Harmonica on Thursdays

 

Last week I finished my series about songs with whistling in it. In the meantime, I’ve prepared a new series, but I’ve postponed it again for now, because it occurred to me once more that The Clash also used a harmonica in their songs from time to time.

The harmonica is commonly associated with traditional blues and folk music. Research has shown that there are countless songs across a wide range of genres that wouldn’t be the same without the harmonica. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring some of these songs here.

Let's start with a movie soundtrack from Once upon a time in the west, the legendary Spaghetti Western by Sergio Leone. As is so often the case, Ennio Morricone was responsible for the soundtrack, and once again he managed to score a film scene with music that is instantly recognizable. Even in the closing scene featuring the final duel, the music builds tension, orchestrates it, and then rises only to return to its starting point. Rarely has a scene been accompanied by such a long and perfectly suited musical score.

As mentioned earlier, The Clash’s Train In Vain was the inspiration for this series. Train in Vain isn’t the first song about lost love on London Calling—or, to be precise, not even the first song about the loss of one of the Slits on London Calling—but it is the most open and direct. By the time the album was being made, The Clash had already decided to ignore many of punk’s commandments, but breaking the commandment “Thou shalt not sing obvious, heart-wrenching love songs” was their boldest and most defiant move yet. Thanks to Mick Jones for that.

Another song that immediately came to mind in this context is “I Wanna Take You Higher” by Sly and the Family Stone. Released in 1969, I discovered it when I was fifteen, after a friend played me a record that belonged to his older brother. A bluesy guitar riff opens the song, and the longer it goes on, the faster the tempo gets. Sly Stone sings his heart out. From that moment on, it was clear to me what psychedelic soul and funk could be. 

Monday's Long Song

 

This weeks song comes from Babe Ruth, a band from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. A band named after one of the earliest baseball idols in US. A left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox who was famous for more than 700 homeruns. 

They released their first album First Base in 1972 and it was a hybrid of late 60's blues-rock and prog with often long lasting improvisations. They didn't have success in their homeland but get well known across the ocean and Germany. They didn't had any hit but their well known song was The Mexican a song where they pick up some Ennio Morricone tunes and a sparkling guitar. Joke is another example that prog could be worth a listen.

Babe Ruth - Joker

If U Know U Know

 

After two years Cari Cari, one of my favorite bands from Austria, released a new song. Since 12 years Stephanie Widmer and Alexander Köck are running their vintage project. I saw them several times during the last years and always was astonished how a two-piece band could make room-filling sound. Only some drums and Köck's guitar that sounds like escaped from an Morricone soundtrack are their trademark.

And they show again that you don't need much more than some great guitar chords, a steady rhythm and good vocals to make one of the finest songs since a couple of weeks.

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. 

New Song On Sunday

 

The trend towards instrumental albums seems unbroken and the central element is and remains the electric guitar. Many bands in this genre are more associated with country or surf music. Hermanos Gutiérrez - the Ecuadorian-Swiss sibling duo of Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez combine the sound of Morricone's Spaghetti Western with Latin American sounds and a touch of psychedelia on their new record. Music and soundscapes that need no words to sound fantastic.

Monday's Long Song

 

Today's song is from German DJ and producer Aksel Schaufler aka Superpitcher. Born in the early 70's in Laichingen a small town on the Swabian Alb (which is the place where I was born too, by the way) he moved in the mid 90's to Cologne and worked since than for Kompakt label and became a resident DJ in various Clubs in and around Cologne. This song is from a Kompakt-compilation a few years ago. A song with a beautiful rhythm, fantastic guitars in the back and a real feeling for desert music in a way Ennio Morricone used to do.

Superpitcher - Monterry Paris Texas (fet. Daniel Maloso)

Nightlight

 

New York based band Suss released their first album Ghost Box in 2018 and they called their sound ambient country music. I had no idea what this could sound like but I was fascinated by their songs from the first time. The closest description was Brian Eno joins Ennio Morricone for making a new soundtrack for a spaghetti western. During the last year I played this record often when I would like to come down and relax. Now Suss released their third album Promise and their sound moved more to a nocturnal journey closer to space music while also having a sort of psychedelic undercurrent. Loops and light beats are sometimes present, but the music largely feels unbound by rhythm and free to drift away in wide-open spaces. Sometimes I think this could be an alternative soundtrack to Paris, Texas and I enjoyed this record much but I fear that Suss will be a best hidden secret still.

Sir Sean Connery 1930 - 2020

 

Yesterday afternoon when I met a few friends for our last drink in a pub for a longer time the news on the radio arrived that Sean Connery died at the age of 90. We suddenly stopped talking and remembered him. Every of us grew up with him watching him in the role of British secret agent James Bond the first block busters of the 60's. I always liked to see him not only as Bond, also in many other movies. Born in Edinburgh he was an ambassador of Scotland wherever he lived. 

Rest well Sean.

Ennio Morricone RIP

Today the sad news arrived that maybe the greatest composer of movie soundtracks died at the age of 91. His music was the soundtrack to many movies I watched from my younger days more than once. Sergio Leone's movies wouldn't be the same without his compositions. I once read that Morricone read the screenplay and composed the music on base. Later Leone has to realize the move on this compositions. And it worked well - music and movie were a unit. This one is from the soundtrack of Once Upon A Time In America a movie I really love.

Rest easy Ennio

Ghost Box

The news that New York based band SUSS is going to release a new album made to listen to their debut album released one year ago. The music is hard to describe but ambient country music comes very close to it. The quintet is led by Bob Holmes a multi-instrumentalist and member of a cowpunk band called Rubber Rodeo. All the members of the band had worked with different artists like B 52's, Lydia Lunch, David Bowie, John Cale, Burt Bacharach and many others. SUSS once asked What would it sound like if Brian Eno had produced the Western film scores of Ennio Morricone? Certainly like SUSS but I can also hear a bit of Boards of Canada in their music. The songs are quiet and slow but showing great musicians doing a fantastic job.

Big Ben Rock

What do you expect when Woodie Taylor, former drummer of The Meteors, makes a remix by a song from Lee Scratch Perry? It is impossible was the first that I thought but it works very well and this song accompanied me during the last week. Perry was transfered into rockabilly with a touch of the sound by Ennio Morricone and glam. A great one to start into the weekend.

Mapache

It is time to feature another band from our neighbours in Austria. Cari Cari describe them with thiese words:

They are based in Europe, having lived  in London, Hamburg & Vienna. The duo has been baptised "the lovechild of The Kills and The XX" (IndieShuffle) "with a pinch of Morricone" (FM4) and "the raw grit of Cat Power" (BestBefore). Their songs “White Line Fever” and “No War” were used in the Hollywood productions “Shameless” and “The Magicians” while their single 'Nothing's Older Than Yesterday' gave them some significant recognition in Austria, Germany and around Europe leading to excessive touring and performances at renowned festivals such as “The Great Escape” (UK), “Eurosonic Noorderslag” (NL) and “Nova Rock” (AT).

I listened to their newest song Mapache on my way to the office a few days ago and was surprised by a sound melange like The Shadows working on a Morricone soundtrack. Just a great single from their upcoming album. 

Back again

During the last years I featured The Limiñanas at this place. For me it is a band that can't make anything wrong. These French couple help oneself by a lot of music from different eras. I can hear influences by Velvet Underground, surf rock, Ennio Morricone and New Order as well. All mixed assorted to their very own unique style. After they released an EP last year they are back with an album that is on heavy rotation at my home and on the way to my office. Give them a little chance and listen and I am sure you won't be disappointed.

Twanging Tuesday 96

Twanging sound wouldn't be complete without Dick Dale and his Del Tones. Made famous by Quentin Tarantino and his movie Pulp Fiction played during the opening credits. It's a classic in surf music and he played the fender picking great licks on his guitar. This might be one of the greatest instrumentals ever and fits to the movie like a handmade suit. It was opening our ears to a lot of great other songs in this movie and Misrilou is a classic in surf music. Tarantino said once this song is close to the music of Ennio Morricone - and yes, it is a music of his own and why not agree to another great musician/composer.

The good, the bad and the ugly

It is Sunday and a day to recreate. The weather is not too bad but not so good that now I would absolutely outside. On the desk are letters and bills piling should be answered or paid. I should also make our tax return done. So many thing I should do and I ask myself this question: Where should I start and what is the most important?

And I gave myself an answer: fuck it! Most important thing is, that I can recreate and enjoy myself. So I went checked out my DVD's and found out one of my favorite Western movies.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 Italian epic Spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles respectively.Ennio Morricone composed the famous film score, including its main theme. It is the third film in the Dollars Trilogy following A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965). The plot revolves around three gunslingers competing to find a fortune in buried Confederate gold amid the violent chaos of gunfights, hangings, American Civil War battles and prison camps.

I love this movie for his widescreen pictures, them mean faces of the actors and reducing the dialogs to a minimum. 

Ennio Morricone - The Trio