Out Of The Frying Pan, Into The Fire

Beck to the rescue, as I've been unable to complete my planned post for today. If I can get my shit together, it will mean a double post for Sunday, which is a win-win, right?

Run Away appears on Beck's latest album Ride Lonesome and was released as a single on Friday. I'm aware that it's not the first single or video to come out, but it's the first that I've heard. 

If Run Away is indicative of Ride Lonesome as a whole, then we're revisiting contemplative/wistful/acoustic-and-strings Beck, which is no bad thing. I've never become obsessive about any particular Beck album or phase, but I like the fact that he moves around from time to time, sometimes breaking new ground, sometimes returning to and embellishing his previous narratives.

Run Away might not be the most memorable song in the Beck catalogue, but it's a pleasant listen. If John Lewis picked this for their Christmas TV ad campaign, it wouldn't sound out of place, but would make a welcome change from the downtempo cover versions that are often the go-to picks.

As this played out on YT, here are some of the other fresh picks from the past week or so that were stuck in the sidebar, trying to attract my attention.

That was Matt Berninger with Ask For Water, from the Type It Up EP. I know there's a lot of love for The National, including in this corner of the blogosphere, but I'm largely ignorant of their music. A quick check and I have the Cherry Tree EP from 2004, and a bunch of random songs, which suggests that the majority of these have come from music magazine cover mounted CDs. 

I have one Matt Berninger song in my collection - My Eyes Are T-Shirts - with the album listed as "The National: Uncut 2023", so this is definitely from a freebie CD. Ask For Water is considerably more uptempo and rockier than the latter, but I can't really tell you how much of a departure this is from Matt's day job. Good song, though.

I haven't listened to new Ash music in ages, so I was looking forward to listening to their latest release, Bittersweet Blue. Whilst Tim, Mark and Rick now look like a trio of guys in their late forties, the song sounded like the band that I first heard in the late 1990s.

Then I read the small print and realised that Bittersweet Blue was written and recorded in 1996 but didn't make the cut for debut album 1977. Well, kind of.

In fact, all that made it to tape was "a usable drum take, bass, some rhythm guitars, a scratch vocal and not much else. Not even lyrics."

So, arguably Bittersweet Blue is a new song, it just took 30 years to finish writing and recording it. Well worth the wait, if you ask me.

Did you like Lykke Li? Or were you sick of Sick Of Love? I'm firmly in the former camp, a big fan of Lykke and glad that she's back. This is the Mura Masa remix of the track and whilst it sounds like it could have come out at any point in the last 25 years, it presses all the right buttons for me. I found the video exhausting, though. I hope they reached their destination on time.

The hipsters out there will already know that ohayoumadayarou (おはようまだやろう) is the solo music project of MC Rachel (渡賀レイチェル) from the Japanese rap duo chelmico. 

The single mo osoi was created in collaboration with producer Esme Mori (エズミ・モリ). Sadly, no official website or Bandcamp presence that I can see, so I am going to have to dip into Apple Music to buy this one.

YT was also trying to persuade me to share Midge Ure's newly recorded cover of Fade To Grey, the song he co-wrote for Visage and a cornerstone of the New Romantic movement.

After my initial reaction of "Why?", i had a listen but didn't make it past the first chorus. I'll leave it for you decide if you want to try it. Apparently, this is from a forthcoming compilation of Midge's 80s catalogue, called Chapters. 

Disc 2 of the 3CD version has piqued my curiosity, as it comprises reworks and remixes by 'connected' artists, including Richard Barbieri, Steve Jansen, Craig Armstrong, Blank & Jones and Wolfgang Flür. Now, if these tracks are available individually, I'd be more interested...

Raise Your Leg, Raise Your Foot And Jump

Mura Masa, aka Alexander Crossan, is another in a long list of artists that have been going for a decade or more and receiving plenty of plaudits and acclaim before this clloth-eared Johnny Come Lately finally cottons on to their music.

What an introduction, though. The Curve +1 EP came out on Friday and every single one of the four tracks is a banger. 

Lead track JUMP was released in March and is an absolute joy, built around a sample from a 30-year old song that I was also ignorant of up to now, the Bajan groove of Hol' Up Ya Foot & Jump by Zulu Lightning aka Dale Husbands and Oscar Michelson Joseph Lovell. And the video, featuring Martha Igbinosa and the incredible Showdem troupe, is glorious.

I'm Really Hot (For Myself) followed in September, with a stuttering sample, heavy riff break and pounding rhythm that had throwing all kinds of ungainly shapes around the kitchen. Best advised not to play this whilst making hot food, otherwise play loud and let loose...!

Another striking video to accompany the music, directed (as all three selections are) by The Reids aka South London siblings Will and Ed. Featuring "pole dancing sensation for hire" Georgina Circus and "absolute showstopper" Jaytheystallion, it offers a refreshing take on the familiar dance studio set up.

Track three, Losing, doesn't have a video (yet), but it's a bass-heavy beast of a track, that teases and then releases an infectious beat, with rippling, bubbling vocal samples dropping in and out. 

The EP closes with the song that I chanced upon on YouTube, Handsup is built around a couple of teasingly familiar samples urging you to "shake ya ass" if you want a good time and to "put your hands in the air like it's a stick up", whilst blending a laidback groove with frenetic beats... and an earworm ringtone. 

On paper, tracks like this should never work, with so much going on, but Handsup works brilliantly. The video warns of flashing imagery and I'll confess that even at a smidge over three minutes, my brain was trying to force it's way out through my eye sockets. The tune however, is spot on.

The Curve +1 EP is available from Bandcamp, Juno and all the usual places in various digital formats and price points. 

The former also offers up the Selected Weapons 2023-2024 EP, released in January as a free download. The four tracks are built on samples and mash-ups of Basement Jaxx, Dave & Central Cee, Ice Spice, Panic! At The Disco, Stardust and The Dare. Individually and collectively, well worth your time.