European Tour

I'm off on a school trip today, away for the next six days with six colleagues and fifty five teenagers, on a three country tour of Europe. We're getting the ferry from Hull later today, a night crossing to Rotterdam and then we're in Amsterdam until Monday. Our itinerary includes the Anne Frank house, the Herzongenbusch concentration camp near Vught, a canal cruise and some time in Amsterdam. From there we head to Ypres and the First World War battlefields and cemeteries, the Menin Gate, the Flanders Field Museum, Passchendaele and some chocolate shops. We're also crossing into France to go the Somme. It's a trip I've done before and well worth it, an unforgettable experience for our young people and a good way to finish the school year. Weather forecast is good- too good maybe. I really hope the coach air con is working.

Here's some music from our first destination, the Netherlands. Speedy J is a Dutch producer from Rotterdam whose Ginger and G- Spot albums, both on Warp in the mid-- 90s, were superb spacey, trancey Dutch techno. Pepper was on Ginger.

Pepper

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a review of the new Jezebell album, Jezebalearic Beats Volume 2, a twenty track journey through Darren and Jesse's worlds starting with the slow mo, wigged out Serge Gainsbourg languor of Movimento Lento and then taking in various Jezebell remixes- Andys y Xavi, Pandit Pam Pam, Perry Granville, Pete Bones, Warriors Of The Dystotheque with Joe Duggan and Ian Vale.

As well as those tracks there are some previously released Jezebell hits- The Knack, Concurrence, Trading Places 6am, (Dancing) Not Fighting- and several brand new ones that build to the finale, an epic slice of dancefloor optimism with Yoko Ono in the mix. This is a reminder that you're going to want this album and that you'll end up playing it a lot. Get it here. 

God And Soul

A couple of edits/ remixes of past songs for those of you who are fans of them- I know some people consider some songs to be untouchable and to even attempt an edit or remix is sacrilege. This may be one such case but I love it, a dubbed out, tampered with version of God Only Knows by The Beach Boys from fifteen years ago that resurfaced recently when Brian Wilson made his final voyage...

God Only Knows (Michael Cook Re- Touch)

Much more recent is this Hardway Bros remix of Soul Train by 80s band Swans Way. Sean Johnston often does long and thumpy and this remix is both- eight minutes forty seconds long and filled with acid house drums, sirens and synths, acidic squiggles and the chant of 'it's alright' looped over and over.  

The remix can be purchased here. Sean talks of discovering Swans Way via a performance on Friday night fixture The Tube in 1984 and how they fitted in with he was into at the time- Dexys, The Bunnymen, Prefab Sprout, all of whom had as Sean says 'a sense of outsider glamour'. That live performance on The Tube is a time capsule, a small corner of the 80s captured on film...

I'll Be Out Here If You Need To Find Me

Evan Dando's musical career- sole ever- present member of Lemonheads and a solo album too- has been a very stop- start affair. In the early 90s he crashed into the popular culture with It's A Shame About Ray and Come On Feel The Lemonheads after some under the radar albums as a three piece- their third, Lick in 1989, got some music press attention in the UK partly due to their cover of Suzanne Vega's Luka but they were just another American indie band, a little bit punk, a little bit country, ragged guitars, ripped jeans and Converse. After grunge exploded and their cover of Mrs Robinson gave them a hit they started selling records and Evan hit a rich vein of form. 

Exhibit A) My Drug Buddy from 1992's It's A Shame About Ray

My Drug Buddy

Exhibit B) Into Your Arms from 1993's Come On Feel The Lemonheads (a cover of a 1989 song by Australian band Love Positions)

Into Your Arms

Evan also developed some serious problems with crack cocaine and Lemonheads went on hiatus after 1996's Car Button Cloth. In 2003 he put out a solo album, Baby I'm Bored and a Lemonheads re- union followed in 2005 with a couple of albums and some appearances and disappearances. I've very much dipped in and out but am often curious to hear what he'd been up to. Evan's a talented writer and singer. 

Now living in Brazil Evan has got things back together and an album Love Chant is due in October. In Maya new song, Deep End, came out, three minutes thirty seven seconds of riffing and growly vocals, a song that recalls former glories but also sounds like a new Evan Dando. Julianna Hatfield is back and J Mascis turns up for the guitar solos.

And then two weeks ago another one, In The Margin, short and sweet and on fire, more riffs, more guitars, more choruses and Evan sounding great. 

The Pilina Exhibition

A new EP on the reignited  Eclectics label has been getting a lot of my ear time recently- The Pilina Exhibition by Statues, two original tracks and two remixes, both by North Of The Island. Statues are a duo, Bradley Lucke and Mark Crooks, North Of The Island is Neil Scott. The tags on the EP's Bandcamp page include Balearic, Downtempo and Electronic but what's going on across these four tracks goes way further than that. 

Pilina is a laid back opener, definitely in the Balearic area with those acoustic guitars and long synth chords, slo mo drums and poolside/ beach bar melodies- there's some jazz in there too with a sax carrying the tune forward. Unhurried and very chilled. The NOTI remix strips it back to a haze, the synths and guitars much more of a wash with a wiggly sax refrain that works its way to the fore. The drums kick in after a few minutes and everything snaps into focus. 

Ballet is more intense, a hypnotic rhythm and stuttering synths, finger picked guitar and flutes, a psychedelic version of Balearica. It pushes and pulls, all very dreamy and textural. On the remix NOTI cuts the tempo completely, slowing it right down, a padding drum machine and slow jam guitar, a dubbed out sense of space and that feeling on the dancefloor when time stands still, the lights flash, everything drops out, people are moving in cinematic slow motion and you wonder what's happening. Eventually a voice appears out of the haze, groaning, 'I want your love'. Of the four, this is the one I've been going back to the most, a delightfully tripped out way to spend four and a half minutes. 

The Pilina Exhibition EP can be heard and bought at Eclectics. A very promising way to relaunch the label. 

Monday's Long Song

This week's Monday long song comes from Tokyo and a producer called Gonno. This track, Acdise #2, came my way last week via my friend Spencer, a ten minute trip into electronic sound straddling the blurred lines between house, techno, ambient and cosmische. It starts out with skippy drums and a pulsing synth part and builds and builds, adding layers of sound, becoming very intoxicating indeed. There are synths buzzing like a wasp in a jar, some minor key melody lines, wiggy acidic parts, repeating two note blips, nagging arpeggios, squelches- everything you could want in a ten minute Monday electronic long song. Spencer called it both dreamy and propulsive which is exactly what it is. 

Acdise #2

Acdise #2 is part of an EP released on Bandcamp back in 2020 and originally before that in 2011 which contains remixes including one by Gato Fritto (an artist I haven't thought about for a long time), a dub and two extra tracks. All are worth your time and trouble but Acdise #2 is the one. 

  

Twenty Five Minutes Of Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 2

Our second album, Sounds From The Flightpath Estate, went on sale for pre- orders last week (as announced here on Monday and on various Flightpath Estate social media platforms). We are pressing 1500 copies. We did 1000 of Volume 1 and sold them all, something that still amazes me although it shouldn't- the music was so good it should have been no surprise we'd sell out. Flightpath and Rude Audio main man Mark Ratcliff has done a taster mix of all ten tracks for Volume 2, deftly sequenced and mixed, with the unreleased Sabres Of Paradise track making its presence known more than once. 

The unreleased version of Lick Wid Nit Wit stands alongside anything else Sabres recorded and released. It got it sole airing when Andrew Weatherall played it as part of his legendary 1993 Essential Mix at the BBC and even then that version is not the same as the one we have. 

As well as that track Mark has mixed in the nine other brand new tracks, music by Richard Fearless, Red Snapper, A Certain Ratio re-worked by Number, David Harrow, Bedford Falls Players, Dicky Continental, Richard Norris, Unit 14 and a cover of Two Lone Swordsmen's Sick When We Kiss by Sleaford Mods. Mark's mix, featuring excerpts from all ten tracks, can be found here. Mark has adeptly brought together mid- 90s dub/ techno skank, 21st century machine techno, Manc noir, North African percussion, chuggy cosmische, thumpy acid house, clattering Notts post- punk and much more into one sequence- you can play guess which track is which.

Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 2, double vinyl clad in a beautiful sleeve courtesy of Personality Crisis, can be pre- ordered from Golden Lion Sounds and/ or the GLS Bandcamp. There are still some copies left but don't hang around- as with Volume 1 there will be no repress. When they're gone, they're gone. 

I'll Be Down When You're Down I'll Be Up When You're Up

Sounds Of The City takes place in early July every year in Manchester, a week of gigs at Castlefield Bowl, an 8000 capacity outdoor venue surrounded by Manchester's past and present- the remains of the Roman fort, the Bridgewater Canal and the canal basin, the railway line and the tram, the world's first passenger railway station, and the Beetham Tower. This year's line up included The Charlatans. At the end of last year via the magic of social media, Charlatans front man and all round nice guy Tim Burgess found out that we played North Country Boy at Isaac's funeral and he messaged me with the offer of free tickets when the band next played Manchester. When their Castlefield gig was announced I messaged him to remind him of his kind offer and Tim was as good as his word. 

At 9pm on a warm and sunny Manchester evening and with an up- for- it crowd, four Charlatans take to the stage. Drummer Pete Salisbury starts up on the hi- hats and the band kick in and the sound of 1999's seven and a half minute single Forever builds, the two note organ drone, Martin Blunt's rumbling bass and eventually shards of Mark Collins' guitar. It's three minutes before Tim Burgess arrives on stage, all smiles, striped jumper and big hair, waving and then grasping the mic to sign, the dam bursting at the end of the first verse with the line, 'I wonder what you people do with your lives... once more this will be forever'. 

After Forever's slow burn we are treated to a ninety minute hit heavy set, mainly fan favorites from the 90s with a couple of new ones. Weirdo comes next, the wheezy organ splicing 1966 and 1992, wonderful indie- psyche from their second album Between 10th And 11th.

Weirdo

Then three songs in they rip into the opening chords of North Country Boy. I thought I was prepared for this happening- the song, its connection to Isaac (for me now the boy of the song's title) and the lines that took on new meaning after he died  'Every day you make the sun come out/ Even in the pouring rain/ I'll come to see you/ And I'll save you, I'll save you' for one, and there are several others) and the surge of emotion I expected to feel when they played it- but instantly me and Eliza are in floods of tears, my brother's behind us hugging us and the band are powering through the song's verses and choruses; 'Hey country boy/ What are you sad about?'. It took the next song, Can't Get Out Of Bed, to get ourselves back into one piece.

Tim reminds us its thirty years since the release of their self- titled fourth album, one that in 1995 pushed them back onto bigger stages and they play a mini- set of songs from it- Here Comes A Soul Saver, Toothache and the mighty, emotive Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over, a song about coming home, all tumbling drums, acoustic guitars and piano runs. Released at the height of Britpop, The Charlatans were doing Exile On Main Street. We get a new song, We Are Love, and then a run of big hitters- the huge pounding Chemical Brothers enhanced dance- rock of One To Another, probably tonight's peak in terms of energy and whoomph, Just Lookin', Impossible, Blackened Blue Eyes, The Only One I Know and then the raucous and distorted guitar slashing, Bob Dylan meets Wu Tang Clan torrent of words that is How High, and all that flashing imagery that Tim piled into the words about the lyrics of your life, kissing the sun and pledging my time 'til the die...

How High

They encore just as the sun has dipped out of view with I Don't Want To See The Sights and another new one. Finally, the lysergic spin of Sproston Green starts up, the group's welding together of 60s garage psyche and late 80s indie- dance still burning, Tim at the front singing about an older woman who came and went and took what was his, over and over. It's all life affirming stuff, songs that have become part of the soundtrack our lives played by a band that have known their own tragedies and who have a genuine connection with their audience. Thanks Tim. 

Sally Can't Dance No More

At the start of this year I decided to undertake a trawl through Lou Reed's solo back catalogue. My long standing received wisdom is that it's the definition of uneven, a hit and miss, zig- zag of styles, disappointments and comebacks with a few iffy live albums and a handful of pearls in among the sand. On re- listening, at a couple of decades distance, to the 1980 greatest hits collection A Walk On The Wild Side I found a lot to enjoy and was really taken with some songs I'd not heard since my tape collection got broken up in the early 90s- I had cassette copies of several Lou Reed solo albums from the 70s and  have a few on vinyl and/ or CD, Transformer of course, New York, Street Hassle. 

This is less of a deep dive into Lou's solo albums, more a shallow paddle or a slow meander. I decided that to make this work I needed to pick up copies of the albums on second hand vinyl. I don't know yet whether this will sustain itself into the 80s. The thought of handing over actual money for Mistrial scares me. I've decided too to avoid the live albums- someone lent me Rock 'n' Roll Animal in the late 80s and I thought it was the worst thing I'd ever heard, dreadful heavy rock/ metal versions of classic songs. I've no need or desire to go back there. 

Since January I've bought, listened to and written about Berlin ('Lou's masterpiece'), his solo self- titled debut ('flawed but with some really good moments') and Transformer ('everyone knows/ has a copy of Transformer- and rightly so'). At this rate I'll be getting to New York in 2030. Recently I found a copy of 1974's Sally Can't Dance second hand. The vinyl plays fine, no scratches or jumps, perfect condition and half a century old. The sleeve smells like it's been in someone 's garage since the mid- 70s however but nevermind. 

I approached Sally Can't Dance with some trepidation. I had it on cassette a long time ago and didn't remember it being that good. It was the first Lou solo album without any Velvets era songs on it and the first recorded in New York. Weirdly it was Lou's biggest solo album and was very much seen as a hit. In 1976 Lou, never the best judge of his own work maybe and not a reliable interviewee at all at that point- contrary is putting it mildly- described it as a 'piece of shit from beginning to end'. It's not. He didn't like Steve Katz's production either and the reviews were critical on release. With some caution I dropped the needle on the record...

Ride Sally Ride comes in with piano and horn and that familiar Lou Reed Weimar/ New York feel, torch songs with a little crooning, tumbling drums and female backing vox. 'Ooh isn't nice/ When your heart is made out of ice', Lou sings, rhymes confusion with contusion as the brass parps away and all is good in Lou Reed world. Relaxed- it's the Quaaludes maybe- and easy. Animal Language follows, Lou's bleach blonde hair from the (horrible) sleeve painting and glam rock strutting to the fore, a song about Miss Riley who had a dog and Miss Murphy who had a cat and their neighbour's complaints. The chorus- 'ooh meow meow, ooh bow wow'- is hilarious, the guitars squeal and Lou Reed is surely taking the piss. 

Next is Baby Face, a slow blues with guitar and bass locked in and Lou singing softly, close to the mic. Lou's voice is so distinctive and very limited really, two notes, a snarl, a drawl or a croon but he always makes the most of it. The voice is Lou Reed. Baby Reed is a snarky song but well worth sticking with. It's written from the point of view of his ex- wife- 'Jim, livin' with you is not such fun/ You're not the only one/ You don't have the looks/ You're not the person you used to be/ There are people on the street that would go for me...'

Side one finishes with N.Y. Stars. It's amazing and refreshing how short albums used to be- eight songs, not much more than thirty minutes. N. Y. Stars kicks in with a gnarly guitar part (David Weiss I think) and then a full band, some echo, a Bowie feel, and Lou turning his caustic glare on the next generation, the '4th rate imitators', with Lou becoming increasingly bitchy. 'I'm just waiting for them to hurry up and die', he sings, the guitars and drums gathering pace. It's sleazy and wired and alive. 

Turn Sally Can't Dance over and side two gives us Kill Your Sons, a key Lou Reed solo song. Crunchy guitar riffs and a processed vocal. Lou's lyric dissects his parents' decision to send a young Lou to a psychiatric hospital to be cured of his proclivities- which included ECT. Lou sneers at the two bit psychiatrists and the electric shocks, the inability to read a book past page 17 because he couldn't remember where he was or what he'd read. He turns his aim at his mum and dad and his sister and her husband (which his sister thought was very funny apparently). As he lists the drugs they put him on the guitars ring out and the song fades into a buzz of feedback and Lou singing 'they're gonna kill your sons...' After that the mood changes with Ennui, another slice of Lou Reed cabaret/ supper club music with a late period Velvets feel and more scores being settled, more aging and waiting for death. 

The title track comes next, Sally Can't Dance, horns and New York cool, guitar solos and one of Lou's character songs, Sally who can't get off the floor and can't dance no more. Lou paints a portrait in a few lines, 'she was the first girl in the neighborhood to wear tie die pants... that had flowers painted on her jeans... now she kills the boys and acts like a son'. It's a groove and a blast, it's sassy and pulls apart a New York face, maybe Edie Sedgwick. It's about decadence and lifestyle choices, regrets and depravity and it being too late to pull back from the flame. 

Sally Can't Dance

After that there's just the five minutes of Billy. Acoustic guitar and sax and Doug Yule on bass, a lovely recording of the bass guitar, the much maligned Doug invited by Lou to play on the song because Lou thought it would suit him.  Billy is a story song. Lou and Billy went to school together, best friends since nine years old. Billy was the football player, Lou the do- nothing. Billy studied hard. They both went to college. Billy went for a PhD. Lou dropped out. Billy became a doctor and then war broke out. Billy went to Vietnam and Lou didn't ('mentally unfit they say'). The sax wails away, needlessly but brilliantly, over the top. The acoustic guitar is scrubbed as much as played. Billy comes back from the war not quite the same and it leaves Lou wondering, 'which of us was the fool?' 

My caution and trepidation were unfounded. There's very little wrong with Sally Can't Dance- mid- 70s Lou is still very much in the driving seat and his talent is undoubted. RCA put pressure on him to repeat the trick, give them another big hit. This annoyed Lou so he gave them Metal Machine Music (an album memorably described by Tony Wilson as 'the sound of your fridge switching on and off'). Lou Reed- contrary much?

The Collapse Of Everything

Adrian Sherwood's The Grand Designer EP that lit up June and continues to get regular plays round here. The lead and title track is a beautifully rich and textured piece of dub, all manner of instruments and FX flying in and out of the mix over a bobbing rhythm and occasional bursts of siren. It's followed by Let's Stay Together, a track in the old style dub tradition of using the same rhythm and some of the sounds but with a vocal drizzled over the top, in this case one b the late Lee 'Scratch' Perry, the Upsetter jutting in and out in typical fashion. I suspect Mr Sherwood has files and tapes filled with Lee Perry vocals just waiting to find a track. 

Let's Stay Together is followed by Russian Oscillator which may (or may not) be based on the same building blocks but distorted and bent out of shape, rough industrial abstract dub. The fourth track, Cold War Skank, is a joy, guitars and rumbling bass, echoes of the desert and Saharan blues. 

The Grand Designer can be heard and bought here. It turns out that the EP is a spearhead, leading the charge for a Sherwood solo album to follow in August, a record called The Collapse Of Everything. The title track and album opener dropped onto the internet earlier this week, old school dub from the On U studio- languorous dub groove, bubbling bass, sounds ricocheting left and right, FX and flow, piano and fuzz guitar. 

The Collapse Of Everything was partly inspired by the losses of Mark Stewart and Keith LeBlanc- the title comes from a Stewart song- and features Doug Wimbish, Gaudi and Brian Eno all making appearances among a cast of sixteen players. You can pre- order the album on vinyl and digitally at Bandcamp. 

How Long Is Now/ Galactic Ride

Sheffield band Pale Blue Eyes released an album earlier this year called New Place. The band are a trio, married couple Matt and Lucy Board (him vocals and guitars, her drums and synths) and bassist Aubrey Simpson. They moved from South Devon to South Yorkshire and embraced the Steel City's love of electronics and synths, making an album that sounds inspire by the krauty sounds of Neu! and Harmonium and the perpetual motion of the autobahn. The album is here. 

A month ago a Richard Norris remix of opening track How Long Is Now came out in both vocal and instrumental form. Richard is no stranger to the cosmische sounds of West Germany in the 70s and set the controls for the heart of the Mittel Europe, a Klaus Dinger motorik drumbeat and throbbing sequenced bassline propelling the song to new speeds with Matt's guitars gone all Rother- esque. All the versions are available at Bandcamp. 

Gordon Kaye has been around almost as long as Richard Norris, DJing in clubs in his hometown of Brighton since the mid- 80s and starting a night at The Escape Club called The Sunshine Playroom that became a lynchpin for South Coast 80s psychedelic/ indie, frequented by Alan McGee, Primal Scream and Norman Cook. Since the late 80s he's DJed all around the world, playing indie- dance and various shades of house and dance music. Recently he's reignited his passion for making music and the first fruits are a nine minute cosmic chug glide called Galactic Ride, synth arpeggios firing off against the burbling bassline and as with Pale Blue Eyes, a sense of perpetual motion, building steadily ever upwards. Listen to it at Soundcloud. 

I Was On The 212

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. 

Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 2

 

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 Volume 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 Volume 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 Volume 1's. In no particular order, Volume 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 Volume 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 Volume 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. 

A Midsummer Mix: Forty Minutes Of 2025 So Far

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. 

A Midsummer Mix: Forty Minutes Of 2025 So Far

• Death In Vegas: Chingola
• Andy Bell: Pinball Wanderer
• Adrian Sherwood: Cold War Skank
• Demise Of Love: Carry The Blame
• 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. 

Soundtrack Saturday

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...

Free (Club Mix)

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 (LP Version)

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. 

The Bottom Line (Film & Club Version)

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. 

Dealer

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. 

Dealer (Original Mix)

Platonic Solid

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. 

It Says Yes

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. 

The Trial Of Jonah

Justin Robertson has been doing a mini- tour to promote the publication of his second novel, The Trial Of Jonah. He was at Head in Stretford last Thursday doing a reading, a Q&A with Stephen Molynoodles and then a DJ set. The novel tells the story of Jonah Plantaganet, a time travelling demon and cultural vampire, but also of Justin Robertson, a childhood in a small town in the Home Counties, a move to Manchester in the mid- 80s and a life in music and art. In the novel Jonah meets Roman legionaries, saves the life of John Lennon and turns The Beatles onto electronica, hangs out with King John after the Baron's rebellion of 1215- 1217, and zig zags through 20th century counter- culture. In the semi- autobiographical version of Justin's life, Jonah is entranced by the woodland near his childhood home, guided by an older relative into buying dub records, and bedazzled by the Hacienda in the mid- 80s. He also kidnaps Mike Pickering but I'm not sure we ever really got to the bottom of that particular story. I've not read the book yet so I may be mixing up some of the novel and what Justin talked about- but that seemed to be part of the point of it all.

Justin read two sections from the book and during the Q&A talked about everything that went into the writing of it and into Jonah- not least the struggle between originality versus influences and the act of creation as an act of possession. Stephen asked all the right questions and Justin is a relaxed and articulate interviewee, open, reflective and funny. Justin talked about the creation of music and the alchemy that comes from people who don't really know what they're doing but want to make music getting into a studio with machinery and equipment that enable them to do that and then misusing it, the genesis of both punk and acid house. Eventually we get to the phrase, 'it could have been worse', a very British response to things. You can buy The Trial Of Jonah here. 

It's a fun evening, free and local. Justin sets up to begin playing and it's a Temple Of Wonders style set (a monthly radio show he does with a wide ranging musical policy). It's a work night, 11 PM, a lovely June evening, and Justin is playing proggy, folky psyche in a bar in Stretford. 

Back in the early 90s Justin formed Lionrock with Mark Stagg and MC Buzz B and via Mike Pickering they signed to DeConstruction, one of the early/ mid- 90s key UK dance labels, one that put out records by K- Klass, Black Box, Bassheads, M- People and Kylie Minogue. Lionrock's first single was a self titled progressive house thumper with Justin's signature trumpets, a track that was inescapable in Manchester in 1992/ 1993.  

Lionrock (Most Excellent Mix)

Monday's Long Songs

Over at Ban Ban Ton Ton last week Dr. Rob wrote a post about various Sabres Of Paradise remixes, Selected Sabre Cuts. One of his selected cuts was the Sabres remix of Primal Scream's Jailbird, part of a 12" single released in June 1994. 

Jailbird was the second single from the album Give Out But Don't Give Up, an album released in March 1994 that was it's fair to say, a tad divisive. In 1991 Primal Scream with some production and remix assistance from Andrew Weatherall and Hugo Nicolson as well contributions from The Orb and Jah Wobble released Screamadelica, an album that saw Primal Scream go day- glo acid house, long haired converts to the new sound (although the album contained some more trad Scream rock music too in the shape of the Jimmy miller produced Moving On Up and the strung out ballad Damaged). They followed it with the Screamadelica 12", Moving On Up plus the album's title track, a huge piece of symphonic wide screen acid house and a beautifully downbeat cover of Dennis Wilson's Carry Me Home. When the band returned in 1994 they had gone full on Rolling Stones, first with Rocks and then Jailbird (which opens Give Out...). The album came with a Confederate flag on the cover (a William Eggleston photo) and got the band the tag 'Dance Traitors'. Having rewritten what an indie guitar band could do on Screamadelica they went into reverse and indulged their Rolling Stone fantasies. At this point some of the Scream were living like Keith Richards and if you live like Keef long enough, you'll start writing like Keef. 

I didn't take to Give Out But Don't Give Up when it came out. I was in the Dance Traitors camp although I liked Rocks just because it was so brazen. In 1994 I wasn't too fussed about bands who wanted to be in 1973. If I wanted to listen to Sticky Fingers I'd put Sticky Fingers on. Some years later I found it to be a better album than I did at the time but in 1994 it was too retro, too backwards looking. 

The remixes on the other hand were where the action might be- after all Mr Weatherall had played such a key role on Screamdelica that surely the Weatherall remixes of any of the Give Out... tracks would be what we wanted. The Jailbird 12" was highly anticipated in this household and when I got it home and put it on, there was again, a sense of 'this is not what I expected..' about the pair of Sabres Of Paradise remixes clad in a bright red sleeve shot of Throb live on stage, guitar and crotch plus amp and Confederate flag. The first of the two Sabres remixes was this one...

Jailbird (Sweeney 2 Mix)

The songs drumbeat looped up and running for thirty seconds, then a squiggly distorted noise, presumably Throb or Innes' guitar amp. Huge single descending piano notes, slowed right down and then some organ doing the same. An oscillating synth line kicks in, similar to the theme tune from The Sweeney (presumably where the remix title came from). This is Jailbird gone slow mo, out of it, no longer higher than the sun but very much damaged. We were indeed a long way from home.

The second remix (and the one Rob chose for his post last week) was a big one, nearly thirteen minutes long and where Andrew, Jagz and Gary went fully in with the dub... 

Jailbird (Dub Chapter 3 Mix)

The Dub Chapter 3 remix took some getting my head around too. Now, thirty- one years later, it's an example of Andrew's genius, his way of taking a song and deconstructing it completely, taking one or two elements from the original and constructing something entirely new from it (something he'd done on Screamadelica with Loaded and Come Together). 

Dub Chapter 3 is long, dubbed out and full of production tricks that the three Sabres had been honing during '93/ 94. Echo, FX, rattling drum machine loops, a three note synth part, acres of time and space, whole galaxies of time and space, and eventually, half way through something from the original song turns up, not one of Throb's guitars but a snatch of Bobby's vocal used as a sound rather than a voice. It's an epic Sabres Of Paradise remix, with King Tubby and Lee Perry was the inspiration, a million miles from Screamdelica and a million miles from Jailbird too. 

Further remixes were on the 12", one from Kris Needs and one by The Dust Brothers (later Chemical Brothers) and (I'm Gonna) Cry Myself Blind single had remixes from Portishead and Kris Needs again, but none of them go anywhere near what Sabres did with Dub Chapter 3. Stick it on a playlist/ CD/ mixtape along with the Sabres Gaelic dub remix of Peace Together's Be Still and the Squire Black Dove Rides Out version of One Dove's Breakdown, both ten minutes long and both from '93, and Sabres own productions Edge 6, Return Of Carter, Ysaebud and RSD, and you've got Sabres In Dub, a Sabres Of Paradise album that never was. 

Forty Minutes Of Cabaret Voltaire

Cabaret Voltaire, Sheffield's pioneering industrial noise/ post- punk/ electro outfit, have announced a tour this November with gigs in their home town, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and London and are promising a gig that will take in fifty years of CV music. They formed in Sheffield in 1973, Richard H. Kirk, Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson and were a genuinely trailblazing band, innovative and influential. Some of you may have noted that founder member Richard H. Kirk is no longer with us. He died in 2021. The decision to tour without him (and Mallinder and Kirk had not worked together for some time when Richard was alive) has caused some dissent among the fanbase, some people saying that without him it's not Cabaret Voltaire while others and the two surviving members want to pay tribute with one last run around the block and blast the music out of big amps into small(ish) spaces. I guess you pays your money and you takes your choice. The gigs are sold out anyway. 

Cabaret Voltaire were uncompromising. Initially they wanted their music to be difficult and to piss people off. They were happy with confrontation. They also wanted to make music without musical instruments and at first used reel to reel tapes, sound collages, oscillators and home- made kit. Later they brought traditional instruments in- bass guitar, guitar, clarinet. Their early punk/ post- punk connections with Joy Division and Factory, Rough Trade, Throbbing Gristle, Clock DVA and via their Sheffield recording studio Western Works brought them press, gigs and a record deal. Chris Watson left in 1981 and Mallinder and Kirk carried on as a duo, navigating the 80s and becoming more accessible, more commercial, eventually finding common ground with 80s synth based artists and the electronic/ acid house scene. You can find a potted history of the various twists and turns here. I thought a Cabaret Voltaire Sunday mix was well overdue and there's a lot of music to go at so this doesn't do much more than scratch the surface...

Forty Minutes Of Cabaret Voltaire

• Yashar (John Robie Mix)
• Don't Argue (Dance)
• Just Fascination (12" Mix)
• Thank You America (Kevorkian Bonus Beats)
• Sensoria
• Sex In Secret
• Colours (Club Mix)

Yashar is from 1982, originally appearing on a CV double disc 12" pack. A year later John Robie's remix came out on Factory, one of Factory's key mid- 80s singles (Fac 82 on Factory, FBN 25 on Factory Benelux). The sample that opens it- 'there 70 billion people of Earth- where are they hiding?'- is from the American TV programme The Outer Limits, a 60s sci fi/ horror/ mystery show. Yashar then judders and skips through the next seven minutes, 80s industrial electro, horns, synths, the chanted title- amazing stuff.  

Don't Argue was a 1987 single, produced by the group and Adrian Sherwood. The vocal sample is from a 1945 American propaganda film directed by Frank Capra at the dawn of the Cold War, a film called Your Job In Germany aimed at US soldiers stationed in post- war Germany. Don't Argue is as accessible as CV got in some ways, a fusion of industrial and synth- pop. 

Don't Argue then appeared on Code, their album from the same year along with Thank You America. The Thank You America (Kevorkian Bonus Beats) were remixed by New York legend Francis Kevorkian, stuttering beats, handclaps, echo. Cold War dread and paranoia, fears about the USA and nuclear weapons- it's almost like we've gone nowhere since 1987...

Just Fascination was a 1983 single, the B-side to Crackdown. Some Cabs menace and unease but not coupled with funk/ dance rhythms, with sequencers and keys. The album The Crackdown came out on Some Bizarre, the duo making their way through the UK's independent record labels one by one. The vocals are getting clearer and clearer, more willing to be heard. 

Sensoria came out in 1984, a single from the Micro- Phonies album. Sensoria is thumpy, crushing mid- 80s synth, pounding dancefloor energy, men and machines in sync. The poster for the single is one of the posters on Ferris Bueller's bedroom wall in the film about his day off. 

Sex In Secret is from the very first Factory Records release in 1978- the first music release that is. Fac 1 was a Peter Saville poster. Fac 2 was a double pack of 7" singles, with music from Joy Division, The Durutti Column, John Dowie and the Cabs. It was re- released on 1990's Listen Up with Cabaret Voltaire, a cassette compilation out on Mute that pulled together tracks from various one off releases- NME cassettes, videos, flexi- discs and a couple of unreleased tracks. 

Colours was from 1991, a seven track mini- album. By the early 90s Mallinder and Kirk were separated by distance, Kirk in Sheffield and Mallinder in London, and both threw themselves into acid house and solo/ collaborations. Kirk made the first Bleep Techno record as Sweet Exorcist along with DJ Richard Parrot, the mighty Testone 12", a definitive 1990 record. Colours is acid house, bleepy and light on its feet, a day glo version of the Cabaret Voltaire sound. 

Solstice Saturday/ Soundtrack Saturday

Today is the 21st of June, the summer solstice. The sun will rise in the UK at 3.42 am and won't set until 21.42 pm (later the further north you are). Marking the solstices is a nice tradition, a link to a much earlier time. Five years ago Rich Lane released a track for June 2020's summer solstice- we were all deep into lockdown in June 2020, the world was a very different place in all sorts of ways. Five years on that period is half- forgotten by many people and some don't want to be reminded of it. Rich's Solstice comes in four versions, 12", 7", ambient and instrumental. All/ any of them are highly recommended- the Ambient Mix comes with a dawn chorus, ethereal chanting, long synth chords, a shimmering drone and then Rich's sweetly sung vocals. 

In February 2021 Belgian duo A Winged Victory For The Sullen released an album called Invisible Cities, a gorgeous and affecting thirteen track dark ambient/ neo- classical record which contained this short but emotive piece of music...

Every Solstice And Equinox

Most Saturdays this year I've been posting about film soundtracks. The solstice film that came to mind was the 1973 folk horror classic The Wicker Man although the climax (spoiler alert) in which Edward Woodward is burned alive inside a giant wicker man as the locals on the remote Scottish island of Summerisle dance around singing an old Middle English song Somer Is Icumen In is actually on May Day not Midsummer's Day but the pagan, folk high summer feel of the Wicker Man and its legendary soundtrack get it the nod today. The songs for the film were written and recorded by Paul  Giovanni and Magnet and many of them were sung by the film's cast. Willow's Song is the best known, mesmerising, haunting, a siren's call and a lullaby (not to mention some erotica/ filth in the last verse, lines about a maid milking a bull, 'every stroke a bucketful'). Willow's Song is apparently not sung by actress Britt Ekland but by Rachel Verney. 

Willow's Song has been covered by loads of artists- in the 90s Sneaker Pimps did a version and Doves recorded it as a B-side. Sean Johnston's Summerisle Trio recorded a version for a Golden Lion Sounds 7" single in 2021. Last year Katy J. Pearson recorded it and there was this very tasty Richard Norris remix, a dub folk crossover that hits all the solstice spots. 

Willow's Song (Richard Norris Ritual Mix)

The Wicker Man's soundtrack was heavily built around versions of existing folk songs. The opening song (sung by actress Leslie Mackie) and the song Corn Rigs are arrangements of Robert Burns ballads, nursery rhymes crop up and old English, Scottish and Irish folk songs provide tunes and melodies for many of the instrumental parts of the soundtrack. For some early 70s innuendo and Summerisle discomfort here's the Summerisle pub faithful singing The Landlord's Daughter... Happy solstice.

Weird Gear

My recent trip back to Ultramarine's 90s albums and the recent re- issue of some unreleased recordings from 1996 led me to Weird Gear, the second track on 1991's Every Man And Woman Is A Star, a song with vocals by Brendan Staunton and a very well deployed string sample from 1983...

Weird Gear

The bouncy folk/ techno groove and Brendan's soulful vocal are a dream. The lyrics are from a Kevin Ayres song, There Is Loving Among Us from 1972 and Kevin's Whatevershebringswesing album. 

The swirling strings sample is of course from The Cutter, the second single from Echo And The Bunnymen's third album Porcupine- the Bunnymen and producer Kingbird (Ian Broudie) pulled out all the stops with The Cutter, Eastern strings, scouse psychedelia growing from their post- punk dread and some of Ian's best lyrics, lines about the seventh floor, hurdles approaching, drops in the ocean, Sellotape and knives and being the happy loss. What's it all about? I don't know. It's exhilarating and anthemic stuff though. 

The Cutter

This earlier demo version saw the light of day on the Never Stop 12", also from 1983, a wonderfully rattly version with trebly guitars courtesy of Will Sergeant but lacking those distinctive strings. 

The Original Cutter- A Drop In The Ocean

Into Dust

The release of new music by Four Tet is often the cause of much rejoicing at Bagging Area and the new track this week hits all the spots. Into Dust (Still Falling) is classic Four Tet- summer sounding, skippy drums, folky instrumentation, understated but emotive synths and keys, fresh and now but with a foot planted somewhere in the past- a past where rave and folk met...

Into Dust (Still Falling) samples the voice of Hope Sandoval (there's the foot in the past) from a Mazzy Star song, a voice that is always a welcome sound. Recently my friend Spencer sent me a link to a Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions track from 2017, a nine minute drone called Into The Trees, Hope playing a 1960s organ, holding long keyboard chords down and singing softly over the top. Colm O'Ciosoig, the other member of the group, plays tumbling drums in the background. It's magical stuff. 

Into The Trees

Hope and Colm formed The Warm Inventions as a side project from their two main bands, Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine. I hadn't heard the album Into The Trees is from, Until The Hunter, eleven songs recorded partly in a pair of Martello Towers in Dublin, spaces filled with round walls, no edges and a natural reverb. 

In 2001 Hope and Colm released the first Warm Inventions album- Bavarian Fruit Bread, an album I do own. It's a quiet, hushed, folky, small hours album with some lovely songs. Like this one...

On The Low

... and this one, written before Hope formed Mazzy Star and with a Velvet Underground third album feel. 

Suzanne

Spooked

Alex Kassian is in a rich vein of musical form- the Berlin based producer and DJ struck gold in 2021 with a 12" titled Leave Your Life which contained the title track in two versions and on the flipside the magnificent Spirit Of Eden (which came with a beautiful Bill Laswell Dub). Following that Test Pressing released the Voices 12" and last year Alex's cover of Manuel Gottsching's E2- E4 which came with a pair of Mad Professor remixes. 

Last month Alex released Orange Coloured Liquid, a reworking of Spooky's 1993 track. Alex has outdone himself again- Orange Coloured Liquid (Part I) and Part II are 2025's most Balearic moment, a sumptuous, mellow, lost in a trance version. Part I is powered by a breakbeat that keeps it grounded while the synths, keys, piano and pads do their utmost to soar. Part II is weightless and ambient, with strings and a harp.

The 12" and digital package come with a Placid Angles remix by John Beltran which shifts it again, the breakbeat back with a twinkling melody and the faintest echo of voices- it ends with a floaty synth string breakdown and fadeout that could happily play out for much, much longer. The EP finishes with the Spooky original from the duo's 1993 album Gargantuan. You can get the digital at Bandcamp. 

So Far Away

Notts Balearic duo Coyote and Wisconsin psychedelicists couple Peaking Lights have teamed up for a three track 12" that has rapidly become one of my favourite releases of the summer. All three tracks are loaded with dub influences and blissed out psychedelia. Love Letters is a seven minutes long, Indra Dunis' vocals floating along on top of a shimmering haze...

On So Far Away the four go slower, deeper and even dreamier, the bass prodding gently, a wash of dub FX and some very sleepy vocals. Really lovely. The Coyote Dub Mix does exactly what it says, all delay, bass and warmth, a long weekend in LA with King Tubby looking out over the Pacific Ocean and wondering how far the sea goes...

In 2012 Peaking Lights released Lucifer In Dub, dubbed out version of their album Lucifer. It's long been a Bagging Area favourite, ambience and psychedelia down out with acres of space and endless repetition, the pop- psyche element underpinned by some serious dub styles. The highpoint is probably Beautiful Dub but I've posted that before so try this one today, the hypnotic and soothing door bell dubbings of Lo Dub High Dub. 

Lo Dub High Dub

Douglas McCarthy

In among the obituaries and remembrances for Sly Stone and Brian Wilson last week the news of the death of Douglas McCarthy slipped out. Douglas was vocalist in Nitzer Ebb and died at the very young age of 58. He was less well known than either Brian or Sly but Nitzer Ebb had a big impact in the 80s within a fairly niche world. Nitzer Ebb formed in Essex in 1982 and singed to Mute in 1986, making uncompromising and physical industrial/ EBM/ proto- house that demanded your attention. Their track Join In The Chant found its way to Ibiza and onto the legendary Balearic Beats Vol. 1 album alongside Thrashing Doves, Electro's Jibaro, The Woodentops, The Residents, Code 61 and Mandy Smith (among others).

Join In The Chant

Andrew Weatherall once said that the closest he came to finding God was dancing to Join In The Chant.

Let Your Body Learn, like Join In The Chant, came out in 1987, a single recorded at PWL with Phil Harding and then remixed at Hansa. There can't be many records that link the two worlds of PWL and Hansa. 

Let Your Body Learn 

RIP Douglas McCarthy.