Broadcasting from near the Thames Delta, featuring hot wax and moods from the Planet Of Sound, the only common theme being random. Let's stick together, consider our child....
On
Wednesday (9th March) I went along to an event at Rough Trade East
off of Brick Lane promoting a book called ‘X-Ray Audio – The Strange Story of
Soviet Music on the Bone’, a tome about bootlegged western and banned music in
post war Russia, in which many Russian citizens suffered imprisonment because of
their love of music and their willingness to make it available in a state that
banned much of it. With little to put their music on these guys pressed music
onto discarded used X-Ray plates. The recorded quality was not great but it was
better than nothing. My attendance was prompted by a performance from Marc
Almond, whose performances were cut to X-Rays live on the night (without too
much success!). This performance of ‘Friendship’ a song Marc knew of from his
Russian musical hero, Vadim Kozim, was recorded to one of Marc’s own X-Rays,
presumably of his gruesome injuries following a life threatening motorcycle accident
in London in 2004. The recording did not work too well (modern X-Ray plates do not lend themselves as well to the
process as much as the older ones used in Russia half a century ago.) Here
though is my trusty iPhone recording of the performance.
The
resultant recording was unplayable, Marc’s crowd rousing foot stomping basically
not helping the process (which can be seen on the projector screen behind him).
Before this, Stephen Coates, the editor of the book and performer in the Real
Tuesday Weld, presented his story of how the book came together. This is his presentation
at TEDxKrakow
On the
X-Ray Audio website there is also a short documentary on the subject. This is
it.
The evening
was informative, interesting and enjoyable, including Marc’s all too brief,
under-rehearsed but enthusiastic performance. The book is a wonderful read. Finally,
here is Marc’s BBC World Service radio documentary (from late 2015) on the
previously mentioned Vadim Kozin. Marc cut an album of Kozin’s songs, released
in 2009, called ‘Orpheus In Exile’.
‘Night Thoughts’ is Suede’s 7th
album, and the second since getting back together, and follows previous album
‘Bloodsports’ by two years. Recorded mainly in Brussels and also in London and
featuring a full string section, the album is very cinematic in its approach,
so much so that the album is accompanied by a full length feature film that
runs alongside the songs.
The orchestra leads the album in, introducing
the filmic ‘When You Are Young’. There’s no rosy sentimentality here, Suede
always present things a little gritty, touched with regret and dirt.
‘Outsiders’ follows, a much more guitar lead typical Suede anthem, very
redolent of classic 2nd era Suede, as is ‘No Tomorrow’, and the
albums fist pumping defiant pose is struck. And it works. The songs are far
more immediate than the previous (very good) album, it’s great to hear a
re-formed band creating as vitally as their initial run was. If the pace does
slow down through ‘Pale Snow’ (spacey synths and moody atmospherics) and ‘I
Don’t Know How To Reach You’ (more measured in pace, but still taut and vital)
then the quality doesn’t. ‘What I’m Trying To tell You’ was first presented
last year at the NME’s awards show, and it was a glorious atypical Suede
cruncher, an instant classic. Here the pace and feel is more metronomic, more
mechanical. Still, that’s always been a Suede ploy, and the chorus cannot be
dulled, the songs finds a place as a more polished finished article and is
thankfully, an album highlight.
‘Tightrope’
crawls in on broken guitar, sparse keyboards and smooth bass, the voice completing
the songs first cycle before the drums finish the build. This could be even be
first album era Suede, and seven songs in and I still don’t think I’ve heard
the word gasoline in the lyrics yet, though we have had cellophane and cars,
and chemicals are on their way. The
seamless link into ‘Learning To Be’ passes in a blink, as does the soft song,
before ‘Like Kids’ caresses your ears with a gentle childlike lalala intro, a
song lyrically and musically not such a distant relative of ‘Trash’, no bad
thing, and it’s fresh enough to avoid paying homage to its predecessor, in fact
it’s another highlight on this lean, no waste, mean album. Some more kiddie-choral
nahnahnah’s see the track out and into ‘I Can’t Give Her What She Wants’. It’s
an eerie love song, with a murderous undercurrent of resigned defeat. The
albums first track is then resurrected as ‘When You Were Young’, a far more
reflective mood piece that the earlier song, dialogue samples, and thunderous
orchestra carrying the album towards its crescendo. Which arrives in the form
of closer ‘The Fur And The Feathers’. If this sounds like a pub name, then it
could well be, as the main hook also namechecks the fox and the geese! It
summarises the albums central themes, the first flush of youthful romance and
the emptiness when things don’t work out. Another main lyrical hook, ‘It’s the
thrill of the chase’ could well have been this songs title. It’s grandiose and
epic, vital and real.
’Bloodsports’ may well have shown us that there
was life in Suede as an ongoing creative unit, and now ‘Night Thoughts’ completely
justifies the band decision to effectively have a second career. If you love
‘Suede’ and ‘Coming Up’ especially and found ‘Bloodsports’ promising or
pleasing then you’ll love this too. It’s a first meets third via the sixth. And
it’s great. 9/10
With their roots in Nottingham (as Asphalt
Ribbons) before locating to London and becoming Tindersticks, this is a group
that feels like it’s the independent music scenes best kept secret of the last
25 years. They don’t have a typically indie sound, there’s a lot more ‘art’ to
Tindersticks, as evidenced by the fact that apart from ten studio albums
they’ve also sound tracked numerous movies, art installations and exhibitions.
They have a boozy back alley underground sound, with Stuart Staples distinctive
vocal either leaving you in the ‘one of the great singers’ or ‘the man can’t
sing’ camp, very rarely taking the middle ground. If you can’t make your mind up,
then listen to Stuart sing ‘Hushabye Mountain’, the Sherman brothers ‘Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang’ standard that was recorded for Tindersticks side project
‘Songs For The Young At Heart’ nearly ten years ago. Oh yes the man can sing.
So what then of this, Tindersticks official 10th
studio album? Opener ‘Follow Me’ has a glorious cinematic feel (the songs
melody is from Brando’s 1960’s version of ‘Mutiny On The Bounty’ and the album
is accompanied by a film project, a short film for each of the albums tracks’).
It’s a countryside instrumental betraying its recording in the bands studio in
Staples current home of Limousin in France. It was the last song recorded for
the album, recorded as a scene setter before the heavily treated vocals of
‘Second Chance Man’ drop you straight into the action, it’s an arty sub jazz
recording, singular in pace but very affecting all the same. ‘Were We Once
Lovers?’ is driven by its flowing bassline, and provided a clear link to the
previous Tindersticks albums, intertwining art, indie and soul elements
sublimely.
‘Help Youself’ blasts off with a southern soul
horn fix (there is immaculate brass throughout this album). It’s a song that
was spontaneously written and recorded very quickly, it sits on a basic rhythm
and feature an effortless and perfect vocal. ‘Hey Lucinda’ was first put together
in 2009 and features Lhasa de Sela on vocals, who sadly passed away from cancer
soon after that recording, someone that band has admired and worked with
previously. Finishing the song off for this album and they’ve truly done her
justice. Centrepiece, ‘Fear Of Emptiness’ is another instrumental, and bookends
the two half’s of the album sweetly. ‘How He Entered’ is a spoken
word/instrumental piece that harks back to early Tindersticks glories. Proper
spoken word songs can be cheesy, but this is anything but, it sounds like its
spoken out of choice not through a lack of ideas, and hints of loneliness,
sudden arrival and departure and renders the spoken vocal as a proper song. It’s
cool and catchy.
Title track ‘The Waiting Room’ also features a
previously used Tindersticks trick, vocal gliding over a sparse solo Hammond
(augmented only by fleeting minimal percussion), the vocal fragile and
vulnerable. It’s downbeat and miserable
but this is a main reason that so many people love Tindersticks. If music was
to only soundtrack our highs, then music would not be very interesting.
‘Planting Holes’ is a piano and paella pan instrumental, no kidding. The
opening is the recorded sound of rain falling onto paella pans, and the subtle
piano complements this nature enhanced sound perfectly. ‘We are Dreamers!’
features Jehnny Beth of Savages. It’s a moody, rhythmic, voodoo enhanced jazz shuffle.
It’s wonderfully Tindersticks even if the band in its youth may not have been
ready to do this, there is a line that goes right back through their recording
career running through this song. That’s the beauty of a band evolving slowly
throughout the years, allowed to develop their art without the pressure of
supplying a never ending stream of hits, and ultimately this is where the music
business needs to get back to if the buying public are to remain engaged by the
album as an art form. It’s why we should value bands like Tindersticks.
The album finishes with ‘Like Only Lovers Can’
and sounds as sweet as the title suggests. Lyrically though and questions are
still being asked, no resolutions in life or love are offered. It’s another side
that the band are so masterful at, the lilting sweet soul that you’d never
think could be offered by the same band as their deeper darker moments. And
that’s it. The album feels brief, not lightweight, but not giving us enough.
It’s a mighty fine latter day Tindersticks album. The band have only ever had
one top twenty LP in the UK charts (1995’s second album reached no.13) and
those heady chart days are gone. You could however look beyond that and if
you’ve never done so before, investigate Tindersticks through this record. It’s
a beaut.
A while back, possibly on facebook rather than here, I posted about an album I bought whilst on holiday in Whitby by James Auger and the Natives called 'Story of a Dreamer'. James, a north east native has since moved to Sweden, got married and started a family and has now released a single/EP called 'Guided By Wolves' as his one man project, Dead Wood. There is a 7" release which being limited to twenty copies has all sold out now. But the tracks are available from Bandcamp or Spotify. There is also a nice video for the splendid track 'Send Me A Sign'. Fine folk rock with spot on pop sensibilities. Check it out......
About 3 and a half years ago I posted a podcast featuring my favourite Bowie songs. Six months later and he was back, with new music. I've had a couple of requests to re-post the recording so here it is. There'd be at least one extra or different song on there now, namely 'Blackstar'. This is the text I posted back on the 12th of July of 2012....
Everyone’s Talking About Bowie…..or at least it’s felt like it recently, probably because of the Ziggy 40th anniversary but also because of the general greatness of the man and his music. A word of warning, this podcast is about a century long (1hr 45m anyway) and I talk far too much in it, but it's about David Bowie, what’d you expect? These are (possibly) my favourite Bowie songs, I’m not saying they are ‘the’ best, everyone should make up their own mind, but these are the ones that keep dragging me back or keep me up late when I could really do with going to bed. I’d love to know what you think of them.You can hear the podcast here….
Click the blackstar to listen...
I'll probably revisit later this year when I can face it. Or do a Vol.2 as someone suggested at the time.
Words fail me but I'll try
anyway. Just 2 days ago I posted a review of 'Blackstar' and referred to it as
a career high for David Bowie. No one is immortal but I can't believe that
Bowie is now gone. I like a lot of music, of all types. Bowie performed
virtually all of those types. He had his low points, his wilderness years and
his comeback of the last three years has been particularly joyous and
rewarding. Finding out that a large part of this was undertaken whilst he was
aware of his own time on the planet coming to an end is difficult to compute.
It certainly throws a different light on some of the lyrics to songs recently
released. I've read a lot this mourning of people feeling like they've lost a
family member. Thoughts are with Bowies actual family, his young child, his
wife, all of them. As for his extended family of fans, listen to the music, read
some books, watch some films and videos. One of the world’s most inventive and
clever and thorough and thoughtful artists has finished creating. His music has
sound tracked my life, right now it feels like it is my life. I'll never stop
listening to Bowie or being dumbstruck by the stature of the man. There are no
more words. Here are David Bowie's final recorded words.
So, less
than two years since ‘The Next Day’ landed as the best Bowie album since 1980
and exactly two years since ‘Where Are We Now’ woke the world up from its
Bowie-less slumber, the man’s back, on his 69th birthday, with
another new album, and this time it stands up against his very best work. A bold claim, maybe, but let’s consider it….
Lead and
title track ‘Blackstar’ landed a few weeks back and simply blew me away. A ten-minute
epic, effectively two songs knitted into a whole one, it’s mood,
instrumentation (drum and bass beats, subculture jazz, near soulful middle
section), lyrics, structure and well everything (including the super creepy video)
screamed out superior modern alternative pop/rock. The lyrics may be
undecipherable, possibly autobiographical, possibly referencing the panic and
fear in the world in these times of ISIS seeded terror, but they work a whole
with the at times barely structured music that still manages to work as a
complete whole. The middle section is as vocally complete as anything Bowie’s
ever sung. The below the surface hook ‘I’m a Blackstar’ I’m a Blackstar’ is as
triumphant as it is unsettling. This is superior Bowie, it could have sat
supremely atop the ‘Diamond Dogs’ album, quite a compliment. I don’t think I’ll
ever tire of listening to it.
It’s hard
to catch your breath after such an opening. Track two, ‘Tis A Pity She Was A
Whore’ was underwhelming in it’s demo form as the reverse of late 2013’s genre
defying single ‘Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)’, here though it’s transformed,
full and a different beast. The title comes from a John Ford play and returns
to the subject of the terrors of war (in this case WW1), a subject so
fruitfully covered by Bowie on ‘The Next Day’. It’s features another great, at
times jaw dropping Bowie vocal, especially on the lines ‘man, she punched me
like a dude’.
‘Lazarus’
is from the play that Bowie has collaborated in the production of. It’s a
vastly superior piece of alt. rock with jarring guitars, a steady beat, and mournful
sax. The play continues the story of Thomas Newton, whom Bowie played on film
back in the 70’s, an alien stranded on earth whilst searching for water for his
home world. The lyrics also touch on the biblical character Lazarus who lives
after dying. A couple of days ago this song also was released with an
accompanying creepy video. The overall feeling so far is of music of intense
power, as good as ‘The Next Day’ was it didn’t have this presence, this
confidence.
Four tracks
and over half way in and a radical reworking of ‘Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime’
blasts in. Heavier than the original orchestral jazz recording, the song is
perhaps even more unnerving than the original. The story of a relationship
flailing amidst illness and infidelity, spiralling into murder. The disjointed
drum and bass beats and sombre but pacey music lend an air of panic. This was
always a fantastic song, I loved the original, and though quite different this
is up there as at least an equal of the original. So far so stunning.
‘Girl Loves
Me’ sounds by title like it’s some mid 80’s Bowie B-side. It is anything but.
Phrased in Clockwork Orange viddy speech and oddball London slang, the song
could be about an empowered woman or a man’s confidence and ego gone mad
bolstered by an empowered woman. It’s a bit obscure, and though it may not
touch the heights of the opening four tracks it’s still way more than album
filler and again creaks under the weight its own class.
‘Dollar
Days’ is more softly melodic than all that’s preceded it. Lyrically it seems to
be dealing with tough subject matter, maybe the migrant crisis that grips
Europe at the moment? There’s a feeling of sacrifice, hardship and regret. Some
great sax and percussion work underpin the song, and the urgency present in
every song so far on this album remains just a strong here. The slightly
understated vocal tends to add to an overall feel and urgency mixed with
despair tinged with tiredness and regret.
The song
then segues into ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away’. Another lilting melodic song,
heralded by a Berlin era sounding harmonica, soft synths and a superb
underpinning sax, the song may be about the ties of family even through
horrific tests. I’m picturing mourning Islamic fathers grieving for sons turned
by radical extremism. But who knows.
And that’s
it. Seven songs, a blistering sense of urgency and though the pace might abate
towards the end of the album, the quality doesn’t. This is very arguably an
album that sits up there with the best in the Bowie canon, and in its title track
has what is an absolute career highlight. Buy it.
10/10
As a footnote,
having just listened to the actual CD. The sound quality is way beyond the disc
I burned a couple of days before from a FLAC torrent. Buy the CD or vinyl if
you want to hear a masterpiece done justice.
