Jamcod

 

Yesterday the news arrived that The Jesus And Mary Chain will release a new album next year. JMAC were 40 years ago the band that had a massive influence in today's music with their combination of noise, feedback and sweet hooks. I was excited what they could offer after all those years. The album's first single, jamcod, combines dark electronic sounds with the huge guitar sound that can only come from William Reid, creating an instant Mary Chain classic that is also undeniably fresh and radical. Listening to them, I have an ambivalent feeling and I can't decide whether they are great or whether it's just another time for them to show how great they can be. In any case, it will be interesting to see what the rest of the album brings.

It was not able to embed the video in this post - so here is the link to the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3_NOCiRbII

One Up From Five

 

Another great piece of music was released at the end of the week by London's tici taci label. A few songs by Sons Of Slough, a band featuring label owner Duncan Gray and Ian Weatherall. It is the result of a preparation for Convenanza festival this year. This one shows another time how great electronic music can be. A steady beat mixed with synth snippets for a short excursion in another sphere. Not to bad to start into the Sunday with a cup of good coffee.

Monday's Long Song

 

Last Friday Jesse Fahnestock released his latest output Other Skies a collaboration with singer Emilia Harmony. Regular visitors know that I like the music of Jesse Fahnestock and featured him at these pages several times. The whole year saw him busy with several releases but this one is ace and will surely appear in my year ends list. As he said he tried to be like Primal Scream on Higher Than The Sun or The Doves on Fallen. And yes he fulfilled everything you can expect. Other Skies is dominated by a pumping bass and a psychedelic mist. How to make a great song better is showed by Sean Johnson and Duncan Gray on their Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Uptown mix when they added a lot of dub to this song. The original and other version can be listened to here. A little masterpiece

Love In Constant Spectacles

Earlier this week Jane Weaver returned with Love In Constant Spectacles the first single from her new album that will be released next year. Her last album from 2021 Flock was one of the best ones that year and I played it often. I still like this album because because she never commits herself to a single style. From sweet, delicate dream-pop to a funky up-beat song with a krautrock synthesiser to a song clearly inspired by glam-rock, this album offers so much variety that others need several. Above all, her ethereal voice makes each track unique. My expectations were correspondingly high and they were not disappointed. And again, the sound cannot be clearly defined. Dream-pop, chamber-psych or something completely different? I don't want to commit myself here either, except that it is one of the most refreshing songs of the last few weeks. 

 

Forgotten Alternative Part II

 

Another few files I found from a compilation I made a few years ago. First one is a song from Siouxsie And The Banshees from their later period. They became famous in the first wave of punk and their debut is still a classic. On Peek-A-Boo they tried to combine their late post-punk sounds with samples like many others did. Not their best song but in the context of time a good one.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek-A-Boo

From Athens, Georgia in 1979 The B-52's appeared on the scene and their self-titled debut was one of the records of the year. A new wave band that played just a retro sound with a Rickenbacker guitar, organs and harmonies was the big thing this year. And Planet Claire is probably one of the best opening tracks of a debut album.

The B-52's - Planet Claire 

In 1987 Andrew Eldritch and his band Sisters Of Mercy released Floodland their second album. The lead single was This Corrosion a melange of gothic meets Meat Loaf with a 50-piece choir. It is a song that worked at this time and was played in many places and brings back memories. Nothing more or less.

Sisters Of Mercy - This Corrosion

XTC were on of the finest new wave bands from their beginnings in the late 70's until the mid 80's. Always on the search for the perfect pop song and always very close to it. I don't know many other bands that made so many remarkable albums in this ear. Still a pleasure to listen to them after decades.

XTC - Senses Working Overtime

I entered the cosmos of Julian Cope with his third album Saint Julian and the lead single World Shut Your Mouth. This song was the beginning of a long lasting fondness to him and his music.

Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth

Prayer Remembered

 

During the last days I made thoughts about a year end list and listened to various albums I owned during the last months and I asked myself why Slowdive didn't appeared on this pages during the last months. Everything Is Alive is another album by them that is far over the average of other released records. Slowdive are filled under shoegaze but this is not all. For me they are one of the best in slow-motion rock. A reduced speed and space for guitar excursions are their trademarks. I was lucky enough to see them several times live and at every venue they fascinated me with their sound. Their last album shows less more than I expected on a high level but there was one song that grabbed me. The instrumental Prayer Remembered is a song that could appear on a late record by The Cure in the days of Seventeen Seconds or Pornography. What in and of itself would be great praise. If someone shouldn't be familiar with their sound, this song will be a perfect entrance into.

Monday's Long Song

 

A Mountain Of One is a long going collaboration between London based musicians and producers Zeben Jameson and Mo Morris. Now they handed over a few songs from their fantastic album Stars Planets Dust Me over to Chile born DJ Ricardo Villalobos to give their psychedelic/prog rock a new techno-influenced outfit. I liked their album very much and I skeptical if their songs will work in the remixed versions. But I have to admit - it works more than well. Black Apple Pink Apple appears with a early 70's West Coast inspired song. A groovy, hypnotic and relaxed great piece of music.