The news that there had been rioting, violence and looting following the tragedy in Southport was sadly not surprising.
And when media outlets reported incidents "across the UK", in fact it appeared to be concentrated in England, with Belfast making the news but no mention of similar disturbances in Scotland and Wales, as far as I could see.
I was also sad to see Bristol named as one of the cities but then, given it's prominent anti-racist activity, it's often been a magnet for the far right. And goodness knows we have enough of the morons who were born and "bred" in the city. I grew up with, lived in the same street as and worked with a fair few of them.
The Sky News screen grab above features a few of these fine examples of homo moronus in Bristol on Saturday, facing off against the police. Maybe you recognise some of them. If you happen to serve them at a cafe or takeaway any time soon, hawk a big flob into their food or drink with pleasure.
The mobs are described in the news reports as "protesters". That's far too kind a word for them. As a group gathered at a city centre hotel, I assume in the hope of forcing any immigrants within to go back where they came from, a larger group blocked them, chanting, "We are many, you are few. We are Bristol, who are you?"
There seems to have been some needless social media ripostes about how many of the counter group were in fact from Bristol, which I think is missing the point, or at the very least missing the scene from this classic film. On Saturday, those who turned up to challenge hate and violence were all Bristolian.
I hadn't planned to write this when I started today's selection, it was supposed to be an fairly innocuous round up of some 2024 musical highlights that I haven't covered in previous posts. The post title is a line from one of the featured songs, Too Muchroom by David Holmes and Raven Violet. That, and a sense of horror at the TV news reports, seem to have guided my fingers at the keyboards as I started to type.
You may read some deeper meaning into some of the music choices today but I promise that any themes or connections are purely coincidental. What does link them however is that they represent what continues to be a great year, aurally speaking.
Fluke have been one of the comeback success stories of the year. Jack was released in May with another new song possibly titled Real Magnificent 'coming soon'.
Jesse Fahnestock has never been away and here he is again, with two cracking collaborations, firstly with Emilia Harmony as Electric Blue Vision (and remixed by himself as 10:40). Then, Jesse returns to close the selection with his partner in crime Darren Bell as Jezebell, delivering the fruity tune Citric, freshly squeezed from their Weekend Machines EP.
Sean Johnston also makes a couple of appearances as Hardway Bros. Alessandro Sarsano aka DJALE remixes Functions For Machines from the excellent My Friends EP. Sean later reunites with Duncan Gray for another Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Uptown excursion, this time the aforementioned David Holmes and Raven Violet track.
Richard Norris released an exclusive 4-track EP (album?) in June, only available to subscribers, presenting music he'd created for a show at Paris Fashion Week. Each of the 4 mixes runs to nearly 14 minutes, so I've created a crude 8-minute edit of Mix 3 to include in this selection.
I've been subscribing for a couple of years now. It's superb value for money and also raises funds for mental health charity MIND. I cannot recommend it enough.
Paris In The Summertime aside, Richard has a vast catalogue available on Bandcamp and in fact all of the music featured in today's selection is available to purchase there. If you like what you hear, go track them down, you will not be disappointed.
The penultimate song by Third Attempt samples from Louis Malle's 1981 film My Dinner With Andre
"You see, I keep thinking that what we need is a new language,
The quoted lines are spoken by Andre Gregory, who appears opposite Wallace Shawn (if you don't know the latter's name, you will instantly recognise the face). The film is essentially two friends sharing anecdotes over a restaurant meal for the best part of two hours. They don't make 'em like that anymore.
If you made it to the end of this post, many thanks for indulging me and I hope the music is sufficient compensation!
1) Jack: Fluke ft. Leah Cleaver (SW18 Sessions)
2) Trance Stance (1040s Haight Steppin Remix By Jesse Fahnestock): Electric Blue Vision (Trance Stance EP)
3) Hell Below: Acid Klaus ft. Lias Saoudi (P.T.S.D By Proxy EP)
4) Song Of Siraba (Mindbender Remix By Mårten Attling): A Space Age Freak Out (Shelter Me: In Crisis)
5) Paris In The Summertime (Mix 3 - Khayem's Olympic Edit): Richard Norris (Paris In The Summertime)
6) There’s Dust On It: Pye Corner Audio (There’s Dust On It EP)
7) Gold Rush (Dub): Break Mode ft. Nuri Orman (Boomarm Nation Family Album 2024)
8) Functions For Machines (DJALE Last Song Remix By Alessandro Sarsano): Hardway Bros (My Friends Remixes EP)
9) Waif Mentality: Orbury Common (Waif Mentality EP)
10) Too Muchroom (Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Uptown Remix By Sean Johnston & Duncan Gray): David Holmes ft. Raven Violet (Blind On A Galloping Horse (Remixes Vol. 2))
11) Language Of The Heart: Third Attempt (Offshore Sunsets EP)
12) Citric: Jezebell (Weekend Machines EP)
