Steve Cobby's newest album- The New Law Of Righteousness- joins a long list of solo albums he's released in recent years, Sweet Jesus, Nostalgia Intensa, Stevie (written in Cyrillic script), I Loved You All My Life and Shanty Bivouac. All these albums are full of Steve's signature grooves, jazzy keys and guitar playing, pianos, acoustic/ folk guitar, mellotrons and Fender Rhodes, live drums and drum machines and bumping basslines, running the gamut from funk and jazz to ambient and Balearic. Each one is full of good tunes from start to finish as well as songs that have made huge connections with me- As Good As Gold on Sweet Jesus, Swimming In Amber of Nostalgia Intensa, both 45ft Tide and Life And Consciousness And Mind And Memory And Thought And All Creation from Shanty Bivouac and Dandylion Clocks on Stevie have all been big favourites round here and songs I go back time and time again.
The New Law Of Righteousness, available to listen and buy at Bandcamp, is no exception, ten songs long and the usual high quality of writing and playing evident from the moment you first click Play, an album with depth that really rewards playing through in its entirety. It seems unfair to pick out any of the songs over any of the others but these three are my current highlights-
Tang Ping starts out with synths and flute, a big 70s synth bassline and finger picked acoustic guitar. At one minutes thirty it finds a groove and turns into a lovely, languid summer soundtrack, a synth topline wiggling its way onwards.
Bernal Spheres is a warm and inviting four minutes, with a metronomic drum pattern, 70s synth sounds, electric piano and a lovely buzzing bassline.
All The Faith I Had Had Had Had No Effect has more of that fluid, folky acoustic guitar that decorates so many of his songs, eventually with two or three guitars playing with each other, melodies twisting and circling around each other.
No long song today, a mix instead. Tak Tent Radio is an internet radio station broadcasting out of Scotland with mixes and shows from an array of contributors and regular guests. Some time ago I was asked if I'd like to provide an hour of music for Tak Tent and have since been back four times. The latest Bagging Area Tak Tent mix went up on Saturday and can be found here. More ambient, instrumental and Balearic sounds segued together in a way that I hope is pleasing and semi- competent. I've posted quite a few of the tracks in the mix here in recent times.
Underworld: Dark & Long (Most ‘Ospitable Mix)
David Holmes and Jon Hopkins featuring Stephen Rea:
Elsewhere Anchises
William Alfred Sergeant: Circles
Chris Carter: Poptone
William Orbit: Wordsworth
Sonic Boom/ Spectrum: True Love Will Find You In The End
Steve Cobby: 45ft. Tide
Gabriel Yared: C’est Le Vent, Betty
Andy Bell: When The Lights Go Down
The Vendetta Suite: Purple Haze, Yellow Sunrise (David
Holmes Remix)
Projections: Original Cell (Coyote Deep State Remix)
Coyote: The Outsider
For some reason while putting it together the Gabriel Yared track suggested itself to me- I have no idea why. C'est Le Vent, Betty is from the soundtrack to the film Betty Blue. I'm sure you remember Betty Blue...
Betty Blue was released in 1988, directed by Jean- Jacques Beineix and starring Beatrice Dalle as Betty and Jean- Hugues Anglade as Zorg. Zorg lives in a beach house on the coast, making a living as a handyman while trying to become a writer. Betty arrives and turns his life upside down, setting fire to a beach house, stabbing a customer at a pizzeria with a fork and a sharp, painful descent into depression and hospitalisation. The film's first half, all young love and impulsiveness, sex and bohemian lifestyle, contrast sharply with the horrors of the second half. According to the director the film's two stars became very much intertwined, a relationship that went beyond acting. 'We didn't know if they were in the movie anymore', he said. Which puts the film's opening scene, a lengthy sex scene, in a different light. The soundtrack was by Gabriel Yared, a Lebanese composer and pianist and works as a listen in its own right. As well as the track on my mix above, this pair are a good way to start the week.
I submitted another mix to Tak Tent Radio, an eclectic and broadminded internet radio station broadcasting out of Scotland. It went live yesterday. You can find it at Tak Tent and at Mixcloud. No irritating DJs talking over the intros, no cutting away for the travel news or adverts, no playlist songs you don't like but they have to play anyway, just an hour of songs from my record collection/ hard drive. I don't think there are many surprises in the tracklist, it's the usual sort of stuff I've been writing about here but collected into one hour long mix.
Tak Tent Four
Durutti Column: Sketch For Dawn I
Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood: The Crescent
David Holmes and Steve Jones: The Reiki Healer From County
Down
Reinhard Vanbergen and Reinhard Roelandt: Amber Amplifier
Steve Cobby: 45ft Tide
Nick Drake: Rider On The Wheel
Saint Etienne: Little K
One Dove: Breakdown (Squire Black Dove Rides Out)
David Holmes: Theme/ I.M.C.
A Mountain Of One: Custards Last Stand
10:40 Kissed Again
Ry Cooder: Cancion Mixteca (Paris Texas Soundtrack)
Steve Cobby's one man renaissance/ cottage industry continues with the release of another album- Shanty Bivouac- an eight track opus. It came out a few weeks ago but I've waited to listen to it properly and let it get under my skin before writing about it. The album divides in two, the first half more uptempo and driven by beats and the second more reflective and chilled out. Opener Saddlebags sets the scene with some Steve's trademark funk, clipped guitars and Fender Rhodes, summer fun and drinks at the bar. Ten Bob Lino ramps it up with some faster electronic beats, skittering drums and sweeping strings. Whip And Tongue is back on the funky drums and bassline, with several different synth and organ parts playing off against each other. Everyone Is A Salesman slows the pace a little, squelchy bass and bleepy melody line before some lovely organ sings over the top. The second half, side B in a vinyl world kicks in with more clattering drums, pots and pans percussion and a flute. The final three tracks are the album's highlights for me, a perfectly paced trio, the sounds pitching down to the sundown Balearic/ ambient end of things- Pick Flowers Brewmaster is a gorgeous down tempo ride, a melody tugging at the heartstrings. It's followed by 45ft Tide, an acoustic guitar and some delay, a drumbeat that sounds like it was tapped out on a work surface, the atmospherics gradually building while the guitar picks away- I keep clicking back to the start with this one, over and over. The final song, as if that wasn't enough, is three and a half minutes of piano and reverb, a happy/ sad, reflective way to finish. The song's title- Life And Consciousness And Mind And Memory And Thought and All Creation- tries to pull it all together but the piano is more than capable of doing all of that on its own.
You can buy it digitally at Bandcamp here. There's a vinyl pledge page here, which has already passed the number needed to go into production, but if you want a copy on black wax (and this sounds very much an album that needs to be heard physically) you can still pledge through to the end of this week.
One of my favourite songs of 2019 was Steve Cobby's acoustic guitar and mellotron beaut As Good As Gold, the opening song on his album Sweet Jesus (the one with the highly freaky, airbrushed cover art). It was inspired by the folk rock playing of Led Zep 3 as much as the Balearic sounds he's known for. Here, remind yourself or introduce yourself...
Steve has since then released two new albums, one in March this year, the Russian titled СТИВИ (Stevie) and then in May a follow up called Nostlagia Intensa. I thought I'd written about both but checking my back pages it appears I haven't written about either (although I did post his former group's first new material in twenty years, the new ep by Fila Brazillia, MMXX). Recording in his garden shed out in the East Riding Steve has moved to a more live instrument led sound on this year's pair. The familiar Cobby influences and sound are present- downtempo, jazzy, funk with washes of ambient sound, hip hop drums and seductive melodies. The song titles are as intriguing as ever- The Common Weal, The Hindu Kush, Dandelion Clocks, I'll Tickle Your Catastrophe, Swimming In Amber- and Steve's ever questing, always creative nature makes for sets of songs that are never dull and always full of wonderful moments. He's been keeping his guitars very close to hand in 2020, both albums filled with funky riffs, fluid runs and sparkling toplines. Having freed himself from the write/ record/ release cycle Steve has become a cottage industry, putting down tracks and working on them until there's enough for an album and then enjoying the freedom to release at will on the internet, especially via an artist friendly site like Bandcamp. Here is СТИВИ and here is Nostalgia Intensa.
I started compiling this one in my head when the sun was shining and it was hot enough to sit in the garden at night until it went dark without the need for a coat or sweatshirt. Since I started actually putting it together the sun has vanished and the temperature has halved but I've ploughed on anyway. It's a ten song mix with sunshine and balmy nights in mind from the political/ absurdist post- punk/ dub of Meatraffle, the finger picked acoustic guitar and Mellotron magic of Steve Cobby, some chuggy Scandi- disco/house, 80s heroes The Woodentops, a blissed out re- edit of Brian Eno, Andrew Weatherall spinning Toy into a chilled krautrock groove, some Belgian New Beat from 1989 and Grace Jones backed by Sly and Robbie.
Meatraffle: Meatraffle On The Moon
Steve Cobby: As Good As Gold
The Woodentops: Give It Time (Adrian Sherwood Mix)
Brian Eno: Another Green World (The Blue Realm) Mojo Filter
Edit
I read an article recently that claimed that making end of year lists was merely an attempt to forestall death, that ranking and ordering things is for people who have an unnatural fear of death and who must be constantly trying to leave things in order before they go. A bit dark perhaps. A similar argument says that making lists is an attempt to place order on a chaotic and uncontrollable world- and one glimpse at the news will confirm that the world is both those things and getting more so- and people (men mainly) feel that if they can rank their albums/books/films then they have at least controlled a part of that world. So, with all those things being as they are, here's my end of year list. It doesn't seem to have much in common with the end of year lists I've read in the 'proper' music press or websites- so I must be out of step with what's really the best of the 2019. All I can offer you is what I've loved the most this year and some examples to sample.
Singles/songs/remixes/e.p.
There's a lot of chuggy, cosmic, Balearic, ALFOS style releases in this list, a top 30 for 2019, a golden year for music that evokes outer space, Mediterranean beaches and/or basement clubs thick with dry ice.
1. Silver Apples Edge Of Wonder (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
Released for Record Shop Day in April this remix is nine minutes of total joy, a dream turned into sound- the pitter patter drum machine giving gentle propulsion, the bouncy keyboard riff and metallic sounds echoing round and round and the softly sung vocal- 'waves, waves, Neptune's metronomes... relentless heartbeat of the sea'.
2. A close second was this three track release from Pines In The Sun, Albanian Balearica via Brighton. I know next to nothing about them but the wordless, sunshine shimmer of Sun and the gorgeous sprawl of Zig Zag Sea (plus Duncan Gray's remix of the latter) soundtracked much of my summer.
3. Apiento's single Things We Do For Love came out back at the start of the year, a slow motion dance floor shaped ode with synth bass and whispered vocals. My main regret is not being quick enough to get a copy of the limited run of 7"s.
4 and 5. A Certain Ratio have spent the year celebrating their fortieth anniversary and released this pair of superb songs, one a previously unreleased cover version from 1980 that was intended to be voiced by Grace Jones, the dark funk of House In Motion and the other a very Mancunian remix of their Dirty Boy single (featuring Barry Adamson and the voice of Tony Wilson), remixed by Chris Massey. The Dirty Boy remix in particular has floated my boat.
From this point onward there are a slew of singles, remixes and e.p.s that I've enjoyed this year, loads of brilliant music showing that 2019 has been a really good year. The next dozen or so especially have all been on heavy rotation.
6. Moon Duo Lost Heads 7. Meatraffle Meatraffle On The Moon (Andrew Weatherall Remix) 8. Four Tet Teenage Birdsong 9. A Mountain Of Rimowa A.M.O.R. e.p. 10. Plaid Maru (Orbital Remix) 11. Hardway Bros Chateau Comtal 12. Scott Fraser and Louise Quinn Together More 13. Four Tet Anna Painting 14. GLOK Dissident 15.Roisin Murphy Incapable (plus the pair of incredible Crooked Man remixes/dubs) 16. Craig Bratley Message To The Outpost e.p. 17. Field Of Dreams No 303 18. Fjordfunk Exile (including the Hardway Bros remix) 19. The Comet Is Coming Summon The Fire 20. Ride Future Love 21. A Man Called Adam Paul Valery St The Disco (Prins Thomas Remix) 22. KH Only Human 23. Shape Of Space Manifesto 24. Warriors Of The Dystotheque Things In The Shadows (Tronik Youth Remix) 25. ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ e.p. 26. Shunt Voltage Link Up/ See It In Your Eyes 27. Boy Division Hot Pants 28. Dan Wainwright Keep Me Hangin' On (with Hardway Bros dub remix) 29. Duncan Gray Much Much Worse/ Where Clock Goes 30. Terr Tales Of Devotion (including the Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
Four Tet/Kieran Hebden has had a particularly good 2019, always innovative and entrancing and producing some of the best moments in a variety of guises and across a series of releases, including a live album recorded at Ally Pally in the summer that I've only just started listening to.
Edit: just realised I forgot San Pedro whose e.p. in June was a blast and should be in the list above somewhere.
Albums
I've bought and listened to what seems like an enormous amount of albums this year. The internet and streaming has made individual songs the focus again, a return to the halcyon days of the 7" and 12" single and their B-sides, and occasionally people write about the death of the album and the forty/seventy minute format (depending on whether its a vinyl album or CD). Looking through my pile of records and CDs and lists of downloads the album looks in really good health to me. There's more breadth to my album list, a wider variety of sounds and styles. I've fallen into an ambient/drone wormhole many times this year, a wonderful place to stay for extended periods. Psychedelia and cosmic psych rock has been at the front of the pile a lot. These are in no particular order, the first eight I genuinely couldn't pick between in terms of a favourite or a ranking, they're all the albums of the year.
Glok Dissident
Andy Bell (the guitarist from Ride) released the surprise of the year, a rich, gorgeous flotation through cosmic psychedelia, motorik drums and West German sounds, awash with floaty, dreamy synths and guitars. From the Tron-esque sleeve to the luminous green vinyl to the grooves contained within everything about this album was spot on.
Richard Norris Abstractions Vol. 1
Richard Norris has been exploring ambient music throughout 2019 (and before). This year he has released a pair of albums, Abstractions Vol. 1 and 2, filled with extended repetitive sounds, loops of melody, chimes and washes, drones, ambient noise, waves of reassuring sounds- deep listening. This year has been a car crash in many ways. The whole Brexit debacle, the constant noise and feelings of loss of control over our politics and culture, the sense of loss and the feeling that we're being driven over the edge by fanatics. This album has helped me switch off from it. I can put this on and it works in a calming way that nothing else does. If there's an N.H.S. left in five years time, this pair of albums should be available on prescription.
Meatraffle Bastard Music
Bastard Music is a strange record, surreal, bold and in places very funny. A vision of dystopia set to a ramshackle beat and some memorable melodies. Lyrically it deals with everything- nationalism, the exploitation of workers, Brexit, living in London versus living in the country, immigration, the price of renting, sexism, science fiction, activism, everything... but it's never overbearing or humourless and the lyrics and vocals force you to listen to it rather than just have it on. Musically it's lo fi synthy disco, horns and Pulp Fiction guitars, home made rhythms, reggae and post punk. In some ways Bastard Music makes no sense and in others it makes more sense than any other album released in 2019. It's an amazing record in lots of ways not least in the the song Meatraffle On The Moon, one of the very best things I've heard this year- a song that really should be up at the top of the singles list with Silver Apples and Pines In The Sun- a dub pop exploration of human workers enslaved and working on the moon, their comradeship and valiant attempts to survive with only the meatraffle to look forward to. Semi- stoned drums, a snaking horn, dub bass and the ace vocals.
Moon Duo Stars Are The Light
My favourite guitar/synth/drums psych- rock explorers put out their latest album in September, Stars Are The Light, and have found a new love of disco and dance music and ecstatic grooves. It's still clearly the work of the band who made the darker, heavier Occult Architecture albums but now with their faces turned to the sun. The synths and drums dance around, the rhythms are aimed at the feet and lighter than before and the twin vocals are airy and optimistic. Their live show in October was an immersive psychedelic experience. I don't think there's an album I've bought this year that I've listened to more than this one.
Steve Cobby Sweet Jesus
One man cottage industry from Hull, Steve Cobby dropped Sweet Jesus onto the internet live back in the summer, twelve songs recorded in his shed, taking in cool Balearic vibes, lush instrumentals, downtempo funk and synths and lots of acoustic guitars. The opening song, As Good As Gold, inspired by Led Zep's third album acoustic guitar picking folkiness in mid- Wales with added mellotron, has been one of my favourite tunes of 2019 and one that I keep going back to. There's something about it that really hits the spot in a way I can't quite put my finger on.
Rich Ruth Calming Signals
This album from Nashville resident Rich Ruth is often described as ambient but it's not ambient in the rain- falling- while- lying- in- bed- with- the- volume- slightly- too- low Brian Eno sense. It's an instrumental album, nine songs that take in minimalism, repetition and drones, a beautiful soaring, squawking saxophone, built around synths and guitars. On first listen you're never quite sure where it's going to go next and in places it is utterly gorgeous.
Richard Fearless Deep Rave Memory
This only came out recently so I'm still getting to know it but it is a perfectly paced and sequenced, intricately constructed techno journey. Completely absorbing and in places edge- of- your- seat tense, taut techno but with some beautiful melodic passages and some pulsing, calming tracks too.
Underworld Drift Series 1 Sampler
I've mentioned this project and album twice recently so don't intend to say much else. The best Underworld album for ages. Try this one...
These eighteen too, roughly in the order that they're listed in below. A bumper year for the long player round here.
L'epee Diabolique Steve Mason About The Light A Man Called Adam Farmarama Bob Mould Sunshine Rock Private Mountain Blue Mountain Mark Peters Ambient Innerland Stiletti Ana Ab Ovo WH Lung Incidental Music Rude Audio Street Light Interference Kungens Män Chef Acid Arab Jdid Solange When I Get Home Plaid Polymers Rose City Band Rose City Band Jane Weaver Loops In The Secret Society Joe Morris Exotic Language Lana del Rey Norman Fucking Rockwell Mythologen Antisocial Background Music 2017- 2019
Steve Cobby, Dennis Bovell and Jimmy Brown have recorded together as BBC and since the start of the month have been offering Quality Weed for your enjoyment. This is serious stuff, heavy duty Jamaican rhythms and sonorous, chanted vocals from Mr Bovell, deep and dubby with instrumental and remixed versions. The remix version, which picks up the pace a bit, is currently my favourite. Quality Weed will be available in a physical format in September but in the meantime you can buy Quality Weed from BBC's page at Bandcamp.
This is ten minutes of bliss from 2017, a Steve Cobby remix of a track from Tempelhof and Gigi Masin's Tsuki album. The song sets out at a leisurely pace with xylophone, synth strings and pattering drum pads and isn't in any kind of hurry to get anywhere.The vocal floats over the top, the words just so slightly indistinct that you can't quite make them out. If only the sun would come out and we didn't have to go to work, this would be the perfect way to start the week.
A new Steve Cobby album dropped into the ether out of the blue on Friday, titled Sweet Jesus (and with cover art to match). Steve's been on a roll for the last few years, from 2014's Suadade to the following year's double disc masterpiece Everliving and 2017's Hemidemisemiquaver. The opening notes of song As Good As Gold have me hooked from the start, a descending finger picked acoustic guitar riff and some slide guitar, the sound of the sun going down while you sit in the beer garden, eking out a few more moments before going home.
I'm still getting to know the rest of it, twelve tracks showing the wide range of styles Steve plays- Lanspresado is drum machine and keyboard based, downtempo electonica with a dubby melodica part; Feline Plastique has Spanish guitar and castanets; the moody guitar and live drum kit of The Groom Stripped Bare By His Suitor with an ace snaking topline; the finger picking acoustic guitar back for the final pairing of songs, folky, downtempo Balearica from Humberside.
I've pretty much avoided Christmas this year on here, no seasonal songs at all, so I'll try to enter into the spirit of things by posting these two today (and giving the Monday Long Song a rest for a week or two). Low's Just Like Christmas is a thing of beauty, a song I've posted several times before but which is always welcome. The sleigh bells and the sleigh ride rhythm are are joy, as are the lyrics- the band in the van travelling from Stockholm to Oslo seeing the snow fall.
Sleigh bells ringing are the opening to Darlene Love's Winter Winterland, one of the songs on A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector album from 1963. If you have to listen to an album of Christmas songs, it should really be this one (although I'll make a shout for Wild Billy Childish's Christmas 1979, the title track of which I've also posted before).
And if you need something longer Steve Cobby has put together this mix, just over an hour of lesser known festive songs from the crooners and shakers including Dinah Washington, Dean Martin, Julie London and Nancy Wilson.
Whatever you're up to, wherever you are and whoever you're with, have a happy Christmas. Peace and love and all that.
Steve Cobby's album from last year, Hemidemisemiquaver, was chock full of electronic delights. One of them was this inspired electro plus vocal sample tribute (of kinds) to Rick James. There's a killer guitar solo in there too. Steve's made a video for it, having gone slightly mad with a Spirograph app (created by Nathan Friend)- it will hypnotise you if you stare at it for too long.
Rick James started out in LA playing bass in a handful of short lived bands including one called Salt, Pepper And Cocaine. Prior to this he had played with some future members of Buffalo Springfield and had also fled to Canada to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War. His solo career took off on Motown in the 70s and into the 80s, with songs such as Mary Jane and his hit Super Freak. Rick James, as the vocal sample says, dwells in the abyss and by the 90s deep into the abyss was where he was- rampant cocaine use and a conviction for sexual assault which led to 2 years in prison. After his mother died, Rick said he went even further, “there was nothing to keep me from descending into the lowest level of hell. That meant orgies. That meant sado-masochism. That even meant bestiality.” Rick James dwells in the abyss.
When we were leaving Rome for the Bay of Naples the receptionist at the hotel we were checking out of asked where we were heading on to. After telling her we were going to Pompeii she looked at us like we were mad- 'in this heat?!' she said. And she was right, it was very, very hot. But also a genuinely breathtaking and amazing place. Having walked through the streets of Pompeii we turned into the Forum, the centre of the town, a vast public space with columns and buildings around the four sides and in the distance Vesuvius lurked- the reason the town was destroyed, thousands killed but also the reason the town survived.
Eighteen years ago Fila Brazillia played at Fuji Rock. The 9 song set was recorded, has been cleaned up by Steve Cobby and is about to be released as the first Fila Brazillia album for nearly two decades. You can buy it at Bandcamp and watch A Zed And Two Ls below. The set also features Throwing Down A Shape, New Cannonball, Slow Light, Little Hands Rouge, Ridden Pony, 6ft Wasp, Pissy Willy and Harmonicas Are Shite. By 2000 Cobby and Dave McSherry's band was a fully fleshed out touring group, playing slow motion funk, disco inflected grooves, jazzy ambient house and every other down tempo genre you can think of. Cross pollination for the nation.
If you're at a loose end this Bank Holiday Monday and have 99 pence (or more) to spare you could do a lot worse than download the new album from Hull pairing Steve Cobby and Russ Litten. Spoken word and poetry from Litten, a state of Brexit Britain address and response to Trump et al, set against the electronic funk, house and soul of Cobby. Innovative, inspired and on the money.
Steve Cobby proving that he can do the visuals just as well as he can do the audio- there's some breathtaking time lapse photography in this video, filmed by Steve on location in Croatia, New York, Japan and Hull. It plays very nicely indeed alongside some liquid electronic funk from his latest album, Hemidemisemiquaver.
In photography the golden hour isa period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky.
At the eastern end of the M62 is Hull, City of Culture 2017. Steve Cobby, dj, musician and producer and resident of Hull, has spent some of the year celebrating by playing records and inviting friends to do the same at City of Vultures. There's a treasure trove of mixes to explore in the City of Vultures archive on Soundcloud, Steve plus guests like Ashley Beedle, Mr Scruff, Darren Emerson and Richard Dorfmeister- disco through to techno and most points in between.
Steve Cobby's new album, Hemidemisemiquaver, came out last Friday. I've been living with it for a few days (while also waiting for pay day so I can order the double vinyl) and can report that it is excellent. From the liquid funkiness of opener Jenkem to the inventive electro of The Canyons Of Lower Manhattan, the dub stylings of Babylon On The Hudson to the downtempo Balearic drift of Fixing The Shadows, it never disappoints and frequently delights, showcasing Steve's love of sound and attention to detail, the little twists and turns he puts in, the joy and the adventure. Double vinyl, cd or digital, you can/should buy it here.
This picture shows the sunset in the hills above Ulverston a week ago. This Steve Cobby Sunset mix, for Thump Magazine, is a bit special, chock full of his own work (original and remixes). Very much sounds for the summer.
Tracklist Bushfarmer - Cobby & Arthurs Big Wow - Steve Cobby Babylon On The Hudson - Steve Cobby Templehof / Blue 13 -Steve Cobby mix Tonto Rides the Gain / John Kennedy - Steve Cobby Mix Tumblefish / Cobby & Mallinder Teleseme / Steve Cobby Darren Emerson / Graceland - Steve Cobby mix Boule De Suif / Steve Cobby Absolute / Cobby & Welton Balearic Gabba Soundsytem / Gomasio - Steve Cobby mix Tan Bello Que Duelo - Steve Cobby
A week today the people of the United Kingdom will go to the polls. Voting Tory is obviously so completely wrong that we will talk of it no further. Views of Jeremy Corbyn are polarised too, among Labour supporters and voters as well as the wider electorate, but the election campaign and the choice facing us has thrown everything into new light, and views of Corbyn have been shifting with people getting on board who previously had doubts. It seems blindingly clear to me (in England at any rate, Scotland and Wales have different issues and different options and Northern Ireland is a different situation again) that if you have any interest in wanting a fairer society, anything approaching some kind of social justice, a society where there will be an NHS for all and an education system that is relatively equal for all, a country where the many are not downtrodden for the benefit of a wealthy few, then there can only be one box to place your X. Whatever your thoughts on Corbyn, Labour are offering a manifesto that promises hope- for the many, not the few. Will they win? I don't think so but it's tighter than it was a few weeks ago and if the polls are correct it's getting tighter still. I'd like a Labour government with the Green's Caroline Lucas in the cabinet, by far the most impressive of the debaters at the leadership TV showdowns (which Theresa May is too frightened to attend despite seeing herself as strong).
That's my soapbox speech over, at least until next Thursday. Hull's Balearic campaigner Steve Cobby and realist poet Russ Litten have recorded a song borrowing the name of Labour's manifesto, for the many not the few. Smart electronic funk, a bubbling bassline, horns and flutes, and Russ's words. The original track was a free download. They performed it at a rally in Hull and it turned out Corbyn already had it as his ringtone. You can now get a four track e.p., complete with Corbyn himself edited into one of the mixes Tackhead stylee, for the cost of £1 (all proceeds to the Labour Party). It's here. You can get the single original version as a free download here. For the many, not the few.
Acid Ted posted about this the other day but it was on my mental list of stuff to write about and it's all in a good cause. Steve Cobby must have had some time on his hands recently. While looking back at his own Solid Doctor compilation spanning music he made and put out between 1990 and 1995 he decided to remaster it for a re-release. Then, due to his own lax methods of labelling tracks he discovered a few unreleased ones that actually sounded really good. So he's putting them out as well. The whole thing adds up to fifty eight tracks, six and a half hours worth of music, spread over six cds and now available from Bandcamp as either a cd box or a download. There is way more here than I can get my ears around at the moment, tracks ranging from properly chilled out loveliness to Balearica to 90s trip hop and to digital jazziness to fifteen minute long tranced out repetitive bliss. You just have to dive in and start swimming. This track is my current favourite- an answer phone message, some sampled Phillip Glass strings and the funkiest rhythm. Just wait for the bleepy bit at two minutes fifty and then...bye bye.
