Swerve

Their is a record compilation out now I thinking about to buy. Manchester North Of England shows on seven CD's the musical evolution of this city from the early Buzzcocks to Oasis. Filled with bands from the independent era of the mid 70's to the end of the 80's. Many of them are new to me, others I didn't heard before. One of them I remember well because they were played often in various locations in my hometown. Dub Sex was another brilliant and sadly forgotten Manchester band playing alongside with Happy Mondays and Stone Roses when the came through. I still can enjoy their rough industrial sound. Probably one of the essences that made punk great.



The band reunited a few years ago and I found a footage from gig they played in December 2014. Great stuff.

Four Lost Souls

Since the first time I heard Where Were You I was a fan of The Mekons and Jon Langford. I saw them a lot of times live and had a wonderful conversation before and after a concert with Sally Timms and Jon Langford. I don't want to lose many words about The Mekons right now and focus to the solo escapades by Jon Langford. His side project The Three Johns made fun long times ago and he was the first one that made a tribute to Johnny Cash when no one around had him on the list. Since the Welsh musician moved to the USA he combined his punk roots with contemporary American (folk) music. Of course his output during the last years were new or groundbreaking but always fresh and individual. Now he released a new record Four Lost Souls. He was invited to make his record in the famous Muscle Shoals studios. The result was a perfect combination of British influenced country music on a Southern soul base. It is true that he can't make any worse record and so I like his songs and the way that make me smile. I will offer you this songs until DMCA will contact me to delete. Until then enjoy these tunes.

Jon Langford - Snake Behind Glass
Jon Langford - Natchez Trace
Jon Langford - In Oxford Mississppi

Forgotten Gems

A few days ago I rummaged for a record and suddenly I held a very old record in my hand. It was Waikiki Beach Refugees by The Flys from 1979. You might know what happened then. On sometimes memories came back and I remembered a lot of great songs from this band. The Flys were one of the first British punk rock bands, formed in 1976 in Coventry. In their early days the were the opening band for the Buzzcocks and released a few singles/EP's. I noticed them a few years later buying Waikiki Beach Refugees. It was on heavy rotation in these days at my home. I loved their perfect combination of power-pop and Damned-influenced punk-rock. Their songs are much more than another 1234-punk-rock style and lyrics still have high quality for an unknown band. Sadly the never got the critical acclaim they should have. These songs still work great after all this years. I don't know if it is a start for a new series but probably will.

The Flys - 16 Down
The Flys - Civilization
The Flys - Love and a Molotow Cocktail
The Flys - I don't know
The Flys - Got you where I want you

And another one from an early Peel-session:
The Flys - Frenzy is 23

Tom Petty RIP

I will surely not starting a new series after last evening bonus post about Joy Flemming passing away last week. A lot of country/country-rock was played at my home during the last days and I planned to write something about Jon Langford's latest record when I heard that Tom Petty died on a heart attack at the age of 66. First time I got aware of him was more than 40 years ago when he released his first record with the Heartbreakers. Not that it was very new or similar to the upcoming sound of punk and new wave he was like a link to the old day Westcoast sound. Best shown on American Girl where he played a Bo Diddley inspired riff with the verve of new wave. Since then I followed him an his career. During the last decades he made a lot of wonderful songs and often when I didn't know what to put on my turntable I grabbed out one of his records. I was lucky enough to see him a couple of times live on rare appearances in Germany and still remember his presence on the stage. He was a full-blooded singer and his songs will be his legacy.

Rest well Tom.

Joy Fleming RIP

Last week I got the sad news that Joy Fleming, one of the best jazz and blues singers of Germany, died at the age of 73. She wasn't the one that made something new in music but she was one of those who tried to impress us with her bluesy voice singing in a German dialect that many of us didn't understand. Joy had a real great voice and the feeling for blues like less others at these days. She was always present with her songs and I was lucky enough to see her once live almost 30 years ago.

Rest well Joy.

Jorge

You might know that I have a big affection to electronic music in every variation if it sound great and/or new. During the past week I got the news that there is a new electronic band on the scene worth to be listened to. First thing I saw was the logo showing us a smiley with crossed bones and it reminds me to a very popular football club in Hamburg - St. Pauli. This is another story that should be told in the future. Now back to music. Acid Pauli is another project by Bavarian born musician Martin Gretschmann. He played different records with a famous underground band of the 00's - The Notwist. They made some great independent albums and I ask myself why I didn't featured them right now. Gretschmann switched from guitar based sound to electronic first with Console which made some good dance tracks a few years ago. Now he's back with Acid Pauli and his very own incredible and unique interpretation of electronic music. All tracks are reduced to the limit and filled with bleeps and drum. I think this will not work perfect on the dance floor but it works well under headphones. It is another music to finish the day with. An amazing transmission.

I Love You Will You Marry Me

Almost half a year ago I featured Dominic Harrison at this place because his mix-up of musical influences impressed me. Now he's back with his alter ego Yungblud and a new single. And I still like the way he merges different sounds from the last decades in music. You can hear reminiscences of revolution rock by The Clash, ska-punk by The Specials and Bob Dylan's protest-folk. And over all a snotty rap The Streets used to do. Not too bad to start into the last quarter of the year.