The Mendoza Line

Continuing the alt-country theme from yesterday with the Mendoza Line a band from Athens, Georgia who relocated to Brooklyn. The band formed in 1996 and released 9 albums before they broke up in 2007 due to the divorce of the main song writers Timothy Bracy and Shannon McArdle.

The last album 30 Year Low was my introduction to the band and led me to seek out their back catalogue, however I think that the final album is their best. That may be because it was the first thing that I heard from them. The album came with a bonus disc of covers and live versions including a great version of the Springsteen track Tougher Than The Rest.

Talking of Springsteen covers, my split single of Springsteen covers by Darren Hayman and The Wave Pictures arrived this morning, included is a Wave Pictures album of covers of the New Jersey rocker, some of which are more successful than others. I'm sure that these will be all over blogs like a rash in the coming week or so.

BTW- A Mendoza Line, is a baseball term for the lowest batting average a player can make before being either sacked or sold, apparently. Not knowing anything about baseball I'm none the wiser.

The Mendoza Line - Aspects of An Old Maid (with Will Sheff)

The Mendoza Line - Tougher Than The Rest

Ryan Adams

I've got this mate, let's call him Gav, for that is his name, who has a band called the Scuffers, if you're into alt country with a weegie twist then they are the band for you. When I first met the Gster he was a bit of a cheesy quaver all Rezerection and Stone Island clobber. Then one day he had an epiphany and started listening to his dad's albums which led him to Americana, alt country and picking up a guitar.

Gav and I have been to quite a few gigs together and I suppose I got him into a few bands although like many others he still doesn't get The Fall and he was responsible for putting me onto Ryan Adams. I did not like the idea of country which I thought was all redneck, Republican shit and alt country I just thought would be a watered down version.

Gav kept banging on about Ryan Adams, so in order to be able to argue with him I thought I better at least buy something, listen to it and then I would be able to rip it to shreds. So I bought the album which I had been told was his best, Heartbreaker. To both my dismay and my delight I loved it. Dismay that I could no longer just dismiss alt country as shit kicking music and delight as I had found, albeit rather late, a great singer songwriter and decided to invest in the back catalogue and this is where my problems with Ryan Adams begin.

If you looked up the meaning of prolific in the dictionary, I don't think that Adams' name would be far away. The man has produced 11 legitimate albums in the past 8 years and that's not including the 3 albums with his previous band Whiskeytown. This huge body of work has been the topic of many a conversation between myself and Gav. I think that those 11 albums could be condensed into 5 brilliant albums, not including anything from Rock n Roll. I also believe that his quality control is way off. My evidence for this being the many album recording sessions available where it is not uncommon to find absolutely brilliant tracks which have been shelved in favour of others which are mediocre at best.

Which is the whole point of this post, a couple of days ago a track called Saturday Night came on the ipod, one of Adams best track in my opinion but which has never appeared on any of his albums, it is available on the Pinkheart Sessions which can be found without too much effort on the internet.

Also included in this post is a beautiful song written about Anne Frank which Gav introduced me to, about 5 years ago and reliably informs me that Adams has no intention of ever putting on a legitimate release!

Ryan Adams - Saturday Night

Ryan Adams - Dear Anne

Classical/Techno, Anyone?

What do you get if you ask one of the originators of Detroit techno and the leading light of Berlin's dub techno scene to collaborate on recomposing their pick of the Deutsche Grammophon huge back catalogue?

One of the most innovative albums that I think I have ever heard.

Carl Craig and Moritz Von Oswald finally settled on Ravel's "Bolero" and "Rhapsodie Espagnola" and Modest Mussorgsky's "Bilder einer Ausstellung". No I didn't have a clue who Mussorgsky was either. The result is something which is quite wonderful and extremely hypnotic in sections. The album is listed as 6 movements, although not knowing the source material apart from Bolero, I couldn't tell you which is a re composition of which.

A couple of weeks ago while perusing Boomkat's on line store I saw a remix twelve of a couple of movements from this album. My interest was initially tweaked by the fact that Ricardo Villalobos was remixing one of the tracks. I am quite into his extremely sparse, repetitive, minimalist sound at the moment. So I decided to give the single a punt. However the Villalobos mix is no where near as good as Carl Craig's own remix of his original re composition!.

In my strangest dreams I never thought that I would ever be posting anything from Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft on this blog. It is, however a belter of a track, not the sort of endorsement you will find on the average DGG sleeve or review I bet.

Carl Craig - Movement 8 (c2 version)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Today there are 2 quite different versions of a northern soul classic for your delectation.

First up we have Darrell Banks with the original from 1966 of Open The Door To Your Heart an absolute classic and number 63 in the Northern Soul Top 500. The song was a hit stateside on Revilot Records but did nothing over hear on either Stateside or London. On hearing the horns on the intro to this song I can't help but grin and a warm feeling envelopes me. As it says in the above mentioned book "Darrell's vocal presence in sumptuous", couldn't have put it better myself.


The second version if played in a club would have the purists either running screaming out of the doors or more than likely trying to invade the decks to destroy this abomination. Although it must be popular with some, as a 7" is on ebay for $300! This version is from 1975 and interpreted in a more, shall we say, uptempo style by Sonny Munro, who I think is the same Sonny Munro who died in March this year and sang with the Falcons, known in northern circles for the song Good Good Feeling.

Compare and contrast

Darrell Banks - Open The Door To Your Heart

Sonny Munro - Open The Door To Your Heart

Elvis Is Not A Dog But In Fact A Cat.

Before the kids came along, when we lived in our old house and where I was allowed to have the decks up in the back bedroom, a couple of mates and myself would spend more time than was healthy playing tunes and having a couple of spliffs. As the night wore on and the smoke took hold the music would get stranger and more mellow, a favorite was the track A Century Of Elvis from Belle And Sebastian's Lazy Line Painter Jane ep.

One night I was sitting in the pub with a group of friends, when it became perfectly clear and I blurted out rather too loudly "Elvis is a dog!", to which all but one of the group looked at me in bemusement, the other mate just nodded his head and smiled.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago when I was in Birmingham I had the ipod on shuffle as I couldn't sleep in the hotel and A Century Of Elvis came on and I was transported to that smoke filled room a good few years ago now but as I listened to the track I realised that I had been wrong, Elvis was not a dog but in fact a cat. No dogs that I know of would ever think about climbing into a post office van or sit on the arm of a chair but a cat, definitely. So I booted up my laptop and emailed my mate to inform him of our misconception then fell asleep happy in the knowledge that an important fact was now beyond doubt.

The above nonsense has been inspired by Kippers' post on Looper at the consistently good Too Much Apple Pie

Belle And Sebastian - A Century Of Elvis

Pavement

I came to Pavement quite late. I don't know why but I was under the impression that they were just another American slacker band and I had heard enough of them and as a result never bothered to investigate the band further.

One day when our office was still in the center of Edinburgh, I was on one of my frequent visits to Avalanche Records in Cockburn Street when I noticed a few Pavement cds at a fiver. My interest in the band had been tweaked just before this when I had read an article where they had been compared to the Fall and the writer had quoted Mark E Smith as saying that Pavement were a rip off of his band. So when I saw that the cds were so cheap I decided to take a punt on the first one Slanted & Enchanted. I took it back to the office and gave it a quick listen, quite liking what I heard but not understanding the reference to the Fall at first, however on repeated listens it became clear that Malkmus did indeed owe Smith a debt or two.

Over the following few weeks I bought the remaining Pavement cds including the double disc re release of Crooked Rain Crooked Rain but I think that the first album is still my favorite although I still haven't got round to buying the 2 disc edition of that which appeared in 2007.

Posted are 2 versions of my favorite track on the first album

Pavement - Here

Pavement - Here [#]

Just because

Trembling Blue Stars - Helen Reddy

Detroit Cobras

Can't recall when I first heard the Detroit Cobras but it was around 2003, when there was all that hype about bands from Detroit, in the wake of the success of the White Stripes.

The band was formed in Detroit Michigan in 1994 and released their first album on the influential local label Sympathy For The Record Industry label which also put out the first releases of the a fore mentioned White Stripes. They are basically a garage covers band who choose to cover favorite tracks from their record collections.

The tracks featured both come from the Seven Easy Pieces ep which came out in 2003 and i have no idea of who originally recorded the tracks.

Looking at the history of the band it looks as though they are trying to keep up with MES with the turn over of band members as at present there have been more than 20.

The Detroit Cobras - My Baby Loves The Secret Agent

The Detroit Cobras - Silver & Gold (When I Get Like This)

Touched By The Hand Of God VII

It has been over a month since Mr Weatherall featured on this blog. So let's start off the week with one of his best remixes from 1992, a year in which he did brilliant remixes for the likes of Future Sound Of London with the spacey Papua New Guinea, Galliano's Skunk Funk and West In Motion for Bumble amongst others.

We are concerned with Weatherall's Weekender where he takes an already funky hymn to hedonism, Weekender, by a bunch of chancers from Camden Town and stretches it out with 2 mixes clocking in at 15:30 and 17:10 respectively.

I have friends who are not that partial to these remixes but I have yet to hear a compelling argument against them.

Flowered Up - Weekender (Audrey is A Little Bit More Partial)

Spiritual House Music

How about a joyous house cover of a Stevie Wonder track, with a little bit of Farley & Heller thrown in for good measure

Secret Life - As Always (gospel mix)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance.

So much for new music week, one post and it's Friday already. I promise that I will post some new stuff next week but as it's Friday there's only one thing for it, yes let's have a little U2.

Instead how about a tune that was originally written for Nina Simone, whose version did absolutely nothing in 1964, however the song was picked up by the Animals who had a hit with it the following year. There have been loads of versions of the Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood but I think that my favorite is probably Elvis Costello's.

The version posted is by a French/US disco group who reached number 15 in the US charts with the track in 1978. I have to be honest and say that I had never heard the track before 2003 when it was used in the soundtrack to Kill Bill Vol1.

Santa Esmeralda - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

RIP Ellie Greenwich

This lady didn't half write some classics in collaboration with her husband and for Be My Baby, alone, I shall raise a glass.

Beth Orton - I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine

The Shangri-Las - Out In The Streets

New Music Week (Well Couple of Days)

Mathew over at Song By Toad has been musing about when it is that you stop seeking out new music and get into a rut or as MES would say turn into a "look back bore". Mathew thinks that he has another good couple of years before this happens which would take him to 35 which somewhat dismayed me, cos as you will probably be aware I turned 40 this year and am still looking for those tracks which will make me feel the same way as I did when I first heard From Across The Kitchen Table or Loaded. Granted it doesn't happen very often but when it does it feels just as good.

Mathew's musings however got me thinking of how others perceive this quest for the new and spending more time in King Tut's than a forty year old father of 2 should. I have noticed the funny looks sometimes from the predominantly younger members of staff on my infrequent visits to my company's office when I am extolling the virtues of We Were Promised Jetpacks, Meursault or the like. Am I seen as some sadsack trying to keep young by looking out for new bands? and , Do I care what they think anyway when most of them are more interested in the X Factor than the brilliant burgeoning music scene in the central belt of Scotland these days. The answers to theses questions is I don't know and frankly I couldn't give a shit.

Recently the new music that I have been listening to is mostly dance and electronic. Some time in the early noughties (I fucking hate that term) I decided that it was quite sad for somebody over 30 to still be buying 12" dance singles and trying to mix in his bedroom. L may have had something to do with this decision as it was her bedroom too. Another reason was probably that nothing was really grabbing my attention.

This all changed in 2006 when I heard the first Burial album and started listening to dubstep. Since then I have been gradually buying more and more dance music, mostly minimalist techno and dub step but other things as well, some electronica and of course anything with Weatherall's name on it, didn't really give up on him at all but even he seemed to be steering away from dance with the Wrong Meetings albums.

Anyway, this year has seen me buy more dance 12" singles in the past 6 months than probably the last 3 years.

Today's track is the flip side mix of the new single on Soma from Funk D'Void, one Lars Sandberg previously of Glasgow but now a resident of Barcelona, I think. He has a long history with the Glasgow label Jack Me Off, his first single being released on Soma in 1995. The track is a collaboration with Sian whom I know absolutely nothing about. The press release says Sian is now becoming recognized as a truly unique figure in electronic music. His list of aficionados reads like a who’s who of contemporary dance culture, from Luciano, Loco Dice, Ricardo Villalobos, Steve Bug, Carl Craig and M.A.N.D.Y to Sasha, John Digweed and James Zabiela. More of Villalobos and Carl Craig in the next couple of days.

This track reminds me of early Warp releases without being retro or dated sounding and probably sounds absolutely wonderful at full volume in somewhere like the Subby.

For all of those who think that dance music is that formulaic thump thump thump that you hear coming out of fucked-up Citroen Saxa's, have a listen to this and give it a chance.

Funk D'Void and Sian - A Raven Wheeling Overhead (Sleazy Dub mix)

Get A Load Of This

This is absolutely outstanding.

Alice Russell - Crazy

Mother Sky

Time for another of those edits from that French DJ, Pilooski, I will soon have posted half of the Dirty Edits album. I don't think that I will need to worry about take down notices though as the legality of the original twelves is somewhat in doubt.#

This time Pilooski takes on some Krautrock ( a term that I feel quite uncomfortable about, however I can't think of another one), in the form of Can an experimental band from West Germany as it was called in 1968 when they formed. Their best period in my eyes was between 1971 - 73 when they released 3 classic albums, Tagoo Magoo, Ege Bamyasi and Future Days. The experimental nature of some of Can's work tends to put people off but if you persevere I think it is worth it.

Can have influenced many bands from PIL to the Flaming Lips. The influence on MES and The Fall is obvious even without the tribute titled I Am Damo Suzuki (Can's one time singer) on This Nations Saving Grace.

Speaking of The Fall, the long anticipated Last Night At The Hammersmith Palais CD/DVD
finally dropped through the letter box today and I can tell you it was worth the wait, for the blistering albeit cut short version of Reformation alone. I can thoroughly recommend this release and at £8.99 from Amazon a bargain as well.

Can - Mother Sky (Pilloski edit). Link restored

PS if you ever see a record on Discogs being sold by some one who goes by the name Major_Dude avoid at all costs, as he took 25 quid off of me for the above 12" and never sent it or replied to any of my communication - Robbing Bastard is the term for this c_ _ t

Richard d James

Monday again, I know it's a cliche but weekends don't last long enough.

Spent yesterday avec famille at a medieval festival at the race course in Lanark where there were various re-enactments of battles between the Scots and the English, the Vikings and the English, The French and the English, basically the rest of Europe and the English. It was quiet strange as there were guys wandering about dressed as Roman Legionaries, others in Napoleonic War get up and WW1 Tommys. M loved it and got another sword to add to his burgeoning collection of weapons which sometimes disturbs me but on the other hand I played with Action Men and had guns and turned into a peacenik or as others would have it, a lily-livered liberal pinko.

In Lanark we are pre-disposed to this medieval stuff as this is where William Wallace was married and first raised arms against the English. The best pub in the town is called the Wallace Cave, or it used to be when I worked there and before the change of owner.

Today's track has only the most tenuous link to the above ramblings, in so much as Richard D James bought a tank which he would drive around the English countryside freaking people out.

Selected Ambient Works 85 - 92 is an album that I keep going back to. It has been criticized over the years due to the poor quality of the recording, it was all mastered off of cassette, to be honest with you I've never noticed as I thought that that was the way the album was supposed to sound as I bought the vinyl back in 1992 and I'm too tight to buy the remastered version which came out on vinyl in 2006 and cd in 2008 to find out if it is true or not.

There is no point telling you about Richard D James as how much of the information available about the man is truth and how much is myth that has been circulated by the man himself is debatable. One thing that is true is that when he is on form he is absolutely brilliant and years ahead of everyone else but at other times, well lets just say like other geniuses such as MES and Weatherall the output can be challenging. In my opinion he has released nothing which is not worth listening to at least once.

Aphex Twin - Heliosphan

We Get On

I had sort of forgotten about Kate Nash recently. In one of the early posts on this blog I posted Birds, the other side of her first single and said how much I liked her songs but the album had not lived up to the potential I felt that it had been over produced and that the songs lost some of their intimacy due to this. The track posted today is a prime example, it's the 2nd thing that I ever heard by her and I just loved the lyrics and the forlorn feeling of the track, however when it appeared on the album, it had a jaunty beat, backing vocals and full accompaniment and completely lost the desperate feel of the radio session version.

The reason this track came into my head this week is that I have been reading One Day by David Nicholls a book aimed directly at mine and a few of the bloggers listed at the side's age group. I believe that if Kate Nash had been around in 1988, Emma, one of the two main characters would have had this track on repeat. If you get the chance read the book. It is funny, clever and will strike a chord with anyone who has felt more for a member of the opposite sex than they've let on and never had the courage to do anything about it. Don't let the Tony Parsons quote put off.

A word of warning though, if you read it, when you get to chapter 18 do not read it as I did while waiting for your dinner to arrive, sitting alone in a hotel as the waitress is apt to look at you very strangely and enquire about your mental well being.

Kate Nash - We Get On

I have just realised that I did indeed post this track in the previous Kate Nash post but I've finished the post now so apologies for the repetition.

Not One Of My Best Decisions

I spent Thursday and Friday in Birmingham for work, my god they used a lot of concrete building that city. When I completed what I had to do I realised that I was going to have a 4 hour wait at the airport, so I did the calculation waiting time + flight time + drive home from the airport and came to the conclusion that I would be just as quick getting in the hire car and driving north.

Getting out of Birmingham was easy enough but it took me 3 hours to get to bloody Preston due to traffic going to the V Festival and as a result I got home at 10:35 pm, an hour and a half later than if I had got the flight. Not one of my better decisions. Still I didn't spend money I haven't got in the duty free.

One observation from spending so much time in the car, Radio 1 is completely shit. Due to the lack of iPod connectivity I was forced to listen to the radio, after a brief flirtation with Radio 2, yuk and nothing interesting on Radio 4 until PM at five, there was nothing else for it but Fabulous Radio 1. I'm sorry Edith Bowman but if you think Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation is a dance classic you are sadly mistaken and in need of a full frontal lobotomy and I am not going to go into any details about the Scott Mills show, suffice to say pish of the highest order.

I'm not sure which was worse the traffic jam or Radio 1 but in combination it was probably one of the worst forms of torture imaginable and needs to banned in the Geneva Conventions

Bob Marley And The Wailers - Concrete Jungle (version)

Bobby Womack - Home Is Where The Heart Is

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Anybody up for a bit of Future Jazz? Nope, didn't think so I can imagine CTEL's back will be up straight away with the J word. Shall we call it Deep House then?

The Audience is a rather soulful piece of house by the man of many aliases, Herbert. This tune came out on the Studio! K7 label in 2001. The vocals are by Jamie Lidell and Dani Sicilian.

In my best John Thompson, as the presenter on Jazz Club, side on to the camera - Nice . . Great

Herbet feat Dani Siciliano - The Audience (vs Jamie Lidell)

A Live Review Of Sorts.

I don't do concert reviews as I tend to spend my time just enjoying gigs as opposed to getting the set order correct and being in review mode, however Tart has asked me to report back on her 2 favorite bands, so I will. If you wish to find out details of running order etc you should have no trouble as there were at least 4 people, who to me looked like weans sitting on the pews of Queen's Hall furtively making notes in little pads all the way through

I made Edinburgh from the other side of Manchester in just over 3 hrs, not bad going. There I found that the doors did not open at 7 as on the tickets and found myself queuing to get into a gig for the first time in many a year.

The first band who's name I cannot remember did absolutely nothing for me, they weren't bad or anything just not my kind of thing. So sorry, I'm sure they're all great people but just not for me so I didn't pay very much attention to them but still kept quiet.

Meursault, on the other hand were guaranteed my undivided attention and for the rather short 25 minute set they did, they did not disappoint, they exceeded my expectations, especially A Small Stretch Of Land which was quite beautiful. I will need to investigate further because this short set has just whetted my appetite and will need to see them do a full set.

One thing though, why the fuck do people persist in talking all the way through the support act at gigs? I have come to hear the bands, all of them even the ones I don't particularly like and couldn't give a flying fuck how drunk you were last night or who you got off with. If you have no interest in the band stay in the fucking bar. It is the height of ignorance to stand/sit and talk all the way through.

The feirt bunnies were given a rapturous welcome and indeed the crowd sang along and clapped out of time with the music so much so that at one point L thought that she was at a Runrig concert, having never frequented one I don't know what she was on about. The band were excellent and the 3 new tunes for the album which according to Scott is completed albeit with at least one song still untitled were very promising and I look forward to hearing in full as soon as possible. One grumble though, I did not like the version of Backwards Walk, always one my favorites, it lost all of the melancholy. Apart from that and the arseholes talking all the way through Meursault a wonderful night was had by all.

Frightened Rabbit - My Backwards Walk (Daytrotter session)