So Hurried, So Tomorrow, No Today...I Can't Keep Up

As we're heading to the last Bandcamp Friday of 2025, I'm going to spotlight an A-Z of artist releases from this year that are at least on my shopping list, even if they don't quite make it final check out.

Today covers artists A-F, namely

Alex Kassian x Spooky x Placid Angles

Burial

Coyote

Deeply Armed remixed by Andrew Innes & Brendan Lynch and Keith Tenniswood

Eddie Chacon

Fatboy Slim vs. The Rolling Stones

Alex Kassian has taken Orange Coloured Liquid, a lush, languid track from Spooky's 1993 debut album Gargantuan, on a trip through time. Part I is upbeat, Part II is closer to the shimmering original, whilst Placid Angels aka John Beltran lands somewhere between the two. You also get Spooky's version to round out a satisfying EP.

 

Burial returned in August with the 2-track single Comafields / Imaginary Festival. As usual, I find both tracks simultaneously soothing and disconcerting, which are even more effective as I listen to this on a cold, dark, wet November morning...thankfully, not alone at Casa K.

Coyote aka Richard Hampson and Timm Sure have been successfully creating an immersive Balearic environment for many years now, and it shows no sign of running out of space to grow. This year has so far seen a trio of releases: 6-track EP/mini-album Wailing To The Yellow Dawn in April, one-off track Battle Weary in October; today's pick, also October, is the 3-track Escape Pattern EP.

Deeply Armed is Belfast trio Michael McKeown (vocals, guitar, synth, percussion), Aaron O’Neill (electronics, synth, engineering), and Kenny Whaley (bass, synth). 

The Healing is the first song that I've (knowingly) heard by them and there's a real David Holmes vibe, circa The Holy Pictures. No surprise that he and Andrew Weatherall were early supporters. Andrew Innes and Brendan Lynch offer a rousing 3-minute remix that sounds like (good) Primal Scream, but the pick of the bunch is Keith Tenniswood's down low mix that sounds like you're listening to the party next door, ear pressed up against the wall, wishing you there. Great stuff.

Eddie Chacon's solo catalogue has been a revelation. Lay Low is I think Eddie's third album, released at the end of January this year. The previous two were made with John Carroll Kirby; this time Eddie has collaborated with Nick Hakim and the results are phenomenal.

I could have picked any of the eight songs so, if you like Let The Devil In, you will love Lay Low.

Back in 2003, Fatboy Slim aka Norman Cook remixed The Rolling Stones' classic Sympathy For The Devil. Fast forward twenty two years, and this time he's mashed up (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (1965) with his own The Rockafeller Skank (1998)... and it works for me.

 

 

More tomorrow.

Decayed I: 2000

Side 1 of a faux FX Super Ferric C90 cassette, properly kicking off a new series of mixtapes that never were, and a follow on from my previous runs through the 1980s and 1990s.

There was a thirty five year gap between Decade and its sequel, Decadance (sic). A mere eight months' wait this time!

The 2000s was a significant decade for me: I became a house owner, a husband, a father; I changed jobs; I got a home computer (with dial up internet!); I went to more comedy gigs than music gigs; I finally went to Japan with Mrs. K, and we had an unforgettable month there.

I also listened to music, lots of music, but even that was changing. Whereas the move from the 1980s to the 1990s had seen a shift from vinyl to CDs, as the 2000s progressed, there was a further shift from CDs to MP3s.

Entering the decade, I was still making mixtapes, though that shifted quickly to CD-Rs as soon as Casa K had a computer and printer set up at home. Times were changing, and I was trying to keep up.

I was no longer keeping up with Top Of The Pops or the UK charts, though. The former had pretty much lost me in the previous decade, with the predominance of bland bands that were visually and aurally uninteresting. 

Likewise, the stupid marketing of the early 2000s saw a smaller number of songs spread across an increasing number of formats. The chances of getting a decent, value-for-money EP were a thing of the past and instead, completists would be forced to buy the two or three CD singles, possibly a DVD and/or a 12" vinyl, to get a mere 5 or 6 songs.

First week promos and multi-buy deals meant that the chances of singles getting to #1 in the UK were pretty good; staying at #1 (or even remaining in the Top 10) by week two less so. According to Iffypedia, there were 274 UK #1 singles in the 2000s, 11 of those by Westshite, which illustrates better than anything how bad things were.

And yet... despite my expectation that this series would highlight a yawning chasm between music I enjoyed and chart success, I've been surprised by the consistent hits across this series. Starting with today's selection, there are a fair number of songs that either didn't chart or failed to crack the Top 30, but there are more Top 5s than I was expecting, too.

Enough of my yakking, let's get into things with the year 2000.

Last Sunday's Decayed Prelude revealed a number of artists that failed to make the cut for any of the ten upcoming selections. Likewise, many in the next five weeks will make just one appearance, including today's opening act, Primal Scream.

When I 'reviewed' their XTRMNTR album for the back page of an A5 DIY comic zine that I was selling in Forbidden Planet for 50p, it amounted to one word: FLLR. My opinion hasn't significantly shifted in the quarter century since: it's a good (imaginary) compilation of mixes and B-sides, but didn't and doesn't hang together for me as a proper album.  

Much as I love Kill All Hippies with it's samples of Linda Manz from Dennis Hopper's 1980 film Out Of The Blue and one of the filthiest basslines ever, it didn't (excuse the pun) scream 'single!" to me. Yet it was, I bought it, and it got to #24.

All Saints were also enjoying continuing success by association with a film, albeit a contemporary release. I revisit the soundtrack to The Beach more often than the film itself, due to the spot-on choice of artists. 

I wasn't a fan of All Saints, but I was a sucker for William Orbit's bleeps and bloops and on Pure Shores, it was a perfect pairing. The record buying public agreed, and it scored All Saints their fourth UK #1.

Other Top 5 hits include Kids by Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue, a pop song so good that they both included it on their albums released that year. The single was held off the top spot by U2 (Beautiful Day), though both were supplanted by Steps and the Baha Men the following week.

Porcelain was about the 500th single from Moby's mega-successful Play (an achievement in itself, given that there are only 18 songs on the album). The single peaked at #5, the most successful of the Play singles released here. 

Moloko are the third and final Top 5 contender this time, with the sublime The Time Is Now and my personal favourite of everything that Róisín Murphy and Mark Brydon wrote and recorded together. You've got Melanie C and Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes to thank for keeping this cracker off the top spot, as they released Never Be The Same Again the same week. Prophetic words, as Westshite had evicted them a week later.

Apart from Primal Scream, other Top 30 artists featured here include Black Box Recorder and Finley Quaye, whilst The Dandy Warhols just missed out on the Top 40 this time around with Bohemian Like You. However, they returned with a vengeance (and the same song) the following year, thanks to its use in a Vodafone advert.

Given that I ditched Groovejet by Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bextor from my 2000 shortlist, the inclusion of obscure Australian electronic act Gerling may be a surprise. What was a surprise to me was that their single Enter Spacecapsule actually made it to #33. I picked it up on spec from the bargain bin at Replay Records in Bristol at the time and immediately fell in love with it. I had a similar reaction to the Mekon single guest starring 80s legend Roxanne Shanté. Bring it on!

Likewise with the lush combo of strings and beats, courtesy of ex-Voodoo Queen, Anjali. Lazy Lagoon was one of the very first MP3s I downloaded (for free) from the Wiiija Records website in 2000. Took bloody ages thanks to my ultra slow dial-up internet connection, though it was worth it. The single failed to chart - I bought the CD single a while later, dirt cheap - but it and the eponymous debut album that homes it, comes highly recommended.

Shocking to think now that Lovely Head, the debut single by Goldfrapp, also failed to chart back in the day. I've pretty much lost track of what Alison Goldfrapp is up to these days, though her work with Will Gregory still has the power to thrill and this song in particular had it all from the start. Excellent whistling, too.

As with the previous series, the info nerd in me has insisted on including info at the end, listing each single's peak (UK) chart placing and date, and the relevant album it sprung from (or EP if it was a standalone single).

Sunday, as it must, will take a long, hard look at 2001. Space odyssey or space oddity? I'll leave you to decide.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the next 45 minutes of sounds from 2000!

And, if you want even more nostalgia, I've reactivated the previous selections for 1980 and 1990.

1) Kill All Hippies (Brendan Lynch Edit): Primal Scream ft. Linda Manz

2) Pure Shores (The Beach Life Mix By William Orbit): All Saints

3) Kids (Album Version): Robbie Williams & Kylie Minogue

4) Porcelain (Single Version): Moby

5) Enter Spacecapsule (Radio Disko Remix): Gerling

6) Lazy Lagoon (Album Version): Anjali

7) The Facts Of Life (Radio Edit): Black Box Recorder

8) Lovely Head (Album Version): Goldfrapp

9) The Time Is Now (Edit): Moloko

10) Spiritualized (Album Version): Finley Quaye

11) What's Going On? (Edit): Mekon ft. Roxanne Shanté

12) Bohemian Like You (Album Version): The Dandy Warhols

20th February 2000: Saints & Sinners / The Beach (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (#1): 2

26th March 2000: XTRMNTR (#24): 1

26th March 2000: Things To Make And Do (#2): 9

16th April 2000: The Facts Of Life (#20): 7

5th June 2000: Felt Mountain (# n/a): 8 *

18th June 2000: Play (#5): 4

25th June 2000: Enter Spacecapsule EP (#33): 5

3rd September 2000: Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia (#42): 12 **

17th September 2000: Vanguard (#26): 10

17th September 2000: Relax With Mekon (#43): 11

15th October 2000: Sing When You're Winning / Light Years (#2): 3

22nd October 2000: Anjali (# n/a): 6

Side One (45:31) (GD) (M)

* Lovely Head had a second bite of the (black) cherry when it was re-released as a double A-side with Pilots (On A Star), peaking at #68 the week of 11th November 2001.

** Likewise, a re-release of Bohemian Like You rocketed the single to #5 in the week of 4th November 2001.

Black & White

Well, what else could I do...? The logical, some (me included) may say ridiculous conclusion of this week's accidental monochrome theme is of course a 'Black & White' Dubhed excursion.

The selection kicks off with Dollar, a duo who it has to be said I disliked intensely when they had hits in the 1980s and loathed anew when they popped up like a turd you can't flush away in last-chance-saloon reality TV show Reborn In The USA in 2003. In the spirit of Kevin Rowland's recent rework of classic Dexys Midnight Runners' album Too-Rye-Ay, I present Dollar 'as they should have sounded', surprisingly coming across like an Andy Bell outtake from The View From Halfway Down.

Asian Dub Foundation get things back on track, with Jazzanova and David Holmes putting a different spin on Calexico and Doves respectively. Martha & The Muffins appear in their short-lived M+M guise with a song so 1984, it repeatedly mentions the year throughout, instantly freezing the song in time. I love it. 

 

A special mention for David Devant & His Spirit Wife, who I always associate with the late 1990s and was therefore surprised to find have kept going into the 21st Century, releasing their fourth album in 2019. Luckily for them, their song Black And White appears on the only single I own by the band, 1997's Lie Detector EP.

Closing proceedings is a wonderful live take of Black Man In A White World by the astonishingly talented Michael Kiwanuka, stretching out the original album version to nearly twice the length. If you were there, I'd imagine you'd have been quite happy if the song had gone on for 15 to 20 minutes.

 

As a nod to the trio of songs from 1980 by The The, Siouxsie & The Banshees and Elvis Costello & The Attractions, today's cover picture is made up of screen shots from The Blues Brothers, which came out the same year. A superb film with a spectacular scene-stealing turn from the brilliant, beautiful and greatly missed Carrie Fisher.

Happy Friday, everyone!

 

1) Hand Held In Black & White ('As It Should Have Sounded' Version By Khayem): Dollar (1981)

2) Black White (Brendan Lynch Mix): Asian Dub Foundation (1998)

3) Black Heart (Jazzanova's White Soul Dub): Calexico (2004)

4) Black And White: The The (1980)

5) Eve White / Eve Black: Siouxsie & The Banshees (1980)

6) Black And White: David Devant & His Spirit Wife (1997)

7) Black And White Town (David Holmes Remix): Doves (2005)

8) Black & White World: Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1980)

9) Black Stations/White Stations (Extended Dance Mix): M+M (1984)

10) Black Man In A White World (Live @ The Royal Albert Hall, London): Michael Kiwanuka (2017)

Black & White (47:52)

Remix My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To

Happy birthday, Paul Weller, born 25th May 1958. 

 

From yesterday's sorrow to today's joy, celebrating 64 years of musical genius. It's not proven that Weller was composing music in the crib but I'm sure he was thinking about it.

I've had an on-off relationship with Weller's music, particularly his solo career, and sporadically purchase his albums, usually on the recommendation of friends and fellow bloggers.

What has always piqued my curiosity, however, has been Weller's openness to the art of the remix. From his earliest solo forays with the stunning Brendan Lynch remixes of Kosmos and Sunflower to last year's Fat Pop (Volume 1) reworkings by Pet Shop Boys, Jagz Kooner & Andrew Innes and Stone Foundation, they've always been of interest to me. At best, the songs are taken on a new, equally rewarding aural journey; at worst, they'll lift a song that I originally found less appealing.

So, to celebrate Weller's constant search for new sonic environments for his song ideas, here are 12 selections across the last three decades, coming in at a smidge under 64 minutes, one for each of Weller’s birthdays to date.

I have to give a credit to the superb Thirty Minute Paul Weller Remix Mix posted at Bagging Area in April, which planted the seed of inspiration for today's selection. I've managed to avoid duplicating any of Swiss Adam's selections, so I'd strongly recommend getting over there after listening to this for an extended Weller Remixed aural experience.

 

Tenuous link time: absolutely no apologies for today's punning post title; it came to me part way through the mix in a flash of inspiration (if you can indeed call it inspiration). The last time I featured Paul Weller (albeit as The Style Council) here was on 15th May 2022, which apparently was also the 7th National Pun Day in the USA (the UK seems to have plumped for 8th February instead). Either way, that's good enough for me.

1) Aim High (Aim Higher) (The Amorphous Androgynous Remix By Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain) (2010)

2) Phoenix (White Label Remix By Steve Aungle, Anth Brown & Tom Doyle) (2017)

3) That Pleasure (Get Involved) (Remixed By Stone Foundation) (2021)

4) Wishing On A Star (Steve Mason Remix For The Beta Band) (Cover of Rose Royce) (2006)

5) Brushed (Unreleased Brendan Lynch Remix #1) (1997)

6) Rockets (Jane Weaver / Mind Control Remix By Jane Weaver & Andy Votel) (2020)

7) Starlite (D-Pulse Remix) (2011)

8) Sunflower (Lynch Mob Dub) (Remix By Brendan Lynch) (1994)

9) Fast Car, Slow Traffic (The Primal Scream Remix) (7" Version) (2010)

10) Rip Up The Pages (Lynchmob Mix By Brendan Lynch) (2008)

11) There's No Drinking After You're Dead (Noonday Underground Remix By Simon Dine) (2000)

12) Kosmos SX Dub 2000 (Remix By David Harry) (1993)

Remix My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To (1:03:53)