Today, several artists are celebrating milestone birthdays. That's reason enough to revisit some of their songs.
Let's start with Tina Weymouth, who turns 75 today. In 1981, she and her husband Chris Frantz took a break from Talking Heads and founded Tom Tom Club. With their unique combination of funk and spoken word, the band established themselves in the charts.
James Morrison, better known as Jim Bob, the other half of Carter USM, turns 65 today. He gave as with punky guitars and a drum machine an incredible indie-pop sound. He returned this summer at full power with some great new songs.
Finally Jason Ringenberg turns 67 today. He brought us decades ago a cow-punk version of a Bob Dylan song.
This week saw the release of two new albums by Jim Bob, the voice of Carter USM via Cherry Red. Automatic is a record with his current band, with whom he has been touring for the last few years. With Stick, on the other hand, he takes on a more punk style and celebrates once again how great Carter USM were and still could be today.
Song By Me is a song many today's band would die for. A rolling bass and a clattering drum opens the song, Jim Bob speaks his words and later a punky guitar completes the song. Nothing more than a modern classic and more than the single of the week.
And as a bonus another guitar dominated song that could be which could also be by Half Man Half Biscuit.
Another time I return an old series where I feature three songs that appeared one after another when I listened to the music on my mobile phone when I was on my way to the office the other day. Still I am fascinated to those thousand songs on my phone and mostly they make a good start into usual business.
In 2015 Natasha Khan and English rock band Toy made a collaboration playing psychedelic and folk songs from Iran, Morocco, Thailand and the US. They created a very unique and also danceable sound that was played often at my place and it is still a pleasure to listen to them.
Johnny Cash recorded an old classic by Bob Nolan during his American Recordings. The song tells of a man traveling with his donkey named Dan in the desert and suffering from thirst. I first heard this song when Leo Kottke played this on one his early recordings and still grabs me in mostly any version.
In 1991 Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine appeared with their second album and created one of the sound of this summer. I was lucky enough to watch them live in a small venue in the university close to my hometown. It was legendary when Jim Bob and Fruitbat were on the stage with just samples and guitar performing like I have never seen before and after. A classic album that stood the test of time.
When you read this words I am already off to meet all the fellas up in Glasgow. It took a long time to fix the date but after all we found a weekend for gathering. So warm thanks to all that planned and arranged the pick-ups, venues and cultural activities for the weekend. Until next week there will be only one more post in the pipe-line - more next week. I am really excited to meet you all.
Over at WYCRA by doing their rundown from 200 a band was featured that made an immense attraction to me in the early 80's. Carter USM (what a name to a band) were a band that appeared to my radar in the late 80's/early 90's. The first record I bought was 30 Something, a title that made me a little bit confused. But listening to the record at my local record store made to buy this record. I have to say that it was on a heavy rotation at this time until now. To promote their record they came close to my place and me and my youngest brother took the chance to see them live. It was at a small venue in the area of Stuttgart university. It was not filled with a big audience and the audience was filled with fans to their sound. Never before I heard a band live playing samples and giving the audience a new experience to their very unique sound. It is still one concert I certainly will never forget and as said over at WYRCA: I left with a grin on my face. Knowing that there are a lot of fans out there I sadly think that they didn't got their effort in music right now. Anyway, it is a band that companied me during the last decades and I will never miss their music.
Just got the news that Jon Fat Beast died. Here are some warm words from Louder than war. I've got nothing more to say:
We are sad to hear that Jon Fat beast- the compere and rotund lunatic who was part of the Carter USM stage show has died.
Jon Fat Beast was a central figure in the baggy shorts and T shirts with band’s names on in big bold bright colours part of the indie scene of the late eighties and also promoted gigs in London at the Bull and Gate and other venues and kick started the career of many bands.
We knew him well and would bump into him in many dive club where he would have a certain presence looming large behind big Buggles glasses and rudely bright training shoes. He had a personality as big as his figure and was always up to something.
At Carter gigs he was showered with loveable insults when he went on stage- ‘You fat bastard’ the audience would chant and he loved every moment of it, so it seems fair to say ‘farewell you fat bastard and it was good to have known you…’
