Showgaze Artifacts

This is the house directly opposite Casa K, ablaze with festive cheer, morning, noon and night (yes, it really is on 24/7). This set up has been in place since before the clocks went back, so if you're not feeling the festive cheer by now you must be a real Grinch, right? 

 

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that the main power cable is feeding through an open bedroom window on the right, so this family have been prepared to suffer some bloody cold nights for their art. Either that, or it's Santa's contigency plan given that they don't have a working chimney....

 

This time of year invariably has me thinking of (and wishing for) sunnier climes. I have managed to spend previous Christmas and New Year celebrations in Australia, Bali and the Canary Islands, the latter including Christmas 2019, little suspecting what was around the corner. However, no such plans for 2023: Clan K will be hosting at Casa K; I have one more week at work, then I won't be back there again until 2024. I cannot wait.

Whilst I may not be physically travelling south, there's plenty of music that will transport me there, not least the rather wonderful remix companion to Jazxing's debut album Pearls Of The Baltic Sea, which came out at the tail end of October. 

 

It's on the Higher Love Recordings label, so you know from the outset that you're in for a Balearic beauty and this doesn't disappoint. Mirroring the original album's sequencing, things get off to a superb start with Danilo Braca's nearly 13-minute rework of Fala. Gulls, lapping water, soothing wordless 'ooohs', saxophone and a steady, insistent beat that gently carries you forward.

 

I've selected four samples below, the opening track plus remixes by Andres y Xavi (like a lost Beth Orton backing track featuring Jah Wobble), Balearic Ultras (dialogue and synth stabs and washes in perfect harmony) and closing with Coyote (you know what to expect from this duo and you won't be disappointed). 

 

But really, it's so much more than just a remix album, it's a cohesive, considered reworking, each element working together beautifully and creating an album that's every bit as rewarding as the original.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pearls Of The Baltic Sea was originally released in September 2022 and is available to buy here. And if you're looking for further gift ideas for the one you love - even if that's yourself - then you can do no wrong by checking out the rest of the Higher Love Recordings catalogue.

 

I'd originally planned today's post to focus on film director Rob Reiner, seemingly another loss in a couple of weeks of almost-daily reports of celebrity deaths. It turns out that it was all a hoax perpetrated on Elon's social media shitshow. Ol' Musky really should have rebranded Twitter as Shitter, as that would be a more accurate description of it's current state.

 

Anyhoo, I was already some way into pulling together a Dubhed selection and it seems a waste not to finish the job and post it. No spoilers to say that if you come back tomorrow, in complete contrast to today's post, you'll get some musical nuggets with - what else? - a liberal helping of Spinal Tap.