Forty Five Minutes Of New Order- ish

I heard Your Silent Face on Friday night- not for the first time obviously- and it floored me once again. There's something about it that is very special- the rippling Kraftwerk inspired keys and synths, Hooky's bass and the mechanical drumming, Bernard's serious lyrics completely undercut by the 'why don't you piss off line', the way it gloriously skips between euphoria and melancholy. It's much more than all of that, one of those songs that is way more than the sum of the parts. It inspired me to start a New Order mix for my Sunday series but then I changed tack almost immediately. Rather than just sequence of load of my favourite New Order songs (almost all of which would be from the 1980s) I thought it might be more interesting or more fun to do a Your Silent Face/ New Order inspired mix and see where it took me. It took me here...

Forty Five Minutes Of New Order- ish

• New Order: Your Silent Face
• Galaxie 500: Ceremony
• Gorillaz ft. Peter Hook and Georgia: Aries
• The Liminanas and Peter Hook: Garden Of Love
• Ian McCulloch: Faith And Healing
• The Times: Manchester 5.32
• Ride: Last Frontier
• New Order: Isolation
• Mike Garry and Joe Duddell: St. Anthony: An Ode To Anthony H. Wilson (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Your Silent Face opens side two of Power, Corruption And Lies, New Order's second album, released in May 1983. It's now seen as a New Order classic, a landmark album, the fusing of dance and rock, light and shade, a band stepping out of the shadows of Joy Division and the first NO album Movement. Your Silent Face had the working title KW1 (the Kraftwerk one). Funny story about New Order and Kraftwerk- the Dusseldorff robots visited New Order in their Cheetham Hill rehearsal space/ HQ and sat open mouthed as the band showed them the kit they used to make Blue Monday. 'You made that record using... this?' 

Galaxie 500's cover of Ceremony is a beauty, a slowed down, slow burning version, ringing feedback, the guitars gathering in intensity, and Dean's upper register voice smothered in echo. Ceremony was New Order's first single (and in a way, Joy Division's last). It was released as a 12" in 1981, twice, with different sleeves and slightly different versions. Galaxie 500's version came out as a B-side on their Blue Thunder 12" in 1990. At the time the nine year gap between 1981 and 1990 was an eon, the 1981 world and 1990 world two totally different eras- for New Order as much as anyone. 

Gorillaz got Hooky to play bass as part of their Song Machine project in 2020. Aries is I think the best 'New Order' song of the 21st century. Murdoc, Noodles, 2D and Russel Hobbs/ Damon Albarn together with Hooky's bass totally nailed what NO should be sounding like now. 

Four years before Gorillaz got Peter Hook to sling his four string guitar around he hooked up with French duo The Liminanas. Garden Of Love is (again) a great 21st century 'New Order' song, slightly fragile, slightly woozy, psychedelic garage rock, the bassline wending its way to the fore and staying there. 

Ian McCulloch's Faith And Healing is virtually a New Order cover- it sounds so much like a off cut from Technique he probably should have given them writing credits. It came out as a single in 1989, taken from Mac's solo debut Candleland. 

The Times was one of Creation mainstay Ed Ball's projects. In 1990 as The Times he released Manchester as a single, a hymn to a city at the centre of a youth explosion. Hooky's mentioned in the lyrics. It's also a tribute to the sound New Order had on 1985's Lowlife. It couldn't be more Lowlife unless it came wrapped in a tracing paper sleeve. I sometimes it think skirts the line between ridiculous and brilliant. I can imagine it making some people cringe but I think it has charm. Once, driving through France it came on the car stereo on one of the mix CDs I'd burned for the trip and made me briefly, stupidly homesick. I got over it- I mean we were on holiday in France for fuck's sake.  

Last Frontier was on last year's Ride album, Interplay. It's an Andy Bell song, soaring, chiming guitars and on the money drums. It sounds like a close cousin of Regret (the last truly great New Order single, released back in 1993. Although actually, I'm happy to listen to arguments for Crystal, released in August 2001). 

Isolation is a Joy Division song, from their second/ final album Closer. It's a stunning song, the collision of electronic drums and real ones genuinely thrilling, along with the synth and bass. Ian's words are bleak, a man at the end of his tether. This version is by New Order, recorded for a John Peel session in 1998. They still play it live- they did it at Wythenshawe Park last August. 

Mike Garry and Joe Duddell's St. Anthony: An Ode To Anthony H. Wilson is a song I come back to often, Mike's A to Z of Manchester music endlessly listenable and at times very moving. For his remix Andrew Weatherall, a huge fan of Factory, turned the song into a nine minute Weatherall tour de force, complete with a version of the Your Silent Face bassline. Which is where I came in. 

Forty Minutes Of Paul Simonon

This happened last night- Paul Simonon and Dan Donovan DJing at The Golden Lion in Todmorden. They were both lined up to play in August 2023 but Paul had to pull out and Dan played solo, a set of reggae, ska, rockabilly, punk and Clash songs. I wrote this post in advance of the show so can't report back yet but will do so soon. 

In the meantime here's a forty minute mix of Paul Simonon songs, presented roughly in chronological order, featuring the dulcet tones, reggae inspired bass and beating heart of The Clash, Paul Simonon, the coolest man to ever wear and play the bass guitar, the sharpest dressed man in punk.

Forty Minutes Of Paul Simonon

• The Crooked Beat
• The Guns Of Brixton
• Robber Dub
• Red Angel Dragnet
• Hey Amigo!
• Kingdom Of Doom
• The Good, The Bad And The Queen
• Plastic Beach
• Hero
• Lonely Town

The Crooked Beat was Paul's song on Sandinista!, a bass- led groove celebrating the blues parties and shebeens of his youth in South London with Mikey Dread at the controls. One of Sandinista!'s hidden gems. 

The Guns Of Brixton was written by Paul, initially titled Paul's Tune, and worked into the song we all know during the London Calling sessions at Wessex. Paul had realised during 1978 that the real money was in songwriting and elbowed his way into the Strummer- Jones partnership. Live Paul would sing/ shout the song with Joe switching to bass. Paul's bassline, instantly recognisable, was borrowed for Beats International's Dub Be Good To Me, a 1990 number 1 single. CBS released a 12" of Guns Of Brixton shortly after to cash in with some club friendly remixes by Jeremy Healy. I was going to include both Dub Be Good To Me and return To Brixton on this mix but wanted to keep the running time down to under forty five minutes. I still think Dub Be Good To Me is a great record and should have put it in this mix.

In 1980 The Clash appeared live on American TV on ABC's Fridays, playing four songs including this paring of Guns Of Brixton and Clampdown. You don't need me to tell you that this is the stuff that dreams are made of. 

Bank Robber was a 1980 single, recorded at Manchester's Pluto studio, produced by Mikey Dread, and originally released on import. When it charted by import sales alone CBS put out a UK release in August 1980. According to Paul in the Westway To The World documentary at first CBS executives didn't want to release it, saying it sounded like 'David Bowie backwards'. Bank Robber is a Clash classic, heavy, reggae inspired bass and drums. The Robber Dub first the light of day on Black Market Clash. 

Red Angel Dragnet is from 1982's Combat Rock, Paul on vocals on a song about the New York Guardian Angels with a Taxi Driver quote section narrated by Kosmo Vinyl. The free association lyrics in the end section are bewilderingly brilliant- 'Hands up for Hollywood/ Hooray/ I hear you/ Snappy in the air/ Hang in there/ Wall to wall/ You saved the world/ What else? You saved the girl/ Champagne on ice/ No stranger to Alcatraz...'

After The Clash 2 eventually split Paul formed Havana 3am with Nigel Dixon, Gary Myrick and Travis Williams, naming themselves after a 1956 Perez Prado album Paul was fond of. They played a cut and shut mix of rockabilly, Latin, dub and Spaghetti Western. Nigel died of cancer in 1993 and the rest of the band split. Paul lived in LA for a while in the late 80s/ early 90s, riding his motorbike with Steve Jones. During this period Paul and Steve found themselves in a studio with Bob Dylan- Dylan had been looking for a band to record with and somehow they got the gig. Paul recounts Dylan playing them a song, them playing along, then another, and another. After six songs Dylan said they'd go back to the first and record it and then the others. By this point Paul had forgotten the first song and the others too. This became Down In The Groove in 1988, which is nobody's idea of a great Bob Dylan album. In fact it may be his wrost. I don't have a copy any more (I once had it on cassette) and therefore can't include any of the Simonon- Dylan songs. Paul moved back to London, put his bass away, and began painting again- he'd been at art college in 1976 when he met Mick Jones and started The Clash. 

In the early 21st century there were rumours and rumblings that The Clash were going to re- unite to play at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame to celebrate their induction. The Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame is an awful idea and I imagine a terrible place too. Joe apparently was up for it, Mick was in Topper was clean. Paul kiboshed it saying if they did reform it wouldn't be for a bunch of people paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket but for real fans. He also said what he took from punk was not looking back- 'I never wanted to go back and relive the glory years; I just want to keep moving forward'. Joe tried to persuade Paul to do it by saying he had Mani on standby. It was the last time Paul spoke to Joe. He died in 2002, just days after the conversation. 

In 2007 Paul made an unexpected return to bass playing as part of The Good The Bad And The Queen, a Damon Albarn supergroup with Tony Allen on drums and Simon Tong from The Verve. Paul first met Damon at Joe Strummer's wedding in 1997 and although some friends advised him not to work with the Blur singer, he went ahead. The debut album was a low key, melancholic state of the nation, urban Victoriana set of songs. Kingdom Of Doom seems to sum up the end of the Blair years, pubs, the Iraq war and Damon's general dissatisfaction with things. The title track to the group and album is frenetic, with constantly building tension and Tony Allen's drumming finally unshackled at the end of the album.

Paul continued with Damon on Gorillaz's 2010 album Plastic Beach, playing on the title track with former- Clash bandmate Mick Jones. Both of them then joined the full Gorillaz live band touring in 2010, the entire band in nautical and naval inspired wear. Paul Simonon just looked like Paul Simonon. Plastic Beach featured a wealth of guest stars- Snoop Dogg, Kano, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Mark E. Smith, and Lou Reed- and played Glastonbury in June 2010, a performance instantly memorable for the moment Mark E. Smith wandered onto the Pyramid Stage in a leather jacket and approached the microphone...

Hero was an internet only single in 2014 from a series of pump/ trainer related musical tie ins from Converse called Three Artists One Song. The three artists on Hero were Frank Ocean, producer Diplo and one half of The Clash, Paul and Mick (plus the West Los Angeles Children's Choir). The result of this unlikely origin story is a song that does more in two and a half minutes than some bands manage over the course of an album. I made it the Bagging Area Song Of The Year 2014 (I mean, what accolades come higher??) and I stand by that ten years later. Mick's guitar prominent in the mix and Frank's lyrics and voice at the peak of their powers as he dissects the experience of being a young black man in modern America.

Lonely Town is from the album Paul made with Galen Ayres last year, Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?, a collection of charming acoustic guitar and twin voice songs that began with Paul busking with some locals in Mallorca after Covid some folk, some sea shanties, some Nancy and Lee vibes, some Spanish songs. Imagine how funny it would be to be walking down the street in Palma, on holiday, enjoying some Balearic sun, and there's Paul Simonon playing songs in the street.... 

Forty Six Minutes Of Twenty Three

Two months ago this weekend, the day before we were taking Eliza back to Liverpool for her final year in university, the three of us were sitting in a cafe in Didsbury village, one of our afternoon walk and a brew haunts. Eliza said, out of nowhere, 'I think we should all go and get a number 23 tattoo for Isaac'. Lou and I looked at each other and both said, 'yeah. ok'. It was very spontaneous, none of us ever really thought abut getting a tattoo before. Me and Eliza had joked about but very much in a 'we won't ever do this' kind of way. But at that moment it suddenly seemed like a good thing to do. Unfortunately the tattoo parlour in Sale couldn't fit us in on the day so we booked in for a month later- it felt like something the three of us should do together and Eliza didn't want to come back from Liverpool for a while. It also gave us some time to think about fonts and parts of the body.

The number 23 has become associated with Isaac. I've written about it before this year. He was 23 when he died and his birthday is the 23rd November (just a couple of weeks away now with the 2nd anniversary of his death a week later). In the last year the number 23 has kept appearing in front of me- on street signs, graffiti, electricity boxes, random tv countdown shows suddenly channel surfed onto, the only available table in a pub. I don't think it necessarily means anything- it's just something I've started noticing and when I see a 23 now it makes me think of him and smile. Getting a 23 tattoo might trigger the same reaction (and a month later, I'm happy to say it does). We got the tattoos done a month ago. Mine is pictured above, a type writer font on my forearm. Lou got a smaller 23 on her side and Eliza got an even smaller, fine line 23 on her upper arm. 

The number 23 has a rich history. I've written before as well about it's part in KLF mythology, with their interest in Discordianism and numerology. When Isaac died I was reading John Higgs' book about The KLF. A few weeks after he died I picked the book back up and the first chapter I read was about the significance of 23. I finished the chapter and put the book down, totally freaked about. I read it again the next day and it had a similar effect. When I was looking at fonts for my tattoo I thought about a KLF block 23 but it would very inky and take some time to do. I fancied a type writer font. On the morning we were due to go I suddenly wondered what 23 would look like in a factory/ Peter Saville font and started going through my various Factory art books. What, I asked myself, was Fac 23? A quick search later and I realised Fac 23 was the 7" release of Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division. Which caused me to stop in my tracks for a moment. In the end I didn't quite go full Peter Saville Fac font but it played a part in my thinking. We're all really glad we got them done. At the moment, all autumn chilliness and long sleeves, its often covered up, but when I see it, it makes me smile. The upcoming anniversaries are weighing quite heavily and I'll be glad to get November over with- but the tattoos feel like a positive and I'm not sure a year ago I'd thought that would be possible. 

This mix is 46 minutes of songs connected to the number 23. I was going to bring it in at 23 minutes but that felt too short so went for double 23. Two of the songs below were also released in full 23 minute versions which felt too long for a Sunday mix but they're here in shorter versions to represent their 23 minute long brothers. 

46 Minutes Of 23

• Chris Rotter And The Bad Meat Club: 86'd
• 10:40: Sleepwalker
• Local Psycho And The Hurdy Gurdy Orchestra: The Hurdy Gurdy Song (Mothers Of The New Stone Age Remix)
• 23 Skidoo: Coup
• Jah Division: Jah Will Tear Us Apart
• The Vendetta Suite: Eye In The Triangle
• Two Lone Swordsmen: 23rd Street
• Mogwai: U235
• Gorillaz: Aries
• Psychic TV: Godstar
• The KLF: 3am Eternal

Chris Rotter was the guitarist in the live band incarnation of Two Lone Swordsmen and played on and co- wrote songs on Andrew Weatherall's solo album A Pox On The Pioneers. I became friends with Chris online and then in real life. When Isaac died he wanted to record a song for Isaac. I asked him to do 86'd, a song I heard Andrew play on a radio show, a glorious chiming krauty instrumental. Chris went and re- recorded 86'd in new form, 23 minutes long. For reasons of space I've included the shorter one here. The full length 86'd (For Isaac) is here. 

Last December Jesse represented the entire 10:40 back catalogue as an advent calendar. This was the track for the 23rd December, the sleek psych and somewhat krauty Sleepwalker with Ben Lewis on guitar.

The KLF and the number 23 I've mentioned above. Read John Higgs' Chaos, Magic And The Band Who Burned A Million Pounds for more detail. Local Psycho And The Hurdy Gurdy Orchestra are ex- KLF Jimmy Cauty and ex- Pogue Jem Finer. Their hurdy gurdy, neolithic celebration drone came out on 12" came out earlier this year complete with a 23 minute mix. I've included the shorter remix here but the 23 minute version is the one really. 

23 Skidoo are here for obvious reasons. Coup is a block rocking post- punk/ punk funk track from 1984. In a further Andrew Weatherall connection, it was one of the songs on his 9 O' Clock Drop compilation from 2000. 

Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart, as I said above, was Fac 23. Factory's numbering system was central to their ethos. All Joy Division and New Order singles ended in 3. Rather than include the original I decided to put Jah Division's dub cover in- it fitted better. Jah Division released an EP of four dub covers of Joy Division songs  in 2004. If you ever see a vinyl copy, please give me a ring. 

The Vendetta Suite are from Northern Ireland, the work of Gary Irwin. In 2017 Gary released an EP titled Solar Lodge 23 from which this piece of cosmic dubbiness is taken. 

Two Lone Swordsmen- yes, them again- released their first record in 1996, a 12" that contained four tracks- Big Man On The Landing, Azzolini, The Branch Brothers and the one here, 23rd Street, a few minutes of abstract Swordsmen sounds. 

Mogwai's move into soundtrack work has paid off. This is from the soundtrack to Atomic, a bit of a cheat maybe numerically but 23's in there and the track fits.

Gorillaz have played with the number 23 frequently in their imagery and artwork. This song Aries was a single in 2020 and has the unmistakeable and melancholic/ uplifting sound of Peter Hook's bass at its heart.  

Psychic TV, Genesis P Orridge's experimental psychedelic/ acid house band had some interest in 23. In 1986 they began a series of gigs to be recorded and released, 23 in total, each played on the 23rd of a month for 23 consecutive months. Godstar is a single from 1985, a tribute to Rolling Stone Brian Jones.

The KLF's 3am Eternal was the second of their stadium house trilogy, released in 1991 (after a previous version in 1989 and a subsequent one in 1992). The version here, the 1991 single and chart topper, took this mix to 46 minutes. 

Half An Hour Of Kids

A bit of a diversion from my Sunday mix series of (roughly) thirty minute mixes of tracks and songs by a single artist- today's mix is themed around the sound of children's voices/ children's choirs. Do not fear though, there are no St Winifred's School Choirs here, no Primary School end of year shows. This is I hope a bit further left of there. Sometimes the use of children's voices in songs can be quite unsettling, that combination of sweetly sung innocence and the feeling of something being lost. Sometimes they provide a higher register counterpoint. Sometimes they add to a sense of trippiness and dislocation. Sometimes they just sound good, a contrast to adult voices and instruments. Sometimes, as The Clash and Mickey Gallagher's kids prove, they're a joke to ensure that Sandinista! had six songs on each side, making thirty six songs in total. 

Thirty Minute Kids Mix

• Family Of God: Family Of God
• Frank Ocean, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon: Hero
• The Children Of Sunshine: It's A Long Way To Heaven
• The Avalanches Ft Jamie Xx, Neneh Cherry and Calypso: Wherever You Go
• Gorillaz: Dirty Harry
• Soul II Soul: Get A Life
• Poly High: Midnight Cowboy
• The Clash: Career Opportunities

It's only right I should give a nod of the head to David Holmes whose crate digging inspired some of this mix. He played the Poly High song on his Desert Island Disco on Lauren Laverne's 6 Mix show earlier this year, included the Family Of God track on a free CD that was given away with the NME in 2000 and put the Children Of Sunshine song on his superb Late Night Tales compilation from 2016. The Frank Ocean, Paul Simonon and Mick Jones song was a one off done with/ for Converse in 2014, produced by Diplo, with the West Los Angeles Children's Choir providing backup. The Avalanches song also has Mick Jones playing on it but this time piano not guitar, and samples The Voyager, NASA's tape for aliens, currently somewhere out there way further than any of us have ever been. The album We Will Always Love You came out in 2020. Gorillaz, Damon with Dangermouse, was released in 2005.  Soul II Soul's Get A Life was a huge hit in 1989 and includes Jazzy B's still excellent advice- 'Be selective, be objective, be an asset to the collective/ As you know, you got to get a life'. Something in that for all of us perhaps. 

Gorillaz In The North

New Order's recent releases (and by recent I mean those since 2015's Music Complete) haven't always convinced me. It sounds like New Order but with all the edges sanded off and smoothed out, the tension and pioneering spirit of their greatest art lost after so long in the saddle. I suppose it's to be expected- no one can keep their edge for that long, unreliable technology and stubborn independence gets traded in for gear that works and financial security. At some point in the process (I'm dating this to the recording of Republic in 1993 and Rob Gretton's absence onwards) there was a power struggle that was won by Bernard. He took control of the creative process and song writing, the recording and production. Peter Hook's departure is well documented and there's no need to dig over that again but his bass was one of, if not the, key sounds of New Order- the bass guitar as lead instrument, the riffs and runs played through that chorus pedal and those amps. At some point Bernard decided he wanted a bass player who followed the guitarist and who just played the root notes. 

Thankfully Hooky pops up here and there from time to time, bassist for hire, his Viking bass sound immediately identifiable on two superb singles by The Liminanas (Garden Of Love and The Gift). Last year he slung the bass around on a single with Damon Albarn's Gorillaz, part of their monthly 2020 digital release campaign. Aries, Hooky's growl at the start and then the bass runs throughout, beamed in seemingly straight from New Order's Cheetham Hill rehearsal studio in 1986, seem to contain the spirit of New Order as much, if not more, than anything on Music Complete. 

Aries

Ten years previously Damon, Jamie Hewlett and the four unreal members of Gorillaz released Plastic Beach, a guest star heavy concept album featuring turns from Lou Reed, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, De La Soul, Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys and another hero of the Manchester's punk scene, the late Mark E Smith. 

Glitter Freeze

'Where's north from here?'

Gone

This came as a slap in the face yesterday, the news that Florian Schneider, co- founder of Kraftwerk and as a result one of the most influential musicians in post- war Europe, has died at the age of 73. Kraftwerk's importance cannot be overstated. Their pioneering music, use of machine rhythms, synths and keyboards, vocoders more or less invented the genre of electornic music. That they then popularised it with a mass market and continued to experiment makes their achievements even greater. Their influence on other artists from the 1970s onward is immeasurable. Florian Schneider met Ralf Hutter when both were students in Dusseldorf. It was Schneider who first purchased a synthesiser and said that was the direction they should pursue. Autobahn. Radio- Activity. Trans- Europe Express. The Man Machine. Computer World. Tour de France.

I saw them play at the Apollo in March 2004, one of the most memorable shows I've ever seen, from the four men- machines in lit up suits at their work stations across the front of the stage to the films projected onto three giant screens behind them, to the run through their greatest songs and the robots appearing from behind the curtain for the encore.

This is an impossibly beautiful song, the topline melody is heartbreakingly gorgeous. It is even better sung in German.

Neonlicht

R.I.P. Florian Schneider.

Equally sad (and equally pioneering) Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen died on April 30th of Covid 19 symptoms. I meant to do something about him sooner but things kept getting in the way so I'll pay tribute to him here. His work with Fela Kuti in the 1970s combined his Nigerian native music, Juju, with jazz and highlife. Fela's music and stance became increasingly militant especially with the Africa '70 group which Tony was the bandleader of. Brian Eno and Talking Heads were in awe of him. This one is from 1973 Tony drumming with Fela Kuti. I can't really do this music justice with a simple description. Just listen to it.

Jeun Ko Ku (Chop And Quench)

In recent times he worked with Damon Albarn in his The Good, The Bad And The Queen supergroup, his Africa Express project and Gorillaz. Following his death Damon released this Gorillaz song in honour of him, Tony Allen still the bang on those rhythms aged 79. This quote was put out with it-

“I want to take care of youngsters – they have messages and I want to bring them on my beat.” Tony Allen

R.I.P. Tony Allen

Andromeda And The Moon

There's lots of new stuff around at the moment. To continue yesterday's theme, it's not 'new' new stuff, but new stuff from older bands. There must be an analysis that says that April and May are good times to release music. Last week Gorillaz put out four new songs. I was going to type 'dropped four new singles' but I gagged a little bit at typing 'dropped' and I don't think an internet only song counts as a single (or if singles even exist anymore. I know that 7" singles still exist but when one artist releases an album and all the songs off it enter the top twenty, the single is pretty much a dead form I think).

The four new Gorillaz songs are a mixed bunch, and I suspect the album to follow will be too (which like all Gorillaz albums carries a long list of guest stars and collaborators from Grace Jones to De La Soul to Johnny Beth to Mavis Staples to Jamie Principle and so on). The best one and the only one I've so far wanted to listen to several times is Andromeda, which is a skip away from dance music, with a house beat and synths and a Damon vocal that isn't just that listless one he usually does. It sounds like it was fun to make and is fun to listen to.



A bit less upfront, more subtle and more interested in texture and mood is this new song from Goldfrapp. I haven't heard the whole album yet but this song, Moon In Your Mouth, is a lovely thing. The synths are moody, immersive and spacious, building, and Alison's vocal matches them, soaring where it needs to. Goldfrapp flit from synth stomp albums to folky albums. This song takes parts from both and adds some science fiction.

Bobby Womack

RIP Bobby Womack.

Dracula

This old Gorillaz b-side, all dub influences and wheezy easy going charm, is perfect for Sunday morning. Damon sounds as listless as can be.

Dracula

A Country Parish

Gorillaz eh? What to make of them? I've not been entirely convinced from the start and last year's Plastic Beach only began to make sense to me when I saw the footage of them playing it live on TV. Paul Simonon and Mick Jones being present didn't hurt either, and the stella guestlist at Glastonbury made my jaw drop. Especially Mark E Smith's appearance- 'Where 's north from here?'

On Christmas Day they released The Fall through their website. Recorded while on tour I've been living with it for the last few days and think it may be the best album they've done. By they, obviously really I mean by Damon Albarn. It's got several lovely electronic funk tracks, loads of vintage synths and vocoders and a few 'what does this button do?' bits. What I think really makes it though is a) it sounds like an on-tour record, full of moments of ennui, of joy, of revelation, of the love of making music with few or no commercial considerations, and b) it's not weighed down by all those special guests. No Lou Reed. No De La Soul. No Shaun Ryder. No Snoop. No Bobby Womack. No one, other than Mick and Paul chipping in on unobtrusive guitar and bass. The absence of all the guests adds rather than detracts. This is a pretty magic album and this is one of it's key moments- a lovely country-ish ballad, starting with bursts of FM radio (a bit like the start of Dexys' Burn it Down, except C 'n' W songs this time), and then some lovely half euphoric, half melancholic piano and Damon's vocals about Texas, the road, space dust and whatever else. It fits the post-Christmas, post-New year lull very well and it's very, very good. I suspect it may get removed soon as well by the internet police so get it while it's hot. If you haven't found a copy of the full album to download, do so sharpish. I suggest Castles In Space might be a good place to start.

The Parish Of Space Dust.mp3

The Flaming Lips 'The W.A.N.D.'

I saw some of Glastonbury on the TV last weekend, most of the Gorillaz and some other bits and bobs. The reviews have all been pretty negative about Gorillaz. It looked fantastic on the telly, but apparently the Top Shop/Hollyoaks Glastonbury massive wanted a band with more hits and couldn't maintain interest in a band featuring the frontman from Blur, half of The Clash, Mos Def, Bobby Womack,Shaun Ryder, Mark E. Smith, Lou Reed and anyone else who was wandering past and fancied a bash at vocals. Does sound a bit rubbish when what you really wanted was U2 doesn't it? Young people today eh?

At some point I saw the end of The Flaming Lips set, where they played a mind-blowingly great version of their greatest song Do You Realise? and I finally got round to watching the rest of The Flaming Lips' set on the BBC's Glastonbury website last night. For a bunch of drug-crazed, leftwing, middle-aged acid-hippies they may be just about the most entertaining band on the planet. Apart from the sheer quality of the songs (Do You Realise?, She Don't Use Jelly, The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song, Yoshimi Battles The Giant Robots etc) they have charisma and presence in spades. Wayne Coyne's gigantic beach ball entrance, confetti, projections and films, random dancers wearing orange, aliens, the lot. I can appreciate that they're not everyone's cup of tea but it was very impressive stuff. The W.A.N.D. was a 2006 download single, that later turned up on their slightly disappointing At War With The Mystics album. It's an anti George W. Bush, anti-war lyric set to a huge riff and crashing drums, like Black Sabbath if they'd actually been any good and had a sense of humour.

10 The W.A.N.D.wma

Gorillaz 'Stylo' Live On Later

Just found this- Gorillaz playing Stylo live on Later earlier this week. I heard the album a few weeks ago and wasn't that taken with it, however this is superb. Have a look on Youtube for the visuals, almost everyone dressed as sailors. This version features Bobby Womack and Mos Def doing the vocals as on the record, but more excitingly for The Clash fans, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon playing live together for the first time since 1983. And if anyone can carry off a peaked sailor's cap it's Paul Simonon.

Gorillaz_-_Stylo_ft_Mos_Def_Bobby_Womack_Live.mp3