(C)lone Wolf

Mesh have been on the go since the 1990s, they're originally from my home town, my mum knows one of the band members, they've released a ton of albums, their music should be right up my street....

...and yet, I know next to nothing about them and i don't have a single song by them in my music collection.

YouTube thrust their new video Lone Wolf right at the top of their home page and I decided to have listen. Lone Wolf is the second of five tracks on their EP This World; you will also find it on the 25-track deluxe edition of new album The Truth Doesn't Matter, out on 27th March.

Lone Wolf is a decent song, very much in the vein of Depeche Mode's recent retrofuture approach with Memento Mori...and yet, it just doesn't grab me in the same way. Maybe it'll take a few more listens.

What proved to be a major distraction on my first listen was the video itself. There's no mention in the credits, but this is an AI-generated video which lifts Viggo Mortensen's character from 2008 film The Road and repurposes him as a seemingly homeless person, the titular Lone Wolf. 

That is, until the final frames, which see him heading towards a cabin in the woods, walking side by side with a white wolf. That's your Happy Days/"jumping the shark" moment, as the scene is reminiscent of those airbrushed T-shirts or posters, the latter often with bas-relief faux velvet, that filled Athena in the 1980s.

I've no idea what Viggo Mortensen thinks of all this, but I quickly shifted to listening to Lone Wolf on their Bandcamp page instead.

If there are any Mesh fans reading this, any recommendations for a good introduction to the band, or a suggested playlist? Preferably without an accompanying AI-generated video!

Tonight, The Afterparty

A random shuffle brought up Tonight by Lykke Li, from 2008's Youth Novels, and a welcome reminder that I should listen to the album again.

What I'd missed/forgotten was that Lykke's sixth album, The Afterparty, is coming on 8th May. At the weekend, a couple of videos/singles were posted in advance, Lucky Again and Knife In The Heart.

When I say videos, they look more like TikTok clips, looped to match the respective songs duration. Even so, a compelling watch and listen. 

Compared to Tonight, both are uptempo, poppier affairs although even causal attention to the vocals reveals the darker lyrical narrative that Lykke writes so well.

Welcome back, Lykke.

You can order The Afterparty from most of the usual places, including Lykke's official website.

  

 

Sometimes, Life Is Full Of Surprises

Alexis Taylor's new single came out at the weekend. On A Whim is a lovely slice of funky electro pop, but the masterstroke is when the chorus comes in, and the dulcet tones of Green Gartside takes the song into the stratosphere.

Alexis co-wrote the song with Green and Oliver Bayston and it's just wonderful, even if it does raise the question of when - if ever - we might hear new music from Green / Scritti Politti again. 

In the meantime, we can content ourselves with Alexis' current album, Paris In The Spring, released last Friday, and a fresh 2026 remaster of Scritti Politti's 1982 debut Songs To Remember.

Sometimes, things are too painful

For you to focus on what is real

They pull apart at your life as it turns

And the day-to-day becomes tender with burns

Something can still cause you pain

Even when you don't understand it or want it

To be a part of your makeup and brain

It doesn′t help you, help you explain

 

What if (what if, what if) you need this pain?

What if you need this pain?

What if (what if, what if) there is no shame?

 

Sometimes, life is full of surprises

And it's hard not to derail your brain

There's no hope in compromises

It ain′t pretty, but it fucks you all the same

 

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

On a whim, I could throw, throw it all away

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

I could throw, throw it all, throw it all away

 

What if (what if, what if) you need this pain?

What if you need this pain?

What if (what if, what if) there is no shame?

 

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

On a whim, I could throw, throw it all away (to feel nothing)

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

I could throw, throw it all, throw it all away (to feel nothing)

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

On a whim, I could throw, throw it all away (to feel nothing)

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

I could throw, throw it all, throw it all away (to feel nothing)

 

To feel nothing

Faithful, Honest And True

An hour of Spiritualized music to soothe your soul.

I've been quite heavy on the instrumental and downtempo side of things, though the selection is peppered with wig-outs too, spanning EPs and albums between 1990 and 2018, including Medication, the first Spiritualized single I bought, secondhand from Way Ahead Records in Derby, circa 1994.

Most of the other selections would not be possible without buying The Complete Works Volumes One and Two on double CD in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Although there has been an obsessive attention to detail regarding Jason Pierce's relationship with drugs, lyrically, literally and metaphorically, his musical output has been phenomenal.

I don't have all of the Spiritualized albums, including the most recent Everything Was Beautiful, which I've realised with a gulp is itself four years old.

Jason's ploughed a familiar furrow with his writing and music, returning constantly to musical themes and motifs, but always in a way that feels fresh, exciting and, regardless of the sometimes difficult subject matter, leaving the listener (well, this one at least) with a glimmer of hope, an optimism about the future.

And right now, we could all do with a little bit of that.

1) Luminescence (Stay With Me) (1991)

2) Cool Waves (Inst.) (1997)

3) I'm Your Man (2018)

4) Harmony 5 (Accordion) / Borrowed Your Gun (2008)

5) Medication (Single Version) (1992)

6) Going Down Slow (Instrumental) (2002)

7) On Fire (Album Version) (2001)

8) Oh Baby (2003)

9) Harmony 3 (Voice) (2008)

10) Any Way That You Want Me (Ext.) (Cover of The Troggs) (1990)

11) I Want You (EP Version) (1991)

12) Broken Heart (Instrumental) (Long Version) (1997)

13) Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (I Can't Help Falling In Love) (Unreleased Version) (1997)

1990: Anyway That You Want Me EP: 10

1991: Run / I Want You EP: 1, 11

1992: Medication EP: 5

1997: Broken Heart Instrumental EP / Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Japan-only bonus track): 12

1997: Electricity EP: 2

2001: Let It Come Down: 7

2002: Do It All Over Again EP: 6

2003: Amazing Grace: 8

2008: Songs In A&E: 4, 9

2012: Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Remastered Edition): 13

2018: And Nothing Hurt: 3

Faithful, Honest And True (1:00:04) (GD) (M)

I've only seen Spiritualized perform live once, at the Ashton Court Festival in July 1998. Even the memory of that is hazy to the point of obliteration, but I recreated the setlist as an hour long Dubhed selection last year, which you can find here.

From Beyond To The Intimate And Infinite

A return to my recent NEIN Records haul, this time showcasing From Beyond aka Alex Wastnidge.

Alex is a frequent contributor to the NEIN catalogue, with a ton of releases and remixes as From Beyond dating back to 2019. I first discovered the label during lockdown and I've been following with interest since then.

When browsing for an image that I could use for today's post, I stumbled across Alex's LinkedIn profile and his posts for The MCAT Blog at the University of Oslo. This is lifted from the former:

I am a Music Technologist/Researcher with a background in Music Production, Audio Engineering, Audio Programming and Education. I developed "Deep Steps", a MIDI step sequencer with an integrated user-trainable generative neural network. Deep Steps was presented at The International Conference on AI and Musical Creativity 2024. This work covered AI in Music, Human-Computer Interaction, Human-AI Interaction, Co-Creativity and User Experience.

As someone with an - at best - rudimentary understanding of music technology, my mind was boggling at that paragraph alone. However, you can read more about Alex's work on the MCAT Blog here.

What got me here in the first place though is the music and, contrary to what the above may suggest, the appeal for me of Alex's work as From Beyond is it's warmth, it's - dare I say it - humanity. This is electronic music designed for the dancefloor, but it never feels clinical or perfunctory. 

Prior to my big purchase, I would buy NEIN releases on a regular basis and anything with From Beyond attached was pretty much guaranteed to be of interest. Today's selection provides 10 examples of this, at just over an hour. 

All releases on NEIN between 2019 and 2025, with an accidental bias towards the 2022 Datamaskin EP, and reciprocal remixes between From Beyond and Viper Patrol, I think it gives a good account of what Alex is about and why I like the music.

It tickled me to start the selection off with a track called Welcome and wrap up with the ironic Q&A of Where2Now and Not The Future, as that is where we are inevitably, inexorably heading, whether we like it or not.

1) Welcome (From Beyond Remix): JG Outsider (2021)

2) No Rest (Single Version): From Beyond (2019)

3) Night City (Single Version): From Beyond (2022)

4) Murky Waters (From Beyond Remix): Viper Patrol (2025)

5) Villa Straylight (Viper Patrol Remix): From Beyond (2025)

6) Found Again (From Beyond Remix): Lusca + Tronik Youth (2020)

7) Datamaskin (Single Version): From Beyond (2022)

8) Axial Tilt (Single Version): From Beyond (2023)

9) Where2Now: From Beyond (2022)

10) Not The Future (Single Version): From Beyond (2024)

2019: No Rest EP: 2

2020: Cash Us EP: 6

2021: Together EP: 1

2022: Datamaskin EP: 3, 7, 9

2023: High Orbit EP: 8

2024: Not The Future EP: 10

2025: Slow Is Smooth EP: 4

2025: Villa Straylight EP: 5

From Beyond To The Intimate And Infinite (1:02:49) (GD) (M)

Temples Of Day-Glo

If you're looking for thrilling psychedelic pop, Kettering in Northamptonshire would not necessarily be your obvious starting point, which would be your loss, as here was born Temples.

They're back with their fifth album, Bliss, and as a taster a bright looking (and sounding) single called Jet Stream Heart.

I first came across them via a remix of their debut single Shelter Song by Beyond The Wizards Sleeve aka Richard Norris and Erol Alkan who, as it turned out, had remixed their entire debut album Sun Structures as Sun Restructured. Both are wonderful.

If you're new to Temples, I've compiled a little visual tour through their back catalogue, which does beggar the question why their music isn't being played loud in every household. I'd be asking my neighbours to turn it up, not down!

You can pre-order Bliss from your friendly local record shop or the usual outlets. I'd also recommended placing a bookmark on their Bandcamp page to snap up Sun Restructured and other back catalogue goodies on Friday 1st May.

1) Jet Stream Heart (2026)

2) Day Of Conquest (2024)

3) Afterlife (2023)

4) You're Either On Something (2019)

5) Roman Godlike Man (Toe Rag Session) (2017)

6) Strange Or Be Forgotten (2017)

7) Shelter Song (Single Version) (2012)

8) Shelter Song (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Reanimation) (2014)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Groove For The End Times

Six thousand, nine hunded and seventeen days (roughly) since Ora Cogan self-released her debut album, I hear her music for the first time.

What an introduction, though. The Smoke is an insistent, groovy, ethereal number that hooks the unwary listener from the start and ends too soon, three and a half minutes later. Today's quotes comes from the social media blurb accompanying the video and is spot on.

The Smoke would sit comfortably on a playlist with Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood, Anita Lane and Nick Cave. 

Digging into Ora's catalogue on Bandcamp, there's a wealth of her own material, as well as an intriguing selection of covers by Sam Cooke, Slim Whitman, Buffy Saint-Marie, Slim Whitman, Bob Marley and this interpretation of a PJ Harvey classic:

The Smoke is track two on Ora's latest album, Hard Hearted Woman, out tomorrow, Friday 13th. How lucky am I, to have discovered her music right now?

(Re)Discover

It's a sobering thought that so many albums which defined my musical preferences as teen are now celebrating their 40th anniversary. Case in point, Discover by Gene Loves Jezebel, released in 1986.

I boiught mine from Sound Seekers, a treasure trove of vinyl, cassettes and a new fangled format called compact discs, in the suburbs of Bristol. This was my first Gene Loves Jezebel album purchase and I lucked out with the limited edition double vinyl, containing Discover and a live album. Glad To Be Alive.

If you think the Gallagher brothers' dynamic is interesting, it's got nothing on Michael and Jay Aston, the core of Gene Loves Jezebel. Poster boys with lashing of lip gloss, pan stick, granny's pearl necklaces and silk blouses, pouts that were in danger of poking your eye out if you sat too close to the telly and heaps of attitude.

They also had some great songs, and this third album really should have been the crossover that Gene Loves Jezebel had been striving for, with Desire (released twice), Heartache and possibly my favourite of theirs, Sweetest Thing. 

It just wasn't to be, with Heartache the best performing single from the album getting to #71, although Discover itself managing a much more respectable #32 in it's first week.  It dropped to #60 the following week though, which suggests that the initial surge was people like me, rushing to buy the 2-for-1 album deal.

I haven't watched the videos in ages and it's been fun to revisit them, not least the fake live audience sound laid over the video for Desire and noticing that, in all three, Jay's guitar is more like an oversized necklace than something to be played.

However, Gene Loves Jezebel inspired more than one Friday night going out look back in the day, when it took almost as long to get ready as it did actually being out in town. And no, I didn't resort to 'borrowing' my granny's blouse. They were both barely 5 foot tall for a start, and I wasn't ready to go out with an exposed midriff. At least, not in the late 80s.

 

This Is Recycled Plastic

Keeping with yesterday's feelgood theme, a jaunt to Japan and the, well, fantastic Fantastic Plastic Machine with L'Aventure Fantastique from 1997.

This is the second video, which is very different but equally cool.

L'Aventure Fantastique was released in the UK on the Bungalow label, run by Marcus Liesenfeld and Holger Beier aka Le Hammond Inferno, who provided a Recycled Soft Rock Mix of the song on the 12" single.

Rounding out the vinyl issue, Bungalow label mate The Maxwell Implosion aka Torsten Heller delivered a remix of Nova Bossa Nova aka Pura Saudade, the closing track of Fantastic Plastic Machine's debut, self-titled album.

Doesn't that put a spring in your step, even if Spring hasn't quite sprung yet?

Just Another Gig In Another City On Another Saturday Night....

...and just another bearded old guy in a beanie wandering onto the stage, just as you're coming to the end of your set.

Except, when you're Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy and band, performing the songs of R.E.M., and the bearded old guy in a beanie is Michael Stipe, it's going to be a rather special night.

If you were an audience member at Brooklyn Steel in New York on Saturday (7th), this is exactly what happened.

Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy are currently touring Life's Rich Pageant on its 40th anniversary, and Michael performed a reprise of These Days (track 2, side 1) followed by The Great Beyond, one of R.E.M.'s last great singles of the 20th Century.

The band, sans Stipe, subsequently returned to the stage to play six (count 'em) songs for the encore, but honestly, how do you follow that?!

To quote from another R.E.M. song, "take comfort in your friends". 

And we all have a friend in Michael Stipe.