tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68535162024-03-07T21:08:07.987+00:00in love with these times, in spite of these timesIndie-pop fanzine, of uncertain vintage and expired purpose. Online 1999-2019. Because jangle was always MASSIVE. stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.comBlogger364125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-70895417980475599032019-03-29T14:45:00.000+00:002019-07-19T09:41:49.202+00:00“If the sun going down can make me cry…”: 20 Years In Showbusiness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today was the day we were meant to lose our EU citizenship, and our right to live and work in 27 neighbouring countries. As it happens, there’s been a stay of execution: the axe is likely to fall in the coming weeks instead. But it’s miserably clear that it’s going to happen, albeit through the now-familiar prism of incompetence, mendacity and delay. *Sigh*.<br />
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Our leaders didn’t fight against this travesty, of course, even as the promises of the referendum campaign collapsed around them. So, in return for leaving the EU, we get… a diminished reputation, a shrunken economy, a barely-functioning public discourse and the ever-apparent emboldenment of xenophobia. It’s a proposition which lacks an obvious upside. And those that voted to leave and those who encouraged it might, at some point, want to take responsibility for the consequences of that decision.<br />
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We English are reaching our ‘Jerusalem’ all right, only to realise that it was Mark Stewart’s vision we were heading for, not William Blake’s. It feels like the sun is setting on what was a massively flawed, but still massively preferable United Kingdom: it’s going to be cold for a while.<br />
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By unbecoming coincidence, this week marks 20 years since this very fanzine first went online, initially as a lone geocities page starring some primitive website software, a clutch of reviews and a lyric quiz. It was intended for our mates, but none of our mates were ever really interested. Luckily – ah, the novelty of the internet - a few people we’d never met stumbled across the site, and engaged with us instead. And we quickly made it our mission to use this privilege to evangelise for great but undersung music, which couldn’t easily get its voice heard outside the small handful of D.I.Y. websites that were knocking about at the time. And soon, getting bolder with our IT skills (even boasting a scrolling ‘events bar’!) we migrated to ilwtt.org for our ‘golden era’.<br />
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Yes, we relocated to blogspot in 2004 for what were dispiriting reasons at the time, and yes we’ve been ever-sporadic since, and yes halfway through these 20 years we controversially sold out once more by relocating from south to north London (you know, like Woolwich Arsenal, or Fortuna Pop!) but we managed to churn out several thousand reviews, many written in the early hours when we should really have been sleeping, what with work the next day (“<i>oh, how the City gets me down</i>”). But it’s not about a salary, it’s all about reality: our reality was 360-odd posts in the last 14 years, plus God-knows how much blather in the six before that, and this blog is now at around a quarter of a million page views (yes, we know deep down that translates to about 12 real people, but just don’t e-mail to point that out).</div>
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Instead, please, just to cheer us up, indulge us as we reflect on the first - oh, and last - twenty years of in love with these times, in spite of these times: not on the writing, of course, for that's just an inelegantly-expressed symptom of something infinitely more important, all-encompassing, which is just how astonishingly good some of the records over that period have been, and of the highs that music has inescapably brought us.<br />
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For a start, it brought us to hundreds of gigs, from crammed and cramped pub backrooms to... well, marginally bigger pub backrooms mainly, but there were a few festivals and concert halls too: even stadia, if you count <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/05/we-jump-around-play-off-final-victory.html">one</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/04/she-said-its-for-rovers.html">two</a> or <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/05/bristol-rovers-v-grimsby-town.html">three</a> top football-related days out. <br />
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Some of our best nights were the old school hip-hop nights, often at the Jazz Café and/or with d’Alma in tow: <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/09/straight-outta-compton-straight-into.html">Ice Cube</a> was incredible, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2011/06/it-glitters-its-gold-blue-moon-glimpses.html">Rakim</a> was formidable, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/04/onyx-at-jazz-cafe-dear-friends-i-think.html">Onyx</a> were irrepressible, Ghostface and Sheek were <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/05/something-special-out-and-about-right.html">indefatigable</a>, and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/05/better-than-you-think-or-how-to-re-sell.html">Public Enemy</a> duly brought the required noise. Plus KRS-One, and Dead Prez, and the homegrown thrill of Blak Twang’s Dettwork South East re-launch show, and that unforgettable eve when the Wu Tang Clan sprang from the stage at the Hammersmith Apollo….<br />
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Our top popshows of the last 20 years? I am afraid to say that <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2011/09/singlish-scheme-saturday-night-back-in.html">this</a> was close to perfection, though you'll never believe us; <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/03/flowers-of-london-orchids-in-kilburn.html">the Orchids</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2004/10/peel-caps-back-and-heres-your.html">Extreme Noise Terror</a> both made us cry; Slayer boasted the best stage show, one sweet Halloween at the Hammersmith Apollo; <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2010/04/more-please-in-2001-longtime-g-to-enius.html">Milky Wimpshake</a> and Zipper and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Pocketbooks and Tullycraft made us dance and laugh and smile; the Manhattan Love Suicides just got it RIGHT, of course they did, with their 15 minute feedback-flecked sets. And thanks to the <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2006/12/fucking-rosehips.html">Fucking Rosehips</a>, we can say with 100% honesty that we've spent one of the best nights of our life in Stoke-on-Trent. <br />
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Then there were <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2006/12/sportique.html">Sportique</a>, several times the wonderful Sportique (often in the company of their tremendous <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2010/02/stars-of-cinema.html">Matinée</a> labelmates), then the times we found ourselves in too-small crowds for the Windmills and Northern Portrait, both in Highbury & Islington, and then there were <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2006/04/evening-with-bolt-thrower.html">Bolt Thrower</a>… and Lock-Up, Nails, Repulsion and the late great Nasum, of course Obituary and Napalm (both many times over), and the Weddoes and Half Man Half Biscuit nearly as many times. And nostalgia gifted us <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/09/return-of-mac-much-as-you-may-have.html">Echo</a> on a revival tip, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/07/fragile-for-each-other-warming-up-at.html">the JAMC and Pastels</a> re-warming our cynical hearts, the Fall playing "The Classical", Morrissey (before he put himself well and truly beyond the pale) playing “Hand in Glove”, New Order playing "Ceremony" and, recently, a delicious 21st century novelty: <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/08/such-beautiful-day-as-this-even-as-we.html">a Sarah night</a>. Or legends from our youth, revitalised (Wolfhounds, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/08/like-firefly-flatmates-live-at-miller.html">the Flatmates</a>, Close Lobsters, Loop, A Witness, even Des!gn’s glorious Chesterf!elds revival set…) All interspersed with true eclectic joy at festivals, going way back: Killing Joke, Mis-Teeq, Jamelia, Fallacy and/or Fusion, that man Blak Twang again.<br />
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And - these all tinged with sadnesses now - there was seeing <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2004/08/bo-diddley-jazz-cafe-camden-2-august.html">Bo Diddley</a> before he died, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros at V - including a tiptop "London's Burning" - not long before his sad demise, an evening with the mighty <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2009/10/three-men-two-names-one-vision-no.html">CHAS & DAVE</a> at the 100 Club, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/03/hold-my-hands-and-tell-me-that-fall.html">the Fall</a> on countless occasions, including <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/07/only-thing-real-is-waking-and-rubbing.html">four consecutive nights</a> wthout us regretting a single second, and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/06/guess-who-we-saw-other-night.html">Motorhead</a> at the Royal Festival Hall who were once-in-a-lifetime fine, defying a review, and remain the loudest band we have *ever* heard... and perhaps most preciously of all, forsaking the Denmark v Czech Republic quarter-final in Euro 2004 to see the Go-Betweens in all their pomp at the Barbican, while the great <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2006/05/hello-um-i-have-just-heard-news-about.html">GW McLennan</a> was still with us (there are songs from that show on the extra CD that came with "Oceans Apart").<br />
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Indeed, the times oversaw the sad loss of so many stalwarts of our record collection, some better known than others but all much-loved by us: <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/05/secret-lovers-blood-brothers.html">Keith Girdler</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/01/farewell-fiery-jack.html">Mark E. Smith</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/05/dale-griffin-unsung-hero-book-reviews.html">Dale Griffin</a>, Pete Shelley, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2006/08/jesse-pintado-there-are-number-of.html">Jesse Pintado</a>, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2010/08/gang-starr-one-of-best-yet.html">the Guru</a>, Prodigy, Anthony Price (Rosehips), half of the mighty Bogshed...<br />
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And so to a list that makes us draw breath - almost cry - given the years of loyal service given by some of them: our favourite singles, on balance, of those 20 years. It's been desperately hard to limit, but we reckon the very best must include Harper Lee's "Train Not Stopping" and "Dry Land" (as our review concluded: "<i>Brighter are back, with swearing. Memo to all other bands: give up now</i>"), Comet Gain's "You Can Hide Your Love Forever", the Wild Swans' <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/09/older-wiser-better-wild-swans-english.html">"English Electric Lightning"</a>, Forest Giants' "Postcards" (so good it made our top ten two years in succession), the absurdly lowkey pair of On Fell singles from 2011, the wrongly neglected brace of <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/12/2018-we-lost-our-way-in-rain.html">Hit Parade</a> singles from 2018, Close Lobsters’ <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-edgware-kickback-one-evening-in.html">“Now Time”</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2016/04/close-lobsters-desire-signs-ep-shelflife.html">“Under London Skies”</a>, and Math & Physics Club’s most recent <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-piece-of-continent-part-of-main.html">stunner</a>, and Hate Week’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2016/06/hate-week-nights-by-lake-blunt-claws.html">life-affirming</a> 7”, the Windmills' "Walking Around The World", Ed209 and Imam T.H.U.G's <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/07/ranking-queens-in-case-youd-wondered.html">"Karma 360"</a>, Pocketbooks' "Cross The Line", our darling Hood (both <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2005/05/hood-negatives.html">new-school</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2016/02/hard-love-in-country-hood-british.html">old</a>), the Declining Winter's <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/09/hallways-into-somethin-um-hello-haunt.html">"Haunt The Upper Hallways"</a>, Halkyn's simply beautiful, broken and understated "Winterhill", Durrty Goodz' incredible "Axiom" EP, several visceral, acidic singles by <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2005/08/year-of-ant-ant-and-nick-grater.html">Ant</a> ("Midnight Black", "Surge", "Homemade Discord" etc etc), Styly and Scorz's "Want What's Yours" 7", Simpatico's "Postal Museum" and "Club Life" extended plays and Manatee's sparkling "Indecision".<br />
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And a searing sequence of excellent 45s from Ryuji Takeuchi, not to mention the late-2010s triumvirate of minimal techno 12”s - Michael Schwarz’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/12/hilary-benn-shame-on-you-singles-of-2015.html">“She Doesn’t Ask For”</a>, Jeff Rushin’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2016/04/jeff-rushin-decline-into-wall-music.html">“Decline Into”</a> and Relham’s “Kalte Menschen” - which ruled our school… Nicole Rosie’s Benelux belter “Foxboy”, the Butterflies Of Love's "Orbit Around You", the utterly serene Rakim comeback single <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/09/king-of-new-york-so.html">“Holy Are You”</a>, Hoodz Underground's angry yet upbeat-inspirational "How Do You Feel?", Northern Portrait's marvellous 2008 breakout EPs on Matinée (<a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/04/northern-uproar-i-love-your-kind-words.html">here</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/09/sweetheart-i-could-die-in-your-arms.html">here</a>), More Fire Crew's "Oi!" (we thought that was just the start of its ilk, but perhaps it was never really bettered: Sov's "Check 1,2", Kano's "Ps &Qs" etc all hinted at similarly brilliant, yet undelivered promise too), a fair percentage of the peerless <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2010/07/provide-and-conquer-consider-some-of.html">Cappo</a>'s singles output, the beautiful trio of restrained, rain-stained singles from Alto 45, Jasmine Minks and Avocadoclub in 2003, Beatnik Filmstars' <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/03/tune-bands-sometimes-pronounce.html">"Curious Role Model"</a> for sheer unblinking *resilience* and perhaps a special prize for the TVPs' "All The Young Children On Crack": there are still days when we're convinced this was the single of the century even amongst such fierce competition. And yes, gosh, there were more, so many more fine singles, everything from <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/04/she-said-its-for-rovers.html">"Tracyanne"</a> to <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-hobbes-fanclub-your-doubting-heart.html">“Your Doubting Heart”</a> to <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2006/09/fall-rule.html">"Homage For Satan"</a> to <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/12/precisely-right-chimes-halfway-through.html">"Are You Listening Now?"</a> to Jaydan's drum & bass diamond "What U Want" to ambient seductorama <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2010/12/were-falling-were-falling-were.html">“Love Song”</a> to Iberian grindcore beast "La Caceria" to the tumultuous, unrelenting <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2010/12/were-falling-were-falling-were.html">"Unrelenting"</a>, all fearlessly reflecting different moods, different styles… oh, and such genuinely fond memories of Wiley’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/07/wiley-chasing-art-island-wiley.html">triumphant run</a> of 8 singles in 8 weeks, which even by his prolific standards was something of a thrill…<br />
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And there are so many goosepimplingly good singles already in 2019, but it’s not our job to tell you about those any more… ☹<br />
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The past two decades spawned some stunning albums, too. Again, this is almost just a lucky dip, but ones that have weathered particularly well must include Hood's "Outside Closer", the last, divine and impossibly sad Harper Lee album <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2004/12/harper-lee-all-things-can-be-mended_07.html">"All Things Can Be Mended"</a>, Sportique's "Modern Museums" and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2004/08/nominee-number-eight.html">"Communiqué No.9"</a>, P Brothers' <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-soul-than-northern-soul-we-were.html">"The Gas"</a>, Cappo’s late-flowering <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2016/11/bubblegum-lemonade-great-leap-backward.html">“Dramatic Change Of Fortune”</a> meisterwerk, the downbeat "Music From The Corner" series from Taskforce of N5, the gripping nihilism of Fret’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-depth-of-leaves.html">“Over Depth”</a>, the sheer and consistent splendour of such pretty, yet mournful records as Simpatico's "The Difference Between Alone and Lonely", the Bluebear's "Food Fight At The Last Chance Saloon" and Picture Center's <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2004/08/nominee-number-seven.html">"Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight"</a>, not forgetting caustic rumbustious post-punk rock n'roll fabulousness courtesy of the Fall's <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2005/10/fall-fall-heads-roll-slogan-just-got.html">"Heads Roll"</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2004/08/nominee-number-four.html">"Country On The Click"</a>. All still actively reward repeat plays.<br />
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We tend the softest of soft spots, too, for cracking works from Boyracer (especially <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2005/05/hood-negatives.html">"Absence Makes The Heart Grow Harder"</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/10/once-in-full-colour-now-flickering.html">"Flickering B+W"</a> and their official goodbye, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/01/best-of-2008-part-five-lps-and-mixtapes.html">"Sunlight Is The Best Antiseptic"</a>), the Beatniks (especially "The Purple Fez 72 Club Social"), <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/04/choose-life-every-day-religiously-im.html">Life?</a>, Sven Wittekind (<a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/06/s-ven-wittekind-broken-mirrors-sick.html">"Broken Mirrors"</a>, jam-packed full of hits - don't forget his fabulous <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/05/various-artists-before-we-restart-sick.html">Sick Weird Rough</a> roster too), the Would-be-Goods, JK Flesh, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/06/check-decor-check-guys-track-record.html">Trembling Blue Stars & Wiley</a> (sadly not a joint release), <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/01/albums-of-year-2006-er-happy-new-year.html">Forest Giants</a> and the Wu-Tang's "Iron Flag". Or, in the last few years, the likes of <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-fireworks-switch-me-on-shelflife.html">the Fireworks</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-popguns-sugar-kisses-matinee.html">the Popguns</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-steinbecks-kick-to-kick-with.html">the Steinbecks</a>, or our longtime heroes <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-wake-light-far-out-ltm-ever-since.html">the Wake</a>.<br />
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We’d like to mention some personal favourites from the pieces we wrote: a <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2010/08/warmest-sound-for-more-than-thirty.html">tribute</a> to the music-maker in our family tree; the <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2010/08/arsenal-stadium-mystery-let-us-take-you.html">treatise</a> on our local village team; the best and maddest <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/03/morbid-angel-illud-divinus-insanum.html">remix</a> album ever made; an ode to the finest <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/04/convivial-pirate-material-happy-new-tax.html">pirate radio station</a> of all eternity; a <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/09/public-enemy-most-of-my-heroes-still.html">Public Enemy vs Tender Trap</a> face-off; words on p’raps the <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/02/lucid-fairytale-fourth-defiant-decade.html">most important </a>British band of our lifetime; '8 great ways' to <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/04/first-cut-is-deepest-8-great-ways-to.html">kick off a mixtape</a>; our paean to the time <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/08/scars-of-track-field-forgive-our.html">the Olympics</a> came to our town; didactic, yet cathartic observations on <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/09/nitsuh-ebb-some-bloke-mumbled-to-us.html">twee</a>; and epic pieces on <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2010/02/smile-in-these-ungrateful-times-it-took.html">Matinée’s 10-year anniversary</a> and on the equally-cherished <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/07/feeling-mission-when-we-were-talking.html">Cloudberry</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/12/sweetest-ache-many-years-ago-when.html">Earache</a>. And reviewing "CSI: Ambleside"<a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/06/amble-side-story-photographer-would.html"> live from Ambleside</a>. And we laboured hard and late over our <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-sugargliders-nest-with-view-1990.html">Sugargliders</a> retrospective, as we really wanted to pay that record the tribute we felt it deserved. (Retrospectives also provided a neat opportunity to show overdue love to legends like <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/07/14-iced-bears-hold-on-inside-cherry-red.html">14 Iced Bears</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2016/09/amayenge-zambia-legends-zambia-music.html">Amayenge</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-hit-parade-pick-of-pops-vol.html">the Hit Parade</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/11/secret-shine-singles-1992-1994-saint.html">Secret Shine</a>, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-penny-change-from-two-pound-coins.html">Emily</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/08/our-heads-are-round-so-that-our.html">Action Painting!</a>)<br />
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We also *very* much enjoyed doing the <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/11/carcass-surgical-steel-nuclear-blast.html">comeback albums showdown</a> that pitched Carcass against Chas & Dave: gratifyingly (if surprisingly), our most viewed article ever. And we penned a few words on East River Pipe’s so-perfect, surely more-than-seminal “Miracleland” (though typically, we can’t find our original review of it, so you’ll have to settle for <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2010/01/una-cancion-miracleland.html">the Spanish version</a> as kindly translated by Juan de Ribera Berenguer). But in many ways the proverbial biscuit was taken by Insect Warfare's highly commendable attempt to produce an epitaph for *all* music. <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/09/end-of-affair-this-is-it-isnt-it-as.html">It had our vote</a>.<br />
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But that’s more than enough about us. Here’s the important bit at last.<br />
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Thanks first of all to our numerous in-house and guest contributors, back in the days when we covered indie-pop via everything from pub reviews to recipes to 4th Division matchday reports: Jamie (aka “amy”, whose pic of his local the Grave Maurice became our site banner), Howie, Bill Preest (RIP), Alex Scott, Andrés Moreno, Michael Press, the mysterious Sara and of course our inconstant talisman, d’Alma.<br />
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Heartfelt thanks to the particularly faithful support and encouragement from Sam (tasty / a layer of chips), Roy Thirlwall, Pete Bowers, Jimmy Tassos, Tim Rippington (the only popstar ever to sleep on our sofa), Joseph Kyle and every single one of our tiny but surely impeccably well-informed phalanx of followers.<br />
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Thanks to those who let us interview them: <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-ilwttorg-archive-series-rosehips.html">the Rosehips</a>, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-ilwttorg-archive-series-harper-lee.html">Keris</a>, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-ilwttorg-archive-series-pinkie.html">Alex Sharkey</a>, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-ilwttorg-archive-series-free-french.html">Rhodri Marsden</a>, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-ilwttorg-archive-series-liberty-ship.html">Marc Elston</a>, <a href="http://matineerecordings.com/ilwtt">JT</a>, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-ilwttorg-archive-series-trilemma.html">Rob</a> (Trilemma) and <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2010/07/that-sunderland-sound.html">Stephen</a> (Kosmonaut, This Almighty Pop!)<br />
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Thanks to those that even let us write for them: Keris and Matinée, Dennis (Candy Twist Records), Roque and Horowitz, the Spiral Scratch crew, Rockpile magazine and Nathan Lee.<br />
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Thanks to everyone else who lent us supportive or friendly words between 1999 and now, however tacitly or fleetingly (several of you may not even remember doing so, but I promise you did): especially Marianthi, Ian, Pete Green, Ed209, Gregory Webster, Caesar, Mark (Hi-Life Companion), Mark (Picture Center), Rachel Stevenson, various Beatnik Filmstars, Terry Banks, Crayola, keith/keyth (ilxor), the Steinbecks, Laura (Saint Mary Mead), Jen & Stew (we’re not giving up, just moving forward, but remain <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2014/06/ilwtt0555-stay-hopeful-555-compilation.html">forever</a> <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2010/08/555-you-helped-us-get-more-alive.html">555</a>), Sev Dah, Sean @ Fortuna Pop!, Jessica Griffin, John Brenton, Ellie @ Teleskopik Records, Pale Sunday, Wayne Gooderham, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2014/08/ilwtt08-hurt-you-and-kill-you-inside.html">Slumberland Records</a>, Jean Bach, John @ WIAIWYA, Matt @ Shinkansen (“<i>I’m not entirely sure who I’m writing to…</i>”), erstwhile indie-mp3 kingpin Tom B (who kindly took over hosting our <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-ilwttorg-archive-series-bubblegum.html">Bubblegum Splash!</a> microsite as a public service), Vince (A Witness), the Declining Winter, Close Lobsters, Even As We Speak, Craig from Catchpenny Records, Yvonne Ng, Chubby Alcoholic MC, Llwybr Llaethog, JD Brown, Robert Lloyd, Phil Wilson, Brogues, Dimitra Daisy, Happy Capitalist, The Boy Least Likely To, Laz Bubblegum, Sukhdev Sandhu, Bunny Nightlight and many, many others we have wrongly forgotten this precise second… but without your shoves to keep us going, we’d have been reduced to spending far too much of the last twenty years in the fresh air, or being wildly sociable, or climbing the career ladder to corporate success.<br />
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Thanks to every band, artist and label who graced our turntable, cassette deck, minidisc, i-pod or laptop, and especially the many, many labels and artists who proactively got in touch to send us promos and demos, back in pre-mp3 days: we know that was a cost for small labels, and always appreciated that, and made sure that in return we gave the courtesy of detailed listening, and considered reviews, whenever we could.<br />
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Thanks to the other valiant websites and blogs that risked tarnishing their brand by linking to us, not least <a href="http://brilldream.blogspot.com/">brilldream</a>, Stolen Kisses, <a href="http://allthatevermattered.blogspot.com/">All That Ever Mattered</a> and stereo*cute.<br />
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Thanks to all the lively sometime denizens of our ever-febrile, now long-gone, possibly lamented <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030918012144/http://www.voy.com/55128/">message board</a>.<br />
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Thanks to <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-soul-than-northern-soul-we-were.html">John Peel</a>, who fearlessly played us shamblers, janglers, angular noiseniks, hip-hop, techno, reggae, Zimbabwean pop, hardcore, drum & bass, grime and the rest long before we realised how all those genres were capable of being completely life-changing.<br />
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And thanks most of all to Paul, who introduced us to reading and writing fanzines when we were still at school together. We couldn’t be more grateful for having experienced the world that opened up.<br />
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Sunset. This is where we exit.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-54850424020720982422019-03-15T16:10:00.002+00:002019-03-15T16:10:25.550+00:00Carry On Beaming: Extreme Noise Terror @ New Cross Inn, March 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: center;">A bracing evening in South East London was the backdrop to the latest outing for The Insolvency Practitioner, The Lawyer and the Head Of Residential Research (a rejected Westside Connection B-side, there).</span><br />
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We convened in New Cross House, supping random on-brand ales and looking out on to the neglected New Cross Road, a street unchastened by time. The pub, halfway between New Cross’s handy but frankly unnecessary two railway stations, instinctively feels quite upmarket: tastefully lit, stylish lounge décor, a youngish clientele (albeit dressing old - the Head Of Research explains that these are the slacks and sports jacket crowd of nearby Goldsmiths’ College), if surprisingly quiet for a Saturday night.<br />
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We chat about life, love and recent gigs: the Insolvency Practitioner just spent a small fortune to watch Massive Attack play in a Filton aircraft hangar, but on balance he reckons it was worth it. The Head Of Research ventured to see New Model Army, who we'd seen on Top Of The Pops as kids: he was impressed by the music, if bemused by the band's ever-fervent acolytes. The Lawyer offers recent outings to the Declining Winter, BMX Bandits and Comet Gain. He is met by polite but confused silence.<br />
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So we talk about Svalbard, Full Of Hell, Wormrot and the latest of Shane Embury’s seemingly annual side projects. We moan about the unreasonable refusal of young kids to enjoy extreme metal. We embark on an extensive retro discussion about Snub TV. We lament the infelicities of goal difference in the lower leagues. Hell, it's a Saturday night.<br />
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Bubbles rise, froth subsides, glasses are downed and before we know it, it’s half past nine. The Insolvency Practitioner suggests that we head for the New Cross Inn pronto: he is keen to get there before 10, when Extreme Noise Terror – that phenomenal British band who we who haven’t had cause to rave about since their <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/12/extreme-noise-terror-extreme-noise.html">last LP</a> three years ago – are scheduled to take the stage. Ever empirical, The Lawyer (used to an hourly rate) suggests there’s no hurry: the Inn is literally across the street, and we can see into it from where we’re sitting. Plus, when was the last time a band ever came on early? However, the IP’s formidable negotiation techniques prevail and we’re soon dodging startled traffic to hop over the New Cross Road.</div>
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Once inside, the contrast between here and where we’ve come from is striking: there are no cravat-clad dilettantes or smartly dressed young rakes in sight. Instead, the Inn is a bawdy sawdust room, teeming with crustheads, Conflict patches and Crass regalia. The venue boasts a cramped stage on one side, raised only a foot from the floor; nests of picnic tables on the other side, worn down by the imprint of a thousand plastic pint glasses; in the middle, the moshpit ballroom. Above the stage, a quote from Dean Martin: <i>“I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.” </i>As we’ve got time, it seems only fair to head for the bar.</div>
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In New Cross House, we felt a little slovenly and out of place: but in the New Cross Inn, we might as well be wearing our weekday suits and ties. It’s not just the old punks in tonight, though; there are plenty of youthful faces – more than we might have imagined - awaiting the arrival of surely Ipswich’s finest musical export. As we slouch barward, the Head Of Research bags a “Phonophobia” T-shirt for a bargain crumpled tenner (apparently Massive Attack were charging £35 for their T-shirts), and pulls it proudly over his head. We are ready.<br />
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In fairness to the IP, the current, five-piece ENT do ascend the stage at around 10, although there’s a good ten minutes of soundchecking, banter and posing for selfies with smiling punters before the set begins. And, from the first minute of it, they are exceptional: the drums, bass and guitar are *ruthlessly* taut, re-imagining the band’s blistering, Route One hardcore about 10-15% faster than the recorded versions. But the songs are really made by ENT’s legendary dual vocal attack, with Ben Crow now joining Dean Jones at the front, both ducking and diving as their gruff voices dovetail to spit out the incendiary, ever-direct lyrics which helped put the band on the map long ago, back when your writer was contemplating the approach of GCSEs rather than the impending onset of middle age.</div>
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Instantly, in front of us, the room transforms into a blur of knees, elbows, happy heads and pogoing bodies. The space right by the stage is not yet thick with punters, which means that the mosh fraternity aren’t merely jostling, shoulder-barging or bouncing off one another, but are able to enjoy the luxury of taking a full run-up before clattering and colliding: they’re mostly doing so joyfully, but alcohol is involved, and at the start there’s a distinct edge to the throng, with a few fists flying (although there’s security on the door, there’s none at all inside the venue). There are gestures and grimaces, and one flustered man pushes past us as he ushers his frightened companion outside. However, as the Inn fills once more, the stagediving begins (again, unhindered by any evidence of venue staff or security), and the moshpit souls start to regain their bearings after the initial excitement. The atmosphere improves and we can focus on what we came here for: the music. That said, it’s rare even in all our years of grindcore gigs to be immersed an atmosphere this feral, this *alive*.</div>
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For this boy, the icing on the cake - as I survey the thunder on and off stage, driven by incessant grindcore rhythms - is the set list, which unfailingly cherrypicks hits and favourites from a long if sporadic discography, the many iterations of a group beset by line-up changes who Wikipedia tells us have had 30 members since 1985. “Religion Is Fear”, the standout track from their <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/01/best-of-2008-part-five-lps-and-mixtapes.html">“Law Of Retaliation”</a> set (“<i>for </i>t<i>he paedophiles of the Catholic Church</i>”) is the first that really hits the spot, but not the last.<br />
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There’s the ever-topical, ‘now more than ever’ barrage of “Bullshit Propaganda”. There’s the trenchant, plaintive “Just Think About It”, another reminder that this band were singing about ecology and environmental catastrophe long before it registered on the radar of today’s MOR do-gooders: and a track from that Vinyl Japan LP, “Phonophobia” – yes, a reminder of the days when ENT were labelmates with BMX Bandits and St. Christopher. Likewise, there’s “Raping The Earth”, which Ben dedicates to his predecessor, the late Phil Vane, and we we all raise our plastic pint glasses to his memory. There’s “Short Fuse”, originally on their Driller Killer split, as furious and as discombobulating <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/03/worth-of-waiting.html">as it was back then</a>. There’s the signature staccato-punk rush of the still-urgent “Carry On Screaming” (“<i>alcohol and DTs have fucked up me, now a sober life I cannot lead</i>”, as Dean Martin might also have said). There are bankers from their “Retro-bution” LP, including “Human Error” and a stirring “Work For Never”. There’s a shout-out intro to the vegans and animal lovers before another stone cold classic, “Murder”, the song that’s normally the highlight for us. But tonight, our heart is warmed the most by the short but delectable salvo of another Peel session favourite, “False Profit”, which plays merry havoc with our heart strings. Marvellous stuff.</div>
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ENT, like the Wedding Present, don’t do encores ("<i>we're not Motley Crue</i>", Ben acknowledges). So the set ends sharply, and perhaps incongruously, with a cover of Sham 69’s “Borstal Breakout”. That song - rustic even by the standards of early Sham - provides a clue as to where ENT’s punk spirit came from, but also acts as a reminder that the band before us tonight took things so much further and faster than their forebears, as they helped to create a genre that mixed politics, positivity, energy, anger and noise. They might not have gone on to trouble the Top Ten like Mr Pursey did, but they’ve still planted the imprint of their Doc Martens on UK culture, via late-night Peel, their crossover in to the music papers, and that classic night at the Brit Awards. Yet it’s a legacy they wear lightly: tonight, in an old fashioned way, you sensed they didn’t care about much more than sending an attentive, appreciative, and at times over-eager audience home happy. And so said audience - not entirely sober, but still smiling, visibly enthralled, and ears ringing - shuffles out and heads for one or other of New Cross’s railway stations.</div>
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As we leave, the Head Of Residential Property nods across to the stuffed shirts and smart blouses still in New Cross House. They look happy enough, but I promise you this: they don’t know what they missed by not following us across the road tonight.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-30404340329299196642018-12-31T23:55:00.000+00:002018-12-31T23:55:09.126+00:00 2018 (we lost our way, in the rain)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello. If we’ve been quiet lately, it’s due to the belated realisation (a sobering one, after thirty years of trying to evangelise for our favourite records, starting in the days when our secondhand typewriter was as high-tech as the process got) that writing about music doesn’t feel so worth pursuing in the age of the internet and when you don’t in all honesty have the time, the spark or the audience to make it worthwhile.<br />
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But we’re damned if we’re not going to let you know our picks of 2018, because somehow good, good people all across this wretched globe just won’t stop making and curating great music, and everything below deserves your love and attention. For music’s sake, purchase the hell out of these records if you can.</div>
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That said, this time next year we might skip writing up our lists here and just sit on a bench outside to yell the names of our top 2019 picks at passing traffic instead.</div>
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<b>***Singles of the year***</b></div>
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<i>"I've got an invisible band / that's lovingly constructed"</i></div>
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<b>1. The Hit Parade ”Happy World” (JSH) –</b> “<i>with love from the Hit Parade</i>”… an unassuming, self-deprecating, yet pretty-much-perfect platinum pure-pop 7” from Julian Henry and his <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-hit-parade-pick-of-pops-vol.html">not-so-stupid band</a>...<br />
<b>2. Fret “Silent Neighbour” (L.I.E.S.) </b>…and this is surely the perfect 12”, from our fave Mick Harris project since Quoit: an immense, powerhouse 20 minutes, with four tunes expertly teasing out the boundaries between industrial noise, wrecking-ball broken techno and walls of feedback dub (as per the all-conquering <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-depth-of-leaves.html">LP</a> last yr)<br />
<b>3. The Catenary Wires “Was That Love?” (Where It’s At Is Where You Are)</b> – tender, post-Marble Giantsy alleged AA-side of splendid 7” that radiates brittle, delicate beauty and sheer sadness: mind you, the A, “What About The Rings?” is not far behind<br />
<b>4. Joker ft Footsie “Marching Orders” (Kapsize) </b>– hmm, one for Darrell Clarke: lethal Brizzle meets LDN grimestep on the twelves as moonlighting Newham General languidly rolls 3AM vibes over sensational, skewed Joker riddims<br />
<b>5. JK Flesh “Wasplike” (Inner Surface)</b> – more blue riband post-Napalm Midlands techno: a bright, playful, sweetly-pulsing floor-kisser from a man more renowned for industrial and metal heft<br />
<b>6. The Hit Parade “Oh Honey I...” (JSH) </b>- “<i>as Edwyn said, I’m simply thrilled to / play my guitar and talk to you through / a dead medium like this”</i>: oh, but not half as thrilled as we are to listen to you, Julian<br />
<b>7. Azure Blue “Whatever ‘18” (Matinée Recordings) </b>– the addictive, devil-may-care, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/02/lucid-fairytale-fourth-defiant-decade.html">should-have-been summer hit</a> that wrongly wasn’t, from Gothenburg’s archduke of electro pop nous</div>
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<b>8. Memory Drawings “Phantom Lights” (Signal) </b>– the dulcimer-led instrumental marvels paraded triumphantly into <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/05/floating-down-river-of-life-holding-on.html">our town</a> brandishing this sun-glinting travelogue six-tracker, starring a stunning title track and the “Elegia”-style caresses of “Final Curtain”. Also: *dub inflections*<br />
<b>9. Comet Gain “If Not Tomorrow” / “I Was More Of A Mess Then” (Tapete)</b> – ace 7” double-header return from THEE C.G. - now rostered with Robert Forster on their new German label home - max plaudits for “Tomorrow”, which is sensitive and pretty, yet faster and feistier than their super-reflective last LP<br />
<b>10. P Brothers ”Mentaltainment” (Heavy Bronx) </b>– effectively 3 US-UK A-sides in 1: surly bleeders Milano, Daniel Son and Your Old Droog coax out the rhymes as the Nottingham Bronx regroup & smack down all pretenders with this exhibition of on-fire North American street-corner MCing<br />
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<i>“I thought it would make me seem really cool / but all it did was make me lose all of my hair”</i><br />
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<b>11. Various Artists “Themes & Variations” (Osiris Music) </b>– a stellar Osiris v/a twelve: label boss Mønic’s in combative mood on the bracing “Stampede” (though more plague of locusts than rampaging wildebeest); Pessimist’s “Indigo” purveys hangdog St Paul’s crawl; the main Møn & Grebenstein team up to ooze slow-cooking dread with “Cutting The Ties That Bind”; but best of all is the malevolent Dorset drum & bass of Overlook’s thumping “Former Self”<br />
<b>12. Rotten Sound “Suffer To Abuse” (Season Of Mist) </b>– a grind tsunami roars across the Bothia as the frolicking Finnish foursome pummel us with seven slabs of socially astute metallic noise, taking in homelessness, people-trafficking, drug abuse, the 9 to 5 grind and sold-out rivals along the way<br />
<b>13. Sneakbo ft Swavey, Mdargg, J. Boy and Bellzey “Fuck It” (Jetskiwave Records)</b> - past chart-botherer Sneakbo and selected SW2-aligned allies drop the year’s most unforgivingly screwface posse cut, the most potent track from his “Brixton” set<br />
<b>14. Filthy Gears ft Maxsta “Boom & Bang” (1 Forty): Lyrical Strally, Ali McK & Jhuttz "Grime Street" (1Forty) </b>– taken together, these (the lead tracks from the “1FGRM002” and "1FGRM003" EPs), irresistibly team Leeds' 1Forty crew with lyrical talent from the capital: Lewisham’s Maxsta shines over a forward-running grime riddim (shades of Filthy’s ace MC Vapour collabo last yr), while YGG's Lyrical Strally lays waste to "Grime Street" with equal style and character<br />
<b>15. Jook & Jammz “No Remorse” (Sector 7 Sounds)</b> – Jammz gets nippy & Jook gets jiggy as Hackney meets Brighton and general lyrical more-fire ensues<br />
<b>16. The Orchids ”I Never Learn” (Where It’s At Is Where You Are) </b>– easy, teased-out lowkey Scotch-pop skills on the sevens, from the kings of um, lazy perfection<br />
<b>17 Lemzly Dale “Catty” (Sector 7 Sounds) </b>– all-too rare vinyl outing for Lewisham Red Merky Ace as he kills lead tune “What We Do” on yet another sparkling Bristol-meets-LDN 12”<br />
<b>18. Sev Dah “Proletarijat 007” (Proletarijat) </b>– 30 yrs on from “Three English Football Grounds”, we now have a 12” banger dedicated to three Yugoslav football grounds - Poljud (Split), Marakana (Belgrade) and Grbavika (Sarajevo): all via vibrant, 90s-tinted techno stylings that would have graced ZET in the day. Sev remains as stylish and resilient as the Croatia ’18 side this record celebrates<br />
<b>19. Sidetracked / Scum Human split (GrindPromotion)</b> – it’s obv. ace to have Tacoma shortcore fury-mongers Sidetracked back on vinyl, but it’s Vancouver’s S.H. who fly highest on this Italian-released shared 7” pearl, all spot-on spat-out powerviolence rage<br />
<b>20. The BV’s “Every Story Is A Ghost Story” (Cloudberry Records) </b>– wistful Anglo-German popsters brew a tender Cornish cream blend of swirly mid-fi Sarah-ish melodies, the silky reverb of Young Scum, the relatable melancholy of Forest Giants, and Brighter’s flexi classic “Next Summer”: all courtesy of the inestimable <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/07/feeling-mission-when-we-were-talking.html">Cloudberry</a><br />
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<i>“I’m a dark skin ting, red lipstick / man I rock what I want, don’t business”</i><br />
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<b>21. Jeff Rushin “Between Minds” (Arts Collective) </b>– Amsterdam scene doyen pumps out effortless artist EP of sibilant, futurist, passably Moroderish techno. Toss-up between title track and the Andrew Johnson-ish “New Era” for overall crown<br />
<b>22. Aleja Sanchez “The Acheron Passage” (Illegal Alien) </b>– Colombian skills supreme on Mexican label as Aleja deploys a throbbing, haunting ode to a New Zealand waterway on 12”<br />
<b>23. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks “Middle America” (Domino) </b>– a textbook example of how meaningless lyrics can seem utterly meaning<i>ful</i>, when you get everything else right: not wholly convinced by the long-player, but on this one a massively underrated singer-songwriter rolls back the years to Pavement’s “Here”<br />
<b>24. Lioness ft Stush, Queenie, Little Simz, Lady Leshurr and Shystie “DBT Remix” (Lioness)</b> – a razorsharp anti-colourism tirade from Lioness and her many distinguished guests, another standout in a fine yr for posse cuts<br />
<b>25. The Declining Winter “Chimneys etc.” (Signal)</b> – sold-out in seconds (maximum grrr) <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/05/floating-down-river-of-life-holding-on.html">7” joy of pencil-sketch tracks</a> from windswept Yorkshire marvels the Declining Winter (before they took to the M62 for the higher-fi “Belmont Slope” LP)<br />
<b>26. Isnaj Duj “Dean Clough C2” (Flaming Pines)</b> - found-sound post-industry basement ambience from Halifax’s most consistent performer since Neil Redfearn, on fetching CD-r into the bargain<br />
<b>27. DJ Overdose “Wires Smoking” (L.I.E.S.) </b>– doyen of the apparently burgeoning The Hague scene (it’s not all war crimes trials and bungling GRU agents) rustles up our top electro tip of the year<br />
<b>28. Myrkur “Juniper” (Relapse) </b>– this properly international 7” (Danish artist, Pennsylvania label, English studio, Colombian producer) is how we reckon Kate Bush would do crossover shoegaze folk-metal. Plus, no track in our top 50 would make a better Scando-noir theme tune than this one<br />
<b>29. Ol’ Dirty Bastard ft Raekwon, Method Man & Macy Gray “Intoxicated” (Damon Dash / 36 Chambers) </b>– few people have released records this great 14 years after they died, but then ODB was always something special: a surprisingly effective tribute from his Wu Tang compadres, for what would have been his 50th birthday<br />
<b>30. Terror Danjah ft Jammz, God’s Gift, Capo Lee, Trigga, Hitman Hyper & Irah “Overproof” (Hardrive)</b> – stellar cast list tells you all you need to know, surely. Spellchecker corrected this to Ovenproof, which pleased us (said spellchecker also stubbornly refuses to recognise ‘Brexit’ – fight the power)<br />
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<i>“I’m a missing link between the pig and the divine / I shall cast the pearls before the swine”</i><br />
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<b>31. Shades ft Killa P “Alarma” (Deadbeats) </b>- transatlantic dynamic duo Shades lay down some skulking subterranean beat skullduggery as Killa’s magnetic attraction to the best productions continues<br />
<b>32. Behemoth “God = Dog” (Nuclear Blast)</b> - Gdansk’s finest wrestle with new ways to blaspheme on a surprisingly huggable 7”, settling for the happy medium of a shoegaze-death metal meld, plus some kids on backing vocals<br />
<b>33. JK Flesh “PI.04” (PI Electronics)</b> – sprightly pixel-perfect artist EP from the newly-prolific JKF on which he spread his electro/techno wings for the first (but not last) time this year<br />
<b>34. Arrest! Charlie Tipper “Berlin EP” (Breaking Down) </b>– ever-undersung Bristol stalwarts A!CT officially enter their Berlin period: “I Won’t Fight Your Battles” and “Last Night In Berlin” offer contrasting, but plaintively great, new wave-ified indie thrills<br />
<b>35. Terror “Mental Demolition” (Nuclear Blast) </b>– a raging slab of sullenly old-school hardcore anger (of course) from the L.A. veterans, one which we perhaps identified with a little too readily. But then when even Barbra Streisand has turned to agit-prop, you know it’s time to *resist*<br />
<b>36. Insolate “Proletarijat 005” (Proletarijat) </b>- the erstwhile Miss Sunshine dazzles on 12” with her contribution to Sev Dah’s Proletarijat series, especially the (quick) march of “Ponos” (pride)<br />
<b>37. Sex Prisoner / Harm Done split 7” (To Live A Lie) </b>- Tucson's S.P. improve with every release: their clutch of tracks here are five-star growling powerviolence, all shards of metal and flecks of magic dust<br />
<b>38. Sharky Major “Grime Original” (Grime Originals) </b>– <i>"I helped build a scene / that helped man move their mum from her council flat</i><i>"</i><i>: </i>the N.A.S.T.Y. Crew don slays on a Biggaman production tip, even before you encounter the remix ft Manga, Fumin, Bruza (yay) and Maxwell D<br />
<b>39. Sev Dah “Proletarijat 006” (Proletarijat)</b> – on which the series of hymns to Yugoslav partisans reached #6, peaking with “Rebellion”’s futurist techYES<br />
<b>40. Little Simz “Offence” (Age 101 Music) </b>– with bravado and admirable purpose, Islington-grown homegirl Simz *razes* it up over low-down deep funk stylings<br />
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<i>"</i><i>Who you elected is so septic, so full of shit, I can't accept it"</i><br />
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<b>41. Wiley “Flip The Table” (self-released) </b>– flamin’ ace war dub freestyle (Dizzee & Skepta take cover) from the indefatigable <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/07/wiley-chasing-art-island-wiley.html">crown prince of E3</a> that brings back memories of those Eskiboy and Tunnel Vision mixtapes back in day<br />
<b>42. Quentin Ravn “Apollo” (OFF Recordings) </b>– sulphuric, blasting Bordeaux acid techno on Berlin (of course) label<br />
<b>43. Terror Danjah ft FFS Why Though </b><b>“</b><b>FFS Why Though?!</b><b>”</b><b> (Hardrive)</b> - insanely <i>icy</i>, proto-eski beats from Terror, nicely set off by cheeky jab-and-parry rhyming from newcomer FFS<br />
<b>44. Various Artists “Propaganda Moscow - Act IV” (Propaganda) </b>- ace Russian club presents showcase 12” from Jeff Rushin (Amsterdam), Pacou (Berlin), Alexander Babaev (Moscow) and Ctrls (Copenhagen): please note strong correlation between the coolest European cities and mad techno skillz<br />
<b>45. YGG “Strikers” (Astral Black) </b>– Camden-rooted youngsters step up to boxfresh own-right single, illuminated by smart rhymes and quirky metaphors<br />
<b>46. Terrorizer “Caustic Terror” (The End) </b>- cracking LP taster single that clocks in sweetly at just under a minute, despite the extravagance of a drum solo…<br />
<b>47. Mary & Stew “You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth” (Emotional Response) -</b> Mary <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/08/such-beautiful-day-as-this-even-as-we.html">EAWS</a> and Stewart <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/10/once-in-full-colour-now-flickering.html">'racer</a> go ‘flexi-crazy’ with unlikely but delectable Meatloaf cover, loosely in the vein of the Mary Chain’s strummed ballads<br />
<b>48. Code Error “Code Error” (Tandang Records) </b>– super Singaporean, post-<a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2011/09/singlish-scheme-saturday-night-back-in.html">Wormrot</a>, cassette-pet grindcore<br />
<b>49. Cindy “Creepin’ While Ya Sleepin” (Ravage Digital Series) </b>– whisper it softly, but techno enfant terrible Cindy is beginning to stockpile some abso-cracking tunes behind those uncompromising/oddball song titles<br />
<b>=50. Ice Cube “Arrest The President” (Lench Mob) </b>– at his best, our favourite wish-they-were-uncle <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/09/straight-outta-compton-straight-into.html">Cube</a> was always angry, wise and on-point: and this delivers on all counts<br />
<b>=50. Deicide “Excommunicated” (Century Family) </b>– stinging, still got-it DM (a dinky taster for their “Overtures Of Blasphemy” set) which, despite their ever-advancing years, doesn’t neglect pace one iota<br />
<b>=50. The Wedding Present / Cinerama “White Riot” / “The Name Of The Game” (Where It’s At Is Where You Are)</b> – well, as we’re talking old hands... <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/02/wedding-present-you-jane-scopitones-it.html">the Gedge machine</a> lands triumphantly on WIAIWYA with an instantly-sold out covers single to complete that label’s stellar year: and TWP ‘win’ the face-off with “White Riot”, possibly the first cover they’ve done which isn’t twice as fast as the original…<br />
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And as usual there were loads of scintillating should-be hit songs that weren’t singles, but modestly tucked away on vinyl B-sides, splits, or EP and LP tracks. So <a href="http://kisschase4.blogspot.com/2018/12/133-best-of-2018-without-a-sides.html">here</a> is a set list we composed entirely of unbelievably ace tunes from 2018 that would no doubt have made the cut had they been ‘proper’ 45s.<br />
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<b>***Albums of the year***</b></div>
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<i>"This body is mine, so the decision is mine" </i><br />
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<b>1. JK Flesh “New Horizon” (Electric Deluxe) </b>– JKF catapults into the big league with this ahead-of-its-time 2xLP set juggling pulsating minimalist grooves with groggy dub techno: simply exceptional (however facetious it might sound, we’re tempted to say it’s his best since “Scum”)<br />
<b>2. Cappo & Cyrus Malachi “Postmodernism” (Village Live)</b> – assured, essential suite of hip-hop poetry and vaguely Taskforce-ish pontification from Notts and Hackney tsars of simile, which we almost missed as it sneaked out halfway through Advent</div>
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<b>3. Nothing Clean “Cheat” (Abusive Noise Tapes / Circus Of The Macabre / Force Fed Records / Repulsive Medias / Samizdat Records / SuperFi Records / Vleesklak Records) </b>– highly lucid Leicester noisemongers destroy all before them in startling 41-tune long-player debut, peppered with newies plus selected ‘hits’ from their two-year parade of split 7”s<br />
<b>4. The Declining Winter “Belmont Slope” (Home Assembly Music)</b> - swiftish on the heels of their willo’ the wisp “Chimneys etc.” the Winter unfurled this higher-fi, if worringly downbeat slew of rustic, post-Hood tumbling in the ferns, abounding with the raw gorgeousness of tunes like “My Divided World”<br />
<b>5. Svalbard “It’s Hard To Have Hope” (Holy Roar) </b>- a title ripe for broken Brexit Britain, but an uplifting and activist suite of searing, passionate Bristolian shoegazemetal that musically alternates the bellicose and brittle: and lyrically takes in sexual assault, feminism, identity politics, the right to choose, worksploitation, and the plight of rescue dogs<br />
<b>6. Death Toll 80k “Step Down” (Svart) </b>– we were really worried they’d gone for good, but they had a last Act in store for us: one of the truly great grindcore combos (up there with <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/02/lucid-fairytale-fourth-defiant-decade.html">Napalm</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2011/09/singlish-scheme-saturday-night-back-in.html">Wormrot</a>, Nasum and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/09/end-of-affair-this-is-it-isnt-it-as.html">Insect Warfare</a>) returned with this divine selection – topical yrics, too (fur farms, the need for better environmental regulation, the normalisation of fascist views)<br />
<b>7. Azure Blue “Fast Falls The Eventide” (Matinée Recordings)</b> – <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/06/all-those-times-youve-taken-heart-only_30.html">confident, sassy but crucially relatable</a> electro-pop genius from Sweden: yes, a top 10 single and a top 10 album this year, in our world at least<br />
<b>8. Math & Physics Club “Lived Here Before” (Matinée Recordings / Fika Recordings) </b>– M&PC play, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/01/happy-here-in-half-light.html">with tunefulness and tender care</a>, for all of our entertainment and delight: boasting <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-piece-of-continent-part-of-main.html">the best single of 2017 of course</a> plus the REM-tinged should-be-single joys of “Take A Number” or “Broadcasting Waves” etc etc…<br />
<b>9. Born To Murder The World “The Infinite Mirror Of Millennial Narcissism” (Extrinsic Recordings) </b>– FETO-related Black Country supergroup attack modern life, all guns blazing<br />
<b>10. Chas & Dave “All About Us” (Rockney) </b>– it was another masterly comeback from the <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2009/03/aint-no-pleasing-you.html">septuagenarian superstars</a>, pleasingly back on their iconic label, but sadly (R.I.P. Chas Hodges) it was to be their swansong. Listen, if the belting “Nothing You Can Do” isn’t one of the top songs of 2018, then I’m a whole crate of bananas<br />
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<i>"Hadron collider / who's there? / Knock, knock"</i><br />
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<b>11. Slam “Athenaeum 101” (Soma) </b>– slinky, thoughtful techno mood music that goes from 0 to 1h01m on the clock, at 101bpm natch, over snug IDM segments<br />
<b>12. Half Man Half Biscuit “No One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin' Hedge Cut” (Probe Plus) </b>– storytellers, soothsayers, sultans of satire, the four men who shook the Wirral return. Shame they don’t do singles any more though<br />
<b>13. The Perfect English Weather “Don’t You Wanna Feel The Rain?” (Matinée Recordings) </b>– south-coast songsmiths unveil classy travelogue pop<br />
<b>14. Blawan "Wet Will Always Dry” (Ternesc) </b>– Barnsley-to-Berlin leftfield techno magnificence<br />
<b>15. P.L.F. “Jackhammering Deathblow of Nightmarish Trepidation” (Six Weeks) </b>– erm, jackhammering deathblows of nightmarish trepidation, from grind-minded, ever-tuff Texans Pretty Little Flower<br />
<b>16. Dean Wareham vs. Cheval Sombre (Double Feature) </b>– it’s um… <i>slight</i> for sure, but it’s also gentle, wry and lovable: surely the best country crossover album since Jeff Walker took on the classics<br />
<b>17. J Mascis “Elastic Days” (Sub Pop) </b>– yes, he's still going: this is Dinosaur-unplugged but – like the Malkmus, Wareham and Donnelly outings of 2018 – a still-fresh reminder of dark and woozy pop skills. “See You At The Movies” is an utter peach of songwriting, up there with his best<br />
<b>18. Third Eye Foundation “Wake The Dead” (Ici D’Ailleurs)</b> – maybe more grown-up, maybe less playful (aside from the chaotic respite of "That's Why"), but it’s always worth re-communing with Matt Elliott’s haunting, modernist soundscapes<br />
<b>19. Haiku Salut “There Is No Elsewhere” (Prah Records) </b>– <i>so</i> pleased they’re still around and dropping these occasional (mellow) bombs on us<br />
<b>=20. Violation Wound “With Man In Charge” (Peaceville) </b>– coruscating, rocky, socially conscious somethingcore (on Doom’s least favourite label!) mixing short sharp shocks with addictive tunes like the enviro-sympathetic title track<br />
<b>=20. Septic Tank “Rotting Civilisation” (Rise Above) </b>– Lee Dorrian’s couldn’t-be-less-like-Cathedral project on solid form, mixing very British hardcore with a twist of grind and getting most of the numbers on the socially-conscious lyric bingo card into the bargain<br />
<b>=20. Terror “Total Retaliation” (Nuclear Blast) –</b> massively ace, severely bludgeoning west coast hardcore with gurning breakdowns and boasting an ace hip-hop interlude, too: there’s even a tune called “In Spite Of These Times”, hopefully inspired by <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2016/04/close-lobsters-desire-signs-ep-shelflife.html">Close Lobsters</a>. Or by us.<br />
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<b>***Record of the year that wasn’t really a single or an album***</b></div>
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oh, that'll probably be <b>Famous Problems'</b> 10” mini-LP/maxi-EP thing <b><a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/05/floating-down-river-of-life-holding-on.html">“Hey! It’s Raining!”</a> </b>on WIAIWYA, although to be honest we’d have been happy as a tic in mustard just to have had “I’d Do It A Thousand Times” as a 7” single!<br />
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Closely pursued by <b>Chester P's "P.A.S.T." </b>EP, a several-track digital thing via his own Real Talk records... a welcome, welcome return for the local hero (apart from Bobby Gillespie, <b>Taskforce</b> are probably our nearest neighbours who we own any records by...)<br />
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<b>***Gigs of the year***</b><br />
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<i>"I feel like someone's favourite meal / no sweeteners or additives, the flavour is real"</i><br />
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<b>1. Memory Drawings – </b><a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/05/floating-down-river-of-life-holding-on.html">one spring evening</a>, a revelation: a simply magical swirl of guitarviolindulcimer<br />
<b>2. BMX Bandits & the Popguns</b> – an incurable romantic, armed only with a kazoo, a banana and a formidable band, saves the world once again; with able back-up from the fine songwriting, ace vocals and feral, raw guitars of the resurgent <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-popguns-lovejunky-matinee.html">Popguns</a><br />
<b>3. Emotional Response Sarah Records tour</b> – yes, Even As We Speak, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/08/our-heads-are-round-so-that-our.html">Action Painting!</a>, Boyracer and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/11/secret-shine-singles-1992-1994-saint.html">Secret Shine</a> all <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/08/such-beautiful-day-as-this-even-as-we.html">in one place on one night</a> (it was something of a shock to have over 1,000 punters read our piece on this in the first 24 hours, instead of the usual three people and a dog, so thanks twitter people and even <a href="https://twitter.com/sarah_records?lang=en">@sarah_records</a> for the unsolicited but welcome tweets and re-tweets…)<br />
<b>4. Comet Gain </b>– we’ll always love them, like they were our own wayward but good-at-heart children. Despite the thunderous back catalogue since we saw them at the Hope & Anchor over 20 yrs ago, their essence hasn’t changed a bit – more power to them<br />
<b>5. The Declining Winter</b> – this wonderful band graced the Angel on a winter's Saturday night with turbocharged versions of “Why Is It So Elusive?” and “My Divided World”<br />
<b>6. Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony @ the Royal Albert Hall </b>– a profoundly Russian brilliance and flair, courtesy of the BBC Symphony Orchestra<br />
<b>7. Madama Butterfly @ Glyndebourne - </b>TUNE!<br />
<b>8. Obituary @ ULU - </b>early-year moshing as the boys returned to show off skills acquired over 30 years of cultivating rasping, bass-heavy death metal stylings<br />
<b>9. Echo & the Bunnymen at the London Palladium</b> – Upsides: great venue, great songs, unbelievable chandelier. Downsides: didn’t play “Silver”<br />
<b>10. Barnet v Bristol Rovers, FA Cup </b>– the greatest competition in the world, a friendly ground, a sunny day, and a cracking cup-tie with controversy and lots of exciting late woodwork-peppering. All for a tenner (let's cast a veil over everything that happened after that, though)<br />
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<b>***Artist compilations of the year***</b><br />
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<i>"lean on a doorframe / make me SHAKE"</i><br />
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<b>1. Monrella “Process & Report EP” (Berceuse Heroique) </b>- yes, Mick Harris had yet another side project, this one dealing in thumping 90s techno (which is fair enough, because it actually was the 1990s). This is a v. welcome 12” that reissues Monrella’s first two ZET singles on one slice of extremely heavyweight vinyl: smilingly shredding stuff for any rave you might care to hold<br />
<b>2. Boyracer “Throw Yr Bonnet Over The Windmill” (Emotional Response)</b> – all-time great UK band turned all-time great US band take a trip down memory lane with <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/06/all-those-times-youve-taken-heart-only_30.html">this compilation</a> of their Sarah EPs (fact: includes one of the best 10 songs ever recorded)<br />
<b>3. Napalm Death “Coded Smears And More Uncommon Slurs” (Century Media)</b> - utterly <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/04/trying-to-find-way-to-say-no-april.html">barnstorming</a> cornucopia of experimental vs ridiculously fast sounds from the <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/02/lucid-fairytale-fourth-defiant-decade.html">living legends</a> that are ND<br />
<b>4. Arrest! Charlie Tipper “The Astonishing Rise Of Charlie Tipper” (Breaking Down) </b>- Arrest! Charlie Tipper being the latest name of the bostin’ Bristol band formerly known as the CT Conspiracy and the CT Experiment, and doubtless soon to be something else again (Big Time Charlie Tipper?): listen, and be baffled how they don’t get more props<br />
<b>5. Action Painting! “Trial Cuts” (Emotional Response)</b> – <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/08/our-heads-are-round-so-that-our.html">essential listening</a> for Sarah-heads, containing all four of the boys’ fantastic singles, even before your head’s turned by a generous dollop of bonus tracks<br />
<b>6. The Mayfields “Compact & Bijou” (Firestation Records) </b>– aah, all the hits (“Deeper Than The Ocean”, “All You Ever Say”, “World Of Your Own”) and more from recent C89ers the Mayfields: but perhaps best of all, the rising intensity of “I Don’t Think So” and its marvellous instrumental section. Aeons overdue, but exceedingly welcome<br />
<b>7. The Wolfhounds “Hands In The Till” (A Turntable Friend)</b> – ghosts of <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/08/of-those-immortal-dead-sounds-of-summer.html">young men recording brilliant Peel seshes</a>: a satisfying nostalgia trip courtesy of east London’s ever-consistent marvels, the Wolfhounds<br />
<b>8. The Love Parade “Out To Sea” (Firestation Tower)</b> – fellow Elston brothers fans, you might not have realised we needed a comp of tLP’s “Liverpool years” (esp after the welcome “All We Could Have Been” reissue), but it turns out we do: this, which includes future Pure standout “Can’t Buy Me Love”, is a treat<br />
<b>9. Napalm Death “Stunt Your Growth” (Church Of Vinyl) </b>– a mere three years from its appearance on their “<a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2015/02/lucid-fairytale-fourth-defiant-decade.html">Apex Predator”</a> LP, “Stunt” and two other archive ND tunes get a limited edition 7” picture disc re-release: utterly pointless, but you simply can’t argue with the brilliance of the music<br />
<b>10. The Fall “58 Golden Greats” (Cherry Red) </b>– <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/01/farewell-fiery-jack.html">a sad loss</a>, but this is as good a way as any to capture the breadth of Smith’s formidable back catalogue<br />
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And that’s it, I think. No digressions or anecdotes this yr. Hope you liked our Essex Road sunset pic: you can find beauty in the bleakest places. Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic 2019 if you can.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-5411723215139790642018-08-31T14:29:00.003+00:002018-08-31T14:29:53.636+00:00"Of those immortal dead": sounds of the summer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkSqvxV_pXlAZqPQuTA1knMWUCCZOWu4YGUnN8rwvfyvpwKqjIt7miusmniwJB5cQQTbIzUpsr3Isc5Y3fhV1aafmYgeStKUHfziCDRjzLHnhRo9iRwEzJj1kme6laeFWwr7Sfg/s1600/eliot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="899" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkSqvxV_pXlAZqPQuTA1knMWUCCZOWu4YGUnN8rwvfyvpwKqjIt7miusmniwJB5cQQTbIzUpsr3Isc5Y3fhV1aafmYgeStKUHfziCDRjzLHnhRo9iRwEzJj1kme6laeFWwr7Sfg/s320/eliot.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
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<b>Self-absorbed World Cup anecdote: The Orchids “I Never Learn” (Where It’s At Is Where You Are): The Wolfhounds “Hands In The Till: The Complete John Peel Sessions” (A Turntable Friend): Various Artists “C89” (Cherry Red): </b><b>Born To Murder The World "The Infinite Mirror Of Millennial Narcissism" (Extrinsic Recordings), </b><b>and more</b></div>
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Um, for this month’s pic we’ve repaired to Highgate Cemetery, this time to bring you George Eliot's resting place. No real reason, other than that we've recently been reminded how "Middlemarch", however forbidding it may seem at first glance, reveals many treasures if you're patient enough.</div>
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The inscription on the base (quoting the author's own lines from "The Choir Invisible"), reads:</div>
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<i>"Of those immortal dead who live again</i></div>
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<i>In minds made better by their presence</i></div>
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<i>Here lies the body of </i></div>
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<i>George Eliot </i></div>
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<i>Mary Ann Cross</i></div>
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<i>Born 22 November 1819</i></div>
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<i>Died 22 December 1880"</i></div>
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It's a beautiful, tranquil spot.</div>
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Anyway, the anecdote. In the late 1990s I worked in Monte Carlo for a while (no hotbed of indie-pop, but there were compensations). One of my supervisors, over-estimating my competence and, in particular, my command of the language, used to send me on errands like checking information at the local <i>bureau des hypotheques</i>. However, although she quickly learned not to give me any tasks that required fluency in French, she was an incredibly pleasant and patient person who sadly died less than a decade later, no older than I am now.</div>
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Her son, about 12 when I met him, would go on to carve out a living as a footballer: not a common career path for somebody whose parents were respectively a banker and a lawyer and – the handful of times I met him – not something I am even sure was that high on his wishlist (he seemed to prefer the tennis courts, which is where he once had a listen to my Def Jam cassette: one of my favourites at the time). Anyway, that kid’s name was Hugo and, last month, he lifted the World Cup trophy for France. I couldn't help but think of his mum: I know she would have been so proud.*</div>
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Not sure whether we’ve mentioned this band the Orchids before**, but they’ve provided succour aplenty over the decades and now resurface with a 7”,“I Never Learn”, on still-fabulous glamour label WIAIWYA. Typically disarming and unassuming, this one waltzes gently around you until it’s somehow created a whirlpool of guitar curves and lyrical sadnesses that carries you away completely: something about it (perhaps the roving bassline and hazy wash of synth) even nods to the Cure, or early Wake.<br />
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On the other side of the record, “Echoes (Have Hope)” ventures elsewhere, more upbeat but with dim shades of dub that throb benignly from the middle distance. The overall effect is similar to that of the gorgeous Jasmine Minks single last year, and long as veterans like these Scots legends can carry on immersing us in such understated but glorious singles, we feel we are likely to die happy after all.</div>
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<i>As of today in love with these times, in spite of these times Orchids top 10: Thaumaturgy. </i><i>Something For The Longing. </i><i>What Will We Do Next? The Lost Star (“Country Music” version especially). </i><i>Les Spectacles De La Foire. </i><i>Peaches. You Do Something To Me. Caveman. From This Day. Hey! Sometimes! </i><br />
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The Wolfhounds are another pet <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/05/wolfhounds-ep001-vollwert-records.html">obsession</a> of ours, some of whose recent work has been on a par with their seminal Peel-era singles and minis. Plus, they killed it at the C86 show @ 229 not that long ago. “Hands In The Till”, however, is not a newie but a nostalgia trip: the very welcome release of their three John Peel Sessions as a long-player, via the inestimable A Turntable Friend (who are on a revival tip of their own, it seems). At the time these recordings were made, between ’86 and ’88, the Wolfhounds were doing a decent impression of being the missing link between the Fall and the Go-Betweens, which is a concept that we would hope sells itself. All the recordings were marshalled by <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/05/dale-griffin-unsung-hero-book-reviews.html">the late Dale Griffin</a>, very much the daddy of the 1980s Peel Sesh, but none of them has previously had a proper release (Strange Fruit may have been missing a trick here).</div>
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It’s only the third set, from 1988, that we actually remember hearing on first broadcast. It made quite an impression at a time when we were largely listening to rather softer variations on the art of jangle. But all twelve songs merit a kosher release. “Boy Racers, RM1” really lifts off in Maida Vale form, whilst “Non-Specific Song” and to-be singles “Anti-Midas Touch”, “Me” and “Son Of Nothing” are singularly snarky, sarky, sparky, spiky and sardonic in true Wolfies style. And it’s a bit of a treat to get hold of “The William Randolph Hearse” at last, an excellent, slightly A Witness-y tune which we don’t think ever made it onto a Wolfhounds release at the time. The ancient C90 which housed our increasingly battered “PLAY/REC” lift of that can, at last, be retired.</div>
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<i>As of today in love with these times, in spite of these times Wolfhounds top 10: Rent Act. The Comedians. Cruelty. Anti-Midas Touch. Magic Triggers. Divide & Fall. Stars In The Tarmac. Feeling So Strange Again</i>.<i> Ex-Cable Street. Me.</i><br />
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On the heels of revisiting 1986-1988, we now skip excitedly to C89, the latest in Cherry Red’s exhumations of classics, oddities and outliers from the halcyon years of the indie wars. It’s a bittersweet endeavour to listen to a huge swathe of songs that came out when you were 16, and it can be hard to listen to them again, in some cases for the first time in decades, without feeling some unexpected pangs of love, regret or even derision.<br />
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We were in the thick then of an ardent exchange of cassettes, letters, fanzines, flyers, likes and loves. And vividly remember that suddenly, the compilation tapes that indie-kids would send around the country, full of known pleasures like the Chesterf!elds or the Groove Farm, would suddenly include interlopers like the Stone Roses (featured here with the sleepy “Going Down”) or the Charlatans: we found it all a little unsettling, not really knowing where our precious underground sub-genre was heading. But, as the sleeve notes explain, this was on the cusp of the time when ‘indie’ gained a capital I and started to become something else entirely. The Roses were hardly the only band that would outgrow the cottage industry of yore.<br />
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It seems pointless that people like us will complain about aspects of C89 – you know, citing all the different songs or bands that we’d have included instead*** - given that it only exists because we all bought C86, C87 and C88 (and will buy the inevitable ‘C90’ next year). Yes, they are beginning to morph a bit into the Leamington Spa series, and if you listen to too much in one go there is a slight risk of trebly lo-fi fatigue, or even ‘death by adequate songwriter’, but <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2013/12/various-artists-scared-to-get-happy.html">as we said</a> about the “Scared To Be Happy” Cherry Red box, these things are historical artefacts too and are frankly honour-bound to document the fact that the indie genre was fragmenting, and the quality control increasingly all over the place.</div>
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In that spirit, there are some interesting things going on even amongst the more middle-of-the-road patter of some of the lo-fi dole boys and the farfisa soul boys: the La’s “Come In Come Out” sounds more post-Ron Johnson than we could have ever imagined the La’s sounding; the Snapdragons contribution crosses late-period RJ-ism with the early seeds of shoegaze (and provides C89’s only sustained epiosode of slap-bass); and Treebound Story’s sultry “Swimming In The Heart Of Jane” (with one Richard Hawley on guitar) provides a template of sorts for Blueboy’s blissful subsequent imaginings.</div>
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And - to be fair - there are still many, many gems hidden away here. There’s a good argument – certainly in my pub mind - that it’s worth shelling out a score of English pounds just to hear pre-Golden Dawn fuzzflexi legends Christine’s Cat again, or for the rare and rarified pleasure of the Red Chair Fadeaway contribution, or for a first digital outing for <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2007/08/thrilled-skinny-are-best-band-ever-that.html">Thrilled Skinny</a>’s rambunctious but satisfyingly analogue-age “Biscuits In A Tin”. Other tracks we’re very fond of here (even excluding the Sarah ones that you’ll all have already) are typically fine songs from <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-popguns-lovejunky-matinee.html">the Popguns</a>, Church Grims, King Of The Slums, Korova Milkbar and Jactars (the latter a wrongly-overlooked band who also produced an excellent LP at the time); the honestly quite-glorious sprawl of the Becketts’ “The Most Beautiful Girl In Town”, which we hadn’t heard before but definitely stirs us more than the stuff of theirs we remember from the time; long-lost memory-jerkers from the Mayfields, early Sunflowers, the Prayers, the Ammonites (ooh, very Love Parade-ish), the Bardots (their signature tune “Sad Anne”), the Candy Darlings (their signature tune “That’s Where Caroline Lives”), Jane From Occupied Europe (though sadly not their signature tune “Ocean Run Dry”), Pooh Sticks (erm, not their signature tune either, because that kicked off C88), and Po!; and the comfortingly rickety jangle of Ruth Ellis Swing Band (a combo surely born to share a bad-taste flexi with James Dean Driving Experience, but whose existence proved too ephemeral even to achieve that).<br />
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Plus, the inclusion of Brian (viewed at the time as ‘the Irish Brighter’) not only furnishes an international angle of sorts but reminds us of the rumour doing the rounds back then that Setanta and Sarah were plotting - in a smoke-filled room - some kind of swap deal, by which the former signed Harvest Ministers and the latter signed Brian… but like most pub talk, like Sarah’s alleged signing of the Purple Tulips, and like Motown’s alleged signing of the Fall, that was a deal that never actually got off the ground. Perhaps the artists’ wage demands proved insufferably high.<br />
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We want to mention a first album from Born To Murder The World, a three-headed Cerberus of a project featuring members of Anaal Nakrath, Fukpig and Napalm Death (yes, Shane). The title - "The Infinite Mirror Of Millennial Narcissism" - captures the zeitgeist well enough, and the LP serves its function as an anger-filled, nihilistic soundtrack to our dessicated, dysfunctional society. There's a short moody intro, a veritable barrage of attack-grind, and a brief ode to a Philippine vampire, and that's really all you can ask for in 17 wildfire minutes.<br />
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As we read and watch the actions of our politicians, leaders and kinsfolk with increasing despair, sometimes even we don't think that indie-pop alone can get us over the line: and it's at these moments that this riotous haze of blastbeat-borne noise, a furnace of pure aggression, earns its place. (If you've read this far, you might also want to check out another sound of our summer, namely <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/04/cats-on-fire-all-blackshirts-to-me.html">Fukpig'</a>s new album, "Bastards", which also concisely encapsulates the malign spirit of the times on tunes like "Last Brexit To Nowhere" and "Let's Make Britain Hate Again").<br />
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Oh, and there was lots of other music to celebrate the summer of '18, but there’s really now no time, so… quick ilwtt,isott shouts also swimming their way out to:<br />
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<li>Isnaj Duj’s modest yet mesmeric “Dean Clough C2” (surround-sound found sound from the Zauberflote of Halifax, up there with <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/05/nicholas-bullen-component-fixations.html">Nicholas Bullen</a> or Bobby Wratten amongst our favourite field-recording exploits);</li>
<li>Shades and Killa P’s “Alarma” (Belgo-US production dream team hooking up with Stockwell-born don KP for gruff, ruff and brusque grimestep noir on Deadbeats); </li>
<li>Deicide’s “Excommunicated” (tight prime death metal licks at a brisk tempo, pleasingly riddled with excitable but curt solos); </li>
<li>Cindy’s “Creepin’ While Ya Sleepin” (an all too rare new EP from techno enfant terrible Cindy, this time on Ravage Digital Series and possibly peaking with the comely dancefloor strut of “Don’t Nobody Like Me Playa, Fuck ‘Em I’m A One Man Gang”); and </li>
<li>Svalbard’s ace “It's Hard To Have Hope” on Holy Roar, an album from the Bristol band that kind of crosses early Alcest with late Alcest with Rolo Tomassi with Secret Shine and even maybe the melodic hardcore of Million Dead, and then ups the game further with its terrific lyrics, lyrics that manage to be both sensitive and hard-hitting and give the lie to some of the clichés about metal (or, in this case post-metal) bands… “Revenge Porn” turns out to be an unlikely shoegaze masterpiece.</li>
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And that, for now, is all.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*This anecdote would probably have seemed a lot more sympathetic, had its main subject not been arrested for drink-driving whilst it was being written. I also have to be honest and say that I don’t recall Hugo liking the Def Jam tape, not even Oran ‘Juice’ Jones or Warren G.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">** We have. We <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/03/flowers-of-london-orchids-in-kilburn.html">so have</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*** Oooh… “Sensitive”, obviously. JDDE. Slab! White Town. Pretty much any of the Rain's tracks, except the one included here. McCarthy. The Weddoes & the Darling Buds (though both get extensive sleevenote props). The Felicitys. Dub Sex, maybe. The Applicants. Girl Of My Best Friend. The Rosslyns. Worth remembering too that combos like Senseless Things and Pale Saints were also doing the fanzine and comp tape rounds back then, despite their later commercial ‘successes’…</span></div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-92094761478475998082018-08-30T09:03:00.000+00:002018-08-31T14:28:02.327+00:00 “Our Heads Are Round So That Our Thoughts Can Fly In Any Direction”: Action Painting! “Trial Cuts (1989-95)” (Emotional Response)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today’s pic is “L’Etudiant”, a chinstroker in bronze by writer & sculptor Edmond Le Tual de Laheudrie, which sits in the impressive surroundings of Caen castle. Although dating from 1905, it’s strikingly modern in pose, no?</div>
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Anyway. Another month, another vinyl re-release for outstanding songs by an ex-Sarah band (following on from those outings last winter and spring for <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/06/all-those-times-youve-taken-heart-only_30.html">Boyracer</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/05/secret-lovers-blood-brothers.html">Blueboy</a>, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/11/secret-shine-singles-1992-1994-saint.html">Secret Shine</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/07/14-iced-bears-hold-on-inside-cherry-red.html">14 Iced Bears</a>). <i>Decades</i> overdue, this “Trial Cuts” collection from the raucous yet enigmatic Action Painting! is a must: this is a group that definitely merited a better post-career send-off than the one track they got on “The Sound Of Leamington Spa Volume 5”. And the bottom line, trust us, is that it’s worth a few quid of <i>anyone’s</i> hard-earned to pick up in one place the four marvellous A-sides the south coast* band put out between 1990 and 1994: “These Things Happen”, “Classical Music”, “Mustard Gas” and “Laying The Lodger”.</div>
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Action Painting! initially emerged, ever-ebullient and opinionated, from the fanzine scene. So it was no surprise that the group never seemed to lack confidence: I’m sure I remember an interview in which, instead of expressing delight – in the usual way - that Sarah had signed them, they just expressed nonchalant surprise that it had taken so long for Clare & Matt to fall for their demo tape and offer them a 7”.</div>
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That demo tape, one would guess, included “These Things Happen”, which would become their debut single and which, despite its world-weary title, actually ended up being the sound of a teenage summer for us. The song is tense but buoyantly melodic jangle-strum with a pained, plaintive vocal and a guest synth slot now officially credited to Matt Haynes after all these years (proving him surely to be Sarah’s Rick Rubin). The B-side, “Boy Meets World”, was apparently their attempt to do Stock Aitken Waterman, an attempt that – much as we like it - we would not regard as wholly successful (it’s no “I Heard A Rumour”).</div>
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Then, something a little unexpected happened, namely a screeching change of direction as the indie-pop sensibility was seemingly snuffed out entirely. Second single salvo “Classical Music” saw the boys ditch the jangle and go for a first-wave punk sound that would have happily taken a sledgehammer to a synth** rather than deploy one in the studio, whoever was playing it. Before long the fabulous, appropriately explosive “Mustard Gas” 7” combined their new, chaotically fast edge with even tighter playing and production. Later, after the Sarah party was over, one further mini-classic appeared. “Laying The Lodger” was a white vinyl 7” on Damaged Goods, wrapped in a sleeve capturing the above quote from French avant-garde artist Francis Picabia, and a song that again burned furiously through the eardrums: two more minutes of utterly energising, if unsophisticated, punk thrills.</div>
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Yet somehow there proved to be no upward momentum: like so many bands that recorded for Sarah, Action Painting! never seemed to find safe ground on which to pitch their tent, once they’d been forcibly evicted from Upper Belgrave Road. Instead, even the mighty noise that they were making was drowned out amidst the hype being generated elsewhere by surging laddism and the never-burgeoning ‘new wave of new wave’.</div>
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You should own this record just for these four brilliant singles, all present and correct, but other highlights include the snotty, oafish B-sides to “Mustard Gas” (“Collapsing Cloud” and “Art Student”), which embrace us like old, if slightly dishevelled friends; slightlydelic drone instrumental “Hip To Hate” (this was on the flip of “Classical Music”, alongside the sadly absent “Sensation No.5” and deserves a shout as arguably the most experimental tune ever released by Sarah, although we’d be hard-pressed to say it was one of the best); an alternative cut of the brisk “Boy Meets World”, presumably rejected by PWL (the other big indie label of the time, of course); and the demo version of “Alice Power”*** which is an excellent closer to the collection, splayed over seven and a half minutes. Raw, rocky and lithe, it shows that AP! had much more to them than the three-minute pop song and the two-minute blitzkrieg.</div>
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Then, for the truly dedicated, there’s a CD version of “Trial Cuts”, which beefs it up with rarities including early demos of the ‘hits’, and a local radio interview and session (including a cover of the Blue Orchids’ “A Year With No Head” that sounds not unlike Sportique). This warts-and-all selection makes for uneven listening (and also, in bad news for the completists, a couple of the original B-sides are still AWOL) but is still one to savour. And to give the band - and him - credit, the CD ends with a snippet of Steve Lamacq following up the end chords of “Mustard Gas” with the Sniffin’ Glue mantra, <i>“here’s three chords, now form a band”</i>. Proof positive that - <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2014/06/ilwtt0666-im-going-to-murder-all-people.html">as we always said</a> - Sarah had more in common with Year Zero than both its detractors, and more purist zealots, would admit.</div>
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By way of epilogue, we shouldn’t leave you without pointing out that, circa 2008, Action Painting! resurfaced slightly, with Andy and Lee morphing into a new combo, Socialist Leisure Party, for a short but productive comeback which fostered their “Mondayland” CD-r on uber-boutique Berlin indie Edition 59, a 7”+CD package thingy on Shelflife called “Tactical POP! for Coffee Cadets” and then two further 7”s, “Turktown Saints” (on the inestimable <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/07/feeling-mission-when-we-were-talking.html">Cloudberry</a>) and “She Will Flame” (via top-notch Eastbourne distro-spinoff Pebble Records).</div>
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There are several top tunes amongst these recordings – “Head In The Hay” and “Down With The Kids” amongst them – but it’s “Turktown Saints” which must rank as the peak of SLP’s adventures in sound, a song which revisited the breezy strum of their first single alongside some gorgeous, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-penny-change-from-two-pound-coins.html">Emily</a>-style multi-instrumentation. It’s smart, tuneful, intelligent and surprisingly modest. It’s also worth mentioning that apparent swansong “She Will Flame” was quite a contrast, heading more obviously down the dark alleys of yesteryear-zero and the punk power of the last three AP! singles, and only slightly marred by an overly-excitable drum machine and the fact it lasts for three minutes rather than two (hmm, there’s an Even As We Speak compilation CD title about this). However, the Socialist Leisure Party records help to cement the status of Action Painting! (or whatever they called themselves from time to time) as a *righteous* singles proposition, at least when they - or their various labels - got their act together.</div>
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Heck, we’re still buzzing from their set at the Lexington earlier in the summer, as you may even have read <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/08/such-beautiful-day-as-this-even-as-we.html">here</a>. May Action Painting! continue to annoy lightweights for many years yet.</div>
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<i>in love with these times, in spite of these times Action Painting! top ten: 1. Mustard Gas 2. These Things Happen 3. Classical Music 4. Laying The Lodger 5. Turktown Saints 6. Art Student 7. Collapsing Cloud 8. Head In The Hay 9. Boy Meets World 10. Alice Power</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*The contact addresses on the record sleeves start in Gosport and then move to Fratton (all within Portsmouth, so solid naval territory there) but later on Action Painting! seemed to get lumped in with a wave of Brighton bands, so it’s possible they just kind of ended up heading up the coast eastwards.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">**A metaphor memorably employed by Robert Hampson of Loop in a Sounds interview a few years earlier. He didn’t come across as a big fan of the synthesiser.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*** The demo dates from their Sarah-era, 1992, and it’s easy to imagine it having been rejected by the label (in just the same way as they wrongly rejected the Golden Dawn’s “No Reason Why”…) The song eventually saw the light of day two years later, on the flip of “Laying The Lodger” – there’s also a radio session version on the “Trial Cuts” CD.</span></div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-77777309583107579752018-08-29T08:52:00.000+00:002018-09-07T10:31:48.323+00:00 "Such A Beautiful Day As This”: Even As We Speak, Action Painting! Boyracer and Secret Shine @ the Lexington, July 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine whose disappointment at Santa Coloma's late capitulation to Valur has been more than offset by the excitement of F91 Dudelange's fantastic Europa cup run.<br />
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Our pic this time around is <i>Le hetre pleureur,</i> a majestic weeping beech tree, planted in the 1860s and the centrepiece of the fine botanical gardens of Bayeux, Normandy. You might say <i>“hang on, that’s not a sculpture”, </i>but (1) since when did we promise to come up with one of those every time and (2) to be fair, the tree represents a considerable design and engineering achievement: the structure supporting the branches is sculpted from some 1km of ropes and cables (and four 10 metre-high masts).</div>
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So why go on about mighty things of great longevity? Well. In 1993, ‘the Beat Poet’ (tBP) and yours truly went to see a clutch of Sarah bands at the label’s Thekla Xmas party. Nothing too unusual in that – we savoured Sarah nights aplenty at Bristol’s Fleece & Firkin, or up at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford – but the novelty is that we scribbled down our thoughts on the evening’s entertainment at the time, and (more remarkably) the bit of paper somehow survived the decades until we typed it up, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2008/03/sarah-christmas-party-1993.html">here</a>. Quality music criticism it isn’t. But its youthful zeal hopefully still captures the essence of a memorable night out.</div>
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And now, nearly 25 years later (cripes), it was time for tBP and I to see no less than three of those bands again, this time at the Lexington on Pentonville Road, a whole M4 away. With the substantial bonus that this time we would have Even As We Speak as our headliners. Again, the last time we saw EAWS – that one was a Jericho night – we were poorer, skinnier and rakier, to the tune of a quarter-century.</div>
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Sadly, longstanding readers will know that tBP has an occasionally flaky approach to the big occasion, and has not really been forgiven for once forsaking an all-ticket crunch relegation clash between Bristol Rovers and Darlington in favour of ‘going shopping for curtains’ in London’s West End. And so it was, on the eve of this spectacularly promising POP! reunion, that he bailed out again, citing unconvincing heatwave-related reasons. <i>“Here I go again on my own”, </i>I thought, “<i>just like Whitesnake. Or the Remote Viewer.”</i><br />
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<i>"you know I love you, always will do”</i><br />
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After the telling trial of a massive queue to get up the stairs into the venue, I missed the very first sparks of Secret Shine’s set, but joined the fray in time to see them launch into a blissful rendition of lost classic “Temporal”, which carried the same tender ferocity it had when they played it last century. Seeing them tonight really turned back the clock, not least as age doesn’t seem to have withered them at all (gosh, especially Scott), but “Perfect Life” (from “The Beginning And The End”), the catchy-as-fcuk “Falling Again” (from “There Is Only Now”) and a sparklingly crisp take on brand new tune “Only” confirmed that Secret Shine are anything but a period piece (& it was lovely to hear “Only” with a vulnerable live vocal, unencumbered by studio effects). That said, it was a thrill to see the gang wrap things up by heading back-catalogue for a winningly extended canter through their increasingly seminal “Loveblind” single. Erm, more recent thoughts on this top Bristol band <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/11/secret-shine-singles-1992-1994-saint.html">here</a>.<br />
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<i>"when you have friends / you’re the richest person in town”</i><br />
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Boyracer – sadly minus Jen for this their European jaunt – were next. And guess what, quite a bit of what we <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2008/03/sarah-christmas-party-1993.html">said</a> in 1993 still applies: this was indeed <i>“a no-frills, exuberant set full of the staccato punch of guitar and pained shouting that has come to epitomise their records.”</i><br />
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Actually, we knew things would be gravy from the very start, when the four-piece ‘racer assembled for the purposes of this tour launched into Zero Hour single and classic compact punk-pop pearler “West Riding House”. It really is a song that encapsulates Boyracer and their precious oeuvre: a rush of verse, chorus, angst, heartache and instrumental break, all wrapped up within 45 or so furious and breathlessly near-perfect seconds. Other standouts from a swiftly-executed dozen-song set included the boys frantically ripping through “I’ve Got It And It’s Not Worth Having” and “Black Fantastic Splitting” (both from ‘B Is For Boyracer’); a wonderful version of “Yr Unspoken Desires” (p’raps the highlight of “Racer 100”); and a further trip down the Turntable Friend end of memory lane with “The Useless Romantic”. We’re also reasonably sure they played “Small Consolation”, but can’t be 100%: in our considerable excitement it was easy to lose track as ace short song blurred into ace short song. It wasn’t all nostalgia, mind, because we got the exuberant gallop of chaotic newie “Tally Ho!”<br />
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Happily, we definitely did clock “He Gets Me So Hard” – still one of the best tunes to have ever happened, ever – even though it couldn’t quite match up to the glory of its recorded incarnation (tonight made us realise just how much the female backing vocal on that contributes, as well as every fleck of feedback that Tim R coaxed from the speakers at Southside Studios that day). No matter, though, because the grand finale, with original axeman Simon in tow, saw Boyracer hurtle through the unspeakably urgent and vital “Doorframe”. Another spellbinding song from the awe-inspiring canon of this energetic, prolific, utterly fulfilling, endlessly adjective and adverb-exhausting band.<br />
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<i>“everywhere that I have worked / the manager’s a f***ing jerk…”</i><br />
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And then it was time for Action Painting! A few were left speechless by this lot, but if you’re looking for the best word, it might be… <i>blimey</i>. For this set was an art-punk explosion that divided opinion: the two geezers in front of us (cough *fairweathers* cough) took flight after the first song, an zealously pugilist “Collapsing Cloud”, but I have to own up to finding the Action Painting! performance tonight mesmerising, brilliant, <i>properly</i> punk, <b><i>totally</i></b> Sarah. Indeed (*spoiler alert*), despite the later brilliance of Even As We Speak, Action Painting! had a damn good tilt at stealing the whole show.<br />
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Our <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2008/03/sarah-christmas-party-1993.html">1993 account</a> had them down as <i>“entertaining and exhilarating" </i>and – just like Boyracer – our past words work equally in 2018, right down to them playing <i>“six songs, including the whirlwind singles "Classical Music" and yob anthem "Mustard Gas"” </i>tonight. Right down to the Beat Poet having clearly rated AP! at the opposite end of the satisfaction scale to me. They obviously split the room that night too.<br />
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We couldn’t have wished for a tastier set list this evening, either, what with AP! blessing the dilettantes of N1 not only with the singles above but also “Laying The Lodger” and, by way of a properly rumbustious shakedown denouement, “Art Student” (the guitarist by now strumming seven shades of scheisse from his strings, like a man possessed). Throughout, the ever-charismatic Andy Hitchcock, still wearing shades and – despite otherwise being dressed as if he’d escaped a middle management conference – ruling the stage with acidic volleys of shouted lyric, rockstar swagger, and a brief rant about houmous on the rider. After such a tour de force, we swiftly legged it to the merch stall to nab the last Action Painting! t-shirt.<br />
<i><br />“the flowers in the window are still there…”</i><br />
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Gratifyingly, there was one other AP! t-shirt on display: it was being worn by Even As We Speak’s drummer, Anita, for EAWS’s inevitably stellar headline set. We could swear that, perhaps aside from the laptop on stage, EAWS were set up exactly as they had been when we saw them in the 90s (at a gig later reviewed in the student paper as showcasing “<i>the best Australian band ever</i>” – that seemed hyperbole in 1993, but we’re not sure it is now): a beaming Mary up front, flanked by Julian on her right and Matt on her left, and bassist Rob hiding in the shadows behind them, only emerging into the house lights for a choice one-liner and for the Japanese drinking song interlude that so gloriously punctuates “Beautiful Day”.<br />
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As is a headliner’s job, Even As We Speak naturally and effortlessly brought the audience together and reminded us just how many truly excellent songs they have, many tucked away on EP B-sides or halfway down the generous “Feral Pop Frenzy” tracklist yet every one, in their skilled hands, surely a potential hit. They also know their setlist craft well enough that they kicked off with the sparkling “One Step Forward” and concluded with a smackdown, none-shall-pass brace of “Falling Down The Stairs” and the warming ripples of “Best Kept Secret”. In between, we got a cavalcade of pop gems including “Stay With Me”, “Must Be Something Else”, “Getting Faster”, “Blue Suburban Skies”, “Blue Eyes Deceiving Me” and recent wonder “Clouds”, the standout from their recent Black Forest EP (ooh, and the temperature lowered for Mathew leading a starkly lugubrious but simply ace “Nothing Ever Happens”).<br />
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It was pretty much all you could ever want from the fulsome fivesome – only if you were being especially picky might you have sought the swimsuit shimmy of “Drown” or the luscious EAWS resurrection of “Bizarre Love Triangle” – and it ensured that we could depart into the unseasonably warm English night utterly satisfied. However, astute punters did not depart immediately, because the evening had one more turn to take: a Sarah All-Stars XI ascending the Lexington stage to blast through a surprisingly coherent – and to this boy, surprisingly moving – rendition of the song that started it all, the Sea Urchins’ “Pristine Christine”. All to a delighted, smilestruck audience of politely middle-aged punters and avowed indie-pilgrims, an audience that included Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2008/01/discovering-sarah-part-one.html">to whom all is owed</a>.<br />
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We'd be the first to acknowledge that, in stark contrast to the Even As We Speak show in 1993 (at which they successfully cajoled us the audience to surf on each other’s backs), the atmosphere tonight was rather more restrained. No surfing, no stagediving, no moshing. But even the finest bands can hardly work such miracles as to reverse the ageing process which turns a roomful of early twentysomethings then into a roomful of late fortysomethings now. And, as we happily pondered on the 476 home, that didn’t make the night any less magical. Far from it.<br />
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And I fantasised of other possible dream ex-Sarah reunion line-ups – settling eventually for The Wake / Tramway / The Rosaries / Christine’s Cat, although not without a lot of soul-searching – but I also felt, on the 476… <i>“I’m a sentimental fool, but I don’t care”</i>… a tinge of sadness in knowing that there is a price to all those years rolling by, and that some groups – <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/05/secret-lovers-blood-brothers.html">Blueboy</a>, Heavenly, Gentle Despite – won’t ever be re-forming. All these bands, these bands we’ve grown up with and who soundtracked our most anxious, awkward years… we’re determined to savour them while we can.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-44783441831422933012018-06-30T17:45:00.000+00:002018-06-30T17:45:15.226+00:00"All those times you've taken heart, only to have it broken": flaming June<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4DQXYTfVk3a3zEnM71szO1MwEx3DB-wImUvUvFh53ucHfUzpBB4IL54QLp8_9Gy3uNy7agv7QtgW_dfVo7YExVTccDO4z1QZENY_otWzeUhhgl4ESftlY1MPRyFYVqbqFv9fyFw/s1600/golden+gorilla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="899" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4DQXYTfVk3a3zEnM71szO1MwEx3DB-wImUvUvFh53ucHfUzpBB4IL54QLp8_9Gy3uNy7agv7QtgW_dfVo7YExVTccDO4z1QZENY_otWzeUhhgl4ESftlY1MPRyFYVqbqFv9fyFw/s320/golden+gorilla.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
<b>Various Artists “The Official Matinée World Cup EP” (Matinée Recordings): P Brothers “Mentaltainment” (Heavy Bronx): </b><b>Azure Blue “Fast Falls The Eventide” (Matinée Recordings): </b><b>JK Flesh “Wasplike” (Inner Surface Music): JK Flesh “PI04” (π - Pi Electronics): Sev Dah “Proletarijat 006” (Proletarijat): Nothing Clean “Cheat” (Samizdat Records / Abusive Noise Tapes / Force Fed Records / Circus Of The Macabre Records / SuperFi Records / Repulsive Medias / Vleesklak Records): Boyracer “Fling Yr Bonnet Over The Windmill” (Emotional Response)</b></div>
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine that has just spotted that “The Best Of The Primitives” doesn’t feature either “Really Stupid” or “Stop Killing Me”. We know *why* it doesn’t – they should have called it “The Best Of The BMG Years” or something – but Trading Standards really need to pull their finger out. You should be able to sue for that.</div>
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And this month’s arresting, if slightly disconcerting pic comes from the Shropshire Sculpture Park, set in the grounds of the British Ironwork Centre, near Oswestry. We can't trace who sculpted it, or even what the hell it's doing there, but we loved stumbling across it and would love to acknowledge the artist should anyone know who they are... yes, it's rather a random sculpture, but then we've a somewhat disparate collection of records for you this month: we struggled for a while as to whether we could claim a unifying theme, but apart from <i>“it’s all good music”</i> we’re basically stumped.</div>
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There’s a World Cup on (you may have noticed). And so, that thorny question of who to support. Last time, more sunnily-disposed to world geopolitics, we started with a small list but ended up cheering on about 27 teams. This time, it feels like the other way around: everyone’s a baddie now. Should we punish nations for their illiberal regimes (if so, we’re pleased there’s no USA, Italy or Hungary, but what to make of our traditional soft spots for Poland or Iran? How can you stay true to your globalist credentials if rooting for Saudi Arabia or Russia?) This year, the “dream final” for us might well have involved Iceland playing Peru but that was never going to happen, was it? And if the EU had its own team, would we support that? Probably, if it annoyed Brexit-types. Actually, just to annoy them, we’ll support all 32 teams anyway (even those that have gone out). Being citizens of the world.</div>
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Luckily - or else this next record would never have got made - there are five Matinée Recordings galácticos who have brushed aside such qualms, and just entered into the spirit of the thing: writing odes to their chosen nations on <a href="http://matineerecordings.com/item.php?item_id=281&category_id=7">a sprightly, summer-themed v/a EP</a>, rather than carping from the sidelines. The good news (or bad news, depending on where you stand) is that each crack pop combo hits you with something that’s recognisably theirs: musically, there’s nothing <i>too</i> maverick going on here. Over to our man in the commentary box:</div>
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<i>“And <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-depth-of-leaves.html">Last Leaves</a> (Australia, for those of you who have been living in caves) kick off with “Golden Days To Come”, which sees them at their most breezy and bright-eyed, co-opting backing shouts and blissful brass. Then there’s some neat build-up play from new signings Red Sleeping Beauty (Sverige), who give “Dressed in Yellow And Blue” an electro-tastic melodo-pop makeover (“a goal can change your life”). And now, Royal Landscaping Society (España) run with the ball in midfield – showing off the mournful, pretty, tiki-taka Hal / Brighter stylings of “2010” - before delivering a beautifully-flighted arc of a pass to <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-popguns-sugar-kisses-matinee.html">the Popguns</a> (England). Their “Red White And Blue”, surprisingly emotionally charged as it hurtles forward with raw guitar angst, sweetly delivers an incisive cross into the box. And then longtime ilwtt,isott heroes <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/07/pale-sunday-fake-stories-about-you-and.html">Pale Sunday </a>(Brasil) rise salmon-like at the far post to rifle home the coup de grace, “Dirt Pitch Superstars”, a short and sharp piledriver. The onion bag ripples. The punters go (politely) fecking mental.”</i></div>
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So Russia 2018 isn’t just a great tournament for fans of not knowing whether a goal has been scored for about 10 minutes, or for devotees of soft penalty awards. Thanks to the might of these Matinée artists, it’s already a great World Cup for indie-pop aficionados.</div>
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Next, to the pros and cons of hip-hop fundamentalism (a subject that, unaccountably, the ‘HTV Hundred’ never tackled). <i>“It’s not about a salary,” </i>warns the stern young Ice Cube on my shoulder, <i>“it’s all about reality”</i>. Well, yes - up to a point. But we’ve never been totally comfortable with fixating on hip-hop ‘keeping it real’ to the exclusion of all else. Much as we disdain common-or-garden weak ‘guest rhyme’ crossover nonsense, there’s no crime in being a pop MC. And as Ice-T said on “Question & Answer”, there was never a problem with rappers who were pop: his beef was with those that started out hardcore, then sold out. Who represented themselves as something they simply weren’t.</div>
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But But BUT! (as the scoreboard read*) all that said, when foxheads stalk this land and societal norms crumble beneath the weight of the industrial-scale gaslighting of petulant man-children, there’s something uplifting, invigorating and above all *honest* about music that is utterly determined to keep it real, that’s still all about the elements and the hustle and that gives not even a sideways cuss about being popular or venturing near a radio playlist. When you get a producer-rapper combination that goes back to the old school, and builds from the right foundations, even as they deliver rhymes and themes of the hazardous *now* that encapsulate the thick, fuggy, inglorious haze of 2018. Skills that are rarer than they should be now we’re <i>decades </i>on from the golden era: it really shouldn’t be left to us to wait for the 2 or 3 tracks on every Wu-Tang album that suggest that, when they can be bothered, they’ve still got it.</div>
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Yes, thanks and praises are due for the return of Heavy Bronx head honchos Paul S and DJ Ivory, back with a spanking, brand new New York to Nottingham collaboration. P Bros records don’t come around very often but, as always, the wait doesn’t seem like an issue once the new product has arrived. After all, their style is legendary, and “Mentaltainment” pairs vocals + insts on 12” of three outstanding cuts of raw hip-hop, with Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx all represented on the mic. The Brothers always show true artistry in production, and yet again here they plunder heavily from soul and funk influences, but set them to uncompromising beats before enlisting the patronage of Daniel Son (“Saltfish”), longtime collaborator Milano (“What Kind Of Shit You Want?” - the answer, inevitably, is “<i>the real shit</i>”) and Ukrainian-born still-rising star Your Old Droog (“Good Trip”, in cahoots with DJ Doo Wop). Blimey, Y.O.D. would have been only 11 yrs old when P Brothers launched their first Heavy Bronx Experience 12”s.</div>
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In essence, this is nothing less than a brilliant hip-hop record: three stone-cold classics for the price of one. Oh, if you liked the very best transatlantic link-ups - <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-soul-than-northern-soul-we-were.html">“The Gas”</a>, or Ed 209 and Imam THUG’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2008/07/ranking-queens-in-case-youd-wondered.html">“Karma 360”</a>, or Diversion Tactics’ across-the-pond collabos, or Recordkingz teaming up with Mobb Deep, or even “C Is The Heavenly Option” - then you’re going to be in clover here. Warning: the hefty price tag on the vinyl – even if you can find it – is nearly as chunky as the beats, but luckily there’s a bandcamp option <a href="https://pbrothers.bandcamp.com/releases">here</a>.</div>
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<i>“I don’t care…”</i></div>
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Kids teach you much more about music than you can ever teach them, much as dads (especially) like to pretend otherwise. But sometimes it’s worth the grown-ups sharing a few choice musical memories, so on long journeys we’ve been rolling with the greatest hits of the Human League and the Pet Shop Boys recently, pleasantly surprised by how well they stand up.</div>
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<i>“…I do what I want to...”</i></div>
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It’s less common, perhaps, to find music today that can bridge the generation divide with easy flair. But Azure Blue’s <a href="http://matineerecordings.com/item.php?item_id=280">new album</a> on Matinée - despite a little swearing, and a title drawn from the increasingly insular dirge of the once-beautiful “Abide With Me” - is clever, playful, catchy and stylish: that same, hard-to-nail combination of factors that drove the delights of “Dare” or “Disco”. Taking its cue from the excellent single <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/04/trying-to-find-way-to-say-no-april.html">“Whatever ‘18”</a> (which - as you can see - is still a proper earworm here at le palais d’ilwtt,isott) and the Matinée Idols-débuted “New Moon”, this is electronically-driven pop that may be achingly cool - like the slick-bearded punters who frequent the bars of Dalston Kingsland - but that doesn’t stint for one second on the hooks.</div>
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<i>“…as much as I want…”</i></div>
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And so “Crimson Red”, “Don’t Turn Me On” and (especially!) the 45-ready pop hit “My Final Candle” are breezy, palpably addictive synth-pop. “Post Affect” nods cheekily to Madonna’s “Material World”, which is probably a Matinée first - what next, Electric Pop Group riffing on “Like A Virgin”? In contrast the longer, slower “Love Will See You Through” is potential lighters-in-the-air stuff, as waves of cool melody wash repeatedly over the rocks: though we reckon its contemplative charms might be well suited as a soundtrack for the next BBC4 Scando-noir. Imagine Azure Blue pounding out of your TV speakers as the curtain falls on another messy episode denouement.</div>
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<i>“…whenever I want to”</i></div>
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As we open the windows to the English summer and watch the cabbage-whites dancing on front lawns, it’s nice to have a readymade ‘go to’ record to for these rare days of smearing the suncream on, necking ice-cube water and enjoying liveably warm evenings. From Sweden and across the North Sea, that’s just what Azure Blue have delivered.</div>
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Ever in the top three music-biz Justins (alongside Ghetts and, erm, Justin Fletcher, who’s <i>very</i> popular with the youngers), JK Broadrick is steering his Flesh side-project into increasingly interesting territory, with many of the industrial elements (or at least those that would have given the listener a clue to the Godflesh link) being usurped by purer techno. We thought last winter’s “Exit Stance” single, a prime example of this, was reminiscent of Ryuji Takeuchi’s recent scorching run of 12”s, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that JKF is now appearing for Inner Surface Music (who released RT’s excellent “Outbound To Inner Self” EP last year).</div>
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This “Wasplike” EP offers four tunes, all excellent: there is certainly a wasp-like buzz (and sense of purpose) to the pulsing title track and the appropriately modernist “New Build Estate”, before a flipside which starts like a train with “Mindprison” (energetic, powerful, palpitating) and then switches down into something a little more retrospective with the icy moves of “Dark Horse”. Just like “Outbound To Inner Self”, or Fret’s recent “Silent Neighbour”, there are no weak links amongst the four tracks. Nor any sign of industrial doom or gloom: this is smart, forward-thinking, club-literate techno from one of music’s most enduring musical chameleons.</div>
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Earlier in the year, we also got “PI04”, a 12” via the loosely Athens-based Pi Electronics collective, which is another dancefloor-friendly and even playful JKF assemblage. The imaginatively-named “PI04.1” is especially good, even weaving in stabs of industrial siren: and the EP closes Stateside with an Arthur Baker-esque techno-electro remix from Silent Servant. Mr Broadrick really is upping the levels.</div>
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We all know by now how Sev Dah’s series of Proletarijat EPs roll. Number six returns to the theme of Proletarijat #1 and the role of female fighters in the partisan underground. A beaming Milja Marin stares out from the sleeve, although the label tell us that the nurse from Kozara, Bosnia never dreamed of becoming a postergirl for the revolutionary movement: she did what she could, but only because she felt she had to.</div>
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<i>“Our struggle thus demands / that while dying, one sings”</i></div>
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Unlike the earlier 12”s, which liked to sandwich an exotic fancy or low-tempo curveball between two slices of peaktime techno, all three tracks here are fairly straight down the line floorfillers (with “Kozarcanka” – girl from Kozara - dedicated to Milja) and for us the peak is “Rebellion” - a word that even after all this time, still makes us think of <a href="http://home.clara.net/koogy/sarah/disco/406.htm">Harvey Williams</a>) - which packs the most light and shade as it buzzes by at a bracing 130 bpm. One thing for sure about Sev Dah – he <i>never </i>makes it worse by being rebellious.<br />
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We must confess that we were wrong about Nothing Clean. Wrong, in that we assumed their uncompromising blend of lyrical fury and unrelenting musical savagery lent itself most perfectly to the split 7” format, which allowed them to hurl out 7 or 8 grenades at once towards the unsuspecting listener before dodging back behind the nearest piece of shrubbery to reload. However, their début LP “Cheat” (a co-release on no less than seven different labels, including Samidzat**) suggests that in fact their perfect oeuvre is the album, on which you bathe in a score of blistering powerviolence tracks before turning the record over and diving headlong into another twenty bite-sized HC salvos: so clear your coffee tables, dear listener, and let these 41 tracks attack and batter you with alternate riffs and blasts. Oh, the late <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/01/farewell-fiery-jack.html">Mark E. Smith</a> coined the phrase “righteous maelstrom”, and that description perfectly fits this record, a swirling ill-wind of Leicester city hardcore.</div>
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This is also the first Nothing Clean release we’ve bought which they don’t share with any other band, and as much as we’ve liked (in varying degrees) Art Of Burning Water, Ona Snop, Higgs Boson, La Letra Pequeña and Hooked on Christ, it’s rather nice to have the Cleansters to ourselves this time. It’s also worth saying that these aren’t all new songs, with many of them being ditties that made their initial appearance on their Smiths-like run of one blazin’ seven after another. But (unsurprisingly) - if you liked all or any of the five preceding split singles, you’ll love this too.</div>
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To this month’s ‘on a retro tip’ tip (or, as the Bunnymen might say, “<i>t-t-t-t-tiiip</i>”), which is <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/10/once-in-full-colour-now-flickering.html">Boyracer</a>’s enormously welcome “Fling Yr Bonnet Over The Windmill” vinyl comp, which follows on from our big-ups of recent vinyl reissues by their former Sarah Records labelmates <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/05/secret-lovers-blood-brothers.html">Blueboy</a> (<a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/05/floating-down-river-of-life-holding-on.html">last month</a>) and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2013/07/14-iced-bears-hold-on-inside-cherry-red.html">14 Iced Bears</a> (<a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/04/trying-to-find-way-to-say-no-april.html">the month before that</a>). “Fling Yr Bonnet” draws together the Leeds band’s three EPs for Sarah and in doing so reunites me in particular with the middle one, “From Purity To Purgatory”, which I recklessly lent to someone at university and never got back.</div>
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<i>“and those Sarah songs, honestly, were never that great / very derivative, sub-Buzzcocks jangle bollocks”</i></div>
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And yet - on Boyracer’s simply terrific sort-of-swansong album, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2009/01/best-of-2008-part-five-lps-and-mixtapes.html">“Sunlight Is The Best Antiseptic”</a> - there’s a ballad called “The Last Word” in which Stewart thusly maligns their Sarah singles. To put it gently, that was never our view, and I would still rate “He Gets Me So Hard” - the lead-off track to their “Pure Hatred 96” EP (the 96 referring to the late-era Sarah catalogue no. rather than to 1996, a year by which the label would have merrily imploded) and also the lead-off track to the new comp - as one of my favourite ten songs of all-time, an emotionally searing explosion of a tune that hits as hard even as the Mary Chain’s most visceral moments.</div>
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Hearing “I’ve Got It And It’s Not Worth Having” again, the opening track from their first Sarah 7”, “B Is For Boyracer”, is another re-revelation: that, too, was a firecracker of a song that I threw onto every compilation tape I made back in my first year at university (and one which was later re-styled by the Lucksmiths of all people, who picked up on all the melodies that were left cowering a little beneath the sheer speed and spikiness of the original). It’s also a reminder that, at the time, no Sarah single had quite burned with as much pace and nervous energy. The boys even beamed out proudly from the cover – a rare thing on a Sarah 7” – via a photo taken in an undisclosed eaterie where they were apparently enjoying black coffee, millionaire shortbread and Marlboro.</div>
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Back then - rightly or wrongly - we felt a little validated by the machine-gun bursts of “B Is For Boyracer” (and, indeed, “From Purity…”: the pained, rickety yet altogether excellent “Doorframe” was the track form that EP that I was putting on every mixtape by the time the next year of university came around), because we had long been arguing the toss with other Sarah fans about the punk ethos of the label, and it seemed like the addition of Boyracer to the roster helped prove our point that if a band was good enough, they should bloody well be on Sarah, even if they were (gasp) *a bit noisy*. As did the welcome ‘punkification’ of Action Painting! around the same time (more on them next month, hopefully) which led to “Classical Music” making a dent on the same C90s that we kept churning out from our college room.<br />
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By this time next month, we should have seen Boyracer in the flesh again (for the first time in an exceedingly long time, well north of 20 years) at their coming north London support to Aussie legends Even As We Speak. We are, despite our advancing years, fair up for this. On writing about the ‘racer over the decades, I fear we’ve never bettered our description of them as “<i>prefects of the punk pop-perfect</i>”, and this is a record which shows just how they really did rule the school. It’s also, incidentally, the second LP of 2018 (after <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/05/floating-down-river-of-life-holding-on.html">Half Man Half Biscuit’s</a>) whose sleeve is a photo of graffiti that features the LP title. A nod to Harper Lee’s <a href="http://matineerecordings.com/item.php?item_id=88&category_id=7">fine work </a>in this area, surely.</div>
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That’s almost all, but just some quick June shouts for... Sven Wittekind’s “Focus”, on Oneroot (we may not mention the Sven quite so much as we <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/06/s-ven-wittekind-broken-mirrors-sick.html">used to</a>, but we’ll never fail to check out his new EPs, because he has EARNED THE RIGHT, and our patience is amply rewarded by this single, a perfect example of his attention to detail as he refines his minimalist techno version one tweak at a time); Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks’ “Middle America” (rather splendidly 25+ years on, this sounds just as you would have hoped it might sound had someone taken you aside in 1992, when you were listening to Pavement’s “Here”, and promised you that their mainman would still be making tuneful, lop-sided yet strangely affecting rock records in 2018); Winterfylleth’s genteel but utterly beguiling “Resting Tarn”, from their “The Hallowing Of Heirdom” set (in a world in which we were all honest brokers, there would be a much larger overlap in fanbase between Winterfylleth and, say, the Declining Winter); and Violation Wound’s action-packed “With Man In Charge” on Peaceville (blasting soc-consc crustcore with a rock n’ roll heart from ex-Autopsy bloke - all the songs sound the same but since when was that a problem? - and which, like all good hardcore, sort of reminds us of <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.com/2007_08_26_archive.html">Thrilled Skinny</a> in places).</div>
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But to <i>finish</i> finish, we’d like to pay our respects to Ralph Santolla, the guitarist who has died at the too-tender age of 48. He was in millions of bands, but we knew him best for his playing and touring with Deicide and Obituary. And - speaking as a fanzine that’s never been overly fond of the gratuitous guitar solo as a rule (look how it ruins “Dress You Up” and “Wuthering Heights”) - it’s surely a true tribute to Ralph that he was responsible for many of the records in which a shredding solo suddenly made complete sense. Most brilliantly, on Deicide’s almost impossibly good “Homage For Satan”. Even our good friend Tom, whose tinnitus was formally diagnosed following an Obituary gig at the Electric Ballroom in which Ralph’s solos featured prominently, was upset to hear of his passing. Rest in.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*This is exactly what the primitive (by today's standards) scoreboard at AS Monaco used to read when somebody scored, back in the days we used to hang out at the Stade Louis II (an idea of how long ago they were is that a teenage David Trezeguet, Victor Ikpeba and a very young Thierry Henry were usually the ones scoring them...)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">** </span>Aside: We saw somebody wearing a Samidzat top on the Balls Pond Road the other week, and briefly got very excited that they might be something to do with Nothing Clean, but as with all Soviet-era concepts it appears that someone has caught the proto-capitalist bug and decided to turn it into a clothing line… blooming monetaries. Should have listened to McCarthy.</span></div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-67022991596271594672018-05-31T23:59:00.000+00:002018-06-01T10:34:05.073+00:00“Floating down the river of life, holding on to you”: May flowers, going down<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><b>Famous Problems “Hey! It’s Raining!” (Where It’s At Is Where You Are): The Declining Winter “Chimneys etc.” (Signal): Memory Drawings “Phantom Lights” (Signal): Half Man Half Biscuit “No-One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin' Hedge Cut” (Probe Plus): The Hit Parade “Happy World” (JSH Records): Fret “Silent Neighbour” (L.I.E.S), and more</b></b><b></b><br />
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine voted “<i>joint 5th best indie-pop blog</i>” <u>two years running</u> in the Twee Net polls of 2012 & 13. We’ve not had to buy our own drinks since.</div>
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This month’s artwork is Paul Vanstone's "Looking Profiles", apparently carved from Tuscan marble, as it appeared in N1 during the London Art Fair earlier this year. The two heads are probably more used to fresh air and landscaped gardens (they resided at Kew for a while), but we thought they stood out nicely in an urban environment, especially at night as the buses and headlights flitted past.</div>
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Right. Even before the exceptional <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/trying-to-find-way-to-say-no-april.html">Catenary Wires</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/hate-week-nights-by-lake-blunt-claws.html">Hate Week</a> 7”s of more recent times, Where It’s At Is Where You Are had cemented its position in the top 20 record labels ever (the rest of that list - possibly - being comprised of Deutsche Grammofon, Ron Johnson, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/ilwtt0666-im-going-to-murder-all-people.html">Sarah</a>, Regal Zonophone, UK Bubblers, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/ilwtt08-hurt-you-and-kill-you-inside.html">Slumberland</a>, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/ilwtt04-rooftops-shine-if-it-should.html">Subway Organization</a>, Rockney, Matin<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27.2px;">é</span>e Recordings, Son, Summershine, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/ilwtt0555-stay-hopeful-555-compilation.html">555</a>, Fashion Records, Reception, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/ilwtt03-searing-words-from-heart.html">Earache</a>, People Unite Musicians Collective, 021 and Decca. And Sub-Bass, unless that counts as a sublabel). Memo to Cherry Red – you may yet join this hallowed list of names if you finally give us a comprehensive Ron Johnson compilation and that Slab! box set we’re sure we were once promised, instead of messing about with infinite Felt re-presses.</div>
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Getting back to the programme, the latest treat from WIAIWYA hails from Connecticut, USA. Famous Problems are a splinter faction, of sorts*, from the tremendous but sadly-no-more Butterflies Of Love, a band who just happened to release a bejewelled long-playing guitar pop odyssey thing more than a decade back called “Famous Problems” that we <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2007/02/fall-and-butterflies-of-love.html">quite liked</a> at the time. And that would probably be enough in itself to draw us in, but actually things get even more star-studded because the FPs rope in glamorous showbiz friends including Pam Berry (gasp), Delia Out Of Mambo Taxi (gosh, we’d forgotten about them, but dug them very much back in our riot grrl phase), David yer main man from Comet Gain (again, gasp) and Sir Mark Flunder of general Sportique & TVPs legendariness (sharp intake of breath, followed by raucous cheer).</div>
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And so “Hey! It’s Raining!” presents Famous Problems’ 2018 portfolio, a 7-track frosted clear vinyl 10” on which the Problems get to show off their strength in depth, trading crunchy guitar rock with gin-soaked melancholic pop thrills and coursing ballads. We will bypass, perhaps, the distinctive if slightly bizarre sleeve, which is very purple and features hundreds of mini-Monica Vittis trapped in raindrops.</div>
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The most instant tunes are the faster ones. “If You Are Nowhere Then I Am Nowhere” is in essence a pop song, but lovingly buried in a layered smother of reverb and organ fuzz. The title number constitutes regression therapy for ageing indie-kids like me (“<i>lying in a field / holding hands… hey, it’s raining</i>”), a wild-eyed wonder parcelled up in the easy melodies of the young Menck/Chastain and topped off with a surfeit of cheery whistling. Then there’s “Every Girl”, a healthy serving of lean and petite driving pop that sounds like it comes straight from the Bubblegum Lemonade songbook (this is a good thing). Shorter still and nearly as sweet, “Keeping My Mind To My Baby” adopts a different pose again: it’s a feral if fleeting burst of sunglasses and leather, late Mary Chain or Freeheat-style.</div>
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But on repeat plays, it’s the gorgeous, slowburning ballads that really turn out to be the highlights. Chief of these is “I’d Do It A Thousand Times”, which simply throbs with hunger and hurt: coated in beautiful piano and violin, it bears witness to the paperback ghosts of Comet Gain as they tearily strum the hits of GW McLennan. “Stop Smiling” flips the dynamic by summoning up the spirit of Robert F. instead, and recalls the grown-up, supremely underrated Airport Girl of “Slow Light” vintage (*damn* once more that their Buffalo Bars gig back then was a <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2007/01/airport-girl-buffalo-bars-islington.html">lock-out</a>, and that the Buffalo Bars has since been ruined). The strings wrap themselves around you, and pull you underneath the encircling waters. And the lesson endeth with the equally contemplative “Atheism’s Alright”, a wispy and crepuscular meandering about belief and doubt, whether in God or in our fellow man. It would be hard to imagine more of a contrast with the uptempo way the EP begins, but then that nicely demonstrates the versatile musical mastery of Famous Problems.</div>
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We’re oft-teased for our <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/my-hood-1.html">unstinting</a> love for Hood, which has technically now lasted for the majority of our lives, but we would politely retort that (a) there was definitely a point when they were the best band not only in north Yorkshire, but the solar system and (b) there must be some reason why, even now, every single release by Hood alumni (of which there are still a fair few) tends to sell out, very annoyingly, in about 12 minutes. The latest such artefact (both first and second pressings somehow averting our grasp) being a lathe-cut 7” from Yorkshire’s finest indie-folk deconstructuralists, the Declining Winter: a platter called “Chimneys etc.”, which has luckily been given second/third wind <a href="https://thedecliningwinter.bandcamp.com/album/chimneys-etc">via bandcamp</a> for the time being. </div>
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“Chimneys etc.” as a title could almost be a neat in-joke: one can imagine it being Hood’s instruction to Domino every time they asked about the sleeve art. And the five tracks on it do feel in the vein of those early, idea-crammed ‘paths to travel’ Hood 7”s on 555, Orgasm, Fluff and (eventually!) <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/hard-love-in-country-hood-british.html">Acuarela</a> as the song fragments and looped refrains fade in and out, albeit with more graceful production values. The cracked bedsit strum of “Risk Of Collapsing Hinders”, the lost-boy vocal and plucked acoustic sheen of “Long Distance Soul Shard” and the winsome summer lament “Why Is It So Elusive?” are all winningly bleak, but the standout song is probably the lonely-hearts closer “Company Required”: given wings by Sarah Kemp's doleful violin, it reminds us of the skeletal emotion in Biff Bang Pow!’s better ballads, a comparison we hope neither band would be offended by…</div>
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Which is probably as good a time as any to mention that, on local election night earlier this month, Joel Hanson’s (Declining Winter-featuring) supergroup Memory Drawings came to our home town, to play a genuinely magical show. We’ve been hawking our written wares in this ‘zine for 19 years now, but never before have we had cause to deploy the adjective “transcendental”. Well, we have now: it was a very special evening, even aside from being the first gig at which we’ve ever heard a sound engineer being implored to “<i>turn the dulcimer down a bit</i>”. We caught some absolutely excellent support, too, from the multitalented Manyfingers plus the lion’s share of a solo set from Mike Bourne. Something fascinating about watching a roomful of people, in turn just staring at Mike, as he stood in the middle of said room basically twiddling knobs, but *what* a sound – bewildering analogue noises that boomed out into the Angel streets and no doubt utterly befuddled the poor shoppers in the 24-hour Sainsburys over the road. And all at a mere £6 for the whole night (literally, the price of a pint). Wow.</div>
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The official soundtrack to the gig was a similarly blinding tour EP, “Phantom Lights”, produced to accompany the Drawings’ jaunt around select pockets of the country. There are six tracks, with the title song possibly taking the cake as it expertly pulls melodica, Hood-like bass and a wash of cymbals into the dulcimer weave, but the standard doesn’t fall throughout. “Two Rooms” is springtime, buds unfolding, guitar and violin helping Joel trace new worlds of possibility; “The Final Curtain” builds hypnotically before the warm trumpet peals help bring it to a satisfying plateau. There’s also a welcome return run for “Captivated”, the 2014 single that pushes the boat right out by showcasing Yvonne Bruner’s evocative, vaguely Ivy-ish* VOCALS. And Barnaby Carter checks in to provide a silky remix treatment for “There Is A Last Time For Everything", one that would have graced one of those 555 remix CDs of yore.</div>
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It's a shock to the system when the world is so upside down that amongst the most coherent advocates of sanity in Parliament right now are the Duke of Wellington and the Bishop of Leeds. So it’s essential to have things in life that you know you can rely on, and - especially now that the Fall are <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/farewell-fiery-jack.html">no more</a> - we’re truly grateful to hear <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/amble-side-story-photographer-would.html">Half Man Half Biscuit</a> return with their 14th and surely best-named LP. And, more than any other record we’ve heard for a while, there are lyrical tics and couplets here that give us that rare and precious feeling - the gentle tickle of a smile playing round our lips. As with the previous thirteen albums, this one’s on the indefatigable Probe Plus (come to think of it, another candidate for top twenty record labels ever).</div>
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I first loved HMHB circa “Dickie Davies’ Eyes” but, in the first flush of youth, I kept looking out for the gags instead of the bigger picture. Once I understood better, and realised that their style was more documentary than sketch show, and that the humour is all there *because* they sing about the human condition, and not despite of it – that their music isn’t escapism or an antidote to hard times, far from it, but a constant tribute to <i>the remarkable everyday</i> - then the secret of their longevity (longevity a mere novelty act would never enjoy) became clearer.</div>
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And so here, on, erm “N.O.C.A.Y.C.H.S.G.Y.F.H.C.”, HMHB take a skewer to another bakers’ dozen of deserving targets. Only this band could turn the demise of the Football League Trophy into a petite if eccentric love song (“Swerving The Checkatrade”), spark up a rattling rant about non-improvised bat walks, unsympathetically frame the plight of the humiliated TV-quiz show loser who has to go into work the next day, or turn “<i>get your fucking hedge cut</i>” into a vaguely meaningful refrain. Indeed, Nigel seems a bit more sweary and angry than usual, pulling few punches at times: “<i>what made Colombia famous / has made a prick out of you</i>”, he spits. Meanwhile, in “Bladderwrack Allowance” the narrator is served up with a steaming pint of “<i>Thatcher’s ‘Entirely Blameless’</i>”: the spirit of the 80s has evidently not deserted the band. Though there are some departures from their older records, for these days there are far fewer extended monologues, or references to music biz shenanigans.</div>
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On the other hand, the record can still fox you with moments of relative delicacy. “Harsh Times In Umberstone Covert” belies a whimsical title to rank as one of the tenderest HMHB songs to date – it’s moving and full of empathy, quite a shock from the combo that brought you the sweary Papal bon mots of “Vatican Broadside”. And distinct themes of ageing and of loneliness intrude on several tracks, much as these can be lost amidst with the breezy, uptempo rock/folk strums. And should all the trademark punnery and sark get too much for you, just relax with the crossword they’ve kindly provided on the inner sleeve insert.<br />
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Earlier in the year, I fear that our passing reference to the Hit Parade’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2018/03/goodbye-red-rose-riko-dan-jeff-rushin.html">“Oh Honey I…”</a> 45 didn't really do justice to it, so we want to make sure we flag more prominently the aceness of their second pristine 7” of 2018, “Happy World” (apparently a Record Store Day-related release, but then every day is record shop day for us). </div>
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The perhaps unsurprising headline is that, not for the first time, Julian Henry has penned a warm, funny, self-deprecating song about being in a band (and all the associated trappings of identity and part-success and failure that come with that, from past scrapes with the indie charts to present day frustration with i-Tunes <i>“corporate land grabs”</i>) but as always the real punchline is that the Hit Parade are actually *next-level* purveyors of gold-standard pop songs, and so this kind of self-deprecation ("<i>I can't sing in tune</i>”, he dissembles) is utterly unnecessary. As the sparkling melodies and craftsmanship of “Oh Honey I…” and a <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-hit-parade-pick-of-pops-vol.html">formidable back catalogue of three-minute should-be jukebox classics</a> so amply prove.</div>
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Well, <i>hello</i>. Hoving unsubtly into view comes Fret’s “Silent Neighbour” EP, a 12” on Long Island Electrical Systems, aka L.I.E.S (and of New York, unsurprisingly). This, the second Fret single comes, a tad tardily, some *<i>23 years* </i>after the first (there are comets that come around more regularly than that, for heaven’s sake) but you’ll remember clearly enough - probably from the way the foundations shook - that there was also a <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/a-depth-of-leaves.html">Fret LP</a> on Karlrecords as recently as last autumn, one which should give you a pretty big hint about how this EP sounds. Which is… massive, monumental and almost indescribably brill as the four tracks here continue somehow to weave texture and shade whilst simultaneously subjecting the listener to an onslaught of bass currents and pulverising percussive mayhem. This is broken techno, post-industrial, deep-bass sculpture: molten lava flowing across hard ground, seeping up through crevices to uproot entire cities and civilisations. It is not for the faint-hearted.</div>
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This month’s possibly extraneous but certainly heartfelt extra shout-outs go to Joker's terrific "Marching Orders" (maxed-out lethal-Brizzle corkscrew duuub-st3p on green vinyl 12" featuring a v. laidback and nonchalant Footsie vocal), YGG’s “Strikers” single (latest grime confection from the literate but feisty young pretenders, shades of mid-period Newham Generals?), Aleja Sanchez’s “The Acheron Passage” 12” on Illegal Alien (yes, a Colombian-penned, Germanic-sounding EP about a New Zealand body of water, on a Mexican label - Ms Sanchez is one of the most consistent producers out there right now), Destroyer’s “New Age” on Elektrax (unforgiving techno pummel from the Czech Republic), Slam’s “Blue Dragon” (classic, coursing Glaswegian acid-line purism***) and, following on from the <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/14-iced-bears-hold-on-inside-cherry-red.html">14 Iced Bears</a> re-release <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/trying-to-find-way-to-say-no-april.html">last month</a>, another fantastic indiepop vinyl reissue. This time it’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2007/05/secret-lovers-blood-brothers.html">Blueboy</a>’s gorgeous “The Bank Of England”, which on its original Shinkansen release never managed a vinyl outing, not least one suspects because Matt Haynes still needed to eat. However, it’s a wonderful, underrated record which would prove to be their final long-player (one including their swansong singles, “Love Yourself” and “Marco Polo”) and it’s brimful of both pulchritudinous ballads and buzzing pop-thrills. This one comes correct from A Colourful Storm (another label based in two of our favourite cities, this time those being Melbourne and Berlin).</div>
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And that's all. Back next month, I expect.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Mmm, footnotes…</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* We say “of sorts” because the main personnel here basically ARE the Butterflies of Love, <i>sans</i> the very talented Daniel Greene.<br />** Ivy (UK) rather than Ivy (NYC), in the parlance of the time.<br />*** Trivia fact: we once successfully convinced d’Alma that Slam used to be the Bambi Slam of "Indie Top 20, volume 2" fame. Doubt this was actually true though.</span></div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-63503998794309855192018-04-30T23:51:00.000+00:002018-04-30T23:51:01.358+00:00 “Trying To Find A Way To Say No”: April flowers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>The Catenary Wires “Was That Love?” (Where It’s At Is Where You Are): Azure Blue “Whatever ’18” EP (Matinée Recordings): Rotten Sound “Suffer To Abuse” (Season Of Mist): Chas & Dave “A Little Bit Of Us” (Rockney): Napalm Death “Coded Smears And More Uncommon Slurs” (Century Media): Even As We Speak “Yellow Food” (Emotional Response): Electro Hippies “Deception Of The Instigator Of Tomorrow” (Boss Tuneage / Break The Connection), and more</b><br />
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the official indie-pop fanzine of Holloway, Highbury and Hackney. </div>
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This month’s image is a striking one: “From Here Health”, by Denys Mitchell. Unveiled in 1994, you may be able to spot that it stands in front of Edinburgh’s Surgeons Hall, a treasure trove of occasionally gruesome souvenirs from the history of the city’s eminent Royal College of Surgeons. It’s title comes from the College motto (Hinc Sanitas). Health to you all, in these despondency-attuned times.<br />
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<b>Single of the month -</b> and that’s going some, in a month where Ryuji Takeuchi and Lewis Parker have unfurled new 12”s and Nicki Minaj has released not one but two ace if less than subtle “I’M BACK” singles - comes from the Catenary Wires, by now firmly etched in our dizzy little heads as prime purveyors of delicate, shimmering slow-burn vignettes. Their Where It’s At Is Where You Are 7”, “Was That Love?” doesn’t mess with the template: lyrically spot on and utterly poignant, it’s a loving spoonful of dark-themed “less is more” pop that channels the Stuckist minimalism of Confetti or Young Marble Giants and the soft female/male vocal wrap of Pipas.<br />
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“Was That Love?” arrives courtesy of WIAIWYA’s '7777777' seven seven-inch singles club, which ships out its gems after 77 days, making it the best number seven-centric conceit this side of Culture’s 7x7” “Seven Sevens Clash” box (which was a hyper-neat way of turning the pending end of the world into a bespoke marketing opportunity, but we’re not complaining, because the music’s fantastic). More on WIAIWYA here next month, all things being equal.</div>
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<b>EP of the month</b> was a close call, but we’re giving it to Stockholmian tunesmiths Azure Blue and their “Whatever ‘18” six-tracker on Matinée Recordings. This one shows it means business straightaway with the title track, which flicks an ultra-smooth electro-pop V-sign to the shackles of obedience and conformity. And Tobias Isaksson knows exactly what he’s doing, going for the catchiness jugular by ensuring that most of the song consists of the chorus. The song - a preview of their forthcoming album - is the kind of bright, sassy synth confection that White Town turned their hand to once they’d escaped their brief brushes with fame and a major label: ironically, it’s also the kind of song that in a better world ought really to catapult Mr Isaksson into the sort of spotlight Jyoti Mishra once enjoyed. You’ll genuinely find yourself humming it at the bus stop, which is after all the acid test of any top pop song for the last – ooh, 60 years?</div>
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The rest of the EP, we understand, harvests bits and pieces from obscure sources but it’s an assured electro take on “Justice”, one of our favourite Robert Forster-penned numbers, which rather jumps out. As well as providing a nice companion piece to Azure Blue’s jaunt through Grant McLennan’s “Fingers” a few years back (on the “Rule Of Thirds” long player), its lyrical themes nicely intertwine with the madness of these days, and despite the obvious risks in attempting to cover such a scintillating record, Azure Blue cast "Justice" in a different light, showing how versatile a piece it really is: a song that could suit the Pet Shop Boys. We daresay that Mr Forster, who turned his own hand so well to covers on his “I Had A New York Girlfriend” set, would approve.</div>
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Maximum props too, for the sparkling New Order-ish guitars and groove that drive “Every Ending Story” and the glisteningly pretty closer “747”, originally recorded by Kent (the band, not the county) and a track which could almost be Keris and Alex’s Hal were it not for the fact that it’s sung in Swedish (um, we think). This EP should sit just as well with fans of mainstream 80s/90s synth-pop as with connoisseurs of the frequently bejewelled output of less-celebrated outfits (to our ears, these might range from Kanda and White Town through to Other People’s Children, They Go Boom! or even, at times, Orange Cake Mix).</div>
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Our runner-up EP also hails from Scandinavia: Finland’s tight, towering noise titans Rotten Sound return on Marseille's Season Of Mist label with “Suffer To Abuse”, seven tracks over eleven minutes of scowling, sardonic, guttural bass-groove grind. The lyrics hit hard, just like a couple of pints of Hackney Kapow! (yes, that is a real drink, as Thursday's hangover knows only too well): a nifty suite of diatribes punching at worthy targets including drug dealers (“Harvester Of Boredom”), sex trafficking (“Slaves Of Lust”), homelessness (“The Misfit”), scene sell-outs (“One Hit Wonder”) and, er, people like me (“The Privileged”) who spend Monday to Friday in self-imposed drudgery, waiting for the weekend to unfold and allow us to briefly indulge a wine-soaked existence outside the office. Limited to 2,500, which for bands we like is quite a lot. Some poor git obviously had to stay up all night hand-numbering them all in black felt tip, too.</div>
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<b>Album of the month</b> comes from a not unexpected quarter, at least not unexpected by us. Yes, it’s time for the latest masterclass from two absolute dons, <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/aint-no-pleasing-you.html">Chas & Dave</a>, with “A Little Bit Of Us”, their first album since Carcass-rivalry meisterwerk <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/carcass-surgical-steel-nuclear-blast.html">“That’s What Happens”</a> and their first in over three decades to showcase new CnD originals. Anyone who loves music will know that the septugenarians' timeless fusion of rock n’roll, blues, bluegrass and good old East End boogie-woogie is pretty much unrivalled, and that as well as working with the best (Jerry Lee Lewis, Albert Lee, Led Zep, the Beatles, Labi Siffre, the Cambridge Heath Citadel Band and, above all, Mick) and inspiring the best (well, actually Eminem and the Libertines, but grant us some poetic licence) they’ve written <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/three-men-two-names-one-vision-no.html">some of the best songs</a> of all time (“Ain’t No Pleasing You”, “ I Wonder In Whose Arms”, “I Wish I Could Write A Love Song”...)</div>
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And “A Little Bit Of Us” is on not one, but two ace labels: not only has their revered own-label Rockney imprint been resurrected, but it’s been given the breath of life by Cooking Vinyl, meaning that Chas & Dave join a wider roster past-grazed by Peel and Kershaw-friendly genii ranging from the Four Brothers to the Wedding Present. Yes, after their major label outing last time around, Chas & Dave have gone “indie” (maybe, like Ice-T, they ended up having beef with Time Warner). Perhaps because of any budget constraints that switch might entail, there’s less grandstanding here than on their previous outing (no celebrity guest appearances!)</div>
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The duo somewhat bravely go early doors for a comedy removal man music-hall/knees-up mash-up banter-ocalypse (“Come On Charlie”), but it's harmless enough and only a brief aberration as we’re regaled by the baleful blues of the sublime “Nothing You Can Do”, the bright, horn-bled pomp of “A Little Bit Of Me”, the lovers’ Rock(ney) of “Last Kiss” and the joanna-trembling instrumental might of “Rose Of Picardy”. In the spirit of constructive criticism, though, I think we are entitled to suggest that a mid-album run through of “Dry Bones” feels a touch superfluous.<br />
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Pristinely measured out to a lean half-an-hour or so of music (come on, no album really needs to be longer than 30 minutes), "A Little Bit Of Us" is a warming LP of folk roots, served with lashings of boogie, dollops of bluegrass and a massive bloody ladleful of soul.</div>
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<i>“Old friend, you’re reviving the pettiness of all the worst memories / from minefield of childhood to melting pot of frailty”</i></div>
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That lyric comes from the <b>compilation of the month</b>, and the compilation of the month comes from one of the top ten British groups of all time. When <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/lucid-fairytale-fourth-defiant-decade.html">Napalm Death</a> do CD bonus tracks, split singles, or one-off flexis or compilations, they’re prone to wander from their comfort zone, either into altogether punkier territory, or into an experimental twilight that indulges their longtime Swans-worship. So “Coded Smears And More Uncommon Slurs”, a new collection of non-LP tracks from the last 14 years (31 merry melodies, and still no ballads!) is a great introduction to the variety of Napalm Death, a goldmine not just for picking up songs you missed but seeing how Napalm can be so much more than a ‘metal’ band. The record may lead its charge with the roar of “Standardisation” – “<i>the blaaand leading the blaaand</i>”, hollers Barney – but as we all know by now, bland is the one thing that Napalm don’t do.</div>
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We thought we were close to Napalm completists, but the songs here that we already had are largely the bonus tracks from the original ltd edition UK digipak CDs (yes, we are the sort who would happily queue in the rain outside HMV to buy these on the day of the release): there are many, many more tracks arrayed here that we would otherwise have missed, including spoils from the splits with MeltBanana, Voivod, Converge and the Melvins. And it’s clear that Napalm fans in the Far East have been particularly cosseted by good fortune, because a few of the most exhilarating ditties here were only ever released on the Japanese CD versions of the albums, somehow denied to those of us in Europe and the States.</div>
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On the hi-tempo side, attack dogs like “Youth Offender” and “Like Piss To A Sting” veritably pile along, their burning hardcore influences shining through; while “We Hunt In Packs” could be prime Lock-Up. And in our view the righteous, snake-riff behemoth “Losers” remains one of Napalm’s best ever tunes, the should-be soundtrack to the enraged inheriting the earth, and it was absolutely <i>wasted</i> as an LP bonus track. Meanwhile, “Critical Gluttonous Mass”, “An Extract (Strip It Clean)” and down and dirty monster “What Is Past Is Prologue” provide deft lessons in the art of the riff.</div>
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Of course, the nature of this exercise means there are covers, too: the unlikely canter through the Cardiacs’ “Going Off And Things” rather stands out from the pack, but you could make a good start on a “Leaders Not Followers, Part 3” with what else is tucked away in here. Special mad love for the high-tensile covers of blistering punkcrust classics from 80s Dutch hardcore band Gepopel, 80s Japanese hardcore band Gauze, 80s-90s German thrashers Despair, 80s Swedish crust bods G-ANX and the Midlands’ own 80s rock totems Sacrilege (the latter, a version of “Lifeline”, nicely complementing Memoriam’s Sacrilege cover version, “The Captive”, last year).</div>
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On the other side of the coin, we find interludes of slow menace and sadness: brief oases to distract from what’s otherwise pure pace and noise. So the goth-doom “Oxygen of Duplicity” nimbly maxes out the Gira. “Weltschmerz” springs a surprise as it combines chiming keyboards with a mock-choral coda. And “Caste Is Waste” sees stentorian chants over music that Blast First might would surely have succumbed to back in the day. These are all delicious hints of possible new directions one day.</div>
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Most of all, though - and this is something of a theme of this month’s reviews - there is some excellent songwriting at play here, even if Napalm’s oeuvre is not typical muso territory, no natural refuge for the troubled lilting troubador. “Legacy Was Yesterday”, which houses the reflective lyric quote above, is a pure fireball of honesty and regret: “<i>be true to yourself, and deal with the fucking consequences!</i>” chides Barney, as the vulcanite flow finally explodes. Like the Mary Chain at their electric best, it’s a song that epitomises how fire and fury, properly honed, can capture rather than emasculate emotion. “It Failed To Explode”, too, is a revelation: a song presumably about the Arab Spring, and one which despite its unyielding velocity and sheer torque remains at heart a tender ode to dashed hopes of all kinds. If you really know what you’re doing, speed can mingle with sadness. And for all the fun of the fair provided by the HC covers and the punk, it’s thanks to songs like these that we kind of feel ourselves falling in love with this fine band, yet again.</div>
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A couple of other new compilations that cry out to be mentioned, though. “Yellow Food” takes all four joybringing Radio 1 sessions recorded by off-kilter Aussie pop sensations Even As We Speak during their spell in the UK in the early 1990s (three for Peel, one for Mark “maximum music” Goodier) and it works as an absolutely cracking collection: the strongest of songs, sympathetically captured at Maida Vale and many of which, although already fully-formed, would soon land on their Sarah EPs. These are songs that intertwine pure pop perfection (“Suddenly”) with power pop perfection (“Stay With Me”) with punk pop perfection (“Getting Faster”) with erm, madcap cowgirl electro (“The Revenge Of Ella Mae Cooley”), and that’s even before we mention MC Younger Youth’s startlingly bold redecoration of “Falling Down The Stairs” (which may, strangely, make it the definitive version). If nothing else, you should get “Yellow Food” as proof that Matthew Love may be one of the most underrated songwriters to have ever picked up a guitar and a pen.</div>
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And then, in a rather different style, comes Electro Hippies’ “Deception Of The Instigator Of Tomorrow”, a warts and all round-up on Boss Tuneage of their 1985-87 period which – <i>finally</i>, after 30 years of waiting – sees their excellent sole Peel Session get a digital outing, a session which was as life-affirming at the time as it has been hard to source since (altogether now: “<i>Don’t kill sheep!</i>”)</div>
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The CD boasts 60 tracks in total from the Scouse vegancore legends – which, when added to the 40 tracks on their “The Only Good Punk” compilation of later soundz (issued on Peaceville at the start of the century), give you a neat hundred-track discography covering all their recorded works and a generous clutch of live cuts - but, in all honesty, it’s the Peel sesh tunes which you really need. We’d have probably marketed this one as “The Peel Session” and treated the other 51 songs as bonus tracks…</div>
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So much else out there, now that 2018 has really begun to blossom for great music. So for a quickfire rest of April round-up, we must give shout-outs to Ryuji T’s “One’s Sentiment” (an artist EP via Berlin’s Instruments of Discipline that flits and veers breathlessly and ruthlessly from beatless to 160bpm to 90bpm, though sadly without the manic handclaps of his recent singles); Flame 1’s “Fog”/”Shrine” 12” (this month’s The Bug collaboration is also this month’s Burial collaboration, the newsome twosome neatly parcelling up the glacial dub wiles of King Midas Sound with Burial’s flickering B&W nightbus-step); Nicki Minaj’s “Barbie Tingz” and “Chun-Li” (irresistible in-face “do call it a comeback” stylings which <i>***<b>resemble Lady Sovereign, circa 2005, far more than anybody is ever going to be prepared to admit***</b></i>)...<br />
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oh, and not forgetting...<br />
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... Lewis Parker’s “It Never Rains But It Pours” on King Underground (his usual serene flow over laidback, US-flavoured stylings); Third Eye Foundation’s “Wake The Dead” (pretty, percussive and sadness-infused long-player on Ici d’ailleurs that’s so good it invokes both Hood and Mick Harris); Septic Tank’s “Rotting Civilisation“ (brisk hardcore stylings from Cathedral-related people on Rise Above, with winning bloke-next-door vocal yells); and 14 Iced Bears’ magnificent “14 Iced Bears” album getting a deluxe vinyl reissue thing on deluxe vinyl reissue thing specialists Optic Nerve (here’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/14-iced-bears-hold-on-inside-cherry-red.html">more</a> on this fantastic band and why you should grab this while you can, unless of course you’ve already got these tracks on the original Thunderball LP release, or from Overground’s “Let The Breeze Open Our Hearts” compilation, or from Slumberland’s "In The Beginning" compilation, or from Cherry Red’s “Hold On Inside” compilation...)</div>
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April shout-outs to Arsène Wenger, for bearing <i>such</i> idiocy, with <i>such</i> poise, for <i>so</i> long. Few have done more for English football, let alone for Arsenal, our village team; and we’re confident that their fans will look back on his era as a golden one, not that they reckon that now.</div>
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Oh, and one more topical dedication, sorry - it’s important. Much respect going out to the memory of my great Grandad. <b><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/zeebrugge100">zeebrugge#100</a></b></div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-59329142218166334382018-03-29T23:03:00.000+00:002018-04-27T09:34:52.101+00:00Goodbye, Red Rose: the ides of March<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE6_Kve5JvUIGIP6NP-hsq_-VD4JgR864_2ceLsxZohdxPAJMYCleDUYzRvdsDxT50SvEFbMd-7mpI36aJZC-nS4rhnj0xRM17hVlvqww_fOCnmCbCpfmPTNqbgJ9WByhDuz6DCg/s1600/saint+paul%2527s+park.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="899" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE6_Kve5JvUIGIP6NP-hsq_-VD4JgR864_2ceLsxZohdxPAJMYCleDUYzRvdsDxT50SvEFbMd-7mpI36aJZC-nS4rhnj0xRM17hVlvqww_fOCnmCbCpfmPTNqbgJ9WByhDuz6DCg/s320/saint+paul%2527s+park.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
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<b>Riko Dan "Hard Food" (Tectonic): Jeff Rushin "Between Minds" (Mary Go Wild): Insolate "Proletarijat 005"(Proletarijat): Code Error "Code Error" (Tandang Records): Nothing Clean / Hooked On Christ split 7" (Samidzat Records / Birmingslam Hardcore): Caesium "Any Questions, Any Answers" (Dreizehn Schallplatten), and more</b><br />
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine that prefers the Shirelles to Sheeran, the Ronettes to Ronson and "Skillex" to Skrillex (sorry if we've done that one before, but Kenickie - unlike most of what emerged from 'Britpop' - remain an oft-underrated outfit).</div>
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You may wonder why we didn’t post in February given our promise to try and update you on new sounds monthly, but the honest answer is that February proved as barren as our local park. And, as we’re in an N1 state of mind, this month’s pic is the entrance to that park. The estate behind it was designed by Darbourne & Dark, in a ziggurat style that won awards and plaudits before cold reality intervened, but we can’t find trace of the architect or sculptor behind this particular, rather neglected gateway.<br />
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Luckily, March brought a springtime rush of excellent music, so let's dive in.<br />
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The last time a great Bristol record label reached catalogue number 100, it promptly imploded, breaking hearts right and left and taking out half a page in the NME to celebrate “a day for destroying things”. Pinch’s Tectonic imprint, on the other hand, has wisely decided to eschew stylised self-immolation and elected instead to celebrate the event with an artist EP by a favourite MC of Rob Ellis (and ours), the venerable Riko Dan, announcing his presence in typically winning fashion.<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">“Here to kill off all bumbaclart fuckery / Like Peter Tosh, me get grumpy… Buss your head like Magnum bubbly”</span><br />
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Looking back in the racks, it seems that our first engagements with Riko, as he was, were his turn on Wiley’s “Ice Rink” white label and his incongruously phoned-in (from prison) verse on Lady Sovereign’s “Random”. At the time, all the talk was of Sov - and of grime – imminently breaking through to the mainstream, regarded rather oddly as a promised land. In the event though, it’s arguable that the grime class ceiling was only broken this year, 13 years on, by Stormzy; whilst Lady Sovereign turned out to be one of many super-promising MCs that ‘rose without trace’. Riko Dan, on the other hand, is still rolling strong: over the years we’ve enjoyed much, including his epic mixtape <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2008/04/riko-arena-its-been-about-14-years-ive.html">“The Truth”</a> one decade back, his stint on the riddims on the FWD>>/Rinse “The End” comp (a box set of blazing London MCs and producers caught live in 2007) and - in more recent years - a host of dubstep-collabo pearls on 12”.<br />
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On this particular 12”, Riko gets the red carpet treatment from no less than five different producers on five different cuts (plus a remix of 2016’s “Big Slug” to close things out), with productions from Pinch, Joker and Ziro (all from the home team in Bristol) plus London’s Mumdance and Manchester’s Walton. We’d have probably bought any of these as own-right singles, so putting them out on one release really feels like the treat that Mr Ellis no doubt intended. The last time we heard an EP which basically had five A-sides on it was probably when the Orchids released “Penetration” (unfortunately, at the time the aceness of the songs was drowned out by a chorus of disapproval which we will never be able to explain to any millennial because it involved what was then the <i>heresy</i> – really not too strong a word for it back then - of Sarah Records having released a 45 that was twelve inches in diameter).<br />
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If we had to pick two from "Hard Food" - a starter and a main, if you like - then we’d probably plump for the title track, which pits the Dan’s cavalier MCing against a zigzagging, playful Joker beat to create one of Riko's catchiest tunes (lyrically, he doesn’t like informers, he doesn’t like Brie); and “Vibration”, which uses a pummelling Pinch rhythm to tell a tale of kissing and holding hands (not really, it’s about informers again).<br />
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<i><b>in love with these times, in spite of these times Riko Dan top 10:</b> Dark Crawler (with Terror Danjah). Ice Rink (with Wiley). Big Slug (with Pinch & Mumdance). Black Dragons (with Rabit). Play Your Corner (with Wen). No Boad Test This Corner (from “The Truth”). Take Time VIP (with Mumdance). Hard Food (with Joker). Chosen One (from “Run The Road”). Pepper Pot (with P Jam).</i><br />
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In contrast to Tectonic and its (dub)plates, Amsterdam’s Mary Go Wild are only up to catalogue number 003, which must make <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/jeff-rushin-decline-into-wall-music.html">Jeff Rushin</a> their Harvey Williams. “Between Minds” is Mr Rushin’s latest artist EP, and the title track quickly settles into a familiar groove, swapping the icier blasts of last year’s “Wondering” for a hypnotic mix of undulation and modulation. The other real highlight, though, is “New Era” on the flip: this is warmer and fuzzier, like a comfy pub sofa after a short drink too many. It has the feel of A New Line (Related)’s Detroit-via-Yorkshire, President Carter-approved repeto-tech. All in all, a Dutch delight, and on lager bottle-green vinyl.<br />
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But the moment we really *knew* that March was a vintage month was when Proletarijat 005 emerged from the postman’s bag. I think we all know by now that Sev Dah’s Proletarijat label is the go-to place for bangin’ contemporary European dancefloor techno which also tenderly marks the exploits and sacrifice of Yugoslav partisans, and this instalment introduces the additional frisson of being an artist EP not by Sev himself, but by Insolate (aka Miss Sunshine), whose grandfather was himself one of those freedom fighters. There’s another thoughtful sleeve insert – the translation reads <i>“Man becomes free with his will, his resistance and non-acceptance”</i> – and the label itself rightly describes the themes of the 12” as particularly apposite in today’s world: <i>"as the black clouds of fascism once again form over Europe we must remember the ordinary men and women who sacrificed everything for the hope of freedom... how infinitely frail this freedom is".</i><br />
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Opener “Mulberry Tree” is bright, dashing and insistent, like the debonair young soldiers pictured on the record sleeve. It’s followed by the more introspective wash of “Sloboda” (“Freedom”) – adroit hypnoteca with buttefly percussion - but the pièce de résistance (with the emphasis on résistance, of course) is “Ponos” (“Pride”): it’s an unashamed dancefloor monster, yet we swear a military marching rhythm briefly intrudes halfway through. Once more from Proletarijat, this is an EP that works brilliantly as both a suite of music and as a testament to those who fought in resistance movements of all kinds. And, frankly, as an inspiration against the rise of the right in Hungary, in Poland, across Europe and in Trump’s America.<br />
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Lurching eastwards across the globe, cuddly new combo Code Error are a Singaporean grindcore quartet, but despite what you might be thinking, a full 25% of them have never been in Wormrot, and only 50% of them are currently in Wormrot. Their self-titled debut cassette EP (on Tandang Records of Kuala Lumpur) serves up seven slices of Wormrot-friendly guttural guitar noise, if marginally rawer than their ‘parent’ band’s most <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/bubblegum-lemonade-great-leap-backward.html">recent</a> full-length, “Voices”.<br />
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Instead, at times there's something - perhaps in the anger of the prowling, detuned bass lines - that reminds of formidable Finns Rotten Sound (btw, we should be hearing more from them very soon). There are no titles, merely numbers, but after “0” provides an ominous intro roll, highlights include the full-on exocet blasts of “1” (oh, and “3”, and, er “4” and “6”), the mid-period Wormrot wiles of “2” and the ‘reflective’ “5”, which eventually elides its freestyle riffing into half a minute of what sounds like the singer awaking, shouting and drenched in sweat, from some kind of hallucogenic nightmare.<br />
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Continuing with the cassingle revival (Lucksmiths earworms always being welcome), the East Midlands' <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/nothing-clean-split-7-with-higgs-boson.html">Nothing Clean</a> (file between: Northern Portrait and Notorious B.I.G) have decided to follow a quartet of spiky split 7"s on multifarious labels by switching to cassette for their latest split, this time with the West Midlands' Hooked on Christ (file between: Hoodz Underground and Horowitz). This newest EP is released via the Clean's own Samidzat Records and the Birmingslam Hardcore collective.<br />
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Once again, the boys furnish 10 tracks of febrile and fresh short-dose Leicester HC, delivered in a turbulent and tumultuous style that always feels somewhat invigorating: if our usual diet of techno and indie-pop is a warm & nourishing environment, like taking the armchair by the parlour hearth in winter, then listening to NC is like stepping outside into a bracing hailstorm for a bit instead. It takes a few seconds to adapt, but you're outside, and *alive*, and by the end of it you're relishing the impact of every ball of ice. And Hooked On Christ, for their part, may be our favourite of the five 'guest' bands so far on these splits: their 14 tracks of stop-start fire and fury never outstay their welcome, with the slightly longer tunes ("Useful Fools" and "Critic", which both edge past 30 seconds) perhaps the pick.<br />
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But the song this year that best captures the political zeitgeist, we think, isn't angry metallic shoutcore, but West Country producer Caesium's "Mrs May", the final tune on his "Any Questions, Any Answers" EP on Berlin's Dreizehn Schallplatten label. Weaving our beloved Prime Minister's infamous "strong and stable" mantra into an increasingly mocking 131 bpm loop, Caesium succeeds in showing just how unhinged and inaccurate that General Election catchphrase proved to be. It may be techno's most forthright political nail on the head since Cindy skinned Farage and Le Pen a few years back.<br />
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Which brings us to our next pet subject, exiting the EU. And we are sorry to do this again, not least as it may well induce a coronary in me if I get any crosser about it, and then who's going to slavishly bring you news of the next single by an ex-Sarah band, eh?<br />
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But... today marks one year from the day when we will lose our EU citizenship - I'm not a young man, but I've been an EU citizen my whole life - and all because of an internal fissure in the Conservative party, exploited by opportunist politicians and seedy tax-dodging closet racists and cravenly supported by a pitifully suppliant Government which refuses to govern and an 'opposition', emaciated of all principle, that unforgivably refuses to oppose. (And yes, we have finally ripped up the membership card, and not just over Europe: if CLPs really think that that first-class MPs are Tory stooges, just for calling out their own party's feeble responses to antisemitism, then we don't want to subsidise those members, to belong to the same party as them any more. That's the type of narrow, conspiracy theorist response that would once have been confined to the alt-right, and which ignores the bigger picture, a construct of pre-Brexit vintage called common decency).<br />
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Maybe time to cheer up the round-up. So rather than leave you in a huff, let's give some serious ilwtt, isott shout-outs to a few more high-in-the-chest-of drawers singles: Sneakbo’s “Fuck It” (low down, uncompromising, obliquely thrilling Brixton posse cut featuring Swavey, Mdargg, J. Boy and Bellzey), Maria Savage’s “Me O Nada” (tenacious barbed-wire Chilean techno on Darknet, with hints of Electorites), Salt Lake Alley's "Deals At The Crossroads" (impending Cloudberry pop thrills on 7" as the Wake meet the Style Council in charming slight-fi), Leeds label 1Forty's v/a "1FGRM002" EP (including majorly sharp, unfiltered grimestep from Filthy Gears, laced by Maxsta and Killa P) and of course <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-hit-parade-pick-of-pops-vol.html">The Hit Parade</a>’s “Oh Honey I…” (tender 7” Gunnersbury Park pulp paperback-pop perfection, as you’d expect: “<i>THIS POP MUSIC RECORDING can only be played at 45 Rpm</i>”, blares the sleeve stridently).<br />
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Yes. Pop music, we need you - and are grateful for you - more than ever before.stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-83904818341286439492018-01-31T23:58:00.000+00:002018-06-01T10:39:50.066+00:00"Happy, here in the half-light…": a January tune<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine that wishes that what little remained of the old City Road station - briefly a Northern Line stop during the early 20th century - hadn’t been bulldozed recently. But better news, as you can see, is that the old York Road station on the Piccadilly line (closed in 1932) is still here and now easy to spot, thankfully preserved amongst the swathe of redevelopment going on across Kings’ Cross right now. Disused underground stations still fascinate (us).<br />
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Now. Back in the halcyon MF day (you know, the early 00s, when we used to do <i>whatever</i> it took, from half-inching chains to tea-leafing pocketbooks) we'd endeavour to update our website at the end of every month, give or take. We can't remotely promise that our current plan to revisit this approach will sustain itself, but let's see.<br />
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The main event this January (red carpet, Leicester Square première etc) was of course Math & Physics Club's fourth album: only 27 (or possibly 28) long-players to go until they overhaul the subject of our <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/farewell-fiery-jack.html">last</a> post. “Lived Here Before” – a shared release between Matinée Recordings and Fika Recordings - comes hot on the sprightly heels of "All The Mains Are Down", the taster single that managed to knock off your cotton popsocks at the same time as nicely summing up the um, entire situation of the world.<br />
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You might have been expecting - given the bounding harmonic singalong goodness of 2016/17 should-be-karaoke standards "Mains" and "Coastal California, 1985" - that this new record would simply see the Pacific Northwest's finest leaping, salmon-like, into the mainstream pop firmament. Actually, however, it does something slightly different: this is subtler, the sound of a band revelling in the chance to engage with a wider palette.<br />
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And while the press release shouts for early REM are not a bad call in a few places (and on slower songs we would throw in Joe Brooker's bands over the years like the Arc Lamps, the sadly overlooked Foxgloves, and Matinée labelmates the Pines), for the most part M&PC have rather outgrown many of the early comparisons (the Smiths, for one). Now they have their own sound to hone.<br />
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There's nothing in the opening triptych of the poignant "Threadbare", the pristinely jangling "Marblemouth" – complete with beautiful, vaguely Harper Lee-ish instrumental - or the math(s) and physics-related confection "Broadcasting Waves" that challenge the template too boldly: these are complete and lovely popsongs of varied and varying tempo, which trade melancholy and flair in typical Math & Physics fashion.<br />
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However, the next two songs usher in a more contemplative second Act to this album, as the band gently press the collective brake pedal. In “The Pull Of The Tides” and "Like Cinnamon", lyrical shadows recede before an ocean sweep of closeness and contentment; a kernel of satisfaction amidst sadnesses elsewhere. Indeed, the minor key caresses of "Like Cinnamon" are the real centrepiece of the record. Here, those normally chiming M&PC guitars start to really *shimmer* instead: but this is no ordinary shimmer, it’s a shimmer that almost scalds, like the heart-clutching sparks of first sunrise over Coniston Water or, for the older amongst you, “<i>a firefly burning bright</i>” (M. Whitehead, after William Blake).<br />
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And, with the band having caught the listener a little off-guard, they press home their advantage before half-time by deploying the petite instrumental "Falling For It", all Oriental swing and what sounds like some lovely tabla playing. Cheeky.<br />
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Next, “Dear Madeline” documents a sob-choked separation, with initial bitterness seeming to give way to regret as the instrumentation gathers and the narrator gets into his stride. From here, the band up the tempo once more, into the record’s Act III, as “Take A Number” corrals a catchy, staccato verse into an adroitly unfurled chorus that lays bare its topic of industrial decline and suburban flight. This mini-parade of breezier tunes continues with “Past & In Between” – a becomingly modest indie-soul stomper, the sort of tune that you could thrill to at How Does It Feel To Be Loved? – and of course that absurdly strong single “All The Mains Are Down”, which still knocks the ball out of the proverbial park. Both songs dig deep as they wrestle wistfully with the theme of our myriad failures to communicate. Curtain falls on Act Three. Rivals exit stage left, and swiftly.<br />
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That leaves just time for the epilogue. “Drive To You” switches down the pace again, closing the album on a sincere, optimistic tone. It’s an elegant way to finish (realistically, the only way you’re going to follow “All The Mains”): as the final embers circle, Charles sings “<i>the closer I get, the faster I drive to you</i>”. (But still well within all applicable speed limits, obviously). And the show is over.<br />
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"Lived Here Before” is introspective, thoughtful and eloquent, but never less than winningly melodic. In places it exudes an aura of real vulnerability - and the threads of relationship breakdown, separation and human frailty are never far from the surface - but there are enough twists and turns to feel by the end that you’ve joined M&PC on a rewarding little journey, and to make you pleased to have been there to witness the spreading of their wings, to feel them brush against you as they lift.<br />
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We’re not going to rank it against past outings like <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/math-physics-club-our-hearts-beat-out.html">“Our Hearts Beat Out Loud"</a>, or <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/old-traditions.html">“I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do”:</a> that would be comparing apples with oranges, or at least satsumas with clementines. Instead, we’ll just reflect on the fact that not so long ago, we were <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/math-physics-club-in-this-together.html">worried</a> that the band might be ready to call it a day. “Lived Us Before” demonstrates what the world would have missed had we been right.<br />
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It’s lucky that we're hardly ever right.<br />
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Aside from all this M&PC-related excitement, what else is new in 2018? Well, there’s The Total Rejection for starters, a new combo featuring dependably prolific Bristol songsmith Andrew Jarrett in cahoots with Tom Adams (Beatnik Filmstars, Secret Shine and more) and (drum roll please) “<i>an ex-Rosehip</i>”, which is an exceedingly tantalising description given our longtime and continued love of <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/fucking-rosehips.html">that</a> band).<br />
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Mention of the Rejection’s very name gave us an immediate earworm (“<i>what a shame, it’s in vain, total rejection</i>”) which was *so* catchy that we initially thought it must have been something by Andrew’s own Groove Farm, and then we wondered whether it was perhaps <i>their</i> spiritual mentors the Buzzcocks, but eventually we tracked down the source: twas the Undertones’ “My Perfect Cousin”, as you’ve no doubt already surmised.<br />
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However, there is a Groove Farm link, even aside from Mr Jarrett’s participation, because the house label Raving Pop Blast! has been resurrected for a TR album called “Wrapping Yourself In Silver Foil Won’t Save You From The Blast”, launched with a fuzzy slice of pop boasting the similarly unselfconscious mouthful of a title “The Legendary Orgasm (Everything In My Mind Is Groovy)”. Groove Farm and Tricia Yates Fanclub aficionados alike will dig the hooks, whilst the Rejection throw in a froth of psychedelia and a pinch, no more, of krautrock buzz. It’s all a long way from the drizzled gorgeousness of the Beatniks’ “Hospital Ward” or the sadly undervalued <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/our-arthur-strange-about-rain-ep-work.html">Our Arthur</a> project, but in all fairness it’s probably more likely to get your toes merrily tapping.<br />
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Elsewhere, DJs Trends (from Oxford, who may be the city’s best musical export since Saturn V and Cody) & Boylan have just enlisted Riko Dan to lord it over their “Krueger” 12” on Mean Street (it’s mean, moody, maleficent and mighty in vaguely equal measure, so don’t sleep); the marvellous Sven Wittekind has slipped out a new single, “Artefacts” on Driving Forces which kicks off 2018 nicely on the German minimal techno side; and, heading back across the water for a sec, I think we’ve also just time to give a shout-out to Portland’s A Certain Smile, whose “Mexican Coke” thunders along in pure early-90s melodic-noise indie style, an easy win for fans of the Hobbes Fanclub, Seafang, Sugar or the Edsel Auctioneer.<br />
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But before we leave you this month, this post has its own third Act, as we go retro to the year that was… two thousand and seventeen. After all, one of our longstanding new year traditions here at château d’in love with these times in spite of these times is that around the same time we take down the Xmas decorations, we suddenly alight upon a truckload of amazing records that were released stealthily during the previous one, and that would have soared into the upper reaches of our <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/a-piece-of-continent-part-of-main.html">year-end</a> thingy had we managed to be aware of them when composing it.<br />
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One such for 2017 is A New Line (Related)’s “Reverie(s)”, a 5-track 12” on Chicago’s Kimochi label that is pretty much a must if you stayed up late for “Our Lady Of Perpetual Fucking Succour” or “Vote Malcolm Eden”. In particular, the serpentine throb of “Do Let Our Youth Goes To Waste” shows not only Andrew Johnson’s consummate skills as a producer, but how he refuses to compromise his love of wordplay.<br />
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Another – although as it came out on Boxing Day, we feel we can be forgiven for overlooking it come New Year’s Eve – was a hidden gem from Sweeney (yes, that’s a certain J. Sweeney Esq of Adelaide, South Australia aka Other People’s Children, Simpatico and much else of goodness), a CD-r album called “Middle Ages” on Greek boutique label Sound In Silence. More song-based than his recent and equally impressive “Quiet Ecology” set (under yet another of his pseudonyms, Panoptique Electrical), it’s a chance for us all to catch up with how his dulcet tones have matured since he starred on those early Matinée favourites, and a smile first took over. Try “Oh Goddess” to start.<br />
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<i>And</i>, just days before that, it turns out that another of our all-time favourite artists, drum and bass deconstructionist Downpour aka Chris Adams, spat out a bandcamp EP called “Shadows Of The Short Days”. The thing we love about the Downpour project is how it showcases proper musicality, but without ever sacrificing <i>proper </i>mentalism, just like early Squarepusher or something. Ideally of course we’d have liked it to sit on a silky little seven-inch single, but given that the four tracks embrace a generous 27 or so minutes, I guess that would probably have never worked.<br />
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The most instant of the quartet is “Culled From Four More”, which even weaves some “<i>ba ba ba</i>”-ing into its silky madness (Downpour’s own “We Put The Pop Into Popular”?) but it may be the, erm, robust opener “We’ll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It” that proves the real stayer, erupting as a demagogue shouts violent threats from the back of mix. A shout out, too, for the rather pretty piano motifs that make the epic “Apricity” another worthy addition to the back-cat: its last few minutes are a perfect fusion of rhythm, echo-bled piano and dappled feedback.<br />
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There were also a few things of a more metallic ilk that we overlooked last year. There’s another Violent Opposition set (“Utopia/Dystopia”) which is a tad <i>too</i> metallic for our bourgeois tastes, and sounds like a different band from the Violent Opposition who, their powerviolence wiles pumped up on the spirit of punk, brought us the blistering/ace “Courage & Conviction”. Props to their versatility, at least.<br />
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However, there was better LP news last year (sorry we slept on them all) from O.C. legends Phobia (whose “Lifeless God” laces a brimful of righteous anger over 17 old-school tracks, identifying very firmly with grindcore over powerviolence and peaking with the satisfying, self-explanatory bile of “New 4th Reich”), Hummingbird Of Death (their “Forbidden Techniques” sounds more like Violent Opposition than that new Violent Opposition LP does, and must be the Hummingbird’s best work yet: thoroughly listenable powergrind bursts like “Casual Stupidity” show how they’ve really come on, but they can still roll with humour and great track names like “I Think I’m On A Roll, But I Think It’s Kinda Weak”) and shouty Dutch riff-mongers FUBAR (their grindcore-rooted “Weltschmerz” is not all plain sailing, but certainly has its moments, and there’s nothing to find fault with on some of the shorter tunes like the coruscating “Storm” or “Tombs”).<br />
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And that’s all for January. See you next month, perhaps.stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-29686891154397485092018-01-25T11:51:00.000+00:002018-01-26T17:07:44.743+00:00Farewell, Fiery Jack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our cover photo this week was shot in January rain in Highgate. Some of you will recognise the inscription from the foot of Marx's gravestone, but we think it suits for mourning all who made a difference, whatever the oeuvre.</div>
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It was only <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/stray-tinsel-bits-and-pieces-from-2017.html">last month</a> that we celebrated the sheer amazingness of the Fall’s 1976-2016 <i>seven-CD </i>singles compilation, one that came not too long after their 31st or (32nd?) studio album, “New Facts Emerge”. Sad as it is that there will now be no 32nd or (33rd) Fall LP, it seems fitting that the singles collection will now document forever the entirety of their singles life, a tribute to Salford's own <b>Mark E. Smith, </b>who may have been Britain's leading curmudgeon and irascible pub-snug <i>bon viveur</i> but who was also a poet, a modern-day soothsayer, a workaholic, a barometer of taste and a caustic if often astute social commentator. More than that, he was a man who - belying his reputation - brought many friends together: I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve enjoyed Fall gigs with over the thirty years since I first watched them fire up their guitars, and on hearing this sad news (via the BBC News at Ten, no less) many of those people were quick to get in touch, and so in death M.E.S. has brought many an old pal closer again.<br />
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Much has made in the past twenty-four hours of the 66 stalwarts who had featured with him in the Fall over the decades, but the acid test of Smith as a frontman and bandleader is that few of those 66 had been heard of before they joined the Fall, and none managed to go on to achieve anything as magical in music since they left. But each of them kept the band fresh and tight and I loved the fact the Fall never deferred to the vogue for nostalgia, but lived firmly in the present, each calendar year focused on a brand new record, each gig devoted almost entirely to their newest songs.<br />
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<i>And </i>every time you thought that the spark had gone, it fired back into life (we were blown away by how strong the Fall were at shows in Brixton and Chelsea well into the 2010s, just as we were wowed whenever a brand new album tore them out of previous ruts).</div>
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<i> And </i>it also remains the case – and I’d only been explaining this to a bemused workmate the day before – that Smith’s “Renegade” counts as the best rock autobiography I’ve ever read, even better than Ice-T’s “The Ice Opinion”, although the two great men certainly share the trait of not suffering fools gladly.<br />
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<i>And </i>the Fall remain responsible for “Totale’s Turns”, which is probably the best live album of all time.<br />
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The grim tidings reminded us of a somewhat excitable, inchoate summary we’d been drafting of <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/this-roman-shell-fall-highbury-garage.html">the Fall’s spring 2016 residency in London N7</a>, but which fell by the wayside and never got published. We’ve put it up now though, because even if it’s unfinished and a bit anoraky and rough around the edges it was an attempt – at a time when we never knew those would be our last Fall gigs, *sigh* – to catalogue for how long we’d been entranced by the strange spell that Smith cast. And was intended to capture some of the spirit of the fact that seeing the Fall in the flesh wasn’t merely about going to watch a band: it was about the shared experience and the camaraderie and and everything that went with going out with your mates to catch up on a long-shared musical love. The post also links to yet more Fall reminiscences on our past pages so if, like us, you’re rather missing the old grump now, we hope they might help rekindle your own memories of nights out spent marvelling at the Fall’s raw power, unpredictability and uncompromising (but very real) musicality...</div>
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All in all, we mustn't be too sad. In complete honesty, we think that M.E.S. had achieved, in spades, all the good, good stuff that he was put on this earth to do. He left a musical legacy to be celebrated, and that can't be done justice in cold black type. We're off to listen to some of those records right now.</div>
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Thanks Mark. Fantastic Life, R.I.P.</div>
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stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-33823023159874667942017-12-31T23:59:00.000+00:002017-12-31T23:59:09.293+00:00"A piece of the continent, a part of the main": singles of the year, 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine that earnestly wishes that Coldcut had recorded a song called “Through My Shirt Of Cotton Made”.<br />
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The graceful bust you see in our snap is somewhat overlooked by tourists, despite being slap-bang in the middle of the landscaped gardens where St Paul’s Cathedral fronts on to the westernmost end of Cannon Street. It’s not our favourite image of the renowned metaphysical poet – for that, visit the fascinating unattributed portrait in the National Portrait Gallery of a rakish, debonair young Donne that looks incredibly contemporary despite having been painted in 1595 – but it’s a reminder of his later calling, once ordained as a priest in the Church of England, as Dean of St. Paul's itself. The bust, by Nigel Boonman, has only been there for five years, and attempts to place its subject looking out towards Bread Street in the City (where he was born) whilst also being only a stones’ throw from his resting place in the great cathedral. I won't pretend that I didn’t struggle at school with JD’s sometimes tortured prose and laboured sexual metaphors, but at the end of the day he was a poet, scholar and gentleman, one who would compose his own (and the ultimate) epitaph, “<i>No man is an island, entire of itself</i>”. Timeless words, and all so true: if only someone had told the Brexiteers.<br />
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Um... a personal confession. You may find this hard to believe, but I do actually write for a living: I pen and ghost-pen articles, press releases, strictly dry corporate stuff. However, in that life I am constrained by style guides, company policy, joyless subject matter and word counts. This fanzine exists, as it has since the late 1990s, as a vehicle to defy all those constraints (er, especially the word counts). It's really not meant to be a ‘proper’ music blog and this was never meant to be grown-up music writing. It is just my best attempt, in rare downtime, to celebrate the wonderfulness of records like those listed below.<br />
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<b>1. Math & Physics Club “All The Mains Are Down” (Fika Recordings / Matinée Recordings)</b><br />
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Yes, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/math-and-physics-club-long-drag-matinee.html">Math & Physics</a> are BACK, and they haven’t lost it either. The only thing that <i>has</i> finally fallen by the wayside is our patience with those who still think of the band as merely something nice to have, like a shiny ornament on the mantelpiece, and who won’t yet acknowledge MP&C as part of the canon, of indie-pop’s rich pageant. A dozen years they’ve been doing this now: how much more do they need to do than produce astounding singles and albums, over and over again?<br />
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And “All The Mains Are Down” is the latest single, preceding the next (presumably brill) long-player. Somehow, it heart-tuggingly combines the spirit and melody of a lost mid-80s compilation tape classic with the swing and smart production you'd want and expect from confident <i>artistes modernes</i> (intriguingly, this pristine production comes courtesy of grunge god Chris Hanzsek, but he doesn’t mess with any of the essential formulae). We don’t even mind when the piano strides a bit over-confidently into the mix and gets slightly plinky-plonky in its understandable excitement. The best bit of all though, every time we hit repeat, is the way the intro bounds so briskly into life when the drums come in, a sudden rush of indescribable pop joy that instantly chases away every single shadow in the vicinity.<br />
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There’s a reasonable argument for saying that the trilogy of this, recent “Matinée Idol” compilation cut “Shadows Longer” and last year’s sublime stunner “Coastal California, 1985” are their greatest songs yet: this band, somehow, is still subtly evolving and getting ever-finer, and “All The Mains” is <i>such</i> a perfect three minute pop song that - after a freewheeling, simply triumphant final instrumental break - they even take care to wind it up exactly on the magic 3-minute mark. And, as with so many of the best seemingly upbeat pop songs, there is a darkness and sadness underneath, a tale of space between once star-crossed lovers, of the failure of humans to communicate that now spans entire populaces and nations.<br />
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If you find yourself continually dismayed by what Morrissey has become, don’t fret. Just suffuse yourself in Math & Physics Club instead, and much of your faith in the healing powers of music may be restored.<br />
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<b>2. Ryuji Takeuchi “Renaissance Artistique” (HueHelix)</b><br />
<b>3. Ryuji Takeuchi “Eclectic Limited 003” (er, Eclectic Limited)</b><br />
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Always the bridesmaid, we know. But, even so, wow. Not one but two excellent 12” singles from our man in Osaka, his best from another busy year of coolly confecting crucial-cum-challenging crossover classics. These came out hot on each others’ heels and both see the master craftsman follow up the somewhat full-on welter of his “I Think, Therefore I Am” LP with slightly more accessible dancefloor techno.<br />
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“Renaissance Artistique”, which reunites Ryuji with Tokyo’s evergreen HueHelix label, unites a quartet of club bruisers - on edgily retro black vinyl - for all our delight: “Factor A” and “Factor C” kick off each side as readily-deployable pure adrenalin floor-fillers, pleasingly filled out with increasingly manic handclap action, whilst “Factor B” and “Factor D” transition things into industrial textures, back towards the brutalist factory landscape which the album sought to paint.<br />
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And we hadn’t come across Eclectic Limited before, a label that manages to hail from both Rome and Utrecht, but the marbled white vinyl wonder of “003” sees their very special guest producer knock out another themed trilogy (“Nowhere”, “Elsewhere” and “Anywhere”) which plough a similar furrow to the driving uptempo rhythms of Factors A & C, the bpm counts hitting the 130s and even 140s. “Nowhere” is the pick, also taking it to the max on the manic handclaps front.<br />
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<b>4. Don Cotti x Terror Danjah “Bun Dem” (Nice Up!)</b><br />
<b>5. Bukkha ft. Killa P “Death Chat” (Dub-Stuy)</b><br />
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A well-judged attack on crusader wars and the mass media who cheerlead for them, “Bun Dem” is a hotstepping UK dancehall belter that sees versatile London don Don lead the way over Terror Danjah’s cowbell-heavy but otherwise strictly more-fyah raggagrime stylings. It's about the politics of protest, too - a nice link back to Gayle Chong Kwan and the Fairlop Oak. And, being a spitfire dancehall/grime hybrid, you’ll find that “Bun Dem” sits oh-so prettily with “Death Chat”, a fairly blazing dub/grime meld – this time on 12” vinyl - on which Bukkha (once of Lafayette, Louisiana and now of Valladolid, Spain) teams up with Killa P (once and surely always of London) on a label based proudly in Brooklyn, New York. The precise dubstep stylings, accented by the echoing clangs of reggae skank, create the perfect platform for Killa P’s vocal charge, the intensity of which belies the song's relatively placid tempo.<br />
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<b>6. Mønic “Deep Summer” / “Regret Was Never So Sure” (Osiris Music)</b><br />
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Two 12”s, released 2 weeks apart, that together comprised Osiris 50 (as originally bigged up <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/like-38s-in-dalston-singles-round-up.html">here</a>). The yin is “Deep Summer” (smooth and sultry Burial-plays-Trembling Blue Stars, although it’s also easy to imagine it nestling contentedly on the last Bracken or Kryptic Minds LPs). The yang is the sinister, unfurling anaconda of gloopy cavern-drop bass that is “Regret Was Never So Sure”: the original sounds not unlike a sister to Pessimist’s “Pagans”, on the same label, and the record comes more-than-correct with a frankly ace Regis remix, all strip-down and sirens, that reminds of Surgeon’s righteous JK Flesh re-work last year.<br />
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<b>7. Sir Spyro ft Teddy Bruckshot, Lady Chann and Killa P “Topper Top” (Kahn & Neek Remix) (Deep Medi)</b><br />
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Headshot season. “<i>LOOK WHO THE FUCK IS BACK</i>”, leers Teddy, and well we might stare (and beg for the volume to be turned up until we find our ears pinned to the nearest wall) as all involved in this mighty tune, now rebooted by in-demand dynamic duo Kahn & Neek, shine. Yes, this is even tuffer than the 2016 original. It initially sold out in about 23 seconds but luckily we garnered it courtesy of the repress, a one-sided, completely label-free 12”.<br />
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As an aside, and as you may be beginning to gather already, Killa P stepped right out into the light this year and had one hell of a bassline-shepherding 2017, starring on some seriously sensational tracks not just with Bukkha and Sir Spyro (et al) but with Last Japan, Scratcha DVA & Sinjin Hawke, the Bug & Irah, and FKD. So you may well find his name reappearing later on…<br />
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<b>8. Even As We Speak “The Black Forest EP” (Emotional Response)</b><br />
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*Swoons*. If we had to list the ten most memorable gigs we’ve attended in the last 30 years, then EAWS in Oxford, when they took a cowed and too-sparse crowd and made us fall in love with them and with life, would be right up there. So it’s fantastic to see the gang back in the fray. And this 10” is gorgeous before you get to the record inside, its green/black full-sleeve picture of the Schwarzwalden ushering in <i>the first Even As We Speak record for a cool quarter of a century</i>. Just <i>typing </i>those words makes me glow.<br />
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And when you do get to that record inside, the first number immediately makes *everything* worthwhile. “Clouds” is surely the pick of this five-song crop, a perfectly weighted and dramatically, movingly mournful pop song that pivots on simple, crisp and pristine guitar and makes you want to hug basically everybody in sight. The whole record rolls back the years, though: their uptempo sweet-spot wiles are represented by “Such A Good Feeling”, their surreal and slightly unhinged side by “Slugman”, their sense of playful whimsy by the bite-sized cover of Horst Hankowski’s easy-listening classic “A Walk In The Black Forest” with which the band play the EP out.<br />
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This isn’t merely an exceptional 2017 release, but a reminder of just how fine this band always were, and of the privilege it was to see them play, and to hear them blare out of Radio One, and to try to rise above the whole “Drown” 'swimsuit video' fracas…<br />
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<b>9. Micall Parknsun “Practicing Tag Team Moves” (Boot)</b><br />
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A boneshaking 12” EP on the terrific Boot, as defeated Judge Rinder defendant Micall Parknsun teams up with the indefatigable superstar production unit helmed by Jazz-T, Zygote & co. As you’d expect from the team behind UKHH titans Diversion Tactics, the Boot camp are probably this nation’s premier providers of the kind of sizzling beats that decent MCs salivate for, and it’s always good news (except, perhaps, for our wallet) when they team up with other artists from the UK stratosphere. The Cappo collabo was, you'll remember, a particular peach.<br />
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This time around, Jazz and Z mix it with Micall P over three originals and three insts: there are ace guest spots from Jehst and none other than Durrty Goodz (another of our longtime wish-they-were-uncles, who we never thought we’d get to see rhyming over Boot beats) but for us the killer tune here is “Practice”, which is actually a Parknsun self-production: pure ill flow over dusty beats as our favourite M.P. by far makes hay with a ridiculously tight brass-topped riddim, and cleverly makes virtue of its repetition. We’ve been spinning “Practice” all year, and it still never fails to make heads nod: one of the great British hip-hop tunes of recent times, no doubt.<br />
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<b>10. JK Flesh “Exit Stance EP” (Downwards)</b><br />
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Top artist. Top label. Apt and topical title. So unsurprisingly, this is a hit with us, much more so than this year’s Godflesh album which felt oddly mid-to-underwhelming by comparison. Also, unlike 2016’s “Nothing Is For Free” EP under the JKF moniker, which perhaps grudginly embraced Mr Broadrick’s industrial influences, this 12” feels much more dance-oriented, and is all the better for it: though the ongoing omnishambling shenanigans of Brexit really do not deserve to be soundtracked by something that’s both so (a) competently executed and (b) uplifting.<br />
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The title track and highlight “Exit Stance” simply purrs, a clinical beat confection that makes a few lunges towards Takeuchi territory before eliding into the plainer wobbleboard-sequencer cha-cha of “Motivated By Jealousy”. Over on the other side, the striking “Bullied By Love” makes its mark with some plangent piano and then the stripped-down bare-bones bass of “Caveman”, a cover of the Orchids classic*, wraps up proceedings. *Obviously not actually a cover of the Orchids classic, though it proved excuse enough to dig out our dampened-by-leaking-roof “Lyceum” 10” and to remember the brilliance of the other “Caveman” <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/flowers-of-london-orchids-in-kilburn.html">one cold evening in Kilburn</a>.<br />
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“<i>Made in the EU</i>”, the small print on the label impassively notes.<br />
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* * * * *<br />
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<b>11. Scorzayzee “Illa Scorz” (self-released)</b><br />
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It’s not just Micall Parknsun who has been attempting to keep honest UKHH afloat this year, and of course Scorz (now aka Scorz Illa) is <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/scor-zay-zee-aeon-peace-to-puzzle.html">still golden</a> too: apart perhaps from “Practice” this is as good as UKHH got in 2017, and to be honest still as good as when the Notts rhymer was banging out “Want What’s Yours” on the sevens, right back in the day.<br />
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There are six tunes on this cracking 12” EP, all produced by his own fair hand (with assistance from Jabba The Kut) and of them, either “Illa Mindstate” or especially “Illa Soul” would have been high class own-right singles in any year. You always know what’s coming from the Scorz: true lyrical clout on subjects like poverty, social policy, the environment, and Islamophobia; smooth, soulful and conscious rhymes; and beats and scratches that respect the ESSENCE. Massive props are due.<br />
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<b>12. UV-TV “Go Away EP” (Emotional Response)</b><br />
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Brilliant and brief, “Go Away” is pop-punk paradise, kind of like Tracy Tracy fronting the Period Pains (yes, that good) as Florida’s UV-TV up things a notch from their clattering split with Shark Toys. And "It's Dead" is a gem too, this time approximating to the Rosehips vs. (sorry, "x") Free Loan Investments. Appropriately given their influences, the EP concludes with a cover of the Primitives’ seminal “Really Stupid” (a nice foil, incidentally, to their label bosses’ cover, as Boyracer, of the Prims’ “Nothing Left”). These are the sort of short, sharp songs that, quite rightly, leave you wanting more.<br />
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<b>13. Last Japan ft. Killa P “Exhale” (Circadian Rhythms)</b><br />
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You don’t always get to cop this kind of stuff on 7” vinyl, which these days seems to be reserved for hardcore split singles, unrepentant veteran indie-poppers and disconcertingly expensive classic US hip-hop re-issues, but this is a neat, bite-sized slab of compelling grime-ridden dubstep that bucks the trend nicely.<br />
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It’s clear from their ongoing taste for mutual collaboration that both Last Japan and Killa P think their skills dovetail smartly, and they’re not wrong. With “Exhale” the verses are as focused, venomous and menacing as usual, but the chorus shows us another side to P as he switches to singing a little and lauds his love of music as a drug, as an alternative to daily skengman $trife life. Another '<i>made in London</i>' belter, then, in a year which a handful of English cities (LDN, Birmingham and Bristol, we bow down) seem to have dominated our fancies rather.<br />
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<b>14. DJ Cable ft. Scrufizzer “Do Some Work” (Slit Jockey)</b><br />
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It’s fair to say this bears quite a few similarities to Cable & Ghostly’s “In ‘Ere” (the <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/love-has-sharpened-our-claws-our-top-10.html">best</a> English single of 2016, you may remember). This time, it’s a different west London MC, W13’s Scrufizzer on the mic as Cable smacks out the hard-bouncing grime drops ten to the dozen. Props due to Philly’s Slit Jockey for once again taking time to dig out and promote underground UK music that still tends to get overlooked, both here and stateside, in favour of American flavas. Sorry, flavors.<br />
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<b>15. Aleja Sanchez “Ether” (Nachstrom Schallplatten)</b><br />
<b>16. Relham “Kalte Menschen” (d!st!nct)</b><br />
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The marbled vinyl and the classical beauty of <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/comrade-era-singles-round-up.html">the label pic</a> mean that “Ether” is still probably the most beautiful artefact from this year’s crop, just pipping Even As We Speak’s comeback: in contrast, “Kalte Menschen” didn’t even get a physical release. And yet these two gorgeous tunes from German labels complement each other really well where it matters – on the dancefloor (well, in our basement).<br />
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“Ether” is precision-engineered pulse dance music, with the merest hints of industrial and black techno, that keeps driving forward as insistent, nagging synth burrows deeper into the mix. It meets its match, though, in “Kalte Menschen”, an ice-cool, sonorous and sibilant jewel on Cortechs’ label - and the title track of Relham's absolutely terrific first long-player - that’s carved in the same mould as other recent minimalist classics (Michael Schwarz’s “She Doesn’t Ask For” or Jeff Rushin’s “Decline Into”). Really special stuff.<br />
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<b>17. Pessimist “Pagans” (Osiris Music)</b><br />
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Sonically, this 12” from Bristolian bass-botherer Pessimist could be seen as a bridge between label-owner Mønic’s “Four Sides Of Truth” last year, and “Regret Was Never So Sure” this summer (for which it surely provided a certain inspiration). Lead and best track “Pagans” invokes the spirit of fellow Brizzle don Pinch as it rolls out brooding, metronomic darkstep menace of the finest kind, unfolding subtly yet brutally over seven beautifully edgy and suspenseful minutes.<br />
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<b>18. Wu-Tang Clan ft. Redman “People Say” (36 Chambers)</b><br />
<b>19. The Lox “Break It Down” (from “#4NoReAsOn” EP) (D-Block Inc)</b><br />
<b>20. AZ ft. Raekwon & Prodigy “Save Them” (Quiet Money)</b><br />
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East Coast pearlers in the house, from a clutch of artists who remain eminently capable of rugged hip-hop genius, even if they only intermittently bother these days. These three tunes, however, are all pretty major and we would urge you to give just 12 precious minutes of your life to listen to them: if you do, you’ll be rewarded by hearing on-point consecutive verses from a cavalcade of all-great grizzly NY vets: Method Man, Raekwon (twice!), Redman, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, Styles P, Sheek Louch, Jadakiss, AZ <i>and</i> the late, already much-missed Prodigy (with presumably one of his last ever rhymes). Bonus points, btw, if you can guess which MC from that list played my stag night in Islington a few years back.<br />
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Actually, while we’re here, it's worth pointing out that “People Say” (the only WTC joint we can think of with the same name as a Go-Betweens tune) is probably the best ditty on the latest Wu Tang comeback opus, “The Saga Continues”. The dope is laid down by Mathematics (again) and, like all the best Wu anthems, the Shaolin-sampling end of it sounds very like the start of “Kung Fu” by Ash. One of those fine seguing opportunities that DJs at weddings and bar mitzvahs unaccountably miss.<br />
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* * * * *<br />
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<b>21. The Jasmine Minks “Ten Thousand Tears” (Oatcake Records)</b><br />
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A <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/caffs-not-corporations-singles-round-up.html">sincere, artful and timeless</a> 7” – birthed in Aberdeen, the first in this year’s list from north of Hadrian’s Wall - and from an absolutely seminal band. But even leaving aside the rich heritage of the Jasmines’ back catalogue, this would be worth copping from any band that had the talent to assemble it: imagine the Orchids in one of their more wistful & pastoral moods as heavenly plucked guitar breaks, a wonderful vocal and some slinky keyboard piano combine to wash away all the grime and grit of the day. And all for an important cause (Motor Neurone Disease Scotland) too.<br />
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On topic, if slightly too late for Christmas stockings this year, you might want to note that Slaughter Joe's Poppydisc have welcomely just shoved out a vinyl reissue of the Jasmines LP “Another Age”: it’s ripe for hunting down if you’re in the market for assured, ahead-of-its-time, pop music.<br />
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<b>22. Memoriam “The Captive” (Nuclear Blast)</b><br />
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This 7” is one-sided, which always strikes us as a bit rum when you’re still being charged full whack, but we can just about forgive Nuclear Blast for the missing side because what *is* here – a more-than-tidy cover version tilt at Sacrilege’s “The Captive” - shows Memoriam in full voice and at full pelt: after a minute of raging crust riffs there is even the novelty of a female vocal (Tam from said HC legends Sacrilege), accompanied on occasion by Karl Willetts’ dulcet growl. As we were saying last night, Memoriam have proved to be far, far more than just a “<i>post-Bolt Thrower</i>” band, and this has the same addictive groove as the best cuts from their LP (yes, “War Rages On” springs to mind).<br />
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<b>23. Jeff Rushin “Wondering” (Arts Collective Holland)</b><br />
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Icy Amsterdam techno - a dancefloor ready, gently mesmeric, cut-glass sequencer mesh, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/comrade-era-singles-round-up.html">apparently</a> - on an Arts 12” from ex-ON lynchpin Jeff Rushin that’s grown in stature with every repeat spin, as J.R. plays off modish, Moroderish repetition with playful, low-in-mix flourishes. We’re beginning to think it’s definitely worth setting up a branch of the Arts Collective here, if Theresa May’s handlers will let us.<br />
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<b>24. Burial “Subtemple” (Hyperdub)</b><br />
<b>25. Burial “Pre Dawn” (Nonplus)</b><br />
<b>26. Burial “Rodent” (Hyperdub)</b><br />
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Burial had quite an active year, really: normally, he spends the first 11 months of the calendar cooped up in his room, munching on iced gems and catching up on all those novels that he never got round to finishing. Then, just as his mum puts the Advent calendar up on his wall, he phones up Kode9, says “<i>usual Christmas present, mate?</i>” and sets to work on unleashing an end-of-year monster on Hyperdub by way of guerrilla single. However, in 2017, Burial managed to churn out three own-right 45s, as well as popping up to execute a fair handful of remixes. Not only that, but he decided to take his production down a few, strikingly contrasting avenues… you’ll note we found it hard to choose between them.<br />
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The first of the man’s 2017 singles, “Subtemple”, was closest to the template of previous years’ pre-Yuletide treats, an a ambientastically subtle 10” on his alma mater that we reckon is – if only by a whisker - his grandest achievement of the year now drawing to a close. With its organic flavour and its ripples and whistles of wind it sounds a bit like a field recording of someone (<a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/a-depth-of-leaves.html">Mick Harris</a>?) going fishing, but having managed to bring with them not just a rod, line and baked-bean tin full of maggots but also a scratchy Dansette, a female friend who can interject a disembodied vocal at irregular intervals, and a Bontempi (to occasionally scratch out a ghostly three-note motif).<br />
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“Rodent” came next in time and, after he had finally scaled the rarified heights of ‘peak subtle’ with “Subtemple”, it saw Burial suddenly and unexpectedly relapse into discernible – gasp - dance music once more, on another of those anonymous-looking Hyperdub 10”s that was announced one day, in yr local neighbourhood distro the next, sold out the day after that. Less than half the length of the A-side that preceded it, “Rodent” felt innocuous at first – 1990s-style four to the floor, nifty if retro vocal sample, serviceable tempo – but Burial adds a glaze, a sheen, and a compelling single sax flourish at 2’27 that all somehow conspire to make it feel much more substantial, as much of an event as his other releases. On the other side, yer man Kode9 attacks the song mercilessly, speeding it up and filling it with kicks and repeats until you decide you probably prefer the original after all.<br />
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But those singles were only the half of it. Well, the 2/3 of it, technically. For later again in ’17 came the uber-unsubtle “Pre Dawn”, a real thudding delight. Nonplus was definitely the right label to release it on, because it would have non-plussed anyone who had just let “Subtemple” slide gorgeously over them, or got used to the cooler temperatures of Burial singles going back a few years now: buoyed by the effectiveness of his boisterous “Inner City Life” remix for Goldie and his similarly chaotic “Sweetz” collaboration with Zomby last year, he unveiled perhaps his most feral (“Pre Dawn”) and frivolous (“Indoors”) solo tracks to date on this strictly high-tensile 12”. It’s not often you can use adjectives like “pounding” to describe a Burial tune, but these two could pound for England.<br />
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Oh yes. As “Subtemple” came out, we <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/caffs-not-corporations-singles-round-up.html">speculated</a> that Burial was almost there on his inevitable journey from “<i>not dance music</i>” to “<i>not music at all</i>”. In fact, as the successor singles neatly showed, it would turn out that he was about to hit the brakes and perform a screeching U-turn. Shows how much we know about music.<br />
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<b>27. Crayola Summer “I Know Who We Are” (Emotional Response)</b><br />
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Finest flexi of the year, edging out even Napalm's Decibel magazine outing. This one really feels to us like one of those patronisingly-named “minor classics”, one that will swim round in our heads from time to time over the next 30 years until Cherry Red stick it on C17, no doubt at the same time as they put out the 68th Fall studio album, featuring some kind of cryogenically preserved vocal.<br />
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The irresistible psychedeliC86 burr of “I Know Who We Are” is fab on so many levels, from being a flexi-disc in the first place (on red, too) to sounding really quite like <i>a dozen bears, plus two (all iced)</i> as it joyfully piles its way through the nostalgic hinterlands of fuzzy indie-pop. Marvellous, as we may have mentioned <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/caffs-not-corporations-singles-round-up.html">before</a>.<br />
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<b>28. FuntCase ft. Merky Ace “4 Bars Of Fury” (Circus Records)</b><br />
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“<i>Straight off the Richter</i>”, scowls capital-city grime heavy-hitter Merky Ace as this one begins to build up a head of steam, and he’s not kidding, because this is comfortably the most maniacal record of 2017. FuntCase – a man who’s surely done as much as Eddie Howe to put Bournemouth on the map - cuts and pastes Merky’s devilish rhymes into a veritable skyscraper of ‘90s-tinged peak dancefloor mentalism, peppered with brutal several-storey drops, and the result doesn’t just trouble the Richter, but every scientific scale yet invented (and a few that haven’t yet been). Perhaps the best thing of all is the way that after three minutes or so the whole thing flatlines for twenty seconds, making you worry that the madness is over: but don’t worry, they’re only taking a well-merited breather, and suddenly Bedlam spirals up once more.<br />
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(Played this to the brother-in-law and his wife, intending to gently rile them, but it turned out they quite liked it).<br />
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<b>29. Despise You / Coke Bust split (Bones Brigade)</b><br />
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Combined at last on a single 7” – ours is on silvery, kind of mercury-shade vinyl - thanks to France’s Bones Brigade records, here are two of the greatest American bands of recent years, up there with Math & Physics Club or Sidetracked (both q.v). In a proper punk package with wraparound cardboard sleeve, black and white poster and obligatory stickers.<br />
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By their own amazing standards, Inglewood’s DY seem strangely distracted here. Their suite of five tracks doesn’t always show them at their brilliant best as they get distracted a little by flirting with instrumental dynamics (“Temples Of Grace On Hyde Park Blvd.”) and slowed-down passages - inamongst some lean Phobia-ish angercore - before setting off on the long, slow fade out of “Bluest Skies”. That said, the thrilling “Give This/Give That” – the centrifugal force right in the middle of their side of the vinyl, which brings to mind the short-lived and much-missed Boston outfit Scapegoat - is still fair liable to take your head off: if there’s been a better 26 seconds of music made this year, I’m not sure we’ve heard it.<br />
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And over in Washington DC, straightedge firebrands Coke Bust remain a frighteningly tight proposition, still defining the boundaries of both hardcore and powerviolence styles: all four tracks are chaotic stormers born to repel the fainthearted, not least the ragingly superb “Closing The Net”.<br />
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<b>30. Aberdeen “Sink Or Float (David Newton 2017 Mix)” (Usedbinpop)</b><br />
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Right. In our humble view, “Sink Or Float”, which originally came out on Tremelo Arm Users Club back in 2001 (ah, when we were but a fledgling webzine cadging occasional freebies from unsuspecting record labels) is one of the greatest pop singles ever released by a band that recorded for Sarah. A grand statement we know, but you won’t persuade us to resile from it, however much you ply us with Czech pilsner (though feel free to try).<br />
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What’s more, we only discovered this year (thanks to Usedbinpop releasing both a sugar-sweet Aberdeen early demos catch-up collection thing called “It Was The Rain: Lost Recordings 1993-1995” *and* a mightly download called “Left Off The Reel: Cassette Demos 1992-1995”, both of which feature versions of the song) that “Sink or Float” was a composition that Aberdeen had in the locker right back in the day, back when they were shaping the songs that would appear on their two Sarah EPs. Though actually, knowing Clare & Matt's stubborn streak, they might well have vetoed it for reasons known only to themselves (we owe the two of them so much, but surely they got it wrong when nixing "If I Could See", "No Reason Why" and, for too long, "Thaumaturgy").<br />
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Add in the nicely feral rendition of "Sink Or Float" on the Aberdeen / 14 Iced Bears / June Brides Part Time Punks comp "Three Wishes", as well as - perhaps best of all - this powering remix by ex-Mighty Lemon Drop David Newton, briefly released as a download single but now I think corralled onto a reissue of the associated album, and we now have *five* different versions of this titan of pop songs to fawn over incessantly.<br />
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<b>31. Seafang “Solid Gold” (Emotional Response)</b><br />
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Last yr’s “Motorcycle Song” was promising enough, but “Solid Gold” steps up several rungs and positively shimmers. It was touted by the press corps as in the spirit of C86, although in reality the American accents and shoegaze leanings put this one elsewhere, perhaps more in the territory of Velocity Girl, or Lush when they went ‘pop’: only the fearless “<i>ba-ba-ba’s</i>” at the end really nod to any kind of anorak tradition, although to be fair they do rather squirt the icing atop what’s already a hella-tasty cake.<br />
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<b>32. Sev Dah “Proletarijat 003” (Proletarijat)</b><br />
<b>33. Sev Dah “Proletarijat 004” (Proletarijat)</b><br />
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Friend of this fanzine (we hope) Sev Dah rarely disappoints, and this year we were lucky enough to snap up two further instalments of his somewhat essential Proletarijat series of 12” EPs (return to <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/love-has-sharpened-our-claws-our-top-10.html">this time last year</a> for fully justified eulogies to the first two).<br />
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“003”, themed around the Tito-era Pioneers, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/comrade-era-singles-round-up.html">originally</a> had us maddest for “Sloga”, but since then we find that the nine-minute “Pledge” has overhauled it in our unconstant affections, a superb slice of finely-honed Scando-Balkan techno. “004” returned the series to a more grown-up military theme, and after the haunting, not-techno dark rustic folk interlude of "Tovariš" ("Comrade") it peaks with a gently acidic, pumping swirl of beats called “Zastava M48”, named after a WW2-era machine gun (but for those of you who dimly remember imported Zastava cars in the UK in the 80s, yes that was the same company, who had seemingly moved on from munitions).<br />
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If you’re not sure where to start with this series, because you definitely <i>should</i> get a wriggle on, you could validly dip in to any one of the four fine EPs so far, but we’d suggest plucking a track from each one: if you take “Marija Bursać” from 001, “Fallen Comrades” from 002, “Pledge” from 003 and “Zastava M48” from 004 we think you’ll have the optimal Sev Dah sampler right there, one ranging right through from no-bpm ambient OMG heart-rend to high-tensile, peaktime acid techYES.<br />
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<b>34. The Fireworks “Dream About You” (Shelflife / Opposite Number)</b><br />
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Meanwhile, the excitement engendered in us by the Fireworks having recruited the singer who sang the definitive song called “Fireworks” (clue: not Katy Perry) has still not entirely dissipated. And it was a song we <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/the-fireworks-switch-me-on-shelflife.html">always</a> thought of when given the happy task of reviewing a new Fireworks record.<br />
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The balance on this 3-track EP is just right, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/caffs-not-corporations-singles-round-up.html">we reckon</a>: the A side plays pop (like Cheggers, heaven rest his soul), and the B side is then split between an ace post-J&MC / early Primitives shamble, “We’ve Been Wasting Time” and a 12-stringed up post-Razorcuts jewel called “Better Without You Now” which picks up loosely where last yr’s immeasurably good “Ghost Of You” left off.<br />
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<b>35. Killa P + Last Japan “Dead ‘Em” (Floor Sixx)</b><br />
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Listening to this again as we type, there’s no earthly reason why this should be so much further down the rankings than “Exhale” – particularly given the entertaining bit two minutes in where the beat drops out and Killa has a lively argument with somebody about Crazy Titch – but perhaps the answer is that nobody saw fit to ship this one out on vinyl. Such a little thing can make such a big difference.<br />
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<b>36. Mikael Jonasson “Dissonance” (Darknet)</b><br />
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New wave of techno from Gothenburg, designed to wear down the the carpet. The malign-sounding synth stabs of “Dissonance” and its Niereich repaint have real dancefloor presence, but <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/comrade-era-singles-round-up.html">for us</a> the 12” peaks with the stinging acid flavours of “Dissidents”. We’d like to see the Strictly Come Dancing house band take that one on, perhaps for a polka.<br />
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<b>37. Tuckz ft. Vision Crew “Headtop (Remix)” (Trapdoor Records)</b><br />
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From his “Beginners Luck“ EP, this remix of his “Headtop” single brings the whole Vision Crew in on the game, with verse outings not only from Tuckz himself ("<i>old school flow, just like a Saxon</i>") but his muckers Goldie, Pascall, WhackEye, Tyzz ("<i>rudeboy, pls don't hype / cos' like a panda you'll get left with a black eye</i>") and Ezro. Another exciting, energised platter of er, 'post-Donne' wordplay from the ever-burgeoning London grime scene.<br />
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<b>38. Cortechs “Digestive System” (Darknet)</b><br />
<b>39. Virgil Enzinger “Vector Vortex” (i.cntrl)</b><br />
<b>40. Aleja Sanchez “Consequences” (Kindcrime)</b><br />
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<i>“Techno, techno, techno, techno”</i> in the wise and immortal words of 2 Unlimited, a band who were in fact to techno what Lordi were to “death metal”, i.e. nothing at all to do with it.<br />
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Right. Taking a break from curating his d!st!nct label project, Cortechs rolls up on Sydney’s Darknet with a humdinger of acid-tinged minimal techno that pootles around for a couple of minutes going nowhere at all fast, but then suddenly the acid line emerges and engages the slightly trebly bass kicks for a frantic fight to the finish.<br />
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Austrian titan Virgil Enzinger is still investing his razorsharp productions with spicy dollops of Eastern mysticism, and his latest (en)’zinger builds even on the excellent “Samgitaya” last year as it marries chanting with textured techno rhythms, as if Fun Da Mental were back and on a mid-European remix tip. Plus, it just edges ahead of Pop Threat’s “Semtex Vortex” to become officially the second best vortex-themed song ever, behind only Sportique’s legendary “Cerebral Vortex”. Obviously.<br />
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Meanwhile in Colombia, Aleja Sanchez unfurled a nicely contrasting two-track EP which paired “Life And Death”, a swooning clubland techno recipe loosely in the vein of “Ether”, with the beatless two-chord miasma of “Fear And Hate”, which swirls along gorgeously, if with a charming trepidation, like a cross between A New Line (Related)’s more ethereal work, and the opening bars of New Order’s “Procession”. The song titles confirm that she’s clearly not afraid to tackle big themes, either.<br />
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<b>41. The Charlie Tipper Conspiracy “Network EP” (Breaking Down)</b><br />
<b>42. Lamont ft. Slowie, Kwam “Ar Kid” / “Ships” (81)</b><br />
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Back to Bristol again for two more rewarding singles, displaying different sides of the city’s many and varied musical stripes.<br />
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The CTC’s train-themed <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/caffs-not-corporations-singles-round-up.html">EP</a>, the final instalment of a trilogy, sees them continue to flit between light and shade, powering into view with the driving, horn-bled toe-tapper “Cross Country”, but the clincher for us remains the closing Ian Curtis tribute, a cover version of “Disorder” which takes the template Low used for “Transmission” (switch down the pace, ratchet up the tension) and does it absolutely beautifully, especially when one-man brass section “Iceman” Harry Furniss rolls up. It’s reminiscent of Tim R’s earlier work with underrated Bristol genii Kyoko, a slice of slo-fi heaven.<br />
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There’s no track or artist information on the record at #42 at all, just a picture of a puppet, but apparently the A-side is “Ar Kid” and it sees Bristol’s Slowie teaming up with local producer Lamont for some classic West Country hip-hop flavas, the former's warm, textured flow making it feel as if Freight Corporation had never gone away. There’s a stark contrast between the violence of much of the lyrical imagery and the clearly sincere references to Slowie having taken time out from the game to look after his kid. On the other side of the record, it’s all change as Kwam rolls in to deliver a low-key, thoughtful monologue somewhere between Lamont’s 12” co-venture with Nico Lindsay last year, and the way that Trim & James Blake cooked up “RPG” around the same time.<br />
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<b>43. P Jam “Pepper Pot (Version Excursion)” (Hardrive)</b><br />
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The 12” vinyl stuck with the instrumentals, but this download version EP via Terror Danjah’s Hardrive set-up slews both local and global as P Jam recruits a fabulous cast to each take on his Pepper Pot riddim. For our money, Hitman Hyper’s sheer energy takes the prize, but Bruza is not far behind (good to see him still laying out proper London bars) and Riko Dan inevitably hits harder than most.<br />
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<b>44. Nothing Clean / Art of Burning Water split (Repulsive Medias / Samidzat Records / Vleesklak Records)</b><br />
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A pretty clear pattern emerging now that we’ve had 4 fab multi-label split 7”s in a row featuring Leicester’s Nothing Clean (the previous three having yielded no less than 26 excellent powerviolencey NC tunes). This time around, there are another seven over the course of a frantic, frazzled five minutes (launched by “Chaos Everywhere”, which explodes into and out of life within ten seconds) and nothing to suggest their anger, poise or technical skill is being dampened down, though there are signs of a certain introspectiveness creeping into the lyrics, if not the music. As they sing (well, yell) on the standout “Rapid Eye”: “<i>These days I tend to worry about nothing at all, sleeping is a struggle…</i>” Put your arms around them.<br />
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Again, WITH STICKER.<br />
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<b>45. Caesium “Raven” (d!st!nct)</b><br />
<b>46. Yan Cook “Arrival” (Cooked)</b><br />
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From the relatively unlikely (i.e. not in continental Europe) techno metropole of a warehouse somewhere near Bristol, smart cookie Caesium has been producing music with some distinction. Of all that he did in 2017, “Raven” was our pick, a perfectly-weighted piece of cutglass techno which keeps up the unswervingly high standards of Cologne’s d!st!nct, as well as making Caesium, as a successful export, the Tony Woodcock (ask your dad, or possibly grandad) of minimal tech. And from Ukraine, Yan Cook is <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/comrade-era-singles-round-up.html">not far behind</a> as he own-labels “Arrival”, on woozy-coloured vinyl, a pristine knot of swiftly pulsing synth currents.<br />
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<b>47. Last Leaves “The Hinterland” (Lost & Lonesome / Matinée Recordings)</b><br />
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Stunning pop delicacy on 7” from Australia’s emotionally ensnaring Last Leaves, a prelude to their cultured and charming <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/a-depth-of-leaves.html">“Other Towns Than Ours” long player</a>. "The Hinterland" shines as it longingly and lovingly mixes an uptempo chorus with regretful lyrics about recovering from an accident, all charted by plucked lines and spirals of guitar. The dissonant atmospheres that the lyrics conjure up (“<i>from an upstairs window / At your parent’s place</i>”), combined with the convalescence theme, made us think of Mauriac’s Therese Desqueyroux, which – just like this – is a petit bijou treat. Over on the other side of the vinyl, non-album song “Nora Creina” is just as impressive: like “All The Mains Are Down”, or “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, it’s a song about the most heartrending subject at all, the space that lies between two people.<br />
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<b>48. The Perfect English Weather “English Winter EP” (Matinée Recordings)</b><br />
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Perhaps suffering a smidgeon in our rankings from the lack of time we’ve had to acclimatise, as it were, this seasonal EP nevertheless had an immediate impact. Again, it takes us in a completely different direction from Wendy and Simon’s work with the Popguns: a little ironically, given that they’re joined here by former Wedding Present sticksman Shaun Charman, there are none of the powering Present-isms of side two of “Sugar Kisses”.<br />
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Instead, on the standouts, “Still” and “Cold Out”, we get a vibe that’s… maybe Aberdeen, maybe wonderful erstwhile Matinée outfit, Simpatico (especially the chorus on “Cold Out”), maybe even a soupcon of Harper Lee, or slower Azure Blue? A kind of older-school Matinée/Sarah thing that’s all about squeezing more longing out of voice, guitar and drum machine than anyone could reasonably expect. Which makes these tremblingly acute songs feel a gentle step forward from the (similarly-warming) acoustic fireside wiles of their <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/bubblegum-lemonade-great-leap-backward.html">“Isobar Blues”</a> collection, especially when the package is delectably topped off by a sensuous stroll through the Go-Betweens' ever-evocative “Dusty In Here”.<br />
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<b>49. The Bug ft. Flowdan, Irah “Bad” / “Get Out The Way” (Ninja Tune)</b><br />
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The Bug, or Kevin as his mother calls him, is back for another bass-heavy, foundation-threatening collaboration 12”. “Bad” is Flowdan as you don’t always hear him, with a masterfully martialled deadpan flow that gives us rare glimpses of domesticity (his school, his folks, his youth in E3 and E10) and despite the title, this comes across as having the conversational, sweetly didactic style of the much-missed Smiley Culture and his bredren from the Saxon Sound System, p’raps the finest sound system of them all. On the other side, dancehall alumnus and politician-baiter Irah (fresh from helming Terror Danjah’s “Lyrical Weapon”) joins the suddenly, and pleasingly, ubiquitous Killa P as they up the tempo for a grime-suffused late-night monster.<br />
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<b>=50. Sidetracked “Ammunition” (Problems They Persist)</b><br />
<b>=50. Sidetracked “Impediment” (To Live A Lie)</b><br />
<b>=50. Sidetracked “Pillars” (Problems They Persist)</b><br />
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More outings this year from Tacoma’s Sidetracked, and for reasons that will hopefully become obvious it’s hard not to bracket them together. Sidetracked are the very definition of both immovable object and unstoppable force: if you’re them, recording songs that last about as long as a sneeze <i>never</i> gets old, and if you devote yourself to doing nothing else, you kind of become the market leader.<br />
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On “Ammunition”, a fiery little CD via Problems They Persist, the three of them rattle off 20 nihilistic tracks in under a minute (yes, that's a minute in total), supplementing their normal bursts of straight staccato noisecore mayhem with massive lo-fi echo effects that render attempts at resistance utterly futile.<br />
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Next, there’s “Impediment”, a cassette on the excellent TLAL label, who we’ve definitely done alright by over the years (Sidetracked, Beartrap, Magnum Force). This yields 15 merry melodies, arrayed over a fairly leisurely 80 seconds (the average track length of just over 5 whole seconds being fairly prog-rock by this band’s aggressively high standards). It’s hard to pick favourites, as they say, but “Plastic Smile” is a shoe-in for the mixtapes because you can pair it with both Bubblegum Splash! and Black Uhuru.<br />
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And “Pillars” was another CD from the gang, again on Problems They Persist. This time the bass looms high in the mix, every song has a terse single-syllable title, and there are just 11 tracks, clocking in at three or four seconds each. “Mid paced” tempo then, I think.<br />
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Ooh, and apparently, according to schoolyard gossip and the parents’ group WhatsApp, there’s a split 7” on the way with Violent Opposition, which is bound to be a scorcher. Plus, I bet you’ll get a sticker with it.<br />
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<b>53. Reeko Squeeze, Trapz, Figure Flows, Fee Gonzales, Tremz, Keedz, Mischief & Poundz “8 Bar Link Up” (Link Up TV)</b><br />
<b>54. Samuel Kerridge “The Silence Between Us” (Downwards)</b><br />
<b>55. Last Leaves “The World We Had” (Lost & Lonesome / Matinée Recordings)</b><br />
<b>56. Natterers “Toxic Care” (Emotional Response)</b><br />
<b>57. Sven Wittekind “Unchained” (ohn-cet)</b><br />
<b>58. Little Dee & P Money “Back 2 Back” (self-released)</b><br />
<b>59. Manga Saint Hilare & Ghstly XXVII “Back To Back” (Outsiders0085)</b><br />
<b>60. Icore “Substance From Shadow” (Osiris Music)</b><br />
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Quite a pot-pourri of styles here, starting with our weakness for a proper posse cut. Mega-collaboration “8 Bar Link Up” may not bring the A-list, but instead corrals together a young and hungry crew of next gen MCs, focusing on south-east London. If you’re looking for experience as well as hustle, then the back-to-back “Back to Back” outings work damn well together: there’s nothing like a little bit of healthy competition to up an emcee’s game, and both pairs of rhymers are well matched as they slipstream and then draw energy from each other.<br />
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Turning to instrumental music, we get the shuffling, moody <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/like-38s-in-dalston-singles-round-up.html">Icore</a> – <i>“peals of languid melody and shimmering synth swathes oozing from a muggy swirl of dustbowl percussion… on Lalique-green vinyl”</i>; the sparky, high bpm suite of glitch and shuffling electronics that Kerridge uses to constantly develop themes and motifs; and the solid-as-a-rock minimal techno of Sven Wittekind, with his excellent, slightly clanking “Unchained” continuing his current taste for easy-as-you-go repetition.<br />
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And we shouldn’t forget the guitars - in this case represented on both sides of the hemisphere, first by <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/caffs-not-corporations-singles-round-up.html">the textbook power-pop melodies</a> of Last Leaves and second by the pleasingly raw cassette-borne hardcore of Natterers, straight outta Leeds, whose reference points might include Violent Reaction squaring off with Sofahead. In particular, the excellent opener “Exist Or Live” rings with an exquisitely snarling, sneering vocal that feels halfway between Poly Styrene and Pauline Murray.<br />
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<b>61. Myrkur “Två Konungabarn” (Relapse)</b><br />
<b>62. The Flatmates "Come On, Santa!" (Local Underground)</b><br />
<b>63. Adam Winchester "Interferenza" (Osiris Music)</b><br />
<b>64. FKD ft. Killa P "Can't Dead On My Watch" (SAIKOUT)</b><br />
<b>65. DJ Cable ft. Snowy “Who You Talking To?” (Four40 Records) </b><br />
<b>66. Electorites & Dolby D "Module" (HEX)</b><br />
<b>67. Drum Communicate “Construction” (Sick Weird Rough)</b><br />
<b>68. DJ Dbmassive “Dust” (Technodrome)</b><br />
<b>69. Pierre Deutschmann “Cold Rex” (XLR1507)</b><br />
<b>70. Sven Wittekind “Cuboid” (Naked Lunch)</b><br />
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Well then. Some sample titles of Killa P singles from 2017: “Dead ‘Em”, “Death Chat”, “Can't Dead On My Watch”. A bit like the Jam’s obsession with “world” in 1977/78, or Pete Astor’s near-consuming obsession with rain back in the days of the Weather Prophets (a band, incidentally who should never be confused with Weather Report, although our good friend d’Alma often managed to do this back in the day, WITH HILARIOUS CONSEQUENCES). This one comes as the lead tune on an EP by German three-producer combo FKD which also flaunts some other tasty collaborations with London artists, not least a fetchingly frenetic hook-up with grime young guns YGG.<br />
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Elsewhere in the grime camp, DJ Cable (should-be nickname: 'Cable - <i>street</i>') is probably phoning it in a bit on "Who You Talking To?", yet this is still undoubtedly high quality stuff that retains the signature *bounce* of the precursor singles with Scrufizzer, and t'artist formerly known as Ghostly. This time, the man on the mic is Notts MC Snowy, whose irrepressible, almost convivial flow gives this tune a touch of character.<br />
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More than 30 years on, we still await the long-promised first Flatmates album, but frankly at this stage we'll take anything. And "Come On, Santa!" is in fact one of the rare handful of tunes - from the plethora of Christmas tracks released every December - that should have a bit of staying power: with its classic Spector stylings, nicely-trotting reindeer pace, Lisa Bouvier's deep, rich voice and some lovely backing coos, this won't just be on 2017's Christmas playlist. (Best Xmas records ever remain "Christmas In Harlem", "Christmas In Hollis", "Christmas" by Brighter, Ella's "Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney" and Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rapping").<br />
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We should also pay tribute to the relentless, ongoing production line of continental European techno this year, represented here by France's Dolby D, Italy's Electorites, DJ Dbmassive and Drum Communicate (the latter of whom, we have belatedly realised, is the latest nom-de-plume of our former obsession Frenkie V), and German stalwarts Sven Wittekind and Pierre Deutschmann. Their contributions give us five more reasons to clutch the EU to our hearts, even as we fight back the tears...<br />
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However, the most singular song in this eclectic batch has to be “Två Konungabarn” - acoustic Scandinavian folk music, on traditional instruments, from the angelic voice of the magical Myrkur, an artist we can’t shake off our soft spot for. It purposely eschews the melange of black metal, thrash and choral tendencies that marks out her usual oeuvre. Plus, it would make a cracking, haunting theme tune to our a classic Scando-noir serial (our preference would be a crime-fighting cross-Øresund supergroup of Beck, Wallander, Sarah Lund and Martin Rohde, perhaps roping in DI Mared Rhys from Hinterland and, ideally, working however improbably under the supervision of Inspector Barnaby).<br />
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<b>71. Ryuji Takeuchi “Revised Issues” (Local Sound Network)</b><br />
<b>72. Ryuji Takeuchi “From One To Another EP” (Format Recordings)</b><br />
<b>73. Fireburn “Don’t Stop The Youth” (Closed Casket Activities)</b><br />
<b>74. GHSTLY XXVII “Do What I Wanna” (Duppi Records)</b><br />
<b>75. Manga Saint Hilare ft. Durrty Goodz “Baga” (self-released)</b><br />
<b>76. Cortechs “Tzp” (d!st!nct)</b><br />
<b>77. Goldie “Inner City Life [2017 Rebuild]” (Metalheadz)</b><br />
<b>78.West Norwood Cassette Library “Hardcore Librarianism” (Sneaker Social Club)</b><br />
<b>79. Jetstream Pony “Like You Less” (Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten)</b><br />
<b>80. Nikki S & Nyke ft. Flirta D, Little Dee, PK, Novelist, Jammz, Yizzy, Scrufizzer, Bossman Birdie, Asher D & Kwam “Ska Riddim 2” (Salt Beef)</b><br />
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A few years ago, prolific Japanese superproducer Ryuji Takeuchi had “Multiple Issues”. Four of them, to be precise, drilling away on an LSN EP. Now, his Issues are back in remix form, and they’re actually brighter and more varied having been set about roughly by a quartet of notables: Frank Hunter (clanking, funky), Hiroaki Iizuka (clanking, acid), Peel favourite Martyn Hare (robo-chic) and Tomohiko Sage (industrial, but surprisingly restrained by his usual standards). Earlier in the year, Michael Kruck, Taigo Onez and Kompressor also got busy on the Takeuchi remix tip, turning up to adorn on his sleek "From One To Another" artist EP.<br />
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Fireburn's "Don't Stop The Youth" is another EP that was equal parts intriguing and rewarding: the band switch seamlessly from reggae to flaming American hardcore stylings, and that all starts to make sense when you discover that they feature ex-Bad Brains singer Israel Joseph I and various legends of the US noisecore scene including none less an ilwtt,isott favourite than Todd Jones from the outstanding Nails. As you'd expect, the record tumbles rather giddily from the classic hardcore feel of songs like "Suspect" into the rootsy bliss of "Jah Jah Children" and then a Scientist dub of the same: all the same, this is a rollercoaster you want to be on.<br />
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Plenty else going on here though. Cortechs eschews vowels for a dessert helping of minimal Cologne techno on his own, equally vowel-eschewing label. Manga Saint Hilare makes his second appearance in this list, and manages to grab Durrty Goodz for one of the latter's few outings of 2017. And Ghstly XXVII, who teamed up with Manga for "Back To Back", steps out on his own with the assured "Do What I Wanna" (spoiler alert: he does what he wants to).<br />
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What else? Jetstream Pony represent one of at least four different bands - all in this year's top 100 - which feature Beth Arzy in their ranks, and this time, fresh from the band's charming wowing of Dalston in October, the vibe is is pounding, visceral, 80s-90s indie. Then there's another vibrant posse cut: plenty of familiar names rolling up to Nikki S and Nyke's gaff to lace the Ska Riddim, redux ("<i>from So Solid Crew to BBK / we've been doing this since TDK</i>", natch). And finally, there's the cheeky cut-up d n'b antics of the West Norwood Cassette Library 12" that gave us <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/like-38s-in-dalston-singles-round-up.html">a trip down memory lane</a> this summer; <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/like-38s-in-dalston-singles-round-up.html">as did</a> Goldie's updated take on "Inner City Life", which served as an effective tribute to the late Diane Charlemagne.<br />
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<b>81. Marble Gods “Going Nowhere And Thrilled To Death About It” (Marry Me Records)</b><br />
<b>82. Therman Munsin & Roc Marciano “Carberator” (Hardtimes Records)</b><br />
<b>83. Raekwon ft. Ghostface Killah “This Is What It Comes Too” (Remix) (H20 / Empire)</b><br />
<b>84. The Luxembourg Signal “Laura Palmer” (Shelflife)</b><br />
<b>85. Keedz “Let Me Introduce Myself” (Keedy Records)</b><br />
<b>86. ASC “Internal Software” (Arts Collective Holland)</b><br />
<b>87. Bubblegum Lemonade “Laz Christmas” (Matinée Recordings)</b><br />
<b>88. Petrification “Summon Horrendous Destruction” (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)</b><br />
<b>89. Irah ft Terror Danjah “Lyrical Weapon” (Hardrive)</b><br />
<b>90. Real Numbers “Frank Infatuation” (Market Square Records)</b><br />
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Keedz caught our ear after we clocked #53 above: of all eight MCs, hers was the verse that really burst out of the speakers, its opening lines giving us one of those earworms that we had to make sure not to sing out loud, given its, um, profane nature. And that made us get hold of her first artist EP, which gave Keedz a chance to impress further - tracks like "Grimeonology" show the benefit of suddenly having acres of space on the wing, rather than being stuck in a crowded midfield.<br />
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For producer-led grime, on the other hand, one rarely needs to look beyond Terror Danjah, whose "Lyrical Weapon" was a choice outing for Irah to keep his MCing hand in. Over the pond, where despite the best efforts of Slit Jockey it still appears that <i>grime just isn't a thing</i>, one is forced to seek out the experience and gravitas of New York's finest. Your ears can only welcome, as old friends, the growling, lowdown piano-hook of "Carberator", and the grizzly retro stylings of the Chef and Ghostface.<br />
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For music from a different kitchen, you could do worse than get down and grubby with Petrification and their exhilarating if lo-fi death metal oeuvre, as raw yet as strangely compelling as "In Battle There Is No Law". Or turn in the opposite direction and revel in the swish electronic karma of British-born San Diegan ASC's addictive 12" for Arts.<br />
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"Indie"-wise, we fell for "Going Nowhere...", the effervescent, belting high point of a charming cassette EP called “Songs” from exceedingly fresh-faced Glaswegian trio Marble Gods; "Laz Christmas", a typically discerning and disarming selection of festive melodies from one of our favourite contemporary songwriters, Laz McCluskey; "Laura Palmer", a gently brooding semi-shoegaze epic single from ASC's near-neighbours, the Luxembourg Signal; and also from the States, Real Numbers' rumbustious, ricketily-ramshackle TVPs tribute "Frank Infatuation" (for the second year in a row, it seems, being that it got an overdue 7" release from Market Square Records).<br />
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Ilwtt,isott trivia corner: this section features the <i>second</i> appearance today of an artist who played my stag night in N1. And it's a different one from the star at #18-20. Sadly though, it wasn't Beth Arzy... :(<br />
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<b>91. </b><b>Champion x Riko Dan "Landslide" (Lobster Boy)</b><br />
<b>92. Fabrizio Lapiana “Interdimensional Bug” (Arts)</b><br />
<b>93. Foreign Beggars ft Alix Perez, Izzie Gibbs, Dizmack & Sgt. Pokes “Toast” (Foreign Beggars Live)</b><br />
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<b>94. Kristopher Mørder “State of Mind” (Android Muziq)</b><br />
<b>95. Hannes Matthiessen “Subversion / Zerkratzt” EP (Phat Dope Shit)</b><br />
<b>96. Hitman Tiga ft Grim Sickers “The Intercontinental Riddim” (self-released)</b><br />
<b>97. Double S ft Wiley “Get Paid” (We Are Defigo)</b><br />
<b>98. Isar Montana “Falling Down” (Sick Weird Rough)</b><br />
<b>99. D Double E ft Wiley “Better Than The Rest” (Bluku)</b><br />
<b>100. Ian Mason “Visions” (Sick Weird Rough)</b><br />
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Ook. We're now officially between Michael Jackson time ("<i>it's close to midnight...</i>") and Iron Maiden time ("<i>two... minutes to MIID-niiiiight</i>"), so gotta scamper now before we scarper. This onslaught of more club-ready tunes, including the usual sprinkling of new artists wouldn't make a bad New Year's Eve party in itself though, would it? Especially if you added in the sweet "Toast" remixes that sneaked out a few weeks ago. Particular shout-outs to Champion and Riko's Popguns tribute, "Landslide", which combines the latter's normal disdain for informers with a Don-Cotti echoing railabout the destruction caused by airstrikes.<br />
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So... that is all. Thanks for reading and thank you most of all if you've checked out or supported any of these superb artists that have lit up our 2017, another year over which it seems that the likes of Brexit and Trump, and all the divisions which they've created and exploited, have created a darker shadow over the world than usual.<br />
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Have a terrific 2018, please carry on tipping us off if you hear (or release) great records and let's hope we can all get to cheer up and catch up next year.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-45400462145861726592017-12-30T18:45:00.000+00:002017-12-30T18:45:03.489+00:00"I hang from a great big oak": albums of the year, 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome back to the in love with these times, in spite of these times organisation of London, Europe; the fanzine that’s Veltins in the Hen & Chickens, Kozel in the Hunter S, Praha in the De Beauvoir, Krusovice in the Alma and a Corbyn’s Cuddle in the Old Queen’s Head (home of the oldest working fireplace in North London, fireplace fact fans).<br />
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"The People's Forest: The Fairlop Oak" is a new piece by Gayle Chong Kwan, mixing oak and softwoods with plywood and card. The pollarded tree, atop a scaffold, is designed to pay tribute to the legend of the mighty Fairlop Oak that once stood in Hainault Forest, but also to place it in the context of popular protest movements, especially those defending the environment. Displaying it indoors (currently at the Barbican) nicely balances its lament for our once-spontaneous, outdoor lives with the richness of modern, cosily-commissioned, urban art.<br />
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Incidentally, we think the neat thematic link between the artwork and every single record below is so plain, and yet so fiendishly brilliant, that there’s probably no need to explain it further.<br />
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<b>1. Fret “Over Depth” (Karlrecords)</b><br />
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Any mention of Fret round these parts has to be supplemented with the important rider “<i>aka Mick Harris</i>”, at which point people are much more likely to sit up, take notice and say “<i>OK, *now* we’re interested</i>”. (Not real people, obviously, apart from our friend Simon in Sea Mills, but soundheads on message boards and social media).<br />
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A litmus test, we realise, of how far we have really come since 1987 is how many of our top 10 records of the year feature either (i) people who were in <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/ilwtt0666-im-going-to-murder-all-people.html">Sarah</a> bands, and/or (ii) people who were in <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/lucid-fairytale-fourth-defiant-decade.html">Napalm Death</a> (a marginally <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/nicholas-bullen-component-fixations.html">higher</a> cohort, we'd hazard). This year, the answer is 3 for albums, and - spoiler alert - 2 for singles. Make of that what you will.<br />
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We always got a bit laughed at whenever we did a joint Napalm Death / Field Mice review, or spoke of those bands in the same breath (much as we still do now) , but this whole <i>“never the twain shall meet”</i> thing was always nonsense, and such is the trend for genre-hopping nowadays that it really is not hard to see Mick Harris getting together with Loop, say, in 2018 in which case, as night follows day, it would be Lightning In A Twilight Hour the year after that. It’s all interconnected, see, and we’re confident that our new dream combo,<br />
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<b>hampson /: wratten /: harris </b><br />
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(we've even done their initial branding) will appear in this list in 2019.<br />
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In the meantime, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/a-depth-of-leaves.html">here’s</a> why this is the best record of 2017.<br />
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<b>2. Relham “Kalte Menschen” (d!st!nct)</b><br />
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Relham is a young man from Bielefeld in Germany. That’s all we know about him really. Oh - that, and the fact he’s released one of the best début LPs we’ve ever heard. We weren’t sure whether there was a sub-genre called “emotional techno”, but if there wasn’t, he’s just invented it. If there was, he’s just perfected it.<br />
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“Kalte Menschen” (now that title describes 2017 in itself, surely?) kicks off with its title track and taster single, a sleek, refreshing ice-cool chimera of a song that seems to bring something new on every listen, before the slower tempo “Ein Emotionaler Mann” shifts the mood by playing with melody and dubstep rhythms. We’ve never been truly convinced by the idea of ‘<i>intelligent dance music</i>’, but just occasionally there are artists who can pull it off (shout-outs to Kryptic Minds). And so “7787” and “Dienstag 7 Uhr” continue the seduction, before the the drizzled kisses and sibilance of “Im Regen” and “Gustav” (spell Relham backwards and you can probably work out which Gustav we’re thinking of here).<br />
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If anything, the quality of the album then somehow ascends: as the appropriately named “Steigern” segues into the shimmering “Verstandhnis” you really appreciate how there is always a pulse here: there is nothing ambient or unfocussed about these songs, which remain positive techno at heart. The last artist original is “Handeln”, which veers slightly off-kilter with a synth line made to sound almost like a twangy guitar: the album then finishes with two remixes as Italian duo Wirrwarr give “Steigern” a polish, before d!st!nct label head honcho Cortechs re-works his own favourite track, “Ein Emotionaler Mann”. You'll be happy to get lost in this record again and again.<br />
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<b>3. Last Leaves “Other Towns Than Ours” (Matin</b><b>é</b><b>e Recordings / Lost & Lonesome)</b><br />
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Completing a trilogy of year-defining albums, with the introduction of vocals and guitars into our countdown (sorry, count-up). This was a remarkable first record, and if you dug the Lucksmiths’ last album or the Wedding Present’s “Going, Going...” we think you will really be in for a treat if you hurry up and get your order in.<br />
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Book-ended by the gorgeous slow burn of “Love And The World Well Lost” at the start and “Where I Live And What I Lived For” at the end, “Other Towns Than Ours” shimmers with jewels like “Something Falls” (tender and sad but uptempo, and quite possibly song of the year) or the touching “The Last Of The Light”. For more detail/raving, see <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/a-depth-of-leaves.html">here</a>.<br />
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<b>4. Violent Opposition “Courage And Conviction” (Horror Pain Gore Death)</b><br />
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Offputting label name, yes: next time, we're hoping they do a record on Cloudberry. This, from ace new California outfit Violent Opposition (not to be confused with the UK#s Violent Arrest or Violent Reaction, both also top-tier bands of course) is the bomb. Think MDC meets early Sidetracked and you won’t be far off: this intriguing blend of short, structured songs, adorned with a fairly dizzying array of socio-political themes, coalesces so effectively that it’s pretty hard to hear the joins between the <i>thirty-three</i> tracks.<br />
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<b>5. The Popguns “Sugar Kisses” (Matinée Recordings) </b><br />
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We maintain what <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/the-popguns-sugar-kisses-matinee.html">we thought back in June</a> that this may be their best record, and we’d skirt across hot coals (well, for a bit) if it would get the power-jangle of “Finished With The Past” or “Fire Away” to be released as singles. That said, the rather assured, less frenetic new breed of crowdpleasers on the first half of the album are probably what make this such a *complete* pop album.<br />
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<b>6. Memoriam “For The Fallen” (Nuclear Blast)</b><br />
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Ex-Bolt Thrower personnel Memoriam warmed up for this, their début LP, with some promising demo EPs (like the unallayed crust of “Drone Strike”, a song whose chorus sounded like Doom, and that sadly didn’t make it on to the final album), but it was only when this record actually hit that you realised that Memoriam were seriously in business. (By way of example, check out the quantum leap from the demo take of "Surrounded (By Death)" to the seriously accomplished LP version).<br />
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More than just death metal, this album co-opts spritely crust and punk influences too - as well as "Surrender", we're particularly and immensely fond of the riff-tastic "War Rages On", "Corrupted System", "Flatline" and "Resistance". It's quite an achievement for Memoriam to step out of Bolt Thrower's long shadow, given that the final BT album, "Those Once Loyal" may be at once the best death metal, and war metal, album of all time. But we think they may have managed it.<br />
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<b>7. Ryuji Takeuchi “I Think, Therefore I Am” (Local Sound Network)</b><br />
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“I Think, Therefore I Am” is an entirely different receptacle of fish from the usual. In the loosest possible terms you could say that this, the Japanese producer’s second full-length outing, has a genre – i.e. that it’s a “techno” record - but that would be like saying that Slayer and Brighter share a genre, on the basis that they’re both bands with guitars in their armoury.<br />
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There’s a hint of the mischief we’re in for early doors, because the opening “Philosopher’s Agony” is eight minutes of carefully cultivated white noise, shuffling between minimal, hard-to-make out sub-bass rumble to full-on screes of feedback-like electronic yell (Tomihiko Sagae vs Metal Machine Music). After that, things “settle down”, although again only in the loosest possible way. This is Ryuji at his most sonically harsh, unleashing a brutal industrial mesh of beats rather than the smoother heights of some past classics (by the way, if you preferred his sublime “Vital” single, we’d still heartily recommend Aleja Sanchez’s “Ether”).<br />
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The craziest antics are probably reserved for on “Heads And Tails” and “Right Face, Left”, both of which would be perfect for annoying the sort of person who always laughs at 'our' music for not being real music: both the rhythms and the pitch of these tracks fly around all over the place, but the pace never relents.<br />
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The title 'tune' concludes proceedings, and provides the only obvious chink of humanity in the whole enterprise, with what is recognisably a male voice intoning Descartes’ finest aphorism (albeit through a fog-encrusted haze of distortion and effects). A bit like “Philosopher’s Agony”, it’s completely impossible to imagine anyone dancing to this, but it would be such fun to put this on in a club and watch people try.<br />
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<b>8. The Harvest Ministers "Back To Harbour" (Crayon Records)</b><br />
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Sarah Records is not always celebrated as a launch pad for singer-songwriters, but the longevity of Bobby Wratten, FM Cornog, Amelia Fletcher and so many others in this indie-pop game is ample testament to the fact that Sarah always had the songs, they really had the bloody songs, and sometimes the obvious needs stating or we all go home thinking that Sarah's legend now was built not on songwriting talent at all, but *solely* on fanzine politics and the fuel of music press hate. And Will Merriman's Harvest Ministers are still producing records that suggest they deserve to be held in equal esteem with some of their illustrious ex-labelmates.<br />
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"Back To Harbour" shows how deft Merriman is not only at dark, sad ballads but also at more uptempo, tongue-in-cheek songs: the standout for us has to be the beautiful, string-bled "Fault Lines" but - from the slow and elegant "Violaine" and "Black Elsie" to the winning "All The Woman (I Ever Want To Know)" or "The Debutante With The Nose Ring" - the Harvest Ministers still do our world the world of good.<br />
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<b>9. Sect "No Cure For Death" (Southern Lord)</b><br />
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Over the last five years, it's a pretty safe bet that we've bought more records produced by Kurt Ballou than anyone else, him being to the hardcore/powerviolence/grindcore nexus what Scott Burns was to lo-fi death metal, or John A. Rivers to Creation-era indie.<br />
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Straightedge HC supergroup Sect, though, rank pretty high amongst his charges: "No Cure For Death" is a coruscating, high-velocity thing that sounds a little like Trap Them at their most flat-out, or the last Nails LP, or maybe even Weekend Nachos when they really had the bit between their teeth, but sets itself apart with high-quality lyrics, even if they can tend to the direct (<i>"Come down off the cross, you dead-hearted frauds"</i> is a great way to start a song with real intent). At a shade under 17 minutes the album is even shorter than "Dirge" or "They Scoffed The Lot", but it feels *just right*.<br />
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<b>10. Secret Shine “There Is Only Now” (Saint Marie Records)</b><br />
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Ah, the kings (and queen) of “<i>are they still going?</i>” We had a Secret Shine listening day recently, complete discography (well – apart from “Wasted Away” and “Each To The Other”, sigh) and they truly are a blinding band. As we tried to make clear <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/secret-shine-singles-1992-1994-saint.html">not all that long ago</a>.<br />
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Like the Popguns, the Shine seem to be freshly back into a blistering run of form, and “There Is Only Now” is one of their best and most consistent long-players, we reckon, particularly the effortless pop-shoegaze cool of “All In Your Head” or "Burning Stars", and the catchy and ever-so-slightly jangly “Falling Again”.<br />
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Aaaand... <i>other</i> albums that we span on the regular this year include Sully's “Escape” (especially the two non-instrumentals, featuring Jendor and Jamakabi respectively, which are quite, quite stunning), Vallenfyre's “Fear Those Who Fear Him” (which, in "Messiah", probably features the best grindcore number of 2017), Looking For An Answer's resolute vegan-grind outing “Dios Carne", the playful Teutonic minimalism of Sleeparchive's "Letter of Resignation", the Fall's fiery and unbowed (if wildly inconsistent) "New Facts Emerge", Obituary's eponymous (eleventh!) album which rates as one of their leanest and most vigorous works, Wiley's "Godfather" (now Godfather MBE, of course) which would actually benefit from fewer guest slots and more Wiley, the splendid Ghetto collab "Bang!" aside, the Hulaboy / Safe Distance split and even Lock-Up's "Demonization", much as we fear it falls short of their previous records. Though - it must be said that on this one, Simon from Sea Mills would strongly disagree.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-92229701370779793152017-12-29T21:11:00.000+00:002017-12-29T21:11:06.685+00:00Stray Tinsel: bits and pieces from 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine which thinks it should be illegal to allow Alan Shearer to criticise football managers on screen without a caption appearing saying: <i>“Alan Shearer's managerial record: 8 games, 1 win, 1 relegation”.</i><br />
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Our picture comes tonight from our billet in the former Free Trade Hall - in Manchester of course, a city that to our great shame we only properly visited for the first time during 2017. The people, the pride, the vibe, the history, the trams, the Christmas markets - there were plenty of revelations. Felt like a great European city. Though the level of rough sleeping was something else (and that's coming from someone who's lived in London and Bristol for the past 25 years). These are cold nights.<br />
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We just wanted to run through a few personal highs from 2017. If there's anything left in the tank we'll try to tackle albums and singles later, before the New Year is ushered in by the chimes of Big Ben, chimes that have been badly missed this year by the usual cabal of Tory mentalists.<br />
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<b><u>Gig of the year:</u> </b>It’s not how we necessarily imagined our gig-going lives would turn out, but one way or another we seem to frequent the Camden Underworld now more than any other venue, which makes it the new Fleece & Firkin / Jericho Tavern / Buffalo Bars / Bull & Gate, depending on how far back we deign to revisit LP Hartley's 'different country'. Wormrot were brilliant back in February, and knocked the socks off our companions (who were Wormrot virgins), but they weren’t quite as brilliant as the Saturday night <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/singlish-scheme-saturday-night-back-in.html">we saw them in a Stockwell pub in 2011</a>, so we’ll go instead for Nails, who eventually made it over to London this year and who blasted out pure powerviolence/grind brilliance. The sweat-drenched Underworld, of course, never strikes you as a venue designed for allowing you to actually see the bands, unless the night's thinly-enough attended that you can actually get into the central pit in front of all the pillars and railings. But this was a gig that we loved despite not being able to see more of the band than the drumkit, and occasional glimpses of the singer's head.<br />
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<b><u>Reissue of the year:</u></b> Ripcord's “Poetic Justice”, finally repackaged by Boss Tuneage, is a fabulous album which stands as strong now as it did when I was 15 and gleefully extracted it from the racks of the Basildon branch of Our Price, who were morally obliged to charge me no more than £4.50 for it because that was what was printed on the front cover. Ripcord’s no-nonsense West Country hardcore was positive, political, honest and passionate, and ablaze with cracking hooks and it was no wonder, in the circumstances, that John Peel gave them his seal of approval. Alongside fellow denizens of the Peel show, Heresy, they are too-often forgotten and cruelly underrated by comparison to the wider fame of their more metal-influenced “Britcore” contemporaries like Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror. They really shouldn’t be. And, as the band themselves acknowledge in the sleeve notes to this CD reissue (which comes with a bonus 24 live tracks, taking the total up to 45!), this album was probably their finest hour.<br />
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“Poetic Justice” was recorded by Martin Nichols at the White House in Weston-super-Mare, the same producer and studio that brought us Brighter’s “Laurel”, and both are seamless works of art despite coming from sonically different places. “Poetic Justice” burns with energy and heart and contains punk classics like “Fools To Persist”, “Collision of Vision”, the longer Dag-Nasty ish “Cross Culture” and last but not least, the mighty title track which is perhaps their anthem: like Heresy’s go-to track, “Acceptance”, “Poetic Justice” the song has pace, power, lyrical clout and spot-on sentiment. An inspirational end to an inspirational album from an inspirational band.<br />
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And a BIG shout-out too for Emily's fantastic <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/a-penny-change-from-two-pound-coins.html">"A Retrospective"</a>, from 2016 but which we stupidly slept on until this year. Despite not even featuring their best-known EP, their "Irony" set for Creation, it shows off some <i>serious</i> strength-in-depth.<br />
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<b><u>V/a comp of the year:</u> </b>It's hard to look beyond Matinée Recordings' "Matinée Idols" set, showcasing no less than 14 label artistes, especially when it contained gems like Last Leaves' "Something Falls" and Math & Physics' "Shadows Longer". We also spent many an afternoon delighting in the new Hermit Crabs tune; a typically unassuming bundle of jangly joy from Electric Pop Group; and the dependably Brighteresque strum of new Matinée signings the Royal Landscaping Society. Short of persuading the Would-be-Goods, Sportique, Roy Thirlwall or Keris Howard out of their apparent retirements, it's hard to see how it could be much better. A worthy testament to a label that didn't even let evacuation caused by wildfires deflect it from its mission of bringing all of us great pop music 24/7.<br />
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<b><u>Artist retrospective of the year:</u> </b>The Orchids, “Who Needs Tomorrow?” At first we thought, it was a bit of a shame that we already had everything on disc one. But then we realised that disc two was for us, the "for fans only” selection of sweet out-takes, rarities and a majestic "Underneath The Window" re-record. And then we realised that anyone who buys this and <i>wasn’t </i>already a fan will become a fan while listening to disc one. And will then love disc two too as a result. So, for once, "for fans only" = "for all sane music lovers out there". Back of the net.<br />
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<b><u>Best new compilation from old band:</u></b> The Remote Viewer's “Us. In Happier Times”, on Other Ideas. As befits a massively overlooked combo with a random back catalogue, wry sense of humour and love of quirky titles, this is a limited, vinyl-only LP comp of previously unknown lost tunes, on an obscure label and with a brilliantly hard-to-work-out title. Like everything else they did (by way of just one random example, we’ve just found a copy of a 7” picture disc split with Kid 606 and improbably entitled "A Fielder") it comfortably fits the rather over-used description “hidden treasure”.<br />
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<b><u>Best box set:</u> </b>The Fall “Singles 1978-2016". Yes, *all the As and Bs*. "Wings", "Fantastic Life", "Marquis Cha-Cha", "Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul", "Bingo Master's Breakout", "Behind The Counter, "Bury", "Touch Sensitive", "I'm Into CB", "Draygo's Guilt", "The Chiselers", "Lucifer Over Lancashire", "Putta Block", "Hey!" Luciani", "Pat-Trip Dispenser"... this list really does go on and on. This will make you wonder how you ever took them for granted.<br />
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<b><u>Exhibition of the year:</u></b> Arte Povera at the Estorick Collection. Gavin Turk and friends, as inspired by the Poor Art movement, display their modernist wares alongside some of their the original Italian inspirations.<br />
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<b><u>Opera of the year:</u> </b>Brett Dean’s “Hamlet” turned up at G (that’s motherjumbling Glyndebourne) and was surprisingly, y’know, melodic: from our stint at a Dean symphony in Berlin we were expecting Front 242 or à;GRUMH, but it turned out to be 100x more listenable than some of the things foisted on us by the Ed Sheeran corporation this year. And - we'd venture - a good way to take on Shakespeare's albatross without simply stumbling through cliche for for hours.<br />
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<b><u>Theatre:</u></b> "Wilde Creatures" at the Vaudeville, part of their 2017 'Oscar' season. Wilde's collection of fairy tales get somewhat overlooked by us-grown ups, but have a strange magic at this time of year, as well as a worrying topicality.<br />
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<b><u>Veggie fry-up place:</u></b> I mean, we’re quite fond of music and all that, but this is probably the key award of the year for us, and has been for a couple of decades now. As ever, there’s been lots of jostling for position: the Workers Café has slipped a little, despite its evergreen popularity (last time we had to politely traipse up to the desk to ask them whether we could have a knife and fork). Others are there or thereabouts (nice Mediterranean all-day platter from the Lakeside Cafe at Alexandra Park earlier today), but it’s the unlikely and tiny venue of Coffee Corner, on Highbury Corner, that we promise you now consistently cooks up the best veggie breakfast we’ve had for aeons, better than <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/arsenal-stadium-mystery-let-us-take-you.html">Veli’s</a> in his pomp (pre-Emirates, pre- that trouble with the food hygiene rating) or possibly even the good old days of Clapham Common’s best, and at times rival breakfast shops (ask the Lucksmiths about those, if you don’t believe us).<br />
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<u><b>Chinese takeaway:</b></u> It's <a href="https://kanstakeaway.co.uk/">Kan's</a>. Again, it's unassumingly tucked away in not the most salubrious bit of the Islington / Hackney borders, but surely still one of the best in the whole of north London. In ilwtt, isott-delighting news, it also has (tenuous) links to both C86 and 4AD...<br />
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<b><u>Backs-to-the-wall performance of the year:</u></b> This was before we began shipping goals by the shedload: the young Rovers team that went to Fulham (Ryan Sessegnon et al) in the League Cup and resolutely refused to buckle after having nicked a fine early goal. The performance made me swell with pride, and most critically of all raised my expectations in order that the team could then spend the rest of the year dashing them by being as porous as a pound shop sieve. Rovers also contrived to dent the record books in 2017/18 by amassing zero draws in their first 23 league games, before a triumphant 0-0 at Walsall on Boxing Day (an extremely rare clean sheet into the bargain). A typical Rovers claim to fame, and utter pools coupon chaos.stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-6510307022731217592017-11-24T12:18:00.000+00:002017-11-24T12:18:55.851+00:00Secret Shine “Singles 1992-1994” (Saint Marie Records)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEmhoAkYznH-rTWbkwLrm4iFVxJZOCCmA530P2YUIxQFRM6WRp5pVskAJQWMZYBTtfU61V7fbqydmhyphenhyphenTdD3QQXeNHjwU7zWqU9nfgA6ZRKCg6opDIk5hhkyzNXgnyXyiCKrjXog/s1600/banksy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="899" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEmhoAkYznH-rTWbkwLrm4iFVxJZOCCmA530P2YUIxQFRM6WRp5pVskAJQWMZYBTtfU61V7fbqydmhyphenhyphenTdD3QQXeNHjwU7zWqU9nfgA6ZRKCg6opDIk5hhkyzNXgnyXyiCKrjXog/s320/banksy.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
Before we begin, we appreciate that it’s extremely unlikely that any of you trendy young things would want to hear us wax lyrical-ish about a couple of forgotten playthings of Alan McGee, but should we be mistaken you can find a little piece on <b>Emily</b> and <b>Pacific</b> <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/a-penny-change-from-two-pound-coins.html">here</a>.<br />
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Now. It’s only just occurred to us, but Banksy began his street art exploits in Bristol (with DryBreadZ Crew) pretty much around the same time that <b>Secret Shine</b> appeared miraculously from the swirling Avon mist. Not that long later, we would look from our window to see his ‘Grim Reaper’ (currently on display at the M-Shed on the Bristol harbourside) painted on the side of the Thekla - a venue on board which we saw Secret Shine perform a couple of times. So it felt dimly appropriate that Banksy recently decided to adorn a wall of the Barbican - a neglected corner of it, but one we pass through each day - just as the band came back into our thoughts. You’ll note from the pic that we got to this, his Basquiat tribute, before the Perspex did (Bansky’s an old mate, and tipped us off).</div>
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I hope nobody could ever accuse us of being fairweather supporters of Secret Shine (incidentally, also the band with the nicest sofa of all the "My Secret World" documentary interviewees). We’ve bought every record of theirs that we could amass over the years, and had the privilege of seeing them live many times in the period covered by this LP (and would have the joy of <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2006/07/i-have-been-to-number-of-fine-gigs.html">seeing</a> their 1st comeback gig when they reformed in the early knockings of this century), and yet everybody from our friends to our fellow students to the bloke at Revolver would gently ridicule us for faithfully repping them, for over-wearing their T-shirts and for believing that far from being ‘just a Sarah band’ (as our mates all wrongly thought) or a ‘proper’ shoegaze outfit (as one suspects the band saw themselves - though they were far too interesting for that), they were in fact beautifully inbetween, a sensitive and complex, ever-evolving great Bristol group who fluxed gorgeously and irresistibly between flawed and flawless, powerful and shy, frustrating and endearing.</div>
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It suited these split personalities that the Shine fell helplessly between two stools with the punters: dyed-in-the-wool self styled “Sarah fans” of the old school didn’t like them, still craved for SARAHs 1 to 8 and 10 on a permanent loop; but the many Sarah-sceptic hipsters amongst my peers also snarled down from on high, basically dismissing Secret Shine for not being on Creation, or for not being My Bloody Valentine. *Sigh*. People overlooked, just as they do now, the easy beauty of their songs, got too easily distracted by the ever-present need to pigeonhole. Even today – their 2017 album, “There Is Only Now” boasts some exceptional tracks – they know *just* how to deploy vocal harmonies, and to incorporate layering and noise to enhance, rather than obscure, their melodic talents.</div>
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We’ve mentioned before the story that their lyrics were inspired by John Keats, which is something we’re convinced we got from an informed source, but as the mists of time swirl around us we now worry that it was us spreading the rumour all along, but we sincerely hope we’re <i>not</i> wrong, because we identified with all those thrusting young romantics and adored the thought of Fanny’s letters, or the entrails of Endymion, getting referenced on Sarah vinyl. The closest thing we can find now is Caroline Anne Southey’s “The Primrose”, a rather lovely pastoral English poem which captures young lambs marvelling at said flower’s “secret shine” (intriguingly, another metaphor referenced in the poem is trembling stars – colour sadly unspecified). Though prim and understated 19th century romance – whether Southey or Keats - could only ever be a part of it, of course, because there was plenty of unsubtle sexual imagery in Secret Shine lyrics too, even though we were too embarrassed to focus on it at the time, perhaps because we thought that truly ‘ethereal’ music should float serenely in the skies, undisturbed by such base thoughts.</div>
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We also still harbour a distinct memory – quite possibly something confided to us one cider-blurred night at the Thekla or at the Fleece - that the band repped for City ’82 (as we all still knew them then) rather than our own beloved Roverrrs (thus spitting in the teeth of their alleged rivals, and fellow Sarah act, Tramway). Indeed, the sleeve of Secret Shine’s earlier “Unbearable” single proclaims <i>“There’s only one band in Bristol”,</i> a variant on the 'only one team in Bristol' taunt that City fans sang back then, a time that Bristol Rovers had decamped to a temporary home at Twerton Park, Bath. These days, we know for a fact that Secret Shine have at least one Rovers fan in their midst, because they boast the great Tom Adams (Beatnik Filmstars, Forest Giants) on drums, and he’s definitely someone we’ve bumped into on the Clubhouse terrace before.</div>
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Sorry – just realised we haven’t got as far as the record yet - most of you know us well enough by now but, just to be clear, this is unlikely to be a ‘proper’ review, more an opportunity to relive the way that time slips by, and yet your favourite groups remain strangely constant…</div>
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“Singles 1992-1994” does what it says on the tin, compiling Secret Shine’s last three EPs for Sarah, recorded over the span which included their “Untouched” LP, the one with the disconcerting pink sleeve of a slightly scary-looking feline. Apparently, the tracks have been “<i>resequenced for maximum effect”</i>: basically, this means the singles have been put in reverse order, with the technically most accomplished first.</div>
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The “Greater Than God” 10” five-tracker, which proved to be their last Sarah release, kicks off proceedings with the MBVish guitar/keyboard squall of “Liquid Indigo”, setting a persistent, super-keen drum machine battery against a thumping helter-skelter of melody. It’s followed by the other tunes from the EP, a well-balanced selection: “Ignite The Air” is breathy, eyes heavenward; “Elizabeth’s April” is more song-based, and feels like it might have been written earlier, perhaps as an older-school indie-pop tune.<br />
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But it’s “Deep Thinker” that could well still be our favourite, a song that was clearly not about Rodin but felt more, for me, about my student life at the time (days whiled effortlessly away at the same college as Dame Amelia Fletcher, fact fans) – <i>“inside your room… drinking your coffee”</i> - yet, despite such winsome and seemingly mundane bedsitness the song becomes a flashing cascade of noised-up melody and crashing waves of sexual tension that truly maxes on ye olde quiet/loud/quiet routine (see also “Suck Me Down”, “Towards The Sky” etc).</div>
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Next come the tracks from “Loveblind”. The original EP came with a rather blurry green cover shot of what looked like a graveyard (if so, this was no first, for their “Unbearable” 7” had Bournemouth Cemetery as a cover star). The song itself - the Steve Lamacq-played jewel in their crown - is classic Secret Shine: the production is a little opaque, musically both mist and mud, as blurred as the sleeve, but the lyrics are simple and beautiful, the message sincere, and the tune… well, as they used to say about “My Secret World” (the song), it’s not even hidden. The use of Jamie and Kathryn’s vocals as the dominant instruments reaps untold reward. This was the single that preceded “Untouched”, and in retrospect helps to explain why – when we first clutched that LP to our bosom – we felt faint frissons of disappointment (yes: we know now this was insane, and it’s a record we still dip into on the frequent). But – Sarah to the core – we were still proud of the label’s refusal to sully the record with a single they’d already released, even if it was a totally fucking brilliant single.</div>
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The other side of “Loveblind” was “Way Too High”: its ambition reached a little lower, and again this one feels like it might have been an earlier tune, reheated in the microwave, but it’s throwaway in the best sense: catchy, of the moment, its hooks and rushes still glistening with the dew that used to mingle with the haze of dawn as the sun rose over Brandon Hill or Windmill Hill or the Bristol Downs. And probably still does, to be fair.</div>
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The final two tracks therefore take us the furthest back in time: the two sides of the “Ephemeral” 7”, issued in a minimalist slate-grey tombstone sleeve, although the disc itself has a photo of Gwilliam Street, in Windmill Hill, south Bristol. Gwilliam Street would prove the final resting place of the Sarah ark: and a full twenty years later, “Windmill Hill” the song would grace Secret Shine’s “The Beginning and The End” album.</div>
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Here is where, with apologies, we personalise things again, because this was the first year at college, a year of insecurities and discoveries and all the happy chaos of growing up fast, and it was an honour for us to have our it soundtracked by this record. “Honey Sweet” would have been the first ‘grown up’ tune that many of us heard from Secret Shine, after their more tentative early 7”s (more on those in a bit): we actually first caught it on a BBC Bristol radio show we used to listen to, but my main memory of it now is as the song I used to put on every evening in my room before going down to brave the society forced upon us by the dinner hall, on the knackered red tape player I had which sat underneath a student noticeboard on which I’d plastered every insert from every Sarah single I owned (not realising that the failure to collect these all up at the end of term and put them back in the right 7” sleeves would probably cost me thousands of pounds were I ever inclined to e-bay them one day). “Honey Sweet” - prowling bass, swirling guitar and more of those pristine comet-high vocals - showed just how far Secret Shine had developed their sound in the matter of months since their first Sarah 7”.</div>
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Over on the other side of “Ephemeral” came perhaps the only example of a band on Sarah writing their own ‘theme’ (unless perhaps you count “Our Love is Heavenly”?) and we are absolute suckers for “Secret Shine” the song, although it takes both the high-pitched singing and airy sentiment to extremes: each verse pits the roving bassline against painfully sky-kissing voice, musing about flowery dresses and fields and all such good things, before the chorus arrives like a cosh and belts you over the head, yet without the vocal dipping a semitone. It’s great to hear it properly again, having wrecked our vinyl with overplaying (unlike “Honeysweet”, this one did not resurface as a bonus track on the CD version of “Loveblind”). And with that, “Singles 1992-1994” is sadly over.</div>
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A final plea to the godless world out there, a plea we <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/happy-secret-how-long-should-band-take.html">last made</a> nearly a decade ago. We still kindle hopes that one day – given that so much of their early output has now been reissued – there could be a revival of their neglected but ace early 45s, “Unbearable” and their Sarah debut “After Years”, and perhaps even a chance for us fans to hear the songs from the “Wasted Away“ single and “Each To The Other” flexi that apparently emerged in the brief void after Sarah dissolved in a storm of glorious and absolutely justified self-regard. Though as luck would have it, should you want “Unbearable” in all its finery – and you do, trust me, you do – it’s just been released digitally for the first time via the excellent A Turntable Friend <a href="http://aturntablefriendrecords.limitedrun.com/products/586249-the-test-of-time-a-turntable-friend-records-compilation">“The Test Of Time” compilation</a>, a record that’s reunited us with plenty more fond memories of our perhaps not-misspent-enough youth.</div>
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As for Secret Shine... you know we love you. Always will do. Props to Saint Marie for giving us the opportunity to indulge ourselves. Again.</div>
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<i>in love with these times, in spite of these times ad hoc Secret Shine top twenty, as of this second in time: Loveblind, After Years, Temporal, Deep Thinker, Honeysweet, Take Me Slowly, Snowfall Sorrow, Unbearable, Burning Stars, Evermore, Suck Me Down, Voice of the Sea, Oblivion, Secret Shine, All In My Head, You Are Inside, Hit The Ground, Falling Again, Touching Nothing, Elizabeth’s April</i></div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-52827992415967124412017-11-10T16:46:00.000+00:002017-11-21T21:41:34.849+00:00A Depth Of Leaves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today’s pic introduces the marvellous Dorothy Annan ceramic mural that once adorned the London Central Telegraph Office, now sensitively re-housed in the Barbican (most of her other public murals have now been lost or destroyed, a fate which nearly overtook this one). Over nine stoneware panels, each inspired by aerials, pylons and telegraph poles (a bit like Hood’s cover art), this is a grand piece of 1960s modernism well worth wandering to, if you’re ever in these parts.<br />
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Random flashback time again. It’s 1995, and the home counties are going mad for Britpop: either Blur’s retro vision of cheeky chappies on Carnaby, or Oasis’s retro vision of a pre-punk Mancunian street pop, fuelled by swagger and scowls. But there is more to the unfolding musical skyline than the idiot joy showlands of London and Manchester: the perpetually unfashionable Midlands lie geographically between those cities and, just as the region once defied the pop mainstream to give birth to metal and most of its myriad subgenres, it would now react against a self-satisfied zeitgeist once more.</div>
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And so it came to pass that the fledgling Downwards imprint set up a one-off sub label, Resonance, to release a darkly danceable 12” EP by the mysterious <b>Fret</b>. Fret turned out to be an alias of one Mick Harris who, at the time, may still have been best known as the one-time drummer of one of Britain's greatest ever bands, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/lucid-fairytale-fourth-defiant-decade.html">Napalm Death</a> (before he left that ever-morphing DM powerhouse to indulge a newfound love of loops and blackened dancefloors). Even before Fret, though, he had already issued three albums in three years as one half of the mighty Scorn, alongside fellow Napalm refugee <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/nicholas-bullen-component-fixations.html">Nik Bullen</a>. And Mick would remain pleasingly prolific during the 1990s, spending much of them issuing drum and bass, ambient, industrial, breaks or dubstep records (or combinations of all five, depending on his mood) under a host of different names and in collaboration with a shopping list of other artists ranging from Bill Laswell to Eraldo Bernocchi. However, the EP would prove to be his only release as Fret. Or so it seemed. </div>
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Twenty-two years on, Downwards is firmly established as a top-drawer Birmingham label (right up there with 021), and Mick Harris is solidly ensconced in Midlands musical folklore as originator, reinventor or perfector of a wealth of electronic & instrumental subgenres. And as the English autumn sweeps briskly into sight, we find ourselves hailing a brand new Fret release, a whole hour’s worth of album via Berlin's Karlrecords, cruelly limited to 500 vinyl copies. <b>“Over Depth”</b> pays ample testament to Birmingham’s status as a happy home for music that is crushing, heavy and extreme: but as you would expect from Harris (check out his Lull project, if you want to sample production brilliance at the other end of the sonic scale) its textures are fluid, its ambition untrammelled, its execution deft and its craftsmanship undeniable.</div>
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There is so much going on in the mix, with so few safe footholds for the less than intrepid, that by rights, the result should be no more than an ugly, if spirited, mess. But somehow, this selection is as relentless yet as rewarding as “Descension”, or “As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade” or other such undersung but still-ripe fruits of the unloved provinces. In places the music hints of other local titans like Regis or Surgeon or JK Flesh (yet another ex-Napalm Death escapee, of course), but without ever neglecting either atmosphere, or sheer weight of sound. The percussive punch and parry of the two discs would grace Osaka’s Local Sound Network, whilst its clattering echo-dub effects pay abstruse homage to Birmingham’s roots pioneers; distantly evoke the genius of “Bun Dem”. And that’s even before the Mariana-depth bass drops start to shake your boots.</div>
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If truth be told, a few tracks do peek from frazzled parapets more than others (the demented slaughterhouse jazz trumpet on “Murderous Weight”, the choral ghost-chapel shimmer of “No Rain”, the industrial whalesong and foghorn of “Stuck In The Track At Salford Priors”, or the lurching repetition of the murky-sounding “Lifford Res”) but the key to our love for this album is its strength as a whole. It’s an LP that instantly connects, and from then on just burrows further into your psyche.</div>
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Perhaps the most delicious thing of all, though, is that this is a record with an surprisingly prosaic secret inspiration… carp fishing. It doesn’t take much googling to discern that at least half the track names concern Fret’s favoured angling venues, tech or technique. So even if you somehow don’t warm to “Over Depth”’s stubborn chaos, you can’t deny that it’s the best fishing-inspired record in the history of bass music.</div>
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Clearly, you can’t outmuscle “Over Depth” from the turntable. You can only seek to match it, to coax it from hogging the headphones, by focusing on different qualities altogether. To go all Chelsea on you for a sec, you have to be Pat Nevin instead of Micky Droy, the King's Road instead of the Shed End. And thus we turn to “Other Towns Than Ours”, the debut LP by <b>Last Leaves</b>, which provides a different avenue for our reverie.</div>
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For it was also 1995 when an outfit from Victoria called the Lucksmiths released their first album, “The Green Bicycle Case”, a record we finally got hold of a few years later from Melbourne’s own Gaslight Music, en route from a fry-up in Albert Park to a quick pint in the Elephant. Yes, just as the Sarah Records flame was being snuffed out here in the UK, a new pristine pop band to die for had popped up on the other side of the globe. And, as you’ll know, they went on to conquer the world. Well, to conquer <i>our</i> world, and to tour the real world, and to grace the planet’s finest independent labels with shimmeringly ace records.</div>
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Twenty-two years on, and too many summers already since the Lucksmiths – in their time, just as prolific as Mick Harris - sadly played their last show, two of the fresh-faced trio who smiled out from the “Bicycle Case” sleeve (‘Martin’ Donald and Mark Monnone) return, with latterday Lucksmith Louis Richter and drummer Noah Symons (who collaborated with Richard Adams and Jason Sweeney's rather fantastic Great Panoptique project). The new combo, Last Leaves, are every inch the band you’d expect them to be: after all, this is a joint release from Lost & Lonesome and Matinée Recordings, who have pretty discerning tastes.<br />
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We are bound to admit to you that a part of us would have been quite happy for Last Leaves merely to have picked up where the ‘smiths left off, just as – since we’re in confessional mode – we once yearned for <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-steinbecks-kick-to-kick-with.html">the Steinbecks</a> merely to revisit the past glories of <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-sugargliders-nest-with-view-1990.html">the Sugargliders</a>. Yet, just as we learned to let the Meadows brothers take us on new journeys in their second incarnation, so we now give thanks and praise that Last Leaves look to build on past legacies, but to give them new twists and dynamics, on their first long-player <b>"Other Towns Than Ours".</b></div>
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This fabulous LP sets stories and vignettes to verse: tales of drives to satellite towns and hidden motels, tales of stealing away and stolen glances, tales of the past as a trove of memories that should never be wallowed in, only visited in moderation. Musically, “Other Towns...” casts its net far and wide: the muscular power pop of “The World We Had”, the sultry 7” “The Hinterland”, or the absurdly ace “Something Falls”, a song so positive, passionate and persuasive that had they only committed it to 45 it would have been Single Of The Year, without the shadow of a doubt… and as the album passes, moods change with the scenery as melodic pop stanzas flit with spirals of guitar, slowed-down bass and drum passages and widescreen ballads.</div>
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Essentially, you should love this sincere, sweetly-honed record if you fell for any of the great alternative pop bands of recent decades (insert your own list here, although the supernovae we’d nominate might include the Butterflies of Love, Math & Physics, recent Wedding Present, the Go-Betweens - who get a respectful namecheck on “The Last Of The Light” - and, yes, the Lucksmiths). This is a record that helps inculcate us into our favourite season, to soundtrack the leaf fall and the grass dew and the early-morning condensation that fogs the window panes. That, in itself, is worth treasuring.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-22199740932608772782017-08-11T13:56:00.002+00:002017-08-25T11:21:38.478+00:00Like 38s in Dalston: a singles round-up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sorry, just realized we overlooked another modest pile of twelves on the basement floor – it was only really a few ‘techno’ platters (all things 128 bpm, give or take) that we got round to last time. And these aren’t singles that anyone should miss.</div>
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After last year's assuredly ace “Four Sides Of Truth” EP on Tresor, the ever-excellent <b>Mønic</b> resurfaces on his own Osiris Music with a different, more quixotic offering, “Deep Summer", which we’d herald as something of a landmark. It builds from gentle waves lapping engineered, beatless atmospherics through to Trembling Blue Stars recording an experimental ballad in an echo chamber before subsiding again to the sound of waters crashing onto the shoreline. </div>
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The subtler textures and spectral female vocal sample swiftly put one in mind of <b>Burial</b>, so blow us down with a feather when none other than Burial himself rocks up with an ersatz (‘ersatz’ here meaning ‘bears virtually no resemblance to the original’) B-side remix, skewering the rare beauty of “Deep Summer” with stalkerish sampled speech, beatless spells and an avalanche of bells and xylophone; it's fascinating, but not in all honesty a banker for repeat listens.</div>
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(As an aside, it always gives us an involuntary grin when two artists that we’ve liked for ages eventually hook up, as if we were responsible for the matchmaking ourselves: like when Cappo finally recorded with Jazz T and Zygote, or when Carcass remixed Björk, or when Ice-T fronted Slayer, or when Shane Embury teamed up with Gunshot, or indeed when Shane Embury played with Mark E. Smith… next on our list, we’re hoping for Bracken to remix Coke Bust).</div>
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But what’s this? Issued just two weeks later - surely a record for a follow-up single, although we’re told that it’s really just to be treated as part 2 of an Osiris ‘deep summer’ salvo - comes that man Mønic again, with “Regret Was Never So Sure”, a very different beast from the sultry summer ballad of 14 days before. </div>
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"Regret..." is a procession of spinning DnB-infused majesty - shot through with a monstrous wall of clambering bass - that doesn’t neglect the industrial influences that made “Lust Product” (Mønic’s last EP under his birth name, Simon Shreeve) such a cooker. And the B-side, which couples a blissed-out Regis remix of the title track with the slightly subtler reverb-drizzled ambience of “Forbidden Memories”, ensures that this is an all-round 12” of some calibre.</div>
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There are two more here from Osiris too: the Egyptian gods are spoiling us. The mysterious <b>Icore</b> (if you try googling her/him, you get the International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts, which seems wrong on several levels) delivers a debut 12” over five tracks called “Substance Over Shadow, which will be manna for label devotees. On brilliant, bright, Lalique-green vinyl, too.</div>
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The title track is perhaps the easiest to admire – peals of languid melody and glistening synth swathes oozing from a muggy swirl of dustbowl percussion – yet there’s much to be said for the multi-textured post-industrial lament, “Stasis Field” and the windblown moors of heaving bracken summoned to mind by the imperious “Claimed By Night”.</div>
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Meanwhile the artful <b>Pessimist </b>brings his ‘A’ game with the splendidly sinister “Pagans”, a sinewy slice of brittle and unnerving West country DnB-meets-darkstep that sounds like a ghost train shuddering over volcanic sleepers of bass. In the words of fellow Bristolian artists the Flatmates, it shimmers in the night / like a firefly, burning bright (shout outs to William Blake there, too). Thankfully, we managed to hit up “Pagans” on the re-press.</div>
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If anyone’s pining for further Burial remix thrills, he pops up again on (silver) 12" vinyl on the flip of <b>Goldie</b>’s “Inner City Life” 2017 redux, on Metalheadz of course. “ICL” remains a classic tune, and it’s not Goldie’s fault that if you don’t turn the volume up enough it can now seem redolent of the sound of a thousand (outer city) London coffee tables. But here the rebooted A-side feels right, starting deceptively commercially with Diane Charlemagne’s vocal flourishes before it moves on to an instrumental section that sparkles with some serious jaw-sliding drum and bass antics. </div>
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As for the Burial version, it’s as intense as his “Sweetz” collabo on the last Zomby album, with all the energy, fire and fury that he has largely eliminated from his own recent run of singles. Unlike his take on “Deep Summer”, you can also recognise it as a remix, rather than purely an opportunity for free-form creative (com)posing.</div>
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But let’s end with this latest <b>West Norwood Cassette Library</b> 12” on Sneaker Social Club, “Hardcore Librarianism”. Ah, it’s a time capsule that transports us back to the turn of our century, when D’Alma and I used to roll around SW4 in a sports car gauchely blaring out DJ Cam, Junkie XL, Teenagers In Trouble Vs. Fat Paul and an absolute barrel-load of French hip-hop (er, we were young, and the new Shinkansen releases didn’t really sound right riding Clapham High Street with the Koni air-shocks). </div>
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And I know we would have loved this EP to death, splicing “(Every Time You Touch Me) I Get Hype” with Dee-Jay Punk-Roc and “Theme To Street Knowledge” with Kid 606’s caustically lo-fi V/Vm take on its daddy, “Straight Outta Compton”. Now those days are gone, yet the cheek and joy of this record still hits the spot (see also: DMX Krew) and we’ve also discovered that it’s great music to clean out a paddling pool to, especially when the drum and bass elements get going on side B. Sample clearance, I hear you say? Mate, that's a young man's game.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-81785171691622502092017-07-28T22:49:00.000+00:002017-08-11T13:05:52.602+00:00Comrade Era: a singles round-up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Strictly vinyl this time around – if it’s not weighing down our shelves (in a slightly consterning fashion, truth be told) we don't want to know.</div>
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And as physical artefacts go, it's quite hard to top Aleja Sanchez's “Ether” 12”, courtesy of our friends in Tübingen, at Nachtstrom Schallplatten (currently hangin’ with Firestation Records and Nuclear Blast amongst our fave German labels). On gorgeous, mottled marbled vinyl that nicely frames a pseudo-classical portrait, this really looks the part - a real work of art - before you even get it anywhere near the turntable. </div>
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There’s a slight false start when proceedings begin with Headless Horseman’s merely v. good remix, but once the original appears everything’s gravy, as the queen of Colombian techno now authors a cool 8:40 (they’d have loved this one at the Ace Café) of pure precision engineering that wouldn't be out of place flanking Ryuji Takeuchi ‘s “Vital” in your DJ set. Her recent “Consequences” EP on Kindcrime is arguably even better, but we're waiting in hope for a vinyl release on that.</div>
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A more conventional patented dancefloor-botherer comes courtesy of Stockholm monster <b>Mikael Jonasson</b>, with his new transglobal EP on invariably spot-on Sydney imprint Darknet. Lead-off cut “Dissonance” is peak-time ‘new wave of techno’ done well, menacing synths adding a layer of rage in the darkness (with Austrian wizard at the controls, Niereich, then chipping in a bracing ‘Repaint’ for good meassure). The B-side, for its sins, combines “Dissidents” (high velocity acid burn with brief trance drop outs, totally ace, and a sweet jinking sidestep at 5’01 that hits like an instant sherbet rush) with the more playful “Vibrant”. Play alongside DJ Hi-Shock.</div>
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We've kept a weather eye out for Ukrainian maestro <b>Yan Cook</b> ever since he guested on ON records’ 6th anniversary comp, and “Arrival”, a sort of blurrily translucent grey vinyl 12” on his own Cooked label, is his closest brush with greatness yet, a swiftly-pulsing willo the wisp of elastic, uptempo tech-yes that would make an audition shoe-in for either of Sven Wittekind’s current labels. Meanwhile another ON alumnus, the mighty Amsterdam producer <b><a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/jeff-rushin-decline-into-wall-music.html">Jeff Rushin</a></b>, delivers a 12” artist EP on Arts Collective centred around the dancefloor ready, gently mesmeric, cut-glass sequencer mesh of “Wondering”.</div>
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In our last <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/love-has-sharpened-our-claws-our-top-10.html">year-end top 10</a>, we raved about Sweden-based producer <b>Sev Dah</b> and the two outstanding solo records with which he kicked off his own Proletarijat imprint last year. “Proletarijat 003”, you’ll be thoroughly unshocked to learn, is the third release on the label, and again it chooses to book-end two techno stompers with a more traditional/experimental piece, at the same time as telling us a piece of Yugoslav history (this time the pic sleeve features Pioneer boys and girls pledging to love their homeland, the self-managed socialist federal republic of Yugoslavia, and to <i>“spread brotherhood and unity and the principles for which comrade Tito fought” </i>- yaay).</div>
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Logically enough, "003" kicks off with “Pledge”, a tight, percussive 9-minute cling-to-the dancefloor groove; that then subsides in favour of pivot track “The Universal Mother”, which tangles mournful cello, piano and violin with vicious whipcracks of foundry-born percussion and sounds not unlike Hood or the Declining Winter to these ears (mind you, everything sounds a bit like Hood to us: Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting”, anyone?)</div>
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The highlight of the 12", however, may be “Sloga” (Serbo-Croatian for ‘unity’, as you'll know) which musically charts a course midway between the sacred isles of Rushin and Moroder, making it almost as essential as Sev’s finest tune to date, the frenziedly acidic “Marija Bursać” which so deftly adorned 001. It’s guaranteed to throng any clubland dive worth its salt, and we don’t doubt for one minute that the Pioneers would thoroughly approve.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-81753349844058032182017-07-14T12:45:00.001+00:002017-07-14T16:12:13.426+00:00Caffs, not corporations: a singles round-up<div>
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[glamorous harrow, July 2017]</i><br />
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of the times, the ever-grumpier fanzine from the country in which being allowed to change your mind is apparently undemocratic, however many people are up for it, however idiotic or tainted your original decision was, and however long ago it took place.<br />
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Ooh, anyway, a singles round-up… we haven’t had one of these for a while, have we? Back in the early 2000s, we’d fire out one a month, usually in excitable lower case, usually beginning with some extensive digression before, if you readers in your younger days were lucky, eventually getting to the 'substance'.</div>
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Anyway, we found ourselves up near Stonebridge Park the other day. Long story, involving somebody who feels the need to pilgrimage to literally every station on the London Underground. We’re increasingly realising as we accompany him how many tube stations really are in the middle of an unremarkable nowhere, all reminders of the flipside of the grand promises of Metroland. Anyway, some of you may know Stonebridge as the home of the Ace Café, the transport caff once the favoured haunt of the Rockers in the 1950s and 1960s; and as we mulled over its latest, somewhat self-conscious makeover, we remembered that tale of the café jukebox and the North Circular raceway.</div>
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The deal was this: one of the bikers would get ready, as his mates lined up a platter that mattered from the juke. As the vinyl flipped into place and the needle fell, biker boy would run out to his waiting steed and go for a spin around the block. He had to be back in the Ace by the time the single finished. If he was, he’d have officially become a Ton-Up Boy, because you couldn’t make it around the ‘raceway’ in 3 minutes without having hit 100mph on the straight. Presumably, you could cue up a 2 minute rock and roller to give your racer no chance, or try to sneak on a bluesier four-minute 45 and give him all the time in the world. In the days before radio dared play rock n’ roll, the café jukebox was the easiest place to get your fix of all the new releases, so it’s probably safe to say we’d have been the ones safely indoors, nursing a fry-up and a cuppa and trying to listen to every single record rather than risk our callow necks outside.</div>
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As we mulled over the options you might have in that scenario today (psyche out rival bikers by cueing up “Velocity Girl”, help out your mates by putting on the B-side of the 2nd Gentle Despite single), we realised that it was high time for our own high-speed singles round up, one which recognised that a decent 45 can feel like it is worth risking your life, and more importantly, your reputation for. And also one which recognised that we haven’t reviewed any singles for more than six months. (Though it’s worth emphasising that the tunes mentioned below are but the tip of an iceberg of absolutely amazing 45s in 2017 so far: next time we catch up in the street or in the pub or skulking at the back of a venue there’ll be plenty of time for us to bore you about all the others, we hope).</div>
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Inevitably, after all that build-up, the first single on our pile isn’t actually on vinyl at all, which would have confused the hell out of north London 1958. Aussie combo <b>Last Leaves</b>, apparently last seen shacked up in the Dandenongs, feature a few names you’ll know, and who have starred in bands that we’ve penned eager words on over past decades, but I think it’s probably sufficient to let their music do most of the talking. The LLs recently announced their presence via a terrific contribution to Matinée’s “Matinee Idols” v/a comp, a swashbuckling belter of an indie pop song called “Something Falls” whose urgency and plaintiveness reminded us a soupcon of Hate Week’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/hate-week-nights-by-lake-blunt-claws.html">near-flawless</a> single last year, even if it drew back from the latter’s charmingly unsculpted chaos. This second Last Leaves song to hit our ears is “The World We Had”, a single on Melbourne’s Lost & Lonesome Recording Co, and it proves their upcoming album is going to be well worth looking out for, being an aquaplaning jumble of jangling guitars and erudite musicianship that knows just how to balance the sadnesses of growing older with the joy and vitality of modern, unashamedly in-yer-face pop music.</div>
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Coming from a slightly different angle, <b>Crayola Summer</b>’s “I Know Who We Are” (on Emotional Response) is one of those random records that comes out of nowhere and instantly embeds itself as both an earworm and a mini-classic. Everything about it is just right: it’s a cherry-red flexi-disc in wraparound pic sleeve, whilst the music within basically captures 14 Iced Bears’ “chrysalis moment” when, around the time of their first s/t, they rapidly evolved from post-anorak jangletastic to sweetly psychedelic shambling semi-chaos. “I Know Who We Are” takes these reference points and runs with them, very fast: the zig-zagging post-Bears bassline is a particular treat. It could have been released any time in the last 30 years or so, in all honesty, but it was born to grace a flexi like this.</div>
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We think you all know about <b><a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/the-fireworks-switch-me-on-shelflife.html">the Fireworks</a></b> by now, one of the best new British bands of recent years. Now with new lead vocalist Beth Arzy on board, their latest 7” EP, a Shelflife / Opposite Number joint, continues to see them luxuriating in the finest indie-pop traditions: the lead tune “Dream About You” is the smoothest and most instant, if perhaps marginally less raw than their first 45s, and it’s accompanied by the pretty ace “We’ve Been Wasting Time”, a buzzing minute and a half of down-the-line pop noise that co-opts Mary Chain fuzz with early Primitives, and our own pick “Better Without You Now”, a sublime jangler that picks up where the Razorcuts-y <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/why-werent-you-special-songs-that.html">“Back To You”</a> or <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/the-fireworks-black-blue-ep-shelflife.html">“The Ghost Of You”</a> had left off. We’ve now worked out that Cherry Red will get up to doing the “C17” box set comp in about 2046, at which point it feels pretty clear that one of these will have to be on it.</div>
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Erm, we’ve had cause <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-charlie-tipper-experiment-mellow-on.html">to rep for</a> <b>the Charlie Tipper Conspiracy</b> (née Experiment) a few times over recent seasons, too. Their train-themed “Network” EP, the final instalment of a trilogy on their own Breaking Down label, sees them continue to flit between light and shade, powering into view with the driving, horn-bled toe-tapper “Cross Country”, but the clincher for us is the closing Ian Curtis tribute, a cover version of “Disorder” which takes the template Low used for “Transmission” (switch down the pace, ratchet up the tension) and does it absolutely beautifully, especially when one-man brass section “Iceman” Harry Furniss rolls up. It’s reminiscent of Tim R’s earlier work with underrated Bristol genii Kyoko, a slice of slo-fi heaven.</div>
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<b>The Jasmine Minks</b> leave a wealth of jewels in their mighty wake, a cavalcade of characterful music that we unaccountably slept on for a good couple of decades until “I Heard I Wish It Would Rain” finally convinced us to delve properly into their Creation and later back catalogue. The latest addition to their ouevre is “Ten Thousand Tears”, a 7” on Oatcake Records all proceeds of which go to <a href="http://www.mndscotland.org.uk/latest/news/scottish-band-the-jasmine-minks-raising-funds-for-mnd/">Motor Neurone Disease Scotland</a>, and it’s a solemn, wry look back at life (with a plea to make the most of it) that is really made, for us, by the combination of Tom Reid’s gorgeous vocal and its brace of beautiful guitar instrumentals.</div>
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Last of all though, we can’t let this opportunity go by without mentioning the recent <b>Burial</b> single. Cool as ever on 10” in regulation matt-black Hyperdub sleeve, “Subtemple” continues the man’s journey of confounding us all by somehow managing, year upon year, to make each new release even more fragmented and subliminal than the previous one, as he progresses towards the position where Burial’s journey from “dance music” to “not even music” will be perfect and complete. It’s also now that we realise the urgency for the human race to create a viable time machine. Not just to try and head off chumps like Trump and Farage, but because we would *love* to go back to the heyday of Ace Café armed with a copy of this, and to see the sheer confusion it would have unleashed.</div>
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stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-5154692932448285882017-06-23T11:17:00.000+00:002017-06-23T15:21:28.272+00:00But that's not dry land...<br />
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One year on, then.<br />
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Hate crime up, of course (figures vary, but recent police force figures suggest around 100%). Inflation up tenfold. Wages growth down, as prices continue to rise. Applications for the NHS from the EU nursing staff we need to keep it running: down 96%.<br />
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The Office for Budget Responsibility's estimate of the <i>direct</i> cost of leaving the EU (a mere £60bn) - and that's before you take into account all the longer term costs of a shrinking economy and lower immigration from the EU - now looks rather optimistic, as the economy continues to decline. That Eurozone economy we kept hearing about is now doing rather better than ours. <br />
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Meanwhile, the Prime Minister called an unnecessary General Election, whilst breastbeating about bleating EU bureaucrats. She asked us for a mandate for hard Brexit. She didn’t get it. She ploughs on with it anyway. Her opening offer to EU citizens: you can have less than what you have now. You can have less than the EU has already offered UK citizens abroad. This is pitiful. This affects people, friends and colleagues, who live and work here and have paid taxes here. For years. And weren't even given a vote in this. And now have to watch it all unfold, whilst telling their kids not to worry and that it will all be OK. This hurts our communities.<br />
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To hell with your "independence day". People are suffering already, and it looks like it will only get worse.stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-5483223723679207552017-06-22T23:47:00.000+00:002017-06-23T15:00:48.592+00:00The Popguns “Sugar Kisses” (Matinée Recordings) <br />
<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/prodigys-effortless-swagger">Prodigy</a> R.I.P. Another artist we’ve grown up with. So many stone cold classics.<br />
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Um, yes, we’re BACK. And you’d better believe we’re still angry about the UK’s downward spiral, the continued descent of both public discourse and the economic forecast since the collective <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/theres-no-hope-theres-just-despair.html">madness</a> of one year ago. And frankly find it hard to see past that, past a country that will ever-refuse to admit it just made a stupid mistake (<i>“</i><i>oh could a joke ever go more wrong... and </i><i>are you leaving just like that</i>”), past a government of none-of-the-talents that’s about as 'strong and stable' as Ronan Point, and on top of that we find it so hard to grab the precious moments needed to appreciate the usual luscious panoply of absurdly ace records that 2017 has already delivered from every angle, what with work commitments and family and work and wanting to sleep too and work, and did we mention the nation being a total mess? But we expect you don’t need to hear about any of that. Sorry.<br />
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Luckily, it’s not just us who are BACK. For, re-emerging from the summery swells of the south coast, come those marvellous masters and mistresses of melody, the Popguns, purveyors of <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-popguns-lovejunky-matinee.html">"Lovejunky"</a> and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/come-rain-or-shine-popguns-still.html">"Still Waiting For The Winter"</a>, with their latest outing from their 21st century label home (ladies and gentlemen: now twenty years in showbusiness, the one, the only, the evergreen and ever-elegant <a href="http://matineerecordings.com/">Matinée Recordings of Santa Barbara</a>). And that new 'guns long-player, “Sugar Kisses”, is ready to shack up with (sorry, 'snog') Eugenie & co in the Popguns section of your record collection (file between the Pop Group and Pop Threat, probably).<br />
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"Kisses" is a more muscular outing than the finely balanced textures of ‘proper’ LP number three, “Pop Fiction”: it boasts a sound more obviously rooted in the spirit of the Popguns' early records, but building on the momentum of “Pop Fiction” and the sonic diversity which that showcased. Yes, the rich tones of Wendy’s voice are still the icing on the cake: but the cake itself is made from toned and honed layers of *guitar* – fiery, vivacious, <i>alive</i>. It’s as if Simon and Wendy decided to get some of the ‘ballads’ out of the way on last year’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/bubblegum-lemonade-great-leap-backward.html">gorgeous</a> Perfect English Weather album, so laying a trail for this return of the raw.<br />
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There are still a fair few flecks of light and shade, to be sure. There’s a pouting arrogance to the title track, a sassy and brazenly commercial number with ace backing coos and a serviceable bassline that’s lip-to-lip with the dancefloor, before the verses of the debonair “We Don’t Go Round There Anymore” mark the first appearance of the Blondie-via-Brighton American accent and phrasing that rears its head on a few tracks. Disconcerting as that is (since when was an offy a “liquor store”, this side of the Atlantic?) don’t let it distract you from the song, not least the killer chorus that eagerly trampolenes off the down-and-dirty verse.<br />
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Next come the brace of “So Long” – the preview single, albeit a single limited in physical form to a measly twenty copies – and “A Beaten Up Guitar”, and again these tunes are much more accelerator than brake, all heady swirls of thrilling fuzzfade POP. Only the gentle caress of “Out On The Highline” sees the pace drop; that reassuring lull in tempo you often get as half-time approaches.<br />
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On side two of the vinyl (that this <i>should</i> be on), and positively *launching<i>* </i>itself out of the blocks, is “A Dream Of Her Own”, one hell of a treat and a song which in a just universe would be the biggest of several hit singles on display. The cascading chorus really is a dream, and the guitars simply crackle with effervescent glee.<br />
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And then, after the brief respite of “The Outsider”, all seductive shimmer and slow waltz, come a rip-roaring trio of guitar-driven power pop janglers which provide as strong a finish as we’ve heard to any album in recent years: “Gene Machine”, “Fire Away” (perhaps the song which most faithfully mirrors their 80s/90s stompers, with bonus extra shouting in the background - well, it is set in a pub) and the knowing, somewhat triumphant playout “Finished With The Past”. MORE FIRE. There are fragments of these songs that could have come from the Wedding Present’s vast armoury, and I only hope that you lot have been reading this blog long enough to know that comparison, coming from us, is oceans away from damning with faint praise.<br />
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We did genuinely reckon that “Pop Fiction” was the best Popguns album yet, but we’re now having to revise that opinion: we now have a new ‘go to’ pop record, probably the best 'indie' album of 2017 so far. A winner by miles: Theresa, <i>this</i> is what a landslide looks like.stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-80004656110024973532016-12-31T23:50:00.000+00:002016-12-31T23:50:00.152+00:00Love Has Sharpened Our Claws: our top 10 singles of 2016<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdDOQoGUIyCzSqdHLmkfvQPFlOV_VujHLyD5BXGJyJNjfUzNp8EhAPiXEHo7AkaDFP45lErG0fadzx9l776GeS34XedQwIB5_8DKM9KogCn7T2zSNKpZzBfsBc7YVq0ajLlsCeKg/s320/IMG_0563+%25281%2529.JPG" /><br />
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<b><i>Prince Street Bridge, Bristol, December 2016</i></b><br />
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Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine of the metropolitan liberal elite, apparently, and a citizen of nowhere to boot.<br />
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Yes, it’s been quite a year, one in which even the brutal murder of a pro-Remain, pro-refugee rights MP by a man basically shouting pro-Leave slogans, hours after the Leave camp unveiled an heart-sinkingly shameless anti-refugee poster, could not dent the UK’s collective enthusiasm to vote for them. That crime felt, deplorably, like the defining moment of the whole campaign, a campaign which would have been depressing enough, to be clear, whatever the outcome of the vote.<br />
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And a campaign effortlessly symbolised by the despicable Nigel Farage, a man who stoked things up, stirred things up and then just walked away as the hate crimes rose, as if butter wouldn’t melt. That... that <i>piece of work </i>must never think, any more than Gove, Johnson or their Labour lackey Gisela Stuart, that his role in this will be forgotten or forgiven. That’s even before we get to the people now overseeing this farrago, like disgraced ex-minister “Dr” Fox, a man so unpopular that fewer than 1 in 20 of his own parliamentary party could stomach voting for him in the Tory leadership election.</div>
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As we feared, essentially the referendum amounted to a coup, and we have a government not far short of a UKIP one. And the leaflets we all got through our doors that told us the NHS would be transformed, or that Turkey would join the EU, were admitted to be worthless pretty much instantly by those that authored them. (We love the way it’s now apparently “unsporting” even to mention the ‘£350m a week extra for the NHS’, or any of the other fabrications). We also had the wholly unedifying spectacle, in a campaign in which immigration became a key issue, of both Remain and Leave basically conceding that immigration was a negative thing, with nobody prepared to (competently) challenge that assumption.<br />
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Argh. We <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/nitsuh-ebb-some-bloke-mumbled-to-us.html">lamented the infelicities of language</a> in our dispatches from the frontline during the last “twee wars” (many fell; knees were grazed). And now - post-referendum - we are officially through the bloody looking-glass, scrabbling around in a world decimated of common sense in which descriptors like 'competent' and 'coherent' are translated via alt-right Newspeak into cyphers of the ‘elite’, making incompetence and incoherence positive strategic assets: if your opponents dare to point out their existence, this is merely evidence of the establishment conspiracy that burns against you. Those leaders whose heads are uncluttered by the luxuries of critical thinking offer a fresh start, a new way: not for them the bourgeois restraints of evidence-based research or empiricism. Self-styled mavericks all, they revel in their rejection of all that is difficult or complex or nuanced, and glory in the binary narrative that follows one of the most divisive political events in British history, one of the most collectively irrational decisions ever made by a developed country in peacetime.<br />
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And so... we reap the harvest of years of undervaluing, even ridiculing, education, and creating a world in which expertise is now viewed even by leading Cabinet figures as proof of bias, an unwelcome attempt to undermine gut instinct, anecdote and rumour as they reverberate around the echo-chamber of “<i>send now, think later</i>” social media. A new, moneyed Right is emboldened: as we write, its press battalions target overseas aid and the right to strike. The rump Lib Dems, whose new leader’s first act was to vote to bomb Raqqa, are nowhere. The Labour Party, meanwhile, is fatally ruptured, caught between the poles of what working people want, and what Labour thinks - rightly or wrongly - that working people need.<br />
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I suspect that quoting the Financial Times is a first for this blog, but they were pretty much spot on back in June:<i> “The country is going to be meaner and poorer… the UK has chosen a largely illusory autonomy over EU membership. That has consequences. It will have to accept this grim reality and move as quickly as it can to whatever the future holds.”</i></div>
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So with all this mendacious tosh going on, why does music still matter so much? It’s not just to soothe, nor to reflect our anger (though of course it can do both): it’s to INSPIRE. If you were in any doubt, watch the best documentary of the year, Rodney P’s 90-minute BBC4 tour through the history of hip-hop. And watch the moment when our Rodney, overcome by the emotion of standing in Chuck D’s old gaff, breaks down in tears of sheer <i>happiness</i> as he remembers how - when he was a young man - another young man, from across the Atlantic, helped to change his life forever. For the better. Just through the power of record-making. And we feel that way about so many artists, and labels, not just from our youth, but RIGHT NOW. Artists that make us smile, or dance, or sing along, and who collectively can change the shape of the present.</div>
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Ooh - actually, there were a couple of other things we liked about the documentary, albeit less profound than the lesson just, erm, endeth-ed.<br />
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One was when Rodney asked a few talking heads to name the greatest MC of all time. A couple of people proffered Jay-Z, a worryingly “post-truth” answer which caused me to panic a bit and begin to doubt the veracity of the whole enterprise, but just as I was about to give the off switch an uppercut in disgust, a whole sea of eminent punters popped up just in time and all made it satisfyingly clear that the correct answer is of course Rakim, a man whose shoelaces Jay-Z remains unfit to tie. Even <a href="http://kisschase2.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/gang-starr-one-of-best-yet.html">Gang Starr</a>'s DJ Premier had no doubts about that one, and he’s worked with a few of the greats, hasn’t he?<br />
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Plus, the programme reminded us that a <u>direct</u> inspiration for many of hip-hop’s greatest DJs - and this came, unprompted, from the lips of Premo himself, but from others too - was one Malcolm McLaren, via “Buffalo Gals”. That’s a fact that probably is isn’t dwelt on enough.</div>
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Right. Enough reminiscence. Back into the motherjumbling singles fray. For the final time this year, you’ll be pleased to see. This one is going out to Gina Miller, frankly a British hero, for all the flak that she has unjustly attracted from - putting it more politely than we could have chosen to - fucking idiots. And to the memory of Colonel Abrams. Peace.<br />
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<b>1. Jeff Rushin “Decline Into” EP (Wall Music)</b></div>
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Dutch master builds Wall (not dyke) to new heights with silky-smooth suite on twelve. He’s the sultan of subtle on “Decline Into Chaos”, which would be enough on its own with its echoes of the gossamer brilliance of Michael Schwarz’s <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/hilary-benn-shame-on-you-singles-of-2015.html">“She Doesn’t Ask For”</a>; but in fact the whole shebang is something of a masterclass, still perhaps peaking with the riches of “Decline Into Shadows”. More on that story <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/jeff-rushin-decline-into-wall-music.html">here</a>.</div>
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<b>2. Hate Week “Nights By The Lake” / “Blunt Claws” (Where It’s At Is Where You Are)</b></div>
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There are few bands that ever made me feel as alive as the Faintest Ideas did, but their successors Hate Week have a damn good go here, with two of the most glitteringly essential tunes of the year (the third tune is merely very, very good). The fullness of our joy on first traversing this one should be readily apparent <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/hate-week-nights-by-lake-blunt-claws.html">right here</a>. NB - as it came up in a chucking-out time conversation - that the boys are probably not to be confused with <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/why-werent-you-special-songs-that.html">Hatebeak</a>, much as we have a certain weakness for that combo too.</div>
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<b>3. Close Lobsters “Desire & Signs EP” (Shelflife)</b></div>
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Scottish Electric lightning strikes twice, as the fabulous five follow “Now Time” with this simply delicious <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/close-lobsters-desire-signs-ep-shelflife.html">tribute of sorts to London and its spirit of resistance</a>, a song which also shines with their memories of walking the city’s streets in their 20s. I was in my 20s once, treading the same streets. I even still remember those times and feelings, and “desire and signs” is dead right. Nobody has ever made lyrics like <i>“it was alright / it was all fine” </i>sound as magical as Andrew Burnett does here.</div>
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<b>4. DJ Cable featuring Ghostly “In ‘Ere” (Triangulum)</b></div>
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I know I’m getting old. The other day I overheard myself saying “thank you” to a pair of automatic doors. And I’ve started to thank the bus driver when I get off, too. But it’s not all new politenesses - don’t get me started on all the people who keep pressing the bell even when it’s beyond obvious that the bus is already stopping. Indeed, I’m amassing bêtes noires daily, such as recaps and trailers in TV series; people calling a TV series a “season”; and fixture boards outside pubs (or, indeed, posters in bookies’ windows) which put the <i>AWAY TEAM FIRST</i>.</div>
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And yet, despite all this, sometimes a song can squirrel the passing years away, and make me feel fresh and new with the sheer joy of not having to PRETEND I love this new song by a young person, but actually just realising that it’s the bomb, and that I am still capable of these moments of discovery that once seemed two a penny. “In’ Ere” (a bit more <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/dj-cable-featuring-ghostly-in-ere.html">in 'ere</a>) thrillingly harnesses the pure grime bounce of west Lon’s Ghostly as he and Cable deliver the top English single of 2016.</div>
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<b>5. Hood “British Radars” (Acuarela)</b></div>
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BRITISH radars, OK? None of your foreign tat. TAKE BACK CONTROL. (Sorry, can't help it sometimes).<br />
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This feral, some-fi, absolute gem is the highest-placed time capsule this year: recorded in 1994 and released in 2016, thus taking even longer from recording to release than that second MC Tunes album. None of that stops it being a <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/hard-love-in-country-hood-british.html">gorgeously chaotic slab of indieness</a> which made a very direct bee-line to our collective hearts.</div>
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<b>6. The Fireworks “The Ghost Of You” (Shelflife)</b></div>
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At some point we are going to opine more forcefully about the merits of charging £15 for a single, but now is not the time, because the timeless post-Razors jangle of this song kills us, in a good way (and <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/the-fireworks-black-blue-ep-shelflife.html">the whole 10”</a>, “Black & Blue” is further proof of the Fireworks’ skyward ascent). The EP also marked Emma’s swansong as a Firework, but if they’re even half as great with Beth instead, we’ll still all be in clover. Emma departs with the consolation of now having starred in not just one, but two of England’s toppermost 21st century pop combos.</div>
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<b>7. Nothing Clean / Ona Snop split (Gronk! Records / Repulsive Medias / Vleesklak Records / Samizdat Records)</b></div>
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‘Kinell. Again. Tremendous, crushing, properly <i>fulminating</i> hardcore played at grindcore pace, with excoriating lyrics. Despite ranging “only” 8 tracks over one side of 45rpm vinyl this time around, the sheer aggression of this third 7” of theirs sees them land somewhere between Coke Bust, Wormrot and Narcosis, leaving a crater roughly the size of Walthamstow. In fact, it hit us so hard that we were too shellshocked to give it its own capsule review: the aggression is perfectly fitting in songs like “Questions Asked”, which target our destruction of the natural world. And Leicester music hasn’t excited us this much since the halcyon days of Street Ferapy.</div>
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<b>8. Sev Dah “Proletarijat 001” (Proletarijat)</b></div>
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<i>“Your only daughter, dear mother of mine, I leave you, to carry a carbine”</i></div>
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This spellbinding 12” from Sweden-based Bosnian Sev Dah, a tribute to women who have fought for freedom from tyranny, has pretty much got it all. Track one: ambient tech-electronica as the ‘helicopter’ bit from “Something For The Longing” gets spliced with traditional Balkan folk tunes. Track two: sleekly artful minimalist techno, inspired by the resistance movement but ripe for beckoning us oldies from our armchairs onto the dancefloor. Track three: eight exceptional minutes of pure, driving Scandinavian acid-techno heaven bearing the name of Yugoslav partisan Marija Bursać, who died aged 23 from wounds suffered after attacking a Nazi base with hand grenades. Yup, this is not the sort of record you trip across every day. More’s the pity.</div>
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<b>9. Sev Dah “Proletarijat 002” (Proletarijat)</b></div>
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That man Sev Dah again, and he seeks to tell a story with this EP too, ambitious in itself when you’re largely dealing in the currency of top-class, pumping European techno. This time, the theme revolves around the Stakhanovite endeavour of coal miner Alija Sirotanović and the udarniks - <i>"Working and be able to live from our work”</i> - with the EP dedicated to the working class and struggle for a more equal system. Aside from Amir Razanica, perhaps, it’s interesting (and a little sad) that there isn’t more of this in dance music circles: notable, I guess, that it’s producers of Yugoslav heritage that seem to be pushing the envelope.</div>
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Anyway, on this EP both “Ustanak” and “152” pulse with more than serviceable Aiken/Rushin-ish techno thrills (the latter is likely to be the only dancefloor-friendly tune in history named after the number of tonnes of coal that an udarnik’s team mined in a single shift) but the highlight is the stunning, strictly zero bpm “Fallen Comrades”, which turns the howls of anguish of the bereaved into a heart-rending, spine-tingling, frankly harrowing post-classical piece. If you turn it up, “Fallen Comrades” basically makes Diamanda Galas sound like Black Lace. Quite, quite exceptional.</div>
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<b>10. Burial “Young Death” (Hyperdub)</b></div>
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One our favourite Advent traditions, this, as <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/burial-truant-rough-sleeper-aka-onetwo.html">Burial</a> sneaks out his annual 12” on Kode9’s Hyperdub in a bid to miss every year-end list except this one. Interesting that of all the celebrity deaths of 2016 Burial was most touched by that of Sir Jimmy Young: this single is an affecting tribute from one music guru to another.</div>
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In all seriousness, “Young Death” is powerful stuff: mostly ambient, there’s hardly a hint of dance music here. Instead, it’s as if the samples, shuffles and stutter that used to overlay his sarf London nightbus soundtracks have been thrown together instead as the main attraction, daring you to moan (as many are) that Burial isn’t as good as he used to be. The thing is, we think he might be: never has a record sounded so soulful and so utterly desiccated at the same time. And that’s even before we get on to the synth-jinking “Nightmarket” on the other side, which also toys with textures so delicate that they often disintegrate completely for several seconds at a time.<br />
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<b>10A. Helen McCookerybook and Charlie Tipper "Femme Fatale" (Breaking Down)</b><br />
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Now. Radical times call for radical measures. And if we can't have an eleven-song top ten in 2016, when can we?<br />
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There's also a perfectly legit reason for allowing this particular late runner to slot into the listings, because it only fell into our clutches in the hours before Xmas. As you'll surmise, it sees Bristol stalwarts <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-charlie-tipper-experiment-mellow-on.html">Charlie Tipper</a> sharing a studio with ex-Chef and Skat vocalist Helen McC, as they re-create the VU song covered by Skat back at the start of the 80s, this time to raise money for <a href="http://www.refugee-action.org.uk/">Refugee Action</a>. And to our slight surprise - not as a rule being fans of the Velvets or of the general quality of charity or Christmas singles - we found ourselves totally overtaken by the beauty of this.<br />
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Atop of Helen McCookerybook's soothing, lilting, hints-of-wild (Pam) Berry flow, Tim Rippington's mob keep the guitars low-burning, yet interlace proceedings with arcing Wareham-esque guitar lines; but the clincher is the song's use of samples of various politicos pontificating, intercut with news reports on some of the many lows that 2016 brought for those trapped by war and those trying to escape it to a West now frightened of its own shadow. In every sense - a moving song, a sombre summary of the year, a vital cause - this is something we'd urge you <a href="https://thecharlietipperexperiment.bandcamp.com/album/femme-fatale-with-helen-mccookerybook-christmas-2016">to buy</a>.<br />
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And now - we must rest. Please have a splendid, and safe, 2017.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-84269138988369015282016-12-30T23:04:00.000+00:002016-12-30T23:04:01.953+00:00Singles of the year: 11-20<br />
Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine that prefers Lion Youth to Sonic Youth, Tender Trap to Temper Trap and Sven Wittekind to Sven Vath.<br />
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<b>11. Mønic “Four Sides Of Truth” (Tresor)</b><br />
<b>12. Simon Shreeve “Lust Product” (Downwards)</b><br />
<b>13. Simon Shreeve “Healing Bowl” (Downwards)</b><br />
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It’s achingly hard to separate out these three records (all by the same bloke, btw), but to be honest there’s no need to because they all deserve unstinting acclaim. The song “Four Sides Of Truth”, a poised and stealthy aggregation of subtle percussive pulses, is so beautifully clinical and controlled that you only notice just how eerie it is on the 18th or so listen.<br />
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The five tracks on “Healing Bowl” make it the most consistent of the three records, <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/simon-shreeve-healing-bowl-downwards.html">a glorious all-round slam dunk of an EP</a> from the title track’s skittering wiles to the bliss-out fug of “One Thousand And One”. Whilst the title tune of “Lust Product” is peerless, spellbinding slate-sky techstep somewhere between “Cloud Seed” and New Order’s “Movement”, a happily cascading blend of industrial cadences and emotional resonances. It makes us think of Joy Division more than any techstep track has ever done, or even has the right to. And both own-name EPs from x-Kryptic Mindster Mr Shreeve are of course part of a wider, all-out assault on all discerning year-ends by Karl Connor’s Downwards label this year.<br />
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<b>14. Milky Wimpshake “Interior/Exterior” (Tuff Enuff)</b><br />
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Blinding punk-pop power from the north-east, via ace Brighton queercore label. On 7”. This tune may technically be the B-side, but it’s pretty much the perfect two-minute punk/pop song. Mind you, “Velvet Pants” on the ‘A’ continues to ROCK HARD, just like it did when the postman <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/milky-wimpshake-velvet-pants.html">first fed it through our letterbox</a>.<br />
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<b>15. Terror Danjah featuring Jamakabi "Juicy Patty" (Keysound)</b><br />
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Fearsomely fine 12” from Dusk & Blackdown’s roster which starts with Jamakabi taking a dodgem ride around Terror Danjah’s rinky-dink ice-cold riddim before Logos delivers a heaving, E-number packed remix which rips the joint apart, a little reminiscent of how Mumdance turned Novelist’s “1 Sec” into such a compelling proposition.<br />
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<b>16. Cortechs “Atropine” (Sick Weird Rough)</b><br />
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Chunky and satisfying yet with a touch of class, “Atropine” is the Cadbury’s Ripple of contemporary electronic musicking – a delectable, alchemical chemical marvel, not inimical to an empirical miracle. “Tropane”, its equally urbane ether-B side, was no slouch either. We’ll stick our necks out and say that this was probably Cortechs’ best single to date, as well as SWR’s pick of ’16.<br />
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<b>17. Mike Wall “If Only I Could” / “Inkognito” (Wall Music)</b><br />
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The label boss leads by example with this elegant 12” of two originals and two remixes: Mike’s “If Only I Could” is a pristine slice of superslick trilling techno, co-opting Frenkie V-style messaround glissando, but it’s Michael Schwarz’s relentless remix of “Inkognito” that really raises (the stakes) and razes (all else around it to the ground).<br />
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<b>18. Tangible Excitement! “Effectively Wild” (Emotional Response)</b><br />
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This is, of course, one of four (count ‘em) TE! Outings on their feisty <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/sven-wittekind-reflection-sick-weird.html">split 12”</a> with the also-ace Ginnels, but we still reckon “Effectively Wild” is TE!’s best song, much as we know that others bear torches instead for “Northland Food Court” or “Muddled Whine” (actually, let’s face it, there’s a veritable army of torchbearers for “Muddled Whine”, and they’re probably coming round our place right now to set light to it).<br />
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<b>19. JK Flesh “Nothing Is Free” (Downwards)</b><br />
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‘Kinell. The bassline on this towering second-city titan is absolutely shredding, as heavy as anything you’d expect to find on a Godflesh record. That would be enough, but there are other treats in store, for Surgeon then pops up with an astonishingly ace remix (ace despite removing said bassline pretty much entirely), in the process becoming one of the few producers to have remixed one ex-Napalm Death member (Broadrick) and to have been remixed by another (Mick Harris).<br />
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Which not only proves what good company Surgeon mixes with, but reinforces just h<a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/lucid-fairytale-fourth-defiant-decade.html">ow important Napalm Death are</a> to the history of basically *all* good music.<br />
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<b>20. Corvum “Serpentine” (Darknet)</b><br />
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Splash! Here at ilwtt,isott mansions we adore the Serpentine, not least in pedalo season.<br />
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Now. As the Finnish grindcore scene amply demonstrates, there’s plenty to be said for classically-trained musicians dipping their toes in the fast-flowing waters of more modern genres. And so it is that Greece’s Corvum, who can get a bit avant and over-ambitious on his more epic EPs, delivers this moodily outstanding single for Sydney’s resurgent Darknet label, loosely in the vein of those excellent Gal Tsadok-Hai and Enzinger/Hora platters that louchely hung out in our 2015 <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/hilary-benn-shame-on-you-singles-of-2015.html">top ten</a> last year.<br />
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According to our abacus, Corvum managed to release no fewer than 13 singles in 2016 (Gedge, eat your heart out) which, given the sheer amount of stuff going on in just this one track, would rather suggest the man doesn’t sleep at all.stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853516.post-1635049748187130372016-12-29T13:41:00.000+00:002016-12-29T13:41:02.783+00:00Singles of the year: 21-30<br />
Welcome back to in love with these times, in spite of these times, the fanzine which prefers all our favourite bands to all your favourite bands (though to be clear, we’re always willing to be persuaded otherwise and pore through your own top 100 singles of the year lists…)<br />
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<b>21. Lamont ft. Grim Sickers & Nico Lindsay “Missed Calls” (Keysound)<br />22. The Charlie Tipper Conspiracy “The Clock On The Wall EP” (Breaking Down)<br />23. The Charlie Tipper Conspiracy “Shutters Down EP” (Breaking Down)</b></div>
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The side of the cargo ship-turned cabaret ship Thekla was a murky canvas for Banksy’s Grim Reaper, but an apposite metaphor for Bristol art: creative, but grimy and slightly underwater. <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/lamont-featuring-grim-sickers-and-nico.html">“Missed Calls”</a>, a fine themed 12” from Lamont is similarly somehow bright and murky in turn, its pristine beats and drops refracted through the dirt of canal water or the muddy Avon at low tide. </div>
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Fellow Bristolians the CTC have a slightly different approach to the thematic schizophrenia of their city: they tend to corral fine tunes with downbeat lyrics, but <i>charmant</i> horn-led lead song here “Let That Feeling Go” is actually rather cheering all round, a nice counterpoint to last year’s resplendently doleful <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/niereich-democratic-system-fail.html">“You Made Me Homeless”</a>. The last 30 seconds, as Forest Giants influences casually intrude to join the party, are quite possibly my fave half-minute of music of the whole year.</div>
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The “Shutters Down” EP, which hit around Halloween, reinforces the CTC’s credentials: “Drowning” is outstanding, an air-raid siren heralding a nicely clattering verse with staccato horns which unpeels into a catchy chorus and some tremendously lithe guitar lines. And “No Going Back” is not far behind, with more wonderful guitar breaks that, together with a shimmering organ sound, recall the sun-dappling glow of the Sea Urchins or Tramway. ROVERRRRZ.</div>
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<b>24. Zomby ft. Burial “Sweetz” (Hyperdub)</b></div>
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You don’t often get singles that are so bleak, so uncompromising, so frankly wtf? as this one-sided 10” collabo – oddly enough, the 45 it most reminds us of is Television Personalities’ “All The Young Children On Crack” <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2007/01/singles-of-year-2006-i-know-like-buses.html">(#2, 2006)</a>, which pretty much dealt with the same subject matter.<br />
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Some of you reading this will regard Zomby & Burial as a bit obvious or ‘mainstream’, but all we’d say is that if a record like this can be considered in any way mainstream, then things have to be looking up. Mind you, this another example of a one-sided record that costs at least as much as a two-sided one… as always, only Sarah knew the real score, which is that the only truly acceptable one-sided disc is a FLEXI.</div>
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<b>25. Aiken “Inductive” (Timeline)</b></div>
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Four excellent tracks on this artist EP from Spanish producer Aiken (Joan? Drum? Roy?), all of which merit repeat play. “Inductive”, perhaps the most minimalist, combines the casual shimmer of early Spiros Kaloumenos sorties with the clipped electrical pulses of Aiken’s compatriot Oscar Mulero. The seriously ace “Curfew” ups the ante further, co-opting a glitzy acid house line: both tracks making a pitch to snuggle up alongside DJ Hi-Shock’s “The Travelers” in your favourite DJ’s next live set.<br />
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On the other side of the vinyl, “Distant System” ripples with the reflective pulse of chilled-out D&B comedowns before “Sanity” belies its title and sees Aiken toy with a little more acid (slight return). The 12” comes coquettishly clad in v. stylish artwork by Kike Besada, which is quite a coup given <i>his</i> client list.</div>
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<b>26. Obituary “Loathe” (Relapse)</b></div>
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Mmmmmm. Six MIGHTY minutes of <i>textbook</i> Floridian death metal to trail Obituary’s “Ten Thousand Ways To Die” live comp: “Loathe” is glorious sludge-chug-sludge-chug-mosh, with riffs hewn out of granite: it may be utterly devoid of originality, but it sounds not unlike a stretched-out version of “Inked In Blood” and as such we could simper and swoon and listen to it from dawn to nightfall.<br />
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Obituary are like the Lucksmiths (no, bear with us) in that if you like one of their songs, you’re basically going to like all of them. Also, Malcolm Eden’s late period ‘helium chipmunk’ style aside, has there ever been a more distinctive male vocal than John Tardy’s genre-defining growl?</div>
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<b>27. Jeff Rushin “Obsolete” (Mote Evolver)</b></div>
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One of two absolute pearlers from Mr Rushin on the AA of Mote Evolver’s “Parallel Series 5” 12”: it’s fair to say that its chaperone “Solex” is no slouch, nor the A-side brace from super Swede Sev Dah (of whom more later, perhaps), but “Obsolete” blasts them all out of the North Sea with its slam-dunk synth stylings, despite a slightly disconcerting oompah rhythm.</div>
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<b>28. Dexplicit ft. Chip, Durrty Goodz, Swiss, Black The Ripper, Flowdan & Rocks FOE “Link Up Season” (DXP Music)</b></div>
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There was a Brum-repping take on this club monster too, but this was the original London versh and it’s Dex’s old-skool flavoured triumph: a non-stop, no holds-barred maximum-entertainment nod to his role in early-‘00s white label smashes like “Pow!”, “Forwards” and “Backwards” that also generated some tidily sprightly performances out of an already decent-looking array of guest MCs.</div>
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<b>29. Durrty Goodz "BMP" / “Organise” (TruThoughts)</b></div>
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Some artists can effortlessly evolve from one genre to another, as we saw from Foreign Beggars earlier on, but it's not often you get an artist single with two new songs split across two completely different styles. “Organise” was a laid-back introduction to the ‘new’ DG and his conscious hip-hop “Not Been Televised” set, while “BMP” was a taster for his “Hungry Belly” album, a febrile demonstration that the man still slays all things grime, and can flow like nobody else over giddily helter-skelter beats.</div>
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<b>30. Nothing Clean / Higgs Boson split (MMXVI FHED Records / Glass To The Face Records / Samizdat Records / SuperFi Records)</b></div>
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NC’s first split 7” of the year, which thrilled us suitably <a href="http://kisschase.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/nothing-clean-split-7-with-higgs-boson.html">at the time</a>, not least for being on four labels again. But will it be their only entry in the 2016 singles of the year countdown? Ooh, the tension: you’ll just have to hold on tight, wait and find out.</div>
stricken office workerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263745461860167155noreply@blogger.com0