Christmasville

A Certain Ratio have had quite a year. They put out one of 2024's best albums, It All Comes Down To This, an album as good as any in their back catalogue. They followed it with a standalone 7" single, Clockwork Orange, in July and a limited edition vinyl only live recording of the band playing at Kendall Calling, the band playing at Tim Burgess' Tim Peaks Diner, a career spanning nine song album. In mid- December released a new four track 12"/ digital EP called Christmasville. The EP came with a brand new song, Now And Forever, ACR's song for Christmas, and three new remixes, all of which take the ACR sound into new places. 

Jane Weaver's rework of Where You Coming From is a cosmische/ analogue synth psyche delight. Emperor Machine remixes Out From Under into a nine minute electronic funk workout. Jezebell take the third remix slot- Jezebell and ACR hooked up via Martin Moscrop finding a copy of Jezebell's Jezebalearic Beats Vol. 1 album while record shopping in Berlin and approaching Jesse and Darren. Jezebell's Ghost Train Mix of We All Need is six minutes of smouldering electro/ Balearica, dance floor beats, menacing bass and swirling FX. The bright orange vinyl has all gone but you can get the digital here. 

A Certain Ratio weren't finished for the year with the Christmasville EP though. On Monday they put out their gig at New Century Hall in Manchester on 17th May as a live album, all of It All Comes Down To This played live in front of a home crowd (including me). You can find It All Comes Down To This Live St New Century here. I'm assuming that's the end of 2024's ACR activity but there's still five days to go, so who knows, anything could happen. 

Heartflow

In 2019 Jane Weaver reworked her Modern Kosmology album as Loops In The Secret Society. 2017's Modern Kosmology was brightly coloured, folky pop, full of slightly off kilter songs but undeniably perfectly constructed songs with choruses and hooks. In 2017 Jane and her band played the old Granada Studios building on Quay Street in Manchester (on Youtube here) a thirty- five minute set of songs from Modern Kosmology. If you've got half an hour to spare Jane's motorik, folk tinged psyche pop is as good a way to spend it as any and the performances here are stellar. 

Loops In The Secret Society was a different kind of record, a more experimental album, the layers of instruments stripped away, dusk (or dawn possibly) settling over the daylight songs of the previous album. There were lovely short tracks of ambient and found sound, whirring and clicking rhythms, Radiophonic Orchestra sounds and repetitive, meditative, psychedelic songs and new versions of songs from Modern Kosmology. 

The version of H>A>K on Loops In The Secret Society is a skeletal, murky reworking, deconstructed to a throbbing synth sound and Jane's voice, FX sending the vocal juddering into space, and then a very West German drumbeat pushing it on.  

H>A>K (Loops Variation)

Found Birds is one of several shorter tracks, sketches and impressionistic pieces built from layers of sounds- hums, drones, static, synth ghosts...

Found Birds

Jane's new album, Flock, is out in March, ten songs long and promised to be 'day- glo pop... produced on a complicated diet of bygone Lebanese torch songs, 1980s Russian Aerobics records, and Australian Punk', which definitely sounds like something to look forward. A single came out last October called The Revolution Of Super Visions (video here). I skipped past it a bit at the time and that was my loss because is more excellence from Jane, with more than a dash of Prince- shaped funk added to the super- powered psyche pop. Now there's a second tune out ahead of the album, a song called Heartflow- dreamy, swirly, slightly esoteric folk- psyche with a beautiful video by Douglas Hart. You can order Flock from Bandcamp.

Isolation Mix Thirteen

Lockdown ends today- at least, that's how the government and the media have been portraying it with occasional reminders that social distancing and a 2 metre gap might be important. The government have largely dropped the daily infection figures and death toll from their bulletins. You don't want to be depressing people at this stage of proceedings with doom and gloom, not when there are pints to be drunk! The media have been splashing stories about Super Saturday, Independence Day and the End Of Hibernation. It does look like they deliberately chose July 4th so they could call it an Independence Day. Meanwhile, Leicester is in lockdown, the R rate in London is apparently creeping above 1, there are Covid hotspots around the country, the deaths are still well over one hundred every day, and lots of people are talking about a second wave and a second spike without the people in charge actually wanting to do anything about it. We are still shielding, the medical advice we received this week is that due to our son Isaac being in the extremely vulnerable category we should stay in isolation until August 1st. Despite a few minor changes to our lockdown lives, we are still very much in isolation.

This mix is an hour and eight minutes of music with a folky, ambient, pastoral tinge with some Balearica and guitars thrown in, some old stuff and some brand new- some birdsong and synth ambience to start and finish, blissed out tracks from Seahawks, Apiento and Ultramarine, Green Gartside solo and as Scritti Politti, acoustic guitars courtesy of Nancy Noise, Michael Head and Barry Woolnough, some understated brilliance from The Clash and Sandinista!, Julian Cope covering Roky Erickson, Thurston Moore covering New Order and Jane Weaver's cosmic/folky weirdness.

Tracklist-
Stubbleman: 4am Conversation

Seahawks: Islands

Nancy Noise: Kaia

Green Gartside: Tangled Man

Barry Woolnough: Great Spirit Father In The Sky

The Clash: Rebel Waltz

Thurston Moore: Leave Me Alone

Julian Cope: I Have Always Been Here Before

Jane Weaver: Slow Motion (Loops Variation)

Michael Head and the Red Elastic Band: Picasso

Scritti Pollitti: The Boom Boom Bap

Apiento: Things You Do For Love

Ultramarine: Stella (Stella Connects)

Stubbleman: 6am Chorus

Loops Variation

The new album from Jane Weaver is turning out to be the unexpected treat of the summer so far. Loops In The Secret Society is a twenty two track reworking of songs from her previous two lps, The Silver Globe and Modern Kosmology. The songs have been stripped back, the lusher instrumentation replaced by clicks and whirrs and drones, Jane's folky vocals more distant and spooked, motorik drum loops and mechanical rhythms, everything put through a grainy, radiophonic filter. They've been joined by some new ambient tracks and more drones. Taken as a whole it could be the soundtrack to a lost  British 1970s horror/sci fi TV series, people wandering off the path, David McCallum appearing out of the mist, unexplained events, wicker men, that sort of thing. It's an album in its own right, new textures and tones from the older source material and it sounds close to perfect right now.

This re-imagined take on 2017's single Slow Motion is as good a taster as any but really you need to hear the whole thing.

Bagging Area End Of Year Review

Nope, I'm not entirely sure what is going on in the pictured Bagging Area either.

Albums
2017 seems to have been a good year for music. Making a list of 15 favourite albums was easy, an average of more than one a month- and in the end I got to 18. I'm sure there are loads of good albums I haven't heard too. These are the ones that pushed my buttons the most.

18 Monolife 'Sandalphon'
17 Peter Perrett 'How The West Was Won'
16 The Charlatans 'Different Days'
15 Hannah Peel 'Mary Casio: Journey To Cassiopeia'
14 Steve Cobby 'Hemidemisemiquaver'
13 Timothy J. Fairplay 'Where Is The Champion'
12 The Replacements 'For Sale: Live At Maxwell's' (30 years old but first official release)
11 Ride 'Weather Diaries' (especially Cali, which soundtracked the end of August perfectly)
10 Slowdive 'Slowdive'
9 Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band 'Adios senor Pussycat'
8 Mogwai 'Every Country's Sun' (especially Party In The Dark, a number one in another universe)
7 Bicep 'Bicep'
6 The Jesus And Mary Chain 'Damage And Joy'

The top 5 are interchangeable in terms of positions, each one could be my number one in its own way.

Moon Duo 'Occult Architecture Vol 1' and 'Occult Architecture Vol 2'.
Released a couple of months apart as separate but linked records, the flip sides of each other, the light and the shade. Vol 2 is as light and up as anything they've done and is a treat but the dark side of the Vol 1 is often its equal. Motorik drumming, mellifluous guitar parts, analogue synths- psyche rock with electronics, blissed out and dreamy.



Andrew Weatherall 'Qualia'
Over the last couple of years Weatherall has hit another purple patch, with releases all over the place- singles, remixes, albums, dubs... Qualia is an 8 track joy, synths and guitars over live drums and loops, buzzing and propulsive, determinedly European in sound and full of vim. And just when you think he might be  playing within himself, he throws in something like Soft Estates, a harking back to TLS's minimal electro, or Vorfreude 2, with lounge backing vocals cooing over massive sounding drums and wiggly keyboard lines.



Jane Weaver 'Modern Kosmology'
A hit of summer, psyche, folk, glam, kraut and pop all bound up in one ten song record.



Kelly Lee Owens 'Kelly Lee Owens'
I bought this almost on a whim in Piccadilly Records at the start of the year (and it's their album of the year). Kelly's debut is a beautiful blend of woozy electronics, ambient textures with both pop and techno at its heart. The slow motion build of some of the songs contrasted perfectly with the rhythmic pulse of the others. Closing track 8, extended over nine and half minutes, is a trip into a dream world.



Singles/e.p.s/remixes 
Yes, there are quite a lot of Andrew Weatherall records in this list. There are individual songs off all of the albums listed above that could make this list but for the sake of brevity I've kept it to stand alone releases. It starts with a summer holiday earworm courtesy of the daughter and the then latest NOW! compilation and ends with Aura by Bicep which, especially in its 12" form, sums up everything that is great about electronic dance music.

35 Miley Cyrus 'Malibu'
34 Gorillaz 'Andromeda'
33 Paul Weller 'Mother Ethiopia'
32 Lorde 'Green Light'
31 Fort Beulah N.U. 3 one sided 12" singles that I'm taking together- '1', '2' and '3'
30 Phil Kieran 'No Life' Roman Flugel remix
29 Trentemoller and Jenny Lee 'Hands Up'
28 Confidence Man 'Bubblegum' Andrew Weatherall Remix
27 AMOR 'Paradise'
26 Kid Wave 'Everything Changes'
25 Doc Daneeka and Robert Owens 'LUV UNLTD'
24 Calexico 'Voices In The Field'
23 Konzel 'Haptic Didactic'
22 Finiflex 'Ta Ta Oo Ha'
21 Andrew Weatherall 'Kaif'
20 Duncan Gray ft Sarah Rebecca 'Erotica Nervosa'
19 Heart People 'Voices' Andrew Weatherall Remix
18 Nancy Noise 'Kaia/Azizi's Dance' Remix e.p.
17 Phil Kieran 'Find Love' Andrew Weatherall Remix
16 Jagwar Ma 'Give Me A Reason' Remixes
15 Charlotte Gainsbourg 'Deadly Valentine'
14 Andrew Weatherall 'Kiyadub' ep
13 Gulp 'Morning Velvet Sky' single/Richard Norris Remix
12 Justin Robertson 'Numerical Discord Swap'
11 The Charlatans 'Different Days' Chris and Cosey Remix
10 Halina Rice 'Drive' single/Richard Norris Remix
9 Mark Lanegan Band 'Beehive' Andrew Weatheral Remix
8 The Early Years 'Hall Of Mirrors' Andrew Weatherall Mixes 1 and 2
7 Ride 'Pulsar'
6 Bicep 'Glue'
5 Alien Stadium 'Livin' In Elizabethan Times' ep
4 Yello 'Frautonium' The Andrew Weatherall Remixes (4 of them but especially Warehouse)
3 Richard Fearless 'Sweet Venus'
2 BP Fallon and David Holmes 'Henry McCullough' Andrew Weatherall Remix
1 Bicep 'Aura' 12" Mix

Good video too.

Element

Jane Weaver's album (Modern Kosmology) is one of my most played lp releases of 2017. In October one of the stand out songs, The Architect, became the lead song on an e.p. with 3 new tracks. This one, Element, is the closer and is a thing of motorik joy. Jane's choral, layered vocals ease us in and then metronomic, minimal drums take over. A bassline joins in pulsing away. Over the next 7 minutes plus we get more of the same, beautifully repetitive. Static and odd noises come and go. Waves of synths wash in and out. It's too insistent to be ambient, very much something to tune into to and then lose yourself in.

I Want To Feel The Life We Loved In The Sun

Jane Weaver's recorded music is so otherwordly, it seems to exist in its own perfectly formed universe. Seeing her perform live at Band On The Wall on Friday night, a packed out venue with some difficult sight lines and a band of four blokes dressed in black, makes her music a bit more earthbound and of this place. This is not a criticism at all. The songs still take flight and Jane's vocals soar over the motorik drumming and shades of Hawkwind guitars. Single Slow Motion is a perfect slice of electropop, and the Silver Globe songs get the full 60s folk plus 70s sci-fi via loopy psychedelia treatment. There's a real warmth to the tunes and the playing, the songs coloured by dappled sunshine and shadows, with a sense of wonder in them, but for every drone or keyboard squelch there's also killer verses and choruses, psych with songwriting. This gig is a brave move in some ways- the album Modern Kosmology was released on the day of the show so most of the people in the audience, me included, are hearing many of the songs for the first time. I'd like to see her play them again in a month or two when I've got to know them. As a result of having lived with this one since early April, when I woke up the following morning, this was the tune going round my slightly fuzzy head.

Slow Motion

I need something breezy and colourful to kickstart Monday so this will do very nicely- new luscious cosmic pop from Jane Weaver that makes it feel like spring has sprung (even though it clearly hasn't). Her Silver Globe album from 2014 was a giddy delight, a folky voice filtered through analogue electronics and glitter. This new one sounds just as good. An album called Modern Kosmology is out on May 19th (which coincidentally is my birthday).

Creation Magik

Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve are shaping up for what is promising to be one of the summer's best releases (album The Soft Bounce due soon). I've already posted the beauteous single and remix of Diagram Girl. The follow up, Creation, has vocals from Jane Weaver and Hannah Peel and has been remixed and stretched out here by Psychemagik in a lovely, percussive and spaced out manner.

Fell From The Sun

This song continues the (unintentional) sun/clouds theme I've been riffing on here recently- Toy and Jane Weaver with an excellent slice of psyche-folk (released for RSD 2015). The guitars remind me a bit of Ocean by The Velvet Underground, and a few other things I can't quite put my finger on. Understated and restrained.

If you haven't got Jane Weaver's album from last year, The Silver Globe, please go out and get it right now.

2014: A List

This is my list of the stuff I've enjoyed most this year. There is nothing objective about rating or comparing music, any Best Of... can only be subjective.

Albums
There are two compilations that have taken up some of my listening time in 2014- Kompackt's 'Total 14', two discs of electronic tunes from the Cologne based label, with a high hit rate. The Time And Space Machine's 'The Way Out Sound From In' was a compilation of Richard Norris remixes that worked like a proper album and sounds adventurous and open minded. I liked the Ellis Island Sound album- a bit world music, a bit Talking Heads and Brian Eno. The Amazing Snakeheads 'Amphetamine Ballads' is a menacing, swaggering rock 'n' roll record shot through with hard drink, quiffs and cigarettes. Hollie Cook put out her second album 'Twice', ace Prince Fatty reggae with Hollie's gorgeous and intimate voice. My top five, at the time of writing, looks like this.

5. Aphex Twin 'Syro'
It might not have broken new ground but as a set of electronic sounds it was as good as it was unexpected.

4. Neneh Cherry 'Blank Project'
Raw, honest and stripped back. A proper album.

3. Pete Molinari 'Theosophy'
Totally retro- good songs, well played and sung, a cut above.

2. Warpaint 'Warpaint'
I started listening to this back in January and haven't got bored of it yet. Dreamy, stretched out grooves with the songs hidden somewhere inside.

1. Jane Weaver 'The Silver Globe'
A month ago I had only just heard of the Jane Weaver lp. It's been on my turntable more or less ever since. David Holmes and Andy Votel produce. The synths are cosmic, the singing beautifully English, the arrangements fantastic.



Singles/EPs/Remixes/Internet Only Releases/Etc

I don't know what has happened to guitar bands this year. Many of them sound very hackneyed to me. Or maybe my tastes have just narrowed recently. Most of the sounds that I've had on repeat since January have been from the dance music end of things. I loved the Death In Vegas 'Gamma Ray' 12",  really intense and absorbing techno. Several remixes buttered my toast- Khidja's trippy 'Mustafa' as remixed by Timothy J Fairplay and Richard Norris' 'Freaks' re-done Hammer horror style by Ivan Smagghe. I bought Maurice and Charles' 'I, Carpenter' on 12" on a whim and it throbs darkly with Escape From New York samples. I posted an Andrew Weatherall remix top nine last Saturday- the Julian Cope One Three One band Dayglo Maradona 'Rock Section' Remix (only on white vinyl novelty fans) was the best. The Hardway Bros four track 12" from last month (Sleaze) has been on heavy rotation recently.
My top five goes like this

5. Warpaint 'Disco/Very' The Time And Space Machine Remix
Rolling, sexy, trippy dance rock.

4. Junior Fairplay 'Sugar Puss'
Let's party like it's 1992. Breakbeats and Korgs. On one sided purple vinyl.

3. Tim Burgess 'Oh Men' Peaking Lights Remix
Stunning, driving, electronic reinterpretation of Tim's country song.

2. Friendly Fires and The Asphodells 'Before Your Eyes'
A two track chilled, cosmiche collaboration from the St Albans threepiece and Weatherall/Fairplay. This one came in a lovely thick sleeve and on orange vinyl and the A-side especially is superb.

1. Frank Ocean, Diplo, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon 'Hero'

The Frank Ocean, Diplo, 50% of The Clash collaboration came out on the internet as a tie-in with Converse. It is a sort of hip-hop, doo wop, punky soundclash that sounds joyously great, while Frank sings about the experience of being a black man in modern America. The only thing wrong with it is at two minutes and forty six seconds it is over too quickly.

Argent

Argent- silvery white, a tincture of silver.

Jane Weaver's album The Silver Globe is the Piccadilly Records album of the year and they don't often get it wrong. Jane is a Liverpudlian folk musician who has moved up and beyond to produce a properly cosmic album, with silvery white flashes shot all the way through it. There are still some traces of the folkiness in the vocals and on some of the quieter moments. And there is space rock, motorik drumming, glorious synths and drones, and a lovely warm retro-futuristic romance. I think it's got a post-apocalyptic theme running through the lyrics too. Worth a punt if you're looking for something to ease you through the long dark nights of December.