Blank Birthday

A very happy birthday to Boris Blank, born 15th January 1952. 

His birth certificate says Hans-Rudolf Strickler, his passport says Switzerland, his CV includes artist, composer and, writ large, co-founder of Yello.

As with my birthday tribute to fellow Yello Deiter Meier in 2024, I've tried to steer clear of the Swiss duo's most prominent work for today's selection, focusing instead on Boris' solo endeavours and extracurricular activity.

I realise that in over half a decade of Dubhed, I've yet to post a bespoke Yello selection and that will addressed in due course. In the meantime, here's one of many Yello favourites (song and video) as an aperitif, followed by a half dozen Boris show pieces below. 

Have a bloomin' brilliant day, Boris!

Who's Gone?: Yello (1991)

Baby: Billy MacKenzie (co-written & produced by Boris Blank) (1992)

Musky: Carl Cox (co-produced & mixed by Boris Blank) (1996)

I Feel It Like You: Malia & Boris Blank (2014)

Electrified: Boris Blank (2014)

Escape Route: Boris Blank (2014)

Vertigo Heroes Part I: Boris Blank (2024)

 

 

 

 

 

A Dive Into The Mystery

I confess that it took a while for me to get into Hot Chip on account of Alexis Taylor's vocals. 

Described elsewhere as "clear voiced", for me it was definitely one for the "acquired taste" category. Hot Chip's music was so irresistible though that I'm happy to say that I acquired said taste and, more importantly, grew to appreciate what a great songwriter Alexis is in his own right.

He's about to prove it all over again with his sixth solo album, Paris In This Spring, appropriately enough landing in March.

First out of the door is Out Of Phase, a collaboration with Lola Kirke, whose few songs I've heard to date have been quite definitely contemporary country, with the requisite vocal stylings, so this song seems quite a departure in terms of genre and singing style.

In short, it's a banger. 

In typical Alexis/Hot Chip fashion, rather than an in-your-face dancefloor directive, the passive but short of insidious beats get into your system and your feet may start moving in synch with the music without instruction from your brain. Alexis and Lola's voice complement one another nicely and I've found myself sticking this on repeat.

Great video too, directed by Will Kindrick, and likely to be appealing to John Medd.

Paris In The Spring sees further collaborations with artists ranging from The Avalanches to Air’s Nicolas Godin, Ewan Pearson to Étienne De Crécy, Pierre Rousseau (Paradis) to Pale Bllue's Elizabeth White. 

The one that's got me really excited though is a rare sighting in the wild by Alexis' long-time friend Green Gartside.

There's currently no preview of On A Whim - side 2, track 2 on the vinyl edition - but if their previous collaboration from nearly a decade ago is anything to go by, it'll be pretty wonderful.

 

Steady With The SAULT

It should perhaps come as no surprise that SAULT dropped another surprise new album on Friday (9th).

Titled Chapter 1 - also a characteristic tease of multiple releases in 2026? - it's a brisk, 36-minute, 10-track collection that's every bit as slick and polished as we have come to expect from the...well, no longer so mysterious collective.

And the whiff of familiarity is perhaps both a blessing and a curse on SAULT's 15 (!) album since 2019. For the devoted, Chapter 1 continues to deliver on the promise of previous albums and whilst not with an eye on dominating the airwaves or singles charts, there is something pleasingly reassuring in the overall warm hug of the album.

For the most part, it's business as usual: joining producer Inflo are seasoned SAULT professionals Cleo Sol, Jack Peñate and Melissa Young (formerly known as Kid Sister). Also present and correct is the consummate use of strings, bass and percussion to create a groovy yet heart-tugging soundscape.

On first listen, the lyrics follow a well-ploughed furrow of affirmation and/or devotion, with characteristic repetition of a few - sometimes just a single - line throughout the song. SAULT are canny enough to know how much is enough, so for me at least this never outstays it's welcome and gets boring.

There are no credits on the Bandcamp page accompanying the album, so the only other surprise is reading that US writing and production legends Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have been involved in the creation of Chapter 1. I've no idea to what extent and, if I hadn't read about it online, I'd never have guessed their presence from a casual listen. 

Chapter 1 is very much follows the SAULT template and any members of the collective fall in line with the ethos rather than stretch or pull it into different shapes.

With the increasing demystification of SAULT, including some less than favourable reviews of their live performance (only their second ever) at the All Points East festival last year, it's reasonable that even the surprise drop of a new album lacks the impact and shock value of their earlier releases.

Which would be a shame and, for all of that, Chapter 1 is a really good album and, compared to previous releases like Earth, AIR and AIIR, is designed for repeat listening. 

Is Chapter 1 likely to be my favourite SAULT album? No. 

It Chapter 1 what we need right here, right now in 2026? Absolutely.

 

Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache

I happened upon Smerz via a recommendation by Hifi Sean on Bluesky and I've been hooked ever since.

Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt are childhood friends, growing up in Norway, moving together to Denmark to study and then forming a duo to make music. 

The duo have said that the name Smerz is derived from the German word herzschmerz, or heartache in English. As of itself, schmerz translates as pain. In the best tradition of Scandi pop, Smerz songs are infectiously catchy whilst simultaneously unsettling. The videos only enhance the mood.

Third album Big City Life has been joined by an album of edits called, appropriately enough, Big City Life Edits, with Erika De Casier delivering a slowed down, after hours take on floorfiller Feisty.

You Got Time And I Got Money is the song that grabbed Hifi Sean and it takes things down even slower. And the video is just brilliant.

Of the two edits of You Got Time... on the album, the closing VVTZJ Edit featuring Boston, Massachusetts artist Clairo aka Claire Cottrill is the pick for me.

In a stroke of luck, whilst getting the You Tube links to post these videos, I discovered that Smerz are playing three UK dates in April, including one at the Lantern Hall in Bristol. Ticket duly purchased!

You can find this and previous Smerz releases on Bandcamp. I'd also recommend that whilst you're there, you try and buy music by Clairo and Erika De Casier too.

 

Shriekin' And Dancing 'Til 4am

As a post-script to the David Bowie selections, 46 minutes of Tin Machine, featuring David, Reeves Gabrels and brothers Tony Fox Sales and Hunt Sales.

In his comment on Friday's Bowie post, The Swede (of Unthought Of, Though, Somehow) described Tin Machine as "oft derided". Personally, I'd go so far as to say that I was largely indifferent and had pretty much dismissed them before I'd heard a single note.

I was out of love with David at this point - well, the new music he was making, at least - so the prospect of Bowie as just another guy in a rock band did absolutely nothing for me, at a time when I getting deeper and deeper into dance music.

As it happens, one thing David and I did agree on in 1989 was a love of Pixies. I was obsessed with Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa and it appears that their music was hugely influential on Tin Machine's initial sound and album.

Tin Machine pretty much passed me by for the best part of three decades, until I discovered a bootleg of outtakes and unreleased recordings, which encouraged me to go back and actually listen to their music for the first time. I mean, properly listen.

Neither Tin Machine nor Tin Machine II will be up there with the best of Bowie, but they're also not nearly as bad as I'd somewhat sniffily assumed back in the day. I agree with The Swede's reflection that Tin Machine "gave Bowie a much needed kick up the artistic backside, clearing a path for the burst of solo creativity that followed." 

That, and the Sound + Vision tour and album reissues, both of which served as a palette cleanser, an objective reappraisal of what make Bowie tick as a songwriter and performer, and a chance to fall back in love with the creative process of making music. 

Like The Swede, I also prefer Tin Machine II to it's predecessor, it's more melodic leanings apparently being the trigger for the Sales brothers not wanting to continue with Tin Machine, though for Reeves Gabrels, it was the beginning of a long and productive partnership with Bowie.

Today's selection draws from both studio albums, slightly favouring the latter and bolstered with single versions and a BBC Radio 1 session. I've included a trio of outtakes, including Hunt Sales' vocals on the aptly-titled You Better Stop, a 10-second snippet called It's A Hit, and David taking the lead on It's Tough But It's OK. 

Hindsight is a great thing, and the Tin Machine concept arguably remains a soft target for lazy criticism. However, experienced from a distance, it was a vital and necessary step on David Bowie's voyage of (re)discovery and rejuvenation which prevented him becoming just another has-been on the nostalgia circuit. The music that he created in the 1990s and 2000s, culminating in the incredible Blackstar, is testament to that.

1) Bus Stop (Album Version) (1989)

2) You Better Stop (Outtake) (1991)

3) Amlapura (Album Version) (1991)

4) You Belong In Rock 'n Roll (Edit) (1991)

5) Sacrifice Yourself (Album Version) (1989)

6) Baby Universal (Mark Goodier Session) (1991)

7) If There Is Something (Album Version) (Cover of Roxy Music) (1991)

8) Run (Album Version) (1989)

9) Hammerhead (Single Version) (1991)

10) It's A Hit (Outtake) (1991)

11) Working Class Hero (Album Version) (Cover of John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band) (1989)

12) It's Tough But It's OK (Outtake Version 2) (1991)

13) I Can't Read (Album Version) (1989)

14) You Can't Talk (Album Version) (1991)

1989: Tin Machine: 1, 5, 8, 11, 13

1991: Baby Universal EP: 6

1991: Tin Machine II: 3, 7. 14

1991: You Belong In Rock 'n Roll EP: 4, 9

2018: Tin Machine III (bootleg MP3): 2, 10, 12

Shriekin' And Dancing 'Til 4am (46:19) (GD) (M)

Lost In Streams Of Sound

Celebrating David Robert Jones aka David Bowie, 8th January 1947 to 10th January 2016.

Ten years.

Hard to believe, isn't it?

On a personal level, it's hard to believe as I don't think that there's been a week since where a Bowie song or album hasn't popped up on my playlist. Although there has been no new music as such, there have been multiple releases, anthologies, live collections and previously unreleased outtakes that have expanded the legend, without demystifying the man.

There's still so much to discover, rediscover or experience in a whole new way. As Mike put it in his comment on Thursday, Bowie is the gift that keeps on giving.

But I miss him so much. There's been no-one else like him, before or after. 

The third and final of my selections enters the 21st century, beginning with the end. No Plan is one of four new songs that David recorded for the musical Lazarus, the original cast recording receiving a posthumous release nine months after his passing.

There are examples from each of the four albums that Bowie made in this century: Heathen (2002), Reality (2003), The Next Day (2013) and Blackstar, the latter released in 2016 on David's 69th birthday and two days before his passing. Steering his own course, right to the end.

I've also included a couple of songs from Toy, the album that David recorded in 2000 and intended to release in 2001. Record label shenanigans contributed to his departure from Virgin Records and the album remained unreleased until 2022.

A bootleg was leaked online in 2011 and this is the version I have in my collection. My first pick is Afraid, which was revisited and redone for the subsequent follow-up album, Heathen.

My other choice, and bringing this collection full circle, is Conversation Piece. The original 1969 B-side opened the first of my Bowie selections, and it felt right that it should also close the third and final compilation. 

Conversation Piece was one of many from David's 1960s Sixties songbook that he re-recorded for inclusion on Toy, and which did see the light of day on the bonus EP accompanying the limited edition CD of Heathen in 2002.

The bootleg version is an earlier, less polished mix, the drums a little lower, the voice just as wonderful. It's a beautiful remake and a fitting end to my 35 song cycle. 

Bless you, Bowie. Danke, David. 

1) No Plan (2016)

2) Try Some, Buy Some (Cover of Ronnie Spector) (2003)

3) I'd Rather Be High (Venetian Mix) (2013)

4) Safe (2002)

5) Afraid ('Toy' Version) (2000)

6) Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime) (Album Version) (2016)

7) Sunday (Tony Visconti Mix) (2002)

8) The Stars (Are Out Tonight) (2013)

9) I Would Be Your Slave (2002)

10) Never Get Old (Album Version) (2003)

11) Conversation Piece (Re-Recorded Version / Early Mix) (2000)

2002: Everyone Says 'Hi' EP: 4, 7

2002: Heathen: 9

2003: Reality: 2, 10

2011: Toy (bootleg MP3): 5, 11

2013: The Next Day: 8

2013: The Next Day Extra: 3

2016: Blackstar: 6

2016: Lazarus (Original Cast Recording): 1 

Lost In Streams Of Sound (46:54) (GD) (M)

In celebration of the genius of Mr. Jones, I've resurrected links to my previous David Bowie mixtapes so that you can make a weekend playlist, if you wish...

16th May 1999: Femme Fatale Side One / Side Two

9th January 2021: Live Live Live 1974-2000 *

9th January 2024: Love You Till Tuesday

13th April 2025: Worlds Without Words 

* This originally featured as my 11th post on the Dubhed blog, less than a month since it's launch and with no concept that I might still be doing this thing five years later.

At the time, I tended not to keep my Dubhed selection files in any format, but this is one of the few mixtapes that I simultaneously posted to Mixcloud, albeit as a non-download post. 

With a little bit of villainy - and I'm sure Bowie would have appreciated this - I have bootlegged my own mixtape in order to present this Dubhed selection to you again, for the first time sinvce 2021. Enjoy!

It's Always Time

Celebrating the life of David Bowie with a selection of songs spanning the 80s and 90s.

I was nine years old in 1980, and although I was already aware of David Bowie, the sound and vision of Ashes To Ashes hit me hard and left an indelible mark on this impressionable young boy.

These two decades marked a period when I fell in and out of love with David Bowie. On the one hand, it was my voyage of discovery into his back catalogue, starting with Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), and going back to Bowie's classic albums and cut price compilations of his early recordings.

It was also a time where I dismissed albums such as Tonight, Never Let Me Down, 1. Outside and Earthling as a Bowie emulating rather than innovating, with only the occasional gem of a song to other a ray of light.

It's fair to say that the passage of time - and the time since David's passing - has significantly altered my relationship with all of his albums, these included. Admittedly, I'm always going to reach for Ziggy Stardust... over Tonight, "Heroes" over 1. Outside, but I've found much to love in each and every one.

My dozen choices still include six singles from the twenty year span, though not perhaps the most obvious choices and not the versions that you may be most familiar with. Intersperse these with some album deep cuts and a couple of soundtrack contributions (again, not the obvious choice of Absolute Beginners, classic though it is) and I've come up with a 45-minute selection that I think works pretty well.

By the start of the 21st Century, I was deeply in love with David Bowie again, and he realised some of the best music of his career in this period. Let's hope I manage to do it justice...

1) New Angels Of Promise (Album Version) (1999)

2) Neighborhood Threat (Cover of Iggy Pop) (1984)

3) Black Tie White Noise (Waddell's Mix (Edit) By John Waddell ft. Al B. Sure!) (1993)

4) Telling Lies (Album Version) (1997)

5) Within You (1986)

6) Without You (1983)

7) Fashion (Edited Version) (1980)

8) Blue Jean (MTV Video Version) (1984)

9) Cameras In Brooklyn aka Up The Hill Backwards (Demo) (1980)

10) New York's In Love (Album Version) (1987)

11) I Have Not Been To Oxford Town (Album Version) (1995)

12) When The Wind Blows (Album Version) (1986)

1980: Fashion EP: 7

1983: Let's Dance: 6

1984: Tonight: 2

1986: Labyrinth OST: 5

1986: When The Wind Blows OST: 12

1987: Never Let Me Down: 10

1993: Black Tie White Noise EP: 3

1995: 1. Outside: 11

1997: Earthling: 4

1999: Hours...: 1

2002: Best Of Bowie (DVD): 8

2015: Scary Monsters Sessions (Japanese bootleg): 9

It's Always Time (45:32) (GD) (M)

The World Is Full Of Life

Celebrating David Bowie, born 8th January 1947.

This is the first of three 12-song selections over the next three days, a daunting task when you consider how many superb songs emerged over a five decade career.

I've loosely divided each into a twenty-year span: today is the 60s and 70s; Friday covers the 80s and 90s; Saturday will look at the 00s and 10s.

Rather than attempt (and fail) to cover key songs or albums, I've taken a far more arbitrary approach, picking 12 songs that I simply fancied hearing again and thought might work well together. 

To manage your expectations, there's absolutely nowt from The Man Who Sold The World, The Lodger, Diamond Dogs, Hunky Dory or Low. A third of the selection is from the 1960s, a couple of singles, a third aborted single plus one of my favourite songs from Space Oddity.

A few songs and versions remained undeservedly unreleased until the 1990s/2000s and the extensive curation of Bowie's catalogue. 

And whilst I don't have Netflix and haven't seen a single episode of Stranger Things, apparently "Heroes" was featured in the final episode, so that's my accidental effort to remain relevant to "the kids". Although I plumped for the bilingual version, not the original!

If today's selection courts controversy, tomorrow should be interesting as it arguably covers Bowie's most commercially successful yet most critically panned period. This last statement may be completely inaccurate, but I found much to love in my dozen picks.

1) Conversation Piece (Single Version) (1969)

2) Rosalyn (Cover of The Pretty Things) (1973)

3) Let Me Sleep Beside You (Rejected Single Version) (1967)

4) Blackout (Album Version) (1977)

5) It Ain't Easy (Album Version) (1972)

6) Rubber Band (Single Version) (1966)

7) It's Gonna Be Me (Original Version) (1974)

8) God Knows I'm Good (Album Version) (1969)

9) "Heroes" / "Héros" (English / French Version) (1977)

10) Right (Alternative Early Version) (1974)

11) Golden Years (Single Version) (1975)

12) Panic In Detroit (Re-Recorded Version) (1979)

1966: Rubber Band EP: 6

1969: Space Oddity: 8

1970: The Prettiest Star EP: 1

1970: The World Of David Bowie: 3

1972: The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: 5

1973: Pin Ups: 2

1975: Golden Years EP: 11

1977: "Heroes": 4

1982: "Heroes" EP (Germany 12"): 9

1991: Young Americans (Expanded Edition): 7

1992:  Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (Expanded Edition): 12

2016: The Gouster (previously unreleased, 1974) / Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976): 10

The World Is Full Of Life (44:16) (GD) (M)

"A Moment In Time...That Echoes Through Eternity"

...so says @keithrooks4567 in the comments for neXiumvideos posting of a German TV performance of Fade To Grey by Visage from 1981.

When I say "Visage", this is all about Steve Strange, as Midge Ure, Rusty Egan et al do not join him. 

However, Steve is somewhat eclipsed by Perri Lister, Hot Gossip dancer, occasional Coconut and long-term partner of Billy Idol for most of the 1980s.

I had a crush on Perri back in the day and seeing this TV clip for the first time just made me fall for her all over again.

I think Keith was referring to the song in today's titular quote, but this welcome find on YouTube has been a memorable alternative to the unforgettable official video.

I've Never Met Anyone More Special Than You

Sometimes the link from one post to the next is purely down to serendipity, which is how I go to today's single by Mélanie Pain.

Yesterday's post featured a cover of The Undertones' Teenage Kicks by French artist Taggy Matcher, a song previously - and famously - covered by another French band, Nouvelle Vague.

Yesterday afternoon, a post popped into my social media feed advertising that Mélanie Pain is playing a Valentine's Day show at the Blakehouse theatre in Weston-super-Mare. 

In case the name doesn't immediately ring a bell (which was the case with me), the sub-title underneath Mélanie's name helpfully proclaims her as "the iconic voice of Nouvelle Vague".

Of course, that was immediately apparent from the moment I heard Mélanie sing a note.

The single in question follows the time-honoured Nouvelle Vague tradition of being a cover version - in French - of a 2009 song by Turkish rock band Duman, who I've never heard of, but are ten albums and a quarter of a century into their career, so they must be doing something right.

Senden Daha Guzel translates into French as "Plus Belle Que Toi" and into English as "More Beautiful Than You"; today's post title is a translation of another line from the song. 

If I had to choose between the two songs and videos, it'll be Mélanie's version every time. 

As it happens, Senden Daha Guzel is the sole cover on How And Why, Mélanie's fourth album released in November last year. The other nine songs are self-penned and in English, including Cold Hands, a duet with Brian Lopez, of Calexico and Giiant Sand.

If you enjoy that, you'll be pleased to know that Brian is supporting Mélanie on her February UK tour, in addition to Weston-super-Mare, taking in Shoreham-By-Sea, Southampton, Hastings and that other well-known coastal location, London.

Sadly, I don't think Mrs. K would consider a pair of tickets to Mélanie's show and the 85-mile round trip to Weston-super-Mare a suitably romantic gesture - and rightly so - but I think those in the audience in that 207-capacity venue are in for a special night.

How And Why has also been added to my shopping list for the next Bandcamp Friday.