Life's A Flow

I've had a MP3 of Amoriphous Androgynous' half-hour set at The Creation Of Peace Festival in Russia on 30th August 2008 for several years and was convinced that I'd previously posted the video here, but apparently not.

The Creation Of Peace Festival (this was the first) took place in Kazan, capital city of the republic Of Tatarstan, located in Eastern Europe. The packed line-up included the Adrian Belew Trio, White Flag, Manu Chao, Eddie Jobson, Tony Levin and Patti Smith. Audience numbers reportedly hit 250,000

Sets were reported kept to 20-30 minutes, culminating in a 15-minute jam of All You Need Is Love and Whole Lotta Love, with pretty much everyone packed on stage.

So, all things considered, Amorphous Androgynous were a perfect addition to the line-up.

Half an hour, half a dozen songs, guest vocals from Alisha Sufit and the finale a classic from The Future Sound Of London catalogue.

Mind-blowingly brilliant.

1) The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Slo-Mo / Life's A Flow

2) The Lovers

3) Riders (On The Circadian Rhythm) 

4) All Is Harvest

5) Elysian Feels

6) We Have Explosive

Ghost, Fire, Pain, Better, Comfort

I cannot express how happy I am that Kelsey Lu has a new album out on Friday.

I've been a huge fan since discovering samples online during lockdown in 2020, though there's been little in the way of new music since then.

So Help Me God is album #2 according to the promo blurb, album #3 if like me you count 2016's Church. Either way, its been seven years since Kelsey's last 'traditional' album Blood and five songs and videos have been posted on You Tube in the last couple of months.

Cutting Off The Head Of A Ghost, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, Running To Pain, Better Than That and Comfort have two things in common: Kelsey's incredible voice that soars and swoops and penetrate the emotional core, and orchestral arrangements that lift the songs even higher, even if you contemplate whether they will drop or hold you. This is epic with the caps lock on.

So Help Me God is available on physical and digital formats from the usual places, including Bandcamp.

Kelsey's also heading out on a 2-month tour of the USA and Europe, starting at the end of September. Just two dates in the UK - Manchester (9th Nov) and London (10th Nov) - so it's unlikely I'll get to see them, sadly.

In lieu of the album, here's a Dubhed selection of Kelsey's music that I posted in August 2021 and my debut post about Kelsey from May the same year.

 

 

 

 

Head On Back To Sleep

It's Monday and I wish I could...

...but instead I go to work and I listen to Life's A Dream by Modest Mouse.

(It's not lost on me that, following Pyncher last Tuesday, this is the second video I've posted in a week featuring someone wearing a fox mask. What's up?)

I won't pretend that I was there from the start. I suspect like many, it was the addition of Johnny Marr to the ranks for the album We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank* that drew my attention. 

And like many I suspect, much as I enjoyed the album, I didn't pay much attention to what came after Johnny departed.

On the strength of Life's A Dream, I need to catch up and get with it, not least because eighth album An Eraser And A Maze is already out.

 

* We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank came out in 2007. 2007! Jeez, I'm old...

Ambient Andrew

The 'Andrew' of course being Andrew Weatherall, the 'Ambient' a little misleading perhaps, but this is the nearest you'll get, a combination of chilled and chilling to get you through this mad, mad, mad world.

I've dug deep, going into Andrew's work with Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns as The Sabres Of Paradise, Keith Tenniswood as Two Lone Swordsmen, and Nina Walsh as Woodleigh Research Facility. 

There's also his remix and production work with all of the above, plus Hugo Nicolson with Primal Scream, Peter Hook adding a bassline to The Limiñanas' Garden Of Love that calls to mind The Times' 1990 classic Manchester, and Utah Saints' I Want You transformed beyond all recognition. Oh, and vocals too, from Marie Limiñana, Nina Walsh and, to close, The Guv'nor himself.

The thing is, trawling through my collection for compilation candidates, i ended up with enough for two hour-long mixtapes. So, Vol.2 will be here soon, probably next weekend.

For now though, sit back with a brew, and immerse yourself in Weatherall's world for sixty minutes. 

1) Kicking In Part 4: Two Lone Swordsmen (1997)

2) Garden Of Love (Lundi Mouillé Mix By Andrew Weatherall & Nina Walsh): The Limiñanas ft. Peter Hook (2016)

3) Flight Path Estate: The Sabres Of Paradise (1994)

4) Tiny Reminder No. 1 (C-Pij Remix Vocal) (Remix By Nina Walsh): Two Lone Swordsmen (2001)

5) I Want You (Sabres 110) (Remix By The Sabres Of Paradise aka Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner & Gary Burns): Utah Saints (1993)

6) Akwalek: Two Lone Swordsmen (2000)

7) Theme 4: The Sabres Of Paradise (1994)

8) Emancipation Garage: Woodleigh Research Facility (2015)

9) Still My World: Andrew Weatherall & Keith Tenniswood (2003)

10) Chapel Street Market 9am: The Sabres Of Paradise (1994)

11) Inner Flight (Album Version By Andrew Weatherall & Hugo Nicolson): Primal Scream (1991)

12) Ghosts Again (Album Version By Andrew Weatherall & Nina Walsh): Andrew Weatherall (2016)

1991: Screamadelica: 11

1993: I Want You EP: 5

1994: Haunted Dancehall: 3, 7, 10

1997: Stockwell Steppas: 1

2000: Tiny Reminders: 6

2001: Further Reminders: 4

2003: Still My World: 9

2015: The Phoenix Suburb (And Other Stories): 8

2016: Convenanza: 12

2016: Garden Of Love EP: 2

Ambient Andrew Vol. 1 (59:45) (GD) (M)

Time Will Tell

Happy birthday to Robert Hodgens aka Bobby Bluebell aka founder member of The Bluebells, born 6th June 1959.

One of the great things about becoming a paid up member of the Last Night From Glasgow label is that it introduced me to The Bluebells in a big way. I mean, everyone knows Young At Heart, I was familiar with the other singles Everybody's Somebody's Fool and Cath, but that was about it.

I joined just in time to receive The Bluebells' 'comeback' album, In The 21st Century, which I (and Mrs. K) enjoyed immensely. They've followed up this year with This Is...The Bluebells, a fabulous double album (mine's in snowdrop white vinyl) with sixteen songs.

I also bought the LNFG reissue of debut album Sisters on glorious picture disc vinyl. Only forty years late to appreciate what a great album it is.

The core of The Bluebells - Robert with brothers Ken and David McCluskey - continue to make stirring, joyous music and I wanted to celebrate that in today's selection, which focuses exclusively on their songs from the 2020s.

Twelve songs, eleven originals plus one contemporary cover of fellow Glaswegians Sister John, who I featured back in March. In fact, why not create your own C90 cassette-friendly compilation, with Sister John on one side and The Bluebells on the other?

If, like me, you knew about The Bluebells, but didn't really know their songs, I'd strongly recommend heading over to LNFG and treat yourself.

1) Days Of The Revolution (2026)

2) The Boy Who Slipped Away (2023)

3) Trouble Talking (2026)

4) Stonehouse Violets (2023)

5) Glasgow Rainbow (Cover of Sister John) (2022)

6) Dream On (2026)

7) Blue Train (2023)

8) No Pasaran (2026)

9) Daddy Was An Engineer (2023)

10) Indian Summer (2026)

11) Orienteering (2023)

12) The Ballad Of The Bells (2023)

2022: Young At Heart / Glasgow Rainbow EP: 5

2023: In The 21st Century: 2, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12

2026: This Is...The Bluebells: 1, 3, 6, 8, 10

Time Will Tell (45:53) (GD) (M)

Gelli And I Scream

The first comment sitting beneath Gelli Haha's KEXP session on YouTube is "Idk wtf this is but it’s cool as fuck", which pretty much sums up the entire 23 minute performance. 

Recorded 3rd April, posted 4th June, this has arrived at exactly at the right time. I didn't know I needed to see and hear this until I did, and I'm glad I stopped by KEXP to see what was new.

Gelli Haha is otherwise known as Angel Abaya, born Boise, Idaho, based Los Angeles, California. Angel started releasing music under her own name in 2020, a debut album (THe Bubble) following in 2023. Then came her reinvention as Gelli Haha and last year's appropriately titled second album Switcheroo.

This is the first I've heard of her, so I can't compare and contrast before and after, but Gelli Haha is definitely a smart move. It's fun, fun, fun.

Five songs plus a short interview and trampolines, tents, torches, hide and seek, swimming caps and goggles, an inflatable dolphin... and five women (six if you count KEXP host Evie Stokes) having a really good time in the studio.

1) Funny Music

2) Spit

3) Normalize

4) Bounce House

5) Klouds Will Carry Me To Sleep

And here are a couple more tunes from Switcheroo to give you more bounce to the ounce:

 

I Didn't Expect You To Cut The String

Tahiti 80's second single of 2026, Made Up, is a dayglo indie dancefloor classic, precision tooled for primetime radio.

Whilst Too Much Too Fast Too Soon in April is steeped in the 1980s, Made Up immediately calls to mind The Boo Radleys circa 1994-1995, albeit with the rough edges polished off. None of which is meant as a criticism, I love it.

Made Up isn't available on Bandcamp (yet) but you can track it down on YT and the usual sucky sources. Too Much Too Fast Too Soon can be snapped up at BC for one Euro fifty.

Will You Still Love Me Tomora?

I experienced TOMORA for the first time on Later...With Jools Holland last week. 

The show - and it's host - appears to have a Marmite reaction in this corner of the blogosphere, but I enjoy it (mostly), though I frequently skip through artists and the often excruciating 5 minute 'interview' at the piano.

However, the show does still manage to spotlight artists that up to then have been outside of my periphery, and Tomora is the latest addition to that very long list.

I was mesmerised from the start by the music and the performance: loud, exhilarating, lots of fun. Two women dressed in white with big fluffy boots, one singing, the other (mostly) with her back to the audience, and an old guy wearing glasses and a baseball cap behind a bank of kit, all having a whale of a time. And the song - I Drink The Light - was great.

TOMORA were the subject of one of Jools' brief interviews, as he introduced two of the band, Norwegian artist AURORA aka Aurora Aksnes and Tom Rowlands, 50% of The Chemical Brothers... wait, what? Tom Rowlands?! That "old guy" was born a month after me....

Anyway, as Jools interviews go, TOMORA were great value, especially Aurora's unexpected and frank response to his question about what they like to do to relax, which I think made Jools blush. You can see the chat for yourself here.

I was inspired to buy the deluxe digital version of TOMORA's debut album, Come Closer. As the above two examples demonstrate, it's chock full of quirky bangers, which will keep me occupied over the summer months, at least.

Tom and Aurora have been collaborating for over a decade, so I will also be checking out their previous work on respective Chemical Brothers and AURORA albums.

The third person on stage with TOMORA for their TV debut and live shows is fellow Norwegian Amalie Holt Kleive, who is a member of Ice Quartet and has released a couple of albums as a solo artist. Another avenue I will be exploring.

Thanks, Jools!

Foxy Bass Or Bassy Fox?

Manchester four-piece Pyncher are new to me, and I'll admit some relief that they are relatively new full stop, first releasing music via Bandcamp last year. This bucks my usual habit of 'discovering' bands a decade or so and multiple albums into their career.

2025 saw four singles and a full length album, Every Town Needs A Stranger. Single #4 was the brilliantly titled Steely Dan.

19th June sees Pyncher release a proper EP, I Really Mean It This Time, with track #3 just released with a fabulously lo-fi video.

Oh Boy is a scuzzy slab of indie pop rock, with lots of familiar stylings, musically, vocally and lyrically but you know what? It works.

The thing that distinguishes Oh Boy is bass playing (courtesy of Britt Dewhurst) that may trigger the MMS. No, I don't mean an involuntary hum, I'm talking about the Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS) used to measure earthquakes. I mean, there's heavy and then there's HEAVY.

I'm popping over to Bandcamp at the weekend to buy the EP and check out the rest of Pyncher's catalogue.

Nothing seems to happen

No matter how hard I try

And your love still fills the pavements

So I’ll keep walking outside

Been down all the alleyways

There’s nothing else to find

I just wanna be running

Around your mind

Boy, I’ve done it again

I’m just a big fat loser

With my head sticking over the fence

You said that I’ve been torn

Since the day I was born

Well I know I need more

I just don’t know what for

Now I’m wishing on a sofa

Wishing on a star

I’d wish you’d come and find me

Whoever you are

Boy, I’ve done it again

I’m just a big fat loser

With my head sticking over the fence

Boy, you wanna be friends

And I’ve told you so many times

But you’re not listening

What is all this about

I just can’t work it out

It's all good

It's just fine

It's okay

It's alright

I'm doing good

And I am fine

Boy, I’ve done it again

I’m just a big fat loser

With my head sticking over the fence

Boy, you wanna be friends

And I’ve told you so many times

But you’re not listening

What is all this about

I just can’t work it out

What is all this about

I just can’t work it out

(I just can’t work it out)

You've Got Your Shooting Irons Sticking Out

When I saw that Matador Records had posted a Solex-related video last week, I momentarily thought that Elisabeth Esselink had been inspired to create and share new music.

Not so, sadly. The sobering reality is that it's 25 years since Solex's third and final album for the label. Low Kick And Hard Bop, like the albums that preceded and succeeded it, is an eclectic mix of ideas, musical notes, brain dumps and secondhand store samples, and all the better for it.

All three Solex albums were CD only and not formally released in the UK, so I had to resort to US import copies. In September, to mark it's quarter century, Low Kick And Hard Bop will be available on vinyl for the first time.

Whilst not a new song per se, Mr. Crockpot is a rarity and one that I haven't heard before now. It was originally available as the customary bonus track for the Japanese CD issue of Low Kick And Hard Bop. A few years later, it was also included on the US-only DVD, Solex vs. The Empty Bottle.

I'm pleased that it's been liberated from relative obscurity, and I hope that this may be the catalyst for new music. Elisabeth previous shared plans for a new album in 2020 and whilst that didn't happen, I remain optimistic.

For more Solex fun:

All Licketysplit (20th September 2023)

Say Captain, Say What (29th July 2021)