2023 – The Story So Far – #6

Another month, another stray day.  So for one day only here are five more tracks that have tickled my fancy this year.  They are as usual, tracks I might have heard on the radio, caught live, been recommended by other bloggers, friends or from other sources.  We are going to start with the wonderfully named Broken Records.   A band that some of you may already be aware of

Night Time – Broken Records (2023, 4AD Records, taken from ‘The Dreamless Sleep Of The 1990s’)

Broken Records were formed in Edinburgh way back in 2006 and ‘Night Time’ is taken from their forthcoming fifth album.  It is a bit of a departure from the bands earlier releases, they appear to have done away with some of the distortion of their previous records.  It appears to be an album that is heavily influenced by Covid and all the problems that came out of that.  If you need a reference point it will sit nicely in your collection in the section reserved for R.E.M and The National. 

We’ll stay in Edinburgh for the next track.

19 – Air In The Lungs (2023, Last Night from Glasgow Records, taken from ‘Air In The Lungs’)

I know very little about Air In The Lungs but I really like what I have heard and that is what matters.  They are a new side project formed by Deborah Arnott who is usually one half of the Scottish folk act Blueflint.   ‘19’ is a wonderful indie pop number that is infectious as hell.

Right, let’s leg it down to Bristol for something a bit different from the winners of last years No Badger Required Track of the Year Award.

D.O.D – DAMEFRISOR (2023, Permanent Creep Records, Taken from ‘Island of Light’)

I have started very recently compiling a list of bands that I want to see live before the end of the year.  At the very top of that short list, by some distance as it happens (although on the spreadsheet it seems a small space) is Bristol’s brilliant disco infused post rock geniuses DAMEFRISOR.

‘D.O.D’ was the lead track from their debut EP ‘Island of Light’ which came out back in February and sees the band tackle loneliness and that feeling of invisibility that eats at people in this post Covid world (the second mention of Covid today…).  It’s a great track, full of strong vocals, which sees singer Kahzi Jahfur adopting an almost Ian Curtis like delivery to them.  The way that the track fires up as the beats all collide before calming down at the end is stunning.

It’s time for a quick hope over to Ireland now and a track that I genuinely can’t remember if I have posted in this series before or not – I’ll make no apologies if I have because its marvellous and frankly if I posted it everyday you would consider yourselves lucky.

Cello Song – Fontaines D.C (2023, Partisan Records, Taken from ‘The Endless Coloured Ways’)

‘Cello Song’ is taken from a recently released tribute album to Nick Drake, which sees a bunc of our indie favourites (and Guy Garvey) take on a load of Drake best tracks.  Fontaines D.C’s version of ‘Cello Song’ is wonderfully brooding and atmospheric and easily the pick off an excellent album.

Lastly today we are heading off to Coventry where we find a band called the Institutes showing their sensitive sides.

Inside Out  – The Institutes (2023, 42 Records, Taken from ‘Colosseums’)

‘Inside Out’ is a hark back to indie of yesteryear, all swooping strings, heartfelt choruses and an epic explosion of guitars that all fade away majestically to leave some strings and an acoustic guitar.  It’s almost like ‘Whatever’ by Oasis never happened.  That aside ‘Inside Out’ is a very good thing indeed folks and if this was 1996, you’d be holding your lighter in the air at some smelly festival and declaring The Institutes to be your new favourite band as its 2023, we’ll just say ‘Well Done’ and scratch our heads as to how this lot aren’t absolutely bloody massive.

Fifty Twelve Inches – #3 Roni Size

Watching Windows (DJ Die Gnarly Vocal Mix) – Roni Size & Reprazent (1997, Talkin’ Loud Records, Taken from ‘New Forms’)

The third record that my finger was touching when the annoyingly loud ‘STOP’ was hollered by a ten year old who has had too much ice cream, was a DJ promo of ‘Watching Windows’ by drum and bass pioneers Roni Size and Reprazent.  Which brought a nostalgic smile to my face.

Back in the mid to late nineties when I was a student, I did a fair bit of DJing.  I used to DJ in a small bar in the basement of the Union for the ‘Indie Music Society’.  Guitars were the thing for this geeky bunch of people.  We were much more ‘Gold Soundz’ than Goldie if that makes sense.

We would occasionally have live bands (famously we put Kula Shaker on in a 150 capacity venue when they were like number 15 in charts or something and almost caused a riot) and we would play the latest Britpop hits to the kids in their skinny jeans and band tshirts and those nights were really popular evenings.  Every now and again we would get away with playing some music that didn’t contain guitars, although that was nearly always restricted to bands like The Prodigy and Underworld, because they were by association essentially Britpop bands.

But by 1997 music was changing, the kids didn’t want to listen to guitars anymore – well they did but they wanted guitars, keyboards and big dirty beats, they didn’t really want indie anymore.  We which jumped up at the chance to do, six months earlier we would have got tuts of derision if we tried to play anything that resembled drum n bass, hip hop or house music.  Not because the audience didn’t like that sort of music but because we were rubbish DJs and could never get the beat mix right and had no idea which speed to play certain records at – that is where Roni Size came in.  Well that is where the DJ Die Gnarly Vocal Mix of ‘Watching Windows’ came in and in fact the Vocal Mix of ‘Brown Paper Bag’ especially – the bit where the beat drops in that one after the vocal lull is insane.

Brown Paper Bag (Roni Size Full Vocal Mix) – Roni Size/Reprazent (1997, Talkin’ Loud Records)

The ‘Watching Windows’ promo is one of about ten or so that I have from back in the day when I used to DJ at the students union.  They are full of hyperactive mixes of various Roni Size tunes that accompanied the single releases from the excellent ‘New Forms’ album (which a few years ago was given the anniversary treatment and now comes in a five hour 4 disc boxset).  Like this one (which is also in the cupboard on twelve inch).

Brown Paper Bag (Photek Remix) – Roni Size/Reprazent (1997, Talkin’ Loud Records, Twelve Inch promo)

And this one – which a little more laid back

Heroes (Kruder Long Loose Bossa Mix) – Roni Size/Reprazent (1997, Talkin’ Loud Records)

Wonderful stuff.

Nearly Perfect Albums – #71

It Still Moves – My Morning Jacket (2003, ATO Records)

According to the press releases that accompanied the release of My Morning Jacket’s third album (which was both their first for a major label and their commercial breakthrough), ‘It Still Moves’, their singer Jim James recorded all of his vocals inside an underground chamber that was used to store agricultural feed. They are at times echo-y and distant sounding but they never seem out of sorts with the alt-country sound that fills the air.  It is a real rural sounding record, perfect to soundtrack a drive along straight roads that cut through fields of wheat and flat swathes of grass that have the odd barn littering up the place.

Opening track, ‘Mahgeetah’ is a prime example of this, it is a wonderfully textured song, full of modest guitar solos that twang, long drawn out vocals, cowbells and a thunderously brilliant finish.  It feels evocative and windswept.

Mahgeetah – My Morning Jacket (2003, ATO Records)

Another track that feels all nostalgic, is the wonderful ‘Golden’.  That sways gently as a haze of reverb washes over it as Jim James’ ghostly vocals drift over it spectacularly.  It reminds me of lot of the music you might hear on the soundtrack of films like ‘Easy Rider’. 

Golden – My Morning Jacket (2003, ATO Records)

One of the many stand out tracks is ‘One Big Holiday’, it was this track perhaps more than all the others which helped propel My Morning Jacket towards the stadium rock status that they now have.  It starts with a shimmering cymbal and a solitary guitar that suddenly bursts into life and builds into something pretty majestic.

One Big Holiday – My Morning Jacket (2003, ATO Records)

I’ve touched upon Jim James’ vocals briefly above, they are incredible on this record.  He is one of the greatest vocalist to have emerged out of the new(ish) crop of Americana scene in recent years.  At times he sounds otherworldly especially when his vocals are allowed to drift as the reverb rachets up to titanic levels.  Its dreamlike in places, astonishing in other places, unique most of the time.  The sort of voice that leaves you speechless.

Easy Morning Rebel – My Morning Jacket (2003, ATO Records)

If there is one flaw with this record it is perhaps its length, it rocks (literally) in at just over 74 minutes, which is pretty long for any record that isn’t a pretending to be a double album and depending on your mood, it’s a record that occasionally best listened to it chunks.  They could easily have ended it one track earlier perhaps because the last track ‘One in the Same’, despite being another Jim James vocal masterpiece (where he sounds all forlorn and fragile singing about his broken heart), is the weakest track on the album, but it will (or it should) bring a tear to your eye.

One in the Same – My Morning Jacket (2003, ATO Records)

‘It Still Moves’ is an album of very different things, it is at times beautiful, it is at times raucous and it is at times like a crisp morning walk in the countryside.  It is however, always brilliant.

A Month of Beasts, Bugs, and Birds – #20 – The Snail

Pristine – Snail Mail (2018, Matador Records, Taken from ‘Lush’)

If I must.

Snail Mail is the solo project of a lady called Lindsey Jordan who released her debut EP at the age of 16 and her debut album two years later.  That record, ‘Lush’ is insanely brilliant and comes totally recommended to you all if you haven’t already heard it.  It is full of lofi guitar sounds and songs that are all carefully textured that move between sadness, complexity, and happiness.  It reminds me a lot of the work of Liz Phair – but when you consider that Lindsey Jordan was still a teenager when she wrote this record, it is even more staggering.

Here is another track from ‘Lush’

Heat Wave – Snail Mail (2018, Matador Records, Taken from ‘Lush’)

A couple of years ago, Jordan released the follow up to ‘Lush’, the equally brilliant ‘Valentine’ and seeing as it is Friday and the last day of this series, you can have a track from that as well.  Seriously both records are tremendous.

Headlock – Snail Mail (2021, Matador Records, Taken from ‘Valentine’)

Ok, that’s enough talk about music.  As is the last day of the series I’m going to tell you a joke now.

There’s this snail right, and it is slithering merrily along the path minding his own business.  He suddenly becomes very thirsty (I have no idea if snails get thirsty or not, it’s a joke, go with me here – I don’t this type of thing very often) and decides to knock on the door of the nearby house to see if he can get a thimble full of water (which would still be a lot of water for a snail to drink). Anyway, he heaves himself up on to the steep and knocks on the door (again, go with me here, snails have no concept of knocking on doors, and even if they could, I very much doubt that a human could hear them).  After a short while, a man answers the door (see above), looks around doesn’t see anyone and goes to shut the door. 

“Down here” says the snail.

The man looks down and is surprised (yup, you would be, it is a talking snail).  “What do you want, snail?” says the man (personally I would have said, “sweet jesus a talking snail” but I’m only telling the joke, not starring in it).

“Can I have a drink of water please, I’m parched” says the snail.

For some reason the man is outraged by this question, not stunned by the talking snail which if marketed correctly could have made him millions.  He is so stunned that he picks the snail up and lobs him as hard as he could towards the end of the garden shouting

“Filthy, disgusting gastropod, bugger off”.

Let’s pause for a tune shall we.

Snail – Smashing Pumpkins (1991, Hut Records, Taken from ‘Gish’)

Right back to the joke. 

The snail is luckily not hurt (in reality he almost certainly would have died an horrific death),and finds himself at the bottom of the garden near some rose bushes.  He slithers off slightly shaken by his ordeal and upset by the human man’s actions.  Time passes in a sort of fast forward blur, people come and go, the grass gets long and then short again.  A while later there is a knocking sound on the door of the house and an old frail man with a long beard and a walking frame opens the door, his hand shaking as he twists the knob of the door.  He looks out and sees no one there.

“Down here” a voice says.  It is the snail.

“What did you do that for?” said the snail, (who in the unlikely event that he didn’t die from being lobbed by an angry human, would now be impossibly old for a snail – but like I said, it’s a joke).

I’m literally here all week.

Here is the last creature related tune. One that covers a large section of all the creatures.

Faded Glamour – Animals That Swim (1996, Elemental Records, Taken from ‘I Was The King, I Really Was The King’)

Next month’s series will start on Tuesday and it will feature a wealth of guest contributors over the month of August as a bunch of middle aged men who really should know better tell us about their favourite females in rock. 

A Month of Beasts, Bugs, and Birds – #19 – The Wolf

Hideous Heart – Ichabod Wolf (2018, Adult Teeth Records, Taken from ‘Carry On, Crow’)

Ok, briefly then, three things about Ichabod Wolf and then I’ll tell you about a man in North Devon who lives with wolves.

First thing, there are not enough pop stars, rock stars, or even run of the mill bottom of the bill at Glastonbury musicians who have the name Ichabod.  It is a glorious name, even if it’s probably not his real name – I mean he comes from Chesterfield and no one from Chesterfield is really called Ichabod (just checked his actual name is Kieran Smith, see why he changed it now).

Second thing Ichabod Wolf has a tremendous voice, one that the press would call ‘enigmatic’.  One that I say will stop you in your tracks and make your mouth dribble.  His lyrics are wonderful as well, kind of that confessional singer songwriter ethos that Frank Turner has, although musically he is a stride or two away from what Frank does. 

Thirdly, ‘Carry On, Crow’ is a wonderful name for an album.  It’s very good too if you haven’t heard it already I’d check it out.

Now, for the third day in a row, that’s enough about actual music.  This month is about creatures and me crowbarring random songs that feature that creature into a piece about them.  Like this one.

Don’t Delete the Kisses – Wolf Alice (2017, Dirty Hit Records, Taken from ‘Visions of A Life’)

So let me tell you the tale of the North Devon Wolf Man or Shaun Ellis to his mum and dad.  There used to be a wildlife park in a small town in the ordinary North Devon town of Combe Martin – regular NBR contributor The Robster, will vouch for its relative mundanity, it had one good pub, a fairly decent beach, an ok chippy, and next to no local music scene, it is very popular with tourists.

The Wildlife Park was founded by Shaun Ellis and in 2005, he spent 18 months living in captivity there with three abandoned wolf pups and became the packs alpha male.  He also states that he spent two years living as a member of wild wolf pack in Idaho.  He said that he ate what the other wolves ate, which was mostly raw deer, fruit and berries.  He also that the wolves brought him food and that the human body adapted to his new diet.

Now I should perhaps post something by Pete Doherty’s pal, Wolf Man here, but I’m going to pretend I’ve never heard of him since Songwhip don’t have his most well known track.  So I’m going to down this route instead, besides, it’s a much better song.

Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran (1982, EMI Records, Taken from Carnival’)

There is a really good documentary on Ellis (I think it’s on You Tube).  In it the film makers walk around Combe Martin, interviewing locals and asking them what they think about him and his lifestyle with wolves.  One local lady sort of screws her nose up, looks right at the camera and says : –

“I bet he bloody stinks”

before walking off laughing.  She is probably right, because Ellis claims that he can communicate with wolves through scent and sound.  They recognise his smell apparently.   Largely because he doesn’t wash and rolls around if wolf shit most of the time in order to be authentic. As far as I know Shaun Ellis is not married.

Grounds for Divorce – Wolf Parade (2005, Sub Pop Records, Taken from ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’)

Here is the final Creature Clue – A shelled gastropod (and their unshelled cousins).

A Month of Beasts, Bugs, and Birds – #18 – The Squid (and other molluscs)

Paddling – Squid (2020, Warp Records, taken from ‘Bright Green Field’)

Ok, Just briefly. 

Squid are a post punk band from Brighton who join a very short list of decent bands who have a drummer that sings.  Their debut album ‘Bright Green Field’ is a thing of wonder and is one of only a handful of albums released this decade that have made it on to the ‘Nearly Perfect Album’ longlist.  They write songs about paintings, feminist literature ancient burial chambers and police brutality. 

Their second album ‘O Monolith’ might well end up as the No Badger Required Album of the Year too. I mean there is very little not to like about Squid.

Here is another track of theirs,

Peel St – Squid (2020, Warp Records, Taken from ‘Bright Green Field’)

Anyway, enough of this talking about music, let’s talk a load of molluscs (and I’m aware that 1987 is on the phone wanting their joke back, thank you).

It’s not just the band Squid that are great, the creatures are bloody brilliant too.  They can change shape, impersonate other creatures, camouflage, squirt ink, some are bioluminescent and can use light to distract enemies.  They rock.

All of that brilliant stuff is flicked into a cocked hat though by the fact that the squid (or to be precise, the Colossal Squid, the enormous brother of your common every day plain massive squid) is now widely regarded to be what sailors actually when their ships were attacked or visited by sea monsters, such as The Kraken (google the pictures).  Let’s have a brief history lesson (and some old school rave).

The Kraken – N-Joi (2022, Food Records, Taken from ‘Collected’)

In July 1734 a Norwegian explorer by the name Hans Egede was on a boat sailing to the western coast of Greenland, when the boat he was in sailed past a massive sea monster.

It was according to Egede “a most terrible creature, resembling nothing they saw before. The monster lifted its head so high that it seemed to be higher than the crow’s nest on the mainmast. The head was small and the body short and wrinkled. The unknown creature was using giant fins which propelled it through the water. Later the sailors saw its tail as well. The monster was longer than our whole ship”

It has come to be accepted that without doubt what Egede and his team saw back then at twenty five to six was in fact a colossal squid and a bloody big one at that.

The largest Colossal Squid ever sighted in modern times, (and sightings of these colossal beasts are rarer than a Tory MP with a social conscious), was recorded as being 66ft (20 metres) long.  Its eyes were estimated at being 27cm wide (that, to put a musical reference to it, is roughly the size of a twelve-inch record).  Imagine that peeking over the side of your canoe or swimming alongside when you are cavorting in your budgie smugglers in the sea.

The more common relative to the Squid, is of course the octopus.  In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa an octopus named Paul became world famous with his apparent psychic ability to predict the outcome of the matches in the World Cup.  Paul was a German Octopus who would swim over to one of two bowls baring the flags of competing countries.  He was a celebrity in his own country until he predicted a German defeat to Spain in the Semi Final and was correct.  Then angry criminals linked to shady Chinese backed betting syndicates broke into his aquarium, stole him and cooked him*.

Your Smile – Octopus (1996, Food Records, Taken from ‘From A to B’)

* They didn’t really.  He died peacefully about three months after the end of the 2010 World Cup.  However, Rabio, a Japanese Octopus used to predict the results of the Japanese football team in 2018 was killed and eaten after Japan were knocked out of the 2018 World Cup. 

The News of World did something similar with Russell Grant in 1997.

Here is tomorrow’s penultimate Creature Clue – Something you should be afraid of (if its Big and Bad and dressed like grandma that is).

A Month of Beasts, Bugs, and Birds – #17 – The Bird

Night Patrol – Two Wounded Birds (2011, Moshi Moshi Records, Taken from ‘Keep Dreaming Baby’)

I haven’t given much space to talk about music this month, but I want to say something about Two Wounded Birds if I may.  They were a rock band formed in Margate in Kent in 2010.  Their sound is compared as being like The Beach Boys and the Velvet Underground but in reality you can file them somewhere in the gap between the Vaccines and Chris Isaak.

Their vocalist was the excellently named Johnny Danger, who did have this sullen broodiness about him.   Their press photos always used to shown the band looking cross, or wearing sunglasses and leather jackets as they displayed the agony of life through their tortured souls, that sort of thing.   But despite all the darkness and gloom tinged indie, they were definitely more Venice Beach than Broadstairs beach.  Their songs were about summer for one thing.

In 2012, before they had really got started, the band split, there had been problems before then with band members leaving and a few less than favourable reviews of their debut album – which to be fair showed little of the promise of the bands early EP’s but is you know, not bad at all, just not overly good either. I remember, just before the split, the band getting into a furious online spat with a music journalist (a journalist who is now a key part of the excellent music team at the Guardian, but at the time, I think worked for the NME) where insults were slung to and fro and they called the journalist “The worst journalist who has ever lived”, which is quite an insult considering Boris Johnson, Piers Morgan and Garry Bushell have all worked as journalists before.  The journalist responded with “Two Wounded Birds are a fourth rate indie tribute act that even a Wetherspoons pub would refuse to book” or some such put down.

Saucers of milk were distributed all round I think.

No Goodbyes – Two Wounded Birds (2012,Moshi Moshi Records, Taken from ‘Two Wounded Birds)

Anyway, we can’t be talking about music, on a music blog, that would be madness. 

Let’s talk about birds for a bit. 

I’ve got this app on my phone that records the noises made by birds and then analyses it and comes back and tells you what it is.  Really useful if you are out and about, lost and want to know if those screeching noises you can hear above you are vultures or not (they shouldn’t be by the way).  The other week I was walking down to the school to pick up my daughter and I’d taken the scenic route along the footpath which runs along side a couple of fields.  There is a tiny little yellow bird darting in and out of the hedgerow and its shrill little trill fills the air.  It’s a lovely sound.  I have no idea what bird is making the noise but I know an app that can tell me.

Mr Birdsong – Arbor Labor Union (2016, Sub Pop Records, Taken from ‘I Hear You’)

I take out the phone and stand still so I can try and record the sound using my app.  You kind of have to stand there with your arm in the air for a minute, so that a decent range of sounds can be heard.  I stand there perfect sill, I keep my breathing down to a minimum and there is silence.  The bloody bird has shut up for a bit.

Teenage Birdsong – Four Tet (2020, Text Records, Taken from ‘Sixteen Oceans’)

I stand there and wait.  The app keeps telling me that ‘No bird sounds found’, which I know because the only thing I can hear is the faint murmur of cars heading to the school, which is where I should be in about three minutes time.  I sigh and walk on a bit.  Then I hear that trill again and I stop, and give it one last go. 

I like to think that the tiny yellow bird sees me and takes pity on me because it tweets away for about twenty seconds then stops and flies away back into the hedgerow.  I press send and wait for the app to tell me what it was.

It takes about a minute or so. 

It was a Cirl Bunting and as any ornithology fans out there will tell you, that is quite an exciting thing as they are pretty rare.  Sometimes, life is worth a little perseverance.

Birdy – Sea Power (2000, Rough Trade Records, Taken from ‘The Compleat British Sea Power Vol 1 (2015))

Here is tomorrows Creature Clue  A Soft bodied mollusc with a small interior skeleton

A Month of Beasts, Bugs, and Birds – #16 – The Duck (and the Drake and other quacky things)

Hotline Bling – Drake (2016, Cash Money Records, Taken from ‘Views’)

This piece will have very little to do with ducks or drakes or other quacky things, but I will try crowbar some music into it.  I’ve changed the piece largely because of something someone from work said to me the other day.

That person had been to the smug middle class Prosecco and strawberries fest that is Wimbledon, they had been lucky enough to get Centre Court tickets and were watching the conclusion of Andy Murray’s match against some other chap whose name I was told, but forgot and can’t be bothered to look up.

Anyway, Murray was when the match restarted two set to one up (tennis isn’t really my game, so if get any of these phrases wrong, apologies) and the crowd was as ever largely on his side.  According to my work colleague things started to go downhill for Murray around Game 5 in the fourth set, when Murray started to put a few shots wrong.  My colleague said that despite the vast majority of the crowd being behind Murray a person behind him said rather louder than perhaps they should have that

“Didn’t take long for Andy to go back to being Scottish”.

Which caused a bit of tutting, given that Andy Murray is pretty much made out of cardboard, was playing one of the top seeds and has achieved more in the tennis that any English person has in around 35 years. 

Patience Wearing Thin – Ducks Ltd (2021, Carpark Records, Taken from ‘Modern Fiction’)

I think some shushing was done to the idiot, who could I suppose, have been trying to be funny, or he might have like me watched the 1989 Mens World Athletics 800m final and been reminded of one of the most controversial moments of sporting commentary ever (probably).

In that race, Team GB was represented by a chap called Tom McKean, Tom was Scottish and had emerged in the last few years as the great hope of British middle distance running, taking over from the likes of evil Tory overlord Seb Coe, working class hero Steve Ovett and curly haired wonder Steve Cram.  The 800metres is as I am sure you all know, two laps of the track, and in the opening stages of the race McKean is well placed in first or second place. 

One of these Things First – Nick Drake (1970, Island Records, Taken from ‘Bryter Layter’)

A small breakaway group has formed and McKean is in that group.  At the half way stage McKean looked good for a medal.  The commentator can be heard to say

“at the bell, Britain’s McKean is still second behind the Spaniard”.

The race speeds up and the breakaway group get a bit faster, the commentator continues to gabber on about McKean and how well he is running, with about 200 metres to go

“Britains Tom McKean well placed for a medal at the 600metre mark”

As the finish nears, McKean runs out of steam slightly, the Spaniard pulls away and three other people overtake McKean, and he eventually finishes sixth, a wonderful achievement when you consider it’s a World final, the achievement is marked by the commentator declaring

“And there is sixth place, disappointing really, is Scotland’s Tom McKean”

Start A Riot – Duckworth (2018, Republic Records, Taken from ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Soundtrack’)

Hopefully tomorrow I will actually talk about some form of creature, until then here is the creature clue – Creatures that are normally characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws and the laying of hard-shelled eggs,

Fifty Twelve Inches – #2 U2

“You can go again if you like”. 

My daughter has just shouted “STOP” and my finger is resting on the spine of a record that I don’t really want to post.  She looks at me and tells me that “Would be Cheating” followed by a swift “You have to pick that one, it’s the rules”.  I frown and chastise myself for introducing such as a stupid concept to this blog, sigh and then I pull the record out.

Discotheque – U2 (1997, Island Records, Taken from ‘Pop’)

‘Discotheque’ was the lead single from ‘Pop’, U2’s ninth album.  An album that isn’t going to feature in the ‘Nearly Perfect Album’ series any time soon.  It is an album that is considered to be one of the band’s worst.  Which is saying something really, because they’ve had some proper stinkers.

‘Discotheque’ marked the end of a period where U2 flirted with techno and a more dance orientated approach and it was, as singles go, massively successful reaching number one in more than 30 countries, including the UK.  Its not a terrible track to be honest, it just that the techno rock sound that they experimented with back then hasn’t aged very well.

My copy of ‘Discotheque’ is actually a bit special.  I suspect it is quite rare.  It is actually a sort of twelve inch pack, containing three twelve inches in different coloured sleeves, which is a promotional thing sent to me back in the day when I was DJing at University and pretending I was a journalist.  I can distinctly remember it snowing the day that I picked this up from the post office as Jim the drunk postman couldn’t be bothered to post it.  It was doing the rounds a good month before it was actually released. 

The Blue Twelve inch is the one that contains the single version of ‘Discotheque’ it also contains a remix of it by David Holmes, which is quite a bit better than the single version, sadly songwhip doesn’t have it, so you’ll have to make do with the You Tube version.  As far as I can tell, the David Holmes Mix never got a commercial release, I mean it might have been packaged up somewhere on one of the deluxe anniversary releases, but I can’t find it if it has.

Discotheque (David Holmes Mix) – U2 (1996, Island Records)

There are two other twelve inches tucked in the promo pack, you get an orange twelve inch (well the sleeve is orange, the vinyl is black).  This has four more versions of ‘Discotheque’ – and is much more designed to slay dancefloors.  The orange twelve inch contains four mixes by superstar DJ David Morales, who twists and turns it inside out so that it can occupy a small space in clubland where previously perhaps U2 were not as welcome (see also their Perfecto Remxes).  Two of the mixes were made available on a US released twelve inch, again Songwhip don’t appear to have them, so here are they are courtesy of You Tube.

The DM Deep Extended Club Mix clocks in well over ten minutes just in case you have nothing else to do this Sunday morning.

Discotheque (DM Deep Extended Club Mix) – U2

Discotheque (DM Deep Instrumental Mix) – U2

(Both 1997, Island Records)

Which brings us to the final twelve inch which has a pink sleeve.  This again has hard to find mixes (I say hard to find, it maybe, given the subsequent reviews of ‘Pop’ and the single, that the band decided to permanently bury them) from Howie B (The ‘Hairy B’ Mix) and Mark ‘Spike’ Stent (The ‘Hexadecimal’ Mix).  The latter also appeared on the American twelve inch and its pretty good, one of the better U2 remixes.  The Howie B mix remains something of a mystery as again I can’t find a commercial release for it (I suspect it was supposed to be a B Side).  It’s deserves a little bit of your attention because Bono sort of tries to rap on the end of this one (fast forward to five minutes eleven) and the last third of it kind of goes berserk as Bono shouts “Big Black” for some totally unknown reason.

Discotheque (Hexadecimal Mix) – U2 (1997, Island Records)

Discotheque (Hairy B Mix) – U2 (1997, Island Records)

Nearly Perfect Albums – #70

If You’re Feeling Sinister – Belle and Sebastian (1996, Jeepster Records)

I had of course dismissed Belle and Sebastian.  I had told friends that they were ‘rubbish’ and ‘too twee for their own good’ and then refused to listen when my friends told me that they were brilliant.  I didn’t do twee.  Or at least I didn’t think I did. I realised I did some eight years after the release of ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’, when I picked up a second hand copy in a record shop in Worcester and proceeded to listen to it as I drove down the M5 and after it had finished I spent the rest of the journey thinking up ways that I could row back on that rather sweeping early assessment.

Although of course, I was half right, they are too twee for their own good but my god, twee never sounded so brilliant.

Me and the Major – Belle and Sebastian (1996, Jeepster Records)

‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’ is a beautiful record.  It is poetic, it is at times marvellous funny, but it is always melodic, even when it strays into that sort of on purpose ramshackle jangle which for some unknown reason infuriates so many people.  It is a record that I have come to adore.

Lyrically, this album is a gem.  Stuart Murdoch manages to write songs that take on a confessional feel, he does that better than any other song writer I can think of, (possibly Jarvis Cocker might push him).  Songs are turned into sketches with characters playing leading roles (such as Hilary from the albums title track who is into “S&M and bible Studies’)

If You’re Feeling Sinister – Belle and Sebastian (1996, Jeepster Records)

The lyrics are delivered wonderfully as well, Murdoch has a voice which at first doesn’t seemed suited to the lyrics, but of course you realise that of course it is absolutely suited to it.  You can’t imagine a hairy arsed gruff voice former bricklayer grumbling out beautifully constructed bedsit poetry like this.  Murdoch sounds like a choirboy who has tipped vodka into the holy wine just to see what happens and that’s what makes it and him so engaging.

Its not just songs about oddball people though, some are dripping with cynicism and sarcasm.  ‘Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying’ for instance, sees the band gamely giving Britpop bands a two fingered salute as they tell them that they

 “could either be successful or be us, with our winning smiles…with our catchy tunes”

Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying – Belle and Sebastian (1996, Jeepster Records)

There are some people who will point you towards ‘The Boy with the Arab Strap’ as being the bands finest hour, and they could be right.  But for me ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister is the one you need in your collection.  It is the one that made people sit up and listen to them.  It is a record that some American bands (like Death Cab for Cutie for starters) have tried to recreate, failed , but had massive success in the process.  Belle and Sebastian pretty much invented the sensitive side and intellectual look of indie rock that is so hugely popular today.

Yes its sort of twee but its also lovely and fabulously non heavy, and totally non aggressive and that is what makes it such a special record.  It has a fragile beauty that stays with you no matter how long it is between plays. 

The Fox in the Snow – Belle and Sebastian (1996, Jeepster Records)