Every Forest Has A Shadow

Nottingham duo Coyote are experts at choosing a vocal sample and setting against the backdrop of some very atmospheric music. Their latest EP, Every Forest Has A Shadow, has two slices of casual Coyote brilliance. First the title track... 

The music is wonderfully evocative, a haze of reverb and FX, some synth chords, a tambourine, drums, all very organic and natural sounding. Aptly because the vocal sample is about environmentalism and the natural world...

'If you think along the lines of nature, one doesn't know what will change? Is it trees or is it the wood? One thing is sure, a great change is imminent... only a great danger exists with man himself'.

Know One Cares is a more psychedelic track with drums that pick up and push it on, tumbling synthlines and some acidic squiggle action, a gathering intensity, and a female voice saying, 'no one cares for me'. The hand drum that rattles in and out gives it some welly as the bass pads away. 

Each track is also on the EP in remixed form, one remix courtesy of Sebra Cruz and the other by Vanity Project. You can get it at Bandcamp. 

It All Comes Down To This

A Certain Ratio's new album, It All Comes Down To This, came out last week. Piccadilly Records and the band arranged an album launch where if you bought the album from them, for an extra £2.00 you got a ticket for a gig at Soup, a 200 capacity club in the Northern Quarter with a Q and A with Martin, Jez and Donald followed by ACR playing the album in full. At a time when £2.00 won't even buy a half of lager in the Northern Quarter this seemed a no brainer as they say. 

The three long standing members of ACR have stripped back to a three piece for the album, their third since 2020, recorded with producer Dan Carey. Pulling the sound back to guitar, bass and drums plus Martin's trumpet has shifted the ACR sound again- they really do sound like a band re- energised, fired up, with something to say and the means to say it (thanks to the deal with Mute records). The Q and A is interesting and funny, with stories of drummer Donald practicing his skills as a young man in his front garden in Wythenshawe, and Rob Gretton giving him thumbs up or down when he passed by depending on whether he liked what he heard. Gretton would soon introduce Don to the drummer- less ACR and the band suddenly shifted from post- punk gloom to punk- funk. Asked who the best bassist in the band is (ACR gigs frequently see members swap instruments) all three say 'Viv', the youthful bassist they recruited last year to deputise for Jez (whose rheumatoid arthritis has forced him to stop playing the bass live. 

After the Q and A we get the album, played in full and in order, the ten songs already sounding like ACR live favourites. The opener and title track thumps in, led in by a rat- a- tat- tat drum intro and Martin's guitar, trebly and right up close,with urgent Jez's vocals. Martin's guitar and Jez's bass form the sound of the album- Donald's drums absolute on the beat, Jez's basslines deep and rubbery while Martin's guitars slide around, clanging and bright. Second song Keep It Real thunders in straight away, choppy guitar riff and freight train rhythms. 

The songs shoot past, both on record and at the gig, short, sharp bursts, transmissions from a band forty five years into a career and not content to rest or take it easy. Surfer Ticket rolls ominously, some of the early 80s Factory dread evident. God Knows echoes some of the poppier sound that they reached for at the end of the 80s, a melody line picked out on the guitar and some sweetly sung multi- tracked vocals from Jez. Out From Under seems to nod its head to Shack Up, their calling card, with staccato bass and chak chak chak guitar riff. Estate Kings is narrated by Don from behind the drumkit, a Manc noir reflection on growing up in M23. Final song of the album and the gig is Dorothy Says, a song inspired by the words of Dorothy Parker, Jez singing over a rolling groove and ringing guitar line, 'Well I've heard it said that beauty is only skin deep/ But ugly it goes clean to the bone', and later, 'I plan to die at the last possible minute/ I'm not myself I'm not really in it/ I can't seem to filter out the static/ And my self- doubt is automatic'. 

The album, the gig and the songs show there's plenty of life left in ACR, a group who've outlasted many of their contemporaries and are making new music more alive and more vital than the ones who have lasted the course. They're on tour from this week ending up back at Manchester's New Century Hall in mid- May (two days before my birthday incidentally) playing the album and then a second set of ACR classics, and if you can, I'd get out and go to see them. 

Monday's Long Song

Back in 1992 Flowered Up, the London band whose live shows were seriously off the wall featuring dancer Barry Mooncult in a leotard and giant flower outfit, released Weekender. In some ways it was the group's last gasp. Their debut album A Life With Brian had been released to mixed reception despite good press coverage, and their label London Records turned Weekender down. They went back to where they started, Heavenly, a label who know a good thing when they see it. 

Weekender is a thirteen minute epic, a rampaging baggy groove, guitars, synths and horns and singer Liam Maher regaling the listener with his criticism of those people who only go out at the weekend. The 12" single came complete with a photo on the front of a hotel room that Sid Vicious had smashed up. On Weekender the band seemed to be combining everything they'd done for the previous two years- everything- into one song on one side of vinyl, Pink Floyd meeting Happy Mondays at the set of  Quadrophenia (two samples of Phil Daniels are on the song) as the mother of all comedowns kicks in. It's 1992. The party is almost over- but Flowered Up have got it together for one last spin round the floor. It was followed by Weatherall's Weekender, a pair of Andrew Weatherall remixes that twisted, extended and bent the original into all kinds of new shapes and places. 

'Weekender, whatever you're doing, just make sure what you're doing makes you happy', Liam concludes, making some kind of peace with those who can't live the lifestyle 24/ 7/365. 

A full length film video was made to accompany the song, a piece of art in it's own right, made by Wiz.

Flowered Up have lost several of their members over the years- sadly Liam and Joe Maher died within three years of each in 2009 and 2012 and Lee Whitlock, the star of the Weekender video died last year. Heavenly have just re- released Flowered Up's sole  album, it's first re- issue since  accompanied by Andrew Weatherall's remixes and various B-sides and versions and the group's contribution to the Fred EP. It also comes with a brand new remix of Weekender by Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, Richard Norris and Erol Alkan reanimating the song for 2024, a version that subtly breathes new life into the song. 

Ripped In Todmorden

One of the maddest aspects of my life in recent weeks has been the number of times I've been on social media, scrolling through the needless tidal wave of posts, and seen our album, Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 1, pop up- from London to Scotland, from Ireland to Poland, Holland to Toronto, New Zealand and Australia, copies landing all over the globe, Rusty's eye catching artwork propped up next to turntables and record collections everywhere. 

The first vinyl pressing of 500 copies sold out in a day in February. The second pressing, a further 500, is close to sold out- there are a few copies at Manchester's Vinyl Exchange and maybe some at Stranger Than Paradise (London) and Monorail (Glasgow). This week a box arrived at Piccadilly Records, a record shop in Manchester I've been frequenting since the 1980s, and there it is again, sitting in the racks at my favourite record shop. Unbelievable in so many ways, an album that started as a chat between three of us last June has become this actual, physical thing, packed from start to finish with amazing music and being played all over the world. 

Back in the Golden Age Of Blogging (circa 2004- 2009) Moggieboy (Alan McGregor) wrote the legendary Ripped In Glasgow blog, one of the inspirations for this blog. Moggie posted dance music mainly, some indie and goth (The Cure and The Mary Chain both appeared), plenty of early 90s techno and lots of Andrew Weatherall's music. Around 2011/12 he pulled the plug on Ripped In Glasgow and called it a day and in an act of scorched earth blogging deleted the whole thing too. Not long after he re- appeared with a Ripped In Glasgow Facebook group which quickly became a forum for all things Weatherall. I only joined Facebook because of the RiG Facebook group. When Moggie closed the doors on that group Martin got in touch with me and asked if I wanted to co- run a new Weatherall related Facebook group and that was where, ten years ago this year, The Flightpath Estate was born. No Ripped In Glasgow, no Flightpath Estate, no album. All these things are linked. 

I met Moggie/ Alan at AW61 at The Golden Lion a few weekends ago and as has always been the case, meeting bloggers/ internet friends in real life has always been a good thing. They say you shouldn't meet people you only know from the internet and I'm sure it's wise to be cautious (especially if you're in the world of online dating) but every time I've met someone that I've known through the internet hit's been a good experience and I've made many real life friends. 

Moggie/ Alan returned to Glasgow after AW61 (he did Todmorden Park Run on the Saturday morning too while some of us were feeling the after effects of the Friday night at The Golden Lion) and this week did his Ripped In Glasgow radio show, an internet radio on Radio Buena Vida. Moggie's show is an hour long, he plays five of the tracks off our album and a few other AW61 related tracks ending with Radio Slave's massive version of The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum) and talks through his weekend at The Lion with some lovely words about us too, not least 'it's great to meet people off the internet who aren't complete nutters'. You can listen to Ripped In Glasgow getting Ripped In Todmorden here. 

V.A. Saturday

This Saturday series is jumping around all over the place, a celebration of the various artists compilation album, something that when done well is as good as any 'proper' album. Recently I've posted Lenny' Kaye's mid- 60s garage and psyche rock extravaganza Nuggets, a pair of Andrew Weatherall collated compilations (9 O'Clock Drop and Force Tracks), the Detroit techno classic Retro Techno/ Emotions Electric and Colleen 'Cosmo's Murphy's Balearic Breakfasts. Today I offer you a Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs modern classic, their 2022 compilation Fell From The Sun, an album that is very specific in its parameters spanning a period lasting two years (1990- 1991) and solely tracks that are at 98 beats per minute. 

The lost in ecstasy face on the front cover, snapped at legendary London club Shoom, gives more than a hint at what's inside, fourteen slices of blissed out, shuffling, slightly woozy, indie- dance crossover/ straight dance music from the early 90s, a period where there seemed to be exciting, genre busting, record deck hogging 12" singles released weekly but also a time when tempos were suddenly cut, where the paced slowed and people took a breather before heading back to the floor. Bob and Pete were part of the scene, Saint Etienne releasing their own contribution to the scene in the form of their cover of Neil Young's Only Can Break Your Heart. Fell From The Sun opens with Primal Scream's Higher Than The Sun (Higher Than The Orb), a record that redefined Primal Scream as a band (something that Andrew Weatherall had already done not once but twice wit their previous two singles, Loaded and Come Together). If they'd stopped after Higher Than The Sun, it would have been enough, a sun dappled, sky scraping ode to becoming unlocked and going with the flow, of losing oneself in the moment. Bobby Gillespie isn't always the man I'd go to for lyrics but Higher Than The Sun is close to perfection, 'My brightest star's my inner light/ Let it guide me/ Experience and innocence bleed inside me/ Hallucinogens can open me or untie me/ I drift in inner space free of time/ I find a higher state of grace deep inside'. 

Higher Than The Sun (Higher Than The Orb Extended Mix)

Spaced out sounds and whispers swirl around, a faint pulse bumps in, and a rising synth line appears and then the rhythm gently kicks in, as Bobby coos 'I believe you get what you give', and then organ and drums and woooo sounds. Saxophone. Eight minutes of bliss. 

After that Bob and Pete guide us through a version of 1990- 91 at 98bp, stopping off for the mighty Cascades by Sheer Taft, The Grid's Floatation, Saint Etienne's glorious B-side Speedwell, One Dove, Transglobal Underground, BBGs Snappiness and The Aloof and finding room for a few lesser known gems- Elis Curry's U Make Me Feel, Massonix's Just A Little Bit More, History and Q- Tee's Afrika. 

The track titles alone conjure up the look of 1990- white Levi's, Travel Fox and Converse, long sleeved t-shirts, boys with centre partings and shoulder length hair, girls with short hair, dungarees, football shirts, Happy Mondays t- shirts, Spike Island and Kate Moss on the cover of The Face. 

Towards the end of the album are this pair of tracks. Firstly, I Don't Even Know If I Should Call You Baby by Soul Family Sensation, a British trio switched on by Chicago house in 1989. They split in 1992. Johnny Male went on to Republica. Guy Batson worked with Saint Etienne. Singer Jhelisa Anderson sang with The Shamen on LSI. None of them ever sounded better than on this song. 

I Don't Even Know If I Should Call You Baby

Fell From The Sun closes with Moodswings' Spiritual High, a cover of Donna Summer's State Of Independence, with a typically 1990 drum pattern, Chrissie Hynde, loved up synths and keys, bouncing bass, rattling rim shots, a wheezy organ, a choir, tumbling piano chords, and eventually, finally, Martin Luther King-  Grant Showbiz (a former Smiths and Billy Bragg roadie) and drummer James Hood creating a sound that is the very essence of that period between early spring 1990 and autumn 1991.

Spiritual High (The Moodfood Megamix)

Shelter Me

Out today on Paisley Dark is this eighteen track compilation Shelter Me- In Crisis, an album released to raise funds for the charity of the same name that aims to tackle the problem of homelessness. Paisley Dark is based in Leeds- if Leeds is anything like Manchester homelessness is an issue that seems to have reached crisis proportions. We live four miles south of the city centre in a residential, fairly leafy suburb- there are people living in tents in the corner of a site that has been cleared for renovation, for a while someone was living on a roundabout and there have been living out of tents in the woodlands down by the Mersey. In the city centre there is a community of scores of men living in the arcade by the town hall. This seems to be an issue that people just accept, yet another aspect of modern life where we seem to have reversed and where our politicians shrug and make excuses. The current government don't seem to care at all and have pursued policies that have made the situation worse and worse. 

There are eighteen different artists on the album, many of whom have been featured here in recent years- John Paynter has pulled in an all star cast and an A grade track selection for Shelter Me- In Crisis. Tronik Youth, Duncan Gray, Al Mackenzie, Cosmikuro, Hogt I Tak, Hunterbrau, James Rod, Ian Vale, Jezebell, Mr BC, Tecwaa, Warriors Of The Dystotheque and Joe Duggan (an Ed Mahon remix of their wonderful 2023 single Fitzroy Avenue), Shunt Voltage, Stylic and Keith Forrester and Mindbender have all graced these pages before and will do so again. All proceeds from the sales of the album will go directly to Shelter Me. You can buy it here. Not just good music but a purchase that will do some social good. 

Tronik Youth's Dance With Me is five and a half minutes of urgent, propulsive, cowbell laden acid house with a massively distorted vocal shouting, 'dance with me!' 

Al Mackenzie's A Morning On The Chase and Tecwaa's Whippy are at Soundcloud. Al Mackenzie's is a slinky slow burning chug. Tecwaa's Whippy is faster and darker, with rattling rim shots and a distant female vocal in the breakdown before everything goes strobe lit at three minutes. 

Duncan Gray's The Remote Control Thief is yet another top class Duncan Gray track, a buzzing synth bassline, dark house groove and acidic topline coming together beautifully. 

Love Is Stronger Than Death

I've had a bit of a rough time recently, everything seems very close to the surface. The things that distract me- music, blogging, reading (and also these things aren't just distractions, they're the bread and butter of my life in some ways)- still do their job but the long road through grief is exactly that, a long road. Every time you think you've rounded a corner, you get whacked again. The last few weeks have brought all sorts of things up. I don't know why, it's unpredictable and sometimes inexplicable- there doesn't have to be an obvious trigger or an anniversary. Sometimes it's just bad again and I've learned that times like this just has to be accepted and felt and gone through. When other things are also tough- work for instance- it can replace the grief for a while but mainly it amplifies it. Two weeks ago I had a few days where I was utterly pissed off and quite angry- I'm not generally an angry person. Grief seems to turbo charge emotional responses and whereas in the early days and months I could shrug things off- some things, big to other people, seemed inconceivably small to me, no one had died so these things didn't matter. More recently I have been less able to do that. I don't think the saying about time healing is true- you just get used to living with it. 

We decided recently that it was time to get Isaac a headstone. It's been a long story. We went very early on to a stonemason and it felt a bit like we were ordering a new sofa. We then left it for eighteen months, none of us able to deal with the finality of ordering a headstone, deciding on wording and seeing it put in place. There came a point last year where we just felt ready. We tried a different stonemason but for various reasons he couldn't get what we wanted. Two months ago we went back to the first mason, starting back at the beginning, ordered a stone and felt some relief. A few days ago we decided on the wording. We're hopeful it might be installed in the summer. Isaac's birthday and the anniversary of his death are both late November, then quickly comes Christmas and then a long winter into spring. Having the headstone erected in July and maybe marking it in some way, in the summer months with warmth and sun and late light evenings, feels like it might break the sometimes wintry feel we often have at the cemetery. 

We go to see Isaac at least once a week, a visit to his grave has become part of our ritual. At first going to see him was tough but felt necessary but it did feel like every time we went we had to say goodbye to him again. As time has gone on and the rituals of visiting him have developed, going to his grave has started to feel like we go to say hello to him. We've tried to keep the flower pots and planters full of colour through the two winters he's been there, planting daffodils and white flowers, taking tulips and daffs for the vase and keeping the grave feeling fresh. In some ways when we go it feels like we're still looking after him. The pigs in the field behind the cemetery often come up to the fence. The pylons overhead buzz a little. More often than not the bus goes past on the road in the distance. All these things seems to be part of him now. 

This song was written by Matt Johnson in the aftermath of the death of his brother Eugene in 1989 and recorded for The The's Dusk album, released in 1993. I hadn't listened to it for many years until Khayem posted it at Dubhed a few weeks ago. It seems to sit (partly at least) somewhere in the space that I am currently in. 

Love Is Stronger Than Death

'Me and my friend were walking/ In the cold light of morning/ Tears may blind the eyes but the soul is not deceived/ In this world even winter ain't what it seems'

I believe that the friend referenced in the first line is Johnny Marr. Matt and Johnny were walking in one of London's parks after a night in the studio recording.

'Here come the blue skies, here comes the springtime/ When the rivers run high and the tears run dry/ When everything that dies shall rise'

Our visits to the cemetery have changed, become a positive, part of a weekly ritual that we do for him. Sometimes it genuinely does feel like we go to say hello and that indeed love is stronger than death. 

This section is longer and more complex, and you probably don't need my commentary on it, so I'll just leave it here. 

'In our lives we hunger for those we cannot touch/ All the thoughts unuttered and all the feelings unexpressed/ Play upon our hearts like the mist upon our breath/But, awoken by grief, our spirits speak: "How could you believe that the life within the seed/ That grew arms that reached and a heart that beat/ And lips that smiled, and eyes that cried/ Could ever die?"

Here come the blue skies/ Here comes the springtime/ Love is stronger than death'