Anson Men

Poor Strangelove. I should have loved them, really.

They were from my birthplace Bristol. They made epic indie music that reached beyond the boundaries of the small gig circuit and on a par with their contemporaries. Yet... Patrick Duff and his band of merry men got (excuse the pun) duff treatment from me back in the early to mid 1990s.

Today's post focuses on their support slot for American Music Club at The Anson Rooms (aka the University of Bristol Student Union) in Clifton, the posh part of Bristol, both literally and metaphorically elevated above the city and it's surround.

The date was Friday 21st October 1994 and I was there, purely and simply, to see American Music Club. My (soon to be) ex-girlfriend wasn't. I wrote about my experience of their performance last May and had this to say:

[My] college ex was a fan of Strangelove, especially Patrick Duff, 

so for her this would have been the appeal of the gig over the headliners.

Sadly, not my first time seeing Strangelove - 

I would have seen them at least once 

at the Bristol Community Festival at Ashton Court - 

but I can't remember much, other than they were 'good'.

At the time of the gig, my girlfriend and I were still a couple, though it must have been one of the last things we did together as I was temporarily living in Derby before the year was out. 

Maybe it was our souring relationship and her interest in the floppy fringed frontman of Strangelove that made me disinclined to like the band. Yes, I could (and probably still can) be that petty.

Not a lot of personal memories of their set that night then, or previous Ashton Court Festivals, which is less surprising as they were frequently spent oiled up and under the influence and in the company of like minded friends.

Which makes recreating a setlist both a challenge and an opportunity to give Strangelove another (fair) hearing, thirty-odd years later.

The details of their set at The Anson Rooms in 1994 has not been captured online, so I've created a composite 12-song setlist, drawn from three contemporaneous performances: the Marquee Club in London on 8th June 1994, followed by the Astoria on 19th August 1994, with a Black Session @ 'La Maison La Radio' in Paris on 28th October 1994, a week after their Bristol gig.

Three quarters of this imaginary set is drawn from Strangelove's debut album, Time For The Rest Of Your Life, albeit out of sequence apart from the opening song. The remaining three songs include their 1992 debut Visionary, Hysteria Unknown and Wolf's Story Part I, which didn't a physical release until 1996, when Parts I to III appeared on CD2 of the Beautiful Alone single.

I've never heard the Strangelove album before now and of the smattering of songs already in my collection, none feature here, so the playback of this selection was as fresh to me as it will be to you, listening to it for the first time today.

The verdict? Strangelove got the shitty end of the stick from me back in 1994 and in 2026, I've really enjoyed their music. Time for the rest of my life, perhaps, but I will make more time to listen to Strangelove and catch up with what Patrick Duff has been up to since.

1) Sixer

2) Hopeful

3) Visionary

4) Wolf’s Story Part I

5) Quiet Day

6) World Outside

7) Hysteria Unknown

8) Time For The Rest Of Your Life

9) Low Life

10) The Return Of The Real Me

11) Is There A Place?

12) Sand

1992: Visionary EP: 3

1993: Hysteria Unknown EP: 7

1994: Time For The Rest Of Your Life: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

1996: Beautiful Alone EP: 4

Anson Men (58:13) (GD) (M)

If you want to recreate the whole evening (musically speaking, no relationship breakdowns please!), then you can find my recreation of American Music Club's set here.

Chest Pains, Musical Gains

A colleague at work pointed me to Angine De Poitrine and said that I might like them. They were right.

The duo from Saguenay, Québec, Canada take mysterious to a level that Daft Punk could only dream and join Robyn Hitchcock and Strawberry Switchblade in that select group that make polka dots cool.

The band name literally translates as Angina Pectoris and the blurb on Bandcamp explains more, but not much more:

By awakening the notes that sleep deep in the cracks between the piano keys, 

these two incongruous beings with large papier-mâché faces 

will make you feel an auditory stimulus comparable 

to the delicious and throbbing tightness 

that precedes a heart attack.

I thankfully can't speak from personal experience of the latter, but the sound that 'brothers' Khn De Poitrine (microtonal guitars) and Klek De Poitrine (percussion) make is incredibly infectious and incredibly groovy.

From a deceptively simple set up, the music takes in a tour of genres, one moment prog rock, the next big beat, the next psychedelia in extremis, yet never sounding like a mish-mash or an idea in search of a song. 

I've only heard a handful of their songs so far but, given that the Canadian dollar to UK sterling exchange rate (plus 20% digital discography discount) means that I can buy both albums - efficiently titled Vol. I and Vol. II - for around a tenner, it's worth taking the plunge.

Heading up the post is a 4-song set that Angine De Poitrine recorded for KEXP last December, during the Les Trans Musicales in Rennes, France. As such, the channel dispenses with the usual set-and-interview format to give space for just shy of 28 minutes of music.

The set comprises the first three songs from Vol. II, in reverse chronological order naturally, closing with their debut single (and opener of Vol. I).

1) Sarniezz

2) Mata Zyklek

3) Fabienk

4) Sherpa

As an added incentive, if you need it, I've added the closing song from Vol. I.

Angine De Poitrine are touring to promote Vol. II, including a date a Strange Brew in Bristol in May, though sadly long sold out by the time I had been introduced to their music. Maybe I'll head to Bristol anyway, stand outside and peer through the window, whilst the music poursa out into the street...

On Our Way To Somewhere In Particular

Echobelly was one of those bands that I had more of an interest in what they had to say, rather than what they had to sing, back in the days of Brtipop. And by "they" I mean Sonya Aurora Madan, who was the go-to for the music press when they wanted an interview or cover shot.

The only other band members I can name from memory are co-founder Glenn Johansson and Debbie Smith, who joined in 1994, due to her previous association with Curve.

Here Comes The Big Rush was a single from Echobelly's third album Lustra, which entered the UK chart on 2nd November 1997 at #56, dropped 30 places the following week, and disappeared altogether the week after.

I bought the CD single (part 2 of 2) secondhand in 1998, on the back of the inclusion of the remix by Midfield General aka Damian Harris on Block Bustin' Beats, a 2CD compilation released in December 1997. a "40 track full-on big beat mix" by Dave Turner.

The CD featured the album version, plus 2 remixes each from Midfield General (vocal & dub) and Dave Angel (vocal & instrumental). The latter obviously not to be confused with his namesake character on The Fast Show.

There is only one YT post featuring the Dave Angel vocal mix, which I'm guessing is ripped from a DJ mix, as it features about 4 mins of it, before switching to the Midfield General vocal, then cutting out as abruptly as it arrived. This will give you a flavour but, suffice to say, the instrumental is my pick of the two.

If you're familiar with Midfield General, then you'll know what to expect, i.e. heavy, dark beats, but works well in both the dub and vocal variations.

I hadn't realised that Sonya had been seriously ill following their second album and there was some doubt as to whether Echobelly's hiatus would become a permanent split, not least due to legal and band hassles also going on at the time.

As it happens, it was another four years before their fourth album and there have been a further two albums since, plus one compilation of B-sides and rarities in 2020.

Sonya and Glenn are still touring as Echobelly and you can catch them on 2nd July at Tunbridge Wells Forum, promising "plenty of 'great things' from their Britpop heyday, plus new material".

Save your point of view

For the manic charm that he puts you through

When he wears your pearls, your ruby dress

And he looks so good with his sunken chest

There's a certain charm 

To the pretty boy that is on my arm

He's my double friend, a boy and a girl

When he says,

Paint my face, lick your mouth

Fake a yawn and we'll go out and glow

We're on our way to somewhere in particular

I'll take you somewhere, where you haven't been

And I'll show you a good time, like you've never seen

Here comes the big rush

There's a special ring

To his Cuban heels and his six-pack swing

His mother's clothes are his new disguise

And his good advice when he says:

Vanity's a virtue, lets no one in to hurt you

I'll take you somewhere, where you haven't been

And I'll show you a good time, like you've never seen

Here comes the big rush

You're one of the boys

Pump that pipe dream, sell you something

New, new, new

We're on our way to somewhere in particular

I'll take you somewhere, where you haven't been

And I'll show you a good time, like you've never seen

Here comes the big rush

You're one of the boys

Pump that pipe dream, sell you something

Pump that pipe dream, sell you something

New new

(C)lone Wolf

Mesh have been on the go since the 1990s, they're originally from my home town, my mum knows one of the band members, they've released a ton of albums, their music should be right up my street....

...and yet, I know next to nothing about them and i don't have a single song by them in my music collection.

YouTube thrust their new video Lone Wolf right at the top of their home page and I decided to have listen. Lone Wolf is the second of five tracks on their EP This World; you will also find it on the 25-track deluxe edition of new album The Truth Doesn't Matter, out on 27th March.

Lone Wolf is a decent song, very much in the vein of Depeche Mode's recent retrofuture approach with Memento Mori...and yet, it just doesn't grab me in the same way. Maybe it'll take a few more listens.

What proved to be a major distraction on my first listen was the video itself. There's no mention in the credits, but this is an AI-generated video which lifts Viggo Mortensen's character from 2008 film The Road and repurposes him as a seemingly homeless person, the titular Lone Wolf. 

That is, until the final frames, which see him heading towards a cabin in the woods, walking side by side with a white wolf. That's your Happy Days/"jumping the shark" moment, as the scene is reminiscent of those airbrushed T-shirts or posters, the latter often with bas-relief faux velvet, that filled Athena in the 1980s.

I've no idea what Viggo Mortensen thinks of all this, but I quickly shifted to listening to Lone Wolf on their Bandcamp page instead.

If there are any Mesh fans reading this, any recommendations for a good introduction to the band, or a suggested playlist? Preferably without an accompanying AI-generated video!

Tonight, The Afterparty

A random shuffle brought up Tonight by Lykke Li, from 2008's Youth Novels, and a welcome reminder that I should listen to the album again.

What I'd missed/forgotten was that Lykke's sixth album, The Afterparty, is coming on 8th May. At the weekend, a couple of videos/singles were posted in advance, Lucky Again and Knife In The Heart.

When I say videos, they look more like TikTok clips, looped to match the respective songs duration. Even so, a compelling watch and listen. 

Compared to Tonight, both are uptempo, poppier affairs although even causal attention to the vocals reveals the darker lyrical narrative that Lykke writes so well.

Welcome back, Lykke.

You can order The Afterparty from most of the usual places, including Lykke's official website.

  

 

Sometimes, Life Is Full Of Surprises

Alexis Taylor's new single came out at the weekend. On A Whim is a lovely slice of funky electro pop, but the masterstroke is when the chorus comes in, and the dulcet tones of Green Gartside takes the song into the stratosphere.

Alexis co-wrote the song with Green and Oliver Bayston and it's just wonderful, even if it does raise the question of when - if ever - we might hear new music from Green / Scritti Politti again. 

In the meantime, we can content ourselves with Alexis' current album, Paris In The Spring, released last Friday, and a fresh 2026 remaster of Scritti Politti's 1982 debut Songs To Remember.

Sometimes, things are too painful

For you to focus on what is real

They pull apart at your life as it turns

And the day-to-day becomes tender with burns

Something can still cause you pain

Even when you don't understand it or want it

To be a part of your makeup and brain

It doesn′t help you, help you explain

 

What if (what if, what if) you need this pain?

What if you need this pain?

What if (what if, what if) there is no shame?

 

Sometimes, life is full of surprises

And it's hard not to derail your brain

There's no hope in compromises

It ain′t pretty, but it fucks you all the same

 

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

On a whim, I could throw, throw it all away

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

I could throw, throw it all, throw it all away

 

What if (what if, what if) you need this pain?

What if you need this pain?

What if (what if, what if) there is no shame?

 

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

On a whim, I could throw, throw it all away (to feel nothing)

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

I could throw, throw it all, throw it all away (to feel nothing)

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

On a whim, I could throw, throw it all away (to feel nothing)

On a whim, in a daze, in a day, in a way

I could throw, throw it all, throw it all away (to feel nothing)

 

To feel nothing

Faithful, Honest And True

An hour of Spiritualized music to soothe your soul.

I've been quite heavy on the instrumental and downtempo side of things, though the selection is peppered with wig-outs too, spanning EPs and albums between 1990 and 2018, including Medication, the first Spiritualized single I bought, secondhand from Way Ahead Records in Derby, circa 1994.

Most of the other selections would not be possible without buying The Complete Works Volumes One and Two on double CD in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Although there has been an obsessive attention to detail regarding Jason Pierce's relationship with drugs, lyrically, literally and metaphorically, his musical output has been phenomenal.

I don't have all of the Spiritualized albums, including the most recent Everything Was Beautiful, which I've realised with a gulp is itself four years old.

Jason's ploughed a familiar furrow with his writing and music, returning constantly to musical themes and motifs, but always in a way that feels fresh, exciting and, regardless of the sometimes difficult subject matter, leaving the listener (well, this one at least) with a glimmer of hope, an optimism about the future.

And right now, we could all do with a little bit of that.

1) Luminescence (Stay With Me) (1991)

2) Cool Waves (Inst.) (1997)

3) I'm Your Man (2018)

4) Harmony 5 (Accordion) / Borrowed Your Gun (2008)

5) Medication (Single Version) (1992)

6) Going Down Slow (Instrumental) (2002)

7) On Fire (Album Version) (2001)

8) Oh Baby (2003)

9) Harmony 3 (Voice) (2008)

10) Any Way That You Want Me (Ext.) (Cover of The Troggs) (1990)

11) I Want You (EP Version) (1991)

12) Broken Heart (Instrumental) (Long Version) (1997)

13) Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (I Can't Help Falling In Love) (Unreleased Version) (1997)

1990: Anyway That You Want Me EP: 10

1991: Run / I Want You EP: 1, 11

1992: Medication EP: 5

1997: Broken Heart Instrumental EP / Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Japan-only bonus track): 12

1997: Electricity EP: 2

2001: Let It Come Down: 7

2002: Do It All Over Again EP: 6

2003: Amazing Grace: 8

2008: Songs In A&E: 4, 9

2012: Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Remastered Edition): 13

2018: And Nothing Hurt: 3

Faithful, Honest And True (1:00:04) (GD) (M)

I've only seen Spiritualized perform live once, at the Ashton Court Festival in July 1998. Even the memory of that is hazy to the point of obliteration, but I recreated the setlist as an hour long Dubhed selection last year, which you can find here.

From Beyond To The Intimate And Infinite

A return to my recent NEIN Records haul, this time showcasing From Beyond aka Alex Wastnidge.

Alex is a frequent contributor to the NEIN catalogue, with a ton of releases and remixes as From Beyond dating back to 2019. I first discovered the label during lockdown and I've been following with interest since then.

When browsing for an image that I could use for today's post, I stumbled across Alex's LinkedIn profile and his posts for The MCAT Blog at the University of Oslo. This is lifted from the former:

I am a Music Technologist/Researcher with a background in Music Production, Audio Engineering, Audio Programming and Education. I developed "Deep Steps", a MIDI step sequencer with an integrated user-trainable generative neural network. Deep Steps was presented at The International Conference on AI and Musical Creativity 2024. This work covered AI in Music, Human-Computer Interaction, Human-AI Interaction, Co-Creativity and User Experience.

As someone with an - at best - rudimentary understanding of music technology, my mind was boggling at that paragraph alone. However, you can read more about Alex's work on the MCAT Blog here.

What got me here in the first place though is the music and, contrary to what the above may suggest, the appeal for me of Alex's work as From Beyond is it's warmth, it's - dare I say it - humanity. This is electronic music designed for the dancefloor, but it never feels clinical or perfunctory. 

Prior to my big purchase, I would buy NEIN releases on a regular basis and anything with From Beyond attached was pretty much guaranteed to be of interest. Today's selection provides 10 examples of this, at just over an hour. 

All releases on NEIN between 2019 and 2025, with an accidental bias towards the 2022 Datamaskin EP, and reciprocal remixes between From Beyond and Viper Patrol, I think it gives a good account of what Alex is about and why I like the music.

It tickled me to start the selection off with a track called Welcome and wrap up with the ironic Q&A of Where2Now and Not The Future, as that is where we are inevitably, inexorably heading, whether we like it or not.

1) Welcome (From Beyond Remix): JG Outsider (2021)

2) No Rest (Single Version): From Beyond (2019)

3) Night City (Single Version): From Beyond (2022)

4) Murky Waters (From Beyond Remix): Viper Patrol (2025)

5) Villa Straylight (Viper Patrol Remix): From Beyond (2025)

6) Found Again (From Beyond Remix): Lusca + Tronik Youth (2020)

7) Datamaskin (Single Version): From Beyond (2022)

8) Axial Tilt (Single Version): From Beyond (2023)

9) Where2Now: From Beyond (2022)

10) Not The Future (Single Version): From Beyond (2024)

2019: No Rest EP: 2

2020: Cash Us EP: 6

2021: Together EP: 1

2022: Datamaskin EP: 3, 7, 9

2023: High Orbit EP: 8

2024: Not The Future EP: 10

2025: Slow Is Smooth EP: 4

2025: Villa Straylight EP: 5

From Beyond To The Intimate And Infinite (1:02:49) (GD) (M)

Temples Of Day-Glo

If you're looking for thrilling psychedelic pop, Kettering in Northamptonshire would not necessarily be your obvious starting point, which would be your loss, as here was born Temples.

They're back with their fifth album, Bliss, and as a taster a bright looking (and sounding) single called Jet Stream Heart.

I first came across them via a remix of their debut single Shelter Song by Beyond The Wizards Sleeve aka Richard Norris and Erol Alkan who, as it turned out, had remixed their entire debut album Sun Structures as Sun Restructured. Both are wonderful.

If you're new to Temples, I've compiled a little visual tour through their back catalogue, which does beggar the question why their music isn't being played loud in every household. I'd be asking my neighbours to turn it up, not down!

You can pre-order Bliss from your friendly local record shop or the usual outlets. I'd also recommended placing a bookmark on their Bandcamp page to snap up Sun Restructured and other back catalogue goodies on Friday 1st May.

1) Jet Stream Heart (2026)

2) Day Of Conquest (2024)

3) Afterlife (2023)

4) You're Either On Something (2019)

5) Roman Godlike Man (Toe Rag Session) (2017)

6) Strange Or Be Forgotten (2017)

7) Shelter Song (Single Version) (2012)

8) Shelter Song (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Reanimation) (2014)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Groove For The End Times

Six thousand, nine hunded and seventeen days (roughly) since Ora Cogan self-released her debut album, I hear her music for the first time.

What an introduction, though. The Smoke is an insistent, groovy, ethereal number that hooks the unwary listener from the start and ends too soon, three and a half minutes later. Today's quotes comes from the social media blurb accompanying the video and is spot on.

The Smoke would sit comfortably on a playlist with Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood, Anita Lane and Nick Cave. 

Digging into Ora's catalogue on Bandcamp, there's a wealth of her own material, as well as an intriguing selection of covers by Sam Cooke, Slim Whitman, Buffy Saint-Marie, Slim Whitman, Bob Marley and this interpretation of a PJ Harvey classic:

The Smoke is track two on Ora's latest album, Hard Hearted Woman, out tomorrow, Friday 13th. How lucky am I, to have discovered her music right now?

(Re)Discover

It's a sobering thought that so many albums which defined my musical preferences as teen are now celebrating their 40th anniversary. Case in point, Discover by Gene Loves Jezebel, released in 1986.

I boiught mine from Sound Seekers, a treasure trove of vinyl, cassettes and a new fangled format called compact discs, in the suburbs of Bristol. This was my first Gene Loves Jezebel album purchase and I lucked out with the limited edition double vinyl, containing Discover and a live album. Glad To Be Alive.

If you think the Gallagher brothers' dynamic is interesting, it's got nothing on Michael and Jay Aston, the core of Gene Loves Jezebel. Poster boys with lashing of lip gloss, pan stick, granny's pearl necklaces and silk blouses, pouts that were in danger of poking your eye out if you sat too close to the telly and heaps of attitude.

They also had some great songs, and this third album really should have been the crossover that Gene Loves Jezebel had been striving for, with Desire (released twice), Heartache and possibly my favourite of theirs, Sweetest Thing. 

It just wasn't to be, with Heartache the best performing single from the album getting to #71, although Discover itself managing a much more respectable #32 in it's first week.  It dropped to #60 the following week though, which suggests that the initial surge was people like me, rushing to buy the 2-for-1 album deal.

I haven't watched the videos in ages and it's been fun to revisit them, not least the fake live audience sound laid over the video for Desire and noticing that, in all three, Jay's guitar is more like an oversized necklace than something to be played.

However, Gene Loves Jezebel inspired more than one Friday night going out look back in the day, when it took almost as long to get ready as it did actually being out in town. And no, I didn't resort to 'borrowing' my granny's blouse. They were both barely 5 foot tall for a start, and I wasn't ready to go out with an exposed midriff. At least, not in the late 80s.

 

This Is Recycled Plastic

Keeping with yesterday's feelgood theme, a jaunt to Japan and the, well, fantastic Fantastic Plastic Machine with L'Aventure Fantastique from 1997.

This is the second video, which is very different but equally cool.

L'Aventure Fantastique was released in the UK on the Bungalow label, run by Marcus Liesenfeld and Holger Beier aka Le Hammond Inferno, who provided a Recycled Soft Rock Mix of the song on the 12" single.

Rounding out the vinyl issue, Bungalow label mate The Maxwell Implosion aka Torsten Heller delivered a remix of Nova Bossa Nova aka Pura Saudade, the closing track of Fantastic Plastic Machine's debut, self-titled album.

Doesn't that put a spring in your step, even if Spring hasn't quite sprung yet?

Just Another Gig In Another City On Another Saturday Night....

...and just another bearded old guy in a beanie wandering onto the stage, just as you're coming to the end of your set.

Except, when you're Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy and band, performing the songs of R.E.M., and the bearded old guy in a beanie is Michael Stipe, it's going to be a rather special night.

If you were an audience member at Brooklyn Steel in New York on Saturday (7th), this is exactly what happened.

Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy are currently touring Life's Rich Pageant on its 40th anniversary, and Michael performed a reprise of These Days (track 2, side 1) followed by The Great Beyond, one of R.E.M.'s last great singles of the 20th Century.

The band, sans Stipe, subsequently returned to the stage to play six (count 'em) songs for the encore, but honestly, how do you follow that?!

To quote from another R.E.M. song, "take comfort in your friends". 

And we all have a friend in Michael Stipe.

Take The World At 45

I have JC at The Vinyl Villain to thank for my love of Sister John.

It all started innocently enough on 12th March 2022, with #298 of JC's epic Saturday's Scottish Song series (still going strong, with #495 dropping yesterday).

Sister John were that week's featured artist and JC was spot on when he wrote that,

"I’m guessing that, for the vast majority of you, this will be your introduction to Sister John.  I thought that it would therefore be worthwhile to post one song from each of the three albums, and should you find yourself enjoying and liking what you hear, then perhaps you might be tempted to place an order with LNFG for some vinyl."

I did like what I heard but wasn't sufficiently moved to go to LNFG, aka Last Night From Glasgow, to place an order. After all, I hadn't bought any vinyl for years!

That all changed before the year was out, when JC enthused about the imminent debut album from HiFi Sean & David McAlmont, which was available to LNFG subscribers in 2022, ahead of a general release in 2023. 

Suitably motivated, I took out an annual subscription, and got the album - Happy Endings - and was introduced to a load of other artists that I'd either not heard of at all, or not for a very, very long time.

One of the perks of LNFG membership is access to their digital vault of pretty much everything the label has released since day 1. And it was in the vault that I rediscovered Sister John, namely the three albums mentioned in JC's post, plus singles and one-offs.

2025 saw the release of fourth album, Don't Worry, It's Forever, the first that I've received in glorious vinyl and it maintains the high standard of the previous releases.

Sister John is a four-piece, comprising multi-talented multi-instrumentalists Heather Phillips, Jonathan Lilley and Sophie Pragnell and, at the core, Amanda McKeown.

Amanda also writes all of the songs, which manage the balance between achingly sparse and deeply moving. JC reflected on "particularly enjoying [the music] when I’ve needed to, or wanted to, slow things right down."

He's absolutely right. Sister John's albums would fit comfortably in a playlist including Nick Drake, late period Talk Talk, or Portishead, yet sounds like none of these. And chances are, Sister John may have passed me by altogether, were it not for the recommendation from the blogging community, which would have been a tragedy.

Today's Sister John selection has been sitting on my hard drive and on my phone for well over a month. It was a last minute decision to go ahead with posting it today and it was only when referring back to The Vinyl Villain that I realised that it's pretty much 4 years to the day since that fateful Saturday's Scottish Song post. Sometimes, these things are just meant to be.

So, this is me paying forward. As with JC's original post, I've sampled three songs, one from each of the four albums, plus a 2016 single that also ended up on their debut. More by accident than design, the first half focuses on Sister John's earlier recordings, the second half their output in the 2020s.

I had half a thought to match the compilation title by bringing the selection in 45 minutes. Sensibly, I went with a sequence that seemed to flow and play well as an album in it's own right, so the running time went a bit over, but no regrets.

The closing song here is also the closing song on the current album and is as good a sentiment as any, in a world where it's easy to become paralysed by fear and self-doubt. I should take Amanda's advice myself.

And if you like what you hear, but are unsure whether to buy a Sister John album or, better still, subscribe to Last Night From Glasgow, you know what? Just do it anyway.

1) Gone (2017)

2) Silver Whistle (2019)

3) He Came Down (Single Version) (2016)

4) Lost And Won (2019)

5) Backstreet Swimmers (2017)

6) The Other Side Of Love (2019)

7) Strange Ideas (2021)

8) Thinner Air (2017)

9) Grief (2025)

10) The Bud (2021)

11) Me And Nevine (2025)

12) How Can I Keep It Alive? (2021)

13) Just Do It Anyway (2025)

2016: He Came Down EP: 3

2017: Returned From Sea: 1, 5, 8

2019: Sister John: 2, 4, 6

2021: I Am By Day: 7, 10, 12

2025: Don't Worry, It's Forever: 9, 11, 13

Take The World At 45 (46:43) (GD) (M)

Live It Well

Not a lot of chat today as I've been plagued by power cuts whilst composing this post and it's accompanying selection. Only brief ones, but they've knocked out the PC every time and it's taken increasingly longer to get everything up and running again. And it's raining again.

"Arse!" as Father Jack was inclined to say, well, shout.

In that spirit, here's some joie de vivre courtesy of a dozen songs that have already brightened up my 2026; some only just so as they were released for Bandcamp Friday.

Again, I've found myself with an embarrassment of riches and have compiled 12 of them for your listening pleasure today, and this weekend.

Spare Snare's cover of Say My Name by Destiny's Child has been knocking around since 2001, but it's just reappeared on brand new compilation, Love Your Later Stuff, so it gets in on a technicality. That, and it segues beautifully into the dub of Jezebell's Turn It Yes by Justin Robertson's Five Green Moons.

It was a chance check in with the official Gavin Friday website that led me to the David Holmes remix of The Church Of Love, which snuck out earlier this year. 

And if you enjoy the song by Al MacKenzie (D:Ream) which gives today's post it's title (well, half of it at least) I will be coming back to the Evil Acid Barons album, which is an early contender for compilation of the year... and only a handful of tracks have been released so far.

1) Protector: SAULT (Chapter 1)

2) Life Is Short, Live It Well (Vocal Mix): Al MacKenzie (Evil Acid Barons)

3) Program 70: Pye Corner Audio (Program 70 EP)

4) Love To Watch U: A_M_B_O_S_S (Machine X Human EP)

5) Nothing Ever (Tom Sharkett Remix): GLOK / Timothy Clerkin (Alliance Remixed)

6) Surrounded By Spies (Richard Norris Dub): Placebo (Surrounded By Spies EP)

7) Song Of Siraba (Cosmikuro Remix): A Space Age Freak Out (Song Of Siraba EP)

8) My Electric Dreams (Airsine Remix): Pete Bones (My Electric Dreams EP)

9) The Church Of Love (David Holmes Remix): Gavin Friday (The Church Of Love And Dancing EP)

10) Say My Name (Cover of Destiny's Child): Spare Snare (2001) (Love Your Later Stuff)

11) Turn It Yes (Justin Robertson's Five Green Moons Dub): Jezebell (Turn It Yes Remixes Vol. 1 EP)

12) Môgôya (BOM Nation Remix): Namian Sidibé (Remix EP)

Live It Well (1:07:07) (GD) (M)

Unexpected Item In Bagging Area*

* Before Swiss Adam's solicitor takes further action, I state for the record that this post relates to Bandcamp Friday, not their client's illustrious blog.

Yes, it's that time again when I wade through the mass of emails, all telling me about music that I should be spending my pennies on in the next 24 hours.

Sometimes they're expected. I often receive similar communications in the weeks, sometimes months, leading up to release. Sometimes, they're unexpected, literally dropped in whilst I've been asleep. And knowing how little I sleep, that's no mean feat.

Lots to choose from, here are five that will be ringing through the checkout this Friday:

First up is Bristol's Diz Undone, formerly known as Dizraeli, who I've come to late but feel very glad that I made it. By his own admission, Diz Undone has made a career of (artistically speaking) "distributing explosions that journalists find hard to describe."

He's right, but I like what I hear and Normal, featuring Grove andTom Caruana hits the spot, with a cracking video to boot.

I'm biased, as I'll buy anything that has Bedford Falls Players aka Mark Cooper's name attached to it, but North Star is another satisfying bass-heavy seven minutes "Inspired by The North Star of Andrew Weatherall".

From Maidenhead, Berkshire to Gydnia in Poland and reggae/dub specialists Muflon Dub Soundsystem, with Empty Church. There's a vocal and dub version, both featuring Karolina; the latter edges it slightly for me.

Another "no need to try, go ahead and buy" is anything on the Paisley Dark Records label, and Engage by Krabberz is the latest addition to the list. I'm not familiar with Krabberz but the line-up of artists on this remix EP are firm favourites: Airsine, Högt I Tak, Jay-Son and 10:40. All for three quid. A steal!

Lastly, a new single from Transglobal Underground that's so fresh that it's not yet available at the time of posting. Head over to their Bandcamp page after 10.00am GMT to discover double A-side Doin' The Moonshine / Darjeeling Train.

Style Is Surely Our Own Thing, Not The False Disguise Of Showbiz

Well, if I thought yesterday's music heralded the start of Spring, then I'd missed the fact that 3rd March was official De La Soul Day. At least, if you were there for their Tiny Desk Concert. And boy, do I wish I was.

Whilst it's sad that De La Soul is now fronted as a 2-piece of Posdnuos aka Kelvin Mercer and Maseo aka Vincent Mason following Trugoy The Dove aka Dave Jolicoeur's passing in 2023, the latter is with them throughout, whether through frequent name checks, a "would Dave approve?" check when assembling the setlist, boldly emblazoned on Maseo's T-shirt and a name card on the desk, front and centre.

It's a joyous performance, an impressive seven musicians and singers crammed in behind the desk with Pos and Maseo, and a whopping ten tracks in 20-odd minutes, a reminder why De La Soul were - and remain - such a vital force and hugely influential in music.

1) YUHDONTSTOP (3:00)

2) Will Be (1:27)

3) Much More (2:25)

5) Sunny Storms (2:17)

6) Different World (1:45)

7) Breakadawn (2:43)

8) Pony Ride (1:55)

9) A Quick 16 For Mama (2:24)

10) Me Myself And I (3:21)

All You Need Is...

...love, if you subscribe to The Beatles' time-honoured testament. Bobby Thorpe and Psychederek, 21st Century realists and therefore much more pragmatic, assert that all you need is a little emotion.

In fact, so sure of this are they that they've collaborated on a new 4-track EP of the same name, with the title track (actually song 2) as a preview. It's a cheery, chuggy number built around that sampled refrain and the promise of the spring and summer to come.

The EP is available on 12" vinyl and digital and not out in full until April, but you can pre-order and download A Little Emotion now.

This is the first I've heard of Bobby Thorpe, which is my loss as I've discovered that he released the equally wonderful Salford Balearic, last July, self-described as a "100BPM summer chugger". Bobby's not wrong, it's a beauty.

With Bandcamp Friday arriving imminently, you should seriously consider adding this to your shopping cart. I have.

Psychederek aka Lewis Olsen is like an old friend to this blog, always welcome. As a reminder, here are a couple of songs, a wonderful cover (with full band) of 808 State's Pacific State and Screamadereka from 2021, the one that got me hooked in the first place. This and lots more to enjoy - and buy - on their Bandcamp site.