A while back I was visiting a music blog I enjoy but haven’t checked out in some time called Musicophilia. Sometime in April they had an entry regarding an incredibly huge mix they’d built sometime last decade (and recently updated to twice its original size!), the entire collection containing post-punk songs from 1981.
That’s one hell of a fantastic mix, even by my standards. I’ve been listening to it off and on, and the first thing that hits me is how similar a lot of this stuff is to the indie music out there now. It’s pure college rock in a sense — the non-commercial stuff you’d hear on your favorite college radio station back in the day, even further afield than the Big Names we all know and remember now. You may think of Depeche Mode and the Cure and The Replacements and so on, and those bands definitely have their own spot in this mix, but you’ll also see tracks from Crispy Ambulance, The Swimming Pool Qs, Pere Ubu, Flux of Pink Indians, and so on. Bands you know of and most likely don’t have in your collection, but you remember that station playing those tracks late at night while doing your homework.
To be honest, it kind of makes me think that I’m not even close to doing justice to my own retrospective mixes or delving deep enough into the sounds of the past. Who knows, maybe I’ll do one of my own versions of this megamix one of these days.
[I’m not sure if the mix is still available, but go ahead and follow Musicophilia anyway, they do post some great streaming mixes as well that’ll really open your ears to some deep cuts and forgotten gems. [And I do mean forgotten — not the ‘oh yeah, that Cure single I used to hear all the time in 1992 and they’re now playing again for a brief time’. I’m talking tunes I haven’t heard since maybe 1987 or so.]
Okay, this is something I’ve posted on Twitter and elsewhere, but thought I’d collect some of my favorites here. These are pictures from our trips to London over the past couple of years…it’s kind of amusing, because A goes for the worldly historical sites and museums, and I’m all about visiting a city that’s ridiculously rich in rock music history. Whenever I could, I took a few snaps of places and images that reference some of my favorite songs out of the UK.
The man who drives many cabs down in Old Compton… [from Belle & Sebastian’s “The Boy with the Arab Strap”]
We walked down Old Compton Street on our way to a lovely little tea shop on a side street. It’s a hip and divey little street full of bars and questionable people, right off Cambridge Circus.
It depends how you’re wired when the night’s on fire, under the westway…
[from Blur’s “Under the Westway”]
This was the Westway bridge near the north end of Portobello Road. Portobello is a wonderfully wacky street that’s got really nice row houses of bright pastel colors on one end (think the London version of SF’s Painted Ladies) and a lot of antique stores down the other end. It’s hipster, it’s grungy, and it’s always a lot of fun.
She said ‘eh, I know you and you cannot sing’, I said ‘That’s nothing, you should hear me play pianer’
[from The Smiths’ “The Queen Is Dead”]
A rare Jonc sighting on his own blog! Whodathunkit? Heh. Me standing in front of Buckingham Palace. The Queen was elsewhere that week, so unfortunately the above conversation did not actually take place.
Really, Moz and the Smiths do namedrop a lot of London locations. Sloane Square is on the far west side of Chelsea at the end of King’s Road and the area is Quite Posh. Lots of high end boutique stores and bakeries. And hairdressers.
I told you about the swans that they live in the park…
[from Cream’s “Badge”]
There are indeed a lot of swans (and geese, and ducks, and pigeons…) that live in Kensington Gardens and hang out at Round Pond, just outside Kensington Palace. They’re fearless and will either ignore you if you’re just taking pictures, follow you around if you’re feeding them bread, or honk at you if you get too close.
Dance on moonbeams, slide on rainbows, in furs or blue jeans, you know what I mean, Do the Strand…
[from Roxy Music’s “Do the Strand”]
The Strand is an upscale street just off Trafalgar Square where a lot of the big name hotels and theatres are. It’s an incredibly busy street for both traffic and pedestrian, so yeah, you could say it’s a place to see and be seen…
Did this song pop into my head when we visited Hampton Court Palace, one of Henry VIII’s favorite digs? Of course it did. Because I’m a goober like that. Seriously, though, it’s a lovely place to visit. Amazing gardens as well.
Give me one last kiss, before I walk out of this…
[from The La’s “Way Out”]
The Underground has some really great signage. The older stops, like the above (I think this was from the Piccadilly Line at Earl’s Court station, if I’m not mistaken) have their signs inlaid or painted onto the tile. They use “way out” instead of “exit” on their transportation signage so that La’s track would pop into my head every single time.
You could consider this our home base during our trip. This is the entrance to the Earl’s Court Underground station, servicing the Piccadilly and District Lines. [It’s also a straight shot to Heathrow, which means no train changes at all when heading in and out.] The places we’ve stayed are up one of the side streets, so it’s super easy for us to jump on the Tube when we want to head anywhere. Earl’s Court Road is a busy one-way street (I think a lot of people use it to head from Cromwell Road down to King’s Road) that’s filled with pubs, restaurants and convenience stores, not to mention a launderette, which came in handy! Oh — it also has its own TARDIS! It’s mostly obscured in this picture, but it’s next to that news kiosk, with the top of it peeking out over that red car to the left.
I have a few more from a few years back that I’ll post a little later, but for now, here you go! Thanks for waiting!
As always, when we’re going on vacation, I always create a new compilation or two to listen to during the flights. I’m a little behind in creating these, so they contain tunes from most of the spring and summer of 2017 (including a few reissues).
Here’s the playlists, with the YouTube links where available. Enjoy!
Another great month of new releases worth checking out!
Saint Etienne, Home Counties released 2 June. SE is one of those bands that I kind of knew from different tracks, but only within the last, say, four or five years have I come to really appreciate them. Poppy, distinctly British, and finely written.
Roger Waters, Is This the Life We Really Want?, released 2 June. It’s been quite some time since his last album. This is pure distilled angry, cantankerous Roger Waters at his finest, with music that sounds equal parts Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Final Cut.
alt-j, Relaxer, released 2 June. A continuation of their signature weirdness that somehow still gets a hell of a lot of airplay.
U2, The Joshua Tree [Deluxe Edition], released 2 June. How many times have I listened to this album and not gotten sick of it? It’s indeed a classic album and the new 30th anniversary package is quite worth checking out.
Panda Riot, Infinity Maps, released 9 June. One of many “oh, they have a new album out? SWEET!” releases that seem to be sneaking up behind me this year. I was a big fan of their 2013 album Northern Automatic Music and this was definitely a great follow-up.
London Grammar, Truth Is a Beautiful Thing, released 10 June. I know I’ve heard of this band before but I can’t seem to remember where, so I gave it a stream listen, and LO! It was pretty damn good.
The Drums, Abysmal Thoughts, released 16 June. One of those bands I didn’t quite ‘get’ the first time around, but the more I listen to them, the more I love their stuff.
Royal Blood, How Did We Get So Dark?, released 16 June. Another band whose first album passed right by me. This one’s loud and crunchy like Foals with a bit of Sleigh Bells thrown in for good measure.
Ride, Weather Diaries, released 16 June. A VERY welcome return to one of my favorite bands of the early 90s, they’ve lost none of their signature soaring shoegaze noise.
311, Mosaic, released 23 June. 311 is on my list of ‘I will buy any new album they release’ bands. I know they’re not to everyone’s tastes, especially since they’ve mellowed somewhat since their louder mid-90s output. It’s a hell of a great album.
Radiohead, OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017, released 23 June. Loved the original when it came out 20 years ago during my HMV years (and one that got a hell of a lot of heavy rotation during the trilogy writing session years). Love the new release, which features a great remaster of the original, most of the b-sides, and three unreleased tracks. I originally wasn’t going to download this as I had most of it, but it was a great price and yeah — helluva great album and all that.
Prince & the Revolution,Purple Rain [Deluxe Remaster], released 23 June. An album that got me through a lot of my early teen years, it’s still a freakin’ FANTASTIC and solid album from start to finish. The new remaster sounds powerful and full of energy, and it also contains all those pesky hard-to-find era b-sides as well!
Algiers, The Underside of Power, released 23 June. Another ‘who the hell is this and WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THEM’ band for me. Tried it out with a stream and immediately put it in the basket to purchase. I’m still not quite sure how to describe them other than a mix of TV On the Radio and Bloc Party. Highly recommended.
Au.Ra, Cultivations, released 30 June. Ditto for this band as well, only they get extra points for heavily reminding me of the early 4AD sound, complete with chimey guitars, dreamy melodies and reverb for days. I’ve been playing this one a hell of a lot over the last week.
Floating Points, Reflections – Mojave Desert, released 30 June. Ditto again. This particular band fascinates me because they’re kind of like Air, with a bit of Caspian thrown in, and maybe just a hint of BT’s more ambient sound as well. This one continues to fascinate me.
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OKAY! I’m not sure what’s coming in July, as I haven’t been up on my release lists as of late, but I’m expecting more goodness soon!
If I had to pick any one band that influenced my bass and guitar styles the most, inspired numerous plot ideas and settings for my early writings, and always calmed my teenage soul late at night, it would definitely be Cocteau Twins.
I absolutely adored the layered, chiming and heavily echoed guitars of Robin Guthrie, the dual-tone melodies of bassist Simon Raymonde (and even the dissonant meanderings of original bassist Will Heggie, who went on to be part of the band Lowlife), and the otherworldly vocalizations of Elizabeth Fraser.
They were My Bloody Valentine at a much lower volume. They were Felt with a hell of a lot more ambience. They were goth without the pretension and imagery. And they were one of the biggest anchors of the classic 80s sound of the 4AD record label. When all the music critics described their sound as pastoral, autumnal or dreamlike, they really weren’t trying to be over the top. They really did sound like the Scottish Highlands on a cool and foggy morning, or a late October in foliage-laden New England.
If you haven’t given them a close listen, especially their dreamier 80s output, I highly suggest it. It’s quite lovely.
Believe it or not, I haven’t listened to my beloved 80s college radio-era albums and mixes in quite some time. I did that on purpose as I wanted to soak my brain in some of the new stuff that’s out there. Different sounds thirty years on. Some music reminiscent of the early years, such as the noisy shoegazeyness of Panda Riot versus My Bloody Valentine. Other music reveling in its weirdness like Alt-J or its sparse loveliness like London Grammar.
So going back down the 80s rabbit hole one more time, I’m hitting the usual cast of characters such as The Smiths and the Cure and so on. I procured those discographies quite some time ago. I still listen to them every now and again when the mood strikes.
Lately however, I’ve been wanting to do a bit more research in the bands and sounds that I never quite got around to following other than a few singles. I recently caught up with the Fall’s discography for the most part (I’m bypassing their 1,058,736 live albums that seem to have the same release frequency as a Guided By Voices record), and now I’m curious once more about some of the other outliers from that era.
Here’s some of the stuff I’m talking about:
A lot of Electronic Body Music (aka EBM) there to be sure. It might sound much more lower-tech than the DJ boffins we have nowadays like BT and Skrillex, but not bad considering a lot of those synths were brand spanking new at the time and no one really knew much of how to work them. And as long as they got people on the floor, so much the better.
But I’m also curious about other genres out there from that era, like the various punk scenes (such as Boston versus DC versus LA versus SF, and so on), or more of the Athens scene (Pylon, Love Tractor, etc), or anything else that’s out there that I may have missed.
So yeah…if any of you have any suggestions for old-school tunage for me to look into, please feel free to let me know!
More tasty tunage from what’s turning out to be a really good year for music!
LCD Soundsystem, “Call the Police”/”American Dream” single, released 5 May. I’m not the biggest LCD fan…they’d have been a band I’d have taped off the radio but probably wouldn’t have actively looked for, back in the day. I do like this b-side, which has a very early-80s-synth feel to it.
The Afghan Whigs, In Spades, released 5 May. They’re a bit of an odd band that uses tension well in their music, which is one of the reasons I like them.
The Primitives, New Thrills EP, released 5 May. First of many blasts from the past this month! Always loved this band’s bubblegummy alt-pop.
Blondie, Pollinator, released 5 May. Second blast! A welcome return, sounding quite like their late-70s/early-80s dance-punk.
Slowdive, Slowdive, released 5 May. Third blast! And HOT DAMN is this a gorgeous album. I expect all you shoegaze fans have to already have this in your collection.
Day Wave, The Days We Had, released 5 May. As you can tell, the beginning of May had one hell of a great list of releases. Perky, twitchy, echoey alt-rock similar to Two Door Cinema Club and the like.
The Darling Buds, Evergreen EP, released 12 May. Fourth blast! One of my favorite ealry-Britpop bands from 1989, returning with a new EP that sounds as just as fresh as their previous catalog.
Overlake, Fall, released 12 May. One of those bands I’d never heard of but given a great review on one of the music blogs, I checked it out and deemed it quite excellent. It’s been part of my Lidwells playlist lately.
White Sea, Tropical Odds, released 12 May. Morgan Kibby, under her band name, popped up not only on recent M83 tracks but duetted with Big Data. Her second release is beautiful, moody and fascinating.
The Charlatans UK, Different Days, 26 May. It’s been how many years since Some Friendly…? And they’re still going strong. A mellower affair than previous albums, but still strong and fantastic.
The Beatles, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Deluxe Edition, released 26 May. Well, DUH. Of course I’m playing the hell out of this lately!!
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Stay tuned for the June releases, which should contain the following:
Saint Etienne, Home Counties
Ani DiFranco, Binary
Panda Riot, Infinity Maps
Alison Moyet, Other
Cheap Trick, We’re All Alright!
Fleet Foxes, Crack-Up
Ride, Weather Diaries (!!!!)
Prince & the Revolution, Purple Rain Deluxe Edition
Radiohead, OK Computer: OKNOTOK 1997 2017
I’m finally getting around to reading George Clinton’s autobiography Brothers Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard On You? [BEST. TITLE. EVER.] and it occurs to me that I don’t own any Funkadelic (or Parliament, for that matter).
This really needs to be rectified.
I’ve known about them for years, of course. I probably first heard of them in a few of those rock history books I used to take out from the library back when I was a preteen and already obsessing over music trivia. I’m pretty sure I’d heard some of their jams in the background of some 70s movie or something. I knew George Clinton had an extremely out-there stage persona. They weren’t a band you’d find in the music bins at K-Mart or one of those mall stores, though, so they weren’t always on my radar. It wasn’t until my freshman year roommate in college played me part of their 7th album Let’s Take It to the Stage that I got what they were about. One listen to “Get Off Your Ass and Jam” and I knew what I was in for… I liked it, but it didn’t quite gel with me at the time.
Reading his book, though, I finally figured out what they were about. They weren’t merely a weird funk band from the 70s…they were much more than that. Part soul, part psychedelic rock (I can definitely hear that now — the above track is reminiscent of those long-ass psych rock jams that early FM radio loved so much), part political, and part party. There’s a lot going in this band’s music, and now I’m intrigued.
That said…given that their early work is available on eMusic, I’m going to download me some of this cosmic slop and do a bit of immersion. Wish me luck!
I’ve been obsessing about this release since hearing about it some months ago, and since it’s such a landmark album — not to mention this release being the only time so far that a full Beatles album has been given a completely new stereo remix — I think it’s only fair that I give it the BtB treatment, now that I have it my grubby paws. I’d like to go over what one can expect: the differences in sound between the original mono and stereo mixes, and the new 2017 stereo mix.
[Alas, I do not have a 5.1 sound system so I won’t be able to provide any input on that at this time, though it’s part of the big box set edition.]
So why do you smile when you think about Earl’s Court?
Walk In Silence 