God Save The Ing

...that is, if your thing is dancing, jigging, shaking or some other ing that involves moving, because the next hour and an a half is all about the beats. 

2023 has been a great year so far, musically speaking and as I hope this 14-track selection ably demonstrates. Several long-time favourites have returned with a vengeance: Cerrone, DJ Nature, A Man Called Adam and Four Tet; all delivering music as good as anything in their rich and varied catalogue. 

 

Others have done so in collaboration: Justin Robertson meets David Holmes' Unloved in the Temple Of Wonders; Telefís aka Cathal Coughlan (RIP) and Jacknife Lee holiday in Madrid with Howie B; Hifi Sean and David McAlmont take a dub excursion to another Happy Ending.

 

Some relatively recent discoveries continue to delight: Jezebell, Max Essa and Duncan Gray have all somehow managed to raise the bar with each successive release; how high can they go?

 

The rest are all artists that I've heard for the first time this year: Minus Yogis, Bárbara Boeing, Cee ElAssaad, DjClick and Masha Natanson; all very different, all worth further investigation.

Apart from Four Tet, I'm not sure if any of these artists will be troubling a stage at Glastonbury next week (though to be honest, my eyesight starting blurring after the tenth or eleventh scroll through the seemingly endless line-up page on their website). If they did though, I think they'd smash it.

 

1) A Part Of You (Club Mix): Cerrone

2) Follow Your Dreams: DJ Nature

3) Fruity Blues (Balearic Mix By Minus Yogis): Minus Yogis

4) It's Science Baby (Funkified): A Man Called Adam

5) Trading Places (6PM): Jezebell

6) Thrill Me (Justin Robertson's Temple Of Wonders Remix): Unloved

7) Short Haul: Duncan Gray

8) Beautiful (Hifi's Dub Excursion): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont

9) Baile Do Silêncio (Donald Dust Remix): Bárbara Boeing

10) Njalo (Full Length Version): Cee ElAssaad

11) Come Come The Rain (Club Mix): Max Essa ft. DC Mathias

12) Strawboy Supernova (Madrid Metal By Howie B): Telefís

13) Three Drums: Four Tet

14) 24022022 (Fluo Sobre RMX): DjClick & Masha Natanson

God Save The Ing (1:28:44) (Box) (Mega)

Altered States

A 20-track, 80-minute journey through cosmic consciousness, courtesy of The Future Sound Of London. 

A seemingly random but well-timed comment last weekend coincided with an idea that had been percolating in my mind for a while. In response to the Stuff compilation CD I posted, blureu enquired,

"Have you ever done a The Future Sound Of London compilation post? Just curious. Thanks!"

My immediate thought was, "Yes, lots!", so I was quite surprised that whilst Brian Dougans and Gary Cobain have featured here regularly, they've only had one selection dedicated to their own work, in August 2021. Even then, it was a relatively brisk (under an hour) selection of remixes of other artists as either The Future Sound Of London or The Amorphous Androgynous. You can find that post and selection here.

 

I was suitably inspired to have a go at creating a new selection and, I'll be honest, I'm really pleased with it. One of those mixes where each track was offering itself up whilst the previous one was playing; the sequencing is my first take, no changes, no fancy mixing, quite a lot of edits and overlays and...I love it.

 

I also surprised myself with some of the track choices and the feel of the selection overall. It was an entirely intuitive mix so whilst I expected to include Lifeforms or Cascades, for example, I instead found myself choosing Max from 1996's Dead Cities or an obscure John Peel session from 1992 or a FSOL remix of Candese, one of their many aliases and collected on the essential Earthbeat compilation.

It's also given me the opportunity to share a few tracks from their annual calendar series, which I've subscribed to for the past few years. 

This one inevitably is for blureu - thanks, I got a real buzz from creating this selection.

1) Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead (Live ISDN Transmission From The Kitchen, New York) (1994) 

2) Elaborate Burn (1994)

3) Max (1996)

4) Papua New Guinea (Mellow Magic Maze Mix By Patrick Woodcock & Pierre Begon-Lours) (2001)

5) Papua New Guinea (Andrew Weatherall Mix - 7" Edit) (1992)

6) Hidden Sign (2008)

7) Space Hippy (John Peel Session) (1992) 

8) Deconstructed Room (2019)

9) We Have Explosive (Pt. 1-outro / Pt. 2-Remix By Leon Mar / Pt. 3-intro) (1997)

10) Day One (FSOL Cosmic Jukebox Mix v1): Deadly Avenger (2002)

11) 100 Baby Spiders (2008)

12) You Took My Love (Earth Mix By The Future Sound Of London): Candese (1991)

13) Mango Tree (Version) (2007)

14) Papua New Guinea (Translation 8: The Big Blue) (2009)

15) Utterance (2020)

16) Are They Fightin Us (1994)

17) Slow Photo (2017)

18) Opk Machines Trx M2 (2022)

19) Zen Jenny (2021)

20) Calcium (Album Version) (1991)

1991: Accelerator: 20

1991: You Took My Love EP: 12

1992: Papua New Guinea EP: 5

1992: The BBC Sessions EP (bootleg): 7

1994: ISDN: 1, 16

1994: Lifeforms: 2

1996: Dead Cities: 3

1997: We Have Explosive EP: 9

2001: Accelerator / Papua New Guinea Mix Anthology (2x CD): 4

2002: We Took Pelham EP: 10 

2007: From The Archives Vol. 3: 13

2008: From The Archives Vol. 4: 6, 11

2009: Papua New Guinea Translations: 14

2020: FSOL Calendar 2020: 15

2021: FSOL Calendar 2021: 19

2022: FSOL Calendar 2022: 8, 18

2023: FSOL Calendar 2023: 17

Altered States (1:22:28) (Box) (Mega)

Indie Incidentally

...or, single word sounds from the indie underground (kind of).

Dusting off a lucky 13 songs that I haven't played in a while, all done in under 45 minutes. Happy Friday, everyone!

1) Ray: The House Of Love (1990)

2) Spangle: The Wedding Present (1994)

3) Mesh: New Order (1981)

4) Seconds: Pulp (1994)

5) Navigator: The Pogues (1985)

6) Kookaburra: Cocteau Twins (1985)

7) Ambition: The Jesus & Mary Chain (1985)

8) Lullaby: James (1993)

9) Babble: The Cure (1989)

10) Split: That Petrol Emotion (1987)

11) Hoverin': The Breeders (1993)

12) Free: Mazzy Star (1990)

13) White: The Field Mice (1989) 

 

1981: Everything's Gone Green EP: 3 

1985: Aikea-Guinea EP: 6 

1985: Never Understand EP: 7

1985: Rum, Sodomy & The Lash: 5

1987: Babble: 10

1989: Lullaby EP: 9

1989: Snowball: 13

1990: A Spy In The House Of Love: 1

1990: She Hangs Brightly: 12

1993: Divine Hammer EP: 11

1993: Laid: 8

1994: The Sisters EP: 4

1994: Watusi: 2

 

Indie Incidentally (44:29) (Box) (Mega)

Assorted Images

On 15th June 1981, Duran Duran released their debut album. According to This Day In Music, it reached #3 in the UK Albums Chart and stayed in the top 100 for over 2 years (118 weeks, to be precise). It did pretty well in the USA, too: a peak of #10 in the Billboard 200 and a total of 87 weeks in that chart.

 

My uncle borrowed the album from his local library in London and, fully aware that home taping was killing music, recorded a copy to cassette and posted it to my brother, at his request. For some reason, he labelled the album 'Assorted Images' on the spine, named after the company that sleeve designer Malcolm Garrett worked for.

I liked the album a lot, but never really became a hardcore fan. Mrs. K, on the other hand...

I saw Duran Duran live for the first and only time when the original lineup reformed, released a new album (Astronaut) and toured it. Mrs. K and I saw them at Birmingham NEC on 18th April 2004, supported by Goldfrapp, and they were pretty good. It was a wonderful shared moment with her favourite band, growing up.

That said, that hardcore love is very focused. Mrs. K lost interest once Andy Taylor left the band in the 1980s and again when he departed once more after said album and tour. I jumped ship much earlier: my brother had Rio, which I also quite liked, but I don't think I heard third album Seven And The Ragged Tiger until I met Mrs. K many years later.

Today's 'selection' is a track-by-track recreation of the debut album, a mix of official videos, one fan-made mash up, a couple of TV appearances, one live performance and one audio clip from an early concert where no footage was available. 

This one's dedicated to Andy Taylor and, of course, Mrs. K.

1) Girls On Film (Official Video)

2) Planet Earth (Official Video)

3) Anyone Out There (Live @ Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC TV, 7th July 1981)

4) To The Shore (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London, 17th December 1981)

5) Careless Memories (Official Video)

6) Night Boat (Official Video)

7) Sound Of Thunder (Video Mash-Up By Heloísa Matias)

8) Friends Of Mine (Is it an Official Video? Is it a TV performance? Not sure!)

9) Tel Aviv (Live @ The Chapin Theater, Orlando, Florida, 18th July 2005)

I Took One Toke, Yo, I Almost Choked

Time for some midweek hip hop, courtesy of A Tribe Called Quest.

I've only recently been taking a deeper dive into the Tribe's treasure trove of albums, EPs, bootlegs and compilations so much of their output (and there's a lot) is still unfamiliar to me. 

 

Here then is a ten-track sampler that spans my first - and for many years, only - ATCQ purchase, 1990's Bonita Applebum single, through to 2016's sixth and final album We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service.

 

A Tribe Called Quest's founding core was Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip aka Kamaal Fareed, Phife Dawg aka Malik Taylor (who died from complications due to diabetes in March 2016) and Jarobi White (who left after their debut album and returned for their swansong). A formidable quartet whose questing spirit left a impressive legacy.

 

1) Stressed Out (Raphael Saadiq's Remix ft. Faith Evans) (1996)

2) Mr. Muhammad (1990)

3) Common Ground (Get It Goin' On) (1998)

4) Who Got Da Funk (ft. Science Of Sound & Godfather) (2002) 

5) Jam (Single Edit) (1997)

6) Everything Is Fair (Instrumental) (1991)

7) Oh My God (Organ Mix By CJ Mackintosh) (1994)

8) Whateva Will Be (2016)

9) Vivrant Thing (1999)

10) Bonita Applebum (12" Boys Mix By CJ Mackintosh & Robin Hancock) (1990)

 

1990: Bonita Applebum EP: 10

1990: Peoples Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm: 2 

1994: Oh My God EP: 7

1996: Stressed Out EP: 1 

1997: The Jam EP: 5

1998: The Love Movement: 3

1999: The Anthology: 9

2002: Native Tongues: Unreleased & Unleashed (bootleg): 4

2009: Rare And Unreleased Instrumentals Vol. 1 (promo): 6

2016: We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service: 8

 

One Toke (42:23) (Box) (Mega)

Another Rose

Sigur Rós only do epic, so it's no surprise that their first single in umpteen years is exactly that. 

With Blóðberg ('Blood Rock') contains all of the familiar elements: achingly gentle chord progressions and Jónsi's heart-wrenching vocals, here beautifully restrained. Their characteristic cinematic sweep is underscored to chilling effect by The London Contemporary Orchestra.

 

Blóðberg is epic in duration too, clocking in at 7:16. The official video extends it further, to 9:59. I've watched it a couple of times and, whilst I can appreciate the theme - there's an incremental reveal from 1:49 - the CGI jars, more of a distraction than a complement to the music. I'll stick to a listening-only experience from now on.

So, nothing groundbreaking or unexpected about Blóðberg then but a reassurance that Sigur Rós lengthy hiatus has not dulled their bright, shining music.

Here, There And Otherwhere

DJ Nature aka Milo Johnson aka one of the founding fathers of legendary Bristol collective The Wild Bunch quietly released a new album called Otherwhere at the end of March.

 

Eight songs and fifty seven minutes featuring pulsing grooves, occasional vocals and samples and jazz inflections on most tracks via saxophone, flute and keyboards courtesy of frequent collaborator Willie Williams. 

 

Appropriately enough, it's been released via Jazzy Sport, a Tokyo-based label and shop, initially on CD with double vinyl to follow.

I found it more difficult to track down the digital version, only being able to find it on Amazon, personally always a last resort when it comes to album purchases.

 

After a few listens, it's a winner for me, the favourite right now being Follow Your Dreams. I can get with that.

 

You can listen to Otherwhere in full via YouTube.

In The Realm Of The Censors

Happy 65th birthday to Mr. Barry Adamson, born 11th June 1958.

If Barry had 'only' been a member of Magazine or Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, he would still be a legend. However his solo career, now in it's fourth decade, has consistently delivered the goods. 

In The Realm Of The Censors was a cassette compilation, essentially a mix up of The Negro Inside Me EP (1993) and Oedipus Schmoedipus (1996) with a couple of soundtrack oddities thrown in to pad out to 90 minutes.

This selection is an entirely different proposition, a career-spanning retrospective which (with one exception) manages to avoid duplicating 2018's official 'best of' Memento Mori. I initially toyed with the idea of keeping it to a 65 minute selection, but I just couldn't pare it down. By happy coincidence, I have managed to keep to the "21 track hit" emblazoned on the original cassette cover.

I've followed Barry with each album and look forward to each release. I haven't got his memoir Up Above The City, Down Beneath The Stars yet (Santa somehow managed to miss it in 2021 and 2022) but I will. In the meantime, the majority of Barry's catalogue remains in print, digitally and/or physically. This selection will hopefully serve as a decent primer for a shopping trip and deeper dive into his music.

"a litany of lights"

1) Saturn In The Summertime (1999)

2) Cold Black Preach (1993)

3) Death Takes A Holiday (2016)

4) The Track With No Name (1991)

5) Split (1992)

6) Shadow Of Death Hotel (2008)

7) Rag And Bone (Version Excursion) (2010) *

8) Black Amour (Radio Edit) (2002) *

9) From Rusholme With Love (1989)

10) The Vibes Ain't Nothin' But The Vibes (1996)

 

"a prayer mat of flesh" **

11) Sundown County (ft. Big Walt Daniels) (2021)

12) These Boots Are Made For Walking (7" Version) (Cover of Nancy Sinatra) (ft. Anita Lane & The Thought System Of Love) (1991)

13) Mr. Eddy's Theme 2 (1996)

14) If You Love Her (Live @ KEXP, Seattle) (2012) 

15) 007, A Fantasy Bond Theme (Dance Version ft. Arthur Nicholls) (1995)

16) The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (1989)

17) The Sun And The Sea (Album Version) (2012)

18) Still I Rise (1998)

19) Deja Morte (ft. Pascale Fuillée-Kendall) (2006)

20) They Walk Among Us (Single Version) (2017)

21) Suck On The Honey Of Love (Single Version) (1988) 

 

1988: The Man With The Golden Arm EP: 21

1989: Moss Side Story: 16

1989: The Taming Of The Shrewd EP: 9

1991: Delusion OST: 4

1991: These Boots Are Made For Walking EP: 12

1992: Soul Murder: 5

1993: The Negro Inside Me EP: 2 

1995: The Big Bamboozle EP: 15

1996: Lost Highway OST: 13

1996: Oedipus Schmoedipus: 10

1998: As Above So Below: 18

1999: The Murky World Of Barry Adamson: 1 

2002: Black Amour EP: 8

2006: Stranger On The Sofa: 19

2008: Back To The Cat: 6

2010: Rag And Bone EP: 7

2012: I Will Set You Free: 17

2012: Live On KEXP EP: 14

2016: Know Where To Run: 3

2017: Love Sick Dick EP: 20

2021: Steal Away EP: 11

 

* Album versions respectively available on Therapist: A Barry Adamson Film OST (2011) and The King Of Nothing Hill (2002) 

** This was the original title for what became Oedipus Schmoedipus and promoted as such on 180°: A Mute Records Compilation in 1995

 

In The Realm Of The Censors (1:17:53) (KF) (Mega)

Still Crazee After All These Years...

...or, Slade Saturday, if you haven't already twigged from the picture.

 

For years, I've barely had half a dozen Slade songs in my collections, including a few of the obvious ones and of course that Xmas single. However, it was Miles Out To Sea (from 1974's Old New Borrowed And Blue) popping up again recently on a random shuffle that prompted me to finally have a crash course in Slade's music. This has come via the 4CD behemoth The Slade Box, an 84-track journey from 1969 to 1991. Which, ironically, doesn't include Miles Out To Sea...

I've only had a brief run through during my daily commute to work this week but bloody hell, it's good and admittedly much better than I was perhaps expecting. And it's loud, in a very satisfying way. I was only really familiar with their 1970s glam material so it's been a pleasant surprise to see how Slade navigated the punk years, took a detour into Van Halen territory in the 1980s and somehow found a new popularity (albeit briefly) at the start of the 1990s.

Today's selection is a C90-friendly trawl through a baker's dozen of Slade songs. I've narrowed the focus to 1970-1985, with roughly half the songs from their imperial period of 1973-1974. It's very much a 'first impression' compilation as I've only heard the majority of songs for the first time this week, but it works for me.

This will be played loud at Casa K...well, at least until Mrs. and Lady K tell me to turn that racket down and go do something useful.

 

1) Don't Tame A Hurricane (1983)

2) Cum On Feel The Noize (1973)

3) One Way Hotel (1970)

4) Miles Out To Sea (1974)

5) Ruby Red (1981)

6) Little Sheila (1985)

7) Kill 'Em At The Hot Club Tonite (1973)

8) Far Far Away (1974)

9) How Does It Feel? (1974)

10) It's Alright Buy Me (1978)

11) Night Starvation (1981)

12) Burning In The Heat Of Love (1977)

13) When The Lights Are Out (1974)

1970: Play It Loud: 3

1973: Cum On Feel The Noize EP / Sladest: 2

1973: Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me EP: 7

1974: Old New Borrowed And Blue: 4, 13

1974: Slade In Flame: 8, 9

1977: Burning In The Heat Of Love: 12

1978: Rock 'N' Roll Bolero EP: 10

1981: Till Deaf Do Us Part: 5

1981: We'll Bring The House Down: 11

1983: My Oh My EP: 1

1985: Rogues Gallery : 6

Still Crazee After All These Years... (45:45) (Box) (Mega)

Stuff

Today's selection revisits the territory of last November's Scarlet Villagers post, in that it's another dive into a CD-R of ripped albums gifted by my friend John circa early 2010. Titled Stuff, the package contained three discs of, well, stuff, some of which I hadn't heard before.

I've pulled together a 10-track selection from disc 2, running order is exactly the same as how the albums were presented on the CD-R, with the exception of opening artist Bat For Lashes, who returns to provide the closing track.  All of the songs date from 2009, apart from the Regina Spektor song, from 2002 but presented to me on Stuff via her 2005 compilation Mary Ann Meets The Gravediggers And Other Short Stories.

Other welcome new discoveries courtesy of Stuff were Here We Go Magic and God Help The Girl, respectively featuring Luke Temple and Stuart Murdoch, The Decemberists, The Invisible and the wonderful soundtrack to Where The Wild Things Are, courtesy of Karen O & The Kids.

 

I was already familiar with - and a fan of - Ladyhawke and Sébastien Tellier, less familiar with Regina Spektor but liked what I'd heard. All in all, it was a pretty solid collection and I hope the selection gives a flavour of this and encourages you to dig out your own copies of the albums, or hunt them down if you don't have them.

As before, John's self-produced sleeve only hints at the very talented comic artist and letterer that he is.

 

1) Pearl's Dream (Album Version): Bat For Lashes (2009)

2) Everything's Big: Here We Go Magic (2009)

3) Musician, Please Take Heed: God Help The Girl (2009)

4) Heads Up: Karen O & The Kids (2009)

5) Dusk Till Dawn (Album Version): Ladyhawke (2008) 

6) Consequence Of Sounds: Regina Spektor (2002)

7) Look: Sébastien Tellier (2008)

8) The Hazards Of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle The Thistles Undone): The Decemberists (2009)

9) Climate: The Invisible (2009)

10) Siren Song (Album Version): Bat For Lashes (2009) 

 

2002: Songs: 6

2008: Ladyhawke: 5 

2008: Sexuality: 7

2009: God Help The Girl: 3 

2009: The Hazards Of Love: 8

2009: Here We Go Magic: 2 

2009: The Invisible: 9

2009: Two Suns: 1, 10

2009: Where The Wild Things Are OST: 4

 

Stuff (Disc 2) (42:52) (KF) (Mega)

 

Scarlet Villagers available here