First Kiss Lips

Psychic Youth 7"...

2013-03-18T16:35:00.001Z

My friend Jim was playing me some ace stuff the other night which I'll be putting up here in an attempt to get this blog going again.

First up is the Psychic Youth 7" from 1982. It was their only release and I can find out no other information about the band except that they were from Long Island, NY (or at least that's where the pressing plant they used was located). Apparently, despite the name, they have nothing to do with Genesis P. Orridge or Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.

Some great minimal synthpop reminiscent of early Depeche Mode. I like the B-side best with its female vocals but the A-side is really good too.

B - The Future Now:

A - Step In Time:

R.I.P. Clive Burr/Gogmagog...

2013-03-18T02:43:00.001Z

I just found out the sad news that Clive Burr, drummer on the first three Iron Maiden albums, died on March 12th. I loved Maiden growing up, still do. Nice obituaries here and here.

The Prisoner, from The Number Of The Beast album, live in Hammersmith 1982 with Clive on drums:

And I only just learned about the supergroup Gogmagog! I feel like I should've known about, and would've been very excited about, them years ago. Notable for its combination of past (Paul Di'Anno, Clive Burr) and future (Janick Gers) Iron Maiden members as well as original Def Leppard guitarist Pete Willis. I especially find this interesting as in the excellent Iron Maiden: The Early Days DVD, someone at EMI was talking about Maiden and Def Lep being the two biggest New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands at the time of them signing Maiden (1980-ish) so it's nice to see them converge here.

Gogmagog only released one 3 track EP, I Will Be There, in 1985. Nice catchy glam metal/hard rock but a bit of a punky snarl that I'm really enjoying. All 3 songs:

I Will Be There:

Living In A F*cking Time Warp:

It's Illegal, It's Immoral, It's Unhealthy But It's Fun:

The Wolfgang Press - Chains

2013-01-01T17:35:00.002Z

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

Yesterday I was driving home and nearly lost control of the car as my mind wandered into considering what if The Wolfgang Press reunited in 2013 and I hit some ice on the road. I've never been big on reunion shows but Chains (from Funky Little Demons) had just come on an old mix cd I had found. Such beautiful Pop. A perfect summer evening song, when the twilight is descending and the shadows come alive with magic.

Saint Etienne - Sushi Rider...

2012-12-04T12:06:00.006Z

My Quietus interview with Saint Etienne is up now. I really enjoyed this, talking the particulars of Pop - favourite record titles, those little bits of songs that really grab you, what makes Pop so wonderful.

I've always loved their Sushi Rider since I first heard them doing it live at Axis in Boston, May 21st, 1999. I love how they would throw b-sides and rarities into the sets like that. This has been stuck in my head a lot lately.

Was so excited when I finally got I Love To Paint and it had the full-band version on it:

And the stripped down version, b-side of Like A Motorway:

Joost Swarte...

2012-12-01T13:01:00.001Z

I interviewed Dutch comics legend Joost Swarte for The Quietus. An incredibly talented man and one of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of talking to. I found our conversation very interesting. Check it out, and take a look at his lovely work.

Besides comics, Herr Swarte is a huge music fan, drawing a number of sleeves over the years, and even collaborating on a couple of records with Arling & Cameron and Fay Lovsky.

I love Fun Shopping, the Shibuya-kei-esque opening of Arling, Cameron, & Swarte's Sound Shopping record:

Swarte's excellent cover art:

Appellation Contrôlée from Jopo In Mono, his collaboration with Fay Lovsky, based on his comic character Jopo de Pojo. Written by Swarte, this was a tune he would sing when doing the dishes after dinner.

And it was Swarte who recommended Amatorski to me during the course of our interview.

Smoked Duck

2012-11-27T11:01:00.001Z

My novelty dance song, Smoked Duck is finally out! Like all those 60s dance crazes, the moves are in the lyrics. Hopefully there'll be a video soon of a roomful of people 'smoked ducking'.

‘Smoked Duck’ by The Space Daddy. A Ducked-Up Novelty Dance. Written by Aug Stone (The Soft Close-Ups, H Bird, Eiscafe) and “hatched” by Ian Catt (Saint Etienne).

“This is what happens when I’ve been drinking all afternoon on holiday and ‘smoked duck’ appears on the dinner menu.” – Aug (who at that time was drinking quite heavily and listening to loads of David Devant & His Spirit Wife. He had also just found a cd entitled Land Of 1000 Dunces – Best Of The Bug-Outs at a strange little store in Stockholm. The cd featured 30 novelty dances from the 60’s that never caught on like ‘The Twist’ or ‘The Locomotion’.)

Released on 22.11.12, the date that looks most like Ducks & Cigarettes.

Available at , Amazon, Rhapsody, eMusic, Spotify, Corporate Records, and Bandcamp.

Saint Etienne/The Springfields - Are We Gonna Be Alright?

2012-11-27T09:39:00.000Z

Speaking of that December 1998 Saint Etienne gig at The Paradise, they covered The Springfields' Are We Gonna Be Alright? It was excellent, and I was thrilled when their recorded version of it surfaced on Built On Sand. Here is the only place I can find it on the internet, on a page with other Matthew Sweet covers.

The original Springfields' version, written and produced by Matthew Sweet:

Saint Etienne - Hobart Paving

2012-11-27T09:11:00.002Z

Saint Etienne's Hobart Paving has been stuck in my head since I woke up this morning to the sound of the drizzle outside. "Rain Falls Like Elvis Tears", oh yes. Everything about this song is beautiful. And that chorus of "Don't Forget To Catch Me", one of the most romantic songs I know. The video is lovely too.

I fondly remember when this song first 'hit' me. It was the summer of 98 and we had just arrived in England on holiday. My best friend Jon had been a big fan back in 1994 when we first heard of Saint Etienne in the States and had made me tapes of the first two albums, which I was now listening to on my Walkman. When Hobart Paving came on, I sat up in awe, tears automatically springing to my eyes at its beauty. Then in September of that year, having just graduated university, I was about to set off to backpack around Europe and I stopped in at one of my favourite record stores, Secret Sounds in Bridgeport, CT, the day before I left. Chris had just gotten the double disc edition of Good Humor in and convinced me (not that it took much) to buy it. I had to wait over a month before I got to hear it but it remains one of my all-time favourite albums. I saw them at the Paradise club in Boston that December and, well, things haven't been the same since ; ) I remember the show being absolutely fantastic, wonderful versions of The Springfields' Are We Gonna Be Alright? (written by Matthew Sweet) and I Was Born On Christmas Day. Every time after that I'd go to the Boston shows and then drive down for the New York ones. I'm now finishing up an interview I did with them for The Quietus and am gutted I will be missing their xmas shows this year.

Suede - Another No One...

2012-10-25T13:52:00.002+01:00

Suede's Another No One has been stuck in my head all day. Such a lovely song, everything about it - the chords, the melody, the story. I have a very fond memory of hearing this for the very first time. On the day the Trash singles became available in America, I of course bought them right away but only had time to hear Trash itself before heading out for the evening (this was well before I had a cd player in my car. Ah, that summer of '96, such good mixtapes...). It was only a Monday or a Tuesday, but I was out all night (quite a night too) and getting in around 10 a.m. when post-adventure lack of sleep made all the world seem soft and dreamy, I listened to the b-sides. And immediately fell in love with this song. Those Coming Up b-sides are incredibly good, possibly the best batch of b-sides any band has every produced.

Live at the Forum 5 April 1997. Fanclub show of all b-sides.

Hefner - Gabriel At The Airport...

2012-10-25T13:28:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, walking along grey autumn streets, this song brought me enormous cheer, as it always does. Hefner's Gabriel At The Airport is not only an excellent, incredibly catchy, pop song, but the lyrics are Awesome and hilarious. There is a great recorded version on Catfight, and also The French, Darren Hayman's post-Hefner band, recorded it for Local Information. It was intended to be on what would've been the sixth Hefner album, Travel, Go, according to Hayman's notes here. The first part of the 43 song Catfight can give you an idea of what that might've sounded like.

Peel Session from 11 December 2001:

Julian Cope/The Teardrop Explodes - The Great Dominions...

2012-10-06T15:20:00.004+01:00

Went to Reading last night to see Julian Cope play. My friend Mark, who runs the excellent Strange Attractor press, put me on the list as he was playing with opener Urthona. For this I was very thankful. It was nice to sit and space out to Urthona after a long, rainy day. I got to Reading a little early to have a look at the city and I really liked their muli-coloured buses. The only other time I've seen Cope play (and I've been a huge fan of his work since the early 90's) was November 3, 1995, at The Middle East club in Cambridge, MA. I remember excellent performances of Soul Desert and Upwards At 45 Degrees that night. Though he encored with World Shut Your Mouth which was a little different than the rest of the performance and I couldn't tell if he was playing it out of obligation, because it was "the hit". Last night he closed with Greatness And Perfection and Robert Mitchum. Excellent stuff. But what was really exciting last night was that HE PLAYED THE GREAT DOMINIONS!!!! Such a fantastic song, from an incredible Pop album, The Teardrop Explodes' Wilder. (I own four copies of this album on record, as the US and UK versions have different covers...and insert sleeves ; ) Same with Kilimanjaro.)

No Reading videos have surfaced yet but here's The Great Dominions a few weeks ago (21/9/12) at Brudenell SC Leeds:

From his description last night, the books he's writing sound incredibly entertaining, including a "psychedelic road movie" through an parallel-reality Sardinia.

The Teardrop Explodes original of The Great Dominions:

There's some Brilliant Pop stuff on Wilder but also beautiful, strange numbers like this and Tiny Children, which, although I wasn't there at the time, it always seemed odd to me that a charting pop band appearing in teeny-bopper magazines would also be releasing. But very glad they did.

And once again, my Quietus piece on the comic book origins of The Teardrop Explodes' name.

Amatorski

2012-10-03T14:24:00.001+01:00

I recently did an interview with Dutch comics legend Joost Swarte that will be up on The Quietus soon. His work is excellent, I highly recommend checking it out. I was particularly impressed that in his book Is That All There Is?, he lists a 'Listening Tips From The Studio'. This is something I think all artists, no matter what the medium, should do. I'm always curious to know what people are listening to (Go-Kart Mozart included such a list on their latest, On The Hot Dog Streets). Joost Swarte mentioned "one of the most interesting young groups in Belgium is Amatorski" so I knew I should check them out. And very pleased I did, buying all their available output upon hearing them. Lovely, dreamy pop. Some of it reminding me of David Lynch's 50's-esque numbers but with synthesizers, at other times I think of Stars and Broadcast, but softer.

Come Home:

The King:

Never Told:

The haunting and lovely instrumental, Faded:

Same Stars We Shared (excellent title):

And I absolutely love this beautiful reworking of 8 November by Lewis In Heaven, from their remix album re:tbc. A heavenly slice of romantic, spacey Pop.

A live session of the song from Eurosonic 2012 in Groningen, The Netherlands:

Arvo Pärt - Spiegel Im Spiegel

2012-10-03T13:44:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to investigate the works of Arvo Pärt since I came across his name in Bill Drummond's 17 book. Rob Loveday posted this on Facebook the other day and I'm just bowled over by its beauty.

Arvo Pärt's Spiegel Im Spiegel performed by Jürgen Kruse (piano) and Benjamin Hudson (viola):

Ash Ra Tempel/Ashra - Sunrain...

2012-10-01T22:37:00.001+01:00

I've been listening to the Louis Philippe podcasts, very interesting. In the fifth one, "Return To Pop", he talks about meeting Bertrand Burgalat and Sunrain by Ash Ra Tempel being each of their favourite Krautrock songs (actually by Ashra, Manuel Gottsching's project after Ash Ra Tempel). I love the first Ash Ra Tempel album but only know their output up through Join Inn. I'd never heard this lovely piece of music before.

That podcast episode also reminded me of seeing Louis Philippe and Bertrand Burgalat on the same bill at Bush Hall, London, April 2005. Was a lovely evening. And I was quite taken with Bertrand's song The Angels Combine (from Portrait-Robot). Another World Gone By from that record is also very nice.

In the 6th Louis Philippe podcast, "Consolidation", he talks about working with Pop Genius Martin Newell on The Off White Album.

Martin Newell - Jacqui...

2012-09-30T00:05:00.001+01:00

Since Martin Newell's Golden Afternoon last Sunday, I've been going back and revisiting all his solo records. The beautiful Grenadine And Blue from The Light Programme had passed me by on first listen and I was sure there were other gems I should be more aware of. And sure enough, there are plenty. In particular is Jacqui, also from The Light Programme. This song is simply Gorgeous, the lyrics swelling one's heart with regret.

Martin Newell's Golden Afternoon...

2012-09-23T21:49:00.003+01:00

Just got back from Martin Newell's Golden Afternoon which, despite being a day of grey and rain (and the rail line being down meaning 2 trains and a bus each way), was very enjoyable, really great. Ever the entertainer, Martin came out and played some songs, switching between guitar and piano, before bringing on the 2 acts he chose to play, then he came back for some poetry (one poem pointed out that if you were born in '45, when you were 33, it was '78) and an incredibly funny story about a dog, then the bands played again, and he finished off with some more songs, including a new one on the mandolin which shows much promise for the new record (I'm Moving On, which can be heard here after a really good interview with Fixe mag). The show started at 2 PM and the whole thing was over by 5, very civilized. Checking the setlist when it was over, after the 3rd song he seemed to abandon sticking to it and even threw in an amazing cover of Life On Mars? and Matt Monro's Walk Away (which I'd never heard before and is lovely). Both are now up here under the name Duvet Covers, as well as The World Strikes One and a clip of Stella & Charlie Got Married.

The second song of the set was Speed Of A Train from his Songs From The Station Hotel, which I love. A killer tune, if you like Guided By Voices I highly recommend listening to this, a shame I can't find it anywhere to play on the internet. An excellent song that had passed me by is Grenadine And Blue from The Light Programme and the live version today really sold it to me. The World Strikes One was also excellent this afternoon. Here it is (with Victoria Grey following!) from the first Golden Afternoon in 2003:

I was very excited that he played The Greatest Living Englishman:

The other two acts were Girl Du Bois who were very good, playing 30s French songs and Franglaisized versions of English pop songs such as Road To Nowhere and People Are Strange. They even ended with a Boris Vian cover. Check Boris Vian out, a very clever and entertaining figure (I mean to do a post on his music soon). And The Corner Laughers from California, who play very cute, melodic indiepop.

Pugwash & Neil Hannon featuring Matt Berry - What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted...

2012-09-13T21:14:00.000+01:00

My friend Ben just alerted me to this:

Pugwash, Neil Hannon, and Matt Berry covering What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted. Lovely, isn't it? Recorded for The Shortest Night, this year's charity album from Dublin's Sound Training Centre in aid of the Dublin Simon Community. Soundcloud link here in case you can't see the YouTube clip.

Steve Harley also covered it on his 1996 Poetic Justice album.

It's funny, this song always reminds of the "what became of the man that started" section of Iron Maiden's Stranger In A Strange Land. How odd.

Gavin Osborn - Albert Went Out To See Rock Bands...

2012-09-11T12:31:00.002+01:00

My review of Gavin Osborn's Come On Folks, Settle Down is up here. If you like indie-pop, you should really know Gavin Osborn. Albert Went Out To See Rock Bands is "a fine example of how well Gavin Osborn can tell a tale. It takes almost a minute and a half to get the 77-year-old hero of the story from his bedroom down the stairs and out the door to the action. This has nothing to do with age but instead the minutely detailed journey captures all the excitement of what the night has to offer, knowing that these particulars are vital components of the adventure and its appreciation. The song, though very amusing, also communicates that brilliant feeling of doing something you love, the unsuspected delights of where music can bring you, and how wonderful it is to be with someone who understands these things (even if you think they don’t even know)." Gavin's songs are wonderfully detailed, perfectly expressing, with humour and feeling, the little bits that life is made of.

Live at Latitude 2010:

There aren't a lot of videos online but two songs that I really love and that keep getting stuck in my head are the beautiful That's How I Know and the funny and touching Charlie's 18th Birthday, from his Meeting Your Heroes album (produced by Darren Hayman) and also on the The Ballad Of Roger & Grace split with Daniel Kitson (highly recommended).

Nino Rota - 8 1/2 Rhumba/What I Played At DEBBIE September 7th, 2012...

2012-09-08T10:32:00.002+01:00

I DJ'd the opening slot at DEBBIE last night, Sina's all-female vocal night, now at The White Rabbit in Stoke Newington, a really good venue. Sina likes to open every DEBBIE with a lesser known Debbie Harry number and I was delighted to remember that she covered the rhumba from Fellini's 8 1/2 (one of my favourite films). The Rhumba from the beach scene with Saraghina is such an incredibly awesome piece of music, ecstatically cool, a brilliant composition by Nino Rota, and such a shame it's not on the official soundtrack.

So I was delighted to learn that Debbie Harry did a version of it as a b-side to her 1993 single Strike Me Pink (also on Debravation:Producer's Cut). I can't find this anywhere on the internet to share, and I had to track down the cd single when I first heard that she covered it. Truth be told, it's not as great as the original, but still awesome that it exists. And I was psyched to open my set with it last night.

What I Played At DEBBIE, September 7th, 2012:

Deborah Harry - 8 1/2 Rhumba
Kahimi Karie - Good Morning World
Emmanuelle Seigner - Dingue
Marsha Gee - Peanut Duck
Dracula's Daughter - Candy
Diane Renay - Kiss Me Sailor
Brenda Holloway - Reconsider
The Would-Be-Goods - Velásquez & I
Vanessa Paradis - Be My Baby
Saint Etienne - Kiss And Make Up (London Conversations version)
The B-52's - Debbie
Pris - Blu Tack Baby
Otur - Apart
Paisley & Charlie - Hold Me
Club 8 - The Chance I Deserve
Anthony Adverse - London My Town
Shrag - Rabbit Kids
Lesley Gore - Sometimes
Freezepop - Doppelganger
Shampoo - Delicious
Gina G - Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit (this seems to have become my signature tune ; )

Shrag - Devastating Bones...

2012-09-06T14:30:00.000+01:00

Shrag's new video for Devastating Bones is up today. A good ol' singalong glamrock stomper.

My review of their new album, Canines, here.

Unofficial videos for the lovely Chasing Consummations (featuring footage from Dreams That Money Can Buy that I've mentioned before in connection with The Real Tuesday Weld):

And the absolutely beautiful Jane With Dumbbells. One of the all-time great album closers, transporting you to its own magic-tinged world. "Its enormous yet delicate dreaminess sends one floating through prismatic rainy afternoons, staring out the window at hidden rainbows further obscured by the grey, while some other part of yourself slips off through soothing dreamspaces. Evoking a beauty both born of and counter to 'those toxic mornings, those saccharine days'"

Suede - Shipbuilding...

2012-09-04T19:19:00.001+01:00

Suede's Facebook page have reminded us that it was on this day (September 4th) in 1995 that The Help Album was recorded, featuring Suede's excellent cover of Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding. (I hadn't realized Clive Langer of Deaf School and producer fame wrote the music to this!) Suede's version was my introduction to the song and I think I even like it better than the original:

Elvis Costello's original:

And Elvis live on Swedish TV 1983:

I also always liked Terry Hall & Salad's version of Dream A Little Dream from The Help Album:

David Shah & I covered this as well last year for a few Soft Close-Ups gigs. Free download of it here.

Emmanuelle Seigner...

2012-09-04T13:16:00.000+01:00

During my French pop binge of recent weeks, I actually followed an iTunes recommendation while I was looking to see if they had any more Isabelle de Funès (sadly, they didn't). But I was led to Emmanuelle Seigner and her Dingue album (Kieron Tyler, who wrote that, gave H Bird a nice review last year in MOJO) as I rather liked the cover. And a lovely pop album it is.

My favourite is Le Jour Parfait, I'm a sucker for 'woo-woo's and such a nice chorus:

Alone À Barcelone sweetly sways about the city:

The title track, Dingue:

Emmanuelle duets with her husband, Roman Polanksi, on Qui Êtes-vous? and with Iggy Pop here on La Dernière Pluie:

She also dueted with Brett Anderson on his Back To You:

Before Dingue, Seigner was in Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle. Don't Kiss Me Goodbye, also featured in The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, is a great slice of Mazzy Star/The Velvet Underground:

Their Sing is also quite a good song.

Seigner also starred in Death In Vegas' racy Hands Around My Throat video.

Stephin Merritt - One April Day...

2012-09-03T01:03:00.000+01:00

It's late and I haven't had much of a chance to post here lately as it's been a busy week/weekend (ace new glam/punk club night launch last night for Suffragette City in the basement of Cakey Muto. The ultimate combination really - bar and cake shop upstairs/dancing downstairs. And Cakey's vegan coconut and lime cake is absolutely amazing!)

Anyway, I'm going to bed now but I was just reminded of this wonderfully beautiful song that Stephin Merritt did for the Pieces Of April soundtrack.

Gwenno - Despenser St. ...

2012-08-30T00:24:00.000+01:00

I did a nice interview with Gwenno from The Pipettes about her ace new solo e.p., Ymbelydredd, sung entirely in Welsh. I've posted about Gwenno before, I'm a big fan of her solo work. And Despenser St. is wonderfully sweet and dreamy, despite the lyrics being quite bleak (see English translation here). It's been stuck in my head and on my stereo for weeks now.

Matt Berry - Take My Hand...

2012-08-27T14:09:00.003+01:00

I'm very impressed with the pilot for Matt Berry's new sitcom, Toast of London (watch it here). Very funny indeed, well, the man is a comedy genius. I hope a series is made, I've watched this twice and already want to see it again. His songs are very good too, a nice mix of 70s rock, prog, psych and folk. One marvels at his articulation and expression, the best voice in comedy, as well as the range of his vocals. The theme for Toast is the song Take My Hand from his Witchhazel album, which he says is about "the terrors of the countryside" and features Paul McCartney on backing vocals for Rain Comes Down. Those chords, once the song kicks in proper, and in the chorus, are just lovely.

The theme to Snuffbox, his show with Rich Fulcher, which definitely had a lot of great moments, is very catchy too:

And then there's this:

Unfortunately not the clip from the show but...well, words just can't do this justice. From Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, starring Berry, Richard Ayoade, and Matthew Holness. Incredibly awesome, as is its spin-off chat show, Man To Man With Dean Learner.

Interview with Matt Berry about his music here (Liberation Frequency).