Sounds Like Another Version

2011-12-15T00:21:00.002Z

"Music is not a horse race" to paraphrase Nick Cave but here are some of most loved records of 2011 hereabouts.

Blessed with two fine yet distinctive guitarists Wild Flag have to be one of the most exciting additions to the hoary old "rock band" idiom. Angular sounds and fresh attack bolster their hugely energetic music. The extended dub version of "Racehorse" as played live in the UK was another rewarding leap.

Bon Iver "Bon Iver"

From the opening lilting guitar lines of "Perth"to the album closing opus of "Beth/Rest" this album is masterful in every way. It's textured, layered sounds allow it to unfold in new ways on repeated listening and constantly sound fresh.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra "Unknown Mortal Orchestra"

A debut from the ashes of the of the Mint Chicks delivers something that has it's own unique fuzzed up melodic sound. Lots of twists and turns that keep it entertaining.

"Invasion Of The Mysteron Killer Sounds"

Kevin Martin and Stuart Baker have sifted out some striking tracks that deliver minimally constructed but powerful rhythms. Refreshing, fun and funky.

J Mascis "Several Shades Of Why"

When you need to drop down a level or two this album delivers great melody, sensitive arrangements and a more gentle vibe than a Dinosaur album. It also showcase Mascis' engaging vocals. Lovely stuff.

Girls "Father, Son, Holy Ghost"

Second albums can often be a stumbling block. Not for Girls who expand on their debut album to bring another genius record. At times it delves into early 70's prog but in such a tasteful way it never misfires. Such excursions add a more juicy freaky heaviness.

Happy Birthday Jimi

2011-11-27T17:46:00.001Z

November 27th 1942 birthday of James Marshall Hendrix. A colossus who has never been bettered and whose shadow is long.

Used in Joe Boyd's fine film "Jimi Hendrix"this clip starts with Jimi chatting before delivering an outstanding acoustic 12 string version of "Hear My Train A Comin". And just to put in context below is a plugged in performance of "Rock Me Baby".

"Nunvember" Flying Nuns 30th anniversary

2011-11-05T12:50:00.001Z

Old school mash ups

2011-11-05T10:40:00.004Z

This is just the best. J Star has taken a song that would have driven listeners crazy with it's naffness (Braxton's power ballad) and married it with a very decent cut up of reggae and dub. The result is startling. Quite old now but worth revisiting on a regular basis. And it brings up back to mind one of the true origins of the mash up the Girls On Top "Being Scrubbed". A song that welds two great songs, the Human Leagues "Being Boiled" and TLC's "Scrubs", into a fresh and phoenix like result.

2010 - what happened?

2010-12-23T21:58:00.010Z

Many great moments from Phosphorescent, Black Mountain and Wolf People this year. Moving away from home here are some other highlights.

If you love rock guitar two albums that kept it raw, elemental and just plain groovy (in quite different ways) were Superchunk's "Majesty Shredding" and Endless Boogie's "Full House Head". Endless Boogie take the primal sounds of the foundation rock guitar and restate it with both power and smarts.

Superchunk manage to make a rock and roll sound that is inevitably uplifting, those guitars pound and ring and propel the listener along in an exhilarating way. Sufjan Stevens "Age Of Adz" has such a depth of texture and warmth that I am compelled to revisit his earlier recordings which had previously left me uninterested. Much has been made of the ups and downs of Gil Scott-Heron's life, with most of the focus on the downs. He is succinctly eloquent about the situation. "If you gotta pay for things done wrong - well, I got a big bill coming" he states in one of the spoken word interludes from his new album "I'm New Here". The arrangements are sparse and the choice of a Smog song on the album works very well.

The reissue of Peter Walker's "Rainy Day Raga" and listening to the "Long Lost Tapes 1970" provided me with gentle moments of music that draw elements from outside western traditions to great effect.

Lee Perry and the Upsetter's "Sound System Scratch" has a rawness that breathes some freshness into the much travelled Perry archives. Not a 2010 release but a record I have probably listened to more than any other this year and will continue through next is Miles Davis' "Dark Magus". I'm ashamed to think I missed this one until now.

Words

Patti Smith's memoir "Just Kids" is beautifully composed. Not recounting her years as a rock and roll performer but instead focusing on her time in New York as Robert Mapplethorpe's lover, living in the Chelsea Hotel, aspiring to break into Warhol's scene, learning from Harry Smith and the many other NY characters. A nuanced snapshot of a vanished time. Its taken me a long time to get round to reading Nick Tosches "Hellfire", one of the few rock books that can be ranked as "literature". Tosches takes a Southern voice to narrate the wildly successful and wildly turbulent (and just plain wild) life of Jerry Lee. He gracefully evokes the time and place and laying it all bare. A place where both God and the Devil loom large and where it is not uncommon to marry your 13 year old cousin. Nick Kent's "Apathy For the Devil" also drags you back in time, but in his knowingly narcissistic memoir to his glory days of the mid Seventies as one of the NME's great journalists, recounts hanging out and doing drugs with Led Zeppelin, the Stones and Iggy and watching the explosion of punk through his increasingly smacked out selfish junky prism. If you can transcend his arrogance it's a gossipy entertaining read. Robert Forster of Go-Betweens fame has been writing a music column regularly for the Australian journal The Monthly and has published his first book, a selection of his music related writing "The 10 Rules Of Rock And Roll". If you had to select only 10 then these are a pretty good start. The writing itself is concise and pointed "there are three good songs on this record" sort of thing and he is one of the few music writers who actually bothers to describe the music.

On a slightly different tip David Chang's Momofuku is an enjoyable read and has tasty, useful recipes. Time to open a branch in London!

Ari and Gregory RIP

2010-10-25T13:22:00.003+01:00

There is great sadness here over the loss of Ari Up and Gregory Isaacs, both artists of towering importance.

Blue Boy

2010-10-22T11:28:00.001+01:00

This is just too funny not to post. Lifted from the wonderful Dangerous Minds site.

Arab Strap Is Dead

2010-08-27T08:44:00.002+01:00

If you have to wonder why Arab Strap gained such a devoted core audience just watch this beautifully made memoir.

And enjoy the music they left.

Yo La Tengo bring the moves

2010-08-05T12:29:00.002+01:00

Not much to say on this, just watch and enjoy.

Cows

2010-07-21T22:45:00.003+01:00

Maybe there is something in the water, maybe it's that Glastonbury cows have absorbed something more than the annual deprivation of their pasture would indicate, watch and make your own mind up...

Sugar Minott R.I.P.

2010-07-13T09:34:00.003+01:00

Sad loss to music with the passing of Sugar Minott. Guardian obituary. Stone-cold classics such as "Mr D.C." and "Herbman Hustling"

Dazed and Confused

2010-07-04T23:13:00.004+01:00

Led Zeppelin are apparently being taken to court as reported by the Guardian over the writing of the song recorded as "Dazed and Confused", part of their seminal catalogue. Cut and dry case.

4th of July

2010-07-04T21:42:00.003+01:00

A celebration! Can you imagine a British (or any European) version of this type of thing?

Suggested by John Cooper Clarke via Jarvis on BBC6Music.

The wit, wisdom, poetry and funk of Gil Scott-Heron

2010-06-30T10:01:00.012+01:00

Initially the widespread media coverage of the return of Gil Scott-Heron indicated a touch of hype for the new album which lead to a cautious and delayed listening. Happily coming to the album now provided a good deal of enjoyment. Much has been made of the ups and downs of Scott-Herons life, with most of the focus on the downs. He is succinctly eloquent about the situation. "If you gotta pay for things done wrong - well, I got a big bill coming" he states in one of the spoken word interludes that punctuate the songs. The song "New York Is Killing Me" again seems to be a personal statement. It starts minimally with a clicking percussion track and occasional bass drum, slowly introducing a few more elements but revolving around the power and ragged warmth of his voice and words. The choice of a Smog song as one of the covers on the album works very well here. Again a stark arrangement serves the material and performance perfectly. Watch below.

While thinking about Gil Scott-Heron we should not forget the stone cold classics that made his reputation. His mastery of the lyric, of capturing the political rage of the times and his ability to weave his words into a musical landscape of both funk and beauty. Check out the classic "The Bottle". The film contains wonderful documentary street footage.

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" does not have any video or film accompanying it but this song stands out head and shoulders above most of its contemporaries and most of what has come since.

Black Mountain "Old Fangs" video

2010-06-22T22:33:00.003+01:00

A video for the new Black Mountain song "Old Fangs". It starts stronger than it finishes. The first half is part road movie which works well but it spirals into a black magick vibe which is a little tired. Worth watching though, just because Black Mountain have so much to offer musically.

Tame Impala

2010-06-21T14:58:00.004+01:00

A lot of wise heads are tipping Tame Impala right now. (Take a bow Mr English and Ms Wachs) There is a great deal to enjoy in the epic sweep of their contemporary psych. Unlike many young bands working in a similar field they don't opt for the heads down rocking groove and trippy guitars. Instead they often take a sweet vocal lead producing a more poppy song feel to their excursions. Live reports are good so somebody should get them out of Australia and touring Europe. The Solitude is Bliss video is too scripted and directed but the song is great.

The Raincoats In Japan

2010-06-21T14:52:00.002+01:00

2010 has seen the first ever Raincoats tour of Japan. A long time coming. Youtube has provided a few entertaining moments.

Fan shot footage from Osaka.

Multi camera shoot from Tokyo

And an interview in Japanese. You have to love how the translators portray the different voices/personality in an almost comic book style.

Let's Wrestle instant classics via Pitchfork

2010-06-17T23:40:00.002+01:00

Check this video hosted exclusively at Pitchfork for a week. A new video for the song "I'm So Lazy". Music too catchy for it's own good. And when it comes to the video how often do you get to see death and burial in a pop context?

If you want to get further to grips with Let's Wrestle have a cup of tea with this.
http://www.noisevox.org/content/face-time-lets-wrestle

Alex Chilton Like Flies On Sherbet

2010-06-13T22:32:00.003+01:00

My thanks for Mr Tyler McKeown pointing this footage out. Who would have thought it even existed. Like Flies On Sherbet is a seminal work in the deconstruction of rock'n'roll from the all pervasive slick blandness of rock at the time and it has been a touchstone ever since. This is mainly documenting messing around in the studio but start at Part 3 for the most formed music, it features Bangkok and My Rival.

Sister Ray

2010-06-13T09:17:00.001+01:00

Black Mountain Wilderness Heart

2010-06-08T23:26:00.008+01:00

There is great anticipation here for the new Black Mountain album "Wilderness Heart". Check the post on this site last year. There have been numerous side projects from the Black Mountain team, all of value but the two Black Mountain albums proper "Black Mountain" and "In The Future" are two of the best records released this decade. A new song "Old Fang" is available here as a free download for those willing trade an email address. It features striking early 70's sounding keyboards, the guitars sound a little more radio friendly than on previous albums but the song still has the wonderful Black Mountain interplay of crossing rock styles to great effect. Bring on the rest.

King Midas Sound

2010-06-08T14:39:00.004+01:00

Though released in 2009 the King Midas Sound album "Waiting For You" has only recently hit the Sounds Like Another Version decks. First heard here via the Hyperdub compilation "5:Five Years Of Hyperdub" with the track "Meltdown" (which also appears on the "Waiting For You") King Midas Sound music is self described as twilight lovers rock. There is a delightful play between light and dark, a smoky ambience that drift through all the songs. Kevin Martin, he of the Bug and Techno Animal and God, exposures a more delicate musical side to his nature. Vocals from Hitomi and Roger Robinson often add a floating beauty. The music draws deeply from the well of reggae and related styles to produce something close to some of the earlier trip hop adventures but avoids many of the clichés that rolled out thereon.

Upside Down in September

2010-06-08T13:05:00.002+01:00

Creation Records probably gains in importance with distance. Certainly during their tenure as an independent record label prior to the real explosion around Oasis, purchase by Sony and ultimate disintergration Creation was one of the few artistically and financially (in sales anyway) juggernauts of the indie world. We wait with baited breath to see how this film will stoke the legend.

Mad Men in 60 seconds.

2010-06-08T12:56:00.003+01:00

Mad Men is the best television of the decade (well at least on par with The Wire and The Sopranos). Here is a less than subtle tribute.

Start Me Up

2010-04-29T15:28:00.005+01:00

In the spirit of honouring the Rolling Stones for their recent digging out the gold from their prime - the Exile and Get Yer Yas-Yas Out reissues - it seemed timely to post this video. It takes the Stones last good song "Start Me Up" and by removing the original music highlights the wonderfully funny preening video performance. Unfortunately embedding is disabled but is worth clicking here.

Lights by Interpol

2010-04-29T14:42:00.005+01:00

An advance song from the new Interpol album is delivered to hungry fans through the wonders of digital marketing. It sounds pretty good on first listening, the same humorous, light and fluffy Eurovision styled pop that made them famous. Did we get that right?

Velvets and Marvin and Tammi

2010-04-29T00:07:00.002+01:00

Picked this up from Carrie Brownstein's Monitor Mix and it delivers an iconic mash up in more than one sense.

Drone art

2010-04-28T21:56:00.002+01:00

Fans of kinetic art and guitar drone should enjoy this piece by Stephen Cornford. An electric guitar and an amplifier are rotated to generate an eternal chord. Thanks to Mr English for pointing this out.

Air Guitar from Stephen Cornford on Vimeo.

UK reggae scene in 1976

2010-04-28T19:17:00.002+01:00

Watch 1976 - Aquarius - Reggae Documentary in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
A vintage documentary about reggae in Britain in 1976. Crucial. Unearthed by Mr Muggs.

Tasty Lambchop

2010-04-28T17:11:00.004+01:00

Revisiting the Lambchop album "What Another Man Spills" reminds the listener of the gentle beauty of the record. The first song "Interrupted" begins with delicate solo guitar picking that has other elements slowly added until the song becomes a quietly lush musical amble. Further in the cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Give Me Your Love (Love Song)" picks up the tempo and Kurt Wagner manages a nice falsetto vocal in homage to the great Mayfield. The album has many fine moments but unfortunately neither of the two songs mentioned have a video or live footage, so a performance of "Up With People" is placed on this site (coming from their next album release "Nixon"). http://www.lambchop.net/

Terry Reid at ATP

2010-04-27T23:08:00.005+01:00

One of the interesting performances at the upcoming Pavement ATP in May will be Terry Reid featuring Matt Sweeny. ATP give a handy run down of Reid's career here. Mr Sweeny is a rock Zelig with immaculate taste so his input could well provide a re-energised framework for Reid to perform in. The footage above, though grainy, captures the atmosphere and sounds of Reid in his heyday. Glastonbury certainly isn't like that nowadays.

Exile Again

2010-04-27T21:49:00.005+01:00

The imminent reissue of one of true touchstones of rock and roll, The Rolling Stones "Exile On Main Street" will undoubtedly bring an avalanche of nostalgic and romanticising features from the music press. Sean O'Hagan's piece on the reissue in the Observer is an entertaining read. Whether the extra songs (available officially for the first time) will lend anything to an album that is such a historically and artistically solidly carved work will remain to be seen.

Malcolm McLaren loved The Raincoats

2010-04-12T15:20:00.007+01:00

Malcolm McLaren's last musical effort was a soundtrack for Dries Van Noten menswear featuring the Raincoats "In Love" of which he said “Its beauty lies in its unadulterated, un-produced, amateur performance. It is truly a heartfelt moment for me and those that know this classic, cult track.” You can read the New York Times piece and listen here.

Eddie Palmieri

2010-04-09T17:27:00.005+01:00

Latin rhythms are not usually that favoured in these parts but the jazz and funk flavoured 60's and 70's work by Eddie Palmieri transcend the existing Anothersound prejudices. Pre MP3 and Youtube Mr Amory of Matador Records compiled a listening cd from his vinyl collection of choice Palmieri cuts spanning 1964 to 1973. They are all killers. One of them is the wonderfully entitled "Revolt: La Libertad Logicio" which you can listen to via the wonder of Youtube below.

Having given a good deal of play to this above mentioned compilation recently it seemed strange to come across this piece of everyday American weirdness involving pensioners and guns (and Eddie Palmieri)

McLaren RIP

2010-04-09T14:37:00.004+01:00

An overlooked contribution from Malcolm McLaren (featuring Catherine Deneuve) but a favourite at Anothersound.

Alexis Petridis gives a well judged assessment in the Guardian.

"You can, if you so desired, make a strong argument for the importance and originality of the largely forgotten albums Malcolm McLaren released under his own name in the 80s.

The first, Duck Rock, was a particularly innovative blending of hip hop and world music, while the video for the hit single Buffalo Gals offered most Britons their first glimpse of breakdancing. But it's as The Sex Pistols' manager that he will be remembered, which means the question of how successful he was in the role is likely to be debated for years to come.

McLaren certainly had an acute grasp of what was wrong with British rock music before The Sex Pistols' arrival.

He was a nonpareil orchestrator of outrage during their early career, but proved incapable of dealing with its consequences. McLaren knew exactly what buttons to press, but seemed to have no idea what to do once he'd pressed them: fatally so in the case of Sid Vicious, who was only too willing to play the monster role that McLaren wrote for him right up to a suitably grim conclusion.

You could argue that Vicious' death from a heroin overdose while on bail for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen was the greatest disaster of McLaren's career, but it was a close-run thing.

Even before that, he had seemed at best unable to protect the band's members from the unprecedented public antipathy he had stirred up, at worst he seemed actively disinterested in doing so. Perhaps he had his mind on higher concepts than the day-to-day reality of life in a band so reviled that the tabloids stopped just short of actively advocating violence against them: PUNISH THE PUNKS demanded the Sunday Mirror in 1977.

Perhaps the whole situation had simply run out of his control. Either way, it wasn't much fun being a Sex Pistol in the summer of the Jubilee they so brilliantly mocked on God Save The Queen: Johnny Rotten was attacked by a knife-wielding mob outside a Stoke Newington pub; later the same day, drummer Paul Cook was beaten with a metal bar in west London; three days later, Rotten was attacked again.

It wasn't until after the band split up that McLaren attempted to reassert his authority over the Sex Pistols: rewriting their story in the film The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle as a masterplan he had controlled all along, the band merely his stooges. It wasn't a terribly convincing argument, nor was it a terribly good film.

Understandably outraged, Johnny Rotten has spent the subsequent years airbrushing McLaren from the Sex Pistols story, pointing out that the music had nothing to do with him, reinventing the band as autodidacts who would have been even more successful without his interference.

But that seems reductive too: without McLaren's ideas, his art-school grounding in Situationism, without the clothes he and Vivienne Westwood designed for them, the Sex Pistols wouldn't have been the same band, nor would they have had the same impact. Neither party would ever admit it, but they needed each other.

Still, if nothing else, the ongoing argument meant Malcolm McLaren remained a controversial figure up to his death, and will remain a controversial figure beyond it – which is presumably just what he wanted."

Mr Pop and Mr Williamson

2010-03-14T21:23:00.008Z

In all the exciting lead up to the Iggy Raw Power shows in the UK the Guardian has run an interview with James Williamson. A nice run down of the later history of the Stooges and Mr Williamson's contribution. Who would have thought the Stooges were holed up at the Kensington Gardens Hotel during the recording of Raw Power. Will Hodgkinson writes a good piece but probably doesn't give Kill City quite the dues it deserves. It is a flawed album and doesn't have great production values (in a different way to Raw Power) but it is still mainly a good record. The fact that Iggy was on day release from a mental institution in order to make the recordings adds a certain legendary status to Kill City.
The Williamson Stooges had a run through in Brazil. It is an outdoor festival and it seems to be raining so the atmosphere is a little lacking and Iggy looks a little lost but the guitars sound good.

Like A Rolling Stone Sessions

2010-03-14T21:03:00.006Z

You may have to be a hard core Dylan fan to find these tapes fascinating but there are plenty of them out there. It is just lovely they are publicly up here on Youtube. They give a wonderful window into the recording of this song. A song that many place as one of the most important rock songs of all time. Five parts, listen at your leisure. Solo in part five. Thank you Mr Deasy for pointing these out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFRwcZLiMLc&feature=fvw

Antoine

2010-03-14T20:16:00.004Z

This song has lots going for it but the video (film really, because it predates video) is so cool it is puzzling it is not better known. Research brings little in English about this hip cat but he obviously made waves in France in the 60's. The setting in the wrecking yard is cool with lots of great set pieces. Antoine himself is definitely cool. Lanky and long haired he has attitude, even when miming. The band are rocking some great sunglasses...

Oh shit R.I.P. Mark Linkous

2010-03-08T00:07:00.004Z

Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. It was released in 1995 and predated and actually helped shape a musical world that many have tapped into since. The concept of using of country rock fused with "indie" sensibilities that became labelled as Americana and the use of distressed sounds to underlay (or overlay) its own melodic beauty set it apart from other albums released that year but it influenced so many others. Mark Linkous made many more fine records and continued to push boundaries - see the recent work with Fennesz, a sad loss. Here is a link to a live show in Manchester in 2003 provided by the wonderful Doom & Gloom From The Tomb.

Solex vs Christina Martinez and Jon Spencer

2010-03-03T21:50:00.002Z

Solex VS Cristina Martinez & Jon Spencer Comic Video from Bronzerat Records on Vimeo.

You have to love this comic book approach to some fine music put together by Solex and Christina Martinez and Jon Spencer.

Happy Birthday John Fahey

2010-02-28T11:53:00.006Z

John Fahey's birthday is today. If he was alive today he would be 71. A true idiosyncratic great , his guitar playing is peerless. He also continually challenged musical boundaries while championing the blues greats and set up two record labels to release his music Takoma and Revenant . His book "How Bluegrass Destroyed My Life" is a fascinating read. It relates different episodes of his life including his part in tracking down Skip James and his aborted soundtrack to Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point" which ended with Fahey punching out the director in a Roman restaurant. Here is a link to an interview the DJ Dr Demento and John Fahey did with Son House in 1965.

I Put A Spell On You

2010-02-26T10:14:00.004Z

A good cause, a bunch of rock greats, worth a look and a donation.
The original by Screaming Jay Hawkins was an incredibly visceral early rock'n'roll number that seemed to burn with lust but check this footage of the song performed back in the day. It has been transformed by Hawkins into a cabaret number, though the music manages to shine through.

Nick Cave used to perform the song during the early stages of his solo career and here is footage of a gloriously angular live version.

The original has been featured in film, probably most famously when it became the theme music for the 1984 Palme d'Or winning "Stranger Than Paradise" by Jim Jarmusch (which was uber cool at the time.)

It now plays a crucial part in the Lennon biopic "Nowhere Boy".

The Entrance Band

2010-02-25T11:02:00.006Z

Following the twitterings of St Thurston of Moore has lead to the very pleasant discovery of The Entrance Band. Anyone who harbours a love of heads down guitar driven late 60's early 70's rock will get the idea pretty quickly. And the idea and the execution is damn fine. Guy Blakeslee used to play solo and toured Europe with Cat Power rocking a more Dylan gone electric look. Now the curls have grown out and he has recruited bass and drums which give body and power to his songwriting and performances.

Lift to the Scaffold

2010-02-24T00:42:00.006Z

One of cinema's great classics is the Louis Malle film "Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud" or "Lift To The Scaffold". Not only is it a beautifully taut and tense nouvelle vague thriller about a well planned murder falling apart, it boasts an amazing soundtrack by Miles Davis. The lover of Jeanne Moreau played by Maurice Ronet finds himself trapped in a lift while trying to retrieve incriminating evidence of the staged suicide of Moreau's husband and it all goes terribly wrong. Moreau wanders the streets of late 50's Paris through the night. To complicate matters a pair of delinquent kids (the boy sportng a quiff and leather jacket) steal Ronet's car and casually murder a German tourist couple. A murder that gets pinned on Ronet. Malle keeps the suspense high and captures the new modernity in France from the architecture of the office block and new motels to the power and corruption of big business.

This hauntingly beautiful music was recorded by Davis as an improvisation whilst the film was screened in front of him and stands as one of his finest works.

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

2010-02-22T12:47:00.004Z

Todd Haynes should be garlanded for his creative take on Dylan "I'm Not There" (which deserves it's own lengthy post) and at least noted for his less successful take on glam, Iggy and Bowie "Velvet Goldmine" but following is the short film that brought him notice if not notoriety "Superstar:The Karen Carpenter Story". Squashed from general public view by the Carpenter Estate it has supposedly been out of circulation since 1990. That was pre Youtube. The fact that Barbie dolls are the performers brings wide ranging perspectives to an entertaining but tragic script.

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Erykah Badu

2010-02-19T10:19:00.005Z

Badu's "Jump Up in the Air Stay There", features Lil Wayne and Bilal. Bilal should be noted for his contribution of "1st Born Second". Not this one, this was another Bilal. Badu's video is like a psychedelic kaleidoscope which captures the dreamy funkiness of the song. There is a slightly pretentious intro (on the website featuring a cameo by your man Adolf Hilter which is edited out of the Youbetube posting) but you can't knock people for attempting to add in some level of seriousness. Well, actually you can. Good new song though.

"Dolphins"

2010-02-18T21:46:00.004Z

After a conversation on the beauty of the Fred Neil song "Dolphins" it seemed worthwhile to post these versions. This live TV studio version by Beth Orton and Terry Callier is lovely but it is well worth seeking out their recorded duet on the recent Trailer Park reissue.

Here is a Tim Buckley version which though gorgeous seems closer to the Neil original, compared to the Buckley version on "Dream Letter Live In London Live 1968" which is sung in a higher (more Buckleyesque?) register.
There appears to no footage of Fred singing but check this out.

"Hellfire" Jerry Lee Lewis

2010-02-18T11:07:00.003Z

Watching this 1957 performance you can still enjoy it's passionate intensity, undiluted by time. Jerry Lee Lewis is the fascinating subject of Nick Tosches' "Hellfire", one of the few rock books that can be ranked as "literature". Tosches takes a Southern voice to narrate the wildly successful and wildly turbulent life of Jerry Lee. He gracefully evokes the time and place. A place where both God and the Devil loom large and where it is not uncommon to marry your 13 year old cousin.

Sound of Young Scotland

2010-02-18T00:48:00.000Z

This looks like a work in progress but if it ever sees the light of day it will surely be entertaining.

Botswana Guitar Music

2010-02-17T19:17:00.002Z

Lovely stuff. A really typically Southern African sounding approach to guitar with nice slide effects. Also interesting to see how the instrument is held and sort of charming that the guy in the background seems relatively unimpressed. Pinched this from the Matablog.
Interestingly Mr Astor points out that the only existing photo of the great Charlie Patton has him holding his guitar in a similar manner.

Mr Amory Visits West Africa

2010-02-15T00:29:00.000Z

Mr Amory made a fine West African funk mix (from OG vinyl).

Dylan at the White House

2010-02-11T10:10:00.000Z

"Come Senators, Congressmen please heed the call" - a somewhat subdued but historic performance of this Civil Rights and 60s counterculture anthem

Human beatbox

2010-02-10T17:44:00.000Z

Oral agility.
Thank you Shintaro.

Youthmovies final shows

2010-02-10T17:36:00.000Z

If you are based in the UK or have the means to travel for a gig it would worth considering catching one of the last of the series of gigs by the fine band Youthmovies.

Rocking with the Small Faces

2010-02-04T12:27:00.000Z

You have to love the performance delivered here, especially Stevie Marriott's energetic rocking. Considering that they are miming in a Belgium TV studio in 1968 when lots of other artists were still pretty demur (OK, there was Hendrix and the Who truly shaking things up) Marriott is really throwing himself into it. That's rock'n'roll folks.

Mr Marcus listens, Mr Marcus thinks, Mr Marcus writes

2010-02-04T12:06:00.000Z

Digesting Popmatters consideration of Greil Marcus and his undoubted contribution to the love and enjoyment, random connections, interpretations and (yes) intellectualisation of music. Here is the link.

Iggy and Bowie 77

2010-02-02T19:31:00.000Z

Jesus, this is Iggy.
In fact it is a Iggy/Bowie boot from a radio performance in 1977 called Mantra 77. This version of the recording is a little rough but the performance has real magic moments. Does make you wonder what it would have sounded like with Asheton or even James Williamson on guitar though.

Patti Smith Memoir "Just Kids"

2010-01-31T12:22:00.000Z

Today's Observer publishes an extract from Patti Smith's memoir "Just Kids" which recounts meeting Robert Mapplethorpe, moving into the Chelsea Hotel, Max's Kansas City and the power of a Keith Richards haircut. Entertaining reading which bodes well for the rest of the book.
Here is a review by Edmund White.

Middle Of the Road

2010-01-28T21:40:00.000Z

Musical nuance combined with lyrical poison. What more would you need?

And again on Later with Jools Holland in 1992 (weird Spanish intro)

Unheard? Bowie instrumental

2010-01-27T08:05:00.000Z

A beautifully textured Bowie Eno style instrumental exclusively provided for a Japanese sake ad. This supposedly dates from 1980 which makes it Scary Monsters period but it sounds much more like Heroes or Low music, from at least three years earlier. Maybe he just had it lying around in drawer when the ad men came calling. Thank you Shintaro.

Are U Really On Drugs - The Clean

2010-01-26T15:25:00.000Z

Apart from being one of the foundations of Flying Nun the Clean deserve kudos for their consistent, high quality, no dross releases. They pioneered a sound that many US "alternative" and UK 'Indie" groups have utilised in one way, shape or form, or another. That whole raw retranslation of garage and pop that songs like "Point That Thing Somewhere Else", "Billy Two" and yes "Tally Ho" make and how they unfold leaves long traces for the amateur (or professional) musicologist. In their early days they were unique soundwise. Times change but not the enjoyment that the Clean can provide musically. "Are U Really On Drugs" is how the Clean sound now.

The music industry 0.2

2010-01-23T09:26:00.000Z

This is far too accurate. You can count video directors into this sort of environment as well.

Mogwai film Burning

2010-01-21T13:03:00.001Z

Great excitement at Anothersound HQ about the announcement of the Mogwai film "Burning" and live album called "Special Moves". Not a Bob Marley cover album or a visit to Burning Man but music and footage from three nights of shows in Williamsburg in April 2009.

Mogwai Live Film "Burning" Teaser from Nathanaël Le Scouarnec on Vimeo.

Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot

2010-01-21T09:38:00.000Z

Just genius. YouTube won't allow embedding "Bonnie and Clyde" which can be viewed here but as an alternative you can view Brigitte Bardot miming on a motorbike...

Brigitte Bardot - Harley Davidson 1968 from Sean on Vimeo.

New Anothersound signing

2010-01-19T12:17:00.000Z

These chicks rock!

R.I.P. Jay Reatard

2010-01-14T23:27:00.000Z

Sad news - too young...

Waiting For Something - a short documentary about Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard | MySpace Music Videos

The long shadow of Jimi Hendrix

2010-01-14T11:45:00.000Z

The dark arts of rock and roll P.R. are in full force with the announcement of a new campaign around the music of Jimi Hendrix. The genuinely exciting news that there will be a legitimate release of previously unheard tracks is mired by the spin. Rolling Stone headlines its story "Hendrix's final recordings" as if this is an actual "missing album" and the last time we will hear "previously unreleased" songs. Sony Legacy will keep revealing new official material and keep it coming all through their campaign of reissues. Rolling Stone then does call the album a compilation and it becomes clear from other reports that it is a collection of recordings from across a range of sessions and line-ups. The article also contains the contradictory message - “Valleys of Neptune,” (the song) which was never released commercially but did appear on 1990’s Lifelines: The Jimi Hendrix Story four-disc set". How can something never be released yet "appear" on a release?

Eddie Kramer has an enticing thing to say (though he may well be on message for the sales pitch.) "You hear the pure essence of the band, an in-your-face vibrancy. There were only four tracks and no overdubs, with Jimi singing as if he's in a concert." We can look forward to hearing the album and seeing how Sony does treat the amazing archive it now has to play with.

Dead Meadow "Three Kings"

2010-01-09T12:59:00.000Z

Check out the new video from Dead Meadow's upcoming new full length concert movie and soundtrack album "Three Kings". What more could you ask for than Meadow's heavy guitar sound and monks cowls.

Dead Meadow "That Old Temple" from Artificial Army on Vimeo.

Alex Chilton

2010-01-09T10:50:00.000Z

Read a very entertaining article here detailing Alex Chilton's journey through producing the Cramps, recording the masterpiece "Like Flies On Sherbet" and his membership of Tav Falco's Pather Burns, formed after Chilton witnesses a gig where Falco takes both a skill saw and a chain saw to his plugged in electric guitar (strings first).

Gem's include Jim Dickinson on recording "Like Flies On Sherbet" by just setting the tape rolling as the band learn the song.
“I learned it were from working with the Rolling Stones [Dickinson played piano on Sticky Fingers], who literally would take the first take they would get through without a major mistake. We didn’t even say the words, ‘Should we do it again?’ That is, of course, where the song comes to life. That is the most living the song will ever be." And on Chiltern's own methods as a producer in getting the best performance out of the Cramps. “The Cramps were funny,” Johnson says, “they hated all the [current] bands. They only liked the Ramones. They hated Television. When Alex wasn’t happy with a vocal take, he’d say to Lux, ‘You sound like [Television singer and guitarist] Tom Verlaine.’ That would really piss him off.”

There is a lack of footage from that period but Chilton's earlier band The Box Tops are just so wonderful this seems worth posting.

Transference, the new Spoon album

2010-01-08T11:44:00.000Z

There are several really distinctive elements to Spoon songs. It is not only the fact Britt Daniel's voice has an appealling ache and grain to it but also that it has the benefit of being one of a kind. It is equally something to do with the punchy rhythmic quality of the bulk of his songwriting. Spoon don't really sound like anybody else. A great plus but when you add in the ability to make fantastic pop rock songs and to perform them live with conviction and verve, with light and shade and with delicacy balanced by righteous rock outs, then you have a complete killer package.

"Transference" is the latest excursion from Spoon. There is a rough and readiness to the overall production but in these times of almost all pervasive slickness this rawness lends a refreshing quality. You can listen to a stream of the first single "Written In Reverse" here.

Peter Green Man of the World documentary

2010-01-06T23:57:00.000Z

If you can view the BBC iPlayer then the Man of the World documentary about Peter Green,recently screened on BBC4, is well worth viewing. A fascinating story involving amazing music, success, drugs, 60's naivety and the paucity of mental health care.
If outside the UK you would probably have to resort to viewing in 12 parts on Youtube

Willie Mitchell R.I.P.

2010-01-06T11:16:00.000Z

Sad news that Willie Mitchell has died at 81. Once a co-owner of Hi Records and owner of Royal Recording Studios in Memphis his contributions to the music we love is huge. Best known for his production and arrangements for almost the entire wonderous oeuvre of Al Green but also think of Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright, Don Bryant, George Jackson and many more. Guardian.

The return of Flying Nun

2009-12-26T12:29:00.000Z

Great news from today's New Zealand Herald that the long rumoured resurrection of the legendary Flying Nun label has finally happened. Founder/owner Roger Shepherd has bought back the label from the Warners Group and we can look forward to a sensitive programme of reissues and the exciting prospective of new releases. 2010 is already looking promising!

10 Rules Of Rock And Roll

2009-12-23T09:07:00.000Z

Robert Forster has been writing a music column regularly for the Australian journal The Monthly and now he publishes his first book "The 10 Rules Of Rock And Roll". If you had to select only 10 then these are a pretty good start.

1. Never follow an artist who describes his or her work as ‘dark’.
2. The second-last song on every album is the weakest.
3. Great bands tend to look alike.
4. Being a rock star is a 24 hour a day job.
5. The band with the most tattoos has the worst songs.
6. No band does anything new onstage after the first 20 minutes.
7. The guitarist who changes guitar onstage after every third song is showing you his guitar collection.
8. Every great artist hides behind their manager.
9. Great bands don’t have members making solo albums.
10. The three-piece band is the purest form of rock and roll expression.

Jah Wobble - Memoirs of a Geezer

2009-12-07T20:08:00.000Z

Jah Wobble has always provided distinctive music and this year he has published a distinctive "music" biography "Memoirs Of A Geezer". His bass playing with PiL was certainly pivotal in making their early work so important and he has ploughed a free ranging creative furrow ever since. He has taken the artistic freedom unleashed by punk and run with it. The book reveals him as both wise and streetwise and he doesn't pull his punches when it comes to description of those who have crossed his path (and he didn't pull his punches physically when the need arose either). He is good on the changing landscape, physically and socially, of the East End. He is up front about, but doesn't wallow in, his decline through, and ultimate, rejection of drugs and drink. (Slashing all the tyres of his own tour bus and blaming it on local yobs and vandals so he stay an extra day drinking in Glasgow springs to mind as a ballsy tactic). The fact he successfully runs his own label is utmost importance and separates him from most, if not all, of his contemporaries. The Guardian liked it and does the Indie.

It is that time of year - Best of 2009

2009-12-04T23:52:00.000Z

The end of year best of lists are starting to build up momentum so why not post the albums that kept Anothersound sane in 2009. In no particular order because how can you numerically rank the music from one album that is fundamentally different in style and content to another.
Let's Wrestle - In The Court of the Wrestling Let's

Girls - Album

1990s - Kicks

Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport

Phosphorescent - To Willie

Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

The XX - XX

Sonic Youth - The Eternal

Sparklehorse + Fennesz

Stroke - Songs For Chris Knox - Various Artists

Dancing In The Streets

2009-11-24T09:43:00.001Z

"Dancing In The Streets. A History Of Collective Joy" is Barbara Ehrenreich's very readable gamble across human history and society detailing the importance festivals, carnivals, dance, music and collective ecstasy from ancient times to the rock'n'rock revolution. Importantly she points to how the medieval church, the Reformation, industrialisation, the Enlightenment and modern hierarchies consistently have tried and mostly succeeded in repressing collective merrymaking. But this deep seated and liberating force keeps resurfacing. Let us all embrace it.

Buy a "Stroke".

2009-11-12T16:59:00.000Z

Preorder the fundraising Chris Knox covers album "Stroke". It features many fine artists covering Enemy, Toy Love and Chris Knox songs such as Yo La Tengo, Bill Callahan, Will Oldham, Lambchop, David and Hamish Kilgour, Shayne Carter, Jay Reatard, The Bats, Verlaines, some Finns, Stephin Merrit, Portastatic, Moutain Goats and many many more. All proceeds to support Chris' recovery. Snippets are available here

Rotten and the Raincoats

2009-11-01T19:54:00.000Z

John Lydon was a public supporter of the Raincoats back in the day and it is good to see him stay true. This was published in today's Observer Music Monthly "Soundtrack Of My Life" feature picking six records that profile his musical history.

THE RAINCOATS "THE RAINCOATS" (1979)

I cared deeply about what we were doing with the Pistols and it was hurtful to be put in a "punk" package alongside lesser mortals. But the Raincoats offered a completely different way of doing things, as did X-Ray Spex and all the books about punk have failed to realise that these women were involved for no other reason than that they were good and original. It's a million miles away from the blancmange that is Green Day, where you have a Johnny Rotten first verse, a Billy Idol chorus and a Sham 69 second verse. Preposterous!

Hipsters

2009-10-31T15:08:00.000Z

Hari Kunzru has written a great novel "My Revolutions" which is set in the tail end of the 60's London when political radicalism turns into extremism a la the Angry Brigade.

His take on hipsters and the section of the listening audience he identifies as such is beautifully described and accurate. Here republished (without permission) from Domino's journey into the publishing world, the Loops journal.

"The first band I go to see in the city is a friend’s intellectual rock outfit, who are playing the back room of a popular Williamsburg hangout. They’re not a particularly serious act, knocking out songs for fun, thought the singer seems to believe it; he clings to the mikestand, lost in a skinny dream of hair and fuzzboxes. The bar is Ivy League Hipster central, a milieu of tattoos, irony, unacknowledged trust funds and sublet lofts. No figure (expect perhaps the derivatives trader) is more reviled right now, particularly by other hipsters. Certainly no one will admit to actually being one. It’s always someone else – posers, wannabes. Face-eating consumer of cool, ruiner of all that’s new, the hipster is a sort of doomed wanderer, trudging about the blogosphere in search of the latest, greatest, most radical and transgressive cultural hit. He’s hated (and hates himself) because he has no real allegiances, no real taste, no desires at all except to be safely at the centre of the edge, to be edgy just like all his friends, whereas in reality he’s just at the edge of the centre, no more transgressive than the lamest suburbanite downloading the Jonas Brothers on iTunes. There’s no ‘niggaz 4 life/skinhead forever/born to lose’ tribalism any more, at least not among the college-educated. You don’t carve “mods” into your arm with a box cutter (though on reflection perhaps that was an English thing) because no one’s gauche enough to claim that what they like to wear or listen to will define them for longer than the next five minutes. The hipster is the cult of the absolutely new, the first true post-networked youth movement, it’s constant churn just a side-effect of the hard work of maintaining hip in a liquid world where information is easy to come by and everyone can acquire whatever cultural symbols they want with minimum effort. The tragedy of the hipster is his reverse Midas touch. He kills everything he loves. Once a thing is on his radar, blogged about, uploaded, it’s immediately commercialised, branded and sanitised, then sold back to him. The transgressive danger he seeks is forever unattainable.
Hipster music can thus be everything and anything, but its essence is pastiche. Choose a style – 60’s folk, African highlife, C86 English indie – and rock out. Every so often I trawl MySpace and the Pirate Bay, and listen to the crop of new bands. I try to be openminded and occasionally find something that survives repeated listening, but for the most part I fall into the “x sounds like y” game. Oh, this bunch like the Stooges. This lot like ESG…"

Voorman speaks

2009-10-29T19:24:00.000Z

Klaus Voorman being interviewed by Paul Morley. Hair is very important.

Seems the Guardian video is difficult to upload so here is a link.

Rock Zelig

2009-10-28T14:27:00.000Z

"The Sixties began in the summer of 1956, ended in October of 1973 and peaked just before dawn on 1 July, 1967 during a set by Tomorrow at the UFO Club in London."

Joe Boyd has had a mind bending career in music and film taking in the early resurgence of interest in the blues working with Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and many more, jazz touring in Europe, with explosion of folk into rock (being onstage) as Dylan went electric at Newport, and the UK scene with Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan. On the way he also produces Pink Floyds first recorded music "Arnold Layne", works with a host of great musicians including Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and Island Records through to Man Ray (not the artist but William Wegman's Weimaraner). And much much more. His book takes us through the 60's and 70's and is a fascinating dip into the iridescent but sometimes murky pool of that period.

Hyperdub

2009-10-13T12:18:00.000+01:00

There are a plethora of dubstep releases both digital and on vinyl. Unless one has the inclination, time and perhaps even finances to scour out the good ones going the traditional route of regarding a record label as a house of recommendation can a good method. Enter Hyperdub Records, best known outside the purists world for their releases of Burial's two albums. To celebrate their fifth year in operation they have released a compilation poetically named 5 : 5 Years of Hyperdub. And there is a bunch of good stuff there. One disc of 16 exclusive new tracks and another 16 representing the history. Burial makes an appearance, of course, and the new track "Fostercare" continues in the distinctive vein so successfully mined previously. Expect ghostly echoing vocals, a patina of static, slow deep bass lines and a hard but simple single beat from a metallic sound thrown together with dub effects. Lovely atmospheric music. There are lots of other good pieces, perhaps King Midas Sound's "Meltdown" is one of the most immediately appealing. It combines a softly distorted reggae inflected vocal with a gentle siren like droning and pulsing bass driven rhythm. Sources point to Kevin Martin's (he of Bug and Techno Animal) involvement in King Midas Sound.

Harry Smith

2009-10-08T22:26:00.000+01:00

Harry Smith has left us with a wonderfully tangled and tantalising legacy. His "Anthology of American Folk Music" was a major component in changing the landscape of American music, educating the 60's generation of rock musicians. He was a collector and a magus and as you can see a talented filmmaker.

Lust For Life

2009-10-06T15:22:00.000+01:00

Back in June Sounds Like Another Version posted the video for "Hellhole Ratrace" by Girls musing if the album would live up to the brilliance of this one song. Well it almost does. "Hellhole Ratrace" is the strongest song but there are plenty of other good ones. "Lust For Life" kicks the album off. It too has a good low budget video that captures the flavour of the music.

Anish Kapoor

2009-10-03T16:27:00.000+01:00

The Kapoor retrospective at the Royal Academy is the most entertaining exhibition. Not only is it attractive and stimulating art but many pieces are also good fun. The gallery with mirrored sculptures is full of people smiling and laughing at the hall of mirrors type effects produced by the beautiful sculptures. The cannon firing large wax capsules at the gallery wall evoked a round of applause. Some pieces rely on optical illusions and scale that would be very hard to reproduce in photography. The impact is in viewing the pieces in the flesh. The courtyard sculpture is a totem pole of reflective globes that cascades mirrored images of the surrounding baroque courtyard buildings and the assembled onlookers.

Review and here.

Go Betweens honoured

2009-10-01T13:45:00.000+01:00

Brilliant idea. $ 2.40AUS to cross the Go Betweens bridge is a good deal. The 2012 London Olympics are still constructing the Let's Wrestle Olympic Arena.

Puzzled by the Monsters Of Folk

2009-09-30T11:59:00.000+01:00

There was great expectation for the Monsters Of Folk album at the international headquarters of Sounds Like Another Version. Certainly the critical response seems to have been pretty positive. The idea of having combining the talents of M Ward, Conor Oberst, Jim James and Mike Mogis would seem tantalising. So why does listening to the album seem slightly disappointing. Were expectations too high?

"Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)" kicks off the album. Unfortunately it's very lush chorus comes across an example of 70's FM soft rock. It is also burdened by an incongruous and very dated sounding 90s' drum patterned rhythm track. Verses are good though. "Sandman, Brakeman and Me" follows the M Ward stylistic template and is the more successful for doing so. Oberst's songs can be very variable and he definitely can generate a marmite division between the listening public. On this record "Temzcal" manages to capture both good and not so good points. Sort of like the whole album, variable but probably the coolest Christian rock album around.

The Raincoats live at the National Portrait Gallery

2009-09-29T20:14:00.000+01:00

Great review here of last Friday's show. More than a show actually. A substantial cultural event.

The xx

2009-09-24T21:46:00.000+01:00

It is great when artists have the balls to keep it simple. Not necessarily simple in terms of a lack of ideas but making music that is sparse, clean and direct. Not drenching a song with sound but leaving some space. It takes guts because it leaves your choice of instrumentation, your melody and your lyrics exposed. But if you are good your songs will sound fresh and bright. The xx are an example of doing it the right way. They also benefit from an intimate almost spoken boy/girl vocals which fit perfectly with the stark arrangements.

People paid to write about music say things like this.

Snippets of the new Dylan album

2009-09-21T13:05:00.000+01:00

This baby is not going to win over many new Dylan fans and it will alienate a fair few. It will generate much debate (for example) and you have to enjoy Dylan's ability to so carelessly(?) fling a lighted firework in the powder keg of his musical legacy. It is pretty surreal on the first listen but the shock value recedes a little when approached again. The full album is due for release Oct 12 in the UK, 13th in the US, while some continental European stores will see it on the 9th. Merry Christmas everybody! Oh, and it is a charity fundraising release.

Some more recent reactions,
Here and Here.

The Rutles rule the charts again!

2009-09-14T22:57:00.000+01:00

The launch of The Rutles RockBand (tm) and Rutles remasters on cd, with the Rutles in stereo box (only £555.99) and the Rutles in mono box (£1,555.99) and the Rutles on 78 ( only £3,295.99) has refocused the worlds media on the legacy and general magnificence of the Rutles. Only Elvis, Jandek and Michael Jackson can make any claim to compete with the worldwide success and popularity of the Rutles. Yet once again the Rutles trounce all comers. The first week UK chart top 40 entries of many of their catalogue albums are as follows

5 SGT RUTTER'S ONLY DARTS CLUB BAND
6 SCABBEY ROAD
9 REVOLTER
10 BLUBBER SOUL
21 THE RUTLES
24 THE RUTLES IN STEREO
29 OUCH
31 ARCHEOLOGY
33 TRAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
37 A HARD DAY'S RUT

The Death Of Bunny Munro - author Nick Cave.

2009-09-12T20:56:00.000+01:00

The publication of Nick Cave's second novel has produced a range of responses. It is hard for any rock musician to be taken seriously for their work outside music, no matter how competent they are. But that is part of the problem. Being competent, having done your time at art school or slaving over a hot keyboard doesn't mean that the fame factored from your music should necessarily elevate your paintings, scribblings or movies, and that you can punch your weight with the pros. Of course you may be commercially successful but those sales are due to your music fan base. Ronnie Wood and Bob Dylan's paintings do very well. Cave's previous novel "And The Ass Saw The Angel" was also received with mixed reactions but has grown in stature with some longevity. Today's Guardian has a quite positive review while the BBC's Newsnight Review, though acknowledging Cave's artistry with the English language, roundly pans it for the unrelenting nature of the language and sexual characterisation.

Nick Cave collaborated with Warren Ellis (of the Bad Seeds and The Dirty Three) and artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard on an audio book.

Cave reads for the BBC here, speaks for an interview with the Guardian. A piece from the Observer and a full review from Sean O'Hagan ran this weekend.

In The Fishtank with Sparklehorse and Fennesz

2009-09-09T22:03:00.000+01:00

In The Fishtank has a good pedigree of putting together interesting combinations (the Low + Dirty Three being a favourite) but the Sparklehorse + Fennesz has to be both the most inspired yet. Mark Linkous' Sparklehorse debut album "Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot", in 1995, changed the landscape of American "alt rock". It's subtle combination of country rock and distressed and distorted sound has been hugely influential but little acknowledged, especially in the development of alt country. Christian Fennesz has a catalogue of beautifully constructed electronic albums that use guitar and oscillating distortion. Perhaps his album "Endless Summer" could be seen as a sort of parallel to "Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot" in it's quality and influence but in the smaller world of 90's experimental electronic music. The resulting record has both their trademark sounds. "Music Box of Snakes" (listen) starts with a Linkous supplied toy melody spinning into orchestrated laptop swells. The effect is quite hypnotic. "Goodnight Sweetheart" (l isten) layers distant Linkous vocals over Fennesz' electronic washes of sound. It is a gentle and hugely atmospheric album.

Second album from Fuck Buttons "Tarot Sport"

2009-09-08T21:44:00.000+01:00

Hotly tipped by those who know (and who have heard it) is the new Fuck Buttons album "Tarot Sport". Due for release in October a taster can be heard/seen here, the seven inch edit of "Surf Solar". It has a gradually building and ultimately soaring beauty propelled by fuzzy digital distortion sounds and a pulsing rhythm track. Just wonderful.

Here are what some folks have written about the first album Pitchfork, Dusted and Drowned In Sound. If you care for such things it pick up a score of 80 on Metacritic and all the indications are that "Tarot Sport" will be even better received.

New PiL shows.

2009-09-07T11:19:00.000+01:00

Hot on the heels of the upcoming Raw Power gigs John Lydon announces a run of Public Image Ltd gigs. In fact today's Guardian seems somewhat devoted to the idea. There is a front page box ad for the dates, followed by quarter page advert on page 3. There is also a news story on page 9 in the National news section and a three page interview feature in the G2 section. (The news story being a basic lift and rewrite from the feature). Overall a lot of coverage and very timely synchronicity for ticket sales. The gigs are bound to interesting, probably more so than the reformed Pistols shows. Unfortunately PiL this time round will not feature Jah Wobble or Keith Levene but there have been many incarnations in the years since they left. The good news is that Bruce Smith (ex Pop Group, The Slits, etc) will be drumming.

A nice clash of cultures here when PiL play Death Disco on Top Of The Pops in 1979. Shame about the quality of the footage and sound. Sort it out YouTube posters.

Best post about some new music now.

Raw Power!

2009-09-06T16:01:00.000+01:00

There is HUGE excitement on this site about the announcement of a Don't Look Back performance by Iggy and The Stooges of the Raw Power album. The previous Stooges performance at Hammersmith Odeon of Funhouse was one of the most intense, uplifting, rocking, and at times funny, live gigs ever experienced. Raw Power (though sidelined by critical consensus) is the Stooges album closest to the little beating heart resident here. A post about the remixed Raw Power was being contemplated here already - prompted by the release of Richard Hell's Destiny Street Repaired. A comparison between the remixing of Raw Power versus the re-recording of Destiny Street. However news of the live show means that Destiny Street will receive a separate post at some stage in the future. And a word on the remixed Raw Power? Well the 1973 album suffered when it was first issued on compact disc but even the original vinyl had a sharp sound. The 1997 remixing with Iggy's input certainly sounds fuller, clearer and way louder on cd. So to today's ears it probably sounds better. Probably dependent on how and when you first heard the album....

British Library archive

2009-09-04T10:32:00.000+01:00

Reported today is the British Library's move to make all it's world music archive free online.

Endless fun to be had browsing - from a cursory look it would seem to have strongest selections from traditional English musics, Africa and the Pacific. A quick search for Gnawa music or gamelans doesn't turn up anything. So it is a more eclectic than exhaustive collection. Try some song from Uganda. Often it is the surroundings that the recording captures that is a key element. Listen to this old bloke forgetting his song and his dog interrupting. Or the very proper introduction to this hauntingly beautiful recording of Tongan nose flutes. (Unfortunately the striking gentleman pictured above hails from Northern India and not Tonga). You could already listen to any of the pre 1958 classical recordings. Want to check cello maestro Pablo Casals conducting Bach Suite For Orchestra no. 1 in 1954?

Richard Long at the Tate

2009-09-03T14:40:00.000+01:00

A last chance visit to the closing Richard Long Heaven and Earth exhibition at Tate Britain. Photography is verboten so the accompanying photos are not of the best quality. The piece entitled "Walking Music" is a particular favourite. It reads

WALKING MUSIC

ROISIN DUBH
TRADITIONAL. PLAYED ON THE WHISTLE BY TOM McHAILE

ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC
CHUCK BERRY. SUNG BY JOHN LENNON

ON RAGLAN ROAD
TRADITIONAL. WORDS BY PATRICK KAVANAGH, SUNG BY SINEAD O’CONNOR

RETURN OF THE GREVIOUS ANGEL
GRAM PARSONS. SUNG BY GRAM PARSONS AND EMMYLOU HARRIS

WAITING FOR A TRAIN
JIMMIE ROGERS

I STILL MISS SOMEONE
JOHNNY CASH. SUNG BY JOHNNY CASH AND BOB DYLAN

IN MIND EACH DAY
ALONG A SIX DAY WALK OF 168 MILES
FROM THE RIVER BLACKWATER TO THE BURREN TO ATHENRY

IRELAND 2004

Listening.

2009-09-02T19:08:00.000+01:00

Check out Sasha Frere-Jones' new series of posts about "the sound of sound" entitled Dithering. Frere-Jones' New Yorker articles are among the best of contemporary music criticism.