Unauthorised item in the bagging area

Thursday, 30 June 2016

Keep The Lantern Bright


It seems like it's all going to pot at the moment. Maybe Joe Strummer has some answers...

Sandpaper Blues

This is one of those Joe and The Mescaleros songs where the band play three or four musical styles simultaneously and effortlessly (hand drums, African chanting, cowboy music...) and which reaches outwards, out into infinite variety of the world.

'It's gonna boom Mariachi
This really fine piece of madera
And this will be the counter
Of the Pueblo Tabacalera
Shape, it up, shape it up, shape it up, shape it up
All around the world

Oh, this keel could save a life
When the storms hit the Pacific
To make it really true
You really gotta be specific


Keep the lantern bright
Keep food upon the table
If you shape it well tonight
As well as you are able'

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Cheetah


If you're in need of cheering up but feeling slightly unsettled at the same time you could do worse than spend the next eight minutes with the new song from Aphex Twin. The ep Cheetah is out soon including a cassette release. I could play that in my car. This song, Cirklon 3, marries some ambient synths, a clattering drum track and a distorted bass with some bleeps borrowed from computer games. The video was directed by twelve year old Ryan Wyer from Dublin and will freak you out slightly in places.

Tuesday, 28 June 2016

Haunting Ground


This 1986 dub production by Adrian Sherwood for singer Bim Sherman is super heavy with Bim's vocals floating over the rhythms and FX. Sherwood At The Controls vol. 2 is out now, a second compilation of Sherwood productions, this one from the second half of the 80s. It includes the industrial hip hop of Tackhead and the industrial noise of KMFDM and Ministry before settling on a run of dub tracks towards the end- Bim Sherman, African Head Charge et al. If you only buy one compilation this month etc.

Haunting Ground Dub

Monday, 27 June 2016

There Is More To Life Than This


There's so much stuff going on right now. Head spinning. Political parties collapsing in front of our eyes and decades old certainties vanishing. Anger all over the place.

Tonight England play Iceland at Euro 2016. I've loved the Icelandic team and fans. England have a real banana skin waiting for them and Roy Hodgson is under pressure to deliver after criticism of tactics, selection and strategy. England out of Europe? Twice in four days?

Prior to the Icelandic football team Bjork was their most exciting export. This song off Debut is a joy, lighthearted and in love with itself. The vocals were recorded live in the Milk Bar, London. The bit where the toilet door shuts and and the beat and muffled crowd can be heard and then re-appears shows the sense of freedom and fun that Bjork and Nellee Hooper had when recording the album. I also love the way she pronounces ghettoblaster.

There Is More To Life Than This

Sunday, 26 June 2016

England's As Happy As England Can Be


Can't Be Sure by The Sundays came on as I was driving home on Friday and this verse made me laugh at little in the context of recent event...

'England, my country
The home of the free
Such miserable weather
But England's as happy as England can be
Why cry?'

Their debut single from 1989. Minor key beauty, on a Sunday too.

Can't Be Sure

Saturday, 25 June 2016

I Hate Hate


Well that- the referendum, as if you didn't guess- was a total disaster. It's a strange day indeed when I can't get any satisfaction from David Cameron resigning. We're screwed. Completely.

The Sound Of Shoom released this single in 1991, later compiled on Creation's Keeping The Faith compilation (a very important record round these parts). The Sound Of Shoom was a production name for dj Danny Rampling, the man who started Shoom, a somewhat influential acid house night heldin a leisure centre in Southwark. The lyrics to I Hate Hate sound a bit trite and hippy-dippy now but fitted perfectly into the times and the song is in fact a cover, a soulful housed up version, of a 1974 Northern tune by Razzy And The Neighbourhood Kids.

And, to everyone out there who's peddled hate over the last few months, enough with the hate yeah?
Fat chance.

I Hate Hate (Southwark Street Mix)

Friday, 24 June 2016

Tiny


I can still remember the first time I heard Freak Scene by Dinosaur Jr on cassette back in 1988. The joyous crashing, distorted guitars of the intro, the thumping drums on the bridge, the stoned vocals and dysfunctional lyrics and that twisted guitar solo. A three minute pop song that invented slacker rock- but is so much more than American kids in big shorts. It has a similar effect on me when I hear it now, a song I can't get tired of and one of those songs I'd put in a list of 'songs of my life' if I had to write one.

Freak Scene

Dinosaur Jr so impressed Sonic Youth they wrote their best song, Teenage Riot, in tribute, a song imagining J. Mascis as President of an alternative USA. Maybe he should run for the real thing given the state of the Republican candidate. This new single, out in August physically, hits some of those Dinosaur Jr highs. I've got tickets for their show at The Albert Halls in November which I'm really looking forward to- not that I want to wish the summer and autumn away.

Thursday, 23 June 2016

Remain


The author Robert Harris tweeted last week 'How foul this referendum is. The most depressing, divisive, duplicitous political event in my lifetime. may there never be another'. Which just about covers it. Nigel Farage has forced a 'discussion' into public, a discussion which has unleashed all kinds of racist and xenophobic forces which have at least partly contributed to the murder of MP Jo Cox last week. Farage is a political charlatan, a fraud, a man who basks in a man-in-the-street image despite a wealthy, privileged background. A demagogue who hates the EU yet is paid by it, who represents constituents at the European parliament but rarely goes. A man who poses in front of Nazi inspired posters and complains that the murder of Jo Cox has 'taken the momentum out of the Leave campaign'. On every and any level, he is a disgrace.

David Cameron has to take the blame here too- despite being the leader of the Remain campaign, he is the one who called this referendum, a cynical response to the rise of Ukip and the defection of Tory votes, a piece of political opportunism that has blown up in his face, shown the cracks in his party and that he'll pay for politically at some point, win or lose.

Let's Kiss And Make Up

This is original The Field Mice version covered by St Etienne with their Eurocentric cover art.

A vote to Leave is a backwards step, a vote for a past that doesn't exist. I can't see any positives in leaving. Taking back control, taking back sovereignty is a smokescreen- how is leaving the 'undemocratic' E.U. increasing democracy in a country which has an unelected second chamber and is a constitutional monarchy? My vote today is to Remain. Let's stay together.

Enough preaching.

Stay 

Stay is off Bowie's Station To Station, sometimes my favourite Bowie album. The choppy guitar part, Carlos Alomar I assume, is wonderful.

And finally Portishead have released this cover of ABA's SOS, a tribute to Jo Cox.

Wednesday, 22 June 2016

Music's Not For Everyone Reprise


June edition, Andrew Weatherall, Music's Not For Everyone. You know the drill.

Tuesday, 21 June 2016

Burn Me Out Or Bring Me Home


This picture is the Bagging Area eye view as I Wanna Be Adored kicked in on Sunday night and the rain continued to fall, Mani playing that two note intro and Reni thumping the kick drum. After those few seconds most of song, occasional bits of guitar aside, was inaudible. The crowd drowned it out. We were down on the pitch, jammed in tight, a sea of hands in the air and multiple arses sitting on the shoulders of others. Flares and coloured smoke all over the place. This is the gig as event, as spectacle. The following few songs were bellowed equally loudly- Elephant Stone, Sally Cinnamon, Sugar Spun Sister, Bye Bye Badman, Mersey Paradise, Where Angels Play. These songs aren't really built for stadiums, they're made for bedsits and back rooms, and playing them to 55, 000 people inevitably pulls and stretches them about as much as they can take.

It's difficult to pin down exactly why this particular group have struck such a chord. The Heaton Park gigs four years ago were mainly attended by the thirty to fifty-somethings. This one and the three nights before it were half-full with kids, wide eyed at their parent's heroes. There are groups with bigger back catalogues and with better singers. The Stone Roses are pretty uncompromising and unhelpful- no press, no concessions to the game- and surly with it. Ian speaks barely a word to the crowd all night except for a late dedication about father's day and three words to introduce All For One ('All For One' he says). If they hired an open topped bus and drove through the town centre I've no doubt thousands would turn out to cheer them. I can't think of another band so geographically defined who inspire so much adoration, the crowd willing them on at every turn. They've got some indefinable quality and the crowd fully expect to play their part. At times the scenes on the pitch are close to mayhem, the air thick with all kinds of smoke. But the PA is too quiet and the crowd too boisterous to really listen to the band- you can enjoy it, be part of it, soak it up and have a party, but not really listen. It seems much of the time we have paid £65 to listen to the people around us sing. The only song that gets anything close to an audience shrug is Begging You- and its a wild, squally live version well worth sticking with. On the other hand the visuals are stunning. The massive screens show close ups the band and crowd shots with Squire's artwork dripping and sliding over the top, trippy and brilliantly clear.

The band- John, Reni and Mani- are super tight and locked in. Squire in black jeans and leather jacket, hiding behind long hair and beard, peals off riffs, solos, chords and notes, switching from rock to funk to psychedelia but with hardly a flicker of emotion. Reni is like no other drummer on earth. Mani stands still, occasionally grinning. Ian's vocals are low in the mix and he sings fine, only really going astray on Made Of Stone. Most of the time, the crowd sing for him and with him. There are some real peaks musically- Fool's Gold is shimmering funk with a jawdropping extended section. Shoot You Down shows exactly how subtlety can work in a stadium, Reni and Mani's shuffling rhythms overlaid by Squire's restrained Hendrixisms and the crowd allowing the vocals to be heard. Waterfall is everything it should be, liquid and joyous, a moment in life turned into song. It segues into Don't Stop, the backwards psychedelia spinning out into the masses. During She Bangs the Drums I actually get a little choked up, a song about the beauty and confidence of youth being sung back by a mixture of the young and less young. Breaking Into Heaven is heavy and menacing, the difference between the lightness of the first album and the darkness of the second obvious. This Is The One is the highpoint- Squire hits the opening, chiming notes, the band totally in tune with each other and Ian in the groove, a song that shows that they wrote some affecting street poetry back in the late 80s. It really is The One. After that, as expected, it's I Am The Resurrection. Reni plays an introductory drum solo, rolling round the kit before hitting the opening beats as Mani joins in. The versus and choruses are once again inaudible as the crowd takes over. Then the wig out. The band take a bow, hug and join hands at the lip of the stage, finally departing as fireworks explode, a little limply, behind the stand. To our right a man drops down on one knee, produces a ring from his inside pocket and proposes to his girlfriend. The band have gone. Beautiful Thing rings out over the sound system. The lights come on. She accepts. Everyone nearby cheers and offer handshakes and pats on the back. That kind of night.

In truth I thought Heaton Park was better (and I'd far sooner see them indoors, in a much smaller room like at Warrington in 2012 or Halifax last week). I'm not sure I'd go to see them at this kind of gig again, much as I would hate to not go. As I said at the start, there's something about many of these songs which is the opposite of stadium rock. They're personal, little jewels that shine brightest when the subtleties can be heard. But they were ripped off first time around, still making not a penny on that first album, the one their entire reputation is built on. Who can blame them for wanting an easy payday? There will be 16, 17, 18 and 19 year olds last night who got their heads re-assembled in a new order, seeing things differently today. There are forty somethings who missed out who got their chance. And there's something about the late 80s sense of togetherness and optimism that has survived, briefly resurrected for two hours in the rain in a run down corner of East Manchester.

Breaking Into Heaven

Monday, 20 June 2016

Tied Up


The 1990s frequently brought together strange bedfellows in remix terms- this 1994 release saw Spiritualized take on the Leeds bleep techno of LFO. Nine minutes of white noise and ambient drones. Lovely stuff.

Tied Up (Spiritualized Electric Mainline Remix)

Sunday, 19 June 2016

Revolutionary Generation


I'm going to see The Stone Roses in a football stadium today. Reports from the first three nights have ranged from 'great' to 'a religious experience'. Nothing if not enthusiastic, Roses fans. The support acts today are The Courtneeners (no interest from me I'm afraid, generic northern rock band) and Public Enemy (lots of interest from me, groundbreaking hip hop band who remain untouched in their field). Fear Of A Black Planet, their 1990 album, is a must own record from 911 Is A Joke to Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man, Brother's Gonna Work it Out and Fight The Power. And this one, which samples Musical Youth and Parliament...

Revolutionary Generation

Saturday, 18 June 2016

Psyche Out


Looking for something in this blog's back pages I was amazed to find that I've never posted Andrew Weatherall's 1990 remix of Meat Beat Manifesto. It doesn't have the 'everything and the kitchen sink' of his other remixes from this period being a more stripped down affair- some mangled harmonica, a rough two note bassline, a sampled moan and a definite foreshadowing of his later techno work. One for the floor.

Psyche Out (Sex Skank Strip Down)

Friday, 17 June 2016

I Woke Up Late And Found My Liberty Lost


I thought I'd lost this mp3 but then found it- hurrah! Brighton band Brakes released this short, sharp blast of indie-punk back in 2006 on Rough Trade, a two minute tirade against the government's anti-terror legislation (also taking in Scarlett Johansson and the pain of love).

'I woke up late and found my liberty lost
It had been written down in law as a security cost
28 days - I'm presumed guilty
I'm sure as evolution that I wasn't born guilty

Hold me in the river till my skin turns blue
Slap me on the back and say "Now how do you do?"
They say "Eamonn tell us how to keep our garden growing"
I say "Try lying on the grass thinking of Scarlett Johansson"

Throw me to the deck and count backwards from ten
Slap me round the face and say "Now do it again"
I'm all trained up, yeah, I'm ready for the ring
They'll be arriving in capes and leaving in slings

Come on, tick your ticker
Let me know you're alive
There's very little point in being here otherwise
Can you tell me now, what is this love?
If it comes from above
Why does it have to be so painful?'

Hold Me In The River




Thursday, 16 June 2016

I Live A Life That's Working For Me


Drew posted two slices of 60s garage rock yesterday so I thought I'd follow suit. Blog tennis. He's posted this before as well I think and I know I did back in 2010 but it's definitely worth re-posting. The Groupies were from New York, formed on the Lower East Side and played on the scene in NY but got little further in terms of either sales or recognition. They flew to L.A. but got nowhere there either. The Groupies were described as wilful, uncommercial and uncompromising. Which is exactly how garage bands should be. In January 1966 they released this song as a single, their only release. But what a single it is.

Primitive

Wednesday, 15 June 2016

Pleasure Cry


I've given the vintage photographs thing a rest recently- become a bit of a cliche innit? But this Jacques Henri Lartigue picture from about a century ago of a woman sunbathing and rewinding the gramophone is pretty special.

Sean Johnston's Hardway Bros return with a four track 12" of proper dance music, the sort that should be heard in the dark backroom of airless nightclubs or outdoors somewhere as the sun goes down/comes up. The ep's title track is this song, vocals by Sarah Rebecca, a sultry groover with a dirty bassline and takes that old house music plus sex vocal thing and sends it out of your speakers and into your ears/loins. Cymbals tap away, kick drum thumps, 'my legs are like butterflies...this is my pleasure cry'.

Tuesday, 14 June 2016

13 Moons


Drew tipped me off about a new six track record from Sordid Sound System called Lux Exterior, a mix of dub, techno and kraut influences with chunky drum machine rhythms and wonky basslines making a delicious, chuggy, trippy stew. I've been playing it a lot over the last few days. There are only 300 copies on vinyl but if you act quick they've still got some at Piccadilly Records and maybe elsewhere. They put out a four track ep last year, In A Year Of 13 Moons, which you can download from Bandcamp.






Coincidentally our youngest turns thirteen today, stepping into the teenage years. Happy birthday Eliza. She'd probably prefer this- and to make the circle complete, Drew is also a big fan.

Monday, 13 June 2016

Cobbymixes


My 12" of Steve Cobby's Bushfarmer arrived a week or two ago. I previously wrote about the track here. On the flipside there are two versions of Tradewinds by Penelope Antena, an original mix and a Cobbymix. This is one of those tracks that drifts past in a gentle haze, lazy beats and vocal with some feel good chords.



I also found this Cobbymix of Caves by Seabed and it is a beauty, uber Balearic, taking some leaves out of A Man Called Adam's book and building on them. The bit at where the synths kick back in at 2.45 is a brilliantly judged, arms in the air moment. Eight minutes of summer- the sun's gone and the rain's re-appeared but no matter when this is playing.

Sunday, 12 June 2016

Xtal


Inside the sleeve or cd case that features the front cover pictured above can be found some of the most beautiful, inspiring and groundbreaking electronic music you will ever hear. Some of the song titles are bewildering and give little away- Xtal,Green Calx, Hedphelym- and some hint at the future found inside- Heliosphan, Delphium, Pulsewidth, We Are The Music Makers. If you don't own a copy of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Work 85-92, you really should.

Xtal

Saturday, 11 June 2016

Expectation Versus Disappointment




On the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 Lord Nelson issued a message- 'England expects that every man will do his duty... and scrape through the group stage before a draining but ultimately hopeless exit in the first knock out round against the first good team we play'. I paraphrase but it was something like that. 'Reaching the knock out round would actually be a bonus given the woeful state of our performances and results at the World Cup in Brazil' muttered Hardy to no-one in particular. So, come on boys, give us something to get cheerful about tonight against the Russians. A goal or two would be lovely.

Our other 'boys', the sunburnt travelling supporters, are covering themselves in glory, spending their evenings in Marseilles drinking their body weight in lager, taking their shirts off, dodging tear gas, battling the French riot police and attempting to take on Isis in one-on-one combat. FFS. The summer sport of hurling plastic furniture across foreign squares is one of the key features of an England campaign. Add this to the Brexit campaign and you have to assume Europe will be only too glad to see the back of us.

Another group of Englishmen battling crushing disappointment released their second new song at midnight on Thursday. After All For One things could only get better and thankfully with Beautiful Thing they have- the highlights of the seven minutes are Reni's gold medal funky drumming and John Squire's guitar playing, the return of the wah-wah and some nice phasing too. The guitar break at around four minutes is the definition of both fluid and liquid and the solo in the fifth minute with some backwards parts is great too. Ian's lyrics are streets ahead of the Dogtanian nonsense on All For One, with references to crucifixion, sisters, living as one and some vague threats to vampires. It's nothing especially new. I'm sure John, Reni and Mani can play this kind of thing in their sleep but it's a step forward for sure and will sound huge played live.

Blue Danube


The KLF were self evidently one of the best things about the late 80s/early 90s. The fact that their stadium house was as brilliant as their philosophy, pranks, activities and statements is a massive bonus. On this mix of 3 a.m. Eternal The Orb, old muckers of Jimmy Cauty- in fact Cauty had started The Orb with Alex Paterson- turn stadium house back into ambient house.

3 a.m. Eternal (Blue Danube Orb Mix)

Friday, 10 June 2016

Audrey In Dub


A chance back-to-back playing of two Weatherall tunes on the pod in the car led me to thinking about what an Andrew Weatherall dub compilation album might look like. Much of his work is to a greater or lesser degree informed by dub and dub production but from his earliest remixes through Sabres Of Paradise and into the recent solo work and The Asphodells there are plenty of pretty much pure dubwise tunes that work really well together burnt onto a disc or compiled on a playlist. These ones work at the moment for me and in this order.

S.O.P 'Ysaebud' (a one sided 7" single from 1994, credited as S.O.P. From The Vaults)
Saint Etienne 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' A Mix Of Two Halves
Sabres Of Paradise 'Edge 6' (B-side of Theme 12")
New Order 'Regret' Sabres Slo 'n' Lo Mix
Sabres Of Paradise 'RSD'
The Orb Perpetual Dawn Ultrabass II
Sabres Of Paradise 'Return Of Carter' (B-side of Theme 12")
Steve Mason 'Boys Outside' Dub Mix 1
Madness 'The Death Of A Rude Boy' Andrew Weatherall Remix
Group Rhoda 'King' Asphodells Remix
Two Lone Swordsmen 'As Worldly Pleasures Wave Goodbye' (from Stay Down- this isn't really dub per se, it's just a lovely way to close the album)

Thursday, 9 June 2016

Funky Killer


There's an album out now of updated versions and remixes of S'Express songs which looks pretty interesting. As well as the opinion splitting Primal Scream cover version Enjoy This Trip has new versions by Tom Furse of the Horrors, Jagz Kooner, Horsemeat Disco and Chris and Cosey among its fifteen tracks. This very funky Red Snapper remix didn't make the final tracklist but has a very 1990s jazzy, hip hop vibe which works really well if sounding quite unlike S'Express.

Wednesday, 8 June 2016

Walking In The Rain


I've been listening to Grace Jones' 1981 album Nightclubbing recently, something about its grooves and atmosphere fit in just right with this extended spell of sunshine we've had up here in the north. The opening track Walking In The Rain (a cover of a song by an Australian group called Flash And The Pan) is a powerful opener, driven on by the jawdropping rhythm skills of Sly and Robbie- I could happily listen to a version of this album that was just Sly and Robbie sometimes. Grace's delivery is bold and the guitars add menace and drama, gathering storm clouds. The rain Grace is walking in isn't fine Mancunian drizzle or British bank holiday downpour, this is steamy monsoon rain. There's a seven minutes plus 12" version that's worth having a look at too.

Walking In The Rain

Tuesday, 7 June 2016

Our Time


It's a bit of a hipster thing to say but sometimes a band's early work really is their best work. On their 2001 five track debut e.p. Yeah Yeah Yeahs nailed something so absolutely with the song Our Time that nothing they've done since has been as good. They've definitely had their moments but nothing hits the spot like Our Time- the sound of the guitar, the snarl of the words, the rawness of the production. Bigger budgets and better studios, hanging out with richer people, more press, all that stuff doesn't necessarily add anything. Sometimes a band just gets it right when they're on the way up and nothing else matches up. Better to have done it once than never though.

Our Time

Monday, 6 June 2016

Creation Magik


Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve are shaping up for what is promising to be one of the summer's best releases (album The Soft Bounce due soon). I've already posted the beauteous single and remix of Diagram Girl. The follow up, Creation, has vocals from Jane Weaver and Hannah Peel and has been remixed and stretched out here by Psychemagik in a lovely, percussive and spaced out manner.

Sunday, 5 June 2016

Now In My Younger Days


I've posted this song before, way back in 2010 when this blog was still in short trousers and had a mucky face, and I'll go as far (phar?) as to say that it's my favourite hip hop single of the 1990s. I think. The Pharcyde were from South Central Los Angeles and on this 1993 single all four MCs take a verse each to bemoan their lack of success with schoolboy crushes. We've all been there. The crackle of vinyl, the samples from Quincy Jones, Weather Report and Jimi Hendrix, the self deprecating humour and the flow of the words, all add up to what is much more than the sum of its parts.

Passin' Me By

Saturday, 4 June 2016

Union




When you look at the group of people who have coalesced around the Vote Leave campaign- a melange of bigots, regressive Little Englanders, folk who think that they can turn back the clock to 'how things used to be', myopic people who think that because we have traffic jams and queues this is because as an island we are full up, and then the general xenophobes and racists (and there are plenty out there who say 'I'm not racist but...'. Actually, you're probably are racist.), it becomes increasingly clear what to do on June 23rd. Factor in the joys of political fuckwits like Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, George Galloway and Nigel Farage and it would seem that voting Remain is the only sensible and possible option. I keep hearing vox pops on the TV news where the man and woman in the street say 'stop all the name calling and mud slinging and just give us the facts' but as far as I can see there aren't any facts, there are only opinions. No one knows what the impact of leaving the EU will be. It's all conjecture. So I have to go with my gut, which is that if there's a union of democratic nations that want to work together to ensure better rights for citizens and may have contributed to a largely peaceful Europe since 1945 (a continent not known for peace before 1945) and which ensures that we can all move about more freely and become more aware of each other's differences (and our similarities) and then soak up each other's cultures... then I'm in favour. I have no problem with immigration. I think it's a good thing.

And it's given us this absolutely gorgeous love song song from Gruff Rhys.

Friday, 3 June 2016

Tension


I found this on my hard drive yesterday, a track by 400 Blows. I've no idea where I got it from or when I got it from so apologies if one of my regular blogging friends has posted this recently. It comes originally from a 1992 compilation called Give Peace A Dance (which I do not own) which features the likes of Meat Beat Manifesto, Apollo 440, Sheep On Drugs, Nightmares On Wax and The Irresistible Force as well as 400 Blows. This is a pretty handy piece of industrial dance from a group who started off during the post-punk boom in South London of 1981. The 400 Blows is also a 1959 film by Francois Truffaut, starring Jean-Pierre Leaud (pictured above) which I'm sure I should have seen but haven't.

Tension Release (Exclusive Mix)

Thursday, 2 June 2016

Youth


Youth, formerly Martin Glover and bassist for Killing Joke, is in the chair of a new Dub Trees project with an album out this month, tying together Jah Wobble, Matt Black from Coldcut, field recordings from India, druids, flutes and pipes and harps, Hinduism, Gaelic fiddles and those wonderful chugging basslines. This one is pretty dubby, with some Orb ambient-house style production and a generally laid back vibe. If the Bandcamp player doesn't load below (and it didn't the other night when I was writing this) try here.




Wednesday, 1 June 2016

Fear


Flaming June eh? How come it's nearly half way through 2016 already? Today's offering is a treat for noiseniks from 1998, Kevin Shields remixing Mogwai and their already fearsome Mogwai Fear Satan song. Shields goes for broke with this sixteen minutes long song, adding flute and what at one point sounds like bagpipes to the guitar feakery. The first play of this on 12" when it came out made me wonder if the stylus or stereo were broken and although the breakdown section at around nine fifty is pretty beautiful it's probably not best served at a family barbeque. Credit where it's due, thanks to DH for his photo of a forest in the Lake District taken at the weekend.

Mogwai Fear Satan (My Bloody Valentine Remix)