In a week where it feels like a music legend has died every day, it's good to look at newly released music again. A few days ago Hugo Nicolson, a British music producer and DJ, who worked together with Andrew Weatherall on Primal Scream's Screamadelica and also with Julian Cope, David Holmes and Shack released a new EP Black Stick.
On three songs and one edit he takes us to a journey with layered with acid synths, deep basslines, and emotive melodies. A little tour de force on prog-house and kosmische motorik beats but always with a warm sound.
Let's start the second round with Vince Talyor, a British singer who became well known more than 60 years ago. Impressed by the music of Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley he tried to copy them in his own style. What remains of him is his hit Brand New Cadillac, to which The Clash also paid tribute, and the inspiration for David Bowie when he created Ziggy Stardust.
I have already mentioned Elvis, but he should not be missing from this series. He wore leather from time to time at the beginning of his career, but deliberately chose it as an outfit for his live comeback in 1968, when he was probably able to get himself together for the last time to return to his musical roots after years.
Khayem commented last week that Julian Cope should not be missing from this series, especially as he sang about the subject with his song Look After Your Leathers. He also discovered leather for his outfits very early on and has earned his place in this series.
Let's start this small review with a new band to me. Brown Spirits are from Melbourne, Australia and celebrate a fusion of krautrock and a d-i-y punk attitude with drums, bass and guitar/keyboard. They have learned by many but make a sound of their own.
Bristol's Blue Aeroplanes also appeared with a sing of life and gave us with Culture Guns this year's trademark in jangly guitar sound. Seems like the songs work well live as well.
Belle and Sebastian, one of Glasgow's pop-bands released Late Developers, another album by them that is very good and full of great songs with hooks. Seems like they are very close to a perfect pop/rock song
It seems like Julian Cope has too many ideas in his mind to release them all on vinyl. This year he surprised us with Robin Hood another album full of weird ideas. But after all he made another great record (if only the ones which are huge fans).
HiFi Sean and David McAlmont finished their long time collaboration this year with their first album Happy Endings. And the title is programm: they collect a lot of influences and create their own space. An album full of great songs often added with strings but never overproduced. An album I came back from time to time with joy.
Part two of this little retrospective bring us a band that now after The Fall has gone are the last survivors of 80's indie-rock. Nigel Blackwell and HMHB are too long in business to make any worse album an so is The Voltarol Years another example how indie-rock should sound today. Powerful guitars and intelligent lyrics.
Mark Peters returned after his fantastic Innerlands from 2018 with another excursion into a wide country of guitar based sounds with Red Sunset Dreams. An album you can drift away and as the sound is not much enough Dot Allison lends her velvet voice to a few songs.
Antoine Harispuru aka Golden Bug is a French DJ and producer and I follow his works since a couple of years. Now he released Piscolabis his first full length record. A trip through electronic and guitars that I can't compare with any other artists - maybe The Limiñanas with electronics.
Another indie-rock and legends of experimental rock returned with rehearsals of their last period in the beginning of the new century. It is not necessary to explain Sonic Youth and In/Out/In didn't got much critical acclaim but for are these songs better than many others released this year. Maybe only because I always loved their music.
One of the most mysterious albums this year came from France. Société Etrange released with Chance a milestone of electronic music. Six songs without words, equivocal rhythms, accented bass and drenched in melancholy took me several times in 2022 into a trip to another dimension of sound.
A Mountain Of One is a London based band and if you want you can file them under progressive and psyche rock. But this is not all because you can find on Stars Planet Dust Me much more influences from music of the last decades. An album that grows the often you listen to it.
Our cosmic shaman also released another album. Nothing new or different to his former albums just a few good-time songs for feel-bad days.
Another band that can't make any bad album Reading's Sea Power. Everything Was Forever is just what I expected - a bunch of melodic guitar-pop with elements of electronica and post-punk.
It was a couple of days ago when I searched on YouTube for something else when I found a live appearance by Julian Cope from October 1987. As mentioned in former post it was a format for young people in public broadcasting where they talked about themes who were the focus for us at the time. Every time after the discussions there were live appearances by mostly unknown bands. In these days it was a compulsory programme for me and my mates to perceive the ability to watch great music on television. Julian Cope played in this few minutes songs from Saint Julian an album that made him popular at my place. Still songs that are great and different to his releases during the last years.
As every year I compile a list of albums that was on on heavy rotation this year on my turntable, inspired me in any way or made me feel familiar with the music. I started a few weeks ago to collect a list and I couldn't decide which one doesn't make it on the final list of ten albums. For this reason fantastic albums by Daniel Avery, The Orb, Four Tet, Whyte Horses, SAULT, Kanaan or Little Barrie & Malcom Catto doesn't appear on the final list but are highly recommended. So here are ten albums without valuation.
Sonic Boom - All Things Being Equal: In the middle of the year former Spacemen 3 Pete Kember aka Sonic Boom released an album that has everything I expected from him. From spaced pop songs to Phil
Spector's wall of sound and everything in between is assembled on this beautiful album.
Michael Rother - Dreaming: After 16 years Michael Rother, one of the best living fossils from the golden krautrock days released a new album. From the first chords you realize that this guitar only could be played by the former member of Kraftwerk, Neu! and Harmonia. Timeless guitar phrases like played on his first album make a perfect combination with the voice of Sophie Joiner. Probably on of those albums that will be overlooked.
Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud: Katie Crutchfield released as Waxahatchee an album that could be filled under Americana but it is much more. Her voice, some big guitars, well-honed noise and battering sounds makes her different to many other singer-songwriters in these days and sometimes helped me making some days better this year.
Glok - Dissident Remixed: Last year one of the best albums and this year the remixes were played on heavy rotation when they were released. Andy Bell gave the tracks to some well known mates to develop the originals. Together they made their owns visions of the source material, delving into ambient techno, psychedelic acid disco, krautrock and beyond.
Rose City Bank - Summerlong: It seems like Ripley Johnson can't make any mistake in music. Either as Wooden Shjips or Moon Duo. Also laid back California psychedelic sounds are close to him. It is every time a pleasure listening to his beautiful guitar lines. A second album that has the same quality as the first.
Bob Mould - Blue Hearts: Every album by ex-member of Hüsker Dü Bob Mould is a good one. But this is maybe the best he recorded during the last years. He returns as an angry man shouting out what is going wrong in days like these. With the fury of Hüsker Dü he made the best songs since a long time.
Julian Cope - Self Civil War: This album is one of them I came back often this year. Not just because it shows how great Cope is. Returning after years on high level with 13 songs between his interpretation of rock music and krautrock added with orchestra and ballads. A weird bastard of an album but I love it.
The Long Champs - Straight To Audio: Welsh producer Lloyd Jones and his latest album was one of the discoveries I made this year. A collection of compositions that range from dancefloor to after hours drifting always with an upbeat mood and sinister soundscapes. This was a record that made the strange days of lockdown more brighter.
Richard Norris - Elements: The idea of making an album about earth, fire, water, air and space is probably not the first one ever but for me the best realization I heard. Far away from any cliché of modern music he invites us to a trip into ambient and space. An album that grew with every time I listened to.
Andy Bell - A View From Half Way Down: This album arrived in late autumn and I played it often since then. I like the perfect mixture of his warm interpretation of neo-psychedelia combined with shoegaze and dream-pop. For me the blueprint how an album should sound in 2020.
Velvet Dessert Music: Finally a compilation that was worth to be named in a year-end-list. Cologne's Kompakt-label released in spring a compilation of electronic variations of electronic sounds. The common sense of all is a new interpretation of dessert sounds. Sometimes it sounds like Ennio Morricone in a psychedelic style, sometimes like a downtempo variation of krautrock with psychedelia but always worth to come back to.
Warning: Don't be dazzled about the band and the record cover - this is not a nazi tribute!
The recent days I noticed that there was a re-release of one of the most obscure German bands at all. In the early 70's a few musicians got together in Düsseldorf experimentation on very new sounds. Influenced by very early Krautrock and free improvisations they made a very unique sound. I have to admit that I never heard of them before and curious about their music. Most of their songs were very long and instrumentals and had a very hypnotic sound. Based on the blues rock of the late 60's they created a different guitar sound with riffs, short guitar solos on a steady rocking ground of drum abd bass. Not that I would call them psychedelic and their songs were not structured at all and if someone would spent some times to arrange them well they could be classics. German Oaks are one of those bands that played their own style and had less supporters but listening now to this music after almost 45 years they sound more fresh and innovative than many of nowadays acts. They sampled a speech of Adolf Hitler at the Nuremberg rally and I don't like listening to this. But it was a giant step in these days acting like that. They were hippies and surely were dismissed the fucking third reich but it is the only band that made things like this in the early 70's in Germany. I don't know if Julian Cope knows them but I am sure he would love them - another one who will play them could be Andrew Weatherall. But this will be another story.
Working year is almost over and in a few days I will go for a four week vacation to Sri Lanka again. Visiting the places I used to stay during the last years over Christmas and new years time and exploring places I haven't been yet. So you won't have any actual posts until mid of January 2016. During the last weeks I summed up the albums that was released this year and chosen 15 from 2015. It is a very personal selection by records that impressed me much, that accompanied me this year or I listened to often the recent months. This list will not be a valuation of the best records this year, it's just a personal review of albums that stood the test of time for this year. I am not the one that requires that the list is universally valid - it is more a retrospective of albums that was released in 2015 and I still listen to them since I first got my attention and I still listen to them. So in the nearby days I will introduce to you my albums of the year. Be curious what will happen the next days.
A record Julian Cope would love comes from San Francisco based Moon Duo. Guitarist Ripley Johnson and keyboardist Sanae Yamada released Shadow of the Sun early this year. Nine songs with real psychedelia in it. Songs with distorted guitars, weird organ sound and a voices deeply halled. What them make more than an Haight-Ashbury cover is that they have a lot of elements of proto-punk and Krautrock in their sound that makes their sound unique. This records shimmers through many outputs this year and will surely played at my house more times.
