Friday On Friday

There's a long-running and ongoing series on BlueSky called #FallFriday which - no surprise here - sees people posting a song by The Fall on a Friday.

This is my first contribution to #FallFriday and of course I had to be a clever dick by picking a song that guest stars Gavin Friday.

Clear Off! wasn't even a single, but followed on from Draygo's Guilt on Side 1 of the Call For Escape Route EP, a 1984 12" single which came with a free 7" single, racking up five songs in total. All bloody good songs, too.

Clear Off! isn't Gavin's only collaboration with Mark E. Smith and co., maybe I'll feature either or both when I finally have the nerve to create a Dubhed selection for The Fall...

When the off license asks

I've been 2 months

Checks the crack

On their forehead

Should comb a hair

Over that

And these Czech shoes

Are a bloody reminder

And this town

Is not much different

The clothes, the stooped appearance

Over the hill

Goes killer civil servant

I still remember

The white leafy border

The scheiss in winter

Over the hill

Goes killer civil servant

There's a song she had before

Borough town

That had the snappy rejoinder

Who's there?

What's wrong?

Clear off!

Nuns On The Run

Girl Missing by Albertine Sarges was an accidental but fun discovery. 

Released as a single on 7th January, it's a precursor - and title track - to her imminent second album. Girl Missing is out in full on 21st February, but a pre-order on Bandcamp will provide downloads of 5 of the 13 songs.

Albertine is Berlin based and her music has been appearing since 2020 via Moshi Moshi Records, a label which I frequently forget how much I enjoy. So, my loss that I've missed out on Albertine's music so far and I will be diving into the back catalogue pronto.

The video for Girl Missing is a lot of fun. Not, as the post title suggests, a homage to the rather underwhelming 1990 film starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, yet featuring nuns. On the run. Albertine's notes on the song and video's background makes for an entertaining and insightful read.

As these things do, Girl Missing inevitably got me thinking of A.C. Marias, the duo of artist Angela Conway and Wire guitarist Bruce Gilbert, specifically One Of Our Girls Has Gone Missing, also a single and album title, albeit from 35 years ago.

A quick search unearthed the video from 1989 featuring dancer Julie Hood, a founder member of Michael Clark & Co. The previous year, Julie was a key performer in I Am Curious, Orange, the now infamous collaboration between Michael Clark and Mark E. Smith. 

Everything is connected. 

The Wonderful And Frightening World Of... Von Südenfed-ah

The Fall are the featured artist/band in The Vinyl Villain's latest Sunday series, delivering a fascinating and comprehensive look at (& listen to) the band, single by single, with the occasional and worthwhile detour into albums, mini-albums, EPs and other oddities. The series is currently at Part 10 and 1982, and every week it has been a compelling read with some great music, including some that I've heard for the first time.

Fast forward a quarter of a century to 2007 and I took a punt on a promo CD of Von Südenfed's debut (and only) album, Tromatic Reflexxions. I hadn't heard a single song by them, but the fact that Von Südenfed was a collaboration between Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner of Mouse On Mars and The Fall's Mark E. Smith was enough for me to shell out a few quid. It's a challenging and rewarding album, chock full of typically divergent MES references to German DJ Sven Väth, imaginary dialogue with long-gone friends, playing pool for £10 a day and boiling a chicken. Musically, the album veers from club cuts to songs that wouldn't seem too out of place on a Fall album.
 
There were two singles, both on 12" vinyl and promo CD, including a great B-side and mostly inessential remixes. And that was it. The same year, The Fall released their 25th album, Reformation! Post - TLC, with a new line-up following an acrimonious split (what else?) during a US tour the previous year. Von Südenfed might therefore be seen as a fun diversion from the headache of the day job, but it's so much more than that.

1) The Rhinohead (Album Version)
2) Flooded (Album Version)
3) Fledermaus Can't Get It (Album Version)
4) Slow Down Ronnie
5) Dearest Friends
6) Chicken Yiamas
7) The Rhinohead (Pilooski Edit) 
 
1,2,3,5,6 taken from Tromatic Reflexxions
4,7 taken from The Rhinohead 12" single

The Wonderful And Frightening World Of... Von Südenfed (31:48)