Outsideleft Week in Music's young year winning streak

Hippiex! Riding camelx acroxx the Chihuahuan dexert on a quext to find William Burroughx dropped drugx. Loxt forever, we thought, but they’re back! Without the drugx but with a cult-crew of pxychadelic xixterx drexxed in xatin xhawls, bare foot exxept for bellx on their toex, danxing and danxing and danxing.

By their own admission, Derision Cult want to be Judas Priest.  However, they don't sound much like them here.   In fact, they remind me much more of Industrial Metal merchants Ministry, with that same sort of driving guitar sound, coupled with cut-ups and guttural vocals.  Its a fine effort though and if we were still in the business of awarding love hearts to releases, I might have given this four.  As it is, I'll just say this is OK by me.

Swooning exotica may be the only thing that saves us in this terrible age. Japanese Breakfast leaves the pop to the girlies and clicks active the home organ samba beat like a goddess, careening into the glowing sun painted on the backdrop. Honestly, my heart was won by mentioning Renaissance poet Matteo Maria Boiardo and John Cheever in the press release, But Michelle Zauner laid claim to my devotion with Soft Sounds from Another Planet back in 2017. The album from which this obscure morsel of pleasure comes is to be called For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), which happens to be what I am for as well. Let me know when she does a song based on John Fante or Oscar Wilde's sonnets about Italy so I can prepare for my ascension.

This isn't an awful way to start '25. It's not a groundbreaking revolutionary way to start it either, but that's not in, and of itself, a bad thing. 'In Your Head' is, if we're being unkind, 'Monkey Gone to Heaven' for Gen Z. Problem is, I can't be so unkind, because, whilst yes, I can absolutely hear the influences of post punk and late'80s grunge echoing through this, I prefer the way Zzzahara are using the sound. Will I be racing to see them live? Possibly not, but I absolutely wouldn't change the station if this came on the radio.

New Indie Alternative Metal outfit Gloamer bring us this latest track, 'Black Blood of The Earth', the drop-tuned super wide guitar riffs fire out of the speaker cones straight into your face, the mix and production just adds more value... awesome! Originally the brainchild of singer and guitarist Stevie, and later joined by lead guitarist Alex, bassist Matt, and drummer Mark, they blend wide-ranging influences of alternative metal, grunge, groove metal and sludge into crushing, heavily syncopated riffs, hypnotising leads and intoxicating atmospheres. Influenced by Metal and Grunge vibes, their sound is fresh and has some nice arrangements that work very well, the vocal delivery style has that Ozzy feel to it, which makes it seem familiar, even though it isn't, then the melodic groove breaks and we are into the alternative outro. Definitely one for the MetalHeads playlist.

It's been a full ten years since the last Dub Syndicate album so news of new material from the legendary Adrian Sherwood dub vehicle is more than welcome. Newly released single 'Right Back to Your Soul' is a light, jazzy, upbeat slab of dub which as with the album it precedes (Obscured By Version, due out February 28th) re-uses rhythms originally laid down by Dub Syndicate in the late 1980s-early 90s. Both feature drumming from Sherwood's long time collaborator, legendary Jamaican drummer Style Scott who was murdered in 2014, the reworking of old rhythms serving both as a tribute to a much missed sideman and friend, and a means of creating something new from the rhythms he laid down. 'Right Back to Your Soul'  is a re-imagining of the track 'Rock back' from the 1993 album Echomania onto which Sherwood has layered fresh overdubs from Cyrus Richard of Dub Asante Band - best known these days for backing Reggae legend Horace Andy. 

Also due for release February 28th, and also on On U Sound, are vinyl re-issues of four classic Dub Syndicate albums: Strike The Balance (1989), Stoned Immaculate (1991), Echomania (1993), and Ital Breakfast (1996) as well as a five CD box set of the four reissues and Obscured By Version. It may not be the fully new material that we've been waiting for but hopefully 'Right Back to Your Soul' and 'Obscured By Version' are a signal that Dub Syndicate is still a going concern and there is more to come.

Over the course of the last 60 years Jean Claude Vannier has worked with everybody from Serge Gainsbourg to Andy Votel, plus released some great solo records. His latest release from his forthcoming album performed by his mandolin orchestra may not reach the stratospheric heights of some of his other releases but it's good to know that,even in his 80s, he's still out there doing what he does best-making music and for that we should be thankful. I will be writing a Jean Claude Vannier resume of his career thus far.Its a wild ride, I promise you.

'Bebe Durmiendo Cumbia' is a new single for many, but a reissue of the debut release from about four years ago from Elijah Minnelli.  The initial pressing was limited to 150 copies due to a "presumed lack of interest". Weird, since its embrace of cumbia is quite genius. What's not to love? Renowned for a leftfield approach to dub — merging folk melodies with dub reggae — a recipe for disaster in most everyone's hands, resolved so deliciously by EM. The intrigue from beginning to end is always just the largest. And so now a second pressing. Regarded as a cousin to the original, according to Sounds of the Universe, still hand packed, still risograph printed and still very limited (300 copies).  I'm a big fan of Elijah Minnelli, who was introduced to me by stalwart Outsideleft Night Out DJ, Prehistoric Man. The mumbling, moaning of 'Bebe Durmiendo Cumbia' is this week's good news. As it is any week you listen to it.

Murder! Probably. Strong hints of it, anyway. Something awful, wrapped in strummed, vaguely ragga-psych riffs powered by whatever Tom Verlaine drank at CBGBs.

I don’t trust America’s countryside. Give me concrete, crack and the likelihood of being shot with a Saturday night special over the chance of meeting some very bored and paranoid hipsters on bad acid with shotguns in a forest near a ‘city’ of just fifteen related, camo-wearing militia members. That’s the reality of Americana and don’t Great Grandpa know it.

‘scathing globally applicable political commentary’ as someone very fit repeatedly hits a punch bag in the gym, louder than the comedy metal band rehearsing next door.

Intrigued by the idea of a cover of a Scorpions song I am deflated to read that this is a band notably featuring the drummer from Slayer, one of the most comedic of metal bands so it’s not such a remarkable thing. Sort of like The Ordinary Boys covering Madness. Or the band that The Ordinary Boys drummer (Simon Goldring) started with a singer covering Madness. I was hoping it would be that track I heard on Alan Freeman’s show in 1975 that I could never remember the name of but was too embarrassed to ask anyone about even though I remember it being really good. But it’s not.

Renowned for their unique blend of afrobeat and jazz, Black Flower've produced one of the early great records of this young year. What joy! Really it's a testimony to what can happen if you wake up early but don't get up and don't distrub anything in the world. Black FLower's Nathan Daems says, “One morning around 5am, I was lying in bed, my eyes still closed but no longer fully asleep. I heard two birds improvising rapid melodies that became vividly visual. Lines, shapes, and colors appeared instantly, representing the sounds with astonishing detail and complexity.” The energy here, and there's a lot of it is a synesthesia. Their full length, Kinetic will be avaialble at the end of the month and yep, from this first listen, promises to be a good one.

My ears are trained to hear all non-English language records through a Europop filter that suggests holidays and dancing with strangers in a circle holding handkerchiefs. I need to be educated. We are now at a moment when Anatolian psych-folk folds in on itself and young people who own EPs with picture sleeves featuring their bewhiskered uncle in a 1970s wallpaper-patterned, nylon shirt undone to the waist study the musical content with a view to reprising it with a slight twist. Probably recorded on a laptop.

Some songs have specific intent, and some more broader aims. The Yets’ The Enemy fits in the latter zone. It’s accessible, multi-purpose, and takes us back to Alt-Music 90s. Well produced, the music induces calm and neither surprises nor grabs us. Pleasant sounds drift around and around. We know they won’t surprise, and we’re happy for them not to do so. We hear and relax. We enjoy this cure for all. It could be used in a film scene. While cooking in the kitchen. Or even in the bedroom. What can we term such music? Stabiliser Sounds? Music to deepen or induce concentration? Music for Chillout Lounges for the Ageing Grunge Gen(McLAGG)?  Perhaps. And who is The Enemy in the song? The singer says it is her, but perhaps it is us. We are the enemy. Do the Houses in the video represent us?  We don’t see their construction; but we see their destruction – when empty, decaying, or burning. We don't see their summer; we see their fall. (“What was there no longer lives here. It’s dark but so clear”). Multi-purpose, symbolic, and globally applicable.

There should always be a little time for some yee-hawing Americana, and with this 're-imagining' of 'Fourteen Carat Mind', Sara Jean Stevens is providing just that. Dust down your cowboy boots, polish your rhinestones and indulge in brief moment of fun, because why not?

Very sweet cover of the Francois Hardy classic. I'm not a great fan of cover versions but Lionel and Marie Liminana, plus guest vocalist Silvia pull this one off with aplomb. What with this and the two tracks released recently it sounds like their forthcoming album Faded will be a belter.

Singing from a script from a Radio 4 program sent over from Mathew Syed or some lengthy Discord piece. Sampha shows that archetypally he can sing/can't sing anything. Make of it what you will. There's no room for his mother's piano in the car. The audio weaves in and out. Attention weaves in and out. There's a dayglo  consumer choice nightmare going on at night. Everyone's stuck in the back of teh car with Jah Wobble, Jah Wobble looks healthy for an older man. The credits credit the drone operator. I want a drone operator. But they're busy. We ordered a drone from America. The import taxes were outrageous and I had it sent as a gift. I spent an hour reading about Ukranian drone operators operating 1,000,000 drones in a year. Hunting human enemies. Losing You. This has the feeling of making the best of a nightmare that has already begun to engulf. I'm not sure I'd want to sing about that or hear singing about that. We're in it now. A nightmare that looks and sounds so good.

Drummers often get a raw deal in most bands.  They have to sit at the back, even in band photos, have the most gear to cart about, have a real problem practising at home, have to work hard for every moment of every gig, and are the butt of musician jokes, yet if they lose the plot on stage, the band falls apart, and a drum machine just isn't the same.  There are exceptions, though, where the drummer helps to define the sound of a band.  A case in point is 'Big Paul' Ferguson, whose thunderous drums were integral to Killing Joke, especially on their first two albums.  With the death last year of guitarist Geordie Walker, Killing Joke couldn't continue, but Ferguson instead put together Light of Eternity, which for all the world sound like Killing Joke.  That's hardly surprising really.  As with KJ, the drums drive the whole juggernaut along and its a big, big sound they create. The production certainly pins your ears back, and there is no mistaking this.  He hits the drums damned hard, that's for sure, and there is more than enough on this EP to keep any Killing Joke fan going, even down to the carbon copy Geordie style guitar and Jaz Colman howls.

S.Y.P.H. formed in 1977 in Solingen, Germany and although initially based on punk, the band's sound quickly developed into a far more difficult to categorise mix of The Fall, Wire and other left field, scratchy irritants.  S.Y.P.H.'s recordings often featured guests from the Dusseldorf scene such as CAN's Holger Czukay, who seems to have collaborated with anyone who stood still in Dusseldorf  for longer than ten minutes at the time. 'S.Y.P.H. - S.Y.P.H'. is their first, self-titled LP, which has now been re-issued and still sounds surprisingly contemporary, stuffed with a mix of lo-fi punky blasts and choppy Wire-like angular guitar shots on songs like 'Zuruck zum Beton' and 'Lachleute und Nettmenschen', accompanied by a side of ten minute + , Krautrock-inspired pieces.   More re-releases are to follow, two of them produced by CAN's Holger Czukay (yes, him again).  Where do I dig up all this stuff? You may well wonder.  I've been wondering that myself too.

Unfortunately, everyone knows The Vapors (spelt in the American way) one hit from 1980, 'Turning Japanese', mainly for being a massively annoying earworm.  One may have hoped that they'd have had the good grace to disappear without a trace after that.  They did for a bit, having spilt up in 1981, but like all of the bands, good and bad, from that era, they reformed and churned out a few more records no one bought, played the nostalgia circuit, and 45 years after they formed, here they are again with 'Wasp In A Jar', their fourth album.  That's an apt name for this album.  Imagine a wasp stuck in a jar.  It makes an annoying noise, seems cruel, and you really don't want it released until you are a long, long way away.  So the perfect album title for the Vapors really.  They are playing a comeback tour of "grass roots" (ie, small!) venues in the UK before heading over to the US.  That is one import Trump may well want to consider slapping a very large tariff indeed upon. (No video available for this, so just to rub it in, here is that annoying 'Turning Japanese' single again)

Sometimes I let my cynicism guide me towards new releases to listen to, hoping for a few minutes of being mildly annoyed before going about my day. 'Portrait of My Heart', "ugh" I thought, "what an awful title" my the gleeful anticipation of something to really rub me up the wrong way building in the moment it took for the video to load. I'm filled quickly with disappointment, my hopes have been dashed. I'm genuinely enjoying this track, and now find myself keen to hear the upcoming album. Whilst in all likelihood SPELLLING aren't providing an era defining score to be listened back and revered by future generations, this is some more than halfway decent, slightly chaotic pop. Just don't watch the video, it'll put you off.

The vibrant South Korean rock scene issues its first major salvo of 2025. 11100011 packs an awful lot into forty minutes: soaring shoegaze ('m0numental'); '90s-ish indietronica ('camel8strike'); jittery, serrated drum'n'bass-addled noise pop (the closing 'Dorothee Thines'). It's an absolute joy from start to finish, and shows Asian Glow fulfilling and surpassing the promise of their earlier material.

There is no doubt that 'Sunrise' is one of the highlights of New Order's 1985 'Low Life' album, but the reason for drawing your attention to this is the performance in the video, recorded at The Hacienda for The Old Grey Whistle Test.  Aside from the quaint dedication to an audience member - "Gary" - celebrating his 19th birthday that day (he will be almost 60 by now though!), what you really need to see is the bit at the start where Bernard Sumner has a problem with his guitar just after they start the song, so throws his guitar down on the stage and carries on singing. A roadie/guitar tech rushes on, fiddles around with the guitar at Bernard's feet, fixes it, and hands it back to him just in time for him to strap it on and launch into the guitar part without even breaking stride.  Whilst you can admire the professionalism of the band in carrying on and not getting thrown by that, the real hero is that roadie, scrabbling around on stage in front of a national TV audience, and yet getting it sorted out quickly enough to enable things to continue without a hitch.  Who was that amazing guy?

Hearing Speedball Baby again this week, made me wonder what I was listening to 20 years ago, KCRW maybe, Morning Becomes Eclectic maybe. Maybe the entire west coast was under too much of the influence of Nic Harcourt then (son of legendary British local broadcaster Reginald Harcourt!!!) and the fractious serrated triangulations of New York garage-punk didn't get so much of a look in. I think you're gonna agree HipDevilShake is one of the good ones from back then that deserved way more attention. Speedball Baby definitely have it all going on here. Maybe there's a little antecedent hauntology hanging around... I don't know. Well I do and I know you do too. There's something definitely scuzzily authentic about more than just their musical demeanour. Quite love this. So... Now I am going to get over to a bookstore and get the recent memoir from bass player Ali Smith. The story of how she made it through.

The cosmic warriors of punk jazz/no wave/free death apocalypse noise, The Flying Luttenbachers, were born in 1991 and have squeezed out an impressive number of albums in that time.  These Bandcamp bands do that sort of thing. 'Losing The War Inside Our Heads' is their 17th official album and they describe it as " a desolate, bracing collection of music".  Indeed. This  came out back in July, so there will be a follow up due any time now no doubt.  Keep an eye out. 

I think my brilliant friend Lake first drew my attention to The Jacobites. Principally Nikki Sudden and Dave Kusworth. I instantly loved their sweeping romance. Still unique and still great now.