This Stupid World

 

For those who don't know, Yo La Tengo are an American indie-rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey, and active since almost 30 years. The main figures of this band, Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley, made during this decades songs and albums I always like to visit them with great joy. Sadly it is a band that only got limited critical acclaim for what they have done in musical history. I can't remember any album that I couldn't listen to and saying that it didn't fulfilled my expectations. The recent weeks they released their new album This Stupid World and it is one of those I will surely play it many times this year. It is a superb mixture of many different styles that were created during the last decades and surprising with no cover versions. Yo La Tengo is a band of vibes, more than ever. Organ drones and spherical chords held in the air form the basis, fuzz guitars) classic acoustic guitars or distorted vocal tracks pierce through the meditative uniformity, are splashes of colour in the monochrome. The highlight is "Fallout" ,a beautiful shoegaze piece with a majestically opening chord progression, in which the dominantly distorted electric guitar combines fantastically with the motoric, high bass tones.

Fire On The Mountain

These days arrived the news that London based collective Rude Audio will release a collaboration with Welsh musician Dan Wainwright called Psychedelic Science. They only released an appetizer from their forthcoming album Fire On The Mountain, but what I heard was more than I expected. Both artists were featured on this pages during the last years and they released a lot of outstanding music for me. Now they changed they musical style and combined Grateful Dead's Westcoast sound with British reggae. The result is nothing more or less a very big surprise that made me happy. I listened to this song the first time and can't stop to play it once again. This are some words they made when they released this album:

Inspired by radio play and club support from the likes of Don Letts and - bless his cotton socks and may he RIP - Andrew Weatherall and rooted in our love of US psychedelia, especially the Dead and Jefferson Airplane, we decided to buckle down and create a massive dub lp, steeped in mycological and herbal goodness, that would appeal to the head(s) and the feet and work in clubs, back rooms and bedrooms. We were joined by Ken Kesey's right hand man on the Acid Test, Ken Babbs and psychedelic and spiritual guru, Mr Ram Dass, for part of the trip.

Deep Sea Skiving

 

 

I can't believe that is 40 years ago now that a girl group appeared on the scene that brought us the pop album of the year. And I can't remember anyone who couldn't agree to Bananarama this summer. Their first album is still an outstanding album in British post new-wave pop. Together with Fun Boy Three they made the blueprints of the upcoming sound. Influenced by various styles like 60's pop, new wave enthusiasm, tribal rhythms and the talent of selecting the songs that fit to their attitude they recorded some great songs that stood the time. 

Bananarama - Really Saying Something

Banararama - Aie A Mwana

Monday's Long Song

Today's song is by Big Blood, an American psychedelic folk/experimental rock band formed almost 20 years ago. Originally formed as a husband-wife duo of Colleen Kinsella and Caleb Mulkerin in South Portland, Main. They are a musical institution in New England and known as a superb live band. Their music is torn between new folk with Colleen's bright voice and psychedelic guitar excursions. Serpent Skies might not be the trademark of their music but I like the easy drifting and moving kind of flow in this song. 

Another Band To Remember

 

By regularly listening to new and very old music, I find that I always forget classics that I have always wanted to hear again. I come back to them when I get an impulse to do so. That's how I felt when I read that Pedestrian Verse by Frightened Rabbit had been re-released. It's an album by Glasgow-based brothers Scott and Grant Hutchinson and was released 10 years ago. They already proved that Frightened Rabbit could write great songs with their previous album The Winter of Mixed dreams. Here they go one step further and add another dimension to their guitar-based indie sound. Scott Hutchison proves this directly in the opener Acts Of Man, which begins as a piano ballad in falsetto and ends in a drum loop. A song that Coldplay would kill for in its epic breadth. That Frightened Rabbit are nevertheless a group that can perform in a Glasgow pub at any time they prove with a highlight of this record with The Woodpile. Rediscovering such treasures is pure pleasure for me.

Frightened Rabbit - Act Of A Man

Frightened Rabbit - The Woodpile

Intrigue Pt. II

 

Let's go back diving in the new/progressive sound of the late 70's where a lot of bands started blew up structures of contemporary music and opened my ears for something that was more real to me than every thing else I heard before. 

Magazine - Back To Nature

Magazine was one of the first post-punk bands that had more than raw energy and anger and released with Real Life a masterpiece that I almost played to death at these days. All songs have a massive depth and hooks other bands didn't had in this era. And they are all well arranged and combined the energy of punk with the classic rock roots. That they influenced many other bands after their first albums is not necessary to repeat. Back To Nature is from their second album Second Hand Delight and a good example why they got all the critical acclaims.

Simple Minds - I Travel (Extended Version)

Formed in Glasgow in 1980 Simple Minds were one of those bands who made a few great albums in their beginnings to get arbitrary during the years. But their early output is still fantastic and still worth to get a listen to. Their legacy? Probably one of those new wave bands that made experiences with synthesizers and built a bridge from their guitar based roots to electronic music. I Travel is the opening track from third album Empires And Dance from 1980.

XTC - Complicated Game

Complicated Game is a song by XTC, a band that started as pioneers of new wave and from their best early album Drums And Wires from 1979. The whole album is one of those that I often played when I was DJing in the early 80's. Not just because I can hear the fun and enthusiasm in every song they made on this record. It was more as a door opener to many other bands from this era. And what talent Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding had they showed us on various later released albums.

Stutter

1986 was a good year in music and many remarkable albums were released in this year. For me one of the best albums is James' debut album Stutter. Many filed this album as a folk rock album but for me it is still a monument in songwriting. James were a part of Manchester's club scene, supporting New Order live and close to a contract with Factory records. They made complex songs with very unique arrangements you can enjoy still after a few decades. Stutter is one of those albums I will ever come back to. 

James - So Many Ways

James - Johnny Yen

James - Sculldaggery