Back in 2011 Azealia Banks announced her arrival into the musical world with the song 212, one of the songs that defined the 2010s. Since then she's become as well known for her political views, mental health issues and feuds with others, and there's no doubt some of her views are pretty extreme and (depending on your own political views) indefensible. But there's no denying the power of 212, the sheer energy in the track and the flow of Banks' delivery, a blur of lines that describe her youth in Harlem, her sexuality, race and power.
Last week Leo Zero put out an edit of 212, Azealia's voice chopped up and re- arranged over the very recognisable bass and synths of Once In A Lifetime. It's massive, exhilarating and sure to rock a party. Get it here.
Last year the five of us that make up the online Andrew Weatherall fan group that is The Flightpath Estate made an album and sold 1000 vinyl copies of it. It featured nine entirely new tracks from Weatherall associated artists and a then unreleased on vinyl Two Lone Swordsmen ambient track called The Crescents. Our album, Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Vol. 1, came out with our friends at The Golden Lion in Todmorden on Golden Lion Sounds and raised over £6, 000 for Andrew's chosen charities. It made the Piccadilly Records and Uncut end of year round ups, we had three tracks played on Lauren Laverne's 6 Music show as Compilation Of The Week, had a Piccadilly Records window takeover- it was all very exciting. The music was all uniformly superb with tracks by Justin Robertson's Deadstock 33s, Timothy J. Fairplay, The Light Brigade (David Holmes), Rude Audio, 10:40, Richard Sen, Sons Of Slough and Hardway Bros, all recorded specifically for the album, and Andy Bell recorded an acoustic/ electric guitar cover of Smokebelch.
We named the album Vol. 1, partly chancing our arm collective arms in the hope that we might get to do a follow up. That album, Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Vol.2, is done, dusted, polished, shone and on its way to the pressing plant. The line up of artists and the music stands head and shoulders alongside Vol. 1's. In no particular order, Vol. 2 features a previously unreleased Sabres Of Paradise track, and new and exclusive music from Richard Fearless (of Death In Vegas), A Certain Ratio remixed by Number, Red Snapper, Richard Norris, David Harrow, Bedford Falls Players, Dicky Continental, the mysterious Unit 14, and a Two Lone Swordsmen cover by Sleaford Mods. Exciting eh?!
Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Vol. 2 will be available for pre- order tomorrow morning at 10 am from the Golden Lion Sounds Bandcamp page and from the Golden Lion Sounds online shop (via The Big Cartel). I'm giving Bagging Area readers a heads up today- I know some of you bought Vol. 1 and would imagine/ hope some of you will want to be online tomorrow, Tuesday 1st July, fingers poised over the Add To Cart button. There are 1000 copies for pre- order tomorrow with a further 500 going to selected record shops in late August when the album will get its full physical release.
We've been sitting on this for a couple of months and we're itching to get it out to people so they can enjoy the music as much as we have been. Mark has done a twenty- five minute mix of all the tracks which I'll share asap and I'll put the links up to order too. There'll be a few other bits of Vol. 2 news coming around over the summer- in the meantime...
David Holmes used the pseudonym The Light Brigade on Vol.1 and has this year putout a 12" on Mystic Arts under the name name. Shuffle The Deck came out on 12" and digitally in May, two tracks- the first was made with Lone Swordsman Keith Tenniswood and samples Andrew at its end, a rabble rousing acid house monster called Shuffle The Deck. The flipside, Only Love Can Save Us, was made in collaboration with Michael Andrews who David worked with on his Blind On A Galloping Horse album and is shimmering, heavenly electronic goodness. Get both here.
There's some big news coming tomorrow which some of you will want to act on- if you were one of the people that bought a certain compilation album last year, you might want to be back here bright and breezy on Monday morning. Full details to come in twenty four hours time.
It's the end of June tomorrow also, halfway through the year- I've no idea how the last six months have gone so quickly- but it seems like a good point to do a 2025 So Far Sunday Mix, not a definitive Best Of 2025, rather some of the tracks and songs I've enjoyed the most so far this year.
10:40 presents Retro Fit: An Alternative History (Lavender Mist)
Escape- Ism: Last Of The Sell Outs
Klangkollektor: Isle Of Stonsey
Four Tet: Into Dust (Still Falling)
Chigola is a five minute ambient techno intro to the latest Death In Vegas album Death Mask, an album which does not hold its techno punches and which is a machine music tour de force. Richard Fearless poured a lot into the making of Death Mask, some personal losses reflected and worked through. It's an overloaded and emotional trip. Chingola is few minutes of scene setting, calm before the storm.
Andy Bell's latest solo album Pinball Wanderer came out in February led by a cover of The Passions' I'm In Love With A German Film Star with Dot Allison and Michael Rother on board. The album's title track is an instrumental delight, a circling guitar part beamed from late 60s folk into Andy's 2025 motorik/ cosmsiche/ electric shoegaze.
Adrian Sherwood's four track dubplate 10" came out recently, led by title track The Grand Designer and has been on steady rotation round here ever since (though I missed out on the vinyl). Cold War Skank is a moody dub/ guitar workout.
Demise Of Love is a three man modern electronic meeting of Daniel Avery, Syd Minsky- Sergeant (Working Men's Club) and James Greenwood (Ghost Culture). They have, like Adrian Sherwood, released a four track 10" EP that merges acid house, some intense techno sounds, industrial noise and the flickers of what New Order could have been had they kept heading away from the light.
An Alternative History was written as an imaginary Stone Roses song, based on a blogpost by some blogger or other that imagined a world where the band didn't blow it but kept their heads and kept making music, avoiding the pitfalls of The Second Coming. Jesse's new Roses song came in three versions. Lavender Mist is the backwards one.
Escape- Ism is Ian Svenonius' latest revolutionary outfit, a duo aiming to rewrite modern culture/ indie- rock with stripped down, scuzzy guitar/ drum machine/ keys/ vocals. The album- Charge Of The Love Brigade- is one of my favorites so far this year, a thirty five minute manifesto. Last Of Sell Outs is the best song on it, a meditation on commerce, art and musical integrity and the price of selling out.
Klangkollektor is Lars Fischer from Numremberg. The EP Dubplates Vol 2, out on Manchester's Jason Boardman's Before I Die label, is a chilled Balearic dub masterclass ending with Isle Of Stonsey with pedal steel/ Hawaiian guitar sailing out into the cosmos.
Four Tet's latest single samples Mazzy Star to achingly beautiful effect, a Four Tet track that hits all the spots, capable of moving me to tears.
Back in February as part of my Soundtrack Saturday series I wrote abut Joe Strummer and his songs for the soundtrack to the Alex Cox film Walker. Joe's soundtrack work in the 80s and 90s requires further posts- both Sid And Nancy and Permanent Record benefited from bespoke Strummer solo songs and Joe contributed to other soundtracks too, Grosse Pointe Blank in 1997 and Black Hawk Down in 2001.
But today's post isn't a Joe Strummer post, it's a Mick Jones post. Coincidentally, Mick celebrated his 70th birthday this week, two days on 26th June- belated happy birthday Mick!
After splitting from The Clash in 1983 Mick formed Big Audio Dynamite and Mick's love of film formed a big part of the B.A.D. sound and world- the Spaghetti Western samples in Medicine Show and the entire lyric to E = MC2 was a tribute to director Nic Roeg (see my post about Performance also from February this year). Don Letts and Mick Jones were film obsessives and film references pepper the B.A.D. back catalogue.
In 1990 the original Big Audio Dynamite line up of Mick, Don, Dan Donovan, Leo Williams and Greg Dread recorded their final song together, Free, for the soundtrack of a film called Flashback. I've seen Flashback, we rented it on VHS at some point on an evening with nothing to do in 1990. Flashback was directed by Frank Amurri and stars Dennis Hopper and Kiefer Sutherland. Hopper is a 60s anarchist/ hippie who has been on the run for twenty years, accused of disconnecting Republican Vice President Spiro Agnew's train carriage. Kiefer Sutherland plays an FBI agent who has apprehended Hopper and has to take him back across the USA for trial. It's an action/ adventure/ comedy. As the unlikely duo make their way back to Washington it becomes clear that Sutherland's FBI agent character was raised in a hippy commune and used to go under the name Free. Hopper is partly playing a reprisal of his character from Easy Rider but two decades down the line- I've only seen the film once and it seemed entertaining enough at the time and if anyone can play a 60s survivor with a screw loose in 1990 it's Dennis Hopper.
B.A.D.'s song Free was only available on the soundtrack to the film (until it appeared on a CD compilation called Planet B.A.D. in 1995). There are two versions...
The Club Mix is seven minutes long and filled with acid house enthusiasm, a sampled voice opening the track saying, 'it should be kickin' in about now. Synths, big 1990 Italo piano chords, stuttering voices, and then Mick's vocal. The Club Mix spirals on and on, more samples from the film, more synths and acid house and then Hopper's character Huey saying, 'once we get out of the 80s the 90s are gonna make the 60s look like the 50s'.
Free was a Jones/ Dan Donovan co- write. The LP Version is more song based, with extra verses and more flow.
Flashback's soundtrack contained a mix of 60s legends and late 80s/ dawn of the 90s artists- Edie Brickell and R.E.M. rub shoulders with Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, Flesh For Lulu with Jefferson Airplane, Canned Heat and Steppenwolf. Dylan's version of People Get Ready, a Curtis Mayfield cover, hasn't appeared anywhere else. The film (but not the soundtrack) contained a two more Big Audio Dynamite songs- The Bottom Line and C'Mon Every Beatbox.
The Bottom Line is one of Mick Jones' best songs, one of B.A.D.'s best. It was remixed for the film, Mick's melody and invention remaining intact but in truth its not the equal of the 1985 version, the 12" mix being the definitive take of the song.
After the original B.A.D. line up split, Mick carried on recruiting a new band and renaming them B.A.D. II. They re- recorded Free as Kickin' In for their Kool Aid album which was later reworked and re- released as The Globe. I think Mick was making it up as he went along at this point. Dan left shortly after. B.A.D. II have some really good moments- The Globe's title track for one, Rush for another.
In 1993 Mick and B.A.D. found their way onto the soundtrack to a film called Amongst Friends, a low budget New Jersey mobster/ friendship film directed by Rob Weiss. But that's a story for another Saturday.
Three years ago A Mountain Of One released an album called Stars Planets Dust Me, a kaleidoscopic swirl of Balearic, cosmische, spaced out synthpop and dub all wrapped up in a sunbaked, psychedelic sheen. I went back into it recently and it still sounds good, the sort of album that you have to play from start to finish, an entire piece and a bit of a trip. There's a lot going on under the shiny surface.
This track, Dealer, is deceptively poppy, shooting off from the start like an 80s car advert or cop show incidental music but then hitting a deeper groove, the vocal sounding increasingly intense as the music- bass, synths, guitars, drums- powers on. 'All night/ All in the night', he sings, on and on and then at six and a half minutes it stops, pauses and then re-starts, the vocal flipped backwards, sucking in on itself all the way through to the end.
David Harrow put out a release a month last year to celebrate his 60th birthday and his work rate remains prodigious- in May he released an eight track EP under his James Hardway guise and has followed it this month with an EP under his own name, five tracks collected under the title Platonic Solid. David does all sorts of music- dub, acid, techno, ambient. Platonic Solid is modular synth ambient, five pieces that span the gamut of ambient music- the opening track Dodecahedron is a languid seven minutes of gentle burblings, rising and falling synth chords and tinkles of piano, a lovely way to spend a few minutes sitting and thinking about not very much at all.
Hexahedron is livelier, with drum patterns and melody lines skittering about. Tetrahedron cuts the tempo, sounding like some of the Fourth World sounds of Brian Eno and John Hassell. Octahedron is more jittery, the modular synths dancing and what sounds like a clarinet floating around. As it plays imagery from the 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi flashes through my mind and then Platonic Solid finishes with Icosahedron, the synths and drums pitter pattering, glassy notes dropping in and out, a dub sense of space and everything being pushed along, all sorts of sounds bouncing around. It's all very evocative, experimental but accessible, five tracks that soundtrack something I can't quite put my finger on- the film playing right in front of us every day maybe. You can get Platonic Solid here.
Jezebell's album Jezebellearic Beats Vol. 1 was one of 2023's highlights, an irreverent, illicit, dancefloor oriented twenty track adventure, Darren and Jesse freewheeling through their record collections and making new music from old, a collection of edits, remixes and their own productions that took in Alfredo, Talking Heads, Max Berlins, Julian Cope and D:Ream among others but was also very much its own thing- Jezebell. Apart from anything else, it was all huge fun.
Now they're back with Jezebellearic Beats Vol. 2, released on 11th July. There's a new track at Bandcamp, Geo Metric a taster of what's to come. Geo Metric is a low slung, sleazy delight, throbbing with nightlife and basement parties- when the drums kick in at one minute thirty it spins. Like of much of the rest of Jezebellearic Beats Vol. 2, Geo Metric is long, over seven minutes, the track given space and time to unwind, the rhythms twisting round and round, bumping and grinding.
Just as on Vol. 1, Vol. 2 has twenty tracks. Some of them have been released before- if you've followed Jezebell you'll already know their remix of Warriors Of The Dystotheque's Fitzroy Avenue, Joe Duggan's Northern Irish accent spun out over Jezebell's electronics. You'll have heard their beautifully cosmic remixes of Pandit Pam Pam and Andrys y Xavi, appearing on Vol 2. back to back and sounding like they were made for each other. There's new version of Dancing (Not Fighting), a riotous slice of electronic music sampling Mick Jones screaming at bouncers live on stage with The Clash from Rude Boy and my favourite track from the Trading Places EP is present too, Siouxsie showing up at 6PM with the jeepers creepers. Some of the tracks are their own work- Hung and Donkey from their double entendre Cream Tease EP, Autostrada from the sleek krauty beats of the Weekend Machines EP along with their 2023 single The Knack plus their remixes of Perry Granville and Pete Bones.
There are new tracks too. As well as Geo Metric there is Japaneasy, a track with found sounds from Japan sitting inside its bullet train groove, percussion rattling and synths jabbing, all forward momentum. Red Black And Green is a slower take on the Jezebell sound and lit up by a stuttering synth sound, a synth doing an impression of a guitar, whoops in the background, electro and acid house bunking up. Perfect Din is built around some vocal samples, the hiss of the hi hat and a gnarly acid squiggle, the voices layered and looped- eventually jazz/ funk drums burst in and we're into new territory, Jezebellearic Afrobeat.
Jezebell have taken their sound out to crowds since Vol. 1 came out- they've played at The Social in London, at Pikes in Ibiza and at The Golden Lion in Todmorden. Jesse and Darren are musical sponges, soaking it all up and using it make new music and their own sound. Vol. 2 is twenty tracks long and most of the tracks are pretty long. It's a big piece of work. It can be taken track by track but works really well as a whole- one of the things about listening to Vol. 2 in on sitting is how well it does all work together, how their remixes, edits and own music has built into one coherent body of sound- insistent rhythms, nagging synth sounds, plenty of percussion, a sampledelic delight.
Where Vol. 2 really excels though is at the beginning and the end, a pair of tracks that bookend the album and sound like future Jezebell classics. The first, the album's opener, is Movimento Lento, a slow motion way into the Jezebell world, a sleazy drum track that feels like it's come from Serge Gainsbourg's apartment, the faint lick of wah wah guitar, a sleepy vocal sample, 'this is the greatest gift you're giving to yourself', and then some Beastie Boys, the stoned backing vocal refrain from 1992's Something's Got To Give... and heading back to that song via it's video, stealth bombers taking off and B- 52's dropping bombs on Vietnam, it does seem like we're stuck in a never ending loop. Movimento Lento is, as the kids say, a vibe.
Nineteen tracks later and Jezebellearic Beats Vol. 2 finishes with Turn It Yes. Electronic drums blip in and a echo laden voice emerges, 'language has the power to alter our perceptions...' The synths ripple, the sequencers sync and, 'the word is yes'. Uptempo and unashamedly optimistic, the topline wriggles around, messing with the synapses, the drums kick on and then Yoko Ono appears, talking about her conceptual artwork from The Indica Gallery in 1966, a ceiling painting, a ladder, a magnifying glass and a single word... Yes. It was famously an exhibition attended by John Lennon. he climbed the ladder and found the word and the pair were introduced as a result of that. Turn It Yes is all of that and more, the synths building like chiming indie- dance guitars, the drums kicking on and on and the two voices coming together, everything gliding on for the final few minutes before coming to an end, and again, that word... Yes.
Pre- order Jezebellearic Beats Vol. 2 here. You'd be daft not to- it's going to be a big part of the soundtrack to summer 2025.
