The Flightpath Estate At The Social

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This was last Saturday night at The Social where Acid House Chancers hosted a tribute to Andrew Weatherall on what would have been his 63rd birthday with a line up spread across the venue's two floors. 

The Flightpath Estate had been asked to play a few months ago and the prospect of playing The Social was pretty exciting. The Social is on Little Portland Street, just north of Oxford Street and a stone's throw from Soho. Dan and Martin couldn't make it and Mark was also playing as Rude Audio, so me and Baz travelled south to represent on the decks. We were on downstairs, a club space with a dancefloor, DJ booth and bar area. When I arrived there were already a good number of people downstairs, Stuart D. Alexander at the decks and Jenny Leamon taking over from 5.15 pm. Jenny had a crowd up and dancing before 6 pm, something that caused me some pre- gig nerves with visions of clearing the floor, playing the wrong tunes and various technical mistakes all running through my mind. 

I shouldn't have worried. I got the obligatory minor technical fuck up out of the way early on and then we were off and in a groove. As the room filled up the energy levels kept rising, more people arrived to dance with some familiar faces from gigs at The Golden Lion, and it was a total blast- one of those times when you're completely caught in the moment and wish you could revisit, soak up and enjoy. It just flew by. 

                                             

This was the scene looking out from the booth- red lights, dry ice, a blur of dancers... the most mayhem we've ever caused on a dancefloor. Alex Knight, formerly of Sabresonic and Fat Cat records and the Sabres Of Paradise tour DJ, took over from us, playing a seamless set with some Weatherall and Sabres inspired mid- 90s techno. 

Our set wasn't recorded but I've recreated it since and it's available to download below or you can find it at The Flightpath Estate's Mixcloud is you prefer to stream. What a night we had. 

The Flightpath Estate At The Social

• The Light Brigade: Shuffle The Deck
• SOP: Ysaebud (From The Vaults)
• Bim Sherman: World Dub
• The Clash: Ghetto Defendant
• Coyote ft Daniel Gidlund: Butterflies
• Paul Weller: Kosmos (Lynch Mob Bonus Beats)
• New Order: Your Silent Face
• Doves: Kingdom Of Rust (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
• Mark Lanegan: Ode To Sad Disco
• Le Carousel: We're All Gonna Hurt
• Unloved: Turn Of The Screw
• Fontaines DC: A Hero's Death (Soulwax Remix)
• Bedford Falls Players: Fool's Gold- en
• The Pogues: A Rainy Night In Soho

The Light Brigade is David Holmes and guests/ collaborators. On Shuffle The Deck it's former Swordsman Keith Tenniswood and a floor shaking, civil rights leader sampling tune, opening with a rousing speech- 'It's time for a new course, a new coalition, a new leadership... somebody gotta rise above race, rise about sex... Don't cry 'bout what you don't have, use what ya got... Our time has come!', and after several minutes of bass- led oompty boompty finishing with Andrew's musings on acid house as gnostic ceremony, music, coloured lights and smoke.

SOP was Sabres Of Paradise, a one off, one sided 7" single from 1996 with a righteous vocal sample from Count Ossie and Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari- 'Ever since I was a youth/ I've always been searching for the truth'. 

Bim Sherman and Adrian Sherwood's Ghetto Dub album came out in 1988 and due to all kinds of legal complications over the late Bim Sherman's back catalogue has remained out of print. A German label have unlocked some of the problems and re- pressing of Ghetto Dub is out shortly on Week- End Records. 

Ghetto Defendant is from Combat Rock, The Clash and Allen Ginsburg rocking out in dub reggae style, Strummer lamenting the drug addiction and heroin pity that prevents civil resistance'. Paul Simonon's bassline and Topper's drum keep the song grounded in reggae/ dub groove. A late Clash classic. 

Coyote's Butterflies is a moment of Balearic calm, from a forthcoming 12" with vocals by Daniel Gidlund. Last Saturday night it slowed things down a little and gave the dancers a breather.  

Playing at The Social was a big deal. In the 90s I'd read about the first Heavenly Social nights at The Albany pub, accounts in the music press of exhilarating music and wanton debauchery, Weatherall, The Chemical Brothers, Tim Burgess, the Heavenly and Creation crews, a cast of thousands. One of those accounts was of people flipping out to Andrew playing Brendan Lynch's version of Paul Weller's Kosmos, a dub/ trip hop/ jazz noise fest that scrambled minds as it squawked and ricocheted on a Sunday evening. I'd been to The Social on Little Portland Street before but only as a punter so to actually take to the decks was a big moment. Playing Kosmos was a nod to all of that. 

New Order's Your Silent Face is one of the great New Order songs and therefore one of the great songs. It provoked a few moments of emotion on Saturday night, Hooky's bass, those one finger keyboard notes and everyone waiting for Bernard's kiss off last line 'So why don't you piss off'. It was released in 1983 on Power, Corruption And Lies and is one of those New Order songs that really should have been a single, had New Order in the 80s operated along the lines other less obtuse bands at more conventional record companies did. 

Doves' Kingdom Of Rust remixed by Scandi- disco legend Prins Thomas is one of those tunes that always gets people asking what it is (or Shazaming it on their phones). A hypnotic, locked in groove, bass and drums circling, guitars picking out little melody lines and then sweeping strings joining in with Jimi's vocals- glorious Mancunian melancholy. 

Mark Lanegan's Ode To Sad Disco is a New Order- esque song from man usually more associated with grunge and gnarly blues rock. The synths and guitars are heavenly and Mark's imagery is memorable- subterranean eyes, the factory line, a mountain of nails, a white horse that drowned on parade, an Arcadian twist and a hollow headed morning all stand out. The 'mountain of nails' mentioned in the second verse links rather nicely to the 'kingdom of rust' and 'ocean of trust' in the Doves song too I've just noticed. 

Le Carousel's The Humans Will Destroy Us is already one of 2026's best and most prescient albums and We're All Gonna Hurt is its emotional centre and heartbeat, a Giorgio Morodor via Belfast acid house banger, dance music that is up and happy but sad and broken. 'Sooner or later/ We're all gonna hurt'.

Unloved's Turn Of The Screw came out on 2022's The Pink Album, David Holmes' beat group joined by Raven Violet for a 1960s in the 2020s song with a philosophy and attitude to admire. 

A Hero's Death was from Fontaines DC's second album and was remixed by Soulwax in 2021, the clanging guitars replaced by stripped back Balearic dance- cowbell and bass- with Grian Chatten's Dublin street poetry riding on top. 

Fools Gold- en is by Berkshire's Bedford Falls Players, a crowd pleasing mashing together of The Stone Roses and Rockers Revenge that hits all the spots and really gathers pace in its last few minutes, the bass and drums tumbling and thumping, a looped Reni and Mani doubling and powering on. 

Finishing our set with A Rainy Night In Soho, just a few hundred yards north of Soho, felt right. A Rainy Night In Soho is from the 1986 Poguetry In Motion EP, one of Shane MacGowan's most loved songs that ends with one of his best verses- 'Now the song is nearly over/ We may never find out what it means/ Still there's a light I hold before me/ You're the measure of my dreams/ The measure of my dreams'. 

Humanity As An Act Of Resistance

David Holmes returned to NTS for his monthly God's Waiting Room last week, a two hour long show that sequences speeches and excerpts into his musical selections. The speeches include comments on Donald Trump's Middle East fiasco, Ted Cruz, the Epstein Files, bombing a girl's school in Tehran, the state of Israel, the blockade of Cuba, the lunatic Christian Maga fringe, ICE, Ram Dass, Howard Zinn and more. In between and around these there are songs from Shockheaded Peters, Aphex Twin, Little Annie, Country Joe and The Fish, Sandals and DSS, Primal Scream, Grian Chatten, and Habitat Ensemble. The full track list is here. 

Humanity As An Act Of Resistance can be listened to here. 

Some people say pop and politics shouldn't mix, but some people are wrong. Music is made by people who live in the real world, it isn't just entertainment. 

Grian Chatten's band Fontaines DC have contributed a song to the latest War Child album, Help 2 (a sequel to 1995's Help). War Child raises money to help children affected by warfare and conflict. Fontaines have covered Sinead O'Connor's Black Boys On Mopeds, a song that in 1990 highlighted Margaret Thatcher's hypocrisy. One of her hypocrisies. 

'England's not the mythical land of Madame George and roses/ It's the home of police who kill Black boys on mopeds.'

In 1990 Sinead sang it at the BBC on The Late Show. In 1989 police chased Nicholas Bramble. He was on a moped they suspected him of stealing- he hadn't stolen it, it belonged to him. As they chased him he careered off the road and crashed. He later died of his injuries. Colin Roach, a black man from Hackney, was arrested and died in a police station of a gunshot wound- the verdict was suicide but few believed this and a cover up was suspected. Calls for an inquiry were ignored. Both men are remembered in the song. 

Forty Minutes Of Fontaines D.C.

Fontaines D.C. had an album out in August, their fourth, a record called Romance. It's the sound of a five piece guitar band about to go massive. They sounded a little bit jaded on 2022's Skinty Fia I thought but Romance is the band firing on all cylinders, expanding and playing around. The band said that a wider range of influences were brought to the table for Romance- hip hop, Massive Attack, Deftones, Alice In Chains, various films including Akira and Wings of Desire, the Beat poets, Dylan Thomas and on final song Favourite, Johnny Marr's c1986 Smiths guitar sound. It's a really good record and judging by the live appearances I've seen on TV they're on fire at gigs too. A friend went to an early evening album launch gig in Liverpool  and said they were superb. 

They've got themselves a memorable look as well. Vocalist/ lyricist Grian is wearing a black skirt/ kilt and big boots and the rets are mixing up vests, tattoos, green or red dyed hair, bug eye sunglasses, neon green and yellow jackets, massive platform trainers. In the guitar indie rock world the easiest/ classic look is to go fringes, skinny jeans and leather jackets, channel the Velvet Underground and the 1960s or the post punk early 80s. I like the fact they're playing around with their image, a look that is most definitely not classic or canonical and which likely makes little sense to anyone under the age of thirty.

Four albums, various remixes, a Grian Chatten solo album, a Nick Drake cover- it seemed the time was right for a Sunday mix. 

Forty Minutes Of Fontaines D.C.

• 'Cello Song
• I Was Not Born
• A Hero's Death
• A Hero's Death (Soulwax Remix)
• Here's The Thing
• Televised Mind (Dave Clarke Remix)
• Favourite
• Romance
• All Of The People

'Cello Song is a cover of a Nick Drake song from a tribute album last year, The Endless Coloured Ways. Nick's original version is my favourite Nick Drake song. Fontaines D.C. do what any good cover should- respects the original but tramples all over it too. Fontaines  version is a real beauty, a rockabilly drumbeat, grungy guitars and Grian's Dublin drawl re- interpreting nick's fragile lyrics. The words have taken on a new meaning for me since Isaac's death- I've written about them before- especially these lines...

'But while the earth sinks to its grave
You sail to the sky
On the crest of a wave

So forget this cruel world
Where I belong
I'll just sit and wait
And sing my song
And if one day you should see me in the crowd
Lend a hand and lift me
To your place in the cloud'

I Was Not Born is from A Hero's Death, the second FDC album, from 2020. It's a blast of Dublin storytelling and street poetry, twin post punk guitars, Grian declaiming 'I was not born/ Into this world/ To do another man's bidding...' Electrifying stuff. 

A Hero's Death is from the same album (obviously), a calling card and the song that really turned my head to the band. The guitars pile in, chords slashing like a beefed up Last Nite by The Strokes, and Grian's words are a series of pieces of advice, a list, punctuated by the refrain, 'life ain't always empty'. 'Don't get stuck in the past', Grian says, 'Say your favourite things at mass/ Tell your mother you love her/ Go out of your way for others' and rattles through all sorts of killer lines before concluding 'If we give ourselves to every breath/ We're all in the running for a hero's death'. Two ears ago, listening to this in the car, with thoughts of Isaac's death on my mind, this song reduced me to tears. Powerful stuff.

The Soulwax remix came out on 12", the Belgian duo spinning Fontaines D.C.  from Dublin to the Balearics. I played this out once in a bar and a young bloke came up to me, enthusing about it and asking if it was Fontaines.

Here's The Thing is from this year's album Romance, the words written following  an argument between Grian and guitarist Carlos O' Connell. The guitars are superb, distorted and crunchy. Favourite ends the record. Romance starts it. I included them both here and switched them around. 'Maybe Romance is a place for you and me' Grian finishes the title track with. Here the line segues into All of The People.

Televised Mind is from A Hero's Death and is here in remixed form by techno don Dave Clarke, a enthralling, synth squiggle, bottom end heavy remix that shoves Fontaines into new places. 

All Of The People is from Grain Chatten's solo album Chaos For The Fly, released last year, a record that showed there was life beyond FDC with electronics, acoustic guitars and strings and a sombre, melancholic feel. 

Heroes

This is another post brought via my box of magazine freebie CDs, this time a CD from Mojo in 2020- 'Mojo Heroes The Best Of 2020' (from the January 2021 edition but on sale December 2020- it came with a cover story about The White Stripes, a free calendar to go with the CD, and promised that inside you'd find the 75 best albums of the year- Bob Dylan's Rough And Rowdy Ways- along with articles about Neil Young's lost classics, Pharaoh Saunders, and AC/DC). 

2020 it's fair to say was not a year that turned out the way anyone thought it would. The news footage early on in the year from China and the Far East of deserted city streets and hundreds of thousands of people living in- new word alert- lockdown. It was followed by the news that Covid 19 had reached Europe and then the terrifying scenes from Italy. The government here was new, Boris Johnson having won an election in December 2019 by promising to 'get Brexit done' and to level up the places that lent him their votes in the general election based on the despair with Brexit and fear of Corbyn. Johnson would soon prove to be the worst person in charge at the worst time, literally the least suitable person to run a government during a crisis. Within weeks, March 2020, we were locking down here with workplaces and schools closing - and I remember the fear, the sense of being on the edge of chaos and loss of control in the week leading up to the announcement that schools were closing. Some people suggested it would only be a few weeks. In the middle of the year, May 2020, the killing of George Floyd by North Carolina police officers sparked the Black Lives Matter movement which soon became international. In the summer the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the Eat Out To Help Out scheme, where people received subsidised meals in restaurants and pubs in order to help the hospitality industry- a policy which many have linked with an autumn surge in re- infections. People were hospitalised and some died because the government offered half price pub food. By the end of the year we were in a muddle of Covid tiers, city lockdowns, a government that locked down too late, opened up too early, was determined (egged on by the tabloid press) 'to save Christmas' and then had to lockdown again in January 2021. 

We've forgotten a lot of this haven't we? Moved on. People talked of a restructuring of the way we do things but I'm not convinced that's really happened (although more people do work from home than did before). Over quarter of a million people in the UK died of Covid. Every one of them has a name and a family. One of them was my son Isaac, although he didn't die until 30th November 2021, long after the world had for most people returned to 'normal'. 

So, not the year anyone was expecting and in some ways it feels along time ago. A once in a century event, I hear occasionally as one minister or another tries to dismiss claims the Tory government has been incompetent (if you didn't want to have to deal with a crisis maybe you shouldn't have gone into government, I always feel like replying). A week today we get the chance to consign this government and the four Tory ones that preceded it to oblivion, the worst run of Prime Minsters and cabinets this country's had in modern times. I for one cannot wait. 

The CD is titled Heroes and the front cover, an African american woman in a beret with her fist raised in the air, reflects the Black Lives Matter side of 2020. Inside the cardboard slipcase we get Bob Dylan, Frazey Ford, Cornershop, Run The Jewels, Nick Cave (Galleon Ship from Carnage), Phoebe Bridges, Bill Callahan, Moses Sumney, Toots and The Maytals (Toots Hibbert died in August 2020 of Covid), Fleet Foxes, Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela (Tony also died in 2020, of an aneurysm), and Nubya Garcia. 

We also get this by Khruangbin, a lovely fluid and laid back piece of melodic pop with a very apt song title...

So We Won't Forget

Jarv Is... are present too, this from the album Beyond the Pale, Jarvis Cocker's album recorded in 2019 and then released in summer 2020. 

House Music All Night Long

The other band on the CD are Fontaines D.C. who have shown up in blogposts at No Badger Required and Dubhed over the last week. In 2020 Fontaines released their second album, A Hero's Death, the title track striking a deep chord with me- I've written about it previously. The song on the Mojo CD was this one....

I Was Not Born

How's that for electrifying? Pummeling drums and post- punk guitars and Grian's strident vocal declaring, 'I was not born/ Into this world/ To do another man's bidding'. It's a young man's song, the lyrics giving two fingers to the world of work and convention. 

Fontaines have released two new songs this year ahead of an album in August called Romance. The first single was Starburster. Starburster starts off like hip hop, rumbling in slowly. Last week they followed it with something very different, the childhood referencing and home video guitar pop of Favourite, a song that rattles along with guitars like mid- to- late 80s Johnny Marr and footage of the five Fontaines skateboarding and hanging down the pub. 

NYE 23

Let's wave goodbye to 2023 with the final Sunday mix of the year, this one stretching out with an hour and thirteen minute's worth of tunes from this year, not exactly a Best Of 2023 (although these are among the best of this year) more of a Some Of 2023. A mixture of trippy, dubby electronic music, throbbing dance tunes, chuggy indie dance, Balearic pop and Dublin guitar slinging sturm und drang. 

Happy New Year. Have fun tonight however you're choosing to celebrate. Thank you to everyone who's come here this year, to read and comment. I don't think I write this thing with an audience in mind but it helps to know that there is one, and that the people that populate it and places like this one are defintely a community. The comments and responses, particularly to some of the more personal, grief related posts, are genuinely much appreciated and a real support. Thank you, all of you. 

Onwards into 24. 

2023 NYE Mix

• Aphex Twin: Blackbox Life Recorder 21f
• Four Tet: Three Drums
• Khidja: Do You Know This Record Marius?
• Psychederek: Test Card Girl
• 10:40: Little Black Dress (Undressed Dub)
• A Man Called Adam: The Girl With The Hole In Her Heart
• David Holmes: Stop Apologising (Horse Meat Disco Vocal Remix)
• Marshall Watson and Cole Odin: Just A Daydream Away (Hardway Bros Remix)
• Islandman: Godless Ceremony (Hardway Bros Remix)
• James Holden: Common Land
• JIM: Still River Flow
• Fontaines DC: 'Cello Song

2023: My Year In Music

2023 has been a year of 23s for me in many ways. I've written before about the number and its occurrence, its relationship to us since Isaac died and the tattoos the three of us got done in October. This is my end of year post, a list pulling together what has been the best of 2023 for me. Inevitably there are 23 entries (but much more than 23 artists, singles and albums) and as I was writing it I realised that today is 23rd December (I planned to post this today before thinking about what date it would be). I have heard so much new music this year and so much of it has been really good- my long list of albums of the year came to thirty albums without much thought, a new album for every ten days of the year. And while much of this year has been a real struggle with grief and the long aftermath of Isaac's death, I've had some great nights out at events that were (almost) entirely about the music- the grief never goes away, it sits inside me or hovers above me but music- recorded music, live music- often has the power to transport me in a way nothing else does. 

This is a list of my favourite musical things of this year. It's not objective. I haven't heard everything I should have done and I'm sure there are records that I'd love if I had more time and more money. Usually I find something early into the new year that instantly screams 'best of last year' to me. Also, ranking art and declaring one album 'better' than another is inherently subjective but end of year lists are fun and looking back and putting it all into one place is a good way to mark the end of the year. The year of 23. 

Twenty Three: Venue Of The Year

No contest here- The Golden Lion in Todmorden and a fitting place to start the list. I've enjoyed several superb nights out at The Lion this year with the honour of DJing on a few occasions. ALFOS in June was very hot and memorable, David Holmes' album launch party in November was a 2023 highlight, Dan Donovan’s Casbah Club in August (sadly Paul Simonon was unable to attend), our Sabresonic celebration and Q&A with Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns and Jagz’s DJ set (videos of the Q&A to follow shortly), the Tici Taci Party in August with Sean Johnston and Duncan Gray DJing downstairs after a blistering set from Sons Of Slough upstairs, Red Snapper rattling the fittings in November and the legendary, untouchable AW60 in April with a beautiful cast of artists and revellers and a huge headlining set from Justin Robertson. 

Twenty Two: Label Of The Year

There are lots of independent labels putting out loads of good music, keeping things in house and small scale- not that there's anything small scale about the music- with digital and physical releases. These three have kept me busy all year with singles, EPs and albums, one offs and compilations- a three way tie for first place. Leeds based label Paisley Dark has put out releases by Warriors of The Dysthoteque, Jay- Son, The Machine Soul, Hogt I Tak and James Rod, all top notch electronic psychedelia. Duncan Gray's Tici Taci has had a year long celebration of ten years in the business with a tenth birthday party at the Golden Lion, a series of compilations, Decades Volumes 1 to 4 with outstanding new releases from The Long Champs' 'Nostalgia For The Future', Jack Butters' ‘Shake It Off’ and singles and EPs from Mystic Thug, Uj Pa Gaz, Viper Patrol and Mr BC. Along with those two is Exeter's Mighty Force, the label that back in the early 90s put out Aphex Twin's first 12" single, reborn for the digital age. Mighty Force have sent all of these into the ether and all are excellent electronic music- Yorkshire Machines ‘Firing Up’, ‘Fluffy Inside’ by Nylon Corners, M- Paths' ‘Hope’ AP Organism's EP ‘Space Docks And Moon Rocks’ David Harrow's ‘Jitter’ and ‘Described Spaces’ by KAMS. Long may all three labels continue.

Twenty One: Gig Of The Year

I had the pleasure to see some great gigs this year, several of which lived long in the memory. Spiritualized at Manchester's New Century Hall were genuinely breathtaking. Red Snapper at the Golden Lion kicked up a storm of cosmic jazz, trip hop and downtempo. Eyes Of Others at The Castle on Oldham Street were great, another great Heavenly Records artist. Chris Rotter and Andy Bell's two man set on Saturday afternoon at AW60 playing songs from Andrew Weatherall's A Pox On The Pioneers was a gem. 

But the win goes to A Certain Ratio who I saw live three times this year. They toured twice, released a superb new album, 1982, and an EP, celebrating 45 years of making music and they're still forging ahead with new music and ideas. Their gig at New Century Hall earlier on this year, the free one outdoors at Factory International in June and the two set 45^th anniversary celebration at Band On The Wall at the start of this month were all brilliant, a dance floor blend of youth and experience, post- punk/ punk funk/ jazz funk, the old and the new. 

Twenty: Compilation Of The Year

I've already mentioned Tici Raci's four volumes of Decade, several hours of chuggy sci fi, nu disco, house, techno sparkle. Aficionado's 25 Of Aficionado is a celebration of a Manchester institution, the anything goes, genre free spirit of Jason Boardman and Moonboots pressed onto four sides of vinyl is right up there with Colleen Murphy's Balearic Breakfast Volume 2 not far behind. But the stand out compilation of the year was Richard Sen's Dream The Dream: UK Techno, House And Breakbeat 1990- 1994, a perfectly pulled together and superbly sequenced set of tracks from the early 90s that show what a fertile period that was and how much was going on in the underground. 

Dream Frequency: Dream The Dream

Nineteen: Edits Of The Year

Some of my favourite tracks of this year have been edits- do edits count as new music? Or old music? New versions of old music, rejigged for the dancefloor. Jezebell's Jezebalearic Beats Vol 1 is a masterclass in this area and will appear further on in this list. Jezebell's Diavol Edits Vol 7 as a four track joy. Beyonder's Present Case Edits Vol 1 was a stunner, not least Hardway Bros edit of Sleaford Mods' Mork And Mindy, the M&M Acid Edit. Peza's Rock The Spectre, a layering of Joe Strummer's vocal from Rock the Casbah over Mystic Thug also hit the spot for me. But just pipping all of these for me were the pair of edits on the A- side of a recent vinyl only 12" by Coyote, their reworking of Monsoon's Ever So Lonely as Lonely and Gil Scott Heron as Western Revolution lighting up December for me.  

Eighteen: Andy Bell

Pretty soon from here there will be some proper lists and less wittering from me but first Andy Bell who at first glance seemed to have had a quiet year after all his solo albums and GLOK activity in 2020- 2022. Even so he put in a tour, released a lovely ambient/ free jazz mini- album with Masal, Tidal Love Numbers, and a ten minute live cover version of Neu!'s Hallogallo (also with Masal), a live in session album for Electronic Sound called Gateway Mechanics wearing his GLOK hat, two sides of soaring kosmische electronics and guitars, a bunch of remixes for other artists and put out a fanzine, Volume, Fuzz And Delay (which contained my review of his gig at Gulliver's in April 2022. Which, as the man on The Fast Show used to say, was nice). The fanzine came with a download code for three hours of live recordings from Andy's Space Station gigs, live versions of songs from his solo albums and as GLOK, all of which are stunning. 

Seventeen: EPs Of The Year

All of these were essential listening for me at various points this year, all of them somewhere between the single and the album, with Sons Of Slough's chug and cosmic wallop recorded live at Convenanza in September,  Jezebell's messy day and night out in the sun with Siouxsie on Trading Places, the three remixes of Unloved's Polychrome album, Justin Robertson's rocking dub especially, and at the top the wondrous Magic Hour EP by Wigan's Mark Peters, resplendent on 10" yellow vinyl.

• 11. Whitelands ‘Remixes’ 
• 10: Steve Queralt and Michael Smith ‘Sun Moon Town Versions’
• 9: Yorkshire Machines ‘Firing Up’
• 8: Woodleigh Research Facility: Apparently Solo 4 Borderlands
• 7: Sons Of Slough ‘Live at The Castle’
• 6: Chug Norris ‘Dark and Sweaty’
• 5: Richard Sen ‘Dream the Dream’ remixes
• 4: Andy Bell and Masal ‘Tidal Love Numbers’
• 3: Jezebell ‘Trading Places’
• 2: Unloved ‘Polychrome’ Remixes
• 1: Mark Peters ‘The Magic Hour’ EP

Sixteen: Albums Of The Year Numbers 30 to 8

• 30: Laurel Halo 'Atlas'
• 29. Red Snapper 'Live At The Moth Club' 
• 28: Young Fathers 'Young Fathers'
• 27: Dicky Continental ‘Uh?’
• 26: House of All 'House Of All'
• 25: Goat 'Medicine'
• 24: Boxheater Jackson ‘Indigenous State Of Mind’
• 23: Konformer ‘Konformer’
• 22: A Certain Ratio: 1982
• 21: Slowdive ‘Everything Is Alive’
• 20: The Coral ‘Sea Of Mirrors’
• 19: David Harrow ‘Rare Earth Technology’
• 18: Steve Cobby ‘The New Law Of Righteousness’
• 17: HiFi Sean and David McAlmont ‘Happy Ending’
• 16: Woodleigh Research Facility ‘Phonox Nights’
• 15: Andy Bell ‘Gateway Mechanics’
• 14: The Thief Of Time ‘Where Do I Belong?’
• 13: Coyote ‘I Hear A New World’
• 12. Grian Chatten ‘Chaos For The Fly’
• 11: Rude Audio and Dan Wainwright ‘Psychedelic Science’
• 10: Jezebell ‘Jezebellearic Beats Volume 1’
• 9: Richard Norris ‘Oracle Sound Volume 1’
• 8: Yo La Tengo ‘This Stupid World’

Fifteen: Singles Of The Year Numbers 23 to 8

• 23: Four Tet ‘Three Drums’
• 22: Woodentops ‘Ride A Cloud’ and Coyote remix
• 21: Hurdy Gurdy and the Local Psycho ‘The Hurdy Gurdy Song’
• 20: X- Press 2 ‘Phasing You Out’ David Holmes remix
• 19: Rude Audio ‘The Grinning’
• 18: Warriors Of The Dysthoteque and Joe Duggan ‘Fitzroy Avenue’
• 17: Dicky Continental ‘Simon Says’ Congagong Rework’
• 16: Dot Allison ‘Unchanged’ GLOK Remix
• 15: JIM ‘Phoenix’ Crooked Man Remixes
• 14: Flamingods ‘Dreams (On The Strip)’
• 13: Islandman ‘Godless Ceremony’ plus the Hardway Bros Remix
• 12: A Man Called Adam ‘The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart’
• 11: Aphex Twin ‘Black Box Recorder 21f’
• 10: Psychederek ‘Test Card Girl’
• 9: Jo Sims ‘Bass- The Final Frontier’ David Holmes remix
• 8: Katy J Pearson ‘Willow’s Song’ Richard Norris remix

Fourteen: Album Of The Year #7 Eyes Of Others ‘Eyes Of Others’

Eyes Of Others debut album is a heady collage of electronics, synthpop, dub, acid house, early New Order and John Bryden's singular world view.   

Thirteen: Album Of The Year #6  African Head Charge ‘A Trip To Bolgatanga’

Bonjo and Sherwood back on the African Head Charge express, ten songs built over Bonjo's drumming, chanting and dub. 

Twelve: Album Of The Year #5 10:40 ‘Transition Theory’

I first heard Jesse Fahnestock's music a couple of years ago, an edit of Spacemen 3. This album, a complete piece of work, each track containing the seeds of the next one, an eleven song trip through the 10:40 world roaming in the spaces between ambient house, chuggy electronics, indie dance, psychedelia, bleepy dub and atmospherics, floating in inner/ outer space.  

Eleven: Album Of The Year #4 JIM ‘Loves Makes Magic’

Surprise of the year for me, a Balearic song based album that lit up summer- the hot, sunny summer we didn't really get this year. 

Ten: Album Of The Year #3 Sonic Boom and Panda Bear ‘Reset In Dub’ by Adrian Sherwood

Sherwood and the On U Sound collective proving they've lost none of their power, sending Sonic Boom and Panda Bear into echo heaven. 

Nine: Album Of The Year #2 James Holden ‘Imagine This Is a High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities’

This album came out in March, an album that is endlessly innovative and entrancing. Holden recorded it partly as a memory of 90s rave and the free party movement but it works way beyond nostalgia, twelve tracks that never become predictable, never settle, always looking to twist and move somewhere else, melodies and squiggles, birdsong and synths. I played it again recently and it sounded as fresh as it did in March. 

Eight: Single Of The Year #7 Cole Odin and Marshall Watson ‘Just A Daydream Away’ versions plus Hardway Bros remix

Shimmering indie dance from the West Coast of the USA, in two versions, both equally great and a wonderful Hardway Bros remix serving up ten minutes of cosmic indie chug (a trick Sean repeated with remixes of Holy Youth Movement and Islandman's Godless Ceremony. 

Seven: Single Of The Year #6 Electric Blue Vision ‘Other Skies’ plus remixes

Jesse Fahnestock has been on fire in 23, a flood of music and ideas (see above, number 13). Other Skies is a song that has that magic, the magic that transports and transcends, Emilia Harmony's vocal about being lost and going home a key part of it. The remixes, all three of them, sent it into new places with the Hardway Bros and Monkton's dub version bringing the bass and melodica front and centre. 

Six: Single Of The Year #5 Khidja ‘Do You Know This Record Marius?

Two weeks ago this wouldn't have been here but it shoved its way in and won't let go- trippy, spinning electronic psychedelia from Romania that has been on a loop at home and in the car. 

Five: Single Of The Year #4 Dirt Bogarde ‘Heavy Blotter’

Dirt has provided several tracks this year that have pushed me forwards but this one has an oomph, an electric charge and a big acid house sound that rattles my speakers and hits me in the chest. 

Four: Single Of The Year #3 Matt Gunn ‘Learning By Loops’ Bedford Falls Players Remix

I wrote about this last week, a remix that has been in my ears since the early summer, and one I'm not remotely tired of hearing. A crunch of drums, long vocal sample about binary systems, time travel, the voice of Jesus and shit like this with a ringing guitar part looped in and out. 

Three: Sinead O'Connor and Single Of The Year #3 David Holmes 'Necessary Genius'

There have been a lot of high profile deaths this year, the losses of David Crosby, Tom Verlaine, Bobby Charlton, Jane Birkin, Steve Mackey, Spot, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mark Stewart, Andy Rourke and Shane McGowan all moments of sadness. But Sinead's death in July was shocking and brought a wave of heartfelt tributes and genuine bereavement from many, her death, coming a year after the loss of her youngest son Shane. I read her book Rememberings last year and the knowledge that Shane would die after the book was written made reading it very moving. 

Back in July when I posted my own tribute to her I included a link to an edit Rich Lane did of Sinead's song Jackie. A friend sent my blogpost to David Holmes who in response sent me the track he played at his own tribute to Sinead at NTS radio, his remix of Orbital's Belfast with Sinead's vocal from Nothing Compares 2U over the top. David also then got in touch with Rich and asked for a copy of Jackie to play when DJing (which he did and which David played at The Golden Lion in November, a moment that made me smile when it came over the sound system and I thought about how it got there). David also then asked Rich to do a remix for him which should be coming out soon. Sinead's face was on the art for David's Necessary Genius single and a print included with the Blind On A Galloping Horse album. She's been a presence all over the second half of 2023, a beautiful and fearless soul and it seemed right to include her in this list. Hopefully the album she recorded with David Holmes will see the light of day eventually. 

Necessary Genius was close to the top in my list of singles of 2023, a rollcall of talent and inspiration with glorious synths and drum machines. But it missed out to this...

Two: Single Of The Year- Fontaines DC 'Cello Song'

I thought long and hard about this, about whether I really think a cover version should be my single of the year and whether given almost all the music above is electronic, a rock 'n' roll rumble in the top spot is right- but in the end it is the song I've gone back to time and time again. Nick Drake's original is my favourite song of his, a song of acoustic and poetic beauty, and in some ways the words have become associated with Isaac for me in the two years since he died. Fontaines DC take the song and do something new with it, a squeal of feedback, a rockabilly drumbeat, acres of Dublin street swagger and Grian Chatten's deep hit of voice breathing new meaning into Nick's words. Back in July I put together a forty minute mix of Nick Drake songs which opened with Nick's version and closed with Fontaines. Here it is again. 

Forty Minutes Of Nick Drake

One: Album Of The Year- David Holmes 'Blind On A Galloping Horse'

The album I've been waiting for since the first single from it appeared in 2021, Hope Is The Last Thing To Die. Fourteen songs long, seventy minutes of music, a proper album from start to finish with contributions from Keith Tenniswood and Tim Fairplay, the voice of Raven Violet and the spirits of Andrew Weatherall and Sinead O'Connor. Songs that take in the personal and the political, the emotional and the righteous, the psychedelic and the electronic, over four sides of vinyl housed in a beautifully designed sleeve. Everything we wanted and more and as someone said to me, exactly the album we needed at exactly the right time. 

There were a slew of remixes to support the singles, all of them worth hearing and some of them right up there with the best music released this year, a case of more is sometimes more. Shout outs to Sonic Boom and Panda Bear's remix of Yeah x 3 and both Vendetta Suite's versions of the same song, Colleen Murphy's acid disco remixes of Stop Apologising, and the remixes of Necessary Genius by Decius (a riot in a sweaty basement), Lovefingers (a slowed down piano dub groove) and especially Phil Kieran's eight minute electronic kraut hammer remix. 

Necessary Genius (Phil Kieran Remix Vocal)

Forty Minutes Of Nick Drake

I abandoned not one but two Sunday mixes this week- in frustration mainly, at not being able to get either one right. One was a Talking Heads/ David Byrne/ Tom Tom Club mix that kept defeating me and the other an Underworld one that I couldn't get into a state that I was happy with. Instead I've gone for a Nick Drake mix, one which came together quickly and which hits the spot in all sorts of ways. In some ways it's just an excuse to repost the recent Fontaines D.C. cover of 'Cello Song, which has come out physically recently as part of an album of twenty five songs, covers by a diverse range of artiss. 

I first encountered Nick Drake aged seventeen or eighteen after reading a review in Melody Maker of a 1987 compilation called Time Of No Reply, fourteen songs that were all outtakes and alternate versions. I don't know why I bought it. It wasn't remotely like what I was listening to in 1987/ 1988, but something about the review must have appealed to me or it was a strange impulse that paid off in the long term. I liked the songs but details were scant, there was no internet to look him up on and explore further and I didn't dig much deeper until the mid- 90s when his three studio albums were re- issued. Nick's music- the finger picked folk guitar, his clear, well spoken English voice, the songs that were adorned with Disney- like string arrangements, the way his songs veer between dark and light, depression and light-  confused me at times and I had to sift through them to find what I wanted. Some of these songs, 'Cello Song for one, have taken on huge meaning and significance for me (I wrote about 'Cello Song here when it became a lockdown song round my way, and again here in November last year, on the first anniversary of Isaac's death. I heard 'Cello Song in the aftermath of Isaac's death and the words took on new layers of meaning for me- it stops me in my tracks when I hear it now, partly why the Fontaines cover has gone near to the top of my most played songs of 2023 list). The backing on many of these songs add another dimension to them too, the use of hand drums, congas, cello and so on, lift them, adding subtleties and layers and put them in a different place from the more standard folky singer/ songwriter area. That's Joe Boyd's influence I think. There's something about these songs which often seems very autumnal but they fit into the long days of summer too. Even if the weather has been anything but summery these last few weeks. 

Forty Minutes of Nick Drake

• 'Cello Song
• Time Has Told Me
• Rider On The Wheel
• River Man
• Northern Sky
• Three Hours
• Hazey Jane I
• Black Eyed Dog
• Clothes Of Sand
• 'Cello Song
• Introduction

'Cello Song and Time Has Told Me are both from Nick's debut Five Leaves Left, produced by Joe Boyd.  The original version of River Man comes from Five Leaves Left too but this solo version is from I Was Made To Love Magic, a compilation released in  2004 that was an updated version of the cassette I bought back in the 80s. 

Rider On The Wheel was on I Was Made To Love Magic along with the versions here of Three Hours, Clothes Of Sand and the haunting Black Eyed Dog. Rider On The Wheel and Black Eyed Dog both date from 1974 and were possibly intended for Nick's fourth album, a record which never happened due to his death that year. 

Northern Sky and Hazey Jane I are both from Bryter Later, Nick's second album, released in 1971. The album was very polished, with string arrangements added by Joe Boyd- I can leave some of it, its too sweet but some of it is lovely. John Cale was involved in the production of Bryter Later adding piano and Hammond organ to several songs including Northern Sky. Northern Sky was also the song which spearheaded Nick's rediscovery, being sued as the lead track from a CD compilation and in a handful of films in the 90s. Introduction is an instrumental, one minute thirty seconds opening to Bryter Later. 

The second version of 'Cello Song is the cover by Fontaines D.C., out now on album The Endless Coloured Ways. It kicks and spits and takes the song somewhere else entirely, a grinding rocking guitar song, with rockabilly drums and Grian Chattan's Dublin voice a new way to hear those words. Exactly what a cover version should do. 

Saturday Live

It seems a bit late in the day to be talking about bands coming to 'save rock 'n' roll', the outlaw gang of brothers and all that sort of thing, all very 20th century. Boys with guitars and cheekbones. Leather jackets. Cigarettes and alcohol. Maybe its my age- we've been through the cycle a number of times and on the whole they'll only disappoint you in the end (or maybe somewhere not long after the beginning). 

Dublin guitar group Fontaines D.C. are half my age and have released three albums since forming in 2017- 2019's Dogrel, 2020's A Hero's Death and last year's Skinty Fia. Twin guitars, post- punk influences, grinding basslines, rocking drums and a street poet for a vocalist. I'm not about to declare my undying love for them and stencil their name on my denim jacket but I think they really have something, and sound like the sort of group who if I was nineteen probably would declare 'the saviours of rock 'n' roll'. If nineteen year olds still do that kind of thing. 

Don't mess it up lads. Don't cheat the keyboard player out of the money. Don't cut people out of the credits and then treat them as hired hands when they've been in the band for three decades. What sort of band would do that?

Last May while promoting Skinty Fia they appeared at Seattle's KEXP and played a four song set- Nabokov, Big Shot, How Cold Love Is and Roman Holiday- where they look and sound like the real deal. 

Also last year they played in the afternoon at Glastonbury, the song I Love You, a song about their home country, its murky corruption, historical atrocities and politics and singer Grian's love/ hate relationship with it. 

The Score

Grian Chatten, singer and lyricist in Dublin punk- poets Fontaines D.C. has a solo album out and a first single from it came out last month. Grian's song The Score follows from their contribution to a forthcoming album of covers of Nick Drake songs, and their stunning version of 'Cello Song, an off kilter, thrilling, modern/ post- punk take on one of Nick's most affecting songs. 

On The Score Grian seems to have been soaking some of the Nick Drake acoustic feel. Along with the finger picked acoustic guitar part and some softly padding electronic drums, there is his voice. Grian's voice and delivery are a big part of what makes Fontaines D.C., his Dublin brogue and street poetry a very distinct part of their twin guitar attack. On The Score he's softer, more melancholic but warmer too. It's quite something, the blend and layers of those three components. 

Two weeks ago this one came out too, Fairlies, with a fiddle and loudly strummed acoustic guitar to the fore, all sots of melodies and harmonies, all summoning up some kind of dreamlike state. Pretty stunning and quite unexpected. The album, Chaos for The Fly, is out at the end of June.

Where Spring Is Sprung

This song has already featured at a couple of blogs linked to this one and been posted on social media by friends but, at the risk of repetition, I'm posting it here today as well. 'Cello Song has long been one of my favourite Nick Drake songs- the finger picked folk guitar, the gorgeous, weightless, melancholy of the cello, the busy, subtle hand drums and Nick's voice, as if recorded not long after waking up. Back in November, in the lead up to the first anniversary of Isaac's death, I was struck by the lyrics which seemed so apt and took on new meaning for me. 

'Strange face, with your eyes
So pale and sincere
Underneath you know well
You have nothing to fear
For the dreams that came to you when so young
Told of a life
Where spring is sprung

You would seem so frail
In the cold of the night
When the armies of emotion
Go out to fight
But while the earth sinks to its grave
You sail to the sky
On the crest of a wave

So forget this cruel world
Where I belong
I'll just sit and wait
And sing my song
And if one day you should see me in the crowd
Lend a hand and lift me
To your place in the cloud'

Fontaines DC have covered 'Cello Song for a forthcoming album of covers, The Endless Coloured Ways, along with twenty- nine other artists. Fontaines DC grab hold of the song and don't let go, stamping their own identity on it while retaining the spirit and essence of Nick's original. In their hands, with twin clanging guitars and layers of feedback, rat- a- tat- tat drumming, thumping bass and Grian Chatten's unmistakeable Dublin vocals, 'Cello Song switches effortlessly from melancholic late 60s English folk to gritty back street 21st century indie- punk rock. The sweeping cellos are still there, the bridge between the two. It's rewritten the song for me (and they've rewritten the lyrics partly too, cutting pasting parts of the second and third verses into one), rewired it into something new, still emotionally charged but with a different, more insistent, more menacing edge. It's a wonderful reinterpretation, exactly how a cover version should be done. 

Things feel hard again. Grief comes and goes in unpredictable arcs and waves. I know it isn't very long at all since Isaac died- a little over fifteen months- but there's been yet another shift in things recently, with the old one step forwards, two steps back as standard. The acceptance that things have changed forever is one I'm trying to get to grips with. With it comes the realisation that it's not just that there's no going back to the world as it was before he died, it's also that there's no going back to the person I was before he died. This has changed me/ us forever. The person I am now has this ball of grief and loss built in. Some days it's a dull aching sadness. Some days it's a knot of anxiety in the stomach and chest. Some days it's a weight, a heaviness I'm lugging around with me. Some days it's raw and painful again. Some days it erupts unexpectedly, a burst of frustration or anger (or the opposite, a resigned shrug and a fuck it to a situation I maybe should care more about). It may change as the months and years go by, the grief and loss becoming more bearable- not lessening, just more liveable with- but it's there for good. That's a big thing to take on board I think- I am not who I was. 

Full Way Round

Leftfield have a new album out next month. This Is What We Do will be their fourth since the early 90s and Leftfield now is only Neil Barnes, Paul Daley having departed some time ago. Barnes has had a rough few years not least recovering from cancer. The album continues the run of strong guest vocalists- John Lydon, Djum Djum, Toni Halliday, Afrika Bambaataa and Roots Manuva have all stepped up to the microphone previously. This time around vocal contributions come from poet Lemn Sissay and Fontaines D.C. singer Grian Chatten. Grian's voice and words on Full Way Round add much to the track, his Dublin street poetics playing off against and with Leftfield's distorted, hard hitting dub techno. 

Which reminds me that I still haven't caught up with Fontaines D.C. album from earlier this year, Skinty Fia. I do have though a pair of remixes from last year that get pulled out round the Bagging Area way fairly often, the giddy, joyous Balearic stylings brought to A Hero's Death by Soulwax (a song I find inexplicably moving) and the full on grungy bassline, needles- in- the- red, massive kick drum, bleep techno version of Televised Mind by Dave Clarke.

A Hero's Death (Soulwax Remix)

Televised Mind (Dave Clarke Remix)

Monday's Long Song

This is a perfect collision of acid- techno and post punk- Dublin's poetic young guitar slingers Fontaines DC remixed by Dave Clarke, a monstrous, takes no prisoners, seven minute white knuckle ride. When the distorted bass comes in on top for the final minute and a half it's likely to cause outbreaks of pogoing and body slamming.

Dave Clarke is a techno legend, nicknamed the baron of techno by John Peel back in the 90s. His 1994 releases Red 1 and Red 2 are monuments to hard, driving, percussive techno and his approach has always been to avoid the obvious route, shun the commercial aspects and keep your head down. I thought I had digital files of Red 1 and 2 but can't locate them at the moment. My vinyl copy purchased at the time came with a tear off cardboard strip, so you had to damage the sleeve to play the records.  This won't be everyone's cup of tea but there's a purism to this which is beautiful. 

Sit Beneath A Light That Suits Ya

Dublin's poetry/ guitar guttersnipes Fontaines D.C. have been remixed by Belgium's remix/ mash up party kings Soulwax,. A Hero's Death is ideal May Day bank holiday weekend music- a drum machine, NY disco- not- disco vibes, an FX strewn, mechanical chugger. Singer Grian Chatten dispenses wisdom- 'life ain't always empty/ life ain't always empty.... don't get stuck in the past/ say your favourite things at mass/ tell your mother you love her/ and go out of your way for others....' 

Don't Get Stuck In The Past

Back in the lockdown again. Too late (again), blame the variant rather than accept you've made mistakes. More U- turns, schools closed to most children less than twenty four hours after the Prime Minister assuring us schools are safe. The price now has to be paid for all those Christmas shopping trips and parties. Grim. The whole thing is grim. 

Fontaines D.C., a five piece post- punk sounding band of young men from Dublin with an undeniably poetic take on lyric writing have been hailed by some people as the saviours of rock 'n' roll. I'm not sure that's true- but then I'm not sure anyone is ever going to be 'the saviours of rock 'n' roll' again. That whole shebang seems so last century don't you think? I haven't heard all of their songs from either of their albums but I did hear this one last year and loved it.

A Hero's Death

You could be reductionist and say they've just slowed the riff to Last Nite by The Strokes down (which in turn was the riff to Tom Petty's American Girl) but that sort of thing doesn't really matter. The riff is done well, the drums thump, the production is grainy and close up and the vocals are attention grabbing and dramatic. I'm also a sucker for songs which aim to give advice. After telling us several times over that riff that 'life ain't always empty' Grian Chatten offers the following-

'Don't get stuck in the past
Say your favourite things at mass
Tell your mother that you love her
And go out of your way for others
Sit beneath a light that suits ya
And look forward to a brighter future

Sink as far down as you can be pulled up
Happiness really ain't all about luck
Let your demeanor be your deep down self
And don't sacrifice your life for your health
When you speak, speak sincere
And believe me friend, everyone will hear'

Nicely specific and homely wisdom for a man barely out of his teens. Chatten says they are 'a list of rules for the self'.

Completely different in tone and presentation but offering more advice for the listener is this from 1997, a song I wasn't much struck with at the time but which has grown on me over the years. Everyone's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann. In it's original form, an article by American columnist Mary Schmich, it acknowledges from the start that 'advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young' but goes on to offer it anyway.