Anson Men

Poor Strangelove. I should have loved them, really.

They were from my birthplace Bristol. They made epic indie music that reached beyond the boundaries of the small gig circuit and on a par with their contemporaries. Yet... Patrick Duff and his band of merry men got (excuse the pun) duff treatment from me back in the early to mid 1990s.

Today's post focuses on their support slot for American Music Club at The Anson Rooms (aka the University of Bristol Student Union) in Clifton, the posh part of Bristol, both literally and metaphorically elevated above the city and it's surround.

The date was Friday 21st October 1994 and I was there, purely and simply, to see American Music Club. My (soon to be) ex-girlfriend wasn't. I wrote about my experience of their performance last May and had this to say:

[My] college ex was a fan of Strangelove, especially Patrick Duff, 

so for her this would have been the appeal of the gig over the headliners.

Sadly, not my first time seeing Strangelove - 

I would have seen them at least once 

at the Bristol Community Festival at Ashton Court - 

but I can't remember much, other than they were 'good'.

At the time of the gig, my girlfriend and I were still a couple, though it must have been one of the last things we did together as I was temporarily living in Derby before the year was out. 

Maybe it was our souring relationship and her interest in the floppy fringed frontman of Strangelove that made me disinclined to like the band. Yes, I could (and probably still can) be that petty.

Not a lot of personal memories of their set that night then, or previous Ashton Court Festivals, which is less surprising as they were frequently spent oiled up and under the influence and in the company of like minded friends.

Which makes recreating a setlist both a challenge and an opportunity to give Strangelove another (fair) hearing, thirty-odd years later.

The details of their set at The Anson Rooms in 1994 has not been captured online, so I've created a composite 12-song setlist, drawn from three contemporaneous performances: the Marquee Club in London on 8th June 1994, followed by the Astoria on 19th August 1994, with a Black Session @ 'La Maison La Radio' in Paris on 28th October 1994, a week after their Bristol gig.

Three quarters of this imaginary set is drawn from Strangelove's debut album, Time For The Rest Of Your Life, albeit out of sequence apart from the opening song. The remaining three songs include their 1992 debut Visionary, Hysteria Unknown and Wolf's Story Part I, which didn't a physical release until 1996, when Parts I to III appeared on CD2 of the Beautiful Alone single.

I've never heard the Strangelove album before now and of the smattering of songs already in my collection, none feature here, so the playback of this selection was as fresh to me as it will be to you, listening to it for the first time today.

The verdict? Strangelove got the shitty end of the stick from me back in 1994 and in 2026, I've really enjoyed their music. Time for the rest of my life, perhaps, but I will make more time to listen to Strangelove and catch up with what Patrick Duff has been up to since.

1) Sixer

2) Hopeful

3) Visionary

4) Wolf’s Story Part I

5) Quiet Day

6) World Outside

7) Hysteria Unknown

8) Time For The Rest Of Your Life

9) Low Life

10) The Return Of The Real Me

11) Is There A Place?

12) Sand

1992: Visionary EP: 3

1993: Hysteria Unknown EP: 7

1994: Time For The Rest Of Your Life: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

1996: Beautiful Alone EP: 4

Anson Men (58:13) (GD) (M)

If you want to recreate the whole evening (musically speaking, no relationship breakdowns please!), then you can find my recreation of American Music Club's set here.

Chest Pains, Musical Gains

A colleague at work pointed me to Angine De Poitrine and said that I might like them. They were right.

The duo from Saguenay, Québec, Canada take mysterious to a level that Daft Punk could only dream and join Robyn Hitchcock and Strawberry Switchblade in that select group that make polka dots cool.

The band name literally translates as Angina Pectoris and the blurb on Bandcamp explains more, but not much more:

By awakening the notes that sleep deep in the cracks between the piano keys, 

these two incongruous beings with large papier-mâché faces 

will make you feel an auditory stimulus comparable 

to the delicious and throbbing tightness 

that precedes a heart attack.

I thankfully can't speak from personal experience of the latter, but the sound that 'brothers' Khn De Poitrine (microtonal guitars) and Klek De Poitrine (percussion) make is incredibly infectious and incredibly groovy.

From a deceptively simple set up, the music takes in a tour of genres, one moment prog rock, the next big beat, the next psychedelia in extremis, yet never sounding like a mish-mash or an idea in search of a song. 

I've only heard a handful of their songs so far but, given that the Canadian dollar to UK sterling exchange rate (plus 20% digital discography discount) means that I can buy both albums - efficiently titled Vol. I and Vol. II - for around a tenner, it's worth taking the plunge.

Heading up the post is a 4-song set that Angine De Poitrine recorded for KEXP last December, during the Les Trans Musicales in Rennes, France. As such, the channel dispenses with the usual set-and-interview format to give space for just shy of 28 minutes of music.

The set comprises the first three songs from Vol. II, in reverse chronological order naturally, closing with their debut single (and opener of Vol. I).

1) Sarniezz

2) Mata Zyklek

3) Fabienk

4) Sherpa

As an added incentive, if you need it, I've added the closing song from Vol. I.

Angine De Poitrine are touring to promote Vol. II, including a date a Strange Brew in Bristol in May, though sadly long sold out by the time I had been introduced to their music. Maybe I'll head to Bristol anyway, stand outside and peer through the window, whilst the music poursa out into the street...

On Our Way To Somewhere In Particular

Echobelly was one of those bands that I had more of an interest in what they had to say, rather than what they had to sing, back in the days of Brtipop. And by "they" I mean Sonya Aurora Madan, who was the go-to for the music press when they wanted an interview or cover shot.

The only other band members I can name from memory are co-founder Glenn Johansson and Debbie Smith, who joined in 1994, due to her previous association with Curve.

Here Comes The Big Rush was a single from Echobelly's third album Lustra, which entered the UK chart on 2nd November 1997 at #56, dropped 30 places the following week, and disappeared altogether the week after.

I bought the CD single (part 2 of 2) secondhand in 1998, on the back of the inclusion of the remix by Midfield General aka Damian Harris on Block Bustin' Beats, a 2CD compilation released in December 1997. a "40 track full-on big beat mix" by Dave Turner.

The CD featured the album version, plus 2 remixes each from Midfield General (vocal & dub) and Dave Angel (vocal & instrumental). The latter obviously not to be confused with his namesake character on The Fast Show.

There is only one YT post featuring the Dave Angel vocal mix, which I'm guessing is ripped from a DJ mix, as it features about 4 mins of it, before switching to the Midfield General vocal, then cutting out as abruptly as it arrived. This will give you a flavour but, suffice to say, the instrumental is my pick of the two.

If you're familiar with Midfield General, then you'll know what to expect, i.e. heavy, dark beats, but works well in both the dub and vocal variations.

I hadn't realised that Sonya had been seriously ill following their second album and there was some doubt as to whether Echobelly's hiatus would become a permanent split, not least due to legal and band hassles also going on at the time.

As it happens, it was another four years before their fourth album and there have been a further two albums since, plus one compilation of B-sides and rarities in 2020.

Sonya and Glenn are still touring as Echobelly and you can catch them on 2nd July at Tunbridge Wells Forum, promising "plenty of 'great things' from their Britpop heyday, plus new material".

Save your point of view

For the manic charm that he puts you through

When he wears your pearls, your ruby dress

And he looks so good with his sunken chest

There's a certain charm 

To the pretty boy that is on my arm

He's my double friend, a boy and a girl

When he says,

Paint my face, lick your mouth

Fake a yawn and we'll go out and glow

We're on our way to somewhere in particular

I'll take you somewhere, where you haven't been

And I'll show you a good time, like you've never seen

Here comes the big rush

There's a special ring

To his Cuban heels and his six-pack swing

His mother's clothes are his new disguise

And his good advice when he says:

Vanity's a virtue, lets no one in to hurt you

I'll take you somewhere, where you haven't been

And I'll show you a good time, like you've never seen

Here comes the big rush

You're one of the boys

Pump that pipe dream, sell you something

New, new, new

We're on our way to somewhere in particular

I'll take you somewhere, where you haven't been

And I'll show you a good time, like you've never seen

Here comes the big rush

You're one of the boys

Pump that pipe dream, sell you something

Pump that pipe dream, sell you something

New new

(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?