More and more musicians are drawing inspiration from the countryside in which they live and trying to capture their impressions in their songs. Craven Faults have done this brilliantly on their latest albums.
It seems that Rolo McGinty has now also decided to take up this theme and give it musical expression. Whilst Craven Faults focused on the north of England and Yorkshire, McGinty drew inspiration from the River Thames. With this track, which runs to over 15 minutes, The Woodentops have moved away from the Balearic vibe of recent years and penned a gentle tribute to the river.
Just like a river, the music flows steadily along. Carried by a synthetic beat, electronic elements, sparse guitar parts and, eventually, vocals in the middle all blend into the overall soundscape. Ultimately, it’s a meditative manifesto and an unexpectedly good piece of music. Thanks for that, Rolo.
Since the end of World War II, more and more US soldiers have been stationed around Stuttgart. In recent years, their numbers have decreased significantly, but to this day, Kelly Barracks in a suburb is home to AFRICOM, the headquarters of the US military for operations in Africa. In the early 1980's, we often visited the barracks for the annual German-American Friendship Day. To be honest, it was mainly to buy cheap cigarettes. When we talked to the soldiers, they often complained that there was no country club like the ones they knew from home.
The Longhorn Country & Western Saloon opened in March 1984, catering to the need of US military personnel stationed in Stuttgart for an American-style bar. We became aware of this club at the end of 1984 because it was the venue for the nationwide public male striptease. At that time, the strippers were US soldiers; men were not allowed in. Other events such as mud wrestling and wet T-shirt contests are also unthinkable today. When we visited the club for the first time, we were presented with a strange competition.
From 1987 onward, local concert promoters became aware of the club because they had the opportunity to organize concerts for up to 1,000 spectators. Since then I became a regular visitor of the club and was lucky enough to The Pixies, The Levellers, The Fall, Steele Pulse, The Woodentops and George Clinton among many others.
I particularly remember The Gun Club concert in 1987. At that time, there was still a public bar and a pool table on the first floor in front of the artists' dressing rooms. We arrived quite early and passed the time playing a few games until the opening act, Dinosaur Jr., came on stage. After that, we sat down at the bar and ordered a beer. Then a young Japanese woman sat down next to me and we had a nice chat until a long-haired punk with red eyes and an open mouth came up to me, grabbed me by the collar, and told me to leave his girlfriend alone. Several security guards immediately separated us and asked me to leave the floor. How could I have known that I was talking to Romi Mori, the bassist and then-girlfriend of Jeffrey Lee Pierce? Happy that nothing more happened, I was able to enjoy the concert.
The year is drawing to a close and, like many others, I too have been reviewing the year in musical terms. In previous years, I have tried to compile lists of the best albums and songs. I abandoned this plan because I found it difficult to summarise the releases in a table. That's why I'm going to summarise the most interesting and perhaps best albums and songs for me in columns over the next few days.
Enough preamble.
One of the most impressive albums of this year for me was >>>> by Beak>. After Geoff Barrow left Portishead, he teamed up with Bobby Fuller to try out new forms of arrangement. Since then, they have regularly released albums with a progressive mixture of hypnotic electronics and drone-like rockism. An album for the head with deep roots in krautrock, somewhere between Neu! and Can. The opener already shows the direction. A church organ plays for a minute before synths and Liebezeit-like drums kick in. Incredibly good and a top-class album.
Craven Faults are another band that doesn't stick to classic song structures. They describe their music as background music for long walks through the north of England. All songs have a strong hypnotic and meditative touch that carries you far away and is unique in this form.
Johnathan Donahue aka Mercury Rev takes a similar, albeit completely different, direction with Born Horses. For years, he has been creating extraordinary highlights with his song structures. You can only love or hate his music, as he arranges his songs with a lot of strings and horns - right up to the edge of kitsch. On the other hand, he always manages to strike a sentimental chord, as he does with Ancient Love.
Since a couple of years Irish DJ and producer Mike Wilson releases superb music. The main thing is Balearic but with a lot of influences by classic music, psychedelia and house. His Shine A Light, which has nothing in common with the Rolling Stones is a belter.
10Mark Cooper and Bob Miles, both DJ's and masterminds and founders of Solid Gold/Agent Cooper are Bedford Falls Players a new but innovative project in electronic music. During the last months they released a couple of new songs in an electronic style and all of them were above the average. Cosmic Cascade is their latest release and a highlight of new electronic music. A steady rhythm with bleebs, electronic improvisations and a bit of hypnotic sounds, leading into a brighter future.0 Poems · Shine A Light (Ft Hyson Green)
Like I said back in May: Mark Cooper and Bob Miles, both DJ's and masterminds and founders of Solid Gold/Agent Cooper are Bedford Falls Players a new but innovative project in electronic music. During the last months they released a couple of new songs in an electronic style and all of them were above the average. Cosmic Cascade is their latest release and a highlight of new electronic music. A steady rhythm with bleebs, electronic improvisations and a bit of hypnotic sounds, leading into a brighter future.
The Woodentops are still alive and from time to time they release some new stuff. Most of them are worth to make a great rework like Coyote did this year.
Since The Woodentops released their latest album Fruits Of The Deep I listened a lot to this. I have to admit that I was a huge fan to them since I first saw them live in the mid 80's because their music was so different to many others in this era. During the last years Rolo McGinty only released several songs or reworked others. All these releases are stamped by massive Balearic beats and mood. A few days ago I discovered Ride A Cloud a song from last year remixed by Nottingham's DJ/producer Coyote. Another example for McGinty's ability of writing fantastic songs. A superb song with reduced rhythm, an acoustic guitar and a flow that could take you to a faraway beach somewhere.
Nottingham's Dj's and producers are back with a new song, a one that I never expected in this way. They still riding the Balearic sound but now Rolo McGinty joined them. McGinty is well known for his work with The Woodentops in the 80's and probably one of the first ones that opened his sounds for electronic music. And this collaboration works well because Rolo McGinty's deep voice and acoustic framework fits perfect to Coyote's slo-mo beats.
In 1986 New Zealand's Flying Nun was the record label that introduced me to many great and now forgotten bands with their label compilation Tuatara. A band that didn't managed to be featured on this compilation were Able Tasmans. They borrowed their name from Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and released also in 1986 their first and superb debut A Cuppa Tea And A Lie Down. I really loved their sophisticated and superb arrangements between loud guitar music and pop elements. Largely acoustic sound added with keyboards and corrosive guitars. For me it is a timeless album filled with sweet, crafty and intelligent guitar pop songs that stand in a row with The Woodentops, Belle & Sebastian or Yo La Tengo.
This song shuffled up the other day and made me think of a band I loved in the early 80's. The Woodentops fascinated me with their unique mixture of acoustic guitars, accordion, marimba, string and trumpet. Giant from 1986 was on heavy rotation at these days and Live Hypnobeat Live is an album I will listen once again during the next weekend. Why Why Why is from an EP released in 2016 featuring various mixes of this song. This one is mixed by Daniel Wainwright and Trevor Fung.
Back in 1986 The Woodentops released Giant, one of the best records in these days. Over the years I listened often to the music they made. Rolo McGinty made timeless music and it seems that it is music that could be remixed in a very good way even decades later. It's a drifty, percussion stamped little peace of music.
Another fine year for independent music. Old heroes like The Fall, The Cure and Johnny Thunders showed up with good records, traditional (Irish) music taken roots in music and some artist appeared to stay like Billy Bragg or to fade away too soon like the Woodentops. There was no direct movement in action but the indie sector was, as usual, throwing up quirky three minute slices that embraced politics, guitars and sheer madness. So enjoy a trip to music we've listened to 30 years ago.
