Week in Music August 24th - 30th

 I lost one of my best friends this week. It's rough. Very sad. I've written about what an amazing individual he was plenty elsewhere and I want to bang this post out quick so I don't skip a week as we're having one (of many) zoom memorials for him this evening. I will say this though. He knew what a music obsessive I was when we met, so he and another friend made a conscious effort to get me into Nick Cave so I would buy all the albums and they could hear them. Ever since I heard the news, 'New Morning' has been stuck in my head. Here's the live version. Andy would go on and on about what an amazing sounding record Live Seeds is, and he wasn't wrong

The night before this happened, I was in on one of Tim Burgess' #timslisteningparty for The Cleaners From Venus' Midnight Cleaners. Was great to be there with other Cleaners fans and listen to the whole record again. 'Corridor Of Dreams' is a wonderful, somewhat ethereal pop song. Beautiful and not-quite otherworldly, like those moments right before evening descends, 'between the dog and the wolf', as the French say. My favourite song on the album and one of my favourite Martin Newell songs.

I finally watched that Go-Go's documentary and it was excellent. 'We Got The Beat' also stuck in my head a lot. What a great anthem. 

Jane Wiedlin, what a popstar! Her persona is just fantastic, the way she's so bubbly and bouncy on stage and yet also totally means business. And her 'Rush Hour' is one of the best pop songs of all-time. It contains all the excitement and energy that is the very essence of pop music. 

Paul Simpson of The Wild Swans posted about him singing backing vocals on this new Candy Opera song. A pop band from Liverpool who I had not heard before but am enjoying what I am hearing, in a big guitar pop way.

Week In Music August 17th-23rd

Digging Carla J. Easton's new high energy tunes. I've been a fan since TeenCanteen, interviewed her for The Counterforce podcast in 2018 for her first solo album. New solo record out this week. Looking forward to it. The first couple days of this week no music was really stuck in my head. Then I heard 'Weirdo'

The tune features Honeyblood. A name I knew but hadn't really heard anything by. So I went and listened. 'Killer Bangs' is my favourite from what I've heard so far. Excellent chorus.

And Stina's solo My Light Shines On performance is great. What a voice

I follow Carla's brother Murray on Twitter . He posts a lot of good stuff and on Friday posted Andy Bell (Ride)'s new single and an interview with Andy on his blog. Digging the single. Catchy and sounds like it could've come out in the early 90s, which is good by me

I interviewed Steve Kilbey from The Church for my ETC podcast last week. Had a great conversation. He played a great new tune on his weekly Instagram show called 'Tantric Hammer'. 

Steve also covered a bit of 'Crimon & Clover' which got that stuck in my head. I've always liked the Joan Jett version.

Mostly stuck in my head this week was Taylor Swift's 'betty', which, along with 'mirrorball', is my favourite from the new album

And I'm re-watching Letterkenny. So good. Letterkenny and Wodehouse are really what have kept me going this year, still being able to laugh. Glen's "Christian post-alt-rock emo superband" at the talent show is fantastic

Week In Music August 10-16th

I watched that 2005 Piccadilly Jim film which caused me to start the Piccadilly Jim audiobook which in turn got David Devant & His Spirit Wife's 'Gentleman Jim' stuck in my head for much of the early part of the week. Wodehouse and Letterkenny have been the things getting me through this pandemic, I can't recommend them enough. And Jonathan Cecil's readings of Wodehouse's books are absolutely wonderful. The perfect proper British voice to portray such high comedy. 

Watched that Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-90) documentary. Very good. Took me back to my late teenage years. Had a discussion over on Facebook about everyone's favourite Fugazi record. Mine's Margin Walker, with Repeater a close second. There were some votes for The Argument which I'd never really given a proper listen to. So I did. It's very good and 'Nightshop' stood out. 

I've loved that Embrace record since I first heard it back in 1993. I remember people calling it emo, and being confused years later when something called 'emo' had blown up but didn't really sound like Embrace. Also confusing was that British band Embrace coming along later on. 

Superexciting this week I interviewed Steve Kilbey of The Church for my Etcetera ETC With Young Southpaw podcast. He's recorded a new album which he wrote in one week back in the spring. It's called 11 Women and is really good. 'Josephine', which you can hear the studio version of at the end of the podcast, is one of my songs of the year. It's one of those timeless tunes, it sounds so familiar but yet you can't quite place it, as someone said to him, "like it's always been there". We had an excellent conversation dealing mostly with the magic and mystery of songs. Video of the interview will be on YouTube soon. Here's a version of 'Josephine' from one of his Monday evening IG shows

I watched Autoluminescent, the Rowland S. Howard documentary the other night. Loved it. Gave me a whole new appreciation for the man and the artist. Reminded me that it seems every time I walked into the Rough Trade shop on Talbot Road in London since 1999, I'd see a copy of his Teenage Snuff Film cd. I miss walking in there and seeing that. And of course 'Shivers' has been stuck in my head since, I even recorded a version today that's now on FB and IG. Such a classic. It would take more time than I've got now to go into how that song has been with me throughout the years. I remember covering it at Jacques in Boston at an early rock stone show. Here's the Young Charlatans, the original version I believe. I was also psyched to find their demos are up for free download at Rowland's site. 

And 'Autoluminescent', what a tune!

Also, 'Shut Me Down' is gorgeous

Saw the awesome band name Illuminati Hotties and had to check them out. Digging the album. This tune is great, super catchy

Been digging this Suzi Analogue EP and saw on Twitter that today's her birthday so I listened again

Bought the Flashback Records compilation earlier this year and listening to Samuel Barton's 'We Painted Our Faces And Gave False Names' from it today I was blown away. It's SO. FREAKING. LOVELY. Ever since I was a teenager there's always been a place in my mind that music like this takes me to. A twilight rocky ledge over a misty sea that seems like the end of the world both in time and place. Joy Division's 'Atmosphere' would take me there, The Cure's 'Plainsong'. I love this

Week In Music August 3rd - 9th

Early this week was all about listening to Paul Simpson's Skyray albums, which I then bought on Bandcamp Friday. Lovely stuff. 

'Jet Stream Summer' stood out early, as it reminds me a little of Saint Etienne's early albums.

And then I really dug the Krautrock-ness of 'Oxygum' from Ice Rink Music. Paul's notes on making this lost album were interesting to read too

I watched the Brainiac documentary which was excellent. They really were a force to be reckoned with and it would have been so great to see/hear what they would have become. This has been stuck in my head a lot

Remembered how much I love this tune and have ever since Chris Razz gave me the yellow promo cassette at Secret Sounds in Fairfield, CT in 1993. I can still remember putting it on on the drive home in the family caravan and getting into it. It's been my favourite song of theirs ever since and Transmissions From The Satellite Heart has remained my favourite Flaming Lips record

Discovered Hayley Mary just in time to buy her EP on Bandcamp Friday.

Watched Jim Jarmusch's Gimme Danger Stooges documentary two nights ago and really dug it. Iggy had a lot of cool things to say. It was touching that he thought growing up in such small space in a trailer really gave him the opportunity to know his parents. Had me once again taken in with the magic of 'Search And Destroy'. I have never forgotten the feeling of being 16, coming home after buying 'Raw Power' on cassette, popping in the tape, and being blown away by what I heard. Those opening chords, one of the best examples of the power of going to the IV. And despite Iggy being great on this, and 'I'm a streetwalkin cheetah with a heart full of napalm' being one of the all-time best opening lines, an awesome statement of intent, this song is all about James Williamson's guitar. Those lead lines bursting out like fireballs from the ruckus. It's unstoppable. And the whole 'honey gotta help me please' section, every chord underneath is perfect, and even after almost 30 years of listening to this, they seem like a surprise, a 'how did they make it this good?' sense of wonder abounds.

Week In Music July 27th - August 2nd 2020

Week started off with Lonelady's 'Marble' stuck in my head, as I just saw on Twitter that she had some t-shirts left for sale, and me being in the market for cool new t-shirts - most of mine are years old - I snapped up a Nerve Up one. Looking forward to its arrival. 'Marble', what a tune. Especially that 'ha' section at 3:46





Also discovered on Twitter is Katie Dey, whose new record 'mydata', released on the same day as, I am liking even more than Taylor Swift's. Lovely melodic 'floating in space' synthpop




My friend Jon messaged me about Shabaka & The Ancestors cause Jon knows I dig exactly this sort of thing. A new album came out in March which I listened to as well, though I like the one from 2016 even better




The Church's version of The Triffids 'Wide Open Road' has consistently been in my head this year, and this week was no different. What a wonderful version of a stellar tune





Just listened to Sunshine's 'Sunshine' album again this evening while casting a BaZi chart. I've listened before and I dig it more and more. Discovered them through Letterkenny



My phone was acting up in the car the other day so I hit play on the cd player and The Indelicates' 'Savages' came on. One of my favourite songs of all-time. Gorgeous, and says so much about life, my favourite line being 'the tear on your cheek will fall ignored by the suckers to fake romance'. It's one of those tunes that when it comes on you have to ask yourself 'do I want to go thru the intense experience of listening to this right now? is that something I'm prepared to do?'

You got any songs like that?