SINGLES
LOL TOLHURST X BUDGIE X JACKNIFE LEE - Los Angeles (Play It Again Sam)
by Alan Rider
Los Angeles appears to be a single by a band without a name, just a combination of the star players. There is an album of the same name stacked high with the unburied remains of Primal Scream, U2 and Idles to bulk it out. I wanted to hate this due to its dinosaur heavy connections but much to my surprise I find I'm as captivated by the signature Budgie tribal drum sound that made the Creatures such an innovative act as I was the first time round. The vocals by guest James Murphy are nothing special, lyrics neither and I'm not sure what Lol Tolhurst and Jacknife Lee were doing on this as it seems to be all percussion to me (maybe they made the tea) but if the album is like this it will be well worth a spin I'd say.
CRIME AND THE CITY SOLUTION - Peace In My Time (Mute)
by Alan Rider
Crime and The City Solution seem to have been around forever, yet have failed to make an impression on my consciousness so far. This is apparently a comeback after a decade's break with a downbeat song is about the "acceptance of uncertainty, and an acceptance of who you are", which sounds very much like a track off the recent Swans LP in all but name. Slow grand piano, gravelly vocals like Johnny Cash in his final days, gloomy subject matter, grainy black and white video. Its all there. This is superior downbeat music for a grey and rainy day, but just make sure you lock away any sharp blades or bottles of painkillers before you play it.
BE YOUR OWN PET - Big Trouble (Third Man)
by Alan Rider
You have to love any record that starts with police sirens and an image of a man in a gimp suit. Don't you? Oh well, each to their own. After the opening few bars its predictability city all the way though. By numbers punky stuff to be sure. In fact I'm not really sure now that there is actually anyone in that gimp suit. There's a metaphor in that somewhere.
SUN'S SIGNATURE - Golder Air (Partisan Records)
by Alan Rider
Sun's Signature are Elizabeth Fraser and Damon Reece. Fraser was, of course, the voice of the Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil and also appeared on Massive Attack’s trail-blazing ‘Mezzanine’ LP, with Damon Reese being drummer with Massive Attack, and a member of Spiritualized and Echo and the Bunnymen in the '90s. So they know their stuff then, and as you would expect this sounds almost exactly like you'd imagine it would, a cross between Massive Attack and The Cocteau Twins. Its very pleasant and well done and is actually very soothing and ideal to slip on in the background if you've had a bad day.
LS DUNES - Grey Veins (Fantasy Records)
by Alan Rider
LS Dunes are a 'post hardcore supergroup' fronted by Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), and are ok as it happens, but my primary interest in this track is that LS Dunes have received a 'Cease and Desist' letter from Lego's lawyers relating to the video for 'Grey Veins' showing Lego characters building a big fighting robot to take on an alien creature. Apparently Lego didn't like that. When you think about the original idea behind Lego as something you can build anything you want with, you will see how ridiculous Lego's attitude is and how this is the thin end of a potentially very large and oppressive wedge. It's like an instrument manufacturer like Fender or Roland saying you can't use their guitars or keyboards because they don't like your music! So watch this video to boost the views and stick two fingers up to Lego. If you find its been taken down you will know Lego and their lawyers have won and they are just another brick in the wall (do you see what I did there?)
WOODS - Another Side (Woodsist)
by Ancient Champion
From the forthcoming new Woods LP, well, wait for it, until September, Another Side sort of reminds me of Trans Am or a Trans Am I never used to own. Wait. Prehistoric Man is sitting here, making eggy bread and he says Trans Am were way more hardcore, this is more early Badly Drawn Boy sans singing. Woods. They're wilfully obtuse and commercial all at once right here. The LP will deserve to be owned. It's more-ish for sure. Layers of Luv.
SOAPER - Inside Out (Narrow Door Records)
by Tim Sparks
Soaper appeared recently whilst social surfing and what a great band these are, a duo sounding like a full band. This track has intro guitars reminiscent of The Damned, then the banging rhythm track hold it all together. Super saturated vocals sounds compliment the full on soundscape, leading us through the verse into a great hooky chorus. Guitars lead the way....all the way...I think that must be the fuzziest fuzz Ive heard for a while, maybe with an Octaver thrown in there for good measure! All in all a Jolly good listening experience
MONSTER RALLY - Floating Along A River (Monster Rally)
by Lee Paul
From the Flower Shower EP, environs imagined in music... Lazily, languidly, dude the drummer can barely be bothered to beat those toms on his way round the kit. That I like. And that it doesn't last forever, like floating along a river can.
ABC - The Look of Love Pt.1 (Steve Wilson Stereo Mix) (Mercury Record Ltd.)
by Jay Lewis
It may strike you as a little odd, what with my scribbling about ABC at every possible occasion, but ‘The Look of Love’ was never my favourite song of theirs. It’s probably the one I’m least fond of on the splendid ‘The Lexicon of Love’, and just like the utterly ridiculous promo video, there’s just far too much going on. Fortunately, Steve Wilson's sensitive new mix makes it all feel a lot less cluttered. Martin Fry's questioning vocals are higher in the mix. Some of those Trevor Horn-y gimmicks toned down, just a tad. The live version (also included on this EP), is a whole lot of fun too. And what makes the rest of that ‘Lexicon’ album so damn special?? Well, I’d better get that extended essay on the forthcoming box set written up so that you can find out!
BUCK MEEK - Cyclades (4AD)
by Ancient Champion
Rawkus or Roar-kus. Buck Meek, the man with the smartest head and neck movements in folk-rock, rocks. Cyclades, is that Cycle Hades? Whatever I don't know. If you can begin your song with "My dad road a 750." Well. My dad rode a Norman motorcycle. Good.
MARGARET GLASPY - Memories (ATO Records)
by Katherine Pargeter
After her last single , the edgy and excitable 'Act Natural' , Glaspy's is in a much more reflective mode for this acoustic number. Although the Martha Wainwright-like tremor in her voice at the start of the song is a bit of a distraction, this is a quietly heartbreaking tale (I'm alright, of that I'm sure, Until I'm crying on the kitchen floor). A taster of the 'cathartic' 'Echo The Diamond' album - available from 18 August.
SOFT RIOT - Linked Between Two Minds (Possession/Wave Tension)
by Alan Rider
Soft Riot have been described elsewhere as "a retro-infused, multidisciplinary artistic and imaginative synthesizer music venture", which is a hell of a mouthful, but is actually a rather accurate description. Wish I'd thought of that. 'Linked Between Two Minds' is the second single taken from the upcoming 'No' album, Soft Riot's tenth, and is an epic track infused with their (or rather 'his', as Soft Riot is a one man affair from Canadian turned Glaswegian Jack Duckworth) trademark punchy drum sound married to razor sharp analogue synths, sitting within an immaculately crafted song structure. Jack isn't only a first class musician, he is also a skilled video designer (working under the name Flustervision) as the inventive video he has created, directed, shot, edited and what have you for this track amply illustrates, being nothing short of amazing. 'Linked Between Two Minds' sings of telepathic worlds, synchronicity, quantum physics, and dreams of a better tomorrow and is simply sublime.
DELE SOSIMI - Lord Have Mercy ft Medlar, Tamar Osborn (Wah Wah 45s)
by Lee Paul
Mellowing me. Medlar remixes London's foremost afro-beat fellow. Good to great.
LPs
JAH WOBBLE - A Brief History of Now (Cleopatra Records)
by Alan Rider
Co-written, produced and performed with Jon Klein of Siouxsie & The Banshees and Specimen, A Brief History of Now is a major return to form for original PiL basis and sonic innovator Jah Wobble in no uncertain terms. Socially critical, yet uplifting and life affirming at the same time, tracks like 'Wrong Side Of The Line' and the single 'Last Exit' wrap a serious message in a pulsing, bass driven, psychedelic, jazz, and horn tinged rush. Railing against shallow millionaires, consumerism, the corruption and lies of governments, multi nationals, and society, its no light pop album, but revives memories of Ian Dury at his best Then there is that bass sound. That huge, dub style bass sound that rumbled out the opening notes of the debut Public Image single, and underpin every track on this album, pushing it along like a juggernaut. If Wobble keeps this up, he will have possibly surpassed even his best moments. He is in a cynical mood throughout, but with Wobble you always feel there is hope and his distain for our so called Lords and Masters never imply that all people are bad, just badly lead and constantly deceived. And who better to point that out.
A Brief History Of Now is released August 4th on Cleopatra Records
JULIE BYRNE - The Greater Wings (Ghostly International)
by Jay Lewis
‘I drank the air to be closer to you…’ this is how Julie Byrne’s album of love and death begins.
Midway through the creation of the record, Byrne's musical collaborator, friend and former partner Eric Littmann died at the tragically young age of 31. This is an album that doesn’t obsess on grief but tries to come to terms with the life that continues (‘Death to the old ways but who am I without them?’ – Lightning Comes Up From The Ground).
There is a meditative feel to much of ‘The Greater Wings’ as Byrne’s quiet sincere vocals, the gentle acoustic guitar and washes of ambient sounds, (some of it by Littman), combine. Her decision to return to the song ‘Hope’s Desire’ which was written in 2020 with multi-instrumentalist Jefre Cantu- Ledesma - a song about ‘healing from aloneness’ is so apt here. Album closer ‘Death Is the Diamond’ is, apparently, the only song here that was completely written after the death of Eric Littmann. A haunted piano ballad, her voice almost a whisper at times, quietly powerful, genuine, and heartfelt tribute. A profound ending to an emotionally raw album.
Other Materials
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY - Release The Bats (4AD)
by Alan Rider
This is not a new release, or even a re-release. It came out in 1981, but every now and again, as a reviewer its good to remind myself of why I personally got so interested in music in the first place. This may not have the sheer anger of Sex Pistols 'Bodies', or be as politically inspiring (if unlistenable) as Crass, and you could even say it is a Stooges rip off, and you'd have a point, but when it comes down to it, this is simply a wonderful, inspiring record and perfectly encapsulates why music means more than just a nice tune to hum on the bus. This has all the elements of dangerous looseness and derangement, especially when witnessed live, that I was looking for at that exact time and ever since.
SINEAD O'CONNOR - Don't Cry For Me Argentina (Chrysalis )
by Jay Lewis
‘All you have to do is look at me to know that every word is true’
They’re a rare breed, the artists that mean every word. Every action. That rawness, that honest passion, whether you agree with it or not, is what touches you. Sinead had that ability, and she had that way of making a song written by someone else about something else so entirely her own (I’m crying for the umpteenth time today at a song written by fucking Tim Rice and fucking Andrew Lloyd Webber). When you listen to this wounded reading of a song, it is entirely about Sinead O’ Connor. Just like Nothing Compares 2 U was entirely about Sinead O’Connor. She wrote so many other brilliant, challenging and beautiful songs. Always true. Always real. RIP Sinead.
INDIGO GIRLS - Closer to Fine (Sony Music)
by Katherine Pargeter
‘Darkness has a power that’s insatiable, and lightness has a call that’s hard to hear’.
I Barbieheimer-ed at the weekend. And, seeing that I’ve never written about film before, I’m not going to start here. Suffice to say that the best films linger long after they have finished, images and ideas that stay with you an Oppenheimer did that for me! Meanwhile, Barbie was huge fun, but the joke (and there did seem to be just the one!), just started to wear very thin, so oddly the significantly shorter film was the one that overstayed its welcome. It did have this brilliantly song on the soundtrack. It appears three times and by the third I was singing along in the cinema, probably to the annoyance of those around me. Sorry!
SINEAD O'CONNOR - Black Boys on Mopeds (Chrysalis)
by Ancient Champion
Listen up Englanders. Fight the real enemy.
Essential Information
Main image screengrab from lol tolhurst et al
