You Don't Dance...Except At The Weekend

2024 has served up it's fair share of top notch electronic music and remixes and here's another eight reasons why.

Just over an hour of tunes that have been pumping on my stereo, a mix of well-known names and artists that I've heard for the first time on my many online shopping runs this year. 

All of today's selections are available to purchase digitally (links included in the song title), if you're considering a gift to yourself as a thank you for buying presents for all those other people.

1) Like This (Mindbender Remix By Mårten Attling): Stylic

2) You Don't Dance (Kenneth Bager Remix): Hess Is More

3) Ecce Homo (Apparition Remix By Michael Heffernan): Gavin Friday

4) Blind On A Galloping Horse (Sons Of Slough Remix By Duncan Gray & Ian Weatherall): David Holmes ft. Raven Violet

5) Aerodromes (David Holmes Remix): Acid Klaus ft. Philly Piper

6) Weekend Machines (Shubostar Remix By Jiyoung Bak): Jezebell

7) End Of Times (Rude Audio's Protean Remix By Mark Ratcliff): David Harrow + Little Annie

8) Real Magnificent (sLEdger Remix By Robin Dallison): Fluke ft. Leah Cleaver

You Don't Dance...Except At The Weekend (1:01:13) (KF) (Mega)

Party Down, Rock The House, Burn The Cat...Beware Of Sudden Impact!

It's Friday, time for some rabble rousing!

 

1,315 posts in and I'm still finding plenty of music - and artists - that I've not featured on this blog before. 

 

All songs today come from 1980 or 1985 (and a couple in between), are presented in remixed or extended form and make their debut appearance in a Dubhed selection*.  

 

It's also the first time that The Lotus Eaters and Electric Guitars have featured here, full stop.

Some production heavyweights at the controls: John Leckie, Paul 'Groucho' Smykle, Dave Bascombe, Martin Rushent, Rusty Egan and Bob Sargeant. 

The lyrics are lifted from Sudden Impact! Now, whilst Mick Jones and the lads may be B.A.D., do not take them literally. By all means party down and rock the house, but please don't burn the cat!

 

1) Bankrobber / Robber Dub (12" Version): The Clash (1980)

2) Cruiser's Creek (12" Version): The Fall (1985)

3) Sudden Impact! (12-Inch Mix): Big Audio Dynamite (1985)

4) Ed's Funky Diner (The Keinholz Caper): It's Immaterial ft. The Christians (1985)

5) German Girl (Glasgow Mix): The Lotus Eaters (1984)

6) Language Problems (Extended Version): Electric Guitars (1982)

7) Come Back (White Label Remix): Spear Of Destiny (1985)

8) Psychedelic Rockers (Dubweiser): The Beat (1980)

1980: Black Market Clash: 1

1980: Too Nice To Talk To EP: 8

1982: Language Problems EP: 6

1985: Come Back EP: 7

1985: Cruiser's Creek EP: 2

1985: Ed's Funky Diner EP: 4

2010: This Is Big Audio Dynamite (Legacy Edition): 3

2011: The 12" Collection: 5

Party Down, Rock The House (47:33) (KF) (Mega)

* although Bankrobber / Robber Dub by The Clash appeared here with a variety of versions in August 2023.

We Call It Something Else To Disguise Our Memory

I don't know a lot about Squid, but I like this. A lot.

Crispy Skin is the lead single and opening song on third album Cowards, due in February 2025 (which is shaping up to be a bumper month for new LPs).

Lots of reference points, most or all of which I'm sure have been done to death in previous reviews, including Pavement and Tortoise, even bits of The Who in the intro and That Petrol Emotion's Chemicrazy in the rolling rhythm. I love the synth stabs and piano ripples and Ollie Judge's laconic vocals stretched over six minutes and nineteen seconds.

And the video...inspired. Japanese writer and director Takashi Itô is drafted to adapt his 1995 short film Zone - you can find the original 12-minute version here. 

Crispy Skin isn't simply a remake, however. The narrative is more overt, the editing more frenetic at times to keep pace with the music, and the visuals work just as well with this soundtrack, making for a very satisfying audio and visual experience. 

What more can you ask for?

This Pain, It Is A Glacier Moving Through You

Back in September, I was introduced to John Glacier via a guest spot on the Jamie xx single Dafodil. Continuing a run of releases this year, she has just released a new single, Found. 

 

It's a memerising listen, spoken word rap over skittering, glitchy beats and keys. The video is also a compelling watch, fashioned as a seemingly collage of outtakes for a 'proper' video, grainy excerpts, switch between colour and monochrome, but all focused on a central figure. A black woman at the microphone, Afro, flowing dress split at the thigh, weeds (or dead flowers?) rising up around her.

 

This is John Glacier: Hackney resident, Jamaican parents, six siblings, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, steeped in a stew of musical genres since childhood, poet and rapper.

And the name? “I’m one thing and another thing at the same time,” she replied in a 2022 interview with Dazed magazine. But why? “Because I am John Glacier.” 

Her first name is actually John, but she expanded on the choice of surname. “I like glaciers because you see them for what they are but within that one thing, there are so many layers,” she said. “In my mind, glaciers are these blocks of preservation.” 

 

Found is the second track to be shared from forthcoming second album Like A Ribbon, although there was also a preview EP of the same name earlier this year, all but one of the five tracks making the full album cut. 

 

Previous video Money Shows, directed by Glacier herself, places her front and centre, dispassionate delivery underpinned by a chugging guitar riff.

 

John's Bandcamp page includes Broken Macbook, what I assume to be her debut release from 2017, as well as the Duppy Gun EP, which came out in June. Both recommended. 

 

Debut album SHILOH: Lost For Words emerged in 2021 via the PLZ Make It Ruins label. I've been listening to it for the first time whilst writing this post and it's quite something. A dozen songs, only one over three minutes, the whole thing done and dusted in just over twenty five. Yet, none of the songs feel like incomplete sketches. Here are a couple of examples.

 

 

 

Not content with a steady flow of music under her own name, John has collaborated on the aforementioned Jamie xx single, and also with her go-to producer Vegyn for the title track of the latter's A Dream Goes On Forever EP, which dropped in February.

 

Vegyn followed this up in April with an album, The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions. A Dream Goes On Forever is the opening track, but there's a second guest spot, the rather spectacular In The Front.

 

John revisited the glacier analogy in the 2002 Dazed interview. “My existence isn’t what it looks like. When you break down a glacier, there’s more to it than meets the eye – your understanding of what you thought it was isn’t exactly it.” 

 

Pause. Smile. “And at the same time, they’re cold and icy as well!”

 

Personally, this is a voyage of discovery I'm glad to have embarked on. I'm looking forward to seeing what's revealed next.

 

For those of you with a passing interest in my penchant for choosing song lyric extracts for post titles, today's is lifted from John Grant's song Glacier. Why? Because a JG post was the first that came up when I typed 'John Glacier' into the Dubhed search engine to track down and include the Jamie xx link. It seemed like an apposite pick!

Agitated, Organised And Over-Educated

Momus' umpteenth album Ballyhoo came out in late July, yet before I've caught up, Nick Currie's popped out another three releases, one new song, one cover version and one revision of an old song.

 

But, Ballyhoo first. Succinctly described as "An album exploring AI composition tools and influenced by K-Pop.", it's exactly that though through Momus' cracked, muddy filter and overlayed with the deft lyricism that typifies his work. And who can resist song titles like The Enshittification Of Everything or Kleptoglade?

Not an album to convert the unconvinced, but if like me you've enjoyed Momus' work over the years, then there is plenty to enjoy here. In an age where Pet Shop Boys, O.M.D. and Gary Numan continue to release new music that reflects but doesn't replicate the sounds of past glories, it's good to see Momus shaking his syrup alongside them.

 

Catchy? Hell yes.

 

I wish I'd caught Orange Pills in time to add it to my post on the US election result last week. The gentle bossanova beat belies the lyrical arrows, each finding their mark. An easy target perhaps, but no reason not to take aim and let fly.

I don't subscribe to Momus' Patreon page although I'm considering it. One of the perks is the opportunity to ask Momus to cover a favourite song of yours, and this has become an ongoing series called, unsurprisingly, Versions. 

In early October, Momus' own choice was a cover of Fad Gadget's "nuclear swinger" Fireside Favourite, (more or less) the title track of his 1980 debut album. Momus' version isn't radically different but in an interesting take on the accompanying video, his vocals are synced to footage of Fad aka Frank Tovey performing the song live, four decades previously.

An early Momus favourite of mine was I Was A Maoist Intellectual from his 1988 album Tender Pervert. A live performance from French TV at the time is available on Momus' YouTube channel, though annoyingly audio is confined to a single channel. Thankfully, "Lee Jones" posted a stereo version a while back. It loses a bit of the song at the start, and the picture quality isn't great, but enjoy the music and the days when Momus had lengthy, lop-sided hair, all his own.

 

Fast forward to last Sunday and Momus posted a 2024 remake of the song, which is frankly wonderful. The music has been updated and although the lyrics are unchanged, they still hit the mark, don't they?

 

I was a Maoist intellectual in the music industry I always knew that I could seize the world's imagination And show the possibilities for transformation I saw a nation in decay, but also a solution: 

Permanent cultural revolution Whenever I played my protest songs the press applauded me Rolled out the red carpet, parted the Red Sea But the petit bourgeois philistines stayed away They preferred their artists to have nothing to say How did I pass my time on earth? Now it can be revealed: I was a Maoist intellectual in the entertainment field I showed the people how they lived and told them it was bad Showed them the insanity inside the bureaucrat And the archetypes and stereotypes that were my stock in trade Toppled all the ivory towers that privilege had made Though I tried to change your mind I never tried your patience All I tried to do was to point out your exploitation But the powers that be took this to be a personal insult And refused to help me build my personality cult How did I pass my time an earth, what on earth got into me? I was a Maoist intellectual in the music industry I left the normal world behind and started living in A hinterland between dissolution and self discipline I burned the midnight oil to build my way of seeing A miner at the coal face of meaning The rich despised the songs I wrote which told the poor their worth Told the shy to speak and told the meek to take the earth But my downfall came from being three things the working classes hated: Agitated, organised and over-educated How did I pass my time on earth, how did I bear witness? As a Maoist intellectual in the entertainment business And how was I treated in this world and in this industry? As a Maoist intellectual in a business would be I became a hotel doorman, I stood there on the doormat Clutching my forgotten discs in their forgotten format Trying to hand them out to all the stars who sauntered in The ones who hadn't been like me, who hadn't lived in vain I gave up ideology the day I lost my looks I never found a publisher for my little red books When I died the energy released by my frustration Was nearly enough for re-incarnation But if I could live my life again the last thing that I'd be Is a Maoist intellectual in the music industry No, if I could live my life again I think I'd like to be The man whose job is to stop the men who think like me Yeah! If l could live my life again that'd be the thing to be The man who plots the stumbling blocks In the lives of the likes of me!

A Woman In The Moon Is Singing To The Earth

I've belatedly started dipping into the Cibo Matto catalogue, with their debut album Viva! La Woman from 1996, and Pom Pom: The Essential Cibo Matto compilation, released in 2007.

Cibo Matto enjoyed two runs, initially from 1994 to 2001 and again from 2011 to 2017 before splitting for good. The first phase two albums, severals singles and EPs; the second phase a third and final album. 

Sugar Water is from Viva! La Woman and is accompanied by a fabulous video by Michel Gondry, who created many memorable videos for Björk (and many others) around the same time. 

The spilt-screen narrative follows co-founders Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, seemingly going about their (entirely separate) business, although...Yuka is moving forward and Miho is in reverse. At precisely the halfway mark, the narratives intersect, and the direction of travel is reversed. Ingenious.

Sugar Water is credited as sampling Sospesi Nel Ciero by Ennio Morricone and Hung Up by Paul Weller. The bit that hooked me though is the drum and bass loop lifted from Bryan 'Chuck' New's Strange Mix (aka Extended Dub Mix) of Pictures Of You by The Cure. 

Great stuff all round.

Time Get Hard, Then Get Harder Still

A 12-song selection of The Fat Lady Sings, dedicated to my lifelong friend Stuart.

We've been to many, many gigs over the decades, a fair few where I've been more interested in the headline artist than Stuart, but the support band has proved to be something special.

And so it was on Saturday 3rd February 1990, when the two of us took our places at the Colston Hall in Bristol to see The Psychedelic Furs. It was my second time with The Furs, this one a bit of a return to their earlier sound with the (in my opinion hugely underrated) album Book Of Days. It was a great gig, but that's a story for another time.

The Fat Lady Sings were the support act that night. From my (ahem) 'research', it appears that the band were still self-financed and self-managed at that point, having independently released a few singles and building a reputation on the live circuit. They signed to a major label (East West) shortly after and the single Man Scared followed in October 1990. Their debut album Twist came out in May 1991.

Whilst the exact set is lost to memory (and no-one has posted any 1990 shows on Setlist), I do recall that The Fat Lady Sings put on a blistering show. In fact, it made quite the impression on Stuart, who thought that they were the best band that night and became a fan from then on.

There's no denying that Nick Kelly is a compelling front person and a consummate storyteller and songwriter. Sadly, The Fat Lady Sings story was relatively short-lived. A second album John Son followed in 1993 but despite a run of great singles throughout and the usual multi-format offers, they didn't achieve the commercial success they deserved.

After a show in New York in December 1993, Nick Kelly quit and, as both singer and sole songwriter, it was effectively over for The Fat Lady Sings. 

 

Stuart kept pace with Nick Kelly's solo career and although I haven't, things have come full circle for me. I'm a continuing subscriber to the wonderful Last Night From Glasgow label, who released the album Joy by Dogs in September. Dogs is a collaboration between Seán Millar and, you guessed it, Nick Kelly. And it's very good.

 

So, given that I can't remember what The Fat Lady Sings played that evening in February 1990 and not wishing to exclude some great songs from the John Son era, I've pulled a dozen songs, (almost) spanning their entire career.

First album Twist gets a third of the selection, including the singles Man Scared and Deborah. Twist managed one week in the UK album chart at #50, record buyers misguidedly favouring Eurythmics' Greatest Hits, Michael Bolton, EMF, Roxette and O.M.D. and forty four others. The singles continued an unfair trend of making no impression on the charts whatsover.

 

Second single Be Still, independently released in 1988, found a second life in 1993 when drummer Robert Hamilton (who had quit The Fat Lady Sings by then) co-founded the charity project Peace Together, with a various artists album of the same name. 

 

Be Still was the lead single with appearances by Peter Gabriel, Sinéad O'Connor, Feargal Sharkey, Nanci Griffith and Jah Wobble. There was also a couple of remixes, one by Robin Guthrie featuring Elizabeth Fraser on sole vocals, the other transformed by The Sabres Of Paradise into a near 12-minute epic. Yet, it was all there in 1988 with Nick's lovely little ditty.

I haven't included any songs from second and final album John Son, not because it's below par, but because the accompanying EPs contained so many worthy contenders. There's a spoken word title track (of sorts) and the frenetic Irish Country of What Are You Like? Best of all though is the original demo of Drunkard Logic, unquestionably my favourite version of the song and probably my favourite song by The Fat Lady Sings, full stop.

One seeming anomaly is Behind Your Back, dated as 2005 because that's the year the posthumous compilation The Fat Lady Singles/Opera Obscura appeared. Setlist also confirms that the song was played at a reunion gig in Dublin that year to promote the album. I suspect the song was written and recorded around the time of the John Son album sessions, though my (second ahem) 'research' has failed to confirm or deny this. Maybe I should ask Stuart...?

Whatever the vintage, the music of The Fat Lady Sings has aged very, very well and, on the strength of the Dogs debut, it's well past time for me to go back and rummage around in Nick Kelly's back catalogue.

 

1) Gravy Train (Album Version) (1991)

2) Border Keep (1993)

3) Man Scared (Album Version) (1990)

4) What Are You Like? (1993)

5) Love Turned Upside Down (Album Version) (1991)

6) Behind Your Back (2005)

7) Deborah (Album Version) (1991)

8) Everywoman (Single Version) (1993)

9) Johnson (1993)

10) Grand Country Wedding (Single Version) (1991)

11) Drunkard Logic (Original Demo Version) (1993)

12) Be Still (Single Version) (1988)

1988: Be Still EP: 12

1990: Man Scared EP: 3

1991: Deborah EP: 7, 10

1991: Twist: 1, 3, 5, 7

1993: Drunkard Logic EP: 4, 11

1993: Show Of Myself EP: 2, 8

1993: World Exploding Touch EP: 9

2005: The Fat Lady Singles/Opera Obscura: 6

Time Get Hard, Then Get Harder Still (47:12) (KF) (Mega)

All The Young Dudes Bearing The Strange Fruit Bug Will Never Understand The Wish Defense Forever Held By The Solitary Individual

A seemingly random selection of new singles and videos released in the past week or so, song titles stitched together to provide possibly Dubhed's longest and most meaningless post header yet!

Starting things off is Pet Shop Boys with their cover of All The Young Dudes. A shame that the You Tube simply credits it as "Song by Bowie" and makes no mention of Mott The Hoople's version, which let's face it will remain the definitive and the best. 

This isn't even the first time I've posted PSB covering this song. At the end of August, I posted a Dubhed selection of BBC Radio 2 Piano Room sessions, with Neil and Chris nestling between Sharleen Spiteri and Dave Gahan. 

I'll be honest, I prefer the Piano Room session (and the Richard X remix) over the James Ford-produced single version and the video is a bit predictable and bland, compared to the usual PSB fare. I would have picked the superior double A side, New London Boy, but they haven't got around to releasing a video for that yet. 

Laibach are no stranger to the cover version, often beating out and fashioning surprising and new metallic shapes from songs by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Europe, Juno Reactor, Opus, Prince, Queen and The Rolling Stones. This time it's Strange Fruit, interpreted over the years by UB40, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Tori Amos, The Twilight Singers and Bettye Lavette. 

None (apart from Nina Simone) quite capture the power of Billie Holiday's original version, but Laibach's version is unexpectedly...well, delicate is not the right word, sympathetic, maybe. 

Just Sašo Vollmaier on piano, Luka Jamnik (unseen) on "effects and electronics" and Milan Fras' unmistakable voice (though looking alarmingly like Robert Carlyle's twin brother in the video). The pummelling chords and Fras' growling gargle of the song's final word ('crop', in case you're wondering) leave an impression that lingers long after the song has ended. The song's lyrical theme and message are sadly no less relevant now than when it was first published as the poem Bitter Fruit in 1937. 

Fontaines D.C.'s penchant this year for single word single titles accompanied by great videos continues unabated with Bug, springing out from the album Romance, which came out in August but I still haven't got around to buying yet. 

The video is essentially a three-and-a-half minute re-edit of Andrea Arnold's latest film Bird, released in the UK & USA on Friday (8th). Bug is the name of the character played by Barry Keoghan. It's a good song, elements reminding me of Echo & The Bunnymen and New Order in their more 'rock' moments.

After a memorable live set in Bristol in the summer, Sam Morton (the band) is back with a new song, Never Understand. Not a cover of The Jesus & Mary Chain, sonically it's firmly rooted in the 90s, dare I day some of the outlier trip hop artists such as Mulu or Mono and possibly other acts beginning with 'M'. 

 

Samantha Morton (the actor)'s vocals are a step up from the debut album, perhaps a confidence that's come from honing her craft live on stage. If this is a nod to what may be coming next, then I look forward to Sam and co's future music. Engaging performances from Safia Oakley-Green and Conrad Kahn in the video, too.

I have to admit that before coming across the video for Wish Defense, I had never heard of FACS or the band that preceded them, Disappears. However, I will be checking out their back catalogue on the strength of this song. 

Wish Defense is the title track of FACS' forthcoming album (their sixth, I think) due in February. The song gets straight down to business with some angular bass, drums and guitar, Brian Case's vocals coming in bang on the one-minute mark, ramping up the urgency of the band's performance for the remainder of the song. Nothing ground breaking perhaps, but I'm intrigued enough to want to listen to more. 

The band perhaps wisely excuse themselves from the video and leave the heavy lifting to Megan Paradowski's choreography, which is mesmerising. Great stuff all round.

Dialling right back to an almost glacial pace, is Jon Hopkins with Forever Held, a collaboration with Ólafur Arnalds, written for NASA and employing a full orchestra. 

One of the first reactions to the 3:21 video on YouTube is that "There should be a law enforcing Jon Hopkins tracks to be at least six minutes long." 

This is the 'extended version', mate, the single release on Bandcamp is 2:38!

But I get the point. Jon Hopkins at his best creates deep, achingly beautiful music and whilst it's astonishing that he manages to deliver a complete and satisfying journey in two or three minutes, I could easily listen to a twenty-odd minute version of this. Unless it's incorporated into the opening of the new Coldplay album (true).

There's only one way to follow that and it's with another cracking single and video from Du Blonde. Solitary Individual the song features Laura Jane Grace - Du Blonde's previous single featured Skin from Skunk Anansie to similarly great effect - and it's another scuzzy punk pop earworm. 

Beth Jeans Houghton wrote, performed and produced the song and directed, animated and edited the video. The YouTube posting includes Beth's brilliant acerbic lyrics, so that you can learn them and sing along, annoying your family in the process (if Clan K is any measure).

If like me, you want to buy the digital versions, all of today's featured singles are available on Bandcamp. The only exception is Pet Shop Boys, but you can easily find New London Boy/All The Young Dudes elsewhere, in a variety of edits and remixes. 

You Can Take The Boy Out Of Bauhaus, But You Cannot Take Bauhaus Out Of The Boy

An unexpected treat, Peter Murphy and Boy George teaming up for a single, Let The Flowers Grow, co-written and produced by Youth aka Martin Glover.

 

Sound wise, it comes over like the closing song from the soundtrack to a Hollywood movie from the mid to late 80s, sweeping synth strings, chugging guitar and steady, muscular beat underpinning two powerhouse vocals. 

 

It took a couple of listens, but (and excuse the pun) it grew on me. Not an obvious pairing, and even if George's tends to dominate on the shared chorus, the voices complement one another well. And of course, new music from Peter Murphy is a very welcome thing.

It's been ten years since Peter's tenth studio album, Lion, also a collaboration with Youth, so we can but hope that Let The Flowers Grow is a teaser for a bigger project, an album even.

In the meantime, here's a chronological run through of Peter's promos, from his debut solo single (and Pere Ubu cover) Final Solution in 1985 through the optimistically titled HIt Song (it wasn't) in 1992, up to Eliza from Lion in 2014. Never a dull visual and those cheekbones could still cut glass over three decades.

From 2019, there's a live performance of second solo single Blue Heart and then the rather beautiful Keep Coming Back by Cheb I Sabbah from 2021, featuring Peter paired with Azam Ali.

Finally, a step back to 2011 and Peter's appearance on What's In My Bag? at Amoeba Music in San Francisco. At under six-and-a-half minutes, it's one of the shorter entries in the long-running series, but it's a lot of fun.

Final Solution (Cover of Pere Ubu) (1985)

All Night Long (1988)

A Strange Kind Of Love (1990)

Cuts You Up (1990)

Hit Song (1992)

The Scarlet Thing In You (1995)

I Spit Roses (2011)

Seesaw Sway (2011)

Eliza (2014)

Blue Heart (Live @ The Chapel, San Francisco) (2019)

Keep Coming Back: Cheb I Sabbah & Peter Murphy ft. Azam Ali (2021)

 

Who Is More Fascist? The Fascist? Or The Fascist Who Follows Him?

With apologies to George Lucas and Alec Guinness for mangling a memorable line from the first Star Wars film...and sympathy for the United States of America. Well, half of them at least.