I was really into Sven Väth's music in the early '90s, I kind of lost track of him at the turn of the millennium and I have had no clue what he's been up to in the past twenty years. So, the perfect time it seems for Sven Väth to release his first artist album since 2002.
Catharsis was released on Friday and I've only heard a few snippets, including the title track, opening track What I Used To Play and the current single, Butoh. The latter was apparently released as a double A-side single with Mystic Voices (which I've not yet heard) earlier this month, but it has just been gifted with a radio edit/official video to tie in with the album launch.
Butoh the song is a glitchy number, which kind of reminds me in places of a less dirty version of, er, Dirty by Lemon Interupt (sic). Butoh is a style of Japanese modern dance typified by slow movement. Butoh the video shows Atsushi Takahashi practicing in a forest on Itsukushima (also known as Miyajima), a small island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan, the serene and graceful flow creating a tension with the more insistent, clattering beat.
I will be investigating the album further.
You can purchase Catharsis on vinyl, CD and digital formats via Sven's label Cocoon Recordings, Bandcamp or other retail outlets.
Celebrating Mark Lanegan, 25 November 1964 to 22 February 2022.
Mark Lanegan's made a couple of appearances here and I'd always intended to feature a selection from his vast body of music, though never as a posthumous tribute. But, sadly, that became an unavoidable truth on Tuesday when Mark passed on at the age of 57. Too soon, too soon.
I'm not going to pretend that I was a fan - or had even heard of - Mark Lanegan from the start. I was largely unmoved by Grunge when it dominated the early 1990s. I was largely immersed in electronica and dance music at the time, with a grudging like of Nine Inch Nails, NIrvana and other guitar-based bands, but I avoided Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, etc. by the proverbial country mile. Therefore, Screaming Trees and Queens Of The Stone Age remained firmly off my radar.
In 2007, I bought It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land, the second album by Soulsavers, having enjoyed the cinematic sweep of their debut, Tough Guys Don't Dance. That album was predominantly instrumental, with a few songs written with singer Josh Haden. The follow up couldn't have been more different, with Mark Lanegan featuring on the majority of the songs and co-writing nearly half of the album. It remains one of my favourite albums, full stop.
It was not long after that I first heard Who Built The Road, a collaboration with Isobel Campbell and, as I discovered, their second album together. I swiftly bought both, as well as the third and final album, Hawk.
At this point, the extent of Mark Lanegan's role as serial collaborator was becoming clear: between 2007 and 2009, I also acquired another Soulsavers album (Broken), the sole album by The Gutter Twins (Lanegan & Greg Dulli) and Future Chaos by Bomb The Bass, featuring Lanegan on the excellent Black River.
Mark Lanegan continued to produce music in subsequent years, including several albums in his own name &/or as Mark Lanegan Band, a mix of self-penned songs and interpretations of others' songs. In commenting on Swiss Adam's mix, fellow blogging legend Echorich commented "Only Johnny Cash sounded more world weary and worn" and he's spot on. Lanegan's rich, earthy baritone, often on the brink of cracking, is so evocative of a life lived hard, of mistakes made, of regrets and hope, of emotion deep, deep, deep into the soul.
I cannot help but be moved whenever hearing Mark Lanegan's voice, but the stories he sings - whether his own or someone else's - have the power to bring me to tears.
In the days since his passing, I've agonised over today's selection. I wanted to capture the breadth of Mark Lanegan's work, but in doing so, would leave out so many other great examples of his music, his songwriting, his ability to transform and inhabit songs so that they were never mere cover versions, his thirst for stretching himself, ever striving forward.
I've done my best not to duplicate the songs that Walter, Swiss Adam and Jonny The Friendly Lawyer chose for their tributes. There is one exception, in the opener Black River, though I've opted for an equally excellent remix instead. I've also repeated myself by including The Lonely Night, which appeared in my Photek selection back in September, for which I make no apology.
The resulting selection is almost exclusively 21st century, with one exception. There are no songs by Queens Of The Stone Age. I have only a couple of songs by Screaming Trees and I was inclined to leave them off too, but I like their cover of The Velvet Underground's What Goes On and it seemed to fit in it's particular place in the track listing.
There are a lot of cover versions (seven in all), taking in the Velvets, The Cure, Nancy Sinatra, Massive Attack and The Gun Club. A stunning cover of The Breaking Hands by Nick Cave and Debbie Harry has been featured elsewhere in the blogosphere, but I think Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell's take is right up there with it. A couple of years later, Lanegan was one of a number of artists completing Jeffrey Lee Pierce's unfinished music, producing Desire By Blue River with French singer/songwriter Bertrand Cantat. I made the difficult decision not to include Lanegan's interpretation of Brompton Oratory, even more difficult when I subsequently read Nick Cave's tribute, citing it as his "favorite ever Nick Cave cover".
Hit The City featured in both Swiss Adam's and Jonny's selection, so I've opted for the other song from 2004's Bubblegum to feature a divine duet with PJ Harvey, Come To Me (not a cover of the Björk song).
Mark Lanegan's work with Isobel Campbell inevitably makes several appearances, though only one selection from their three albums. Aside from the aforementioned Who Built The Road and The Breaking Hands, I've included a song from 2004's Time Is Just The Same EP, a solo release credited to simply 'Isobel' and featuring - I'm guessing - her first co-write with Lanegan on the second track. The start of a beautiful partnership.
I've also featured a trio of Soulsavers songs, two of them from the second album, two of them cover versions. The selection closes with No Expectations, a version of The Rolling Stones' 1968 song that sends a shiver down my spine whenever I hear it, and a perfect example of Mark Lanegan's ability to take a song and surpass the original.
I was listening to this selection whilst writing this post and found that I constantly had to stop what I was doing and listen, just listen.
That's the brilliance of Mark Lanegan. Thank you.
1) Black River (Gui Borrato Remix): Bomb The Bass ft. Mark Lanegan (2008)
2) What Goes On (Cover of The Velvet Underground): Screaming Trees (1991)
3) Desire By Blue River: Mark Lanegan & Bertrand Cantat (2014)
4) The Wild People (Alastair Galbraith Remix): Mark Lanegan Band (2015)
5) The Lonely Night (Photek Remix By Rupert Parkes): Moby ft. Mark Lanegan & Mindy Jones (2013)
6) Cold Molly (Roman Remains Remix By The Duke Spirit): Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood (2013)
7) The Breaking Hands (Cover of The Gun Club): Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell (2012)
8) Ghosts Of You And Me: Soulsavers ft. Mark Lanegan (2007)
9) Why Does My Head Hurt So?: Isobel Campbell ft. Mark Lanegan (2004)
10) Close To Me (Cover of The Cure): The Separate ft. Mark Lanegan (2012)
11) You Will Miss Me When I Burn (Cover of Palace Brothers): Soulsavers ft. Mark Lanegan & Rosa Agostino (2009)
12) You Only Live Twice (Cover of Nancy Sinatra): Mark Lanegan (2013)
13) Who Built The Road: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan (2008)
14) Live With Me (Cover of Massive Attack): The Twilight Singers ft. Mark Lanegan (2006)
15) Come To Me: Mark Lanegan Band ft. PJ Harvey (2004)
16) All Misery / Flowers: The Gutter Twins (2008)
17) No Expectations (Cover of The Rolling Stones): Soulsavers ft. Mark Lanegan (2007)
The first record I ever bought by The Jimi Hendrix Experience wasn't Are You Experienced or Electric Ladyland, it wasn't even Smash Hits. Instead, in a branch of WH Smith in suburban Bristol, I bought a copy of the 1989 compilation, Radio One.
I no longer have it, the victim of either a financially-driven cull in the late 90s/early 00s, or one of a number of records either lent, never to be returned. It was a beautiful package, 17-track double gatefold vinyl, with a striking cover shot of Jimi by Mike Polillo and liner notes by Leland Stein. All for the princely sum of £5.99.
The songs are drawn from various BBC Radio One sessions in 1967 and they really are very, very good. With the constraints of the BBC studio, most songs are compact but bursting with energy, really demonstrating how tight the trio of Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell were. I still prefer many of these sessions to the album versions that I subsequently heard.
There are a handful of covers, including rollicking takes on Day Tripper and Hound Dog, as well as an ad-hoc Radio One Theme, and it's all great fun. The selection comes full circle, closing with Hear My Train A Comin', broadcast Christmas Eve, 1967, with additional friends in the studio creating a warm, bluesy vibe.
I originally recorded this circa summer 1990, I'm not sure of the exact date but it looks like it was another of the bunch of tapes that I compiled to go travelling. Hendrix occupied one side, with select cuts from The Rolling Stones (mostly the Rolled Gold compilation and one or two from Exile On Main Street) on the other.
On the original Hendrix, I included a couple of studio tracks: Cross Town Traffic, which had been re-released in April 1990 on the back of a Wrangler jeans ad, though it failed to achieve the same UK success of similarly Levi's-backed retro hits. The 12" single also included Hey Joe, which I remember having to fade out at the end, in order to squeeze 15 songs on a 45-minute cassette side.
For this recreated selection, I've kept the track listing purely to BBC Radio One sessions. Fortunately, the expanded BBC Sessions compilation from 1998 provides three versions of Hey Joe to choose from. Unfortunately, there wasn't a session version of Cross Town Traffic included, so I've swapped it for Little Miss Lover, which originally appeared on second album, Axis: Bold As Love.
1) Spanish Castle Magic (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)
2) Purple Haze (Top Of The Pops, recorded 28 March 1967)
3) Day Tripper (Cover of The Beatles) (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)
4) Radio One Theme (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)
5) Fire (Saturday Club, 01 April 1967)
6) Foxey Lady (Saturday Club, recorded 13 February 1967)
7) Killing Floor (Cover of Howlin' Wolf) (Saturday Club, 01 April 1967)
8) Wait Until Tomorrow (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)
9) Little Miss Lover (Top Gear, 13 October 1967)
10) Love Or Confusion (Saturday Club, 18 February 1967)
11) Stone Free (Saturday Club, 18 February 1967)
12) Hound Dog (Cover of Big Mama Thornton) (Top Gear, 13 October 1967)
13) The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp (Top Gear, 13 October 1967)
14) Hey Joe (Cover of The Leaves) (Saturday Club, 18 February 1967)
15) Hear My Train A Comin' (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)
Except where specified, I've referred to the date the songs were first broadcast.
Is It Tomorrow Or Just The End Of Time? (46:46) (KF) (Mega)
Dusting off more old tunes that haven't popped up on my playlist for a couple of years, predominantly propelling beats with a brief change in pace and (bendy) bass before a rousing run off into the weekend.
My family is sleeping peacefully, Friday is a day off from work and I have a long weekend to look forward. So many do not have that luxury. I continually remind myself how fortunate I am.
Peace be with you all.
1) Going, Going, Gone (Mindwarp Mix By Scott Christian): Information Society (1993)
2) Little Bird (The Brian McCombs Blue Jay Anthem Mix): Annie Lennox (2013)
3) San Francisco (Fred Falke Remix): Citylife ft. DD (2008)
4) The Great Commandment (Acid Commandment Vocal) (Remix By Justin Strauss): Camouflage (1988)
5) Isolation (Time Tunnel Mix By The Grid aka Dave Ball & Richard Norris): Parchman (1993)
6) Hook R: Fortran 5 (1993)
7) Bendy Bass: VCMG (Vince Clarke & Martin Gore) (2012)
Happy birthday to my friend, Shane, and unquestionably the World's Greatest Doctor Who Fan™
Having lit the blue touch paper with that last statement, I'm now going to stand back and distract you with some music. I did a previous birthday mixtape that wove in a number of Doctor Who-related songs and cover versions, but I didn't really feel I'd given it my all on that occasion.
So, here it is, over an hour of Doctor Who music, mostly variations on Ron Grainer's theme tune, taking in electronica, techno, dubstep, glitterbeat, disco, dub, psychedelia and synth pop.
Tom Baker (aka the "Fourth Doctor") kicks off proceedings with links from BBC2's Doctor Who Night in 1999, before launching into the "new" theme tune that heralded the 1980s and the transition from his seven-year tenure to the (then) youngest ever Doctor Who lead, Peter Davison. It also marked the end of Doctor Who on Saturday nights, until the show's resurrection in 2005.
Dalek i was co-founded by Alan Gill, David Hughes & David Balfe in 1977 and continued until the early 1980s, releasing what I think was a posthumous third and final cassette-only album in 1986. Alan Gill is possibly better known for his brief stint with The Teardrop Explodes in 1980-1981, during which he co-wrote the band's biggest hit, Reward, #6 in the UK in January 1981.
I think four-piece band Mankind were hoping to emulate the success of Meco's discofied version of the Star Wars theme in 1977. They didn't quite, but I was surprised to find that the song managed a respectable #25 and 12 weeks on the UK chart in 1977. More than the song perhaps deserved, but a darn sight better than the Who Cares charity single nearly a decade later. Believe me, the 12" version of that one by Ian Levine is even worse, but at least there's an instrumental on the flipside. It may come as a shock to read that Hans Zimmer no longer includes his contribution to this song on his CV.
Pretty much all of the other 1960s and 1970s selections are taken from Who Is Dr. Who, a quirky collection of cash-in singles, including Frazer Hines (aka (time) travelling companion Jamie McCrimmon & Emmerdale stalwart Joe Sugden) singing in character - but without a Scottish accent - such choice lines as
I'm the pride of the Highlands, that's the truth
I do all my travelling in a telephone booth
However, Frazer Hines is outdone by "Third Doctor", Jon Pertwee, who delivers what I can only describe as the full William Shatner on his also in character riff over the Doctor Who theme. The record-buying public were clearly unimpressed by either effort, though Pertwee had his revenge in 1980 by crashing Worzel Gummidge into the UK Top 40.
The Sea Devils are one of the greatest Doctor Who creations ever and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop were at the top of their game, providing some out-there and sphincter-troubling incidental music, this serial no exception. Orbital have made no secret of Doctor Who's influence on their music and Paul Hartnoll went one step further by remixing The Sea Devils theme (first broadcast 26th February 1972, fact fans) in 2013 for the show's 50th anniversary. In a lovely bit of symmetry, The Sea Devils will return at Easter for Jodie Whitaker's penultimate appearance as the "Thirteenth Doctor" and the 50th anniversary of their first appearance.
Orbital also had a go at the Doctor Who theme tune on their 2001 album The Altogether, but I've included a rousing live version from their triumphant return to Glastonbury in 2010, featuring the then-new "Eleventh Doctor", Matt Smith.
If a song's been recorded in any other genre, chances are that there will eventually be a reggae and/or dub version along in due course. Depending on your perspective, this is either generally a good thing or complete horseshit, to be avoided at all costs. First up is Dr. Blue & The Time Travellers put through a dubstep rinse by Skream, followed by Dub Syndicate's 1984 collaboration with another Doctor (Pablo), dovetailing into Bristol's Smerins Anti-Social Club, featuring the late ragga MC Tenor Fly.
There is an actual piece of music from the series itself, a theme for the character Nyssa, who joined at the tail end of Tom Baker's run and continued for most of Peter Davison's. Prior to Doctor Who, Peter Davison was perhaps best known as Tristan Farnon in the popular BBC adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small. For people of a certain age, he'll also be remembered for writing and performing the theme tune to kids' TV series Button Moon. Davison's daughter Georgia Moffett appeared in a 2008 episode of Doctor Who and ended up marrying "Tenth Doctor", David Tennant.
Any self-respecting Who selection should not be without The Timelords' Doctorin' The Tardis, a UK #1 smash in 1988, ironically a year before the TV show was placed on hiatus (bar a TV movie) until 2005. The Timelords consisted of Jimi Cauty (aka Lord Rock aka Rockman Rock) and Bill Drummond (aka Timeboy aka Kingboy D), who were also behind The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu and The KLF. The Timelords' "frontperson" was Ford Timelord, a
talking American police car who provided interviews
on behalf of the band. I've unsurprisingly sidestepped the remixes featuring Gary Glitter, but you get two versions here: a minimal, largely faithful take on the theme tune and the full-on Harry Enfield-aping glam rock stomp of the extended 12" mix.
Tom Baker pops up again to say goodbye, before we end with - what else? - Delia Derbyshire's groundbreaking original arrangement. Nearly 60 years on, it still sounds like nothing else on this world...or any other, for that matter.
This selection's dedicated to Shane, but I hope that there's something here to intrigue or entertain everyone. If not, rest assured that normal service will resume on Friday.
1) "Good evening, I've been expecting you": Tom Baker (1999)
2) Doctor Who Theme: Peter Howell / The BBC Radiophonic Workshop (1980)
3) Dalek I Love You (Destiny): Dalek i (1980)
4) Dr. Who (Full Length Version): Mankind (1978)
5) Dr. Who Dub (Skreamix By Oliver Jones): Dr. Blue & The Time Travellers (2010)
6) Daleks And Thals: Malcolm Lockyer & Orchestra (1965)
7) "Stay where you are!": The Daleks (1964/1965) *
8) Landing Of The Daleks (Uncensored Morse Version): The Earthlings (1965)
9) Doctor ? (Live @ Glastonbury): Orbital ft. Matt Smith (2010)
10) Doctorin' The Tardis (Minimal) (120 BPM): The Timelords (1988)
11) Time Traveller: Frazer Hines (1967)
12) Who Is The Doctor: Jon Pertwee (1972)
13) The Sea Devils (Remix By Paul Hartnoll): Malcolm Clarke / The BBC Radiophonic Workshop (2013)
14) Dr. Who?: Doctor Pablo & The Dub Syndicate (1984)
15) Doctor Who (Version): Smerins Anti-Social Club ft. Tenor Fly (2011)
16) Nyssa's Theme: Roger Limb / The BBC Radiophonic Workshop (1981)
17) Theme From "Button Moon": Peter Davison & Sandra Dickinson (1980)
18) Doctorin' The Tardis (Extended): The Timelords (1988)
19) "I really should get a watch": Tom Baker (1999)
20) Doctor Who (Original Theme): Delia Derbyshire / BBC Radiophonic Workshop (1963)
* In addition to "Exterminate!", *You will obey!" and "We are superior beings!", Daleks like to say "Stay where you are!". A lot.
Not to celebrate the fact as such and, in typically contrary fashion, I'm a day late (although I did compile the selection on the actual day), but Daft Punk decided to exit in characteristically grand style one year ago. On 22nd February 2021, their official YouTube channel published an 8-minute video, Epilogue, a wordless, visually brilliant announcement of Daft Punk's demise, with De Homen-Cristo's robot activating Bangalter's robot's self-destruct to explosive effect. The legend "1993-2021" appears on screen before a musical, well, epilogue with the vocal refrain,
"Hold on...if love is the answer, you're home"
I don't own a single Daft Punk album - and I probably need to do something about that - but I have quite a few of their singles and remixes, which inform today's selection; 10 tracks in just under an hour. A truly unique duo, hugely successful and influential and yet, to the general, global public, unrecognisable behind their robotic faces.
I visited Stroud Library in Gloucestershire on Monday. There was an A-board in the entrance, with a poster advertising an event that partially obscured the (at the time) current Covid-related guidance about wearing face coverings indoors. The slightly truncated phrase seemed perfectly aligned with a post on Daft Punk. I love that life brings these little moments of serendipity.
1) Something About Us (Adithya Remix) (2021)
2) Revolution 909 (Radio Edit) (1996)
3) Da Funk (Serge Santiago Unreleased Live Mix) (2012)
4) Technologic (Le Knight Club Remix By Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo & Eric Chedeville) (2005)
5) Face To Face (Night Drugs Rework) (ft. Todd Edwards) (2009)
6) Human After All (Emperor Machine Version By Andy Meecham) (2005)
7) Around The World (Daft Punk Edit) (1996)
8) Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (The Neptunes Remix Edit By Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo) (2001)
9) Get Lucky (Daft Punk Remix) (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) (2013)
On a sadder note, I was completing this post when the news broke of Mark Lanegan's passing, aged 57. I did briefly considering replacing this post with an ad-hoc tribute, but I knew I wouldn't do it justice. Watch this space, but in the meantime here's John Robb remembering Mark Lanegan on Louder Than War.
France meets Italy in a full on rap soundclash on Mr. Oizo & Phra's new album, Voilá, released last Friday (18th).
Mr. Oizo aka Quentin Dupieux is still considered a one-hit wonder in the UK, thanks to his ubiquitous 1999 hit (and Levi's ad), Flat Beat. Interestingly, the Official Charts Company lists the same release twice, so it has the strange distinction of spending both one and nineteen weeks in the UK singles chart, peaking at #98 and #1 respectively. Some achievement.
Phra is perhaps better known as Francesco Barbaglia, initially one half of DJ/producer duo Crookers, but running solo since 2012. Having previously collaborated with Mr. Oizo on tracks in 2016 and 2019 this is (I think) their first album-length collaboration, and an absolute corker it is too.
When I say "album-length", in truth it extremely short: the nine tracks are bolstered on the vinyl and digital formats by an instrumental version; all eighteen tracks still come in under 40 minutes, only one pushes over the three minute mark.
Tucked away in the middle is a cover version of Nelly's 2002 smash, Hot In Herre, re-titled Hot In Her for this album. I love the original song, although my presiding memory of Nelly is that my wife and I used to find him uncontrollably hilarious whenever he appeared on the screen and this video for this song was no exception. Don't get me wrong, Nelly wasn't intentionally a comedy act, but there was something that used to make us laugh, time and time again. Maybe it was the overly earnest swagger, maybe it was the trademark plaster (maybe he just really couldn't shave), maybe it was the reliably clichéd "cars and girls" videos. All I can say is that tears of laughter would generally ensue whenever Nelly rolled into view.
The song, ignoring some of the equally clichéd lyrics, is fantastic though. Canadian DJ/producer Tiga Sontag clearly thought so too, when he covered the song for his 2002 DJ-Kicks compilation. The track was subsequently released in September 2003, just over a year on from Nelly's original. The latter had peaked at #4, one of Nelly's biggest hits, and I was surprised to find that Tiga's version - featuring Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears and remixes from Richard X & Radio Slave - managed a respectable #46.
I don't think Mr. Oizo & Phra's version can expect the same chart success, twenty years on, but I would recommend the album. You can buy the digital version on Bandcamp; vinyl has already sold out, though you will find copies via Discogs and other retail outlets.
Side 2 of a mixtape, originally compiled 2nd September 1990. I posted Side 1 in August last year and I hadn't intended to leave it quite so long to follow up with Side 2. However, after a weekend of being shaken, rattled and rolled by Storm Eunice (Saturday and Sunday were far worse than Friday) and the prospect of Storm Frederick landing overnight, then it's time to fight back with Boston's finest...and no, of course I don't mean Boston the band.
Similar to yesterday's spotlight on The Sugarcubes, at the time this C90 was compiled, Pixies still had one more album to go, with 1991's Trompe Le Monde, before they split. Unlike The Sugarcubes, Pixies reconvened as a regular live concern and, twenty three years after that last album, released a new one, 2014's Indie Cindy.
Unfortunately, by the time of the studio recordings, Kim Deal had left the band and, whilst good, 21st Century Pixies are a different proposition to the original version that emerged in the late 1980s.
So here then is a second slab of sonic perfection, drawn from Come On Pilgrim (1987), Surfer Rosa (1988), Doolittle (1989) and Bossanova (1990), plus an excellent track from 1989's Monkey Gone To Heaven EP. All tracks are the album versions, unless stated. If I'd been more prescient all those years ago, I may have included Stormy Weather...
As Black Francis screams in Manta Ray, awwllllll-right!
Time for The Sugarcubes, taken from Side 1 of a mixtape I recorded on 14th September 1991. I'm not sure what was originally on Side 2, but it was replaced (or re-compiled) nearly a year later and features Lush.
The Sugarcubes' third and final album, Stick Around For Joy, was released in the summer of 1992, so this selection focuses on the first two albums and accompanying 12" singles. I didn't have the original 12" of Birthday, but the "Christmas" re-release in 1988, featuring new remixes by The Jesus & Mary Chain. Many of the songs featured here would subsequently also be remixed for the 1992 compilation, It's-It.
Listening to the songs again, it's easy to understand why I loved - and still love - The Sugarcubes so much. They weren't like anything else I'd ever heard before and there was an irreverence and spikiness that I found greatly appealing. Björk is of course an amazing front person, but I really liked Einar Örn's... well, I going to say 'counterpoint', which is not really it at all. He seemed too often derided or dismissed by the music press, which is a bit unfair: The Sugarcubes were what they were because of the dynamic between the two and a key reason why I liked them so much.
The music itself is a joy, with lots of quirky motifs that nod to but never mimic other bands. Whilst they may not have had great commercial success, they showcased the brilliant musical talent emerging from Iceland. As a family, we were lucky enough to visit Iceland in 2016 and the island and it's music have remained a source of wonder and fascination since. And it all started here.
1) Dragon (Icelandic) (1988)
2) Water (Album Version) (1989)
3) Bee (1989)
4) Motorcrash (Album Version) (1988)
5) Cowboy (Single Version) (1988)
6) Pump (Album Version) (1989)
7) Christmas Day (Birthday) (Remix By The Jesus & Mary Chain) (1988)
8) Traitor (Icelandic) (1988)
9) Dream TV (Album Version) (1989)
10) Speed Is The Key (Album Version) (1989)
11) Blue-Eyed Pop (Album Version) (1988)
12) Deus (10" Remix By Derek Birkett & Ray Shulman) (1988)
13) Mama (Album Version) (1988)
14) Somersault Version (Planet) (Remix By Derek Birkett & The Sugarcubes) (1990)
1988: Birthday EP: 7
1988: Coldsweat EP: 1, 8
1988: Deus EP: 5, 12
1988: Life's Too Good: 4, 11, 13
1989: Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!: 2, 3, 6, 9, 10
Storm Eunice was fairly gentle with us: a couple of smashed windows and a strip of roofing ripped off of the shed and that was pretty much it. The Saturday morning sky promises a calmer day, and although the wind and rain will be back in force later, hopefully nothing like yesterday.
To capture this moment of serenity, today's selection gathers up some healing and uplifting tunes from the past couple of years. I raved about Jezebell's new one on Monday and Little Dragon's latest EP in January. I subscribed to The Future Sound Of London's digital calendar again this year and include their first offering for 2022.
On the last day of 2021, Dave Allen's new project Uptick released the marvelous Universe, with a typically fantastic remix from 10:40 aka Jesse Fahnestock, bringing Bolton & Stockholm together in a stupendous soundclash. Available as a free download on Soundcloud.
Thanks also to blogging legends The Vinyl Villain and Bagging Area for the nods to Mogwai, GCOM (aka Tom Middleton) and Hypernatural (including Cut Copy's Dan Whitford). The selection closes with Mildlife, hailing (like Hypernatural) from Melbourne and bringing some welcome Antipodean sunshine to dispel the stormclouds.
1) Drifting Out (Version): Little Dragon ft. Jakob Koranyi & Yo-Yo Ma (2021)
2) Beyond The Milky Way (Edit): GCOM (2021)
3) Jezebelle Et Moi (Original Widescreen Version) (Cover of Max Berlin's): Jezebell (2022)
4) Opk Machines Trx M2: The Future Sound Of London (2022)
5) Ritchie Sacramento (Other Two Remix By Gillian Gilbert & Stephen Morris): Mogwai (2021)
6) Universe (10:40's Dark Matter Mix By Jesse Fahnestock): Uptick (2021)
I've still got my copy of The The's stunning Infected: The Movie on VHS tape, but it's been many many years since I've actually been able to play the thing. Legal and licensing entanglements mean that a DVD or digital release is unlikely in the near future, but a lucky few (sadly not including me) did get to see it on the big screen back in 2016 with a 30th anniversary screening at London’s ICA. A short but fascinating documentary about the film was unexpectedly released on The The's official website on Valentine's Day.
I remember seeing the Infected: The Movie's TV premiere on Channel 4 in December 1986. I'd bought Infected (on vinyl, with limited edition 'torture' sleeve) the month before and I became obsessed with the album. Experiencing the videos took the songs - and Infected as a whole - to another level.
The album and the film closes with The Mercy Beat, filmed in Iquitos, Peru and La Paz in Bolivia. Directed by Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson, it's an incredible visual imagining of Matt Johnson's lyrics and music, including some tense on-the-fly scenes filmed during a political rally. Johnson later recalled the filming of scenes in the midst of the crowd:
"Someone produced a snake which I was grappling with, and I hate
snakes. A monkey bit me, and then me and this guy, who I'd only just
met, cut each other and we became blood brothers, rubbing blood over
each other's face, stuff like that."
Whilst filming in the Amazon jungle, Johnson's drug experience was further expanded by an introduction to hallucinogenic concoctions used by the indigenous tribes. This dislocated, out of body experience permeates the entire video album and The Mercy Beat brilliantly captures this.
In lieu of a re-release, you can currently piece together Infected: The Movie via various sources on YouTube and I'll possibly revisit the entire album in a future post. In the meantime, I'm pulling out the old vinyl - now crackly and in a cat-scratched sleeve - for an airing this weekend. There's a high wind blowing...
There's a high wind blowing and the stars are shining bright Oh what a night, this is gonna be I think I'll let the world sleep without me I got one eye open, one eye closed
And my thin body's trembling beneath the bedclothes My hearts beating against the roof of my mouth
It's almost time to get out of this house
I got one hand on the radio, one hand on the wheel I got my right foot on the floorboard
I'm preparing to kill or be killed
There's a high wind blowing and the stars are shining bright
And the rain upon the tarmac
Helps me sail through the traffic lights I'm heading down to the dock of the bay
To feel the power of the waves I'm gonna move up close to that wind
And wrestle with the thoughts solitude always brings
You see, I'm stuck between hell and the deep blue sea
And I know that water's sucked under better men than me I was just another western guy
With desires that couldn't be satisfied
One day, I asked the angels for inspiration
But the devil bought me a drink
And he's been buying them ever since
He's had the liquor on my tongue
Feel like the sea upon the sand He's had me signing confessions
Feom this shaking hand, He's had me struggling to hang onto hope
Like a drunken sailor in a tugboat With a bottle of vodka in my overcoat
And my dog eared bible lost--overboard
You see he tricked me into temptation
So I've tricked him into this confrontation I never said I was the man I appeared to be Not the flesh wrapped around the bones of necessity Or the soul on fire, scribbling thoughts for posterity I'm gonna have little Lucifer, running off to Purgatory
With his tail between his legs I'm gonna teach him a lesson
He ain't ever gonna forget
All the vultures & crows are fixing up some tombstones But they won't be chewing the meat off my bones
There's a high wind blowing and the stars are shining bright Me and him are gonna have a little knife fight
In the bowels of the big city skyline Oh, this feeling inside runs dark and deep
Tonight my hearts not thumping
...A Mercy Beat
I was just another western guy With desires that couldn't be satisfied
