Make Your Way To The Edge Of The World

I've just realised this has been a week of posts made up entirely about new releases. It wasn't planned that way, it just happened, but we may as well finish ahead of the weekend with another one. The Tracers is the new single from Johnny Marr, blazing a trial ahead of his new album Call the Comet. Johnny has put out two solo albums in the last few years. The first, The Messenger, came out in 2013 and had some good songs on it, Upstarts especially. It was accompanied by some gigs- the one I attended at The Ritz sticks in the memory as he ploughed his way through his back catalogue (The Smiths and Electronic) as well as a cover of I Fought The Law. The second solo album didn't make the same impact, some of the songs were OK but a few were a little forgettable and but it didn't really achieve lift off.

The new one, thankfully, sounds like a step forward again- a rush of guitars, a driving bassline, some judiciously added 'woo hoo's' and a sense of urgency. Marr seems to have gone back to the music that preceded The Smiths, the post-punk groups of the early 80s. The video looks like it was filmed up on the moors above Manchester where Yorkshire and Lancashire meet, a bit bleak and deserted (and with plenty of pylons).

Pylons

The National Grid have recently announced a new design of electricity pylon, following a competition- a T shaped one, like almost every other European country has. I even overheard some people discussing it in a pub recently. The common view on the news has been that the old 'hulk' style pylon that we've had for decades are unlovely and unloved, but I have to say I like them. Obviously there are some rural views that are spoiled by them but I like the way they seem to march across the countryside.

I heard this song on BBC 6 Music last week, Sad Robot by Nick Warren and Guy Mantzur and enjoyed it, a fine piece of electronic music- robotic bassline, lots of whooshes and rushes, disembodied and chopped up voices. This is what they call progressive house.