Forty Minutes Of Arthur Russell

Firstly I should probably admit to being in no way an expert on Arthur Russell. I've got various tracks and a handful of albums but don't feel like I've done much more than scratched the surface of his music and on top of that I always feel with Russell's music there's something unknowable about it, something just out of reach. Sometimes it feels like his songs drift by like they've been caught by the breeze. I often feel like I'm slightly out of step when listening to them- but when they hit though, when the penny drops, they have a deep impact. 

Arthur was a cellist, producer, singer and songwriter from Iowa who moved to New York in the mid- 70s and became very much a part of the Manhattan avant garde scene and then New York's disco world. He recorded dance music as Dinosaur L and moved in circles with Peter Gordon, Talking Heads, Allen Ginsburg and Nicky Siano. He released only two albums during his lifetime- 1983's Tower Of Meaning (an orchestral piece) and 1986's weird and wonderful World Of Echo (cello and voice, dub disco and acres of space and echo) plus an album as Dinosaur L 24- 24. Arthur died in 1992 from AIDS related illnesses. In the years since his death a series of albums have been released, putting more and more previously unheard Arthur Russell songs out into the world and his reputation and influence have grown and grown. 2004's Calling Out Of Context is as good a place to start with the posthumous releases along with The World Of Arthur Russell from the same year. 

This mix is based on my incomplete knowledge of Arthur's music and isn't much more than some of my favourites thrown together in an order that seemed pleasing. 

Forty Minutes Of Arthur Russell

• A Little Lost
• In The Light Of A Miracle
• Time Away
• Calling Out Of Context
• See Through Love
• In The Corn Belt (Larry Levan Mix)
• I Like You!
• That's Us- Wild Combination
• Let's Go Swimming

A Little Lost jumps in with Arthur singing 'I'm a little lost/ Without You/ That could be an understatement...' accompanied by his cello and warm, wobbly echo. It came out on the posthumous album Another Thought, the first recordings released after his death in 1993 and is a good scene setter for Arthur's music- all those weird, non- obvious qualities that make his songs so unique. See Through Love is from the same album, a song that bubbles and echoes, as if recorded underwater. 

In The Light Of A Miracle was another unreleased during his lifetime track, one that came out on Philip Glass's insistence on Another Thought. It was a Loft classic (David Mancuso's NY invite only underground dance party/ space) and has been remixed various times to transcendent effect. The version here is the original mix, a shapeshifting, otherworldly piece of music, impossible to pin down, floating in some space between avant garde, disco dub and house- while sounding like none of those. 

Time Away is from Love Is Overtaking Me, a record that is an outlier in the Russell catalogue- no jazz inflected disco or avant garde cello and space experiments but more traditional songs, just voice and acoustic guitar. Time Alone is minimal and naive, a song about tidying up his room, Modern Lovers indebted perhaps. 'I'm taking time away/ To dream'.

Calling Out Of Context is a collection of songs Arthur recored between 1985 and 1990, released in 2004 and containing some of his most brilliant work- the title track blends voice, percussion, guitar and keys and boundless experimentation to create something really special. That's Us- Wild Combination is from the same record, a joyous anthem with Jennifer Warnes sharing vocals. It seems to me that one of the main presences on these tracks, the main sounds, is New York, the spaces and rooms and spirit of the world he lived in. I Like You! is also from Calling Out Of Context, a strange and murky stew, electronics, cello, percussion and voice. 

In The Corn Belt was one of Arthur's Dinosaur L tracks, NY dance music remixed by Larry Levan, the man who DJed for a decade at Paradise Garage, splicing dub and disco, hugely influential and pioneering post- disco/ pre- house scene, playing records on turntables with live synths and drum machines. 

Let's Go Swimming is the final song on World Of Echo, a short and simple meditation and a totally unconventional marriage of cello, folk/ disco, tape delay and voice-

'To the north part of it
The country I was made to
Cause were you been I go
That's where you'll always go
I'm banging on your door
Up in the big blue sky
When you let the water in'

Forty Five Minutes Of Cover Versions Part Two

Last Sunday's cover versions mix worked well enough for me to undertake a second. I started with Jah Divison and went from there, a succession of dub and reggae covers, wasn't happy with it and scrapped it and started again, setting off again with Jah Division but heading in a noisier, more guitar laden direction, all a bit more shambolic. Then it slows down and blisses out before kicking up a storm again for the finish. 

After I posted last Sunday's mix Steve from Andres y Xavi messaged me to say he had a series of cover version mixes called Under The Covers, up at Mixcloud. The latest, his ninth, covers a lot of ground from Lady Blackbird to The Droyds with Isaac Hayes, Bobby Womack and Jose Feliciano among the people sandwiched in between. Plenty to enjoy. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Cover Versions Part Two

• Jah Division: Dub Will Tear Us Apart
• The Fall: Mr Pharmacist
• The Jesus And Mary Chain: Surfin' USA
• Sonic Youth: I Know There's An Answer
• Sonic Youth: Computer Age
• Hardway Bros: 1979 GLOK Remix
• Andy Bell: Our Last Night Together
• The Liminanas: Ou Va La Chance
• The Vendetta Suite: Who Do You Love?
• Fontaines DC: 'Cello Song

Jah Division is a Russian reggae band, formed in Moscow in 1990. This is what it says in Wikipedia. It also say that the founder of Jah Division, Gera Morales, was the son of Leopold Morales, an associate of Che Guevara's. Elsewhere (Bandcamp) it says Jah Divison are from Brooklyn and their 2004 12" of four covers of Joy Division songs is their sole release. According to Bandcamp Jah Divison features members of Onieda and Home, began as a joke and the four tracks were recorded in the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge. Take your pick. None of which stops Dub Will Tear Us Apart from being a genius cover version whoever recorded it. 

The Fall's Mr Pharmacist is a cover of a song by Los Angeles 60s psyche garage band The Other Half, a 1986 Fall single from the Brix period and produced by John Leckie. The original was on an early 80s Nuggets compilation. Mr Pharmacist was also on The Fall's Bend Sinister album, an opinion splitting album derided by Mark E. Smith and John Leckie.

Surfin' USA was a Darklands outtake, all feeedback, rough and rowdy drums, breaking glass, East Kilbride sneers and TV preachers. The Reid brothers knew how to cover a song. The original was a 1963 Beach Boys single...

... and I Know There's An Answer was a 1966 Beach Boys album song (from Pet Sounds). Sonic Youth's cover comes from 1989, recorded for a Brian Wilson tribute album released in 1990 and sung by Lee Renaldo- no one else could sing it according to Lee who says J. Mascis helped out in the studio too. Appropriately squally and rather wonderful. 

Sonic Youth also recorded a Neil Young cover in the same time frame for a Neil Young tribute album, The Bridge (a superb album). They chose a song from Neil's most misunderstood album, Trans. Like the Mary Chain, Sonic Youth instinctively know what makes a good cover version. Computer Age is a gem in the SY back catalogue. 

Sean Johnston's Outre Mer label is an outlet for Hardway Bros recordings. In January 2024 he released an EP called My Friends which included a cover of Smashing Pumpkins 1979 (a song which is itself pretty much a New Order tribute). A remix EP saw GLOK tackle 1979, and has a massively overloaded guitar sound that makes you check your speakers are OK. 

Andy Bell's covers EP Untitled Film Stills contains four covers- Our Last Together is an after hours beauty, impressionistic, woozy and moving. Well, it moves me. 

The Liminanas featured in last week's mix and they're back today with a song from this year's album Faded. Ou Va La Chance is a cover of a Francois Hardy song, closing the album in fine style.

The Vendetta Suite are from Belfast and their 2021 album The Kempe Stone Portal is packed with electronic, acid house, Balearic and cosmische sounds plus this slowed down, electronics and feedback rumble version of Bo Diddley's classic (also covered by The Mary Chain back in the 80s). The Vendetta Suite's Gary Irwin goes all the way back to David Holmes and Iain McCready's nights at Belfast's Art College in 1990 and has worked with Holmes on and off ever since. 

Fontaines DC's cover of 'Cello Song has featured in at least three previous Sunday mixes- a Nick Drake one, a Fontaines one and an end of 2023 mix. I make no apologies for its re- appearance here. They take Nick Drake's 1969 song, a beautiful poetic song and retune it, turning it into a modern rock 'n' roll thrill with Grian Chatten finding new meaning in Nick's words. Both versions, original and cover, struck me quite profoundly in the time since Isaac' died, these lines in particular...

'For the dreams that came to you when so young
They told of a life where spring is sprung

So forget this cruel world where I belong
I'll just sit and wait and sing my song

But while the Earth sinks to its grave
You sail to the sky on the crest of a wave'

And that's where we're ending today. 

Monday's Long Song

Arthur Russell's In The Light Of A Miracle is exactly what I need to start an August bank holiday, thirteen minutes of giddy, expansive, New York avant- disco/ proto- house, a song unreleased in Arthur's lifetime but first seeing the light of day via Phillip Glass in 1993. Dream music. 

In The Light Of A Miracle

Back in May JD Twitch of Optimo was invited to play at The Barbican at an event celebrating the life of Arthur Russell and launching a book, Travels Over Feeling by Richard King. Appropriately enough, JD opted to play a set consisting of nothing but Arthur Russell records. That set, an hour and thirteen minutes long, went up on Soundcloud a week ago and it's a thing of beauty and wonder- Arthur's space age, New York cosmic disco music, those spectral melodies and his floaty voice over crisp drums, percussion and all that s-p-a-c-e that Arthur built into the production of his songs. You can listen here. 

This, as a bonus, is Instrumentals Volume 1 (Part 1) from 1975, five minutes of cellos and sax, percussion and drums.

Instrumentals Volume 1 (Part 1)

Hop On Down

I posted Clean On Your Bean by Dinosaur L on Saturday, a track from the New York Noise compilation on Soul Jazz. While going through the stack of free CDs from magazines I found a New York themed one from Mojo called Change The Beat: 14 Tracks From Madonna's New York Scene, a free CD from March 2015 with lots of New York Noise adjacent artists, including 23 Skidoo, ESG, James Black, Bush Tetras, and Delta 5 plus Curtis Mayfield, Funkadelic, and Section 25 among the others. It's a good CD, lots of great music, a time capsule and primer and shows that sometimes the people putting these magazine CDs together really get it right. I no longer have the magazine but a quick internet search shows Madonna was on the cover, promoting her album Rebel Heart (in my head 2015 is pretty recent but it's nearly a decade ago). 

One of the artists on Change The Beat was Arthur Russell (who recorded as Dinosaur L) and his track Hop On Down. Arthur Russell has grown and grown in stature and reputation in recent years, his back catalogue re- issued and his sonic palette an inspiration for lots of people. When he died in 1992 aged just forty he was largely unknown. Hop On Down is from a collection of twelve previously unreleased Arthur Russell tracks, an album titled Calling Out Of Context. His music is a sonic stew of cello, minimalist disco, whispered, crooned and/ or half sung vocals, disruptive noises, deep bass, keyboards, tablas and drum machines, all seemingly effortlessly stitched together and surrounded in acres of space and hiss. Deeply lovely music, art and pop music combined. 

Hop On Down

V.A. Saturday

I'm trying to avoid making this Saturday series just a succession of compilations on Soul Jazz Records but since the 1990s they have become the standard setting label in many ways with what must be close to definitive various artist compilations in reggae, dub, ska, rocksteady, disco, kraut, acid, soul and funk. There are two post- punk compilations on Soul Jazz which came out at a time when sharp, angular, mutant funk/ noise was a big influence on new bands - one was the 2002 compilation In The Beginning There Was Rhythm, an eleven song gold standard compilation that I'll save for another Saturday. It was followed in 2003 by a sixteen song double vinyl/ single CD of late 70s/ early 80s music from New York, a compilation called New York Noise. As a document and round up of that scene it seems pretty comprehensive (although Lydia Lynch is missing) but it shows the influence of those artists on early 21st century hip hop, dance music, electroclash and disco- post- punk/ disco, groups like LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, all those bands that came through in the wake of The Strokes. 

New York Noise isn't always pretty or easy listening. It's intense and experimental and at times smells like damp basements, poppers and dry ice- but it always moves, its always invigorating and its always wants to tell you something is happening. As dance music it sometimes feels like its for the head as much as the feet. It definitely feels arty, the sort of music where you find people who are dressed interestingly- that's a good thing by the way- and that kind of thing can always topple into posing, but there's a time and place for posing and New York between 1979 and 1982 may be exactly that time and place. 

Across the seventy one minutes and sixteen tracks you get familiar punk- funk names- James Chance and The Contortions, The Bush Tetras, ESG, Mars, Theoretical Girls, Konk, DNA, and Defunkt. You also get this by Glenn Branca, a hugely influential wall of electric guitars and the power of repetition (a fundamental part of Sonic Youth's inspiration).

Lesson No. 1(For Electric Guitar)

There's also this by Dinosaur L from 1982, supremely funky and, yes, angular, sounds from Arthur Russell and Peter Gordon, a juddering post- punk bassline, sax and tape FX voices looped, rushing by in and out of time 

Clean On Your Bean

New York Noise opens with Liquid Liquid's Optimo, the title track from an EP that gave hip hop and early rap it's bassline in White Lines. By way of closing the circle Glasgow's Optimo, named after the track, did their own edit of Optimo, doubling the length and turning it up- cowbell, atonal sax, rumbling, thumping drums and percussion, Brazilian funk in early 80s New York retooled in Glasgow. 

Optimo (An Optimo Espacio Mix)

2022: A List

If you ever find yourself in the car park hell of Asda in Stockport, a car park split over two multi- storey sites linked by bridges and with different walkways to enter the supermarket, take some comfort from the fact that even in these unpromising conditions a moment of joy can still arrive- someone painted this little devil on the wall in a corner. This has nothing to do with the post that will follow, it's just a disconnected intro. 

As is traditional here is my end of year list, twenty two musical artefacts 2022 in list form, a list combining singles, albums and EPs into one countdown- you'll notice I've cheated, there are many more than twenty two releases contained within. In a year shot through with all kinds of personal difficulties caused by grief and bereavement following Isaac's death at the end of last year, music has been an area of solace and distraction for me and I have listened to and enjoyed a huge amount of new music this year. I know as well there are albums I haven't heard and should have- Working Men's Club and Fontaines DC come to mind- and hopefully I'll get to them eventually. So, with no further ado...

Number Twenty Two

Some albums that have made the year tick, in no particular order: 

• Coyote: Everything Moves Nothing Rests
• Sheer Taft: And Then There Were Four
• Société Étrange: Chance
• Gabe Gurnsey: Diablo
• Timothy J. Fairplay: Free Andromeda
• Half Man Half Biscuit: The Voltarol Years
• Rich Ruth: I Survived, It's Over
• Wet Leg: Wet Leg
• Red Snapper: Everybody Is Somebody
• Tigerbalm: International Love Affair
• Panda Bear and Sonic Boom: Reset
• The Order Of The 12: Lore Of The Land
• Spiritualized: Everything Was Beautiful
• Warrington- Runcorn New Town Development Plan: Districts, Roads, Open Space
• Jon Hopkins: Music For Psychedelic Therapy

Number Twenty One

Some singles and EPs that have been on rotation at the Bagging Area this year, again, in no particular order:

• Justin Robertson's Deadstock 33s and Brix Smith: Brix Goes Tubular
• Sault: 10
• Phil Kieran and Green Velvet: Enjoy The Day Hardway Bros Meets Monkton
• BTCOP: Just A Disco especially the Lights On A Hill Mix
• Al McKenzie: Sail On
• Steve Queralt and Michael Smith: Sun Moon Town
• D: Ream: Pedestal (Jezebell's Dizzy Heights remix)
• Throne Of Blood EPs 1 to 4
• Matt Gunn: Disko Drohne EP and the massive remix package
• The Vendetta Stone remixes 12"
• Peak High: Was That All It Was Hardway Bros remixes
• Perry Granville: Lumux and Cleveland Sundays
• Confidence Man: Feels Like A Different Thing (Daniel Avery remix)
• Cantoma: Alive Remixes EP
• Unknown Genre: Elevator Ride
• Dirt Bogarde: Triumphe De Liebe and So Far Away
• Curses: Gina Lollobrigida
• Orbital and Sleaford Mods: Dirty Rat
• Hifi Sean and David McAlmont: All In The World (and just wait for the album that gets a full release next year, a stunning record- the title track alone is one of next year's best songs)

Number Twenty

Various albums by Various Artists

There have been a slew of great compilation albums this year, multi- artist releases containing umpteen gems and treasure- The Chill Out Tent Volume 1, a compilation from Warm titled Home complete with animal and bird sounds between the tracks, Spun Out's Oompty Boompty Music compilation, the Shelter Me compilation from Leeds based Paisley Dark label and the cream of this crop, Higher Love Volume 2 (from the Brighton label of the same name).

Number Nineteen

Fontan: Iriz

A 7" single released on Hoga Nord at the start of the year, a gorgeous spaced out, instrumental warm bath with slowly building drums. 

Number Eighteen

Boxheater Jackson: We Are One

Exeter's Mighty Force label has had quite a year. Boxheater Jackson's ten track album We Are One is a sublime set of chugging, optimistic, cosmic acid house. Also worth checking out on Mighty Force are Golden Donna's The Truth About Love, lovely washes of ambient techno, and the funky acid house/ indie- dance crossover Pro- Oxidant by Long Range Desert Group. 

Number Seventeen

Mark Peters with Dot Allison: Sundowning/ Richard Norris ambient remix

Mark's latest album, Red Sunset Dreams, is pointing away from Wigan and towards the wide open landscapes of the US. With Dot Allison on vocals Switch On The Sky was a highlight- and then Sundowning came out, shimmering instrumental floaty ambience with a superb pair of Richard Norris remixes. Dot also had a solo EP out with the final remix from Lee 'Scratch' Perry, a lovely dubby version of Love Died In Our Arms. 

Number Sixteen

The Orielles: Tableau

Tableau is one of the year's most unexpected treats, a double album spanning spoken word, dream pop, 60s jazz, indie and whatever else the trio decided they could turn their hands to. The recent Eyes Of Others' remix of Darkened Corners was superb spun out psychedelia and The Orielles own remix of Unknown Genre's Elevator Ride an unexpected visit to early 90s ambient techno. 

Number Fifteen

Anatolian Weapons: Selected Acid Tracks

Strong acid from Greece, 808s set to stun, seven tracks of mind bending stuff. Acid Research 63, Acid Research 20 and Desert Track 66 are the picks and so much more than their functional titles suggest. 

Number Fourteen

Rude Audio: Big Heat

A five track EP with typically brilliant tracks and remixes. Big Heat is a low slung, throbbing, dub techno groover, straight outta South London. 

Number Thirteen

Pye Corner Audio: Let's Emerge

The latest Pye Corner Audio album left the dystopic sounds of last year's Entangled Routes and looked towards the summer, as typified on the glorious Warmth Of The Sun single with Andy Bell adding guitar to the analogue synth ambience. Sonic Boom remixed three tracks from the album, released as an excellent EP, Let's Remerge. A PCA remix of Principles Of Geometry's First I Heard Color is in the same area. 

Number Twelve

Rhenizand: Atlantis Atlantis

More brilliant Belgian dance pop/ Balearic pop, an album that lights up any room it's played in. They can do no wrong for me. 

Number Eleven

Unloved: Turn Of The Screw/ Turn Of The Screw (Erol Alkan Rework)

The new Unloved album, The Pink Album, found David Holmes, Keefus Ciancia and Jade Vincent and their 60s Now! sound extended over four sides of vinyl, twenty two songs (with Raven Violet, Etienne Daho and Jarvis Cocker along for the ride). On songs like Mother's Been A Bad Girl the woozy, disturbed, reverb drenched sound hit the spot and on Turn Of The Screw they nailed it, a driving, urgent, psychedelic pop song with Raven Violet on vocals and in charge. The remixes were bang on too, Erol Alkan's remix of Turn Of The Screw especially (and it sounded huge when David spun it at the Golden Lion in October). There's' an exhibition of Julian House's sleeve art at The Social in London too if you're in that neck of the woods.

Number Ten 

10:40: three EPs

Jesse Fahnestock's 10:40 has one of 2022's ongoing delights, a slew of tracks and remixes from the start of the year to it's recent advent calendar end. Kissed Again, a gorgeous piece of emotional slow motion Balearic dance first came out in 2021 but was released this year by Brighton's Higher Love as an EP with the equally lovely Fin and Coat Check. Thickener (both versions) and The Knack (three versions) were both wonky dancefloor oriented thumpers.

Number Nine

The Summerisle Six: This Is Something/ This Is Something (Rico Conning Remix)

Sean Johnston's Wicker Man/ Todmorden inspired psyche folk/ indie dance side project grew from a trio to a sextet for this release (Andy Bell, Jo Bartlett, Duncan Gray, Kev Sharkey and Mick Somerset Ward all on board) for one of the year's best 12", an indie dance floor filler. Rico Conning's remix, a ten minute blissed out sunset journey, is the remix of the year.

Number Eight

Jazxing: Pearls Of The Baltic Sea

An album of Polish Balearica that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Start with the sax led Fala and go from there. 

Number Seven

Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band: Dear Scott.

Mick Head's latest wonderfully crafted and written set of songs, tales of life lived and lives observed, with typically lovely melodies. 

Number Six

Daniel Avery: Chaos Energy

A double vinyl ambient/ industrial/ techno album- emotive and hard hitting human/ machine music. 

Number Five

Jezebell: Jezebellearica

A nine minute tribute to DJ Alfredo, the White Isle and an open minded approach to music, Jezebellearica was the song of the summer round here. Jezebell's The Knack, Dancing Not Fighting, Et Moi and Concurrence were all worth mentioning here too. 

Number Four

Decius: Vol 1

Decius's album is twelve tracks of heady, sleazy, minimal, techno, inspired by the proto- house of Ron Hardy, with it's tongue firmly in its cheek, single entrendres rubbing up against distorted synths and banging beats. I reviewed it for Ban Ban Ton Ton back in November. In a turn of events I wasn't expecting some of my review has been pulled out for the press release, where my words are directly below a quote from Iggy Pop. As a year end treat Decius have made an end of year mix available, a pay what you want deal, with many of the tracks from the album included in it. You can get it here. 

Number Three: EP |Of The Year

Andy Bell: Untitled Film Stills and I Am A Strange Loop

Andy Bell's Flicker came out at the start of the year, a beautiful and fully realised solo album with songs spanning the range of his influences- backwards tracks, guitar songs reprising the chord sequences from the earliest Ride records, cosmic instrumentals and straight ahead guitar pop. During the course of the year cover versions and remixes appeared, compiled in the autumn onto two four track 10" vinyl EPs (with a third of acoustic versions) and extras available digitally. Untitled Film Stills is a beautiful way to spend twenty minutes, his covers of Pentangle's Light Fight, Yoko Ono's Listen, The Snow Is Falling and The Kinks' The Way Love Used To Be all right up there and the small hours, quiet devastation of his cover of Arthur Russell's Our Last Night Together capable of bringing tears. The remixes EP is superb too with David Holmes Radical Mycology Remix of The Sky Without You and Richard Norris' lovely slowed down, string laden version of Something Like Love the standouts. 

Number Two: Album Of The Year

A Mountain Of One: Stars Planets Dust Me

Existential Balearica, yacht rock, symphonic dark pop- however I slice it this album has been the one I'v enjoyed and played more than any other in 2022. Bubbling synth basslines, FXed vocals, acoustic guitars, piano, tom tom drums, cosmic hippy questions with no answers, spaced out and widescreen sun baked music with Rolo from The Woodentops on board for good measure. The remixes of Star in the summer stretched things further still, the Glok remix linking this with Andy Bell (at number three).

Star (GLOK Starlight Dub)

Number One: Single Of The Year

David Holmes: It's Over, If We Run Out Of Love

It's Over, If We Run Out Of Love was released on Valentine's Day and has been there throughout the year for me, played daily at times. David's tribute to the youth movements of our youths- the mods, rockers, rastas, punks, soul boys, teds, ravers and clubbers- sung by Raven Violet is a triumph, its two note keyboard blast and boom- tish drums capable of lifting the spirits on the lowest of days and the lyrics- 'I remember back when we were young/ They said the people's day would surely come/ It's over now if we run out of love'- don't really need picking through. It's the best single/ song I've heard this year and hopefully at some point will, along with last year's Hope Is The Last Thing To Die, form the centrepieces of an album. But if not, on its own, it's more than enough. 

There was a remix a little while later, the song being toughened up and stretched out for late night revelry- Darren Emerson's Huffa Remix and the Hardway Bros one were the pick of the bunch for me. Holmes has had quite a year, his DJ gigs in small venues have been on fire- the Golden Lion in Todmorden was particularly memorable not least because I was on the turntables that evening and handed over to him, a chain of events a younger me would struggle to comprehend. Friends who went to his gig at the Social in London in February raved about it as did friends who saw him in Glasgow more recently. A few months ago David released a 7" on Hoga Nord, the motorik/  Joy Division glide of No One Is Smarter Than History another highlight of 2022 and his remix of The Vendetta Suite's Purple Haze, Yellow Sunrise is another 2022 peak as is his remix of Orbital's Belfast, thirty years after the original. You'll notice David appears elsewhere in this list as Unloved and with a remix of Andy Bell too. When you're on a roll, just keep on rolling. 

Monday's Long Songs

Andy Bell's new solo album, Flicker, is already proving itself to be one of the year's best (and his GLOK album Pattern Recognition, out digitally last year has finally arrived on vinyl after a six month hold up at the pressing plant). Flicker is more reflective and guitar based with some wistful songs that deal with looking back, conversations with his teenage self and some that seem to reference the last few years- Trump, Brexit, the pandemic. There are two backwards songs that open its two halves (a la Stone Roses B-sides such Guernica and Simone) and a forwards looking, hoping for better days finale called Holiday In the Sun (not a cover of the Sex Pistols song). It works as a full album, paced and sequenced properly, eighteen songs that come together as a whole. Coming on the back of The View From Halfway Down (and the superb Pye Corner Audio remix EP) and two GLOK albums plus a full double vinyl remix album (not to mention Ride's re- union records) Andy Bell is on a creative roll. I can't recommend either Flicker or Pattern Recognition enough. 

Pattern Recognition closes with a fifteen minute epic called Invocation. I won't try to describe it other than to say it's a cosmische marvel.

World Of Echo has been released as a single from Flicker and with it a new cover as the B-side (I'm not sure it's getting a physical release so don't think technically this counts as a B-side but it's a new song to go with a single so that's a B-side in my books). Our Last Night Together is a cover of an Arthur Russell song and is beautiful, a woozy, FX and atmospherics six minutes forty one seconds of late night music with a reverb laden heartbeat drum underpinning it and some gorgeous guitar/ synth parts. Very forlorn but warm too. 

Close... But No Cigar

I didn't get the job. I performed well but...no cigar. Feedback was useful, some of it very complimentary. It was a good experience. I'm knackered. Thanks to everyone who offered best wishes. Here's some Arthur Russell, whose work ranges from new wave disco to avant-garde minimalism.

A Little Lost