outfit, they were the big thing between punk and pop.

The same concept worked a second time when McLaren poached part of the band to promote Bow Wow Wow under his direction. The same Burundi beat, only instead of Adam Ant, thirteen-year-old Annabella Lwin took over the vocals. 

Both bands didn't change the world, but they wrote formative songs that I would describe as classic new-wave pop.

Happy Birthday Grace

 

Grace Slick is 85 years old today and a good reason to listen to the music of Jefferson Airplane once again. Hardly any other band stands for peace, love and consciousness-expanding drugs as much as Jefferson Airplane. Together with the Grateful Dead, they spearheaded the hippie music that emerged in San Francisco in the mid-60's. However, internal disputes led to them disbanding after just a few years. Their fame is based on a handful of hits and appearances at the most famous festivals of their time.

For me, Jefferson Airplane are one of the few bands from the psychedelic era that I still enjoy listening to. That's because they wrote great songs, had perhaps one of the best guitarists of his time in Jorma Kaukonen and I just love Grace Slick's voice.

On 2400 Fulton Street, a very good compilation of their releases, their work is divided into four categories (Beginnings, Psychedelia, Revolution and Airplane Parts), which also corresponds to their sound and meaning.

Jefferson Airplane - Coming Back To Me

Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit

Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers (Live At Woodstock)

Jefferson Airplane - Martha

A few years ago Don Letts compiled Version Excursion for the LateNightTales series with reggae versions of well known songs. Prince Fatty & Shniece McManamin turned the White Rabbit into a wonderful Black Rabbit.

The Nightfly

 

I've had friends for many years whose musical spectrum doesn't go beyond West Coast rock and jazz fusion. Many attempts to introduce them to other music have failed, but that's not tragic, because everyone should feel comfortable with the music they like.

Unfortunately, I can't do much with this music, although there are great artists in this genre and Pat Metheney, Larry Carlton or Marcus Miller play fantastic music live. If we can agree, it would be Steely Dan, who released perhaps the most perfectly arranged albums in the 70's. 

I recently listened to Donald Fagen's debut album again, which I liked at the time. It was the first album that was recorded completely digitally and became a classic. Fagen mixes West Coast pop with jazz here. The Nightfly is perfectly recorded, the arrangements are sophisticated and the songs are catchy. If there is anything to criticize on this album, it is that it is too smooth and somehow has no soul. 

Despite everything, it is an album that has set standards in this genre and is still worth listening to after 40 years.

Donald Fagen - New Frontier

Donald Fagen - The Nightfly

Donald Fagen - I.G.Y.

Monday's Long Song

 

Die Wilde Jagd is the project of Sebastian Lee Philipp, who released one of the most interesting albums for me with his debut almost ten years ago. His mixture of electronic, krautrock, medieval lyricism and complex melodies also fascinated me live. 

The sound has continuously evolved over the years and reached its final stage with Haut in 2020. our tracks in 45 minutes. No more pop songs, no more catchy interludes. Instead, the full blast of krautrock. The album is a single cosmic trip that reaches its climax in Himmelfahrten. The song surges up and down, verses and choruses alternate, the intensity continues to increase. After more than five minutes, a distorted guitar suddenly enters the soundscape. This is music about and for LSD trips.

If one band has developed krautrock further in recent years, then it is Die Wilde Jagd.

Die Wilde Jagd - Himmelfahrten

New Song On Sunday

 

Golden Bug is the stage name of Antoine Harispuru, a French music producer and DJ. I like his music, which is a unique mix of electronica, disco dub and psychedelia. During the week he released his latest album Piscolabis II.

The new tracks are wilder and the rhythms are heavier than on the previous album. The guitars of Lionel from The Limiñanas are sharp and the distorted grooves of the drum machines convey strange electronic impulses. 

The best example is L'Effet Domino, on which Ennio Morricone meets echoing beats, spherical synths and the voice of Anna Jean. 

Strawberry Hotel

 

During the week Underworld released their new album and I was excited to see what they had to offer. The standards are high, considering the style-defining music they have released in the past.

And to be honest, I was disappointed after the first listen, but only because the expectations for new highlights were very high. It's probably because of the times, that we always expect new highlights, that things should go on and on and that we can no longer be satisfied if an artist only delivers one good product. 

The album contains enough tracks that sound familiar and would be hailed as great tracks by others. With other songs, Underworld try to integrate new worlds into their sound. For me, it's an album that I need to listen to several more times to fully appreciate the beauty of the songs.

A Friend's Recommendation

 

A few days ago I visited a long-time friend who plays bass in a local band in his rehearsal room. On the whole, I can't do much with their music, which is a mixture of speed-metal, noise rock and post punk, but I like their sound and enthusiasm live. 

A few years ago, I asked him which album from this genre he could recommend to me so that I could immerse myself more deeply in this type of music. He then recommended Dances Curses by Hey Colossus.  

Hey Colossus is an English rock band and active since more than 20 years. They are known for noise rock, to which they add elements of krautrock, psychedelic rock and post-punk. On Dances Curses they often play with three guitars, creating a solid foundation for their musical experiments. As a whole, the double album is bulky and not light fare. But individual tracks stand out, such as Donkey Jaw, on which they move along the post-punk road, or on The Mirror, to which Mark Lanegan breathes new life into the blues with his spoken words.

Hey Colossus - The Mirror

Hey Colossus - Tied In A Firing Line

Hey Colossus - Donkey Jaw

A Distant Shore

 

In 1982, the music scene diverged. Grandmaster Flash brought us hip hop with The Message, new wave synth pop conquered the charts, The Pogues brought us their version of Irish music, The Smiths were a big hit with their melancholy and Primal Scream were working on a new sound. 

But one album stands out from the crowd in retrospect. Tracey Thorn, who some people knew from the Marine Girls, an English post-punk band, released her debut album. 

She had already written some of her own songs back then, which she didn't want to release with the Marine Girls and only recorded with herself on guitar and a few overdubs. Basically, they are very personal love songs in which she used her expressive voice to prevent them from coming across as cheesy. 

Whenever I was looking for an album that contained calm and great songs, I regularly turned to this one. Even today, the album is still convincing and gave me an idea of what this voice is capable of. And anyone who dares to cover Velvet's Femme Fatale without failing can't be bad.

Tracey Thorn - Small Town Girl

Tracey Thorn - Femme Fatale

Tracey Thorn - New Opened Eyes

Hey Joe

 

58 years ago today, Jimi Hendrix recorded Hey Joe, his first single, which was to make him famous worldwide. It reached top positions in all European charts, but flopped in the United States. 

As it's one of the most covered songs, I'd like to take the opportunity to list some of them here. Willy DeVille did a very good version transporting the blues into a Tex-Mex mariachi sound.

Patti Smith chose this song in 1977 for her first EP and has almost completely alienated the song with Tom Verlaine on guitar.

Wilson Pickett has proven that Hey Joe can also work as a soul number.

There were always artists who tried to render the song in their own language. One of them was Wolle Kriwanek, an artist from my area who never rose above the status of a local great and recorded it as blues sung in Swabian in the early 1980's.

Johnny Hallyday, a French rock 'n' roll and pop artist did the same in the 70's.

Deep Purple covered this song in their very early days and have given the song a bombastic organ sound. 

I know that there are many other versions, but this will suffice for now.

Bureau

 

Harald Grosskopf is a German drummer, musician and keyboarder who has played with various Krautrock bands for more than 50 years. Now he released his latest album Strom, on which he once again explores the possibilities of electronic music. 

Nothing really groundbreaking, but with its flair for contemporary electronic excursions, it is far above the average of other releases. Bureau convinces with a rich, driving rhythm over which he skilfully layers synthesizers. 

Monday's Long Song

 

Does anyone still remember IDM? A good 30 years ago, bands emerged that made intelligent dance music. I always thought the term was inappropriate and would rather call them post-techno.

From fragments of acid house, ambient and breakbeat, bands like Future Sound Of London and The Orbital initially created new soundscapes that had nothing to do with the dancefloor and could be listened to at home.

One of the driving forces behind this music was the Warp label, which released music by Aphex Twin and Autechre around 1994.

Autechre's second LP contains many different sounds, with some tracks having an ambient spark, while others have deep veins of techno and acid house. The sound is often dark and played with sparse percussion patterns and droning keyboards, but the sound of the album subtly changes with the second track Montreal. The song has a more accessible melody and a shimmering drum pattern and develops into a multi-layered and intriguing highlight that needs to be played again.

Autechre - Montreal

New Song On Sunday

 

A few months ago I became aware of an album by Warriors of the Dystotheque, a long time running project by Johnny Mac a DJ from Derry, Ireland. It's A Beautiful Thing is an album which was probably created in the spirit of Balearic, had some good moments and is quite calm and meditative. Apart from the last song of the album, Looking Through Balearic ES, no other song has stuck in my mind.

So I was all the more surprised that Nottingham's Coyote released a remix of this song this week. As usual, they manage to turn a good song into a very good one. The rather restrained rhythm and warm synths of the original are replaced by a hand-drummed beat and subtle guitars. The song could well appear on Café Del Mar's next sampler.

Lampes Mosse

 

A few days ago Craven Faults announced the release of their new album Bounds next week. I follow this band since a couple of years because they create a very unique sound. 

Based on analogue synthesizers they are somewhere between ambient, krautrock and electronica the create hypnotic aural landscapes you can drift away with. Not music that you should listen to on the side, whose beauty reveals itself if you can get involved with it.

Leather Friday

 

It's impossible to look back at leather outfits in rock music without mentioning Suzi Quatro. I can still remember how impressed I was when I saw her on television for the first time in 1973. On the one hand, that the entire band was dressed in leather and on the other, that she added hard rock to glam rock. Their first songs were classic stompers with a clear hook line and certainly influenced bands like The Runaways or Joan Jett.

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft couldn't have been more blatant than Suzi when they turned everything upside down at the end of the 70's. Robert Görl and Gabriel Delgado-Lopez met in the Düsseldorf punk scene and crossed boundaries with their physically emphazised music. Until then, it was unthinkable to make electronic dance music. And it was also inconceivable that dictators and the Messiah could appear in the same song. D.A.F. also became the blueprint for many other groups such as Front 242 and almost the entire techno scene.

Mention must also be made of Dublin's Thin Lizzy, who flew the flag for hard rock during the glam-rock era. Most of the songs were recorded with two guitars and the many songs with classic hooklines are carried by Phil Lynott's. Lynott liked to wear leather in his early days, especially live.

Everything has an end, and so does this little series, which will perhaps be continued when black leather jackets become the order of the day.

He Was New There

 

It takes a lot of humor to name your comeback album I'm New Here after 16 years. Gil Scott-Heron was already a big name in the black community in the 70's when he wrote the soundtrack for the black civil rights movement in America with his spoken-word songs together with Brian Jackson. 

He returned in 2010 after spending several years behind bars due to his cocaine use. As soon as he was released on parole, he had himself photographed on television with a crack pipe. As a result, he violated the conditions of his parole and had to go back to prison.

I'm New Here is an album that is only 30 minutes long but stands out from this year's releases. It is an album that celebrates the blues, but also integrates influences from trip-hop. dubstep and slow beats. 

The songs fluctuate between harrowing acoustic blues on I'm New Here and a handclap of gospel on New York's Killing Me to make Robert Johnson's Me And The Devil sound like a Massive Attack song.

The album is his testament, as he passed away just under a year later. But it's good that he was here again.

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here

Gil Scott-Heron - New York's Killing Me

Gil Scott-Heron - Me And The Devil

Gil Scott-Heron - Your Soul And Mine

Candy Apple Grey

 

When I was doing some research on the Internet recently, I came across the fact that Bob Mould was born 64 years ago today. All the more reason to listen to his albums with Sugar and Hüsker Dü again.

His debut album Copper Blue stood out from the 1992 releases and is rightly a classic, because the energy that can be heard on this album and the collection of great songs was rarely equalled at that time. 

I find it more difficult to name an equivalent album by Hüsker Dü. Zen Arcade is great, the following albums are still above average. My favorite album, however, is Candy Apple Grey, which is now almost 40 years old.

It was Hüsker Dü's first album that they released after switching to a major label. Many accused them of betraying indie, but for me it was a logical development of their music, moving away from their punk roots and putting their songs more in the foreground. Not that they lack much of their enthusiasm, many of their songs are more euphoric and empathetic and for many simply easier to digest. An album that paved the way for alternative rock and is just about perfect.

Hüsker Dü - Don't Wanna Know If You Are Lonely

Hüsker Dü - Hardly Getting Over It

Hüsker Dü - Sorry Somehow

Hüsker Dü - Too Fare Down

Blind Faith

 

A few weeks ago Irish singer-songwriter Gemma Hayes returned after a ten year absence with her new album Blind Faith. Gemma has been making wonderful music for over 20 years and has retired to Cork in recent years to spend more time with her two children. Finally she was able to bring herself to record a new album.

And she hasn't forgotten anything. She still writes songs that many others would give their lives for. That may sound exaggerated, but it makes sense to me. Hardly any other artist combines classic songwriting, great guitar arrangements and her enchanting voice.

On most of the songs she sings about love, lost and her personal view of live in these days. But it is not necessary, because her songs work without lyrics as well. A return that to say was merely welcome would be to seriously understate it. It is good to have her back and I hope she and her music will be no longer a best kept secret.

Monday's Long Song

 

I recently listened to Fairport Convention's second album Unhalfbricking again and realized that I've never given this band the credit they deserve on this blog. 

In 1974, I watched a World Cup match at the home of Andreas, a school friend (I can't remember exactly which one, but I suspect it was one of the Dutch team, who played the best football at the time and who we will play again tonight). Afterwards, we retired to his older brother's room, who even then had exceptional taste in music. Whilst we were still listening to glam rock, he was already playing Velvet Underground and, in total contrast, Fairport Convention.

I was so impressed by this music that I bought this record. FC was the product of the very young Richard Thompson on guitar and Sandy Denny, who sadly died far too young, with her clear and expressive voice. 

The album contains many songs by Bob Dylan, taken from his Basement Tapes and introduced to the band at the time, as well as his own songs. These include A Sailor's Life, a traditional on which Thompson shows what an exceptional guitarist he is. At just under 12 minutes, it was an extremely long song even for its time, but with its gently driving rhythm it never gets boring. 

Fairport Convention - A Sailor's Life

New Song On Sunday

 

It's the middle of October and some artists are already thinking about Christmas. I could always imagine a collaboration between Dean Wareham, the former member of Galaxie 500 and Sonic Boom, but I never thought it possible that they would release an album of Christmas songs together.

But that's exactly what happened. In November, they will release A Piece Of Us, their personal compilation of Christmas songs. Only a cover of Willie Nelson's Pretty Paper has been released in advance. What in the original is nothing more than another sentimental country ballad now becomes a pulsating synth piece carried by Sonic Boom's baritone and Britta Phillip's alto voice. I'm certainly not a fan of Christmas albums, but this is one I'll be listening to.

Black Sunday On Saturday

 

West Coast hip hop established itself at the beginning of the 90s. Snoop Dog, 2Pac and Dr Dre were the protagonists and sold millions of albums with their gangsta rap. All in all, many of the songs sounded the same to me, although I have to admit that I understood very little of the lyrics.

At that time, there was little that really excited me about this genre. Firstly, there was House of Pain, who added the attitude of white rappers to hip hop with a fantastic debut. 

The other was Cypress Hill, who incorporated influences from Latin American music into their sound. It was phenomenal to hear the samples DJ Muggs used in his songs, which had socially critical lyrics as well as advocating the unpunished use of cannabis. Their second album Black Sunday was included in many annual lists in 1993 and has not lost much of its fascination even today. And a song that contains a sample from Son of a Preacher Man can't be bad.

Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain

Cypress Hill - Hits From The Bong

Cypress Hill - When The Shit Goes Down

Leather Friday

 

Let's start the second round with Vince Talyor, a British singer who became well known more than 60 years ago. Impressed by the music of Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley he tried to copy them in his own style. What remains of him is his hit Brand New Cadillac, to which The Clash also paid tribute, and the inspiration for David Bowie when he created Ziggy Stardust.

I have already mentioned Elvis, but he should not be missing from this series. He wore leather from time to time at the beginning of his career, but deliberately chose it as an outfit for his live comeback in 1968, when he was probably able to get himself together for the last time to return to his musical roots after years.

 

Khayem commented last week that Julian Cope should not be missing from this series, especially as he sang about the subject with his song Look After Your Leathers. He also discovered leather for his outfits very early on and has earned his place in this series.

Keep On Keeping On

 

The world is changing faster and faster for the worse. Real wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, trade wars with China, a global arms race, the economy is in tatters, the cost of living is rising, healthcare systems are ailing and more and more people are losing their jobs, to name just a few things that are not going right. To be honest, I don't have any final solutions to offer either, but everything reminds me of the time 40 years ago when we faced similar problems.

At that time, a left-wing and ecologically orientated policy seemed to be the right way forward. It was precisely at this time that The Redskins came into the limelight with their first album. A buch of far left wing skinheads with a Trotskyist background that brought us only one album but a lot of powerful, catchy and danceable tunes mixing soul, rockabilly and punk to a unique sound.

They didn't changed the world but they let us dance and gave us hope for better days.

And as a bonus a footage of their last gig in Munich.

Hot Rats

 

A few days ago, I remembered a friend who had a fatal accident on his motorbike a good 20 years ago. Peter was a total fan of Frank Zappa, had almost every album of his and gave me access to Zappa. Apart from his debut album with the Mothers of Invention and his foray into the mainstream on Sheik Yerbouti, I only own Hot Rats. 

On this album, Zappa made it clear what he meant by fusion and jazz-rock. The songs on this album are arranged in such a complex way, with breaks and changes of time signature, but still with a playful lightness. Hardly any other album from this period has such solid and sophisticated drums and bass. 

The rather playful and catchy Peaches in Regalia, which stands in stark contrast to the electronic blues of Willie The Pimp, which is characterized by sprawling wah-wah solos to explore the boundaries of crossover in Son of Green Genes, shows just how contradictory his music is on this album.

Frank Zappa - Peaches In Regalia

Frank Zappa - Willie The Pimp

Frank Zappa - Son Of Green Genes

From The Inbox

 

For today, I have selected a few noteworthy entries from my mailbox. The first one is from Andres y Xavi, the Balearic alter ego of Glenn Fallows and Steve Ellis. An excellent bass line prepares the floor for an hypnotic groove and later some vocals appear in the back. Another remarkable piece of music from them.

Martin Jenkins aka Pye Corner Audio returns with another dark sci-fi tune. A pulsating beat and hi-hats drive the song forward, which is only interrupted by a few echoing synth passages.  

Monday's Long Song

 

At the end of the 80s, the German music scene came to a standstill and many musicians were looking for new paths. Some of them turned to the jazz scene and, like Jazzkantine, experimented with a crossover between jazz, hip hop, rock and sometimes soul. 

By chance, the former bassist of avant-garde rockers Kraan and trumpeter Joo Kraus met in a pub in Ulm to start an unusual project. They obviously struck a chord with their own blend of acid jazz and trip-hop. 

I was able to experience that Tab Two (trumpet and bass) were particularly convincing live when they performed in my home town in our favourite pub before travelling to the annual jazz festival in Montreux (which was only possible because the owner was good friends with Hattler).  

New Song On Sunday

Last week another song by British DJ, Remixer and producer Neil Parnell aka Tronik Youth was released via Berlin's Nein Records. To be honest, Ghost in the Shell is new but a rip-off by Alan Vega's Ghost Rider from 1981. While Vega builds his song on a simple rockabilly riff, Tronik Youth has taken a pulsating synth riff as a basis to let echoing vocals circle in the background. And he actually manages to give the song a new guise without destroying it or freezing it in awe. You can't kill good songs.

And I couldn't resist to feature the original with scenes from Marlon Brando's The Wild One.

When Punk Met Reggae

 

During the week I became aware of a compilation that deals with the fusion of punk and reggae at the end of the 70s. And yes, it includes the essential bands such as The Clash, The Ruts, Stiff Little Fingers and The Specials, but also The Piranhas.

The Piranhas were a band that originally emerged from Brighton's punk scene in 1977 and became famous when they covered Tom Hark, a South African folk standard that made it into the charts. 

They've only released one album, but it's filled with ska-inspired new wave, which was absolutely danceable and was a favorite of mine when I was still occasionally on the road as a DJ. Looking back, I have to say that they wrote more good songs than the rest of comparable bands at the time and have been unjustly forgotten.

Leather Friday

 

For no particular reason, I was watching old videos of The Doors again a few days ago and realized what a presence Jim Morrison was. The fact that he has achieved cult status is certainly also due to his clothes, especially his leather trousers. In music, leather generally stands for freedom, rebellion and wanting to be different. The more I thought about it, the more musicians came to mind who celebrated the leather look and gave me the idea of presenting this in a small series.

At the end of the 60's, Jim Morrison was the idol of many who wanted to be different. His metaphorical lyrics, hypnotic gestures and radical attitude to life made him a superstar. However, he also knew how to present himself visually and so his leather trousers became the outfit of his rebellion.

To stand out in the whole glam scene, Alvin Stardust decided to dress completely in black leather. His music is strongly reminiscent of early rock ‘n’ roll and what could be more obvious than to dress like this?

In the wake of new wave, a Belgian singer emerged at the end of the 70s who was also a huge chart success dressed in leather. Plastic Bertrand is just a footnote in music history, but even his song and outfit are memorable.

Bank Holiday

 

Today, Germany is commemorating the reunification of the two countries 35 years ago. While many believed in recent years that the two countries had grown together, I think that there is much more that separates us than unites us. Wages in the east of Germany are still significantly lower than in the west. Many areas are structurally poor and there is a lack of jobs. These may also be the reasons why right-wing extremist parties are gaining massive support there. 

But this is not intended to be a treatise on the state of Germany, just a few thoughts that occur to me spontaneously on this holiday. Therefore, only two songs from East and West that are more closely related to reunification.

Paris 1919

 

A few days ago I rediscovered John Cale's third solo album after not having listened to it for years. It's probably well known that Cale was a founding member of the Velvet Underground. But that he had a classical training as a musician is probably less so. 

He has always tried to explore the boundaries of music. His musical spectrum ranges from the deconstruction of listening habits to avant-garde pop. And he achieved the latter with Paris 1919. Rarely has his music been so catchy and fascinating. A timeless masterpiece that in many places is reminiscent of Nick Drake's Bryter Layter, which was produced by Cale at almost the same time.

Falling Leaves

 

Today marks the start of October and with it the regular time between summer and winter. The leaves turn into a play of colors and finally fall, it gets cooler and rainier. The days when you could go out without a jacket are over for the time being. 

I was looking for a song for today that featured October, but couldn't find one that really fitted the bill. So I switched to autumn and came up with a song by Yo La Tengo from 1997. Autumn Sweater is from her album of the same name and is a song that divides opinion. For some, it is perhaps the only indie rock song that lasts more than five minutes without a guitar and creates a hypnotic atmosphere with organ, strong drums and tempered bass. For others, it will simply be too boring. For me, the former is true. 

Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater