Fourteen Years Of Silence

I listen to very little radio these days, so it was a YouTube trawl that landed me David Sylvian's audio diary, extracted from Mary Anne Hobbs' Spirit Of Sylvian special on her BBC Radio 6 Music show, first broadcast on 27th October.  

 

The full show runs to just under an hour, with a playlist including influencers and the influenced such as Yellow Magic Orchestra, Holger Czukay, Roxy Music, Burial, Savages, Goldie and Pa Salieu.

 

Raised On Radio has posted David's self-authored piece on YouTube and it's a compelling listen, 26 minutes spanning everything from his departure from Virgin at the end of the 20th century, the birth and death of his own label Samadhi Sounds, his collaborations, photography, looking back (and not looking back), Japan's legacy and a refreshing view on when and why artists wish to sample his work.

 

None of that begins to do it justice, give it a listen:

 

What immediately struck me is David Sylvian's voice. I have all of David's solo albums on Virgin, but I realise that the last album proper that I bought was 2005's The Good Son vs. The Only Daughter, itself a remix of 2003 album Blemish. His singing voice in that time was becoming richer, deeper, but that was twenty years ago.

It had been even longer since I'd heard David's speaking voice. What I remember best is the London accent from early 80s interviews when in Japan:

 

And I found this great clip of an interview with Gary Crowley in 1993, promoting his collaboration with Robert Fripp, The First Day. The voice is more refined but still recognisably David Sylvian.

 

At the end of his piece for Mary Anne Hobbs,. David apologises for his Mid-Atlantic accent, shaped by living in America for nearly three decades and "inevitable, but it would annoy the [bleep] out of me if I had to listen to it."

Yes, it was a bit of a shock at first but once David starts speaking, I found it impossible to stop listening. I'm on my third listen at the time of writing this post and each visit reveals another fascinating layer of insight that I missed the first time around. An essential listen, whether you're a David Sylvian fan or just have an interest in the inner workings of an artist.

It was a short hop from there to another YouTube gem, offering up 40 minutes of raw, in-the-studio footage of the Berlin recording sessions for David's first solo album, Brilliant Trees. Again, a must-see.

 

David's last solo album proper was 2009's Manafon but as mentioned in the BBC 6 Music audio, he collaborated with Franz Wright and Christian Fennesz on There's A Light That Enters Houses With No Other House In Sight, released in 2014. You can view an extract - Wintersleep - or listen to the full 64-minute album.

 

On 28th October, Twinkle³, released a new album, Upon This Fleeting Dream. I haven't yet heard anything other than the closing track of Side 1, If I leave No Trace, which features a spoken word contribution from David Sylvian, but it's an intriguing three-and-a-half minutes.

In the opening section of David's Spirit Of Sylvian audio piece, he reflected on whether accepting Mary Anne Hobbs' invitation was the right thing to do as he hadn't spoken to the media in 14 years, even longer for radio or TV. He closes by saying that he's "not going to listen back to what I have spoken to you about because I know if I do, I'll delete it [laughs]... this is inevitable."

What was perhaps also inevitable is that less than half an hour in David Sylvian's company has reignited my love and admiration for his artistic integrity and vision but also his ability to not take himself too seriously. I'm now digging back into my existing Japan and David Sylvian but also inspired to look forward to catching up with the solo records and collaborations that I've missed in the last thirty years.

After A Fashion

Dressed To Kill by Fashion popped up on my random music shuffle. My brother had their 1982 album Fabrique on "double play" cassette, with the album on Side A and a slew of remixes on Side B, all produced by German legend Zeus B. Held (Bernd Held to his friends). I was fascinated by the music and the images of the band on the tiny cassette sleeve.

When I started buying music in earnest, secondhand copies of the Fabrique-era 12" singles were added to my collection: Move On, Streetplayer - Mechanik, Something In Your Picture and the mighty Love Shadow, featuring Gina X.

 

I've found a live clip of Dressed To Kill, performed at Alabama Halle, Munich in 1982. The on-stage line-up appears to be missing bassist Martin Recchi, but it's a compelling performance, ironically underpinned by a none-more-80s bassline, and Dee Harris giving a strong vocal up front. The audience seem less enthused, which seems a bit unfair.

A passing mention here, as this warrants a separate post, but this was the third of five iterations of the band, from the band's birth in 1978 as post-punk Fàshiön Music through to Fashion's pop/funk rebirth in 1981 to their demise in 1984. There was a brief reformation in 2009, this sixth iteration of Fashion essentially a solo vehicle for original singer and multi-instrumentalist Luke Sky. 

 

Not long after the 1982 show and ahead of a planned world tour, Dee Harris left the band. I was aware from buying Fashion's 12" singles that Alan Darby replaced Harris as lead singer. I didn't know about the fourth iteration of the band until researching this piece. 

 

Troy Tate was previously in The Teardrop Explodes but I had no idea that he'd also auditioned and been recruited to Fashion as lead vocalist (with Alan Darby on guitar). Less than 3 weeks after Dee Harris quit the band, the new line-up performed on BBC2's The Old Grey Whistle Test and a performance of Move On is available on Troy's YouTube page. I prefer Harris' original vocals to Tate's performance, if I'm honest, but Darby's guitar solo is a thing to behold.

 

This incarnation of the band didn't record or release any material and, in the wake of Troy Tate's departure, Alan Darby stepped up as lead singer and songwriter. From there, my interest waned rapidly, but Fashion's story is a fascinating tale of musical differences and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory (if commercial success is victory).

 

Fabrique was re-released as boutique, ultra deluxe edition in 2021 in a limited run of 1000. If you want the low down on this, I point you to the ever-excellent Post Punk Monk, who dissected the box set and contents in an epic 11-part series of posts on it's release, starting here.

Crucify The City In A Criss-Cross Cabby

Leftfield recently released a new single, Full Way Round, in anticipation of (is it really only?) fourth album, This Is What We Do, which is out next month. 

 

Previous singles Pulse (which I wrote about in August) and Accumulator have promised great things and Full Way Round takes it up a notch, featuring sprechgesang vocals from Fontaines D.C.'s Grian Chatten and taking a cab ride round the city at night time.

I've enjoyed so much new electronic music this year, much from artists and DJs that I've discovered for the first time. However, as Leftfield and Orbital are demonstrating so well, favourites from my past are continuing to provide anthems for the future.

This Is What We Do is out on 2nd December and available from the usual outlets. Of particular interest is the exclusive limited edition vinyl or CD from Rough Trade, offering up a bonus disc of demos.

Seeing Nothing But Blue Sky Shining On My Soul

I am heartbroken to read that Mimi Parker has passed at the age of 55, just under two years after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Singer, songwriter, drummer and co-founder of Low, Mimi's contribution to the band and music as a whole cannot be adequately expressed. 

Mimi's voice is beautiful, sweet, gentle, achingly melancholic when the song calls for it and, paired with husband Alan Sparhawk, an emotionally charged, soul-stirring harmonious sound seemingly not of this world. Mimi and Alan's acoustic cover of Bee Gees' I Started A Joke from 2008 is as good an example of this as any.

I have a dozen Low albums (a couple are technically mini-albums), from 1996's third album The Curtain Hits The Cast to 2018's Double Negative. I've been meaning to get last year's album Hey What for some time and I had also been hoping to see Low at Komedia in Bath on 15th November. Mimi had shared her diagnosis in January this year and in August, the band cancelled their planned tour as "Recent developments and changes in treatment have made extensive travel impossible at this time".

 

On Sunday, Alan posted the following message on Low's official Twitter:

 

Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but 

 

She passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours. Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. 

 

Love is indeed the most important thing.

 

I'm still trying to process the sad news but a couple of Mimi's performances immediately came to me. I remember seeing Low on Later With...Jools Holland but I hadn't realised that it was nearly a decade ago, promoting 2013's album The Invisible Way. It was the first of only two appearances on the show, including this version of Just Make It Stop, featuring Mimi on lead vocals.

 

The first song I ever heard by Low was the opening song of their 1999 mini-album, Christmas, a five-second shuffling beat and jingle bells before Mimi's angelic voice comes in. Just Like Christmas has been a festive staple at Casa K ever since and is one of my favourite Christmas songs of all. 

There are few live performances of the song available on YouTube, but this is a wonderful version from Low's "Christmas Tour" show at Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon in 2010, the day after I turned 40.

Rest in peace, Mimi, you will always be loved.

Enough Is Enough

Primal Scream and Dexys have teamed up to create a fund raiser for the RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers). Enough Is Enough is named after the RMT campaign and features a guest appearance from general secretary Mick Lynch.

 

The song itself fits more obviously into the Dexys canon but features strong vocal performances from both Kevin Rowland and Bobby Gillespie. Enough Is Enough is accompanied by a video from Douglas Hart, former bandmate of Bobby in The Jesus & Mary Chain and now an acclaimed director.

 

You can buy Enough Is Enough via Bandcamp for £1.00 and all proceeds will go to the RMT dispute fund. The politically charged lyrics and potty mouth language mean it's unlikely to disrupt the flow of the Radio 2 drivetime slot, but it's a good song, a good cause and worth five minutes of your time and 100 of your pennies (or equivalent currency).

 

Inevitably, it called to mind another song called Enough Is Enough, released in 1993 as a collaboration between Chumbawamba and Credit To The Nation. An anti-fascist anthem, it reached #56 in the UK singles chart and is currently available digitally on Chumbawamba's 1994 album Anarchy.

 

In 2000, a remix of the song, Enough Is Enough (Kick It Over), a remix of the song with updated lyrics, was released as a response to the formation of a coalition government in Austria. The coalition included the Freedom Party of Austria, led at the time by Nazi apologist Jörg Haider. Later that year Haider was forced to relinquish direct control of the FPO due to international pressure. The remix of Enough Is Enough is still available as a free MP3 download on Chumbawamba's website

Sadly, a look around and both songs resonate with the situation that we currently find ourselves in, here in the UK and overseas. Enough Is Enough.

Remergency On Planet Earth

I've been looking forward to Let's Remerge! by Pye Corner Audio since Swiss Adam teased one of the tracks, Saturation Point, over at Bagging Area at the tail end of September.

 

The legend that is Sonic Boom has remixed three songs from parent album Let's Emerge! into sixteen and a half minutes of aural beauty, gently cascading notes, droning synths and guest Andy Bell's guitar coming further forward in the mix, the pace picking up from opener Haze Loops through Saturation Point finally reaching the euphoric, pulsing, uptempo Warmth Of The Sun. 

Let's Remerge! was released yesterday and is available via Bandcamp (digital only, the orange vinyl 10" sold out on pre-orders ages ago) and is highly recommended.

Of course, having just one release in a week could be considered slacking off, so Martin Jenkins also gifted a brand new Pye Corner Audio track, Firewalk, available for free/name your own price. There are echoes of Let's Emerge! but with a sinister, unsettling edge, befitting it's release on Hallowe'en.

 

Swing Your Soul

Sticking with new singles - this may end up being a theme for this week - John Cale released Story Of Blood on 19th October, the second preview for upcoming album Mercy, out in January. 

 

Story Of Blood seems to have been around for several years, John Cale having performed the song at least as far back as 2018 at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea. In a lovely bit of symmetry, John Cale's performing there again on Monday as part of his UK tour, though judging by his varied setlist so far there's no guarantee that Story Of Blood be included. 

 

There's a performance of Story Of Blood from a later date on the 2018 tour, at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany, a different arrangement with guitar and strings. The secretive recording means the sounds all over the place but it's a compelling watch, particularly when reminded that John Cale was 76 years old at the time. John celebrated his 80th birthday in March and I'm sorry that I won't be able to make any of the dates on his current tour, which I can imagine must be something quite special.

This version of Story Of Blood is a collaboration with Weyes Blood, whose then-new single I coincidentally featured here a couple of days before Story Of Blood was released. Weyes Blood's own new album And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow is out later this month. Second single and video Grapevine was released last Friday (28th) and is another incentive to buy.

Night Crawling, the first single from Mercy, came out in August with a wonderful animated 70s-inspired video featuring Cale and David Bowie trawling NYC at night. The video takes an interesting turn at 1:43. 

 

Octogenarian and still out there, my love for John Cale's questing search for new artistic expression knows no bounds. 

Note: More regular and observant visitors will have notices that I previously posted this on Tuesday 1st November. I also posted a bit of a moan/plea for help about file sharing platforms on the same day which unfortunately seems to have put this post somewhat in the shade. Out of respect for John Cale, and because I really love Story Of Blood, I decided to take it down and give it a fresh start on Friday. Fingers crossed!

A Catalogue Of Fools

HiFi Sean and David McAlmont have shared a fourth single from their album, Happy Endings, due a worldwide release in February.

 

All In The World is a brisk bubbly number, a perfect cover for McAlmont's bittersweet lyrics

 

Each note has a bitter edge 

In a self-centred classic for overgrown children 

And this is a… 

And this is a… 

This is a catalogue of fools

The video is even more to the point, condensing the song into a three-minute romp through the London underground and other, ground-level points of the city, HiFi Sean breaking into an occasional smile and/or keytar solo and David McAlmont alternating between groove and grit.

The full length album version is available for digital download. It's more expensive on Bandcamp but if you hang on until Friday, even more of your pennies will go to the artists, which is a very good thing.

 

Despite not planning any club remixes for the "McHiFi" project, HiFi Sean has delivered a couple of club remixes of All In The World. The 'electro flux' mix pretty much strips back David McAlmont's voice to a few lines; the accompanying dub dispenses with vocals almost entirely, bar the occasional chuckle, "ooh" or "Say what?" sample. 

Bangers both, also available on Bandcamp and elsewhere.

 

A SAULT On The Senses

SAULT have only gone and done it again. This message appeared on their official website yesterday (1st November):

 

Here are 5 albums released as an offering to God.

Available for free download for 5 days.

The password to unlock all 5 albums is in the message.

Love SAULT x

Just process that for a minute. Five albums. Fifty six songs. Over three and a half hours of new music. For free.

 

What is even more incredible is that this is SAULT's eleventh album since 2019. Eleventh! 

 

Before yesterday, SAULT had already released one album (AIR) and one EP (Angel) in 2022, which I wrote about last month. My mind is boggling at the statistics, let alone the quality of the music.

When I posted about SAULT for the first time last year, I described the challenge of curating a SAULT selection:

Each album is a compelling listen and trying to compile a selection for this blog is both seemingly impossible and deceptively simple. 

In the end, I copped out by creating an acrostic, tracks from each of the five albums spelling out the collective's name. 

Even so, I think it hangs together really well and will hopefully encourage you to search out more.

I started this post at 5.00am today (2nd) so no, I haven't listened to a single album in full or even begun to scratch the surface of this treasure trove yet. I've picked a random sample of 10 songs, two from each album, to provide a 40-minute selection. As before, but honestly more by luck than design, I think the selection works well as a complete listening experience, an Imaginary Compilation Album*, if you will. 

 

Given my moan about download links yesterday, until I decide on a permanent replacement you can (hopefully) access today's selection either via Box or Mega.

In the meantime, the countdown clock's ticking to November 5th; when they're gone, they're gone. SAULT's message is godislove.

1) Gods Will (AIIR)

2) Fear No One (11)

3) The Plan (Today & Tomorrow)

4) Soul Inside My Beautiful Imagination (Earth)

5) Colour Blind (UNTITLED (God))

6) The Jungle (Today & Tomorrow)

7) Fields (Earth)

8) Glory (11)

9) Luminous (UNTITLED (God))

10) 5am (AIIR)

 

A SAULT On The Senses (41:29) (Box) (Mega)

 

* copyright The Vinyl Villain

Box Set (No) Go

When I started this blog a couple of years ago, I used Box to make my selections available for download. After a while, I started experiencing issues with uploads so I switched to Mega, which seemed a lot more user friendly and offered three times the 10GB free space offered by Box.

 

I decided to give Box another go recently and all seemed fine up to last week, when it became apparent from feedback that visitors were having trouble accessing the downloads. You'll see from the comments on Sunday's post that I've removed, reuploaded and recreated Box links several times.

 

When a post goes live - and I do check them most days, honest - all seems fine. I can access the link, play back the selection online and download the file no problem. However, go back a little while later and whilst the playback (on a PC) is fine, the download now hangs indefinitely with the "Your download is in progress" pop up message.

If I try to access the link via my (admittedly quite old iPhone), then playback doesn't work at all and the download link brings up a "Sorry, we couldn't find that page" message.

I haven't spent hours scouring t'internet to be fair, but I've been unable to find any trouble shooting advice or guidance that tells me what the problem might be. I've checked and rechecked my Box settings and I don't think I'm doing anything wrong when creating the link in the first place.

Any suggestions? Mega was pretty hassle free but not necessarily accessible to all. Would you recommend any other platforms?