...No Sweeter Genius

The second half of tunes that have tickled my fancy in the first 26 weeks of '26

 

The final thirteen feature a couple of returning artists in The Rotations and Fluke, more than justified in both cases. The rest are new to this selection, even if the names are familiar.

deary has confidently picked up the shoegaze baton and are running away. Thankfully, being shoegaze, it's at a fairly languid pace so you'll have no trouble catching up. And it is worth catching up with their debut album, as today's pick No Sweeter Feeling will attest.

 

With A Sense Of You, The Rotations offer up another song that sounds like it's been transmitted from a parallel universe, very much like our own, just a little...off. The vocals sound like Tom Waits belatedly finding out that Neighbours has been cancelled (again), which only adds to the charm.

 

If you only remember Chad Jackson for Hear The Drummer (Get Wicked) way, way back in the mists of time, then you are in for a pleasant surprise. Genius Of Skank Pt. 1 is not an overreaching title and sums up the track perfectly. This track appears on the excellent Evil Acid Barons double album and is well worth your pennies. Now, when we get Pt. 2, Chad?

 

I enthused about Fluke's gorgeous new double album The Second Bite yesterday, albeit as a side reference to an accompanying Daniel Avery remix of their classic Atom Bomb. This time, I've picked from the album itself. Several of the tracks are subtle tweaks, polishes and updates of the original, others take the song on a bit more of an excursion. Case in point: 1995 single Tosh goes cruising around mid-70s New York, gets funked up and wakes up the following morning, wanting to do it all again. Great stuff.

 

In the 1980s, both The Bluebells and The Kane Gang flirted with the UK record-buying masses. The former have come back in the 21st Century, arguably even stronger than before and latest album This Is... proves more than a match for anything they've done.

 

Whilst The Kane Gang are no more, two thirds of the band have reconvened as Autoleisureland. In many respects, the New Road Movie album sounds like barely a day has passed since Closest Thing To Heaven and Motortown. Your personal history with 80s pop whether you enjoy Autoleisureland's album or not. I like it.

 

In the 2000s, a band called The Strange Death Of Liberal England existed. No, me neither. However, thanks to being a fan of Roberta Fidora, I've been hooked up with TSDOLE's former organ player and their latest project, dee eye why. Debut song Autonomous features Roberta on vocals and is most enjoyable.

 

Spanish DJ/producer Roglar aka Victor Balaguer Alonso nest, getting the remix treatment courtesy of London boy Ian Vale and, as ever, neither disappoint. Fly With Dumbo is pumped up without going over the top...

 

...by contrast with the dappled sounds of Rays Of Sunshine, just one example of why Pye Corner Audio's current album More Songs About The Sun is a gift to the ears. Writer Ian Rankin features on another song and Andy Bell (Ride/GLOK) lends his guitar talent to several others.

 

Speaking of which, Alliance, the GLOK / Timothy Clerkin album from 2025 has been reworked and remixed by a host of contemporary artists. I've gone back to the old school for a remarkable job by Richard Sen. Well, I say remarkable, but I'm struggling to think of a time when Richard has been anything less. The competition is stiff, but this reimagining of The Witching Hour is a standout on the record.

 

The Moonrocks are new to me but their song Cardiac Arrest definitely leans more heavily on the classic rock stylings that the cosmiche that their name suggests. You don't always have to innovate to be fun.

 

That said, Broken Chanter is a perfect example of great pop rock songs that manage to sound familiar and catchy whilst having something fresh to play and say. I've fallen deeply in love with Broken Chanter since being introduced them a few years ago and the latest album is brilliant. 

 

Almost as a response to Scarlet Fantastic's opening call on Volume 1, a year without a summer is almost too much to contemplate.

 

And, as if on cue, rays of sunshine through the window and a nudge for me to get up and get out. 

 

 

1) No Sweeter Feeling: deary (Birding)

2) A Sense Of You: The Rotations (Gung-Ho)

3) Love Is Gonna Keep Us Cryin': Autoleisureland (New Road Movie)

4) Nave (Malaphors Mix): Sister Ray Davies (Holy Island Baby EP)

5) Autonomous: dee eye why ft. Roberta Fidora (Bungalow Legs EP)

6) Tosh (The Second Bite): Fluke (The Second Bite)

7) Cardiac Arrest: The Moonrocks (A Room With A View)

8) Fly With Dumbo (Ian Vale Remix): Roglar (I Know EP)

9) Rays Of Sunshine: Pye Corner Audio (More Songs About The Sun)

10) Indian Summer: The Bluebells (This Is...The Bluebells)

11) Genius Of Skank Pt. 1: Chad Jackson (Evil Acid Barons)

12) The Witching Hour (Richard Sen Remix): GLOK / Timothy Clerkin (Alliance Remixed)

13) A Year Without A Summer: Broken Chanter (This Could be Us, You, Or Anybody Else)

  

Summer Feeling, No Sweeter Genius (1:00:47) (GD) (M) 

Decorated, Understated, Over The Top

As a first-time subscriber to Roberta Fidora's Neighbourhood, this year has seen some unexpected treats drop through the letterbox, in addition to access to Roberta's vault of releases under her own name and previously as CURXES, plus any new songs as they emerge. All for less than the cost of half a dozen cappuccinos from your favourite cafe per year.  A bargain, in other words.

My first festive treat as a neighbour arrived this week: a Christmas card, designed by Roberta with a personalised message inside. No question, the best of the bunch received at Casa K this year. Wonderful.

To complement this, Roberta's also released a seasonal song, Christmas Trees, and it's a belter. Even a casual browser of this blog will have sussed that when it comes to Christmas songs, I'll embrace pretty much all of it, however cheesy or played to death (though I will draw the line at Mariah Carey and Ed Sheeran).

That said, as my Bad Santa offerings attest, I tend to lean more heavily towards the slightly off-kilter and frequently jaded take on this time of year.

Following in the tradition of It's Christmas And I'm Crying by Du Blonde (2023) and Boxing Day Sales by Richard Dawson (2024), Roberta delivers a deliciously downbeat narrative against an upbeat, jingly jangly backdrop.

Christmas Trees comes in two versions, with a radio edit dropping the cusses (or should that be CUXXES?) whilst loving none of it's bite. 

I've shared the words below, but you can also find a lyric video on YouTube. 

Head on over to Bandcamp for Roberta's music and maybe even join the Neighbourhood. 

Having been subjected to a 10 second loop of Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow emanating from an inflatable monstrosity in the garden opposite Casa K for 15 hours a day for the past four weeks, I know where we'd rather be!

It’s late December

And I am quite depressed

(Put the tree up but can I skip the rest?)

Carols are being drowned out by the neighbours’ shit

(Ho ho ho)

(Really tried but I’m just not feeling it)

Nothing is magical

It’s a massive lie

(Reasons for the season are running dry)

People are miserable and yet still they buy

(As if Christmas could be quantified)

And all the gifts are too expensive

And there is really no incentive to buy

Anything

All around me

All around me

Those Christmas trees

But I feel like

  in January

All the trimmings

All the singing

Hey, can you not?

But the register keeps ringing in the shops

Sleigh bells are grating

And so are children’s choirs

(Shut up, please) (And the volumes seem like they’re getting higher)

You can shove them up your pa rum pum pum pum

(Father Christmas too, he can just do one)

And all the gifts are too expensive

And relatives are argumentative

If they’re still around

(But quite a few are dead!)

All around me

All around me

Those Christmas trees

But I feel like

I’m their branches in January

All the trimmings

All the singing

Hey, can you not?

But the register keeps ringing in the shops

Consumerism

Forced tradition

Yes it is and no it isn’t

Can you hear what I hear now?

Well that’s because you never listen

Buy everybody tat

Don’t touch the thermostat!

Do I have to interact with

Any of this festive crap?

Joyeux noel?

See you in hell…

And all the gifts are too expensive

And none of them are quite inventive enough

(Overly sentimental)

For anyone you love

All around me

All around me

Those Christmas trees

But I feel like

I’m their branches in January

Decorated, understated, over the top

Until their needles drop…and then it finally stops.

(Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas)

Those Are Not My Flaws, My Lips, My Face?

Roberta Fidora is an artist and musician who describes herself as 

"Falling somewhere between 

Bet Lynch, David Lynch, Laurie Anderson and Gerry Anderson, 

with polite nods to 

Toyah, Amanda Lear, Siouxsie, Alison Moyet and Sparks".

In other words, right up my strasse. I first discovered Roberta's music via a remix of Chvrches that she did in 2013 as Curxes, at that time a partnership with Macaulay Hopwood.

However, it was in 2021 that I rediscovered her on Bandcamp, at this point having continued with Curxes solo up to and including second album, Gilded Cage (2017), and then releasing a couple of longform space-themed works during lockdown, Black Arrow and Ether/Orbit.

2023's Apophonia EP gave a hint of things to come, but Roberta has taken things to a whole other level with her last two singles, released last October and January this year.

To get the full experience, you need to watch Information Array (below) first, followed by Let Them Deep Fake (Opt In Or Die) (above).

According to the promo info, the video for Information Array "can be considered an unofficial instalment in the Terminator film franchise", whilst Let Them Deep Fake (Opt In Or Die) explores the further adventures of Roberta's character "as a perplexed test subject, narrator and dancing discontent creator within the twisted, ridiculous, confusing and sometimes comically bleak world of the internet."

The latter in particular is a dizzying array of AI images and sequences, referencing pop culture, social history and Roberta's own body of work in under three minutes. 

It's too much to absorb in one go, but none of it detracts from the fact that this is a talented artist creating great music and videos.

I've included some choice picks from Roberta's back catalogue, and you can buy Roberta's music from Bandcamp or her website, which includes other lovely merch items too. 

I'm excited to find out what's coming next.

1) Let Them Deep Fake (Opt In Or Die) (2025)

2) Information Array (2024) 

3) Is It Too Late For Fan Clubs? (Apophonia EP) (2024)

4) Biarritz (Apophonia EP) (2024)

5) The Stars, Like Dust (Gilded Cage LP): Curxes (2017)

6) Further Still: Curxes (2013)