Monday's Long Songs

Sonic Youth's albums breakdown into three phases for me: the first phase is from 1982 to 1988 where they released increasingly inspired albums for indie labels SST (in the US) and Blast First (in the UK), culminating in Daydream Nation; the second is from 1990 when they signed to Geffen and released several albums that in one way or another were a response to being on a major label (Goo, Dirty and Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star); and then a long third phase from 1995's Washing Machine through to the end in 2009 with The Eternal. A big part of this third phase was the band becoming elder statesmen of indie- punk, no longer the youthful punks of the early 80s, and having to find ways to keep moving forwards without repeating themselves. They also were hugely affected by two events, the death by suicide of Kurt Cobain in 1994 and the Twin Towers attacks of 2001. 

Washing Machine was their ninth album and released not long after their headlining stint on the Lollapalooza tour. They'd had a period where they all explored side projects and Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon had a child, their daughter Coco. They decamped to Memphis, Tennessee to make Washing Machine, a most un- Sonic Youth place on the face of it, but they wanted to disconnect from the usual environment and surroundings and free themselves to make an album in a more relaxed way. 

Washing Machine opens with The Diamond Sea, a song that clocks in at just under twenty minutes (and a song they released as a single). In 1991- 2 Sonic Youth had toured with Neil Young and Crazy Horse and had been an influence on Neil releasing Weld, the feedback driven live album from the tour. In return, on The Diamond Sea Sonic Youth sound the most like Neil Young and Crazy Horse they ever would, the song a long ballad with overblown guitars and a very Neil opening line, both in the lyrics and Thurston's drawl- 'time takes it crazy toll'. The last line, and it's difficult not to hear the song as a tribute to Kurt Cobain in many ways, is another Neil Young sounding line- 'And love is running wild on the diamond sea'. 

In November 1995 the band were on tour again, playing Austin, Texas on the 15th. Towards the end of the set Thurston introduces the song by telling a story about the band playing Austin years before and meeting Terry Pearson who became their soundman from that point on. Then they fly into the song, Lee and Thurston's guitars wailing and roiling and Thurston singing like Neil Young. It's slightly shorter than the album version, just fourteen minutes, but it's a heck of a way to spend a quarter of an hour, the four Sonic Youthers locked in and on fire, a tremendous racket- the guitars blaze and glow like fireworks, coupled with a great tune and some emotional tension. And the re- entry after the feedback/ noise freak out section crescendo with Thurston back into the song's end section with the line 'time takes it's crazy toll' is fantastic. 

The Diamond Sea (Live in Austin, November 1995)

Neil Young released Weld in 1991, a double album of songs recorded during the long tour and a third disc called Arc made up entirely of feedback. During the tour Neil and Crazy Horse developed the songs, many of them becoming longer and longer and more feedback driven. He took to covering Blowing In The Wind and adding air raid siren FX. The first US led Gulf War was going on at the same time and Neil said the band would see news reports on CNN and then go on stage after 'watching this shit happen... singing songs about conflict'. He added, 'we couldn't just go out there and be entertainment'. 

Cortez the Killer is from 1975's Zuma, a tale of imperialism and slaughter extended for nearly ten minutes live in 1991. It's the song that kicks off disc two of Weld, Neil and Crazy Horse at their live best.

Cortez The Killer (Weld Version)

Humanity As An Act Of Resistance

David Holmes' regular slot at NTS, God's Waiting Room, has been transforming in recent times from the purely musical into something political, a two hour radio show with something to say- Humanity As An Act Of Resistance. David still plays music, searching the racks and digging in the crates for the obscure and overlooked- ambient jazz, cosmische, drones and rock 'n' roll- but he splices it all with excerpts from interviews, TV news, documentaries and spoken word. The last three episodes have all been subtitled Humanity As An Act Of Resistance: The Epstein Class. It's not always easy listening but it's a vital piece of reportage, pop and politics. The latest one is at Mixcloud here. 

The previous one, broadcast in April, includes two new tracks by The Five Techniques, a Holmes musical collective that put out a single he recorded with Paul Weller, a project running alongside Humanity As An Act Of Resistance. Resistance In The Dark was remixed by fellow Belfast artist Autumns. The remix EP is here, with the Autumns remix, an Arveene one and two versions by Alex Patchwork that are abstract dub/ drum 'n' bass, Paul Weller, Roisin El Charif and David Holmes spun into entirely new sonic spaces. 

There were two further and as yet unreleased tracks by The Five Techniques on the April edition of Humanity As An Act Of Resistance including one with Ian Svenonius on vocals- that show hasn't been uploaded to Mixcloud as far as I can see but anything with Ian Svenonius' involvement is going to be good. His Charge Of The Love Brigade album as Escape- ism was a 2025 highlight and back in 2011 he recorded the song which provided Andrew Weatherall with a banner and an entire ethos. 

Music's Not For Everyone

Oblique Saturdays

A series for Saturdays in 2026 inspired by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's set of cards, Oblique Strategies (Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas). Eno and Schmidt created them to be used to unblock creative impasses and approach problems from unexpected angles. Each week I'll turn over an Oblique Strategy card and post a song or songs inspired by the suggestion. 

Last week's Oblique Strategy suggestion was Humanise something free of error.  

My reactions to this were Farley Jackmaster Funk and Daryl Pandy's Love Can't Turn Around and Kurt Vile. From the Bagging Area Oblique Saturdays Squad came the following- Ebony Steel Band covering Kraftwerk (Ernie), Daft Punk's Human After All (Al G), anything by The Fall (JC), King Davis and The House Rockers and We All Make Mistakes (Rol) and R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts (Walter). Here's Mark E. Smith and the 1979 iteration of The Fall with a tale of pharmaceutical misadventure.

Rowche Rumble

Today's Oblique Strategy card is this- What is the reality of the situation?

What is the reality of the situation? didn't do much for me at first, an oblique strategy that left me unresponsive. Maybe it was the heat, but it just didn't spark much in me. Eventually I got to this- the reality of the situation is that this is a music blog and part of what it does is help spread the word about new music. Mike D, former Beastie Boy and now solo artist, has released another single- What We Got, a song that harks back to the Beastie Boys sound of Check Your Head and Ill Communication but also sounds like something fresh and new. 

What we got? 'Retired MC/ Need a Plan B', Mike raps.  

What is the reality of the situation? also took me to this.

In 1994 The Aloof released their debut album Cover The Crime, a dub- techno lost classic by a group made up of two Sabres Of Paradise (Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns), a Red Snapper (Rich Thair), Ricky Barrow and Dean Thatcher. The third track on the album is this one...

Society

The vocal, a robotic/ reggae call and response, worked its way to the front of my mind while I pondered what to do with this Oblique Strategy card.

'Society... this is... reality... this is...society... this is... reality...'

Nine minutes of thundering drums, breakbeats, sirens and mid- 90s dub techno tension. 

Feel free to make your own responses to What is the reality of the situation? in the comment box.

Where Were You?

There was an article at The Guardian earlier this week about The Mekons and how they made their debut single Where Were You? It's here. The band formed in Leeds in 1976 inspired by seeing the Anarchy tour pitch up at the Polytechnic, the Sex Pistols and The Clash. Gang Of Four formed almost immediately, Mekons a little later. This was the key impact of the first flush of punk, the number of people standing and watching, knowing they wanted to do something and the seeing the Pistols and thinking 'I could do that'. 

There's a heartwarming comment in the below the line section where a reader recounts seeing The Mekons soundcheck and speaking to guitarist Tom Greenhalgh and asking him what the chords for Where Were You? were. Later on that evening during the gig as the band played the song, Tom shouted the chords out as he played them, the flame that was lit by the Pistols and The Clash and the Anarchy being handed on again. 

Where Were You?

The intro's clanging guitar chords and rattling drums are really special and then it all kicks in. As noted in the article by Jon Langford, the song is about male loneliness, an anti- macho lyric inspired partly by Buzzcocks. The songs goes off like a flare and later the lyrics and guitars/ drums have done everything they need to, it stops suddenly. 

There's loads more to The Mekons, they have become the longest lasting of the first wave of punk bands, surviving line up changes and fashions and diving into country and folk, 80s alternative and occasionally dub. In 1988 they released Ghosts Of American Astronauts, a sweetly sung 80s indie song with the still astonishing first line, 'Up in the hills above Bradford, outside the napalm factory/ Ghosts of American astronuats, glow in the headlight's beam'.

 

Renascent

The best news for ages came yesterday- a new Durutti Column single with an album to follow in July. Vini was very unwell following a series of strokes in 2012 which left him unable to play guitar for a long time and it looked like would be no new Durutti Column music. 

Liars came out on Wednesday, following some gnomic social media posts the night before. Long term cohort/ drummer/ friend/ manager Bruce Mitchell is on board as is Kier Stewart. The single is Liars, a dreamy, ambient piece with synths, choral backing vocals and some distinctive guitar playing on the top, layers of blissed out sounds and then, one minute in, Vini's voice, speaking softly. It's a total joy that there's some new Durutti music after sixteen years and when it didn't look possible for so long, and it's fantastic that Vini has got himself into a place where he's been well enough and confident enough to do it. Welcome back Vini and welcome back The Durutti Column. 

The album Renascent is out at the end of July in a variety of editions and formats. You can find them here. Vini's music has been resurgent in the last few years. Blood Orange sampled a piece of Durutti Column on this song from last year, The Field. 

Blood Orange, otherwise known as Devonte Heynes, was new to me until recently but he clearly has a large and devoted following judging by the YouTube numbers and comments and the song is rather lovely. 

The last time there was any new Durutti Column music was a 7" single in 2014, Free From All The Chaos, with singer Caoilfhionn Rose and a video filmed in and around Fletcher Moss gardens and the River Mersey in Didsbury, a place I know very well from childhood and since. 

What's The Meaning Of Life?

There's a Wordpress version of this blog, identical to this one which is hosted by Google Blogger. When I started in 2010 Google had a nasty habit of deleting entire blogs- every single post gone at the flick of a switch, usually under pressure from the DMCA (a 1998 US law to protect digital copyright). Google took down The Vinyl Villain in this way for copyright contraventions (posting songs). I use the Wordpress version of Bagging Area as a fallback and as a backup in case Google ever pulled the plug on this- that threat seems to have gone away, music blogs really aren't the enemy in modern music. I still back this blog up over there every day, it's probably prudent to have a backstop I think. 

But this isn't a post about that. The dashboard at Wordpress has added a box in the centre of the screen headed 'Daily Writing Prompt'. The first time I noticed this box the daily writing prompt was this...

'What's the meaning of life?'

Which is kind of a biggie isn't it? And presented as a quick writing prompt for a poor blogger lacking in inspiration. 

Soul II Soul grappled with it back in 1989 and Jazzie B found some answers- dreaming of your goals, positivity, elevating your mind, feel free to experiment, implement your ideas, feel the feeling, let your body take control.

Get A Life

Then the drop comes and Jazzie lets us have it...

'So there it is, work it out for yourself/ Be selective, be objective, be an asset to the collective/ Get a life'.

There's worse advice.

A year later Jane's Addiction closed their still superb sounding second album Ritual de lo Habitual with Classic Girl, a Perry Farrell love song for his partner and muse Casey Niccoli with some gorgeously restrained chiming chords played through a flange FX pedal. At the end Perry throws in 'They may say 'Those were the days'/ But in a way you know, for us, these are the days', and as I thought about Jazzie B's meaning of life, Perry's seemed equally well reasoned. 

I love Classic Girl, five minutes of music that just hits all the spots. 

Classic Girl

Two days ago, as this unreal heatwave hit us and we began to bake Wordpress offered this as a writing prompt- 'what's a moment that made you question reality?' 

This Could Be You, Us, Or Anybody

Broken Chanter's new album- This Could Be Us, You, Or Anybody Else- is in the grand tradition of Glaswegian guitar bands, lyrically downbeat but with an eye towards the future and musically stirring. The sense of despair David MacGregor feels about many aspects of modern life is palpable- the first song is called The Future Is Bright And I Don't Want It, a song for the present complete with rousing, ringing guitars. The sleeve notes outline a variety of progressive causes and end with a call for Scottish independence. The album's first single was A Year Without Summer (a song with synths and keys alongside the guitars, striking a different musical tone).

MacGregor's disappointment with the state of the world- right wing populists that want to divide us using the politics of envy and victimhood, techno- feudalism, social media as a force for disconnection rather than unity- is clear. But despite this, he urges empathy and protest, unity in the face of 21st century breakdown. On Piazzale Loreto the drums skip and the bass bounds, optimistic music (and with hand claps provided by the blog legend that is JC from The Vinyl Villain). Piazzale Loreto is the public square in Milan that Mussolini was hung in, suspended by his ankles, after being executed by Italian partisans in 1945. 

On To The Victims They Call Citizens the band rattle and shake like Talking Heads and closer to home, the ramshackle attempts by early Orange Juice to sound like Chic. Atrocity/ Adverts/ Idiocy is urgent indie- funk, the slashing angry guitars echoing those of Gang Of Four and on final song CENTRS Broken Chanter show they can do the sweeping and soaring tunes with vulnerable and melancholic vocals as well as anyone else and just as you think that's it, they kick up a real storm, a swirling noise of drums, guitars and synths as a crescendo and a finale; a call to arms and a call for unity, to come together while the world goes down in flames around us. 

You can listen to and buy This Could Be You, Us, Or Anyone Else at Chemikal Underground and at Bandcamp.