The Week in Music hits the highest of high spots.
SINGLES
BERLIN BANTER - I'll Wait Ft. Tricky (Instant Noise Productions)
by Ancient Champion
Berlin Banter have created idiosyncratic takes on 80s and 90s pop hits in the past. Their reimagining of The Cure's Why Can't I Be You was a sort of stop dead in your tracks and wonder... What the fuck! that is good - a rare feeling to get from a record. Hardly ever happens. Founded by producer Chris Kobusch in 2020 with the intention of setting a disparate array of vocalists in a less conventional Electronica mise en scène, by incorporating traditional instruments with analog synthesizers and sampled sounds. I'll Wait is from a forthcoming EP and stars Tricky - One of the most significant musicians of his generation. Musically elegiac always. His voice is the sound that defines his songs. He is always warning about something. Chris Kobusch reached out to Tricky, who lives in Berlin, resulting in this glorious mish-mash of electronica with Keith Sonnier-style bright light pop infusions. Creators come together. And while the Process is the Art as a pop song, pretty cool it is too.
KATHERINE PRIDDY - I Think That They're Leaving Me Behind (Chrysalis )
by Jay Lewis
'The Endless Coloured Ways' the forthcoming tribute to the songs of Nick Drake is shaping up to be something rather exceptional. Fontaines DC and Let's Eat Grandma have already respectfully reinterpreted Drake's songs and turned them into something new, challenging, and exciting. Katherine Priddy's decision to cover a lesser-known Nick Drake song (there's a fairly raw home recording of it on the 'Family Tree' compilation), is a courageous choice that works wonderfully. The droning strings of the haunted introduction is reminiscent of Radiohead's 'Pyramid Song'. But 'I Think They're Leaving Me Behind' then builds, Priddy's lonely voice wrapped around a swirling, cinematic arrangement. A brilliant record.
NICK AND JUNE - Hugh Grant & His Consequence (Youtube)
by Ancient Champion
Concerted, admirable, and amazing easy listening from Nick and June who overcome let's say a slightly awkward title, to pockmark a very pretty melody with enough angst to elevate the meaning to meaningful. Fans of Bowie, fans of French New Wave, their ambitions are plush plumes, whispery though. This is probably what Vince Clarke thought the best of Depeche Mode would sound like while he was still in his Basildon bedroom figure out how to turn a synth on. A record that bothers to be delightful and sleighful from start to finish. And what a finish. Epic, but only in the way Nick and June see and hear epic. Can't believe these dudes don't even have a record deal yet. I'd start a label and sign them myself. Their EP, Beach Baby, Baby is going to make May feel like summer has arrived.
DEXYS - I'm Going To Get Free (100% )
by Jay Lewis
Kevin Rowland has been on a very long and rather peculiar journey with Lord knows how many ups and downs. Along the way he's documented his feelings by making some phenomenal records, and here's another... It's been eleven years since Dexys broke their lengthy silence and gave us the unflinchingly honest 'One Day I'm Going To Soar', and seven years since their Irish and Country Soul album. And 'I'm Going To Get Free' is worth all of that wait. Wise Kevin, is singing away his demons, with jubilant horns, fiddles, and a chorus of backing vocals to show those bad feelings to the door. Put down all of those 'spring clean' your life articles for a few minutes and listen to this instead. Then hit replay. It'll be the best therapy that you will have all week.
RESURRECTIONISTS - The Rest Cure (Seismic Wave)
by Toon Traveller
Listening is a strange experience, this reminds of punk, seventies bluegrass, doom rock, crossover, strangeness, and strange concept to grasp. But no less engaging for that. There's a great slow-paced organ crying through the song, for a while I was hearing, hearing what? Then it struck me, Lou Reed's phrasing, and intonation. There's a great banjo break, and solo, that give a dirty sense of wasted, never remembered places and spaces. The organ backcloth keeps the song together, but it's the vocals that hold attention. 1] if Lou Reed ever made a bluegrass record this could have been in it, 2] it's got a laid-back, pissed-off, "frankly my dear I don't give a damn" Southern Groove and charm. I love it more with each play.
ELIADES OCHOA - Se Soltó Un León (World Circuit Records)
by Alan Rider
Buena Vista Social Club. Now that's a blast from the past! Their self-titled debut album was constantly on my turntable back in 1997, in stark contrast to the usual sort of electronic noise that I'd be disturbing the neighbours with at that time, it's Latin Jazz rhythms and Spanish lyrics transported me instantly to South America where everyone seemed so much more chilled and happy than in gloomy old England. If anything, we need a jolly good cheering up now even more than we did back then, so this from one of the Buena Vista Social Club's original members is a very welcome ray of sunshine. It sounds exactly like it used to. The music hasn't progressed one iota. But I challenge you not to crack a smile listening to this.
DAWN RICHARD - Bubblegum (Merge)
by Ancient Champion
Alright Dawn Richard, there really is nothing you can't do. Everyone knows that now, but you just keep on doing this to us anyway. Where I came in, a fair while ago, reached I thought, an apotheosis on the Dirty Projectors duet, the exquisite, the quietest, genre stretching Cool Your Heart... I love that record so much. It made pop music seem possible again, right down to the Apple loops. And no I wouldn't go up an LA mountainside with Longstreth either unless the car at least looked like a Maserati in the dark. Wrote the book on how to survive Diddy. Danced into our hearts and got into our heads with that slightly avant Spencer Zahn Pigments record (oh wow!) - you know the guy who loves Mark Hollis so much he might want to be him and now, here's Dawn banging about again with Bubblegum. A record you'll want to dance to all week, even as slowly as I do. All that stretching and thrashing around would mean nothing, just wanton kinesis if it wasn't always just great I suppose and Bubblegum is that great. Dance troupe young century all Baz Lurhmann, bubbalicious gon' get you in trouble, maybe, expression of love, show tune. Don't be threatened by dancing. Sometimes it seems like Dawn Richard is the entire future of music. now.
FEEBLE LITTLE HORSE - Steamroller (Saddle Creek)
by Alan Rider
Who can't love a band name like Feeble Little Horse? Its both terrible and brilliant at the same time. I really must do that 'Top Ten of terrible band names' article I keep promising to do. Feeble Little Horse isn't on that list btw as the name isn't quite terrible enough. I actually think this single is pretty good. It starts with 10 seconds of noise that will have most puerile pop pickers reaching for the 'next' button well before the song kicks in, the accepted Spotify playlist wisdom being that if the vocals don't come in within 3 seconds of the song starting, it will get skipped. Feeble Little Horse couldn't give a fuck about that as they have the spirit of the Pixies coursing through their veins, as do a lot of indie bands, but they ally it to a charming 'who cares?' low fi sound that is lazily confident with the vocals kept low in the mix, bucking the trend to have them so in your face that they have practically moved in with you. This single about a steamroller is taken from their upcoming album 'Girl With Fish'. None of it makes any sense. Thank god for that!
NEVA DINOVA - Somethings Out There (Saddle Creek)
by Alan Rider
I am a sucker for reversed-sounding tracks. As a single this certainly has that, but sadly little else. Lyrically it's pants, just a series of embarrassingly trite and meaningless rhyming couplets like so, so many other songs. The languid pace and off-kilter style has a certain charm I grant you, but nothing that isn't forgotten the second it ends and will save this from sinking rapidly into the swamp of also-rans (and that's a big, big, swamp). One thing that bemuses me about US acts though is the lengthy tours they always announce in their Press blurbs. I am assuming that these comprise largely of bars and cafe venues that have bands on every night of the week to pull in the drinkers, but given the vast size of the States, it is still a considerable undertaking in time and effort. How is that viable, and who goes to see these acts? I always wonder that especially given the bland mediocrity often on show. It's a mystery for sure.
MONIKA ROSCHER BIGBAND - A Taste Of The Apocalypse (Zenna Records/Membran)
by Alan Rider
Regular readers of Outsideleft will have spotted that Munich's Monika Roscher Bigband has been pumping out singles like smarties ahead of the release of the ‘Witchy Activities And The Maple Death’ album coming at the start of next month (watch out for an exclusive interview in Outsideleft this month). At this rate, there may well be none left unreleased by the time we get there, but this track is a treat and yet another piece of evidence (as if any more were required) of the undoubted brilliance of the MRB. Stabbing horns underpin the lyrics, swelling like the sea before subsiding again. "Are we not ghosts? Are we not in control?" asks Monika at one point. The MRB is very much in control, I can assure you and are busy charting a course that promises to deliver every time.
THE LINDA LINDAS - Too Many Things (Epitath)
by Alan Rider
Why do all US pop-punk acts sound the same? That could be an exam question. Discuss. The Linda Lindas are fine in a formulaic and heard-it-all-before-a-zillion-times way, but little else. One day AI will do this for us and record labels won't need to splash out on signing bratty acts to churn out these sorts of songs. That day may very well be here already, as I can't honestly tell anymore. Fortunately, when I clicked on the Youtube link I got pulled into a very entertaining three-minute mini film ad for Switzerland, with comedian Trevor Noah and Tennis champ Roger Federer riffing off one another on a train. If that happens to you, I'd stick with the ad. It's honestly a better way to spend your three minutes than 'Too many Things'.
MANDY, INDIANA - Peach Fuzz (Fire Talk)
by Alan Rider
Mandy Indiana's brand of experimental noise and industrial electronics certainly contains all the elements you would expect from an out-there industrial act. Harsh noises, repetitive and mechanical sounding beats, unusual recording locations (mainly caves in their case), and obtuse videos, but for all that, 'Peach Fuzz' is (dare I say it) a bit boring. It rumbles along for what seems like ages in a sort of industrial acid-housey way, doing all the obvious things that anyone who knows what knob to twiddle (I do, it's the resonance knob) can do, and has done many times over. They have a new album 'I've Seen A Way' coming up, which is, apparently, "long-awaited" (when aren't they? - it's a perennial PR cliche!), but they will need to do a lot better than this to stand out from the crowd. Let's see when we get there.
BEBE REXHA - Call on Me (Warner Records)
ZERO s
by Alan Rider
There it is again. The Millennial Whoop. You've heard it before on umpteen hot pop tracks and its all over this one. If you want to get technical, the Millennial Whoop is a sequence of notes that alternates between the fifth and third notes of a major scale, typically starting on the fifth. The rhythm is usually straight 8th-notes, but it may start on the downbeat or on the upbeat in different songs. A singer usually belts these notes out in a squeaky voice (thanks to the overuse of autotune) with an “Oh” phoneme, often in a “Wa-oh-wa-oh” pattern. Got that? I took that definition from Wikipedia btw just in case you thought I was some sort of music professor. In short, though, it means all chart hits sound the same, making the term 'song writer' completely meaningless. Don't bother to listen to the accompanying video. You've heard it all before and seen any number of busty teens writhing around on screen in their lingerie in an 'empowering' way whilst moaning on about their broken relationships. Use the time more productively to make a cup of tea instead. This sort of thing has absolutely no place in Outsideleft of course. I only reviewed it here because it gave me the opportunity to use the word 'phoneme', the definition of which is even more convoluted than for Millennial Whoop (look it up!). A well earnt zero hearts though for originality.
BEACH FOSSILS - Dare Me (Bayonet)
by Alan Rider
When I started typing this review I mis-typed the song title as 'Dear Me' but that's actually a pretty good summation of this release. When I reviewed their previous single 'Don't Fade Away' I compared them to a more acoustic New Order. Ditto for this, but it's just not as interesting the second time around I'm afraid. Get yourself a new sound guys.
WEDNESDAY - Quarry (Dead Oceans)
by Toon Traveller
Wednesday's album 'Rat Done Good' is out, does this track 'Quarry' tempt a listen? Nah, not really. It's got that standard, post-new, new structure, soft verses, a slightly disappointed in life vocal whine that lacks the cynicism this song needs, Verses exist to cue the 'power chord' fist-pumping, mosh pit jumping, arms flailing, chorus. I'm sure you all know the song type. Sure, well played, in a 'Seattle very-lite' sorta way. It skips along, inconsequentially. Hard to dislike, even harder to enthuse over. If this generates any dosh, expect Ray Davies' lawyers to be asking for theirs. I mean, it's not dissimilar to those indie icons Radiohead launching a commercial career on the back of the Hollies' hard work and neglecting to tell them. A well played pastiche/tribute to decades past.
CLARA ENGEL - Golden Egg (Bandcamp)
by Lee Paul
From Clara's forthcoming full-length, Their Invisible Hands, this track, Golden Egg, is captivating. The tension between Clara's voice, the subsuming synth frame, and delicately plucked strings is very, very left-field alt-folk and very slightly epic. "I'm not writing the same song over and over so much as writing one long continuous song that will end when I die." Clara says. This is my beginning of the end and it's most welcome.
JOE PERRY - Fortunate One (Roman Records)
by Alan Rider
Joe Perry twangs the guitar for Aerosmith and Hollywood Vampires. He has lots of rock star pals to hang out with. He says (I imagine in a bourbon-soaked croak) "My old friend Chris Robinson from the Black Crows sang on it, he knocked it outta the park! We started it in LÀ, recorded it in London, and Chris sang on it….. and BANG…..!! doesn’t get better than that…!!!" Joe Perry is supremely annoying and up himself in the way only bloated rock dinosaurs in long coats playing tired old recycled Rolling Stones-style R&B riffs can manage. That millions of shellfish died to produce the oil to make the vinyl for this tripe to be pressed on to is indeed the saddest and most damning indictment of the human race.
THE LILAC TIME - A Makeshift Raft (Poetica)
by Jay Lewis
'All you need is love!' It's something that Stephen Duffy has been telling us for the best part of four decades now. Have you been paying attention? Have you? Well, fortunately, he's brought the rest of The Lilac Time along (wife Claire and brother Nick) with some acoustic guitars (no bass, no drums), to remind us of what we need to strive for. 'Makeshift Raft' is a refresher course to be held around a campfire, a poetic protest in cynical times. There's even some yodeling. A new album 'Dance Till The Stars Come Down' will be with us in August. Why not pre-order a copy here.
CRUMB - Crushxd (Crumb)
by Toon Traveller
Opens with one of those slightly breathless vocals and swirling synth sounds, A repeated keyboard riff, at first play, not unpleasant, keeping the song on track, A strident, jagged, Drum/guitar 'middle eight' disturb the song's calm and space. not too sure what it's all about. That's it's weakness, ideas without substance, or purpose. second play and the 'fey innocent vocals, simply annoy.
KLARA LEWIS AND NIK COLK VOID - Work It Out (Alter)
by Alan Rider
The world of extreme, abstract electronic music is a strange one. It could barely be described as music, more an attitude tied to a sound. It has its own stars like any other scene, but I couldn't tell you whether Klara Lewis or Nik Colk Void are stars or not. They have apparently decided to collaborate on a new album 'Full On' though, which promised to be just that on the strength of this short snippet. Who contributed what isn't clear? Apparently “we used our own voices and found a third” they say. I have no idea what that means. What I do know, however, is that they promise to meld guitars, synths, modular systems, voice, sampling, and outboard processing together to create new musical shapes which are simultaneously brutal and playful. Again, I have no idea what that means and I haven't as yet heard the album (soon, I am promised) to make my own mind up. As with all extreme forms of music, I find this confusion deeply intriguing and marvel that this will be coming out on vinyl limited to 500. That tells me that there is still an openness to unconventional musical taste with a small market for it out there and everything has not yet been reduced to identical Pop or Alt Rock bilge. I have no idea what 'Full On' will be like, or if I will love or hate it, but I value the uncertainty that creates. Three Hearts means I am sitting on the fence and its entirely up to Klara Lewis and Nik Colk Void which side I end up on.
DESTROY BOYS - Beg For The Torture (Hopeless Records)
by Alan Rider
Destroy Boys is both the name of the band and a defining statement of intent by this (s)punky Sacramento three-piece, as they sear through a deceptively short 1.35 minutes of "obsession, rage, desperation, and catapulting between feeling like the sexiest woman alive and a neglected child’s plaything" according to lead screamer Vi Mayugba. Blimey! She certainly doesn't hold back. Their scorched earth brand of punk is a taste you either love or hate (guess which side I'm coming down on?) but any single that can say what it needs to say in that short a time scale gets my vote any day. "Sometimes my crushes make me feel like the girl who is bound to die first in an 80s horror movie" says Vi in the Press Notice. Well put! Wish I'd thought of that. To top it off, the video is a very cool and intentionally glitchy affair, albeit yet another AI-generated effort (I'll admit I'm getting a bit worried by all this AI malarky). Take a look. 1.35 minutes, remember? Surely you can spare that.
FINLAY SHAKESPEARE - Theresa (Alter)
by Alan Rider
Its rare that I come across a slice of electro-pop that is truly worthy of the name, but Bristolian electronic musician, producer, engineer, and 'synth builder' (it says here) Finlay Shakespeare certainly wins that prize. Taken from the album 'Illusion + Memory' (review in the works), 'Teresa' is an undeniably slick and infectious slice of electronica, recalling the finest Travelogue era Human League, produced by someone who clearly has a deep and intuitive understanding of the genre and of synthesizers, having even worked previously with the likes of Throbbing Gristle’s Chris Carter to develop a line of Gristelizer modular synth components and collaborations with acts as diverse as Suicide, Charlemagne Palestine, The Grid and Mica Levi. This is the sort of music that spawned Mute and all that followed and still endures thanks to the work of artists like Finlay Shakespeare. Nice one.
EPs
SAM AKPRO - Arrival (Fair Youth)
by Alan Rider
It just goes to show that you should never, ever, judge by appearances. Looking at Sam Akpro's promo shot I'd had him pegged as a samey Rap act, but nothing could be further from the truth. His new EP, 'Arrival' smashes any misapprehensions I may have had, constantly surprising at every turn. From the opening 'Trace' with its jazzy upbeat vocals you would say "this is a class intelligent pop act". Then along comes 'Arrival' with urgent guitars and a heavy indie sound to dispel that notion, albeit ending with the chirping of crickets. So now he is a superior alt rock/indie guitar act? Think again. 'Leaving Please' veers straight into Experimental Noise territory. The closing track and single 'New Blocks' is even more of a surprise. It's a good 3 minutes of ethereal guitar and understated bass, morphing into solid slabs of guitar and drum before we hear anything like a vocal kick in. The accompanying video also steers clear of rock and pop cliche. At no point do you see Akpro in anything other than silhouette, standing silently (no miming) whilst the track swirls around. All impeccably recorded. I'm impressed.
LPs
DAVID HEATLEY - If (Bandcamp)
by Alan Rider
New York's David Heatley is that unusual combination of cartoonist and animation director, and musician. Both as a solo artist and as part of the bands Velvet Cactus Society and The Bischoffs, he has produced 5 albums and 7 EPs to date, and even has a TV show based on his 2019 graphic memoir "Qualification" currently in production. Let's just say he keeps himself busy! 'If', his second solo album, is a relaxed affair. The single 'Mess' is atypical of the rest of the album, which has flavours of easy-listening jazz, classical, lounge, and Latin and reminds me a little of Santana or Paul Simon in places, old school crooners in others. Those switches can be confusing at times, giving the feeling of a showreel of different musical styles. He certainly has a stellar cast of skilled musicians backing him, but having said that, 'If' left me with the feeling that it lacked the conviction and urgency that I look for in any act and is ultimately destined to play quietly in the background of an up-market restaurant. 'Mess' is by far the most in-your-face track, and all the better for it, but don't judge this book by that cover. The rest of the album would definitely get approving nods from your grandparents, and take that as you will.
ROBBIE FULKS - Bluegrass Vacation (Compass Records)
by Toon Traveller
Normally, I am up for a slab of Bluegrass, one of the great Roots of America's musical development. The thing is like all music, there's good and there's bad, playing and insight. This has the latter, comments on a struggle to make it in LA. He's in a dark place, but you'd not know it from the music. Great observation 'small town bars are rough, big city bars are friendly...' true if you're singing live. But for Robbie on a loser's path, boozing away the day, it's one lonely whiskey glass to get you through troubled times. Thankfully he knows that's a sad delusion. As for the music, speed banjo, and fiddle, bounds along, but there's not much in terms of depth after a couple of plays. The playing though, is stupendous and above criticism throughout.
GEBHARD ULMANN/DAS KONDENSAT - Andere Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
by Toon Traveller
Other Materials
DIRTY PROJECTORS - Cool Your Heart ft. Dawn Richard (Domino Records)
by Ancient Champion
Oh look Dawn is much more than someone overdressed for a night hike. Hers is the nuance, and so just because. Right here, Dawn made one of the great pop records of the past decade.
DAVID SYLVIAN - Brilliant Trees (Version 2000) (Deleted - YouTube only)
by Katherine Pargeter
'My whole world stands in front of me...'
After his brief time spent as a, somewhat reluctant, pop star, David Sylvian surrounded himself with a respectable, experimental, and innovative group of musicians. On this particular piece, he is joined by Jon Hassell (whose haunting trumpet sound helps define this track) as well as Holger Czukay (formerly of Can) and Ryuichi Sakamoto. With the death of Sakamoto last month I realized that none of the musicians here (with the exception of Sylvian and his brother Steve Jansen on drums) are still alive. This made hearing this song. probably a love song, probably about the beauty of life, of nature, and of reaching out for something of meaning, something spiritual, all the more profound. It is a beautiful and tender work. Its strength is in its fragility.
Essential Information
Main image Tricky from his Berlin Banter joint piece.
