Bad Santa VII

It's the last Sunday before Christmas, so time again to burden you with another slipshod Santa mix to annoy your friends, families and pets alike.

In a slight deviation from the usual festive nonsense, this one's chock full of 21st Century Christmas choons, bursting with beats, baggy, shaggy and occasionally daggy. A couple of old classics get ducked in the punch bowl courtesy of Skeewiff, Kaskade, Pocketknife, Maps and James Yuill, whilst the new/old UK Christmas #1 by Wham! gets the cover and remix treatment, because you can never have too much of a good thing.

I think the Anni Rossi holiday miniatures have popped up in other Bad Santa selections, but they all make me smile, so they're in regardless!

 

1) This Is Christmas (Intro): Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler (2011)

2) Last Christmas (Dirty Disco Youth Remix) (Cover of Wham!): The xx (2012)

3) Holiday I.D. (Spanish): Apollonia (1988)

4) Christmas Dub (Part II): Wareika (2013)

5) Son Of Turboman: Jonwayne (2018)

6) Let's Get It Together This Christmas (Skeewiff Rewiff): The Harvey Averne Band (2024)

7) Holiday Tylenol: Anni Rossi (2017)

8) White Christmas (Kaskade Mix): Bing Crosby ft. The Darby Singers (2005)

9) Christmas Is Coming (Pocketknife's Stackin' Ha'Pennies Remix) (cover of traditional song): John Denver & The Muppets (2007)

10) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Genii Remix) (cover of traditional song): Pentatonix (2020)

11) Satan's Little Helper: Pye Corner Audio (2018)

12) A Recorded Message: Daniel Johnston (1988)

13) We Met Bernard Sumner At A Christmas Party Last Night: Marsheaux (2015)

14) Lullaby (Album Version): The Free Design (1970)

15) Anorak Christmas (Club Mix): Sally Shapiro (2006)

16) Holiday Tiramasu: Anni Rossi (2017)

17) In The Bleak Midwinter (Cover of traditional song): Maps ft. Polly Scattergood (2014)

18) Santa's Comin' Down The Chimney (Gabe Gurnsey Remix): Confidence Man (2018)

19) Jingle Bells (Jingle Pints Remix) (cover of traditional song): James Yuill (2010)

20) Holiday Takeout: Anni Rossi (2017)

21) Last Christmas (Remix By Martipants): Wham! (2017)

Bad Santa VII (55:00) (KF) (Mega)

And, if you are hungry for more, here are the previous Bad Santa selections from 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2017 and 2016.

Hold The Rail

Simon Fisher Turner is a musician, songwriter, composer, producer, and actor who has released somewhere in the region of 50 albums in his long and varied career.

 

The latest, Instability of the Signal, was released last Friday and was accompanied by a new single and video, Toast. Apparently this is the fifth single to date though I have managed to miss the previous four in the past three months.

Simon Fisher Turner “In brilliant blue pyjamas, with a garage full of props," describes director John Lee Bird, "this is what happens when two friends have two hours to lark around.”

 

Playing with handheld camera and standard video effects software, it's a good fit with the minimalist soundscape and almost childlike vocals.

 

"I love my comics

But it's not reading my mum would say

You need some Shakespeare

You need a classic

Proper books"

 

A slight spoiler/warning in that the featured comic, an issue of long-running pocket book anthology Commando, does not survive the making of this video.

 

A great song to start the week. 

My introduction to Simon - then minus the Fisher - came in 1991, via a couple of budget priced compilations on the Creation label. Both A Palace In The Sun and American Pensioners On Ecstasy featured the same song, a 12-minute epic titled Dark Melt.

I subsequently discovered that Simon had been a child actor, including a role with Robert Mitchum in the 1971 remake of The Big Sleep, and a would-be teen pop idol mentored by Jonathan King. His self-titled debut album in 1973 featured several cover versions, such as this David Bowie classic.

My stumbling across Simon's music in 1991 coincided with my awareness of his work as a composer for films, notably the work of Derek Jarman between 1986 and 1993, from Caravaggio to Jarman's final work, Blue. 

 

Since that time, Simon has had a long relationship with Mute Records, who have issued many of his albums in the 21st century.

 

In 2020, Simon Fisher Turner collaborated with Edmund de Waal on A Quiet Corner in Time, Two years later, a reworked album built around the title track was released. Sub-titled (Exquisite Corpse), the premise is that an artist reworks the song before passing it on to another artist to do the same, and so on and so on. This is repeated nine times before the song, unrecognisable from it's point of origin, is returned to Simon Fisher Turner for a final de/reconstruction.

 

This is the penultimate track, Maps' remix of a remix of a remix of a remix of a remix of a remix of a remix of a remix. 

 
A Quiet Corner in Time (Exquisite Corpse) includes remixes by Nik Colk Void, Polly Scattergood, Alessandro Cortini and Yann Tiersen. It's available as a free download but a charitable donation to United24, the official fundraising platform of Ukraine, is requested.

Back to Instability of the Signal, one of the inspirations for the album is the writer Harold Pinter and two of his verses are set to music.

 

Democracy was published in 2003 and is four lines

There's no escape.
The big pricks are out.
They'll fuck everything in sight.
Watch your back.

 

The "Special Relationship" dates from 2005 and is equally blunt and crude in it's commentary on war (then specifically, the conflict in Iraq).

 
 
An unintentional rabbit hole, as I was initially drawn to the brevity and levity of Simon's latest single but the latter pieces resonate with the madness of the last months and years. 

Maybe I should have gone for this Toast or that Toast instead....

Get A Grip

Those of you of a certain vintage may recognise Norman "Gripper" Stebson, Grange Hill wrong 'un from 1980, expelled in 1983. 

Nothing wrong about this line-up, however. The Vinyl Villain's posting Lambchop's superb cover of This Corrosion by The Sisters Of Mercy on Tuesday got me thinking of today's opening song and from there a Dubhed selection was born. 

The similarly-titled song by A Certain Ratio gets a stunning synth rinse by Maps, whilst Thomas Leer dusts off his song of the same name, recorded in 2004 and languishing in the vaults until finally released in 2022.

Amateur Night In The Big Top was essentially a duo of Shaun Ryder and Shane Norton, with one self-titled (and hugely underrated) album and a few singles. Clowns was co-written and co-produced by Pete Carroll and Stephen Mallinder and gets a shoo in here courtesy of the remix artist Gripper.

The selection closes with a 12" remix of The Stranglers' classic, released in 1989 as far as I can recall to promote a greatest hits collection. The remix is an odd, welding the percussion track from The Sound Of The Crowd by The Human League to the undercarriage and generally making the song sound more lightweight. Not a patch on the original version, obviously, but an oddity that I think would have sounded as out of place in 1989 as it does now.

Come back here tomorrow for a tale of raffle tickets, home made marmalade and sweet, sweet music.

 

1) (Get A) Grip (On Yourself) (Cover of The Stranglers): Lambchop (2004)

2) Devil's Grip: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown (1967)

3) Get A Grip (Maps Remix By James Chapman): A Certain Ratio ft. Maria Uzor (2021)

4) Kick It (Hippy Grip) (Remix By Randy Wilson): Nitzer Ebb (1995)

5) Get A Grip: Thomas Leer (2004)

6) Drums In A Grip (Wax Doctor Mix By Paul Saunders): Frank De Wulf (1996)

7) Clowns (Gripper Mix By Alan Gubby): Amateur Night In The Big Top (2003)

8) Grip Like A Vice (Black Affair Mix By Steve Mason): The Go! Team (2007)

9) Phantom Grip: Rival Consoles (2018)

10) Elektro (He Held The World In His Iron Grip) (Part Two): Stereolab (1992)

11) Grip '89 (Grippin' Stuff Mix By Barry Cooder & Taff B. Dylan): The Stranglers (1989)

Get A Grip (52:20) (KF) (Mega)

Everything Playing At Once

"How did I get here?" as David Byrne once said. I know what he means. It's been a pretty crappy year in many respects, but music - and blogging about music - has been my salve, my safe space, my springboard back into the, at times, sheer madness of the wider world.

"What, no mega-mix?" as Ernie Goggins commented yesterday. Well, I'd always planned a Dubhed selection to sum up 2023 and see in 2024. Thankfully, it's not a 24-hour marathon attempting to squeeze everything in. Instead, it's a much more ear-friendly party mix at a smidge over an hour, sampling 17 tracks (and one interview snippet) including one song which didn't even make yesterday's end of year list!

This may be the only place today where you will hear Balearic, post-punk, downtempo, travelogue, dub, house, alternative, r 'n' b, politics, jazz and psychedelia all cut and pasted together. As I said to Ernie, more manic- than mega-mix. I think it turned out surprisingly well.

 

I have no plans for Dubhed to slow down in 2024, so expect more of the usual make-it-up-as-I go-along nonsense on a daily basis, inspired as ever by the music that soundtracks my life and keeps me going through good and bad times. 

On that note, a massive thank you again to you all for your continued support this year, it really means a lot. I hope that however you are spending New Year's Eve, it's a good one and that 2024 brings you much joy and happiness.

 

Happy New Year!

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

Bliadhna Mhath ùr! 

Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Dhuit!

Bonne Année!  

Ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος!

Feliz Año Nuevo!  

Щасливого Нового року!

 

1) Ride A Cloud (Xavi's Campfire Mix - Khayem's Nice 'n' Splicey Edit): The Woodentops ft. Kyoko Sato *

2) Master Of Time: Jah Wobble

3) That Time Of Night (Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Uptown Dub): GLOK ft. Shiarra

4) Lack Of Sleep (Pye Corner Audio Remix): Maps

5) Cleanse Your Guilt Here: Algiers

6) Somehow It Feels Important (Auren Remix): Hairdressa

7) Tender Years: Robert Forster

8) I Laugh Myself To Sleep: David Holmes ft. Raven Violet

9) "do you wanna know what's changed about the music industry?": David Holmes **

10) Many Hands (Retroforward Dubbin' Hands Remix): D:Ream 

11) Brigada (Single Version): Bárbara Boeing ft. Phil Mill

12) Baba Louie: Jaimie Branch ft. Akenya Seymour & Kuma Dog

13) Go On Dub (Adrian Sherwood 'Reset In Dub’ Version): Panda Bear & Sonic Boom

14) 3rd Highlands And Islands Tour: Julian Cope

15) wifi: Spare Snare

16) There Will Be No Crying: Cleo Sol

17) $1 One Vote!: The The

18) Sunday's Cool: 10:40

 

Everything Playing At Once (1:02:45) (KF) (Mega) 

 

* This is possibly the laziest edit I've ever done. I've simply laid a copy of the mix on the other, with a 20-second delay and (roughly) beat matched. I like the repetition of Kyoko Sato's voice, so this version stayed in. 

 

** A snippet from Edith Bowman's interview with David Holmes earlier this month. Well worth an hour of your time.

Fly Away

I probably say this every year but this year has been a really good year for top notch electronic music. To prove my point, here's an (almost) hour-long selection of absolute corkers that I have purchased since 2023 emerged blinking into the daylight through to the arse end of what's proved to be, in the UK at least, a washed-out summer.

Stick this on and fly away from it all for a while.

 

1) Facciamo L'Amore (Pete Blaker Remix): Rheinzand

2) The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart (Album Version): A Man Called Adam 

3) Brasiliana: Bárbara Boeing

4) Trinity (Original Version): Pim Secle & Orchid

5) Quiet Spillage (The Long Champs Remix By Lloyd Jones): StinkyJim

6) Synthetic Glory (MAN2.0 Remix By Mark Bailey): James Rod

7) Golden Dirt (Hereldeduke Remix By Linton Brown): Hello Cosmos

8) Look At The Stars Now, Mama (Hardway Brothers Meet Monkton Uptown Deep Dive) (Remix By Sean Johnston & Duncan Gray): D:Ream

9) Lack Of Sleep (Album Version): Maps

 

Bandcamp links below. Purchase of the full EP/album is strongly recommended for all.

 

Facciamo L'Amore EP: 1

The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart: 2

Brasiliana EP: 3

'90's Kids EP: 4

Social Awareness: The Remixes: 5

Synthetic Glory EP: 6

Hard Dirt: Hello Cosmos Remixed: 7

Broken Hearts & Messed Up Minds: The Remix Album: 8

Counter Melodies: 9

 

Fly Away (57:38) (KF) (Mega)

Nostalgic And Dystopian

Martin Jenkins has continued to surprise and delight this year with regular offerings as Pye Corner Audio.

 

First up is a remix of Maps aka James Chapman. Lack Of Sleep is a track from Maps' rather excellent Counter Melodies album. I liked the Mute Records promo blurb that accompanied the release, which cleverly peppers the paragraph with name drops for Pye Corner Audio, Maps, the album and record label.

 

"It was only when she remembered Pye Corner Audio that she'd discovered earlier that day that she found some relief. As she listened to the counter-melodies she closed her eyes and imagined herself in a different place. A place where she could escape from her restless mind and find some peace. She thought of maps and the places she had never been to, places that only existed in her imagination. The music was like a mute button that silenced the noise of the world around her. It was just her and the soundscapes. She felt her mind slowing down, and her body relaxing. Finally, she fell asleep, carried away by the music to a dreamland of her own creation. The next morning, she woke up feeling refreshed and energized. She realised that music was the key to her peaceful state of mind. From that day on, she made it a habit to listen to music every night before going to bed. It was her own personal map to a good night's sleep."

 

The remix itself is a doozy. Maps' original is six and a half minutes of stuttering beats, phased synths and chopped up choral vocals, reminiscent of 1990s Orbital. The Pye Corner Audio remix if anything pushes the Hartnoll Brothers' influence even further, a rolling, whooshing chord progression and stabbing keys leaving you wanting more after a mere four minutes and forty four seconds.

 

You can buy the Pye Corner Audio remix, the Counter Melodies album and Maps' own Counter Mixes companion and an equally wonderful remix of Witchy Feel by GLOK aka Andy Bell via Bandcamp.

 

 

A highlight of Bandcamp Fridays has been the prospect of a new Pye Corner Audio release and 2023 has been no exception, with three so far this year. August's release was Cabaret Sauvage, which immediately strikes as lost Pink Industry outtake, with a striking bass line and synth effects that call to mind 1980s arcade games. Again, one that doesn't hang about, at a smidge over four minutes. Superb.

 

Mayday Acid which, you guessed it, came out in May steps into the 1990s and could easily have passed muster on one of the Trance Europe Express compilations that I loved and regularly return to. A six minute excursion, heavy on the acid and concussive beats, Mayday Acid wouldn't sound out of place in a Slam DJ set at the time.

 

April's release Seen From Above is on a similar TEE/Slam-inspired track, five minutes of building, rolling synth chops, underpinned by an insistent rhythm that imagines (well, to me) a flight above and through a sleeping metropolis. More Batman or Moon Knight than Superman or Spider-Man, I'd say. As ever, superb stuff and all three are available as name your price purchases.

 

Back to James Chapman for a few words which echo my feelings about Pye Corner Audio's music (although I was much, much later to the party) and inspired today's post title.

 

"Since I heard PCA's album ‘Sleep Games’ in 2012 I was instantly hooked by the sound Martin Jenkins created, and have followed his incredible career ever since. For me, his sound is a beautiful mixture of the nostalgic and dystopian, pushing sonic boundaries with every release. The world of Pye Corner Audio is a warm yet brooding place to completely lose yourself in. It has always been a dream of mine to work with Pye Corner Audio so it was incredible to get that opportunity!"