Log #143 - Fried Wax To Burn

Julian Cope, him from Teardrop Explodes, and Antiquarian and Krautrock expert, is a genius. His Modern Antiquarian reference guide, 7 years in the compiling, is a fantastic gift to mankind, one of my favourite books, and one that has enlightened many a holiday to the South West. His musical taste is impeccable - an early adopter of Krautrock, his Krautrock Sampler is a long out of print classic of the genre. I've also been enjoying his double autobiography Head On/Repossessed which has led me to the current selection Fried his second studio album following the break up of The Teardrop Explodes.

With the Teardrops over, Cope retreated to his new home in Tamworth with his American girlfriend Dorian, to play on his keyboard, collect Dinky toys and take drugs. 

Tom Pinnock, Uncut 

So what of his music? I have to say I don't know anything about his music, or The Teardrop Explodes, save for the pop single World Shut Your Mouth (incidentally worth noting that Cope's first solo album also uses the title World Shut Your Mouth but confusingly does not include the track of the same name which was not released until 1986, 2 years later).

Fried is a nice surprise. It's pretty raw and heavy and doesn't sound dated in that typical '80s way. It reminds me of The Smiths. I particularly loved the brilliantly sung Mik Mak Mok which appears as a bonus on my copy (generally though I don't think Cope's vocals are that strong but he gets away with the enthusiasm of the band's playing). Other standouts are the catchy Sunspots and Reynard The Fox. 

The bizarre cover features Cope in a turtle shell with one of his toy trucks (Cope was an avid model car collector).

Is his image of eccentricity and edginess at all contrived? Having read his warts and all books I'd say definitely not.

Nightmares On Wax - Feelin' Good

Calexico with Iron and Wine - Years To Burn

Julian Cope - Fried

Michael Hedges - Aerial Boundaries

John Martyn - Bless the Weather

Fairport Convention - Liege and Lief

Feelin' Good is the 7th album from Leeds DJ and producer George Evelyn otherwise known as Nightmares On Wax. And it does just what it says on the can: It's a feel good record of down tempo beats taking in afro beats, Kruder and Dorfmeister like dub, reggae, funk, deep bass and even ambience.

Luna 2 for instance recalls Can's Hallelujah style circular drumming with throbbing Holger Czukay bass and Nile Rodgers disco strumming whereas Master Plan sounds like Portishead.

The Calexico/Iron/Wine collaboration sort of sounds like the whole is not as great as the sum of the parts, or not as great as it should be. Two different artists in combination. Both great in varying degrees over variable careers but together? Is there a point? Sometimes these sorts of collaborations can feel less a real fusion but a "your turn, no after you" situation. You can hear the trademark laid back Sam Beam drawl, and the occasional Calexico mariachi trumpet but I wouldn't say Years To Burn offers much of an advance on either band's individual catalogue albeit “The Bitter Suite is certainly the most compositionally ambitious song either entity has released in years"(Stephen M. Deusner, Pitchfork).

It's a nice cover, like the Father John Misty covers, and that's a good reference point although this ain't so good as his recent records.

It's also very short, leaving me with a "was that it?" sentiment.

Aerial Boundaries is the classic Michael Hedges album, and a staple of the Windham Hill "new age" catalogue. The late Hedges was a much revered acoustic guitarist at the forefront of the rebirth of the instrument in the 80s through guitarists like Will Ackerman, Alex de Grassi and Pierre Bensusan. A dynamic live performer, incorporating percussive effects and even vocals, some of his albums verge a little too close to easy listening for my tastes, especially with the heavy use of fretless electric bass. Also fond of his own arrangements of covers this album includes Neil Young's After The Goldrush.

Hedges was a tragically killed in a motor accident in December 1997, age 43.

I've not heard anything else in the genre that has changed my mind, and general consensus, that Liege and Lief is the greatest folk rock album of all time. Combining traditional songs with a rock beat what I love most about the sound of Fairport Convention at the time is the circular grind of Richard Thompson's guitar and Dave Swarbrick's fiddle. I'm sure you've all heard the double murder ballad Matty Groves many a time but it remains one of their greatest songs:

Lord Donald, he jumped up

And loudly he did bawl

He struck his wife right through the heart

And pinned her against the wall

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Log #32 - Worshipping the Dub Pistols

Highlighted this week is the tremendous Worshipping the Dollar album by the Dub Pistols. The Dub Pistols are a very entertaining live band drawing on electronics, samples, big beats, dub (of course), reggae, dance, rap, brass, drum and bass, acid house and hip hop. A perennial festival favourite it is very pleasing the group have captured the excitement of a live performance in the studio with this 2012 offering. Sample their infectious high energy music here with West End Story.

The always well turned out Dub Pistols

A bit of an unplanned world flavour in the also-rans this week with Tex Mex band Calexico, German/Norwegian Whitest Boy Alive, Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco Pena, Orquesta Reve from Cuba and DJ Vadim from Russia. As for the Pistols - straight outta London.

1. Calexico - The Black Light
2. The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams
3. Orquesta Reve - La Explosion Del Momento
4. Paco Pena - Fabulous Flamenco
5. DJ Vadim - The Soundcatcher
6. Dub Pistols - Worshipping the Dollar

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Log #28 - Lost and Found, the Unusual Career Trajectory of The Sugarman

Like many I discovered Rodriguez through the superb Searching for Sugarman film. My partner wanted to go to the cinema and I'd read rave reviews about the film Argo which was also showing (also a brilliant film incidentally). I wasn't fussed about seeing the Sugarman film but I was wrong and it was fascinating. I knew nothing about him apart from through the track Sugarman which appeared on a David Holmes DJ mix album in 2002 entitled Come Get It I Got It.  And as I knew nothing and indeed had no idea if he was still alive the suspense in the film during "the search" was tangible. I'm sure the story of a poor manual labourer from Detroit achieving overdue fame and fortune in South Africa unbeknownst to himself was somewhat romanticised but still a great one.

*spoiler alert* I don't think there are many music fans left with an interest in his music who would not know the outcome of the film so it is ok for me to say that a still living Rodriguez was tracked down and by coincidence he appeared at Brighton Dome just two weeks after I saw the film in November 2012.

It was a superb concert where a fragile but strong voiced Rodriguez played most of the tracks from his only two albums Cold Fact and Coming From Reality plus a storming encore of Blowin' in the Wind (Rodriguez was yet another artist originally hailed as the new Dylan or could have been as good as...). The former album is the more famous and includes the Sugarman track but I actually think the Coming From Reality album is stronger. This edition includes a couple of new outtakes and B sides.

As a tragic aside the Oscar winning director of the Searching for Sugarman film shockingly took his own life in 2014: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/searching-sugarman-director-dead-thr-710882

1. Rodriguez - Coming From Reality
2. Bob Dylan - Desire
3. Iron and Wine - Around the Well CD 1
4. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
5. Calexico - Garden Ruin
6. Van Morrison - Moondance/St. Dominic's Preview*

A bit of a cheat on the whole selection this week as I was on holiday and away from the CD magazine. These are the CDs I had with me and was able to play in a hire car. Amazingly I really was on the way to some Aztec ruins in Mexico when I heard Bob Dylan sing: "Past the Aztec ruins and the ghosts of our people" from Romance in Durango off of my favourite Dylan album Desire. #evocative

Durango is a real place in Northern Mexico

*The last CD in the list is a home made compilation of two of Van Morrison's greatest albums (sometimes fun to do this when you can fit two on the same CD) - a combination not officially available.

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Log #13 - A Calexico Retrospective and a Nod to a Brilliant Music Discovery App

Tucson Roots and Americana band Calexico come out of the blue to dominate this week's listening (and a plug for the brilliant gnod music discovery website). An unplanned £1 charity shop purchase of the cover album (Garden Ruin) encouraged a retrospective taking in the celebrated Black Light, Feast of Wire, and Hot Rail albums. Garden Ruin is more mainstream than these earlier albums, sounding more like indie pop than their usual acoustic strumming and brass backed mariachi. At that price it represents a bargain addition to the collection with pleasant songs favourably commented upon by other house members, except for the heavy final track All Systems Red. Lucky Dime remains my personal favourite but I haven't nailed the famous song it reminds me of. 

My other choice for the playlist is the atmospheric Mexican flavoured instrumental Minas De Cobre (mines of copper) from Black Light. May I also recommend the recent live performance from the consistently excellent KEXP sessions series - some stripped down songs with insights from the very likeable band leader Joey Burns - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wznHyVvSvMM

I was thinking some more about the Arbouretum album - specifically thinking of other bands they sound like. Nirvana, Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Neil Young come to mind. But that doesn't quite do justice to the dirge and grunge of their wall of sound. Their guitars are even more distorted and the songs are very slow. I looked them up on the fascinating music map website (a way to discover new bands that are supposedly similar to others you like - and films and authors too via gnod.com). The selected band appears at the centre of the screen and other suggestions jostle for position around the centre (the closest being those most similar). It's a great website to play with. Below are the results for Arbouretum and surprisingly to me not many of the bands I was thinking of appear in this "music map", but many new ones to try out (which is the point of the website after all!).

Four Calendar Cafe by The Cocteau Twins is a very polished affair in comparison with last week's Treasure. Along with Heaven or Las Vegas this is one of my favourite albums by the Cocteaus, with catchy multi layered flanged guitar riffs (most evident in Summerhead) and trademark ethereal vocals that send a shiver down my spine. Think of a My Bloody Valentine wall of sound rather than Arbouretum. Hang on, I'm going to try the gnod trick on them too - it should have plenty of white space as there isn't much that sounds like these sonic pioneers.

So here are my six, for this Christmas day, Sunday, 25th December, 2016. Happy holidays and best wishes for a successful 2017.

1. Arbouretum - The Gathering
2. Calexico - Garden Ruin
3. Calexico - Black Light
4. Calexico - Hot Rail
5. Calexico - Feast of Wire
6. Cocteau Twins - Four Calendar Cafe

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Log #12 - New Treasure Uncovered

Several times in my music listening life I've heard something for the first time which sounded like nothing else I had ever heard before. This happened with Can, Neil Young, David Sylvian, Stereolab, and Boards of Canada. I also remember getting a lift back from the North of England in a friend's car one evening and once again hearing something that sounded so different and original to my ears. The band was The Cocteau Twins and the albums we listened to on that long journey were Heaven or Las Vegas and Four Calendar Cafe. Those two fantastic albums are actually more produced and polished, and perhaps more accomplished actually than the earlier Treasure featured here which has more indie rock sensibilities typical of the era (1984). Not that there is anything very much typical about the Cocteau sound with Robin Guthrie's multi layered guitar effects and Elizabeth Frazer's ghostly vocals.

The Cocteau Twins are still the best by far at the 4AD ethereal dreamscape, thanks largely to the extraordinary voice of Liz Fraser. Somehow she's found a voice that falls completely outside 'Rock' or 'Pop'.

It's what we all looked like in the 80s

1. Arbouretum - The Gathering
2. Calexico - Garden Ruin
3. Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Ramsay Midwood - Shootout at the Ok Chinese Restaurant
6. Cocteau Twins - Treasure

Calexico hail from Tucson, Arizona, and their music has a sense of place with their authentic Americana and Mariachi sound. I first heard them through a tremendous instrumental featured on a free CD I picked up with an Uncut magazine. The CD entitled Sounds of the New West was responsible for introducing me to many great Americana (or Alt-Country as it was termed in 1998) artists including The Handsome Family, Will Oldham, Vic Chesnutt and Lambchop.

Probably the greatest free CD ever given away with a magazine

Garden Ruin is actually a bit more mainstream than their earlier acclaimed albums Black Light, Feast of Wire, and Hot Rail and has been criticised by some die hard fans as such, but I still like it. I've chosen Lucky Dime for the playlist which has a lovely feel good vibe which really reminds me of a classic old tune but I can't decide if this is Santana's Black Magic Woman or Evil Ways or something by the Kinks, or is it the Beatles? I hope it comes to me and if it does I'll report back here later! This track isn't really typical Calexico and I wouldn't have recognised it as them without knowing, but as such indicates the tone of this album.

With such an "art" band as Roxy Music it is very easy to overlook the music and focus on their image as I did in Log #11. However after several more plays of For Your Pleasure, which is the only one of their albums I have, I'm realising they were actually good musicians and produced some excellent and original rock music which stands up well against many of their more revered contemporaries.

Really can't say I thought much of the Bon Iver album - the first I've heard from him. Very earnest navel gazing with an annoyingly high pitched voice. Maybe it's a grower if life isn't too short. His latest is one of the Best Albums of 2016 in our local Resident Records review apparently.

The Ramsay Midwood album was a favourite of tiny local pub, The Greys, which used to play it a lot a few year's back when it was regularly hosting many Americana and Roots bands. Without being too familiar with the individual tracks as yet, they all sound indistinguishable from each other but they also say that about Neil Young so it's not necessarily a bad thing at all.

Neil Young only has one solo, but it sure is a good one.

And we'll leave it there with Arbouretum who are a reincarnation of Crazy Horse if I've ever heard one!

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