The Spaces Between Places Where Interesting Things Can Happen

Miki Berenyi Trio have a new song called Doldrum Days out and about, a lush (pun intended) six and a half minutes of shimmering guitars, pattering percussion and ethereal vocals that will have you grinning from ear to ear, whether from nostalgia or the joy of listening for the first time to something special.

As a huge fan of Lush from the outset - their first three 12" EPs were prized possessions - I somehow managed to let Miki's subsequent band Piroshka pass me by, but I've been enraptured by MB3's beautifully harmonious sound. 

It's a testament to the trio - Miki, Kevin 'Moose' McKillop and Oliver Cherer - that, having forged their partnership on the live circuit, the move to recording and releasing music has unlocked a creative burst of activity in the past twelve months. 

Doldrum Days comes hot on the heels of Miki Berenyi Trio's first album Tripla, which debuted in April. The album is full of reassuringly familiar sounds and sonic surprises, such as Gango, the penultimate song on Side One and an energetic tribute to Gang Of Four.

You can find Doldrum Days in all the usual places and catch Miki Berenyi Trio on their UK tour starting next month if you can.

Miki Berenyi Trio's debut vinyl release was the Covers EP, bravely tackling four songs by Miki's first band. Light From A Dead Star was originally the opening song of Lush's 1994 album Split.

MB3's version is a 'straight bat' cover (copyright Martin @ New Amusements) but this is no bad thing.

And it would be mean of me to namecheck Lush and not reactivate the Dubhed recreation of the mixtape that I created in July 1992, wouldn't it? 

Forty five minutes and fifteen songs pulled from the Scar, Mad Love, Sweetness And Light and For Love EPs, crammed onto one side of a C90 cassette.

Here you go!

You Can Touch It But It Will Still Not Fade

Side 2 of a cassette compilation, recorded 11th January 1998.

When I posted Side 1 in July 2022, I described it as "eight remixes that I was unlikely to ever hear down the local indie disco, but which in their own way, kick ass." Side 2 is all that, and more.

 

If there's a duff remix of Planet Telex by Radiohead, I've yet to hear it. The UNKLE remix was possibly the first one that I heard, tucked away on one of the CD singles for Just, and it remains my favourite. 

 

Likewise, K-Klass took New Order's Ruined In A Day and elevated it to a higher plain, surpassing the original to the extent that I'm pretty sure that this was the version the band 'performed' when they appeared on Top Of The Pops. Or, at least if it's not true, that's how I prefer to remember it.

Arab Strap's reworking of Don't Die Just Yet by David Holmes has appeared here before, as well as in a guest post that I did in January 2021 for The Vinyl Villain. Again, a remarkably strong bundle of remixes from Mogwai, Delakota and Holmes himself and Messrs. Moffat and Middleton.

Mixed in are some trip hop beats from Attica Blues vs. Lightning Seeds, a bit of drum 'n' bass from Tamsin Elliott vs. Faithless and Lush taken on a gothtronica excursion by Spooky. And then there's Beck, put through the aural equivalent of a meat grinder by Aphex Twin and somehow surviving. 

 

Closing on a funky but rather more sedate pace is Jon Carter, shrugging off his Monkey Mafia mantle to mix the Manics. Phat beats and a trumpet, what more could you want?

 

1) Planet Telex (Karma Sunra Mix By UNKLE): Radiohead (1995)

2) You Showed Me (Attica Blues Vocal Mix) (Cover of The Turtles): Lightning Seeds (1997)

3) Richard's Hairpiece (Remix Of "Devil's Haircut" By Aphex Twin): Beck (1997)

4) Ruined In A Day (Reunited In A Day Remix By K-Klass): New Order (1993)

5) Reverence (Tamsin's Re-Fix By Tamsin Elliott): Faithless (1996) 

6) The Holiday Girl (Don't Die Just Yet) (Remixed By Arab Strap): David Holmes (1997)

7) Undertow (Spooky Remix By Charlie May & Duncan Forbes): Lush (1994)

8) Kevin Carter (Busts Loose) (Remixed By Jon Carter): Manic Street Preachers (1996)

 

1993: Ruined In A Day EP: 4 

1994: Hypocrite EP: 7

1995: Just EP: 1 

1996: Kevin Carter EP: 8

1996: Reverence / Irreverence (ltd 2x CD): 5 

1997: Don't Die Just Yet EP: 6

1997: The New Pollution EP: 3

1997: You Showed Me EP: 2

 

Side Two (46:02) (KF) (Mega)

Side One avaialble here

Liars & Hypocrites

Sometimes the news headlines suggest the playlist...

 

If it's not galling enough that these lying, entitled scumbags are in government, their value on the consultancy and after-dinner speaking circuit has no doubt increased on the back of their increasing infamy.

 

Just stop pretending that you are representing "the people" and not the selfish, grubby interests of yourselves and your cronies. I did not vote for you and you do not represent me.

1) Devil Is A Liar: Kode9 & The Spaceape (2014)

2) Liar With Wings: Andrew Weatherall (2009) 

3) Hypocrite: Matumbi (1978)

4) Two Thieves And A Liar: Gary Clail / On-U Sound System ft. Bim Sherman (1989)

5) Liar, Liar (Cover of The Castaways): Deborah Harry (1988)

6) Burn The Liars: The Earlies (2007)

7) Reeling The Liars In (Cover of Swans): Cold Specks (2012)

8) Liar: Kelsey Lu (2016)

9) Liars A To E (Single Version): Dexy's Midnight Runners (1981)

10) Hypocrite: Lush (1994)

11) Fakes & Liars: The Wolfgang Press (1992)

12) Liar: Sex Pistols (1977)

1977: Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols: 12

1978: Seven Seals: 3

1981: Liars A To E EP: 9

1988: Married To The Mob OST: 5

1989: End Of The Century Party: 4

1992: Queer: 11

1994: Hypocrite EP: 10

2007: The Enemy Chorus: 6

2009: A Pox On The Pioneers: 2 

2012: Dancing Coins EP: 7

2014: Killing Season EP: 1

2016: Church: 8

Liars & Hypocrites (43:41)

All The Colours Talk To Me

I saw Lush live in concert (supported by Gallon Drunk, who I sadly don't recall at all) at the Bristol Bierkeller on 27th October 1991. I was a big fan of the first two releases by Lush, the mini-album Scar and follow up EP, Mad Love. The latter aptly titled, as I had a huge fanboy crush on Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson. I had the fold-out poster of the band's "infamous body paint photos" by Kevin Cummins in a 1990 edition of NME on my wall. I thought they were even more beautiful on stage.

Lush had a lot going for them: great songs with urgent rhythms; guitars that alternated between jangly and squalling, sometimes in the same song; harmonies that wouldn't cause The Beach Boys to lose any sleep but which worked beautifully with the melodic sounds they created. Given the heavy debt to Cocteau Twins, it was fitting that Lush were not only on the 4AD label (with the requisite gorgeous artwork) but also produced by Robin Guthrie on the Mad Love EP and debut album, Spooky.

Today's selection is taken from a mixtape, recorded 2nd July 1992. For regular readers' interest, the flipside was The Sugarcubes' mixtape, which I featured in February. At this time, it was just over eight months since the gig and about six since Spooky had been released. Yet, I still only had three Lush records: the aforementioned Scar and Mad Love, plus the For Love EP, which I'd bought with some other vinyl in the bargain bin at WH Smith with a Christmas or birthday present voucher. 

There had been another couple of singles in the meantime: 1990's Sweetness And Light, produced by Tim Friese-Greene, and the Black Spring EP, released in 1991 to promote the tour that I attended. My friend had the 12" of the former, so I was able to borrow it (along with his Sugarcubes albums) to cobble together a 45-minute compilation.

I didn't really follow Lush much after that, although I would dip into - and enjoy - what followed with the Desire Lines and Hypocrite EPs, though I was less of a fan of 500 (Shake Baby Shake) and Single Girl and their being lumped in with the Britpop bands in the mid-1990s.

The tragic death of drummer Chris Acland in 1996 brought the band to an end. They briefly reformed for live performances and the Blind Spot EP in 2016, which appears to have been the definitive final chapter for Lush. I didn't see Lush live in concert again, but here's a sparkling performance of Sweetness And Light from KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic.

1) Sweetness And Light (1990)

2) Scarlet (1989)

3) Sunbathing (1990)

4) Breeze (1990)

5) Downer (1990)

6) Baby Talk (1989)

7) Bitter (1989)

8) For Love (Album Version) (1991)

9) Etheriel (1989)

10) Second Sight (1989)

11) Leaves Me Cold (1990)

12) Astronaut (1991)

13) De-Luxe (1990)

14) Outdoor Miner (Cover of Wire) (1991)

15) Thoughtforms (Re-Recorded Version) (1990)

 

1989: Scar: 2, 6, 7, 9, 10

1990: Mad Love EP: 5, 11, 13, 15

1990: Sweetness And Light EP: 1, 3, 4

1991: For Love EP: 8, 12, 14

 

All The Colours Talk To Me (45:20) (GD) (M)

Zoo Time Is She And You Time

Side 1 of a mixtape cassette titled heartbeatincreasingheartbeat, recorded 25th September 1991. 

 

Back in Bristol after a year working and travelling in Australia, back at college for a second go at 'A' levels having dropped out after 6 months a few years previously, back living with my parents after a period of independence and freedom and back in local record shops, sniffing out new and old vinyl.

1) The Man With The Golden Arm (Full Length Version) (Cover of Elmer Bernstein): Barry Adamson (1988)

2) Strange Days: The Doors (1967)

3) Trip, Stumble & Fall: The Mamas & The Papas (1966)

4) De-Luxe: Lush (1990)

5) Theme II: Clan Of Xymox (1986)

6) Spoil The Child: Fad Gadget ft. Joni Sackett (1983)

7) This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us: Sparks (1974)

8) Thank You For Sending Me An Angel: Talking Heads (1978)

9) The Light Pours Out Of Me ('One Pound Ninety-Nine' Version) (Cover of Magazine): Peter Murphy (1985)

10) The Sleeper: John Cale (1985)

11) The Avenue: O.M.D. (1984)

12) The 'In' Crowd (Cover of Dobie Gray): Bryan Ferry (1974)

13) Wheels Of Fortune: Fad Gadget (1982)

Side One (47:19)

Find Side Two here 
 

heartbeatincreasingheartbeat

Side 2 of a mixtape cassette, recorded 25th September 1991.

More melancholy than jolly, possibly reflecting my mood at the time, back in Bristol living with my parents after a year in Australia. You can almost hear the angst and pretension in the virtual cassette hiss between songs.

1) Theme For Great Cities: Simple Minds (1981)
2) Scarlet: Lush (1989)
3) Annexe: John Foxx (1983)
4) California Earthquake: Mama Cass Elliot (1968)
5) Broken Hearted And Beautiful: Marc Almond (1986)
6) The Democratic Circus: Talking Heads (1988)
7) Love Is Just A Word: Gavin Friday & The Man Seezer (1989)
8) World Weary: The Go-Betweens (1981)
9) Nevers End: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (1985)
10) Head Hang Low: Julian Cope (1984)
11) The Bed: Lou Reed (1972)
12) September Song: The Young Gods (1991)

Side Two (46:37)