We Chat And Sing In Happy Style

The Black Maria, O EP was released a month ago on Bring Your Own Hammer, operating as an imprint or partner of Dimple Discs, the independent label run by Damian O'Neill (The Undertones, That Petrol Emotion) and Brian O'Neill (not related).

To pinch their own promo blurb, "Bring Your Own Hammer is not a band, a group, an ensemble or even a collective. If anything, it is a faction but unlike nineteenth-century factions, who met, armed with sticks and wattles in fairs and markets, it is armed with voices and instruments and dedicated, as no faction before, to the re-interpretation of historical material in song form."

In practice, this has meant a series of quality releases since 2022, featuring a compelling roster of artists including Cathal Coughlan, Brigid Mae Power, James Yorkston and Michael J. Sheehy.

The lead song, The Black Maria, pairs Luke Haines with Mike Smalle, whilst the EP closes with Saucy Dogs, Mike again joined by previous collaborator Jah Wobble..

Five quid well spent for 4 cracking songs that breathe new life into old words, in the grand storytelling tradition.

 

 

 

 

How Good It Feels To Be Alive

On Monday, I scooted from work to catch Courtney Barnett at the Bristol Beacon, touring her current album Creature Of Habit.

Back in March, I posted about the three singles that had preceded the album release, which were a bit of a mixed bag. That feeling subsequently extended to Creature Of Habit, which I liked but didn't love. So, entering Beacon Hall, I had an air of trepidation, especially not being that familiar with much of Courtney's back catalogue.

I was pleased to find out a few days before the gig that fellow Australians Body Type were supporting Courtney for this show. 

I only heard Body Type for the first time in April, courtesy of their single And What Else? which led me to answer that question by checking out what else they had to offer on Bandcamp and liking what I heard.

I've especially enjoyed current album Tally and I was looking forward to seeing them live in concert. They didn't disappoint. 

Body Type were set up in a line, from left to right, Annabel Blackman (guitar), Sophie McComish (guitar), Georgia Wilkinson-Derums (bass) and Cecil Coleman (drums). 

It was little muted to begin with, which seems to have been down to the in-house sound; Body Type were clearly kicking ass, but sounded a tad quiet. However, either a tweak to the volume, sheer energy or a combination of the two soon rectified things and those that turned up early were treated to half an hour of exurberant pop rock.

Annabel, Sophie and Georgia all took turns on lead vocals, Sophie unleashed her inner rock god with some mean licks and poses and the band were super tight throughout. 

About half of Tally was performed with a few older songs interspersed. Not a duff song among them, though Sick Bag got an enthusiastic response and I thought Eye Is A Mouth Is A Face was especially good.

1) The Charm

2) Sick Bag

3) Mulberry

4) Eye Is A Mouth Is A Face

5) Tally

6) Holding On

7) And What Else?

8) Buoyancy

 

Pretty much on the dot at 9.00pm, Courtney Barnett and her bandmates ran onto stage, took their respective positions and launched into their set.

Stay in Your Lane started the show, as it does the album, a suitably rousing opener and the now (very packed) audience were well up for it. This wasn't going to be just a straight run through of Creature Of Habit, however.

City Looks Pretty, Avant Gardener and Small Poppies all get an airing before the next new song, Mantis, which Courtney dedicated to an audience member with a mantis tattoo that she'd encountered before the gig.

Any reservations that I had about my initial reaction to Creatures Of Habit were swiftly dealt with, as on stage, the songs not only came alive, they glowed. Over the course of the evening, all ten songs were not only performed, they were transformed.

Courtney's "power trio", with Bones Sloane on bass and backing vocals, and Stella Mozgawa on drums, perfectly complemented her formidable guitar chops. This also energised the older songs, including a few that I was familiar with, such as History Eraser.

I've become quite adept at dancing in confined spaces, giving it some whilst managing not to elbow people in the ribs or step on their toes. So, when a smiling woman next to hugged my shoulder and asked if I was having a good time, I enthusiastically replied, "I'm having a GREAT time!"

In retrospect, I think maybe she wanted me to shift to the left a bit, as I was probably cramping her and her boyfriend's style....

There wasn't an excess of between song chit chat, Courtney and co. speeding from one song into the next until suddenly it was One Thing At A Time, closing the set, with a solo that surpassed the studio version for sheer impact.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before Courtney was back on stage for the encore, a solo rendition of Mostly Patient, a highlight on Creatures Of Habit. Bones and Stella came back for the final two songs, both from Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit.

Predictably, the crowd went ape for Pedestrian At Best and that energy spilled over into the last song of the night, Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party.

A few young 'uns tried - unsuccessfully - to create a mosh pit, but it petered out very quickly. What didn't dissipate was the energy, both on and off stage, though inevitably things had to come to an end and we had to go our separate ways.

A brilliant evening, all round. No setlist recreation today, because you really should go out there and buy the albums, Courtney and Body Type both. And, if you get the chance to see either live, don't hesitate.

1) Stay In Your Lane

2) City Looks Pretty

3) Avant Gardener

4) Small Poppies

5) Mantis

6) Same

7) History Eraser

8) Need A Little Time

9) Another Beautiful Day

10) Depreston

11) Site Unseen

12) Great Advice

13) Elevator Operator

14) Sugar Plum

15) Wonder

16) Before You Gotta Go

17) Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To

18) One Thing At A Time

[encore]

19) Mostly Patient

20) Pedestrian At Best

21) Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party

Another gig with no photos from me, too busy dancing, etc. However, I am grateful to the following audience members for their wonderful visuals:

Steve Parkhouse (Body Type, Courtney Barnett #3)

Callum Shergold (Courtney Barnett #2)

Troy Candy (Courtney Barnett #1 & #4)

Thank you!

One Last Letter, One Last Request

Well, this is one gig that I could not even have imagined five years ago: Cabaret Voltaire at the Forum in Bath on Thursday 15th October 2026.

Richard H. Kirk had resurrected the Cabaret Voltaire name and continued to record and perform solo right up to his death in September 2021. And that, I reasonably thought, was the end of the story.

And yet, here I was, cheering with an expectant crowd as the other founder members Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson took to the stage, stood behind their respective banks of kit and launched into 24-24, the opening song of 1983 album The Crackdown. Which is where my Cabaret Voltaire journey started, forty three years ago.

The venue set up was pretty much seated, but with a generous standing/stalls area at the front, although I was slightly alarmed at how roomy it was. This wasn't a sold out gig and I'd been unable to shift a spare ticket when my 'plus 1' had to drop out at short notice. 

It was a strange crowd, too. Half were people my age, i.e. old, who in some cases I have to admit were hard to imagine as avant industrial electronic enthusiasts back in the day. The other half were people a third my age, i.e. young. Assuming that the Cabs didn't do a 'Kate Bush' and find a new audience via Stranger Things, it was good to have a mix, though everyone seemed to be standing very, very still.

Not that Cabaret Voltaire's music was always easy to dance to, or intended to be. So, as the gig progressed through deep cuts from their early days - The Set Up from the Extended Play EP, 1980 single Seconds Too Late, the itchy, nervous Landslide from Red Mecca - i kind of found my own rhythm, if you could call it such.

A new(ish) Chris Watson composition, Tinsley Viaduct, was premiered at Cabaret Voltaire's first reunion shows. A beatless, ambient piece that brought the first phase of the set to a close.

A brief snippet of Allen Ginsberg reading his epic poem Howl and then straight into Crackdown, heralding a run of 1980s tracks, a serious uplift in BPMs and the moment that I lost my inhibitions and let myself move with the groove.

Just Fascination, followed by Yashar, followed by Sex, Money, Freaks, followed by Easy Life, the latter the sole concession to the 1990s (and indeed beyond). Then Do Right, the opener of Micro-Phonies and the close of the main set, as the band left to rapturous applause.

I should mention at this point that there was no support act. I was initially expecting Gazelle Twin, then found that the Cardiff and Bath dates would instead host Fader aka Neil Arthur of Blancmange, and Ben 'Benge' Edwards, who had previously collaborated with Stephen Mallinder in Wrangler and Creep Show.

Sadly, fate intervened and Neil had to pull out of both dates due to illness. However, Ben was there as 1/4 of the Cabaret Voltaire touring band, along with long-time CV collaborator Eric Random. The sound from the quartet was great, bringing a real heft to the 'dance' numbers, and we were ready for more.

For the encore, a trio of classic singles; the scuzzy electro-punk of Nag Nag Nag, the intense and urgent I Want You and the pulsing, clacking, infectious Sensoria.

My first time was also the last time: like Saint Etienne recently and Edwyn Collins last year, I was attending my premiere gig on the Cabs’ farewell tour. Stephen, Chris, Ben and Eric made it worth every second, an evening to savour and cherish. 

In recreating the setlist for today's selection, I decided to include the taped intros for the three 'phases', not least because two of them are Cabaret Voltaire songs and in my mind were an integral part of the evening's music.

I've also included the first few minutes of Allen Ginsberg's Howl. I'm not sure what recording was used on the night, but I went for a 1959 live reading. Whilst the concert had a distinct separation between this and the songs before and after, I overlaid Howl on Chris Watson's song Tinsley Viaduct, both getting cut off as Crackdown kicks in. I think it works.

I've mostly gone for 12" mixes of the Virgin-era singles and the essential John Robie rework of Yashar, but I stuck with the short single mix of Easy Life as, apart from the album version, all of the extended versions are instrumental. I went with the album version of Sensoria, due to the 12" remix being a mash-up with Do Right, which already features in the selection.

All together, 20 tracks coming in at just under 100 minutes, which is pretty much how long Cabaret Voltaire were on stage. Except I can keep experien this one over and over.

 

1) Theme From Earthshaker (1984)

2) 24-24 (Album Version) (1983)

3) Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself) (Album Version) (1983)

4) The Set Up (1978) 

5) Kneel To The Boss (1980)

6) Landslide (1981)

7) Seconds Too Late (1980)

8) Tinsley Viaduct (Live @ London ICA, 21 November 2025) (Cover of Chris Watson)

9) Howl (Big Table Chicago Reading, 29 January 1959) (Excerpt): Allen Ginsberg

10) Crackdown (12" Remix By Cabaret Voltaire & John Luongo) (1983)

11) Spies In The Wires (1984)

12) Just Fascination (12" Remix By Cabaret Voltaire & John Luongo) (1983)

13) Yashar (A (Re)Production Of John Robie) (#1) (1983)

14) Sex, Money, Freaks (12" Mix By François Kevorkian) (1987)

15) Easy Life (Single Mix) (1990)

16) Do Right (Album Version) (1984)

17) Doublevision (Album Version) (1983)

18) Nag Nag Nag (Single Version) (1979)

19) I Want You (12" Mix) (1985)

20) Sensoria (Album Version) (1984)

1959: Allen Ginsberg Reads Howl: 9

1978: Extended Play EP: 4

1979: Nag Nag Nag EP: 18

1980: Seconds Too Late EP: 7

1980: The Voice Of America: 5

1981: Red Mecca: 6

1983: Crackdown / Just Fascination EP: 10, 12

1983: The Crackdown: 2, 3, 17

1983: Yashar EP: 13

1984: Micro-Phonies: 1, 11, 16, 20

1985: I Want You EP: 19

1990: Easy Life EP: 15

2001: Just Fascination EP (promo CDS): 14

2025: Live @ London ICA, 21 November 2025 (bootleg): 8

 

One Last Letter, One Last Request (1:39:47) (GD) (M)

I didn't take any photos of Cabaret Voltaire whilst they were on stage, I was too busy having a good time. I've also not trawled t'internet for other audience members who were taking pics or filming (and there were plenty of them).

Instead, today's headline photo is a snippet of Cabaret Voltaire's pre-gig projection reel, bleeding onto the walls surrounding the main stage. Rather lovely too, I think.

Then We Danced The Dance 'Til The Menace Got Out

Harborcoat by R.E.M. is a song that I haven't heard in a looong time. In fact, I haven't listened to Reckoning in a long time, either.

Harborcoat is the opening song on the album and is an absolute joy. Sadly, in 1984, I wasn't listening to R.E.M. - that came a few years later - so I was already a fan of their music when i came to Reckoning via my friend Stu's recently acquired pile of their back catalogue.

I wanted to post a live version of Harborcoat, but found myself torn between two. The first is a contemporary version, recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey on 9th June 1984. 

Michael Stipe is all tousled long hair and an air of trepidation at the mike, but the voice sounds incredible, like it's coming from a different place, let alone a different person. 

Sixteen months later, and R.E.M. perform at Die Zeche in Bochum, Germany on 2nd October 1985, and the evolution of the lead singer is incredible. Who is this cropped, bleached haired front person, shimmying around the microphone in an oversized suit?

The voice of course can only be one person, and it's one of the steps to the megaphone wielding, make up wearing Stipe that drew stadium-sized audiences before the 1980s were out.

The transformation is infectious: as Stipe's hair got shorter, Peter Buck's got longer, and he's leaping about and adopting rock star poses without artifice or pretension. The energy of the band as a whole has also lifted even higher.

So, the upshot is that I couldn't choose between the two live versions, and here they are. If you need reminding how great the studio version is, you can find it here.

Reckoning has been added to my playlist and will be tracking my commute to work as Storm Austen bludgeons and rains down on my poor old car.

 

 

They crowded up to Lenin with their noses worn off
A handshake is worthy if it's all that you've got
Metal shivs on wood push through our back
There's a splinter in your eye and it reads, "React"

They shifted the statues for harboring ghosts
Reddened their necks, collared their clothes
Then we danced the dance 'til the menace got out
She gathered the corners and called it her gown
She said

Oh, please, find my harborcoat
Can't go outside without it
Find my harborcoat
Can't go outside without it

They crowded up to Lenin with their noses worn off
A handshake is worthy if it's all that you've got
Metal shivs on wood push through our back
There's a splinter in your eye and it reads, "React"
R-E-A-C-T

Oh, please, find my harborcoat
Can't go outside without it
Find my harborcoat
Can't go outside without it

They shifted the statues for harboring ghosts
Reddened their necks and collared their clothes
Then we danced the dance 'til the menace got out
She gathered the corners and called it her gown
She said

Oh, please, find my harborcoat
Can't go outside without it
Find my harborcoat
Can't go outside without it

Hop Aboard The Dub Train

Zion Train's 2011 album State Of Mind popped up on my playlist, reminding me that I don't listen to Zion Train as often as I should.

What I know about Zion Train would struggle to fit on the back of a postage stamp, let alone a blog post, surprising given my love of dub. 

I have a handful of their albums, peppering their long history, though none of them are frequently on rotation or records that I'm intimately familiar with. I've never seen Zion Train live in concert.

Listening to State Of Mind prompted me to trawl t'internet for past gigs posted online and I came across this set at the Cross Club in Prague, on 22nd January 2015. 

100 minutes of dub lushness, Dubdadda on vocals, founding member Neil Perch at the controls, and 50% brass courtesy of Dave Fullwood (trumpet) and Sebastian "Bigga" Harzmann (trombone).

Caravan Parks: Heaven? Hell? Discuss.

This is my first exposure to Belfast-based duo Chalk aka Ross Cullen and Benedict Hardie-Goddard, and they've kindly obliged with a 'double feature' single and video, Heaven / Hell.

Heaven is bass-heavy nightclub music, a co-write with Chris W. Ryan (also Belfast-based) and featuring cosign aka Martha Greer (also Belfast-based) and Sarah Barthel from Phantogram (not Belfast-based) on vocals.

Hell (also co-written by Chris W. Ryan) is a scuzzy slab of industrial, which would not sound out of place on a Trent Reznor movie soundtrack.

The video is directed by Benedict and stars model Ellie Fitzsimons who, it may be no surprise to read, is also Belfast-based.

You can find more Chalk music online, including their debut album Crystalpunk, which I'll be diving into later.

Your Words Were My Fountain

Let's be honest, just the name - June McDoom - was enough to draw me in.

I don't think I was expecting music "hugely inspired by the minimal sound of the 60s and 70s folk era", as June describes it. The letter J clearly has some mystical reference points, June linked to Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Judee Sill (and, as it happens, signed to record label Jagjaguwar)

Human Angel is the opening song on just-released debut album Follow The Light, after last year's self-tilted compilation of her debut single from 2022, plus two subsequent EPs.

June was right to be so open about her inspirations, they are writ large across her music, yet there is a haunting quality and a lightness of touch that lifts her above the norm.

I've picked another couple of songs, the aptly-titled Dream Dub from Follow The Light, a nod to June's Jamaican heritage, and a string laden cover of traditional song Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair, previously performed by Joan Baez and Nina Simone, amongst many others.

 

An Avalanche Of Avalanches

The Avalanches are back with their fourth album, No Bad Memories, out last Friday.

It's a 28-track behemoth of a double LP (31-track if you go for the deluxe digital download), cramming in nearly as many guest stars as it does samples.

The video at the top of this page - Every Single Weekend featuring Jamie xx - is indicative of No Bad Memories as a whole, 

Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, my memories of music are inextricably linked with commercial jingles, earworms like I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing through to Join Our Club carrying a expertly targeted and insidious message to drink more fizzy pop and eat more chocolate biscuits.

No Bad Memories is inspired by this juxtaposition of magical memories and mendacious marketing. Avalanches' Rob Chater makes a further fascinating connection:

“It seems to be bound up with the nature of sampling itself. 

Once we start digging through forgotten sounds and uncovering their meaning, 

almost inevitably you get sent down a path of discovery. 

Every forgotten sound opens another door. 

And that’s what I love - feeling like a kid again. 

Diving into this whole world of advertising, 

looking at how jingles get made, 

it’s the kind of thing that keeps me interested 

in sampling as a process, an art form.”

In true Avalanches' tradition, only one track goes over the three-and-a-half minute mark, and the majority are less than two-and-a-half, like the two songs above and this little gem, I Give Everything I Have. In 1:53, Loaded Honey in the audio and Haley Joel Osment in the video, certainly do that.

 

A Million Different People Still In Here

Side 2 of an end of year 'best of' C90 cassette, recorded 27th December 1997.

It was a great year for singles, wasn't it?

Side 1 featured UK Top 40 hits by Björk, James, Edwyn Collins (surprisingly) and Howie B. (even more surprisingly), plus lesser or non-charting singles by Gold Blade, Lionrock, OP8 ft. Lisa Germano, Mulu, The Aloof and Wubble-U. Oh, and a ubiquitous #1 by Tori Amos, thanks to an Armand Van Helden remix.

Side 2 is packed with hits, no #1s this time, all but 2 of the 11 songs cracking the Top 30. 

Remember Me by Blue Boy has recently had a new lease of life thanks to a car advert, but was itself a flop single first time around. It was the remix by Sure Is Pure (featuring one half of Candy Flip, fact fans) that boosted the single to #8 in February 1997.

The Saint starring Val Kilmer was Hollywood's attempt to replicate the success of similar 60s TV on-screen revival Mission: Impossible, starring Tom Cruise. I'll admit, I've never seen the film so I can't compare, but it didn't make it to a sequel. However, Orbital did a cracking version of the theme tune, charting at #3 for a week in April.

I thought Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve had at least reached the top spot, not so, it transpires. Still sounds magnificent, nearly thirty years on. Nice that The Rolling Stones eventually relinquished their royalties claim.

As does Help The Aged by Pulp. It was bold move to have this as a lead single. Then again, it became swiftly apparent that This Is Hardcore was not a straight follow up to the wildly successful Different Class. I think it's my favourite Pulp album.

And yes, I resisted the temptation to place Song 2 as track 2 on Side 2. Blur follow neatly on from Pulp and sets up beautifully for The Sunday's glorious comeback single Summertime, ironically a #15 hit in autumn 1997.

To close, AIR provide what for me is the definitive version of Depeche Mode's single Home, one of a relatively few sung by Martin Gore rather than Dave Gahan. The Gore singles never seemed to chart quite as well as the rest, though this managed a respectable #23. Those that didn't buy it missed out on some fab reworks, not least AIR's 'Around The Golf' remix.

I've reposted the link to Side 1, so that you can enjoy the full 90+ minute 1997 experience.

 

1) Remember Me (Sure Is Pure (7" Edit)): Blue Boy ft. Marlena Shaw (Remember Me EP) (#8, 09 February 1997)

2) The Saint (Single Version) (Cover of The Les Reed Brass): Orbital (The Saint OST) (#3, 13 April 1997)

3) The New Pollution (Album Version): Beck (Odelay) (#14, 02 March 1997)

4) Miss Modular (Single Version): Stereolab (Miss Modular EP) (#60, 07 September 1997)

5) Gritty Shaker (Main Mix): David Holmes (Gritty Shaker EP) (#53, 17 August 1997)

6) Bruise Pristine (Single Remix): Placebo (Bachelorette EP) (#14, 18 May 1997)

7) Bitter Sweet Symphony (Album Version): The Verve (Urban Hymns) (#2, 22 June 1997)

8) Help The Aged (Album Version): Pulp (This Is Hardcore) (#8, 16 November 1997)

9) Song 2 (Album Version): Blur (Blur) (#2, 13 April 1997)

10) Summertime (Album Version): The Sundays (Static & Silence) (#15, 14 September 1997)

11) Home (AIR 'Around The Golf' Remix): Depeche Mode (Home EP) (#23, 22 June 1997)

 

Side Two (45:52) (GD) (M)

Side One here 

Soul Food

A later than usual post; blame work commitments and a laggy computer.

This is neither soul food in its true sense, nor a selection inspired by the 1997 film of the same name. Blame me for that.

No blame about the music, though. Forty six music minutes of nourishing sounds spanning the sixties to the eighties, from Sly & The Family Stone to the Average White Band.

Soul, funk, pop, a bubbling pot of great music to fill your heart and your, well, soul.

1) I Get High On You (Single Version): Sly & The Family Stone (1975)

2) Sweatin': Alvin Cash & The Crawlers (1965)

3) Galaxy (Album Version): War (1977)

4) Eleanor Rigby (Live At Fillmore West) (Cover of The Beatles): Aretha Franklin (1971)

5) Who's Lovin' You: The Miracles (1960)

6) You Haven't Done Nothin': Stevie Wonder (1974)

7) Back Stabbers (Cover of O'Jays): Van McCoy (1974)

8) Deep Inside Of You: Gloria Taylor (1973)

9) Miss Black America (Album Version): Curtis Mayfield (1970)

10) It Must Be Love: The Exceptions ft. Mark Greene (1977)

11) Fast Lane: Gil Scott-Heron (1982)

12) Love Your Life (Album Version): Average White Band (1976)

Soul Food (46:23) (GD) (M)

Dedicated to this little fella, who I snapped in a Gloucester side street recently. Clearly wishing he was on the other side of the gate, but hoping to get a sniff of the action at least…