Monday's Long Songs

A new EP from Andres y Xavi came out last Friday, four tracks all named after cities- hence the title of the EP, Cities. All four are lovely pieces of work but two in particular stand out and both are well over eight minutes long. The first is Lagos, which rolls in with tumbling piano chords and the chk chk chk of a shaker. Then there is bubbling, Afro- funk bass and the thump of the kick drum, both chilled and hot. Halfway through there's a breakdown, stuttering synths and the start of a chant and then on four minutes a vocal works its way to the front, a lovely combination of Afro vocals, Balearic piano and dancefloor shuffle. 

New York and Chicago are two of the other three other cities the tracks are named after. Lastly there is Sant Antoni, eleven minutes of Mediterranean facing electronic beauty, a long into with synth chords, bleeps and rising ripples. The bass turns up eventually, prodding, and then a Soul II Soul drumbeat kicks in. Late evening down by the waterfront. At six minutes it all drops out to just the piano and an ambient synth sound, the bleeps and then just the piano on its own, gently heading towards what seems to be the end.... and that drum break kicks back in and we're off again...

Cities is out now on Higher Love at Bandcamp. 

Forty Minutes Of Jezebell

A Jezebell mix for this Sunday to go with their weekend takeover at The Golden Lion in Todmorden with the emphasis on dancing. Jesse and Darren's music, edits and remixes have been one of post- 2021's joys starting with Thrill Me in November 2021, taking in various EPs and singles, an album and most recently Cream Tease (wordplay and sexual innuendo are a Jezebell speciality. Personally, I'm not a fan of innuendo- if I see one in my writing I whip it out, straight away*). 

Forty Minutes Of Jezebell

• Bibbles (Pots And Pans Mix)
• Re- birth
• Perfect Din
• Citric
• We All Need (Jezebell's Ghost Train Mix)
• The Jezebell Spirit
• Darren's Theme

Bibbles is by Brighton Balearica duo Andres Y Xavi, a single on Higher Ground in February 2024. Jezebell did three remixes, the Pots And Pans Mix being my favourite, all manner of whirrs and clicks and abstract rhythm sounds.

Re- birth first saw the light of day on the Diavol edit label and then on Jezebellearic Beats Vol. 1, a shimmering, shuffling, woozy piece of edit work. 

Perfect Din is from Shelter Me, a compilation released in April 2024 to raise funds for Crisis, a homelessness charity. 

Citirc was one of four tracks released as the Weekend Machines EP, machine funk for cyborgs to strut their stuff to. Hand claps, hi hats, guitar riffs, synths, all synced up for endless, beautiful repetition.

We All Need is one of the songs on A Certain Ratio's It All Comes Down To This album, one of 2024's best records. Jezebell's Ghost Train Mix came about when ACR's Martin Moscrop was record shopping in Berlin and found and bought a copy of Jezebellearic Beats Vol. 1. 

The Jezebell Spirit takes one of the key tracks from David Byrne and Brian Eno's groundbreaking 1981 album My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts and Jezebells it, the 808 cracking away under the sampled American TV preacher. My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts is a seminal album, a record streets ahead of almost everyone else in the early 80s. 

Darren's Theme is from Cream Tease, a track and EP with its tongue firmly in its cheek and possibly its trousers undone as well. A snatch of vocal from Karen Finley's Tales Of Taboo, a 1986 song with a lyric that could be described as sexually explicit. 

* Thanks are due to Kenneth Williams for this joke obviously

Bibbles

Andres y Xavi are a duo from Brighton whose Sounds From The Secret Bar was a slo mo, slow burn, Balearic/ downtempo double album summer 2021 highlight. They followed it a few singles/ remixes including Bibbles, out in the middle of last year. Andres y Xavi asked Jezebell to remix Bibbles and Jezebell went to town creating not just one but three remixes of the original, each remix one containing the seeds of the next. 

The first is Bibbles (Pots And Pans Mix), an abstracted, stuttering take with whirring, ticking, clanking and clicking sounds over the drums. Jezebell say its not a million miles from vintage DJ Shadow and I'd add Clock Factory (from Sabresonic) and some 90s Warp records as reference points. It's endlessly inventive, a remix that keeps surprising as it twists and splutters to its endpoint, a chopped up vocal sounding like the baa baaing of electronic sheep. 

Bibbles (Bubble And Squeak Mix) is a step up in tempo from Pots And Pans. It sets out from a similar point but streamlines itself fairly quickly, coalescing into an insistent synth riff and slo mo drums with lasers flashing and a human voice lost somewhere inside it, a remix that combines spaced out with a hefty thump. 

Bibbles (Baubles And Beads Mix) completes the triptych, a six minute work out with a nod to mid- 80s hip hop grooves, some thundering bass, some 60s organ and those electronic sheep back again, this time accompanied by cowbell. Floor shaking action. 

The Bibbles remix package came out yesterday and you can hear it and purchase from Higher Love here. 

Baltic Pearls

Polish band Jazxing's Pearls of The Baltic Sea was one of my favourite albums of 2022- this year's remix version came out at the end of October, the eight tracks remixed by eight different artists and was a very worthy follow up. I missed including it in my end of year list last Saturday, a bit of an oversight because it's a wonderful album in its own right. 

The Balearic Ultras remix of Shoegaze Dub is one of the highlights, a slow mo drift with piano chords, dub bass and snippets of conversation, people discussing shoegaze, sound, guitar FX and experimentation. 

Bagging Area regulars Coyote show up with their Whirling Dervish remix of Vijnana that displays what they do so well, a layered, laid back but insistent version of the song, hazy but with a pulsing heartbeat, acoustic guitars, hand drums and an inclusive, everyone sitting round the fire on the beach feel. 

Brighton's Andres Y Xavi take on Hyacinth, the ticking rhythm of an 808 with acoustic guitar and cooing voice conjuring up summer and long, warm nights, something that seems like a dream in late December. 

Opening the album is Danilo Braca's remix of Fala. Fala was the track on the original album that first grabbed my attention, a huge cosmic groove with 80s sax. Danilo spins it out for over twelve minutes setting out with waves, gulls, and a sax solo but then shifting it towards the floor, drums and handclaps, kick drum, piano chords, synths and eventually heavy bass and some acidic touches.  

These four are the current favourites- the rest of the album with remixes by Polotronic, James Bright, Das Komplex and Janca are all well worth investing in. You can buy the whole thing here. 

Walking In The Sun

Two weeks ago I was sitting on the terrace of a pub near Lydney overlooking the River Severn, the sun scorching and the temperature around 30 degrees. This song would have been the perfect accompaniment, a collaboration between Brighton based duo Andres y Xavi and Woodentop Rolo McGinty (on guitars and vox). Walking In The Sun is Balearic AF (to use young people's lingo) and to up the Balearic quotient even further Coyote have remixed it, Coyote's Higher Vibration Mix. 

Xavi's dub breaks it down even further, all mood and texture with bass pushing gently, fragments of the song appearing and disappearing in the haze. The EP, complete with the original version, James Bright's remix and Xavi's Pianopella mix can be purchased at Bandcamp.