Waiting For The Time To Come

Even now and then, I do a mix on the fly that lands just so, really hitting the sweet spot. I like to think I've managed it again today with a 63-minute selection of songs that have come out in the first half of 2024.

I say this every year, but it's been a bloody good year for music. If there's ever a moment when you think you've heard it all before and there's nothing to lift the spirits, along comes something to dissolve that cynicism. My longlist was at least twice as long as the 11 songs that made the final selection. I love every second of it and I hope you do too.

Fluke's surprise comeback this year was a delight, not least with the release of the, well, insanely beautiful single Insanely Beautiful. All of the mixes are worth your time, but I have been obsessed with their remix featuring lead vocals by Leah Cleaver. I think it's one of the best things they've ever done and I can't wait to hear what's next.

Likewise, Fruits Of The Deep, the first new album in 8 years by The Woodentops was like a gift from the heavens. Ride A Cloud paved the way in spring 2023, followed a year later by Dream On, which frankly should be mandatory listening. Rolo supplied a wonderful dub along with a superb, uplifting remix from Balearic Ultras which I've included here.

Pete Paphides has delighted me on two fronts this year: firstly, a belated catch up with his autobiography, Broken Greek; secondly, by signing Iraina Mancini to his Needle Mythology label. Following up on last year's Saint Etienne remix, Richard Norris and Erol Alkan have got together again as Beyond The Wizards Sleeve to re-animate the title track of Iraina's debut album, Undo The Blue. I'm so glad that they did as they have created a thing of exquisite beauty from a song that was already special.

C.A.R. is Chloé Alexandra Raunet, who I was vaguely aware of from her time in Battant and associations with Timothy J. Fairplay and Andrew Weatherall, but came back to in her current incarnation via a remix by (and for) GLOK aka Andy Bell. I previously included the Anzu EP in my 2023 'best of' singles. However, Anzu was re-released in March with a brace of Hardway Bros remixes that will make you fall for the song all over again. I've opted here for the dub, which is equally precision tooled for the dancefloor.

In February, Matt Gunn released the Elexperimental EP, four tracks self-described as resembling "something akin to Kraftwerk & LCD with a bass after a big night on the sauce". Drive Thru Century, featured here, is labelled as "Matt Gunn vs The Death Rattle Of An 80’s CR78", which may tell you all you need to know. Matt released a brand new track on Friday, Dub Clone Rising, too late to make this mix but well worth a listen, nearly ten minutes of bass heavy vibes.

Another February release on the always excellent Paisley Dark label was the 3-track PoPoPom EP by Spanish artist Stylic. Second track Like This is a thunderous beast, laden with vocal samples and locking into a hypnotic groove that's hard to resist. A remix EP followed in April, with both Keith Forrester and Mindbender aka Mårten Attling eager to get their hands on the track, and with good reason.

From there and a superlative remix from the aforementioned Andy Bell in his GLOK guise. David Holmes' album with Raven Violet, Blind On A Galloping Horse, is astonishing and between February and May, a steady stream of remixes and versions have emerged. Andy seems to be steering GLOK in a slightly different direction, if this and other recent remixes are an indication, though similarly transporting the listener to a wholly different headspace. 

Easing a little bit of funk back into proceedings is Steve Cobby & Third Attempt aka Torje Fagertun Spilde, with the closing track from their Offshore Sunsets EP. Feeling Seen is fuzzy funk (is that a thing?), perfectly connecting Kingston upon Hull and Tromsø, Norway.

Another international partnership that continues to deliver the goods is Jezebell aka Jesse Fahnestock and Darren Bell. Weekend Machines is the lead track from a 4-track EP landing on 3rd July and it signals a further evolution in the duo's work, which never fails to excite and entertain. If this doesn't get you moving, check your pulse.

I enthused about the México 24 EP by La Guardia De La Luz and Picotropico in May and I'm still feeling the love. I've inevitably gone for the best song- and remix title of the four, and it's chock full of chug, to put it mildly.

The closing track isn't new at all - it was released in September 2022 - but is new to me as I was gifted it on Saturday night. I'm on the mailing list for Lithuanian label Electric Shapes and they are extremely generous in dropping emails with free download codes for their back catalogue. Unfortunately, without fail I've seen the emails when the codes have long been used...until last night, when I just happened to be checking emails when their latest gift landed.

So, I am now the happy owner of the Crouching Tiger EP by Jokios Kultūros aka Dovydas Platakis. Jokios Kultūros loosely translates as 'uncultured' though this release is anything but. I've enjoyed all seven tracks, though the remix here by German DJ/producer Tassilo Vanhöfen has currently nudged ahead as my favourite.

I usually include Discogs links to the artist's names. This time around, I've gone for Bandcamp links so that you can check out purchase their releases if you like what you hear.

1) Insanely Beautiful (Leah’s Mix): Fluke ft. Leah Cleaver

2) Dream On (Balearic Ultras Brooking Bass Remix): The Woodentops

3) Undo The Blue (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Re-Animation): Iraina Mancini

4) Anzu (Hardway Bros Conqueror Knock Dub): C.A.R.

5) Drive Thru Century: Matt Gunn

6) Like This (Single Version): Stylic

7) Agitprop 13 (GLOK Remix): David Holmes ft. Raven Violet

8) Feeling Seen: Steve Cobby & Third Attempt

9) Weekend Machines (Single Version): Jezebell

10) I First Learned About Shelley's Through A Magazine (Pico's Stoke-on-Trent Is Not In Mexico Remix By Picotropico): La Guardia De La Luz

11) Crouching Tiger (Tassilo's Vision Serpent): Jokios Kultūros

Waiting For The Time To Come (1:13:38) (KF) (Mega)

Saturday's Alright For Alighting

A bumper selection of train-themed/titled songs for you to steam into the weekend. It's been done before - and undoubtedly better - elsewhere in the blogosphere, but when I have ever let that stop me in the pursuit of an unoriginal idea?!

So, two volumes to neatly fill a C90 cassette, 25 songs across an hour and a half, criss-crossing the globe as we go and ignoring the logistics of traversing those pesky oceans, seas and rivers.

All aboard!

 

Volume One 

1) Rail On: Julian Cope (1989)

2) King Of The Track: Dennis Alcapone (1974)

3) Ur Train: Leila ft. Luca Santucci (2008)

4) Can't Catch The Train: Soulsavers ft. Mark Lanegan (2009)

5) Beside The Railway Tracks: The Divine Comedy (2010)

6) Mule Train (Cover of Buz Butler): Count Prince Miller (1970)

7) Roots Train (Album Version): Junior Murvin (1977)

8) The Last Train: Josh Rouse (2005)

9) Last Train To Lhasa (2k2 Mix): Banco De Gaia (2015)

10) Railroad Man: Eels (2005)

11) Train Of Thought (Remix 7" Version): a-ha (1986)

12) Last Train To Satansville (Satansville Revisited) (Album Version): Swervedriver (1993)

Volume Two

1) The Gravy Train (Nightmares On Wax Mix - Delayed Departure Edit By Khayem): Ian Brown (2002/2024)

2) No Train To Stockholm (Cover of Lee Hazlewood): Erlend Øye (2002)

3) Long Empty Train: The Gadgets (1983)

4) Night Train To Lichtenstien: Dawn Of The Replicants (1998)

5) Stop The Train: The Wailers (1970)

6) Blue Train: The Bluebells (2023)

7) Long Black Train: Richard Hawley (2001)

8) It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry: Bob Dylan (1965)

9) Railroad Blues: Beastie Boys (2000)

10) Dead Grammas On A Train: Thin White Rope (1985)

11) Victoria Train Station Massacre: The Fall (2017)

12) Train Is Coming: Iklan ft. Law Holt (2020)

13) Lame Train (Single Version): Flesh For Lulu (1983)

 

1965: Highway 61 Revisited: B8

1970: Mule Train EP: A6 

1970: Stop The Train EP: B5

1974: King Of The Track: A2 

1977: Police & Thieves: A7

1983: Blue Album: B3 

1983: Roman Candle EP: B13

1985: Exploring The Axis: B10

1986: Train Of Thought EP: A11

1989: China Doll EP: A1 

1993: Mezcal Head: A12 

1998: Hogwash Farm (The Diesel Hands E.P.): B4 

2000: Country Mike’s Greatest Hits: B9

2001: Late Night Final: B7

2002: Remixes Of The Spheres: B1*

2002: Total Lee! The Songs Of Lee Hazlewood: B2

2005: Bedroom Classics Vol. 2 EP: A8 

2005: Blinking Lights And Other Revelations: A10

2008: Blood, Looms & Blooms: A3

2009: Broken: A4

2015: Last Train To Lhasa EP: A9 

2017: New Facts Emerge: B11

2020: Album Number 1 Featuring Law Holt: B12

2020: Bang Goes The Knighthood/More Sordid Details (Expanded Edition): A5

2023: In The 21st Century: B6

* This is essentially the main vocal mix, with the first 90 seconds of the instrumental mix tacked onto the front to provide an extended intro.

Volume One (46:10) (KF) (Mega)

Volume Two (45:33) (KF) (Mega)

 

Today's cover photo is Queenstown Road Station in London, snapped and written about by 'Joe Blogs' in August 2010.

Friday I'm In Love

After a week of oblique, sometimes 'on the nose' is all you need. And all you need is...The Cure.

I wasn't a huge fan of this song or the album when it originally came out. However, my girlfriend loved it and actually, I do too.

Whatever you thought of The Cure's music, their videos with Tim Pope were always great value and guaranteed to pop out from the thousands of others washing around the music TV shows and channels that month. Friday I'm In Love is no exception.

One more post tomorrow to round out the tenuous 'days of the week' theme, and it'll be a good one. At least, I think it will, I've no idea what I'm writing about yet!

All Thursday Does Is Remind Me

 

The day is Thursday, the song is Thursday and the band are the brilliant Asobi Seksu.  

Bar a one-off gig in October 2014 supporting Slowdive at the latter's request, Asobi Seksu have been on hiatus for over a decade. However, there's much to enjoy in the music they made between 2001 and 2012.

 

Thursday originally appeared on second album Citrus in 2006, was subsequently released as a single. In 2009, the band sold an album of stripped down versions called Acoustic At Olympic Studios at their gigs. This was later reissued and retitled Rewolf and closes with a version of Thursday.

 

It's an interesting variation, exposed and raw in many respects, though the shimmering beauty of the shoegaze original can't be beaten.

Bring Out Your Junk On Wednesday And We'll Give It A Home

...or, here's something I made earlier. Much earlier. 

 

Here's a review of The White Stripes' then-new single that appeared on my old blog in June 2007.

 

I have this strange connection with certain bands, in that I like their songs that I hear, read their interviews, articles and reviews with interest and yet don’t get around to actually buying any of their records. Perversely, I’ll often pick up records that I’ve never heard by bands I know little or nothing about, often for the flimsiest of reasons, but that’s a whole other story. 

 

So, this happens to be the first White Stripes record that I’ve bought, even though I’ve been a ‘fan’ since I saw the video for Fell In Love With A Girl donkeys years ago. I haven’t even got around to downloading anything by them; the best my iPod can muster are mash-ups of 7 Nation Army and The Doorbell Song, pairing the duo with Alter Ego and Jay-Z respectively. 

 

In fact, the impetus for getting this record without having heard it was that part one – the one-sided, etched red vinyl 7” of Rag And Bone – was a giveaway with the 9 Jun issue of NME. Icky Thump was released the following week, seven days before the album of the same name.  

 

Rag And Bone is my favourite of the three songs here, mainly for the subject matter, the ‘in character’ dialogue between Jack and Meg that bridges each verse and a guitar hook that sounds uncannily like Mud’s 1973 smash Tiger Feet.

 

In fact, there’s a 1970s (by way of the 1950s) feel pervading this EP, the antiquated guitar licks and muffled rhythms evoking the ghosts of blues and rock ‘n’ roll. Yet at the same time, The White Stripes continue to sound fresh and exciting.  

 

Icky Thump reminds me of Led Zeppelin of all things, with Jack’s vocals recalling Robert Plant, some mighty Jimmy Page-esque riffs and a naggingly insistent keyboard and drum combo. 

 

Exclusive B-side Baby Brother is unabashed blues rock, the reference points here being Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and The Cramps. It’s short and sweet but lacks the inventiveness of the previous two songs.

 

Fast forward to 2024 and whilst I managed to catch up with The White Stripes' back catalogue in the years that followed. Icky Thump turned out to be their sixth and final album. In September 2007, The White Stripes cancelled the remainder of their tour dates in the USA and UK. The band went on hiatus and though Jack White referenced plans for a seventh album, The White Strips officially called it a day in February 2011.

I haven't heard this single in a long while and it's been good to revisit the songs again. In resurrecting this review for today's post, I also discovered two wonderful fan-made films for Rag And Bone and Baby Brother, neither of which had an official video back in the day.

Whilst The White Stripes arguably made better music, these songs take me back to a particular place and time and it's a good place to revisit.

If, like me, you're of a certain vintage and lived in the UK during the 1970s when there were only three TV channels, none of which ran 24/7, then you'll almost certainly have got the reference point for Icky Thump. 

 

If you weren't, brace yourself.

 

 

Trust Me, I'll Follow You On Tuesday

 

Summer has been a little stop-start-stop-start round here, but Joe Goddard's delivered the cure with Follow You.

 

Four minutes and twenty four seconds of chiming synths, full fat bass and mellow vocal harmonies, this will probably be smashing it in the Balearics (no euphemism intended). I'll have to make do with the depths of the Forest of Dean and the heart of the Cotswolds this week, but frankly this should give you a lift wherever you experience it.

This is the third release from forthcoming album, Harmonics, out in a couple of weeks and another album to go on the impossibly long shopping list.

Follow You got me in the mood for more Joe, so here's a selection of Joe remixing and being remixed, going all the way back to his debut solo release in 2009.

 

Let's Go Back (Joe Goddard Remix): Kraak & Smaak ft. Romanthony (2023)
All That You Want (Joe Goddard Remix): Ibibio Sound Machine (2022)
Starseeds (Joe Goddard Remix): Seahawks (2020)
Happyface (Joe Goddard Remix): ALASKALASKA (2019)
Children (Hercules & Love Affair Remix): Joe Goddard (2017)
Gabriel (Soulwax Remix): Joe Goddard ft. Valentina (2012)
Apple Bobbing (Four Tet Remix):Joe Goddard (2009)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOREMOMUSMONDAY

Momus aka Nicholas Currie has featured here a couple of times before, but never with a dedicated selection. 

I had the honour of presenting a Momus collection as part of the Imaginary Compilation Album series over at The Vinyl Villain in November 2022. I sidestepped the difficult task of selecting songs from Momus' vast back catalogue by only focusing on then-current album Smudger and the three albums that preceded it. 

 

To underline the point that Momus is so prolific, in the time it took me to curate the ICA and write about it, another album was on the way, his second of that year.

This time around, I've gone for broke and selected 11 songs spanning five decades from the 1980s to 2024, which again has seen two albums so far. Yikes! came out in March, 16-track collection of new songs, including the brilliantly-titled Sark E Myth. 

 

Before that, January saw 20 Frisky Whiskies, a follow up to the 1996 compilation 20 Vodka Jellies. This one collects remakes, outtakes and misshapes from the last two decades which didn't make it onto the many, many Momus albums in that period. No barrel scraping exercise, this.

Not a platinum-selling artist perhaps, but Momus has consistently mined a rich seam of narrative and musical gold. This selection includes one of dozens of David Bowie songs that Momus has covered, Where Are We Now? being particularly notable for being recorded and released the day after Bowie's surprise release of the song in 2014.

Mistaken Memories Of Medieval Manhattan is also a comparative Momus rarity, one of five songs that Nick wrote and demo'd for Japanese artist Kahimi Karie in 1999. Karie recorded and released them as an EP, Journey To The Centre Of Me, the following year.

Fuck This Year, from this year's 20 Frisky Whiskies compilation, was recorded in 2016 but seems as much a statement for the first six months of 2024 in the UK as any, immersed as we are in the chaos of a general election (and a football tournament, if you are so inclined). 

The imaginary C90 side will have run out of spooling tape before the end but I'm happy with how this one turned out. If you like what you hear, there are literally hundreds more songs where that came from....!

 

1) My Sperm Is Not Your Enemy (Edit) (2003)

2) Where Are We Now? (Studio Version) (Cover of David Bowie) (2014)

3) In The Sanatorium (1988)

4) Mistaken Memories Of Medieval Manhattan (1999)

5) Fuck This Year (2016)

6) Disappear (2022)

7) Loneliness (2019)

8) Trans Siberian Express (1992)

9) Closer To You (1987)

10) It's Impossible (2024)

11) Suicide Pact (1993) 

 

1987: The Poison Boyfriend: 9

1988: Tender Pervert: 3

1992: Voyager: 8

1993: Timelord: 11

1999: The Progressive Demos EP: 4

2003: Oskar Tennis Champion: 1

2014: An Evening With Dybbuk Momie (Studio Versions): 2 

2019: Akkordion: 7

2022: Smudger: 6

2024: Yikes!: 10

2024: 20 Frisky Whiskies: 5

MOREMOMUSMONDAY (47:45) (KF) (Mega)

 

And if you enjoyed that....

 

A Ripped And Wrinkled Life: A Momus ICA (40:41) (KF) (Mega)

Fuck this year, fuck this pain
Things will never be good again
Fuck this year with a sawn-off brick
Fuck this year, it makes me sick
Fuck this year with the sizzle of death
Fuck it 'til its final breath

Fuck this year from the bottom to the top
Fuck this year until it drops
Fuck this year of the gibbering creeps
Fuck this year until it weeps

Well fuck this year, this horrible corpse
Fuck its scuttling cockroach walk
Fuck this year with its gibbering lies
Fuck this year until it dies

Fuck this harvest, fuck this toll
Fuck these people who have no soul
Well fuck this world in a wobbling fall
Fuck this year, the worst of all, well

Fuck this populist oligarchy
Stop hacking in and stop spying on me
Fuck the leaders and fuck their sheep
Fuck the whole rusty scrapheap

Fuck this year, yes, that's the gist
Bum this year with a buggering fist
Well bugger this year with a Christmas log
Shove this year in a gulping bog

Melt this year like candlewax
Before something even worse attacks
Fuck your Brexit, fuck your Trump
They stink worse than the spunk of a skunk

Fuck this year with a killer fist
Make this year unexist
All things nice, sugar and spice
All things nice, sugar and spice
Be taken away from my enemy
Fuck this year from me

Fuck your side, you were wrong
We were right, you'll find out
When it's too late
The year of hate

Fuck this year, this horrible corpse
Fuck its scuttling cockroach walk
Fuck this world in a wobbling fall
Fuck this year, the worst of all

A Long Soulful Sunday

Ooops, sorry, more like a late soulful Sunday...

I hope this makes up for the later than usual post.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

 

1) Let 'Em In (DJ Reverend P Edit By Patrice Larrar) (Cover of Wings): Billy Paul (2016)

2) When Love Begins Friendship Ends: Bobby Womack (1978)

3) Bridge Over Troubled Water (Live @ Fillmore West Concert Hall, San Francisco) (Cover of Simon & Garfunkel): Aretha Franklin (1971)

4) Living For The City: Stevie Wonder (1973)

5) Let The Drums Speak (mass Thomas Edit): Bah Samba (2023)

6) Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter (Album Version): Nina Simone (1974)

7) It Won't Be Long (Late Show, Live @ Fillmore East, New York): Sly & The Family Stone (1968) 

8) Make Me Say It Again Girl (Part 1 & 2): The Isley Brothers (1975)

9) Keep On Keeping On (Album Version): Curtis Mayfield (1971)

1971: Aretha Live At Fillmore West: 3

1971: Roots: 9

1973:Innervisions: 4

1974: It Is Finished: 6

1975: The Heat Is On: 8

1978: Pieces: 2

2004: Thee Encyclopedia Of Ecstacy: 7

2016: The Legacy Of Soul: 1

2023: Let The Drums Speak EP: 5

A Long Soulful Sunday (1:00:47) (KF) (Mega)

A Different Donald

Celebrating Donald Sutherland, 17th July 1935 to 20th June 2024.

A brilliant actor, Martin over at New Amusements nailed it with a succinct and spot-on summation of his star turn in the 1978 remake of Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers, also a personal favourite. 

Donald brought an intensity to every role that he played, sometimes seemingly effortlessly, always enhanced by those piercing blue eyes. In ...Bodysnatchers, you could absolutely believe that Donald's character had gone for days without sleep and was running on empty...and that final scene. Stayed with me for a long time!

It was also a joy to see Donald appear in the video for Cloudbusting along with Kate Bush. Frankly, whatever he was in was better for his presence. Much is made of Will Smith's against-type role in 1993's Six Degrees Of Separation, but it stands or falls on the dynamic with the couple that his character encounters. It works because Donald and Stockard Channing were cast in the roles. Worth watching if you can track it down.

 

Which clumsily dovetails into the theme of today's selection. Unlike son Kiefer, Donald didn't release any albums or play gigs at the Cheese & Grain in Frome, However, he has appeared in many, many films, and there are plenty of songs in my collection that share titles. I've got form with this, having created previous selections based on the work of Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth Taylor and Juliette Binoche (possibly others, but I forget).

Unfortunately, no songs titled Six Degrees Of Separation (I do have a 12" by a band of that name, which I'll spare you) but I did run a few posts last year based on the fun variation Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon. 

 

So, an obvious starter for today's selection were The Comsat Angels, whose members include (the other) Kevin Bacon. Conveniently, they also recorded a song for 1982 album Fiction with the same name as one of Donald's most famous films. Don't Look Now, but I think I've got away with that tenuous connection!

It's an eclectic sequence of songs and artists, taking in Roxy Music, The Kingfishers, Black Uhuru, late period Ultravox and Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud collaborating with Anni Hogan and Thomas Lang. I've taken some liberties with spelling and the inclusion or omission of the definite article here and there. I've also crowbarred in a reference to Donald's starring role in 1971 film Klute, where the titular drum & bass artist appears in the song name. It also allows me to sneak Mogwai in through the back door. Just imagine if Donald had accepted a role in Gremlins, it would have been even better...!

I felt compelled to include Cloudbusting but at the eleventh hour swapped Kate Bush for a cover version that Neil Halstead (Slowdive, Mojave 3) recorded for a US compilation in 2010. I like it.

It seemed appropriate somehow to pick a fellow Canadian to close the selection, and Neil Young happily stepped up to the mark. Ordinary People was Robert Redford's directorial debut in 1980 and Donald is astonishing as you might expect. Timothy Hutton won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Donald was never nominated for an Academy Award, though he received an honorary Oscar in 2017.  

Not one to do things by halves, Neil Young's take on Ordinary People is an 18-minute chug-a-thon epic, with all the bells and whistles that you may expect, but doesn't feel a second too long. I don't know what Donald thought of Neil's music but I've just discovered that they did meet at least once, when they were both inducted into Canada's Walk Of Fame in 2000, along with Joni Mitchell, Michael J. Fox, Martin Short and William Shatner. Now, that must have been some dinner table conversation...!

Ninety minutes of music then that I hope will also get you looking up some more of Donald's films - Kelly's Heroes! - and rediscovering what singular, otherworldly talent Donald Sutherland is.

And the post title? Well, another take is that when I read the sad news, I wished that the Grim Reaper had come calling for a different Donald instead...

Rest easy, Mr. Sutherland, you did good.

1) Don't Look Now: The Comsat Angels (1982)

2) Casanova: Roxy Music (1974)

3) Instinct: Iggy Pop (1988)

4) Setting Sun (Edit): The Aliens (2007)

5) The Eye Of The Needle: The Kingfishers (2023)

6) Alone: Scanner & Anni Hogan ft. Thomas Lang (2016)

7) Fools Gold (7" Version By John Leckie): The Stone Roses (1989)

8) Heaven Help Us (Try) (Manyanamegamix): Zeke Manyika ft. Sylvia & The Sapphires (1984)

9) Ask The Dust: The Porch Song Anthology (2006)

10) Kelly's Heroes (Album Version): Black Grape (1995)

11) The Great Train Robbery (Dance Mix By Arthur Baker): Black Uhuru (1986) 

12) Cloudbusting (Cover of Kate Bush): Neil Halstead (2010)

13) Thee Eagle Has Landed: Genesis P-Orridge & Psychic TV (1994)

14) Summer (Klute's Weird Winter Remix By Tom Withers): Mogwai (1998)

15) Time To Kill (Album Version): Ultravox (1986)

16) Ordinary People: Neil Young (2007)

1974: Country Life: 2

1982: Fiction: 1

1984: Heaven Help Us (Try) EP: 8 

1986: The Great Train Robbery EP: 11

1986: U-Vox: 15

1988: Instinct: 3

1989: Fools Gold EP: 7 

1994: Ultradrug: 13

1995: It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah: 10 

1998: Kicking A Dead Pig: Mogwai Songs Remixed: 14

2006: Spell Of The Trembling Earth: 9

2007: Chrome Dreams II: 16

2007: Setting Sun EP: 4

2010: Sing Me To Sleep, Indie Lullabies: 12

2016: Scanni: 6

2023: Reflections In A Silver Sound: 5

A Different Donald (1:30:03) (KF) (Mega)

Movies, Memories, Mullets And Mohicans

On Monday, Fontaines D.C. dropped a second teaser from forthcoming fourth studio album Romance.

 

Favourite closes the album and it's possibly their most poppy effort yet. It's the first song of theirs that prompts me to think of The Chameleons, if they had decided in the mid-80s to make a conscious decision to crack the UK Top 40 singles chart. Grian Chatten sings over a jangly guitar line that evokes that era's perfect indie meld of melancholy and euphoria, with harmony lines and uptempo rhythm driving the song along. 

The video's a treat, too, mostly made up of snippets of family home videos, interspersed with the band having fun in Madrid. Starting off with (I guess) a young Grian singing the Nativity song Rat A Tat Tat before coming to a halt with "I don't know the rest", there's a rapid fire of nostalgic images before settling on the adult Grian in a Spanish skate park, strumming an acoustic guitar and singing, "Did you know I can claim the dreamer from the dream?" 

Quite a contrast from previous (but no less excellent) single Starburster.

But those Mullets and Mohicans, lads...! Whether ironic, post-modern or just a genuine attempt to reclaim history's most horrific hairstyles, it's 'nil points' from me.

 

Fontaines D.C. will be playing at Glastonbury next Friday, headlining The Other Stage. As a longtime armchair audience member, I don't need to suffer the anguish and conflict that IDLES are performing simultaneously on The Park stage as hopefully both sets will be available on BBC iPlayer.

   

Cable Tangles With Distressed Bacon

Chilly Gonzales aka Jason Beck returned last week with a new single, I.C.E., ahead of album Gonzo, which must be about his twentieth or so, adding in collaborations and side projects. 

 

Born in Montreal, Canada, currently residing in Cologne, Germany, I.C.E. is Gonzales' love letter to the latter.

They say every day is a school day but I.C.E. manages to cram in roughly a term's worth of German cultural references. I've tried to include links (mostly Iffypedia) where I could but frankly I couldn't keep up. 

 

I've also slightly modified and corrected Google's English translation of the German lyrics, though some bits didn't scan and are well beyond my failed German O-Level efforts. Walter, my apologies in advance!

I.C.E. is out right now, Gonzo drops on 13th September.

 

My German rap? Crazy idea 

But I'll do it anyway 

If you could see what I see 

Out the window in the I.C.E., I.C.E, I.C.E.

Ice, Ice

Ice, Ice

 

Small talk on late trains 

Sorry, I can hardly speak German 

Still have to practice 

 

(What is your profession?)

I am music 

I am art 

I am artificial 

I am punk 

I am punctual 

 

Hello, meal, hello 

I'm like Brahms 

A Clara Schumann groupie 

A quickie, Schumi 

Obsessed like Fitzcarraldo 

Wolfgang Amadeus 

Falco, hallo!

 

What's under the dirndl dress? 

Unity, discipline and hard work and cheap meat 

Climate strike at the butcher shop 

Stuck in the fourth Reich 

Haiyti, Deichkind, my circle of poets 

Chilly ice cold, 

Antarctica 

My art is degenerate 

I am Caspar David Friedrich in the mountains 

Superman Friedrich Nietzsche is my favorite comedian 

Cable tangles with distressed bacon 

German food is seriously underestimated 

My jokes are poorly translated 

Get rich or die tryin', 50 Cent

 

My German rap? Crazy idea 

But I'll do it anyway 

If you could see what I see 

Out the window in the I.C.E., I.C.E, I.C.E.

Ice, Ice

Ice, Ice

The prince in my veedel 

Jewish rapper MC Bagel 

From the stoner fog 

Struwwelpeter, with long fingernails 

I'm the villain without a cape 

Piano sound like Sturm und Drang 

Haters are hungry for my downfall 

You drink camomile tea 

I eat cameltoe 

Gonzo, porn 

Screenplay by Adorno 

Fame only affects me peripherally 

I go everywhere with a joint in my nécessaire

Tracksuit but chic 

I'm rich like Raniczki's head cinema is always kinky 

I am Christian like Klaus Kinski 

 

My German rap? Crazy idea 

But I'll do it anyway 

If you could see what I see 

Out the window in the I.C.E., I.C.E, I.C.E.

Ice, Ice

Ice, Ice

The fatherland is not a sad place 

Square Practical Good, Ritter Sport 

I used to live like God in France 

But it's sweeter here, marzipan soft 

I love you, but I'm critical 

This song is a love letter 

To the Federal Republic

I am never alone here 

On the I.C.E. from Berghain to Hildesheim