Wednesday 31 August 2016

Get Some



Lykke Li  is also from Sweden (Ystad where Wallander is set)) but didn't figure in my list of bands artists I used to quiz Klaus and his workmates about. There is more than a whiff of the Dixie Cups or the Strangeloves about Get Some, that's probably the reason that I like it so much. Wounded Rhymes is not a bad album it is just that this single is head and shoulders better than anything else on it.

Lykki Li - Get Some


Tuesday 30 August 2016

Radio Dept



From about 2003 to 2008 I had to travel to Sweden quite often with work which apart from the flying and the price of a pint was quite agreeable, I like the Swedes, quite laid back, nothing seems to phase them and they have a great knack for mediation, especially when some French Study leader is going mental telling them things can't be done like that and if they insist on doing it that way then they (The French team) will pull out. I know that this is a sweeping generalisation and playing to national stereotypes but I speak as I find and I have yet to meet any who go into meltdown at the prospect of an unrealistic deadline or an impossible protocol.

Anyway, my frequent trips to sometimes Gothenburg but mostly Lund coincided with what appeared to me to be a Swedish bid for world domination of Indie music. You couldn't swing a stick in indie circles without hitting another cracking single from the likes of Sambassadeur, The Acid Kings, The Concretes etc. One of my favourites was a band called The Radio Dept. As this band was from Lund and was named after a local petrol station come radio repair shop I thought that I could discuss them with my colleague Klaus when I was over next as he looked like an indie kid, well, come to think of it most of the workforce under 40 looked like your typical indie band follower, But when I mentioned then, he didn't have a clue who I was talking about and I knew that it wasn't my English he had trouble with as we could discuss the merits of certain EDC edit checks and clean file procedures all day long, it was just that he and everybody else I talked to had no idea how much esteem their indie bands were held in in the UK. He was quite pleased and rather surprised that I did not give a jot about Abba.

Here is the first single that I heard from the band and which made me seek out more and if you like this I would suggest starting with the debut album Lesser Matters.

The Radio Dept. - Where Damage Isn't Already Done

Monday 29 August 2016

Seven Days Is Too Long



It's the August Bank Holiday down south today, one which my company since the closure of the office in Edinburgh makes me adhere to. Which although I take exception to having to fall in line with my southern colleagues I do secretly quite like as the boys are at school and L is at work meaning I have the day to myself. Today it will consist of getting some more miles clocked up on the scooter.  This weekend sees the largest of the UK scooter rallies at the Ilse of White and also the Brighton Mod Weekender, So in honour of both of these toady's track from 1967 is one that was huge on the scooter scene in the mid to late 80s and was covered by Dexy's Midnight Runners on the classic first album.

Chuck Wood - Seven Days Is Too Long

Friday 26 August 2016

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



I read somewhere recently that the 16th of next month sees the 20th Anniversary of the release of Better Living Through Chemistry, Fatboy Slim's debut album. I know that it's a cliche on reading such things to state that it makes you feel old and you don't know what happened to the time but the truth is it does and I don't. I remember buying this album from Fopp on Byres Road and flogging it to death at volume for quite a while, although at least three of the tracks were familiar to me having been released either as singles or on the first Brassic Beats compilation. It sounds slightly dated now but is still great fun. I've posted The Sound of Milwaukee before, however it appears that I haven't ripped the whole album, only that,  Everybody Needs a 303, Song For Lindy and 10th and Crenshaw, I was sure that the whole thing had been done a while ago, possible after the last time I did a Fatboy or Big Beat post but obviously not. It will be rectified by the end of the weekend but for now you will have to be happy with a repeat.

This weekend as there is no home game I am going to try and get more miles on the scooter so I can hopefully open it up before the snow starts.

Have a good weekend people.

Fatboy Slim - The Sound of Milwaukee

and as a bonus, here is a belter of a track that wasn't on the album (in the UK anyway) but the b-side of the Going Out Of My Head 12".

Fatboy Slim - Next To Nothing


Thursday 25 August 2016

FSOL Excursions - My Kingdom



My Kingdom is the third and final instalment in this short series and for me this is the best of the three, an absolute classic. It is a lot darker than the other two tracks, the album that it comes from Dead Cities, is a quite disturbing vision of a dystopian future. This maybe ambient Jim but not as we've known it. My Kingdom always makes me think of the Samye Ling Budhist temple in Eskdalemuir as it contains a sample from Ozric Tentacles whom I first heard and heard of from Maurice the monk on one of the occasion we went to visit him there. There are other recognisable samples in the track taken from the soundtracks of Once Upon A Time In America and Bladerunner which add the cinematic feel to the track.  I have a vague recollection to seeing a video late one night on MTV for this track but there is a distinct possibility that I have made that up or dreamt it after one too many smokes on the post club comedown somewhere as when I searched you tube there is a rather good video for the single version but not the whole thing and I was sure the one I watched was a lot longer than that.. Anyway, the track is well worth twenty seven minutes of your time as is the Dead Cities album.

The Future Sound of London - My Kingdom


Wednesday 24 August 2016

The Lucid Dream



A few weeks ago I stumbled upon what I thought was a new band, The Lucid Dream, I heard this track Bad Texan and decided to investigate further, it turns out that the band that hail from Carlisle, Cumbria have been on the go since 2008 and have already released two albums which have earned them high praise and critical acclaim and a string of 7" singles (finger on the pulse as ever. They have already caught the attention of Huw Stephens at Radio 1 and most of the 6Music Djs. The music is sort of psych/spacerock with some shoegaze throwing in for good measure. The kind of stuff that Walter has noted last Friday seems to be the emerging sound for bands at the moment. I can hear a bit of Spacemen3/Spiritualized in the sound which is never a bad thing. Bad Texan is the lead track of 3 on an ep released earlier this year which is backed by two very good expansive 6Music session tracks and is worth seeking out and their third album, Compulsion Songs is due on the 23rd of next month. They are also on tour in the UK in September /October.  A band worth a watching I think.

Not for download as the single is still available. But if you like what you here the last lp amongst other releases can be purchased here

The Lucid Dream - Bad Texan

Tuesday 23 August 2016

That Summer Feeling



Summer is nearly done and dusted and I haven't posted this. I was picking the wee one up from Beavers last night and while I was was waiting in the car and listening to Quincy Jones being interviewed on Radio 4's Front Row the lyrics "that summer feeling's gonna haunt you the rest of your life" popped up in my head. So when I got back home I dug out the single and stuck it on and for the rest of the evening I was pure filled with melancholy, man!

Jonathan Richman - That Summer Feeling

Monday 22 August 2016

Major Lance



Last week I mentioned Major Lance in relation to the Artistics. Here is probably his best loved track within the northern fraternity . You Don't Want Me No More was released on Okeh records in 1967 and bombed badly precipitating the Major's move from the label to Curtom records. But somebody obviously liked it as it was reissued in 1972. I read somewhere that this track became popular initially at the Blackpool Mecca. I don't think that Major Lance played the Mecca but he did play the Golden Torch in 1972.

Major Lance - You Don't Want Me No More

Friday 19 August 2016

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



Back to 1994 for today's slice of dance music, although I could have sworn that the record this is from was released a couple of years earlier but my mind isn't what it once was. I never got into the Stereo MC's enough to buy an album and only really bought the singles for the remixes by the likes of Slam, Leftfield, FSOL and of course Mr Weatherall, so don't really know if they could sustain interest for 40 odd minutes but I suspect not. I have already posted the two epic Weatherall dubs, Everything Grooves pts 1 & 2 from this 12" double pack but not his Sabres on Main Street mix where as you would suspect from the name he is ably assisted by Jagz Kooner and Gary. On this, I think that the whole vocal from the original has been left in but don't quote me on that as the only other version on this 12" is the instrumental original. The vocal is alright but I think that that would be the reason that I would lose interest over a  a whole album as for me it is far too similar to Step It Up and Connected but as I hadn't heard either of those for years, Everything sounded pretty good to me last night.

Tomorrow will be my first home game of the season, when Airdrie take on Stranraer and I am looking forward to it despite the 4-2 defeat last week.

Have a good weekend people.

Stereo Mcs - Everything (Sabres On Main Street mix)

Thursday 18 August 2016

FSOL Further Excursions



Today's FSOL excursion, is epic in nature and length, clocking in at just under 39 mins with all matter of samples, snippets of astronaut dialogue mix with the cries of exotic birds and the even stranger but gorgeous voice of Liz Fraser floating in and out of the mix. On the back of the 12" single the record is split into 7 "Paths" which can be listened to as separate pieces of music but I think it works best as a single entity to be listened to in it's entirety and once again if not get lost in get very distracted by. The third path is the part of the song that appears on the Lifeforms album which is also worth seeking out. Dougan and Cobain were so far ahead of the pack at this time everything they did was fresh and exciting, whether that be their two Radio 1 Essential mixes within months of each other,  "touring" radio stations down the phone lines (ISDN) live from their studio or the strange videos that they made to accompany these releases which I cannot find on Youtube. The expectation was always high when they released something new and I can't really remember any being a disappointment.

So take 40 minutes out and have a listen.

FSOL - Lifeforms

Wednesday 17 August 2016

Beyond The Sun



The other night on Twitter SA posted a lovely picture of the sunset in Sale with the now legendary question asked of Rickie Lee Jones "What were the skies like when you were young" to which I replied attempting humour with "Grey and pishin' doon". Okay I thought it was funny whilst also being very very true. The sunset here was lovely last night and the previous night an' all by the way. Anyway, it got me thinking of another track I had that lifted the RLJ now famous reminiscences. It is tucked away at the end of the absolutely brilliant Crack In The Sky ep from last year by Clandestino. A 12" single that was made to soundtrack the balmy evenings that we have been having over the past few days which are sadly far too few and far between in this part of the world. So if you are in the UK and the weather hasn't broken yet tonight, get a cold beer sit out in the garden and give this a spin, better still buy a copy of the 12" in preparation for next year when you may have the opportunity to do it again. those of you such as George and Luca can just carry on as normal and there is absolutely no need for you to fill the comments with how good the weather has been for the last however many weeks/months.

The sunset above was taken a couple of weeks back in Machrihanish you can just about make out Jura on the horizon..

Clandestino - Beyond The Sun

Tuesday 16 August 2016

Jagwar Ma



Yesterday WaIter posted an excellent,  very trippy, krauty new track from Jagwar Ma here and last night I found an email from a PR offering me a remix of the track by JD Twitch , I am not one to pass up anything that comes from Optimo and as I liked the original a lot I did not hesitate on clicking the link. I'm not sure what I expected but it wasn't the throbby Techno beast that confronted me, absolutely magic stuff and it's available for free download if you do the Facebook or Spotify thing.

Monday 15 August 2016

This Heart of Mine



Today's piece of sublime soul isn't as obscure as some of the stuff that has featured here in the past. This one was actually a hit, reaching number 25 in the R&B Billboard when it was released in 1965. The Artistics started out as the backing singers for Major Lance but were then signed to Okeh records as a group in their own right in 1963, however it took two years and their third single release, this one for them to make any impression, however their career afterwards was pretty patchy and they called it a day in 1973 but reformed briefly in 1999 to record some tracks for Ian Levine's much maligned Motorcity Records project. Although this single did reach the charts and therefore must have sold fairly well, copies are scarce and command three figure sums. The song is a great example of male harmony group soul which leaves you with a warm glow even though the lyrics written by Barrett Strong are like most good soul songs full of potential loss and longing.

The Artistics - This Heart Of Mine

Friday 12 August 2016

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



Here a little jaunty upbeat piece of danceable music, well in it's original form at least to brighten up your Friday. This ep by the Berlin trio To Rcoco Rot was released in 2010 and also contains a Shackleton remix of Fridays, which it was my intention to post but for some reason, the glitchy abstractness of it annoyed me when I listened to it this morning, so you get the original mix of Forwardness and the Traversable Wormhole mix, (Adam X's alter ego). Both tracks come from the excellent Speculation album, one well worth tracking down. Enjoy!

This weekend although it is the first home game of the season, I will be in Drymen attending a friend's wedding instead. Airdrie made a promising start to the season last week with a 3-1 win away to Queen's Park. Let's hope they get a similar result against Livingston tomorrow.

Have a good weekend people.

To Rococo Rot - Forwardness

To Rococo Rot - Forwardness (Traversable Wormhole mix)


Thursday 11 August 2016

Olympics, hmmm



I can't really get enthused about the Olympics, being a lazy bastard doesn't help. But mostly I think it has to do with the IOC and their total capitulation to Putin and his drug cheats. I don't think that there is much of a difference between the IOC and FIFA,  both rather pathetic, morally bankrupt organisations.in my opinion. As for those overpaid, badly dressed golfers who have decided to pull out of representing their countries I hope that they  all suffer from just enough back pain so they  never win another competition and have to get a real job. Golf shouldn't be an Olympic sport anyway.

The above was just an excuse to post this song by Gordan McIntyre's Ballboy.

One last thing, how long do you think that it will be before every English commentators , and sorry guys, but they are  99,9% English , to stop compairing everything to 2012, just the next 50 years or so!

Ballboy - Olympic Cyclist

Wednesday 10 August 2016

Motown In Dub



By all accounts I missed a great Fall gig a couple of Saturdays back at Oran Mor. I think I read "a return to form" but I also noted that Smith is still at the buggering off stage of periods of the gig patter and that the band had to drag him back on for the final couple of songs, so no change there then, well a slight change he did come back on and completed a 60 minute set.

What the fuck has this got to do with the title of the post Drew? I hear you ask. Well, the last time I saw the gruppe and decided enough was enough was way back in November 2012 when they played a not too bad gig at the Arches but on top of the previous two shit gigs in Edinburgh I decided enough was enough. At the Arches Dj Twitch was djing and produced a top set of rockabilly, dub and garage. One track in particular caught my ear and it was a dubbed out version of an old Supremes song from 1966 which I knew that I would have to seek out. After the gig I hit the laptop and after a bit of searching found out that the re-edit was done by someone called Manjah and was on a 4 track 12! single which took a bit of time and effort to track down but I was eventually successful. I know nothing about Manjah but according to his Soundcloud page he is located in Athens, Greece not Georgia. The bass on this can  move objects in the room when played loud and I suspect is not too good for the speakers.

Manjah - My Dub Is Empty Without You

Tuesday 9 August 2016

Baby I'm Gone



You would be forgiven for thinking that today's frenzied piece of garage rock came out of the Midwest of the USA in the mid sixties. it was actually recorded in 2001 and first released in 2014 and re-released last month on an incredible small run of 200 clear vinyl 7", you can pick up a copy here for a very reasonable fiver + postage. The band hail from Southend-On-Sea and have been on the go since the mid 90s but as far as I am aware have only released this single and a 10" single back in 1998.. The lyrics are a bit rudimentary but the singer's wild harmonica playing makes up for it somewhat. Stirring stuff.

The Phrogs - Baby I'm Gone

Monday 8 August 2016

She'll Come Running Back



Machrihanish was good, we had four out of six days dry but when it rained, christ did it rain! I got the kite out and flying. I wish I had found kites a lot earlier in life, they are great things for  getting rid of stress, I think that if I had had one when I tried to stop smoking the whole experience would have been easier but maybe not as I stopped smoking in January 2004 and the weather in Scotland at that time of the year isn't very conducive with kite flying. We also witnessed a pod of dolphins doing their thing for what seemed like ages off of Westport beach which was really cool. We did a bit of plane spotting too when we  spottted an A400m Atlas,  replacement for the Hercules approach Machrihanish airfield coming in to land, or so we thought as just as it was about to hit the runway it pulled up and headed west never to be seen again. My brother who knows about these things from spending twenty odd years throwing himself out of Hercules' (and was with us in his absolutely pristine caravan ) informed me that they were doing test flights and that the plane would spend that day doing similar manoeuvres at airfields up and down the country.

I would like to recommend Alan McGee's Creation Stories, however all the way through it I found myself thinking, "did ye aye?" (copyright Kevin Bridges) it was all just a bit of a yawn, On the front cover  Bobby Gillispie compares McGee to Malcolm McLaren and Anthony H Wilson,  not sure what Mr G was on when he uttered that statement but for me the arrogance is there but the wit and intelligence of either man is severely lacking. Don't get me wrong, I believe that without McGee we would never have had the Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream or the Jasmine Minks and for those three I will be forever grateful but I just don't believe at least half of what's in the book.  That's maybe to do with having read David Cavanagh's excellent book previously and also due to some of McGee's statements in the press like "My Bloody Valentine were my joke band". In the end it just wasn't much of a read, probably why it's in the two for a fiver pile in Fopp.

Enough of this, it's the music your here for and as it's a Monday some soul of the northern variety is the order of the day. This is a classy "shuffler" of a track which was unearthed by Ian Levine and instantly became a classic. It came out of Chicago in 1969 on the Fip label. Sadly Mel Britt is another soul singer who is no longer with us as he died in 2013. He had a varied career, served with the army in Vietnam after which he worked in the steel industry in Gary, Indiana before moving to California to pursue a career in the music business touring with the likes of Junior Walker and appearing on the soundtrack to Animal House. As far as I know he only produced the one single but what a single it is.

Mel Britt - She'll Come Running Back