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

The Candle And The Flame

 

Most of you will know that Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter Robert Forster became famous as a forming member of The Go-Betweens, one of the superbest bands from the 80's that made a few albums that are still highlights which I come back regular. The Go-Betweens were history when Grant McLennan died in 2006. After this Forster made some albums that were also far above the average of songwriting tradition and I always was happy when he released a new album. Now he released The Candle And The Flame, a new album filled with songs for his wife Karin Bäumler who is married to him since more than 30 years. The close relationship of the couple was put to the test in 2021 when Bäumler was diagnosed with cancer. The songs on this album are filled with memories, hope and tragedy of the last decades of their life and many may call them simple but for me I seldom heard better songs about love and optimism during the last years.

Monday's Long Song

 

The late 60's were stamped by post-psychedelic and blues influenced music. The most popular bands came from across the ocean and psyche and guitar based from from Europe played in league two. While bands in Germany developed krautrock as a new musical style our neighbors in Netherlands tried to find new ways in rock music. In 1969 Dutch rock band Golden Earring released Eight Miles High an album inspired by a song by The Byrds. The essence of this album is a 19 minute long version of this song showing what was possible when a bass is taking over the leading position to give it back to a heavy blues-guitar. It is a song I listen often to in my very younger days and came back to it when I listened to The Byrds recently. Still a great version even if it is out of time now.

Golden Earring - Eight Miles High

From The Deepest NYC Underground

 

These days I got aware of a compilation called Blacklist Bar: Androgyns and Deviants - Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels  and just because of the title I made some further investigations. It is a compilation I only can listen to because of it is a document from musical history. This are further information the releasing label gave to us:

From June 1992 to March 1995, in the mist of the AIDS crisis in NYC, an extraordinary thatrical collective emerged fro the queer underground. Blacklips Performing Cult, initiated by ANOHNI and joined a cabal of fellow artists, drag queens, punks, nightlife veterans and students, performed a new play every Monday night at 1:00 a.m. at the Pyramid club on 101 Avenue A. Blacklips never courted mainstream attention. However the group left a sustaining impression within New York's late night subculture by melding hysterical drag, surreal horror and diconcerting tenderness.

Listening to the songs I understand that they didn't got much critical acclaim because they will only work live at this place. Some individual covers like Lou Reed's Satellite of Love will work well when you can see the artist, others are good electronic experiments and others are shouted out lyrics with obscene contents. After all it is nothing more or less a document of a scene that was only alive for a few years and it is more punk than many thing else that was released.

Dirty Hugs

 

Yesterday a few remixes of songs from GLOK's album Pattern Recognition were released and all of them were fantastic. Regular visitors of this pages will know that I am a fan of Andy Bell and I featured his work and remixes during the last years. Richard Sen's remix of Dirty Hugs shows another time how great Bell's song were. As he did a great work on his version of Dissident he didn't disappoint the second time. He took the original 20 minutes long song and added a hypnotic krautrock inspired groove to Bell's guitar licks. A perfect start into the weekend.

Intrigue

 A few weeks ago Intrigue a compilation by Steven Wilson, known as the founder, songwriter, singer and vocalist of Porcupine Tree, named as Intrigue: Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979 - 1989. I owned this box set just because a lot of songs from this decade were very familiar to me. Listening to those songs brought me back to glory days of new music I developed in these days and I am thinking about to start a little series based on the music I rediscovered during the last days.

This Heat - Health And Efficiency

This Heat was an experimental band formed in London in 1976 and filled as another punk band from the beginning. They only released two albums and an EP with the same title. Health and Efficiency is one of their highlights and shows what could be possible when your musical ideas has no limits. Their sound was seminal because they included different influences like krautrock, dub, noise and post punk into their unique sound. Still an underrated band that should have more acclaim to their works.

In Camera - Fatal Day

To be frankly In Camera is a band that I hadn't on the radar until I listened to them on the compilation. This London based post-punk band formed by Andrew Gray who became later a member of The Wolfgang Press, were heavenly inspired by PIL and Joy Division and sadly they were unable to release a full album. File as another underrated and forgotten band.

Have a great weekend people.

Happy Endings

 

A few weeks ago Scottish producer and musician Sean Dickinson aka HiFi Sean released his first album with his longer time collaboration with British singer David McAlmont Happy Ending. I got this album when it was released, listened once and forgot about it. During the last days I rediscovered this album and listened a few times to it and I have to admit that it grows the more I listen to it. I enjoy their music whatever the musical press would say. It is an album that I will call timeless because this songs were far away from any popular genres today. Songs that lives because of McAlmont's mighty and also easy voice, well arranged with orchestra and strings. Sometimes it remembers me on the music Marc Almont did ages ago and Kevin Rowland would be proud to sing. A little highlight this year so far. 

Monday's Long Song

Sometimes I notice a new name in music and only because of the name I go for further investigations. This happened the last time when I first got aware of Hunterbräu. As far as I know Hunterbräu is an electronic music artist from Manchester. His music is some kind of merging of 80's synthesized rock/pop and acid house from years later. I have to admit that I didn't listen to Depeche Mode's original for a long time but this version with it's reduced electronic rhythm, cautious synths and the vocals shifted in the background is coequal to me.

 

Facciamo L'Amore

 

After another stressful week at work I enjoy staying at home reading some good books and listening to music. I think the older I get the less the duties of my job. Especially when my company is going to turn everything upside down at an incredible pace. This song was released yesterday and was the perfect soundtrack to slow down. A ten minute track built on a simple rhythm and added with warm synths, a bit of guitar and whispered voices makes this song worth to be played. Rheinzand is an electronic collaboration from Ghent, Belgium, and featured at this place the last time when they released their superb self titled album back in 2020. The title of the song means Let's Make Love and has nothing in common with the song Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg made decades ago.

Wayne Shorter 1933 - 2023

 

The sad news arrived yesterday that Wayne Shorter died at the age of 89. Shorter was one of the main figures of modern jazz/fusion and one of those I always liked listen to. To be honest the jazz thing was never the music I could listen to. Maybe because it was too sophisticated and those who were in this kind of music praised every chord they played and seldom fusion for got no soul at all. But Shorter was a uniter. He played his jazz thing with legends like Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock and Santana as well. What will stand the test of time is the way he played his saxophone and his ability to enrich his instrument the sound of many others. This one is a footage of a gig he played with Carlos Santana back in 1988 at the Montreux festival. For me still a highlight in this genre with it's piano and percussion parts.

Cello Song

 

I am not a fan of albums paying tribute to an artist or a band. Most of the songs that were interpreted by various artists have no further ideas to play a song in a different way. This was my first thought when I got the news that The Endless Coloured Ways a tribute to the music of Nick Drake was released. Nick Drake only released three albums before he died on the abuse of antidepressant drugs too early. He was one of those artists who was able to touch me with his very own way of writing songs that came straight to my heart. I gave this tribute a chance and listened to a few songs. The only one that I can commit with was Fontaines D.C. because they didn't tried to make a version of this song. This little band from Dublin tried to transform this song into their own sound and the result is much better than I could expect. Anyway, a good job but you can't beat the original that touched my heart from the first time I listened to it.

To compare: here is the original.

Music For The Jilted Generation

 

In the early 1990's Liam Howlett and Keith Flint formed The Prodigy a band that was the blueprint of many other bands that would follow. After a short release they made a groundbreaking album with Music for the Jilted Generation. On this album they mixed hardcore breakbeat, dub, reggae, rap, jungle and acid-house to a new sound I never heard before. After this album rave and everything else could be possible. Their manifoldness is probably best shown with this both songs. The Prodigy were one of the first bands that turned away from classic songwriting turning into a never ending sound for the dancefloor. Sadly less people remember the quality of their songs and their possibility of seeking the future of sound.

The Prodigy - 3 Kilos

The Prodigy - Skylined

Monday's Long Song

 

Today's song is from The Sound Of Love Unlimited a compilation compiled by London based producer and DJ Ben Williams also known under his moniker Gatto Fritto. I found this on the hard drive of my laptop during the last weekend. I have to admit that I didn't listen to it for a very long time but have to admit that the whole album is still a gem. Love International is an annual festival of underground dance music held in Tisno, Croatia since a couple of years. Free of Life is a hybrid of Balearic sound combined with an impulsive drum rhythm. Not the worst way to start into this week.

Mi Ami - Free Of Life

The Demon Haunted World

 

A few days ago Duncan Gray,a British DJ, producer and founder of Tici Taci label released a song written and produced in 2016. The reason why after a long time is is own words: This track was written in 2016 but never released. It is named after the book by Carl Sagan. Recently Martin from the excellent The Flightpath Estate (curator of the Weatherdrive and all things Weaterall related) got in touch with me to ask if this had ever been released - reminding me that Andrew had played it on BBC radio back in summer of 2016. So here it is, giving a fresh mixdown and a sparkling master from Rich Lane at Cotton Bud. This song is not groundbreaking but another example of how good this kind of music was/is. For me a very good start into the weekend, hoping that my team will confirm their last win one week ago. Have a great weekend all of you.

Looking For Lewis And Clarke

 

Thank God that the foolish times and the carnival season are over now. I know that in the Cologne and Düsseldorf area this time is considered one of the highlights of the year. In my city, too, they have been trying to do the same for decades in a considerably slimmed-down version. For me, it was a time when I met up with few friends and kept away from all the hustle and bustle and the prescribed merriment. So it was all the nicer when I was able to meet up with some friends for a beer again yesterday without having to comply with all the conventions. So I had time enough after work to grab out some music I didn't listen for a very long time. This is the reason why I came back to The Long Ryders, an American band that was active between 1982 until 1987. They released three albums at this time and I own only their 1985 release State Of Our Union and I think this record shows everything good of this band. A perfect fusion of Byrds inspired country including and the sound of British pub-rock from the early 70's. Great guitars and songs with hooks were their trademark and it is always a pleasure to come back to them from time to time.

The Long Ryders - State Of My Union

The Long Ryders - Looking For Lewis And Clarke

Violent Drive

 

Yesterday I featured Jesse Fahnestock's latest release that grabbed me from the start to the end. Today is the time to feature the latest release by Kerala Dust, a band regular visitors know that they appeared at this place for several times. Kerala Dust is a band formed in 2016 by Edmund Kenny in London and now switching between Berlin and Zurich. During the last years they played their very own version of Brisish Americana but now they left all their roots behind and made their own unique sound between Velvet Underground, Can and bluesy Americana. Kerala Dust made one of those albums you can hear in a row and it never gets boring. Hypnotic rhythms changes into progressive sounds to return into a bluesy mood with picked electric guitar lines to include Portishead sounds into their music. Since I got this album it was on heavy rotation and I can only recommend this here. 

Transition Theory

 

Last Sunday our dear friend Khayem released a post featuring 10:40's new album. Jesse Fahnestock made an album that I never expected in this way. He left his usual ways in mixing great music and turned into many kinds of music and sounds he was inspired by. And he made a record that grows for me the more I listen to it. If it was a slow-mo dub-inspired journey on Regime Shift Dub that could appear on every album by The Orb or a bleeping experience on At the turning of the time with a chilly groove  or Jimmy Ripp, a psychedelic krautrock inspired song with an analogue inspired groove. He makes everything right on this record. For me a highlight of this year because I didn't listen to any other album I can find more details in many songs the more I listen to them.

 

Monday's Long Song

 

1986 saw the birth of one of the most innovative rock combos of the 80s. Jane's Addiction were one of the first bands to break down the rigid boundaries between heavy metal and rock with a confusing mixture of brute riffs, hypnotically aggressive rhythms and approaches foreign to the style (punk, folk). Not to forget Farrell's high-pitched eunuch roar. In those days, by the way, the first stereotyped thinkers spoke of "alternative rock" and a few years later of "Grunge". In 1990 Jane's Addiction released their masterpiece Ritual de lo Habitul for me their most complex work. The album is filled with ideas and influences of earlier decades and formed to a new and heavy sound. From early progressive rock over to blues fragments and a bit of funk made this album extraordinary. And not only because of it's cover.  America's guardians of morals do not find the image of a naked sculpture of Farrell at all demure. In accordance with the band's wishes, the censored version comes with a white envelope with the words of the First Commandment written on it.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Jane's Addiction - Three Days

Blood And Butter

 

Many different newspaper release on Friday their recommendations of new albums. Last Friday a few of them agreed by naming Caroline Polacheck's album Desire, I want to turn into you as a top release. This made me curious not knowing if it is just the hype of the month. Polacheck is a singer/songwriter from Brooklyn, New York, and active since more than a decade. To be honest, her name is new to me and I can't remember listening to any song by her or her bands. Polacheck has an extraordinary voice and she is able to write songs that fit to this voice. Blood and Butter is a piece of light-footed synthy pop with a reluctant guitar and a catchy rhythm. The whole album is very nice but certainly not the one that will reach higher rankings in year end lists. 

No One Is Smarter Than History

Many of the regular visitors on this small piece or internet will know that I have  huge affinity to David Holmes, an Irish musician, producer and DJ. For me he creates sounds that fit to my ears and his mixes were more than worth to listen. A few months ago he released a single that is more over the average in this genre than many others I listened to the last weeks. A catchy song that doesn't get out of your head if you listen to it the first time. A song that could appear in many year end lists. 

 

It wasn't intended to make a little series after I released a post when Trugoy The Dove passed away too soon. But after this news I turned the last days into hip hop of the late 80's. Another band that made groundbreaking music were the Beastie Boys. If their first album Licensed To Ill was just a party album when they started to experiment with samples they learned quickly to do it in a glorious way. Paul's Boutique was an aural experience for me and showed how to include old music of every kind of genre into a very new sound. And finally the video clip of Sabotage is still one of the best from this era.

UDS

 

After yesterday's post I listened to some more records from that time and rediscovered a band I didn't listen for ages. Urban Dance Squad were a band formed in Utrecht during a jam-session on a festival in the Netherlands in the late 80's. They released their first album Mental For The Floss in 1989 and grabbed me with their unique mix of various genres. Urban Dance Squad's music encompassed funk, soul, heavy metal, hip hop, reggae, jazz and ska. They were close to the level the Beastie Boys or Red Hot Chili Peppers had in the United States but sadly didn't got the critical acclaim they should have. Listening to them after decades I have to admit that they did some very good songs and were ahead of their time.

Urban Dance Squad - Deeper Shade Of Soul

Urban Dance Squad - No Kids (Acoustic Version)

David Jude Jolicoeur RIP

 

It was in 1989 when rap/hip-hop everyone talked about. Most people I knew talked about the so called gangster rap where boys from the hood and the the inner circle were going to get critical and chart access. It was also the time when De La Soul appeared on the scene with an album that changed a lot in listening to new African-American music. When the most artists in hip-hop tried to show us their bad habits De La Soul showed us the very different way. They came to my ears with their very own sound filled with samples from heavy bands like Led Zeppelin over Steely Dan to country to James Brown and funk. An album that opened my ears for something new and different. Trugoy/Jolicouer was the forming member of this fantastic and groundbreaking band and died last weekend much too early at the age of 54. Three Feet High And Rising is their legacy and still an album that works still after three decades.

Rest easy Trugoy

De La Soul - The Magic Number

De La Soul - Me Myself And I

De La Soul - This is a Recording 4 Living in a Fulltime Era

Monday's Long Song

 

During the weekend I rediscovered an EP from 2016 that I had almost forgot. Bahia is by Leeds based DJ and producer Joe Morris. He is one of those who brought me a couple of fantastic Balearic inspired songs and remixes. Always able to play songs inspired by the sun and the Ibiza feeling with good guitars, great flow and perfect arrangements. A true sound to relax.

Joe Morris - Stars Over Benirras

Joe Morris - Bahia

Vitamin D

 

Manchester's Lewis Olsen aka Psychederek announced his first album later this year. Almost two years ago he released Space Arcade, an EP with various mixes which became one of the most played records at my place. This song is an appetizer from his upcoming album and it nothing more or less superb psyche-pop with good guitars and great harmonies that can brighten your day.

Ya Mahla

 

These days a new album arrived from Acid Arab, a Parisian duo by Guido Minisky and Hervé Carvallo that made a record a few years ago that was played often at my place. Jdid is a record that combines dancefloor/hypnotic beats with influences of primary music of Algeria, Tunisia, Syria and Turkey. To be honest, their new songs don't grab me like the ones a couple of years ago. But I think I should listen to their music because they offer me a new spectrum of sounds that are possible to be combined in the way we consumed music during the last decades. And I am not thinking about the possibilities north African musicians have to be listened by us.

Staifia is one of the songs I really enjoyed from their first album and explains why you should give them a listen.

Acid Arab - Staifia

Gargoyle

 

These days I recalled that Mark Lanegan died almost a year ago. Much too early of course because he ever made a records he refined with his incomparable voice. So I spent an evening with his output from the last decades and finally I came to the result that his legacy should be Gargoyle from 2017. He celebrated for me the last time all his influences, if it was grunge, blues-rock, stoner sound or just heavy ballads, he made an album that stood the test of time for me. And he had a voice that I really miss in rock music.

Mark Lanegan Band - Old Swan

Mark Lanegan Band - Nocturne

News From The Past

 

After the split of London based Northern Ireland post-punk band The Undertones brothers O'Neill returned to their home in Derry to form another band. That Petrol Emotion returned from the ashes with a new sound. More guitars as The Undertones, different arranged songs full of hooks on their first two albums. They combined the energy of new wave with the ability to write great pop hymns. I still love their early output from the mid 80's because they hit my nerves. Someone once said that they combine The Clash with CCR and listening to their songs I can't say he's wrong. Babble is for me the better album than their debut because it more raw than their first one. An album that is almost complete when you listening to it in full length in a row. 

That Patrol Emotion - Swamp

That Petrol Emotion - For What It's Worth

But TPE weren't only a post-punk band they also experimenting with new sounds like remixes, samples and other stuff like this and prepared the floor of the upcoming sound of Manchester that came popular in the following years.

That Petrol Emotion - Abandon (Boys Own Remix)

That Petrol Emotion - Hey Venus (Mad Thatcher Disease Remix)

Monday's Long Song

 

The past years have seen Duncan Gray champion a sludgy, slow-mo take on dance music that favors chuggy bass guitars and psychedelic sound palettes and drag and drop samples. He was featured at this place several times and often with new releases that were all over the usual average of new releases in electronic music. Now he's back with a new release on London's tici taca label. Short Haul is a bassy song inspired by the sound of Bill Laswell and Eno's/Byrne's Bush of Ghosts with great guitar parts in the second half. Anyway a one of the best songs this year so far.

Surf Rock Never Die

 

Sometimes I wonder in which corner of the world there are no musicians who have a deep love for surf-rock and psychedelic, form a band and release a record. This thought crossed my mind when I heard the debut Skeleton Ranch by Los Palms, an Australian band from Adelaide who musically venture into the 1960s in California and Texas. On their debut album we get surf, western and classic sixties psych of the unexciting kind. All played very true to style with their own touch. A lot of reverb and a bit of fuzz, always more committed passages as well.  What more could you expect from a psych record.

Chasing Rainbows

 

A couple of days ago Ripley Johnson announced a new album by his project Rose City band in April. It seems that they didn't changed their style. Sunny westcoast country songs with a sparkling guitar that drifts into a psychedelic mood to the end of the song. This song is the perfect recipe to get rid of the cold, wet and windy weather outside and shortens the time until spring will arrive.

Time And Space

 

A new sound arrived the last days. It is a collaboration between Japan's Calm and Finish musician Jimi Tenor. Time and Space is a downtempo song over a great bass-line with flutes, the sound of birds in the background and a heavy hypnotic groove. While the song in it's original is great, the remix by Belfast's The Vendetta Suite gives us a superb fusion of ambient and a gentle balearic sound. A new and great sound I listen to the first time. You can find more gems here.

Monday's Long Song

 

Today's long song arrived a few days ago and I was surprised to listen to something new by Róisin Murphy. To be honest it is not a new song - it is the live version of a collaboration she did with producers Luca C and Brigante 10 years ago. While Flash Of Light was originally was a good dancefloor song in the tradition of Moloko this version is a powerful excursion in house-proved rhythms with jazzy effects on a very solid rhythm base. I was lucky enough to see this version live later this year on a fantastic concert by her band. For me a good start into another working week.

Tom Verlaine 1949 - 2023

 

During the last months many artist died away that meant a lot to me. Now I read the sad news that Tom Verlaine passed away last Saturday at the age of 73. I think I don't have to tell much about his musical history with Television and what his music meant for punk rock in New York in the late 70's. For me was Marquee Moon the synonym of how a guitar should be played in the next decades. It was fascinating how he built a new and unique sound from the heritage of the Velvets. This song is from his third album with the same title.

RIP Tom

Tom Verlaine - Words From The Front

Dress

 

Softcult is a new band by the Canadian twin sisters Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn. They released a few singles and I got aware of her new song on an incoming promotion mail during last week. It is a song with much anger in it. Singing about sexual assaults over a grungy pop background with a dominated electric bass. Lyrics like these were seldom heard these days but certainly necessary. 

 „My hair, my face, my tongue, my legs / Won’t ever feel the same again / My hands, my hips, my mouth, my lips / I’ll never be the same again“ 

Fine Malt Lyrics

 

It was in 1992 when House Of Pain appeared on the scene. Following the Beastie Boys, they presented us with a version of Hip Hop like we never heard before in this way. Like their companions Cypress Hill they showed what this kind of genre could be possible to do. House Of Pain were probably the first white band rapping over a floor of samples with a new attitude and identity. They played with their Celtic roots and created stompers for the dancefloor a lot people I knew at this time agreed very well with them. Fine Malt Lyrics was one of those albums that opened my ears to a very new sound. Listening to this album after longer time I have to admit that it stood the test of time. A very highlight of what was possible in this era. Groundbreaking and full of rhythm and a flow.

House Of Pain - Shamrocks and Shanenigans (Butch Vig Mix)

House Of Pain - Top Of The Morning 

House Of Pain - Put On Your Shit Kickers

The Politics Of Envy

 

During the last days I listened a lot to post-punk sounds of the early 80's like the first albums by PIL and records by On-U-Sound from this era. Listening to them I came back to The Pop Group and Mark Stewart after a long time. The Politics Of Envy was his seventh album and still a milestone in this kind of genre. Together with Primal Scream, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Raincoat's Gina Birch and Clash/PIL guitarist Keith Levene he created a disturbing album with different styles and influences. You can find the anarchic industrial and angry sound of The Pop Group as well as a forgotten post-punk song with Keith Levene on guitar on Stereotype and agitation funk which was recorded with Bobby Gillespie by Primal Scream and focuses on the death of the Anti-G8-Demonstranten Carlo Guilliani in Genoa. It is still not easy to listen to this album but if you sink to it you can enjoy this unique sound experiences.

Mark Stewart - Stereotype

Mark Stewart - Autonomia

Mark Stewart and Lee Perry - Gang War

It's Too Late To Stop Now

It is 50 years ago when Van Morrison released his first live album and I bought this double long player. This album accompanied me during decades and I still come back to it from time to time. Always a pleasure to listen to the man when he was at the peak of his musical career. He played with the Caledonia Soul orchestra and many of his songs, even if it was by his former band Them, were played like nothing before or after. On this record he showed all what he was famous for: Being a soul troubadour,  living the blues and showing what his soulful voice is able to do. A real milestone in live recordings for me.

Monday's Long Song

 

Another working week is over and the next one starts again. Of course, nothing has changed since my vacation. The desk is full of work to be done at short notice and one meeting chases the other. And for years I have again had the opportunity to experience a winter with a lot of snow and temperatures below zero. In this respect, everything runs its usual course and I can devote myself to musical excursions again in my time out of duty. I was struggling which song will be the next in this series and I found a song by The Grid on my hard drive that I didn't listen to for a very long time. Swamp Thing was released in 1994 by Richard Norris and David Ball aka The Grid. I liked this song not only because the unthinkable combination of techno and banjo that probably inspired Redneck for their Cotton Eye Joe. A song that still works after nearly 30 years.

The Grid - Swamp Thing

Another Hype Is Yet To Come

 

I am careful when on many musical sites a new band was featured as the next big thing or a new indie super band because most promises could often not be kept in any way. That was my first thought when I heard about boygenius a three piece female indie-band from California. To be honest I heard about their members Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus but couldn't connect them with any song or genre. So I had many prejudices when I read about that they are going to release their first album and musical press call them the best female indie-band of these days. After listening to a few songs by them I have to say that boygenius are a band that is over the average of many bands of these genre and they are able to create songs like $20 with good guitars, a hooky melody and great vocals. It makes fun listening to them and makes you curious to dig deeper in their musical output. A very good band but not a super group at all.