All These Things They're Just Disappointing

These Richard Sen remixes of John Grant's songs Disappointing and Voodoo Doll were done back in 2016 but not released until recently- why they weren't released is a bit of a mystery given how good they are. The Sen remix of Disappointing is classic ALFOS material, slow burning, chuggy and transportative, electronic dance music with an emotive core, John Grant's deep voice riding on top of the low slung groove, synth strings sweeping with some dark disco drama. 

Richard's remix of Voodoo Doll sets off with a squelch and kick drum, more synths, some backing vox and then John's descending vocal line. The breakdown, with acid burble, thudding kick drum and then the vocal re- entering, John singing 'break into my house and read my diary if you need some proof' are a joy. Happy- sad dance music of the best kind. 

There are instrumental versions of both remixes as well as the vocal ones. The whole package can be found at Bandcamp- it seems I've missed out on the vinyl though, which is as John himself notes, disappointing. 

The Greatest Motherfucker You're Ever Gonna Meet

I spent Thursday night at New Century Hall in Manchester with John Grant, courtesy of my friend Darren. John Grant's solo career goes back to 2010 and his Queen Of Denmark album which was followed in 2013 by Pale Green Ghosts. This year he has released another, The Art Of The Lie, his sixth. There's a lot going on with John Grant, on stage, in his background and personal life, and in his songs. Growing up in some fairly conservative parts of the USA, his growing realisation he was gay brought conflict with his parents (his mother told him as she was dying he was a disappointment and in his song Daddy he sings 'You don't like what I am/I have come to understand What I am is a sin') and he spent much of his adult life struggling with anxiety, alcohol and drug issues. In 2012 he announced he was HIV positive, something he wrote about in the song Ernest Borgnine. 

The seriousness of some of his songs and the heavy duty nature of his life isn't necessarily reflected in his gigs. He takes the stage to Ennio Morricone in baseball cap, big sunglasses and carrying a keetar and launches into the mid- 80s MTV electro- funk of All That School For Nothing, a stream of consciousness single from earlier this year and after handing the keetar to a roadie sings the next two songs at the front of the stage with occasional slut drops. It's big and brash, a little camp, the three musicians around him on bass/ drums, synths and guitar creating a wall of  sound. There's an 808 suspended from a rack, various vintage synths including a Korg that John points out to us as if its a band member. 

He goes to the baby grand piano for a slower, more reflective set of songs including Daddy and the wonderful, with its lines ' I felt just like Sigourney Weaver/ When she had to kill all those aliens' and 'I felt just like Winona Ryder/ In that movie about vampires/ And she couldn't get that accent right/ And neither could that other guy'. He's a master at writing about big topics but coming in sideways, undercutting things with one liners and droll humour. After the piano section he starts wandering round the stage, switching on various bits of kit for the Vangelis- like majesty of Pale Green Ghosts and then the band re- appear and a very respectful audience get song after song from the current album and his back catalogue. It finishes, as all John Grant gigs probably should, with GMF...

GMF

Recorded in Iceland in 2013 after he moved there, with Sinead O'Connor on backing vocals, GMF is a loner/ outsider anthem, a dissection of his own anxieties and a song directed to a lover, 'I over analyse and over think things/ It's a nasty crutch', he sings- but the punch comes with the killer line, totally unexpected on first hearing it, 'But I am the greatest motherfucker you're ever gonna meet/ From the top of my head to the toes on my feet'. 

Love Is Magic

I was back at The Albert Hall on Saturday night to see John Grant, the venue far fuller than it was the night before for The House Of Love (and in an unprecedented turn of events I was offered a ticket for Parquet Courts on Sunday night but 3 nights on the bounce was pushing it). I'm not really familiar with much of John Grant's work and was offered the ticket by a friend who'd got a spare. Grant is promoting his new album Love is Magic and spent much of the gig alternating between standing centre stage at the mic singing in his rich baritone over club-inspired thumpers, Roland synth basslines squiggling away, and sitting at the keyboards and playing more personal songs, accompanied by a full band including ex- Banshee and Creature Budgie on drums. Budgie's contribution was immense, live kit plus electronic drum pads. Dressed in cowboy shirt and trucker gap with a heavy beard Grant looks like he's come straight out of the Mid-West but his dancing suggests time spent in nightclubs and his lyrics are full and frank and witty. I'd listened to this one before going out...



I'm not enough of a fan to be able to tell you exactly which songs were played- the internet tells me that Glacier, Disappointed, No More Tangles, Pale Green Ghost and Voodoo Doll were favourites among those who were there. A lot of his songs reminded me of film songs or show tunes, clever lines detailing a life lived with mistakes but few regrets. Set closer Queen Of Denmark, a song I did know before the gig, was a highlight, the crowd singing along with him and waving their hands in the air. The last few songs saw Richard Hawley appear, double denim and red guitar, spraying feedback across the front of the stage and then playing face to face.

This song was second up, Grant's hips wiggling and hand gestures cutting shapes in the light show. Well worth a few minutes of your time today. 

Voodoo Time

We got back from three days of very un-Lake District camping weather last night- the sun has shone and there hasn't been a drop of rain. There's a pile of washing to do that smells of bonfire and some sunburnt skin here and there. But all is good and I have the rest of the week off.

Here's a slice of late May lushness from John Grant and Gwenno. I don't think I've heard much by John Grant and I'm well aware he's highly rated by many people but I've just not got around to trying him out. His song Voodoo Doll has been remixed by Welsh psyche/cosmische Queen Gwenno and Peski Kid and it is a delight with a lovely ascending and descending vocal line over some light bubbling psychedelia.