Trans Global Expression

TRANSA is the latest release from the Red Hot Organisation and it's huge: 46 songs, over 100 artists and nearly four hours in total, available as a digital download, 6 vinyl LPs or 5-track single album.

"Spotlighting the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today" (as the promo blurb), it's no faint claim and the list of collaborations is compelling.

I've only just bought it, so I'm nowhere near all the way through - come on, Andre 3000's contribution alone is over 26 minutes long! - but I have cherry picked a few songs that I was immediately drawn to, creating a more digestible 30-odd minute selection to whet your appetite.

 

An awesome undertaking that so far has delivered and then some. Take a chance.

1) Something Is Happening And I May Not Fully Understand But I'm Happy To Stand For The Understanding (Awakening) (Intro): Andre 3000

2) How Sweet I Roamed: Jeff Tweedy + Claire Rousay

3) Feel So Different: Sharon Van Etten + Ezra Furman

4) Feel Better: Adrianne Lenker

5) Deeper Understanding: Hand Habits + Bill Callahan

6) Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying: Julien Baker + Calvin Lauber ft. SOAK & Quinn Christopherson

7) Point Of Disgust: Perfume Genius + Alan Sparhawk

8) Young Lion: Sade

9) Something Is Happening And I May Not Fully Understand But I'm Happy To Stand For The Understanding (Awakening) (Outro): Andre 3000

 

Trans Global Expression (33:05) (KF) (Mega)

Songs For A Friend I've Never Met

Sending love, strength and best wishes.

1) Pray For Me (Acts Of Faith: Act 9, Part 1): SAULT

2) Hello My Friends (Part 2): Hardway Bros ft. Roses Sabra

3) Joyness Magnificent (We'll Find The Light Together) (Live): 100 Poems

4) Loved: Four Tet

5) Pass A Wish (Single Version): Pandit Pam Pam

6) Lovely Day (Cover of Bill Withers): Pepe Link

7) Moving Forward (Cosmodelica Remix - Full Length): Bryony Jarman-Pinto

Songs For A Friend I've Never Met (37:25) (KF) (Mega)

Stocking Fillers? Or Floor Fillers?

Or both? Another bag full of Bandcamp boogie and beats that will give Santa's sack a run for its money.

 

After featuring Charlotte & Reinhard in yesterday's selection, it's back to their day job with Rheinzand for the first goody, the 'Sonic Refurbished' version of their album Atlantis Atlantis which proved to be a summer highlight. 

 

Pete Blaker's 'remixes' of Facciamo L'Amore and Ibiza Macht Frei had been released as standalone singles in 2023, and they both appear here alongside four other extended reworks. This is no mere 'remix' album though, as indicated by the fact that Blaker receives an artist co-credit with Rheinzand.

Pete got the band back into the studio to record new vocal and instrumental elements, which were dubbed and layered to create a fresh incarnation of each song. The shortest song on the album is eight and a half minutes, the longest - a version of Level 42's 1981 hit Love Games - nearly twelve and a half. 

The Gift Of Love is nearly twice the length of the Atlantis Atlantis original, retaining the former's languid melody, adding some bass from the bottom of the ocean and taking the listener on an even deeper dive.

 

From Pete Blaker to Pete Bones, here as The Shaker with the excellent 3-track single You Ain't Seen Me from April. I previously featured the Black Octopus remix, so I've gone for Serge Santiago this time, a heady mix of samples, synth stabs and fat beats dragging you back to the late 80s like the party never ended. All three recommended, to be honest.

 

Greendoxyn is Alen Delon (or Alen Ari, according to other t'internet sources) from Kazakhstan. I'd not heard any of his music or remixes before but the Roaming EP was released on the excellent Nein Records, which was good enough for me to take a punt. I did not regret it. 

Three tracks, Roaming, Closed Gamer and The Shark, with a remix of the latter by Elninodiablo aka Stephanos Pantelas. Titled the Close Encounter Remix, which immediately calls to mind a John Williams film score, with a title like The Shark, there is inevitably a nod to his earlier classic, Jaws. Nein were so impressed that the remix is also included on their Best Of 2024 compilation.

 

Portland, Oregon-based label Boomarm Nation released Family Album 2024 on January 1st, the fourth such compilation but the first since 2018. Again, another punt on a label and artists that I was mostly unfamiliar with, on the strength on the sole contributor that I had heard of, StinkyJim. His offering Lie In King, is a dubby, bubbly warm hug of a song and worth the price of admission alone.

Jim's in good company, as evidenced by the bass-heavy, dub colossus that is the 10-minute extended version of Ancient Atoll by Ulrich Troyer. Nineteen tracks in all, available as a name your price download. I mean, why wouldn't you?

 

Returning to planet Nein, and Walentin Pauer. What can I tell you about Walentin? Well, he's based in Bucharest...and that's about all I've got. July saw a 4-track single featuring Maat Mons and Voyager III, with a remix apiece by Stockholm Syndrome (Iain Mac, Australia) and From Beyond aka Alex Wastnidge, England). Here's the latter.

 

Getting down to the indie disco with Spare Snare, who handed their excellent album The Brutal over to other artists, resulting in the rather wonderful Mix Up, out in November. And what better way to kick of than with HiFi Sean's superb Echoplex Dub of I Have You? The bar is set high and maintained throughout.  

 

 

I've been subscribing to Richard Norris' Bandcamp for a few years now and the amount of music that's come my has been staggering, with 2024 being an especially fertile year. An almost impossible task to pick just one, the quality being so high, but I've gone with April's standalone single Weatherall's Last Stand, simply because it's a beautiful tribute to a much missed collaborator and friend.

 

Given the season, a reminder that Paisley Dark Records released the superb compilation Shelter Me - In Crisis in April. Eighteen tracks by top notch artists such as Al Mackenzie, Duncan Gray, Jezebell and Zillas On Acid, all for fifteen quid. All proceeds go directly to the account of UK based homelessness charity, Crisis. 

Again, a tough one to pick from, as they're all so good, so I've taken the easy option by choosing A Space Age Freak Out aka Paisley Dark Records co-founder John Paynter. His contribution Song Of Siraba is remixed in full effect by Mindbender aka Mårten Attling. Buy the whole album now!

  

Seven Sleeps To Go

Never one to shy away from shoehorning in a theme, however tenuous the link, here are some 2024 releases relating to sleep.

Peirons has remixed Eels' 2004 song I Need Some Sleep, mashing it with a video edit of Steve Cutts' 2017 animated short Happiness (you can see the original version here), adding some Italian rapping (presumably his own) over the top. I love it all.

There was a time when I would buy anything that had Moby's name on, whether his own albums or singles, or his remixes for everyone from The B-52's to Metallica, Aerosmith to O.M.D. That time is long past, but I do occasionally dip into his new releases.

Moby's umpteenth album, Always Centered At Night, came out in June. I referenced it in a post about lead-in single Dark Days back in March...and then it completely passed me by. 

An album of remixes - 58 of them! - has emerged this month, good value at $25 but again not on my essential purchase list. However, Prins Thomas offers up a couple of remixes of Should Sleep which I was immediately drawn to.

The 5-minute Diskomix appeared on a previous single release, but this is the first time I've heard the 9-minute Extended Mix and it's the pick of the two for me. Both feature J.P. Bimeni's vocals left pretty much intact and used to great effect. 

Several tracks from Kito Jempere aka Kirill Sergeev's Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness have featured in previous posts and selections. The album has marked an evolution in the Russian's musical journey, moving away from the house music that established him into a much broader span of styles and genres. Sleeping With The TV On is more of a jump than a (quantum) leap, but it's an intriguing 4 minutes of samples and beats.

Branching out from Rheinzand, hubby and wife duo Charlotte & Reinhard dropped the Guardian Of Sleep EP as a prescursor to a full length album. Sensuous, sexy disco... it ticks all the boxes.

 

Sensuous, sexy disco is not a phrase that you would use to describe a song by Field Music and I'm not about to start now. However, they've got a song called The Guardian Of Sleep which appeared on their latest album Levels Of Language in October. And it's one of their funkier ones, for sure. That bassline!

 

Another artist that I've revisited this year via a new album is Denmark's finest, Hess Is More. The album CÆKE is a sparse, minmalist treat, packed with melodies and nonchalant vocals, and Are You Sleeping is a prime example. Difficult to resist humming or whistling along to any of these, which is recommendation enough, surely?

But for those of you who can't sleep, rest assured that pretty much every week of the year, some have-a-go, would-be superstar DJ will post yet another remix of Insomnia by Faithless.

December's offering is by DJ Coruja from Brazil. Whereas most contemporary remixers seem obsessed with upping the BPMs, dropping 'mad' breaks and adding far too many bells, whistles and parps than the brain can hope to process, this one happily goes the other way. 

Lifting an electro rhythm - I'd like to say with confidence that it's Scorpio by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, but I'm not sure - the rest is positively restrained and, better still, complements Maxi Jazz's sublime vocal delivery throughout. At 11 minutes, it's more than a match for the original version and might be a tad too long, but it's head and shoulders above any of the other efforts that I've heard this year.

So Tired Of Hearing These Awful Christmas Songs

So says Richard Dawson on Boxing Day Sales, released just in time for Christmas and in advance of new album End Of The Middle in February. There's even a fun video to boot, with Richard doing his best impression of Kim Cattrall in Mannequin.

Here are half a dozen other festive offerings, fresh for 2024. Whilst unlikely to bother Wham! and Mariah in the race for Christmas Number One, all are worth a listen. And if I get around to doing another Bad Santa selection this year, then at least a couple of these will probably make the cut.

Disappearing Christmas / Empty Nester: The Disappearing

Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight​)​ (Cover of Ramones): Mattiel

This Wintertime / Purple Snowflakes (cover of Marvin Gaye): Say She She

Last Minute Christmas List / Shirley Hughes Christmas: Neil Brogan

White Christmas (cover of Bing Crosby) / Silence Night: Laibach & Silence

Merry Wiffmas! EP: Skeewiff (remixes of festive fare by José Feliciano, The Harvey Averne Band and more, available as a name your price / free download)

 

 

 

 

King Of The Flies

The music of Catching Flies aka George King was another unexpected and very welcome birthday gift last week. Yes, I know I said I'd stop banging on about my bleeding birthday, but...!

 

I look forward to the No Badger Required Tracks And Album Of The Year countdown with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Excitement because I know that there will be a majority of artists and songs featured that I've either not yet to got around to hearing or that I've never heard of, full stop. Trepidation because I know that I'll end up spending a load of money on music that I should otherwise be setting aside for the festive period. 

Happily, I think I've found the perfect balance between adding to my music collection without compromising on a quality Christmas dinner at Casa K this year.

On 11th December, SWC had reached #9 in the countdown. I won't spoil the album reveal, but the track was Tides by Catching Flies. You know the feeling when you hear something for the first time and you're torn between wanting to go back and play it again and again and again, or immediately looking for anything else that the artist has released and listening to it?

I did a lot of the former and then moved swiftly to the latter at the weekend. And the rewards are rich. In 2024 alone, George has released - deep breath - an album (also called Tides), a remix companion called [Reworks], an EP of versions with strings called, you guessed it, [Strings], a standalone single called WORRY. the first single from the second album (Ojai). 

Oh, and George has also found time to deliver a stunning 2-hour BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix. An extract, featuring a blend of Flutter by Bonobo and Fruits Of The Spirit by Jay Electronica has been posted separately and heads up today's post.

The latter is Catching Flies' trademark. Elsewhere in the mix, you'll find Chick Corea performing with MJ Cole. On Remixes, a collection of Catching Flies reworks of other artists released in January (which I forgot to add to the above list!), there's a truly astonishing remix of a Billy Fury single from 1960. Listen to this...

...and then the original. Wow.

 

I've cherry picked tracks from each of Catching Flies' releases this year, with the relevant health warning that you will be clicking on that online payment, with a basket full of goodies, before you know what's happening.

 

Worth every second of every song. 

 

Beats & PIeces, the second Catching Flies album, is out in April 2025 and available as a digital pre-order right now for a fiver.

 

Much love and respect to SWC for some stunning suggestions ...but can my bank balance withstand the remainder of the countdown...?!

 

 

 

 

 
 

And if you've made it this far, having overcome your initial disappointment that the post wasn't about the titular song by Fad Gadget, here's your reward.

A Song For You

Another selection of 2024 highlights, the theme being names in song titles.

 

Many of the usual suspects - Barry Adamson, Momus, Julian Cope, HANN - and a couple appearing here for the first time, with 100 Poems (aka Mike Wilson) and Mat Ducasse (best known to me for his work with Skylab). 

 

A Man Called Adam originally released Estelle in 1998 and it reappeared again this year with some new versions and contemporary remixes that had been gathering dust in a box for decades. I've included the traditional 7" version here, a reminder of summers past and the summer that never quite materialised here in 2024.

Another 'comeback' of sorts was China Crisis, who revisited their back catalogue with lush orchestral arrangements, a common practice these days perhaps, but not always successful. No such worry here though, China Greatness is a delight. A second CD supplied alternative mixes of the album tracks, including Christian, which closes today's selection.

I'll be coming back to some of the artists featured here over the next week, to wax lyrical about their respective albums. Gosh, it's been a good year, musically speaking.

 

1) Amen White Jesus: Barry Adamson (Cut To Black)

2) Trump: Momus (20 Frisky Whiskies)

3) Iris: Future Islands (People Who Aren’t There Anymore)

4) Estelle (7 Inch Edit): A Man Called Adam (Estelle EP)

5) Four Jehovahs In A Volvo Estate: Julian Cope (Friar Tuck)

6) Song For Claire (Your Life Is Your Life) (Album Version): 100 Poems (Balearic As A System Of Belief)

7) Rebecca's Desk: Xan Tyler (Holding Up Half The Sky)

8) Reka: Kito Jempere ft. Moral Kiosk & LINAMARI (Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness)

9) Steve: Billy Reeves (Steve (A Weekend In Egham, 1996))

10) This Is Liam: HANN (Forever In A Glance)

11) Song For David (Single Version): Mat Ducasse (Song For David EP)

12) Christian (WW1 Mix): China Crisis (China Greatness)

A Song For You (47:30) (KF) (Mega)

In Every Dream Holmes A Heartache

2024 has been quite the year for David Holmes, hasn't it?

Blind On A Galloping Horse, Holmes' album with Raven Violet and a highlight of last year, enjoyed a truckload of remixes over three companion volumes this year, all of them essential purchases. 

David was also busy remixing and producing other artists, and whilst I may wait until Primal Scream's latest effort ends up in the bargain bins, I was otherwise snapping up the various EPs and singles as soon as they dropped.

All of which has resulted in a '2024 highlights' selection today that focuses solely on David Holmes. Six remixes, forty five minutes, electronica with pure heart(ache) and soul. And I didn't even include this stone cold classic remix/rework/mash-up/call-it-what-you-will of an already classic tune.

Things get off to a heavy start with Theis Thaws, an intriguing collaboration between Mike Theis and Tricky, featuring Rosa Rocca-Serra. There's a three-minute version of this remix on the standard digital release, this one gets to Fly To Ceiling and out the skylight and up to the sky, stretching its wings for nearly eight minutes.

As Ammonite, Amy Spencer delivered a remix of Emotionally Clear for Blind On A Galloping Horse (Remixes Vol. 2) back in March. David repaid the favour with a rework of You Don't Know Me for Blueprints Revisited, an EP of remixes from Ammonite's debut album, which appeared in September. Only the latter appears in today's selection, but you need both of them in your life, believe me.

Two alternative picks from the Blind On A Galloping Horse remix collections. First up, X-Press 2 aka Rocky & Diesel aka Darren House and Darren Rock, with an instrumental remix of Yeah x 3 (with apologies to Raven Violet, the vocal version was released in 2023). It's a welcome reminder of why I fell in love with X-Press 2 in the 1990s. 

Smagghe & Cross are a relatively newer partnership. I'm familiar with Ivan Smagghe from his previous work, especially as a co-founder of Black Strobe. I didn't know anything about Rupert Cross, but the few Smagghe And Cross remixes I've heard have been really good, including this version of Too Muchroom, which features Raven Violet's vocals to stunning effect.

I've featured Sylvia by Lisa Moorish in a couple of previous 2024 selections, both the album version and David Holmes' vocal remix. As Peter Murphy from Bauhaus once sang, now here's the dub. One of my favourite songs of the year, in any version.

As is Aerodromes by Acid Klaus, whose P.T.S.D By Proxy EP is a treat from start to finish, featuring the various vocal talents of Philly Piper (Philly Smith to her family), Lias Saoudi, Cat Rin (Catrin Mair Robinson), Rosey PM and Maxine Peake. 

 

The single version of Aerodromes appeared on the same highlights selection as the album version of Sylvia last week, so here are Lisa Moorish and Acid Klaus reunited again today, this time given the David Holmes treatment. 

This is the second appearance of Aerodromes (David Holmes Remix), previously sitting in the middle of another 2024 highlights selection, barely a month ago. No apologies for this, it's a truly stunning eight minute masterclass in the art of the remix.

I have loved David Holmes' music since I first heard over three decades ago. 2024 has proven time and again why he remains an unstoppable force of nature, continually questing, inviting and thrilling with his work. And if you think that's mere hyperbole, stick this on for three quarters of an hour.

 

1) Fly To Ceiling (David Holmes Extended Remix): Theis Thaws ft. Rosa Rocca-Serra (Fly To Ceiling EP)

2) You Don't Know Me (David Holmes Remix): Ammonite (Blueprints Revisited EP)

3) Yeah x 3 (X-Press 2 Remix - Instrumental By Darren House & Darren Rock): David Holmes (Blind On A Galloping Horse (Remixes Vol. 2))

4) Sylvia (David Holmes Dub): Lisa Moorish (Sylvia EP / Divine Chaos (The Remixes))

5) Too Muchroom (Smagghe And Cross Remix By Ivan Smagghe & Rupert Cross): David Holmes ft. Raven Violet (Blind On A Galloping Horse (Remixes Vol. 3))

6) Aerodromes (David Holmes Remix): Acid Klaus ft. Philly Piper (P.T.S.D By Proxy EP)

In Every Dream Holmes A Heartache (45:32) (KF) (Mega)

That Ol' Magic Is Back

This came out a couple of weeks ago, an excellent ARTE Concert performance from Róisín Murphy.

Forty eight minutes of irresistible grooves, costume changes and Ms, Murphy in fine voice. The crowd is a strange mix of those completely lost in music to the seemingly indifferent to those with big smiles on their faces to the sadly all-too-common gig percentage who appear to watching the entire set through their smartphone viewer.

Songs are mostly drawn from Hit Parade (2023) and Róisín Machine (2020), plus the title track from Overpowered (2007) and, inevitably, Sing it Back, originally a flop for Moloko in 1998 before Boris Dlugosch's remix took it into the stratosphere the following year.

If you've had a challenging, tiring day, week or month, a measure of Murphy should restore your pep, your vim, your vigour and recharge your general feelgood. A living legend.

00:10    Simulation 06:07    Overpowered 12:15     CooCool 17:05    The Universe 21:45     Incapable 30:34    Sing it Back 36:20    Murphy’s Law 40:18    You Knew

Those Who Put Others Ahead Of Themselves

A Certain Ratio? A Christmas song? On my birthday?

Yes, I know I promised no shameless self-promotion today, but I wanted to say a big thank you for all the lovely messages yesterday. I had a lovely evening at Casa K and an especially lovely bonus was a brand new release from A Certain Ratio on my birthday. What could be better?

It wasn't a complete surprise, I'd had advance warning the previous month from ACR's promo mailing list, as follows:

 

Did someone say Christmas?

Yes, we too roll our eyes when we walk into the supermarket 

and see mince pies for sale in November, 

so yes it is too early to be releasing a Christmas single, 

but a Christmas single we have. 

 
Who would have thought it, 

ACR does Christmas.

 
Here is our new EP, 

another ACR surprise for 2024. T

he EP is called Christmasville UK 

and is released on December 11th. 

 

Only 500 have been pressed.

it features 3 remixes by old pals Jane Weaver & Emperor Machine 

and new pals Jezebell, 

who have all remixed tracks from It All Comes Down to This.

 
Plus the brand new track Now and Laughter, 

but we’ll tell you more about that in December.

 

The 12" vinyl sold out in no time, but I ordered the digital EP last Bandcamp Friday and the full gift was delivered and 'unwrapped' yesterday. An official video was released the day before for Now And Laughter.

What can I say? Very much in the vein of It All Comes Down to This, but Christmassy. But without jingle bells on top to gild the lily, as it were.

 

To these ears, there's a very slight relation in the chord sequence to The Pretenders' 2000 Miles, albeit in different key, with different instruments and a rumbling, almost menacing bass and fuzzy undercurrent, so this is a tenuous description to say the least! I'm trying to say it's great and very pleasing to the ears, in other words!

Now And Laughter is "dedicated to workers at the NHS, homeless charities, mental health crisis centres, care homes and all the people who give up their time to help the sick and homeless in our towns and cities" and this is reflected in the heartfelt lyrics. 

 

They also reference Christmas throughout, so the song has been automatically added to the Casa K Christmas playlist for repeated airings over the next few weeks.

 

The three remixes are no mere stocking fillers either, as the list of names above should have indicated. 

 

Jane Weaver turns Where You Coming From into a pulsating, electro earworm, all descending chords and spaced out backing vocals underpinning Jez's vocals.  

Andy Meecham aka The Emperor Machine delivers nearly nine minutes of irresistible body jerking disco funk with his rework of Out From Under, taking ACR back to 1982 and snapping them back like a rubber band into 2024. Placed in any decade, it sounds fantastic. 

The final and bonus birthday delight is the inclusion of long-time Dubhed favourites, the mighty Jezebell aka Jesse Fahnestock and Darren Bell. The dynamic duo put We All Need into the Jezebellearic blender and put the setting on 'pulse'. 

Here's what Jesse and Darren had to say about it:

 

"We've been awfully busy with remix work this year ... 

but when true pioneers come knocking, 

you answer the door. 

 

Chance has brought 

Manchester post-punk/dance legends A Certain Ratio 

and Jezebell together, 

and the results are available today."

 

And boy, do they deliver. It contains all of the elements that I've come to love about their remixes and own work, whilst losing none of A Certain Ratio's character in the mix. I'm already committed but I am confident that if this was your introduction to Jezebell, as it hopefully will be for many ACR fans, then you will want to check out the rest of their music immediately.

The advantage of music over cake (and the supremely talented Mrs K excelled herself this year) is that I can keep going back for more and more in one sitting without falling into sugar-induced unconsciousness. 

On the YouTube page for the Now And Laughter video, A Certain Ratio ask to consider donating to hometown-based initiatives Manchester Homelessness Partnership and Mustard Tree.

 

You may already contribute time and/or money to helping others in different ways. I'm a flawed, imperfect person in so many ways, but setting aside my personal challenges, putting others before myself and giving selflessly whenever and however I can is something I can get with.