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 You can only make one dot at a time. 

This made me start joining the dots between One Dove and Dot Allison, Arab Strap, Wire and Dot Dash, Ry Lichtenstein, The Jam and Pete Wylie and Ariadne's Labyrinth. From the wider Bagging Area community came these dots- C with Angines de Poitrine, Ernie with The Blue Aeroplanes ...And Stones, Al G and Jonathan Richman and Vincent van Gogh, Craig with Hot Chip's Over And Over, Noone and Les Rallizes Denudes, Rol and The Teardrop Explodes, the Swede with The Beat and Ranking Full Stop, Walter with !!! and Chris ZenArcade with some lysergic dots and E.D. 209's Metre and that Robocop sample...

This week's Oblique Strategy card is this- A very small object. It's centre.

My knowledge of physics is fairly limited. Last year a friend lent me Carlo Rovelli's Helgoland,a  very readable account of the story of quantum physics. I still couldn't explain even in the simplest terms much about quantum physics but I enjoyed the ride. 

I do know that atoms are extremely small and are the basic particles that make up everything. At the centre of an atom is the nucleus (which must therefore be smaller than an atom- right?). Atoms are so small we cannot see them, a million times smaller than the breadth of a hair. Coincidentally (and I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that nothing about this series is coincidental, it all seems to be connected), earlier this week I was wandering around the campus at Manchester University where I photographed the Humanities building, a rectangle of concrete opened in 1970. It is the picture at the top of this post. It is just round the corner from the Rutherford Building, which contains the room in which in 1917 Ernest Rutherford split the atom* and so created the modern field of nuclear physics (I once went on a course in the exact room where Rutherford made his discovery). 

Sixty seven years later, also in Manchester, Factory Records released FAC 102, Atom Rock by Quando Quango.

Atom Rock

Quando Quango were a dance act somewhat ahead of their time, Mike Pickering channeling electronic music from New York and Chicago into mid- 80s Manchester along with Gonnie and Reinier Rietveld. They formed in Rotterdam in 1980 and then relocated to Manchester in '82 when the Hacienda opened. Mike Pickering's role in modern Manchester and Factory cannot be overplayed. 

Atom Rock is a light on its feet slice of 1984, pioneering dance music with jazz and Latin influences worn on its sleeves, produced by Be Music (Bernard Sumner and Donald Johnson of ACR). That jangly, funky guitar riff is a moonlighting Johnny Marr (the birth of Electronic, Marr and Sumner's late 80s band, is this record). It's one of those songs that made Factory such an interesting record label in the mid- 80s. 'Fela Kuti meets Kraftwerk somewhere between Rotterdam and Manchester', said Gonnie of the band's sound. 

A year later there was a Mark Kamins remix, Kamins putting his Roland 808 through its paces (Kamins was the man who launched Madonna)...

Atom Rock (Mark Kamins New York Remix)

Juan Moreno's Atomism Theory came out in 2024, an eight minute ambient piece that actually sounds like it could be the sound of atomic particles and nuclear fission.

Atomism Theory

And in a nice link to Carlo Rovelli's Helgoland, in 2009 Massive Attack released Heligoland (both named after the same piece of land, an archipelago in Germany). The first single from the album was Splitting The Atom, with Horace Andy on co- vocals and Damon Albarn on keys. 

Splitting The Atom

I have several other atom/ atomic songs but I'll stop there. Feel free to split your own atoms in the comments box or make any other responses to the Oblique Strategy card- A very small object. It's centre.

* Apparently 'splitting the atom' is a poor choice of words for what Rutherford actually did. The University of Manchester's website says that Rutherford was ''the first person to create an artificial nuclear reaction... now described as 'splitting the atom' in popular accounts''

The Mountain

Gorillaz released their ninth album back in February, a fifteen song set called The Mountain. It's a concept album, like all Gorillaz albums are, but this one's about death and grief and the question of what happens next. The two human mainstays of Gorillaz, Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn, lost their dads within a week of each other while they were in India working on the album. Damon wanted to include Indian singers and musicians- Asha Bhosle (who has since died) appears along with Asha Puthli and Anoushka Shankar. Some of the album was recorded in Mumbai, Rishikesh and Jaipur and the Indian strings and classical instruments are all over the album and very affecting. 

The album was also recorded in London and Florida and there's a slew of guests with Johnny Marr playing on several songs and Idles and Sparks turning up. Once Damon started writing the album it struck him that if the songs were about death and loss, then some of the vocals should be provided by previous Gorillaz guests who had since died. He went back to the tapes and found vocals that hadn't been used on earlier songs, vocals by Mark E. Smith, Dennis Hopper, Trugoy The Dove and Bobby Womack. (Damon didn't get all the deceased contributions he wanted- Lou Reed's estate denied permission, Lou's dying wish was that there be no posthumous releases, Terry Hall's vocals had been wiped and MF Doom's had already been used elsewhere by Danger Mouse). Tony Allen appears as does rapper Proof. All these dead guests found their way into new songs, the voices reincarnated into new songs. 

It's supposed to be heard as a single album, a full piece rather than cut up into digestible chunks to backdrop perpetual doom scrolling. Like all Gorillaz albums, some of it hits and some doesn't. At times Damon's electro- pop smothers the Indian instruments and there's a lot of stuff going on- as ever in Gorillaz world there's a lot of content. But there are several songs that are very good and rather affecting. The opener, The Mountain, is based on an Indian folk song Albarn heard at Rajasthan and reworked with the Hindu Jea Band Jaipur in Jaipur. It's a lovely song, the Indian melodies and instruments doing their thing with Dennis Hopper's voice in there too. This eight minute cartoon segues The Mountain with The Moon Cave (with Bobby Womack and De La Soul's Trugoy) and album closer The Sad God and is a good snapshot of the album. The animation is a joy too, Murdoc, Noodles, 2D and Russel in Disney Jungle Book style.

Last weekend Gorillaz played some stadium gigs in London. This photo turned up on Johnny Marr's social media him and Paul Simonon on stage together, side by side on guitar and bass. A dream guitar- bass combo. 

Johnny and Paul appear on one song on the album together too, Casablanca. It doesn't sound much like either man's former bands, with little trace of either The Smiths or The Clash in it. Johnny's way with a chord sequence is right there though among Damon's electro-pop and enervated vocal, the drum machine pushing away and a choir of voices ascending. Along with a few of the other songs on The Mountain, there's something about it that I find quite moving. 

Casablanca

A Walk Across Town

Walking through town recently- we always call the city centre of Manchester town- I came across three music- related artworks that caught my eye. This flyposter for the Massive Attack and Tom Waits single Boots On The Ground on Whitworth Street, posted onto the building which used to have the nightclub The Venue in its basement. The song caused a sensation when it was released back in April, Waits singing from the point of view of a US soldier, a grunt, cannon fodder for foreign wars. 'How much does every soldier weigh?', he/ the narrator asks at one point. I posted it back then but make no apology for its re- appearance so soon after. 

The soldier/ Waits rants about the politicians who send him to war, 'Federal pricks/ Hiding in the senate like a bloated ass tick/ Air conditioned fuckstick loafers/ Sitting in a room of army posters'. In the end the soldier kills 'a brown man' and all they found was his boots on the ground. It's powerful, visceral stuff. 

It's coming out on vinyl, £25 for a 12" single, which is somewhat expensive. On the other hand, it's one of the songs of the year so far. 

Up on the elevated tram station Deansgate Castlefield I saw this piece of graffiti, a local artist's tribute to Gary Mani Mounfield, the much loved and much missed bass player of The Stone Roses- 'I wanna be adored... RIP Mani'. 

I Wanna Be Adored opened the band's debut album, first heard by fans back in early May 1989- a long slow FX and feedback intro and then Mani digging out that bassline. Squire's guitars trickle in and when Reni kicks in on drums we're off, the late 60s re- figured for the late 80s with a huge dash of Roses arrogance. 'I don't have to sell my soul/ He's already in me', Ian sings softly, 'I wanna be adored'. By the time the song winds down four minutes later many of those new listeners were already in deep, a new favourite band.

I Wanna Be Adored

I walked a different way to the pub I was heading to, dropping behind G-Mex and heading up a back road behind the Great Northern Goods Warehouse and to my left was this huge mural, Gorillaz v MCR. Damon Albarn's crew played the Co- op Arena back in April and this piece of paintwork was done to coincide, a history of Manchester from the Roman settlement of the 1st century AD to the arrival of Gorillaz in 2026, sanctioned and approved by Albarn and Jamie Hewlett and done by artist SketchMcr. 

Three Gorillaz songs selected from my hard drive. The Speak It Mountains is from 2010's The Fall, first released as a download only release. The track is various speaking voices and FX, Damon indulging his experimental side. 

The Speak It Mountains

Mick Jones appeared playing guitar on two songs on The Fall, one of which was Amarillo (recorded in Amarillo, Texas, in October 2010). 

Amarillo

Damon Albarn's talent isn't in doubt. He can write and he can sing- he can irritate too sometimes but this is one of those songs where he really hits the spot and finds an emotional connection out on the road in the vast open spaces of the USA. 

The Gorillaz mural has an excerpt from the song Dare (from Demon Days, released over two decades ago now, in 2005), the memorable line provided by Happy Mondays/ Black Grape vocalist Shaun Ryder, 'It's coming up/ It's coming up/ It's dare'. 

Dare

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.... 

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.

Streets Are All Quiet

Simon Tong joined The Verve as guitarist when Nick McCabe left and then stayed on when he came back (awkward! as the youngsters say). When in 2006 Damon Albarn put together a supposedly nameless band around himself, Paul Simonon (coaxed out of painting to pick up his bass again) and Afrobeat drumming legend Tony Allen, Tong came on board too. The Good, The Bad And The Queen was a very English sounding album (despite Tony Allen on drums)- Dickensian almost, songs summoning up London murk, dark, damp streets and noise coming out from behind half closed doors. This song, the album closer also called The Good, The Bad And The Queen, opens with pub style piano and closes with all of the players racing each other to get to six minutes plus ending. The album was produced by Dangermouse but doesn't really sound like it.

The Good, The Bad And The Queen

Bobby Womack

RIP Bobby Womack.

Heavy Seas

I'll be the first to admit he's not always been my cup of tea in the past but this is very good and rather affecting. It also sounds little like any of his various previous band's works, which takes some doing. I think Brian Eno was involved in this song too.

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

Back In The Day

I've had an uneasy relationship with Damon Albarn from the off, starting with splashing his desert boots at a trough urinal in Liverpool when Blur toured to support their debut single She's So High. While quite liking some Blur singles I rarely bought them, and Damon seemed a prickly, arrogant, off-putting figure for much of the 90s. I like some of Gorillaz records but got tired of the cartoon characters thing. In fact thinking about it, some Gorillaz songs are top notch and I loved the two recent ones but I only bought the first two albums long after they came out. The Good, The Bad And the Queen appeared to be a different kettle of fish and appealed to me much more. It brought Bagging Area hero Paul Simonon out of musical retirement and to good effect, and Damon seemed a bit humbler and less overbearing. The music, described somewhere as 'Dickensian dub' was more up my alley, and the whole project was both out of step with the times and reflecting the times (references to war, drinking, city life etc). He was criticised for underusing Tony Allen's drumming but it wasn't really an afrobeat album was it? Recently I read a reappraisal of the album so I went back to it and was struck by the number of good tunes on it- the title track, Kingdom Of Doom, Three Changes, Herculean, Green Fields... As someone mentioned on a comment thread, it is a London album but also a great record for listening to driving around English towns late at night. This song was the B-side to the Herculean single.

Back In The Day