Alan’s New & Old Music: Early 2025

 

Compiled by Alan Dearling

 

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Youth: Spaceship to Mars

Some wonderfully bonkers rapping dub from the Late Emperor of reggae. Youth was working with Mister Perry before he left this planet and departed off out into a greater cosmos. Youth aka Martin Glover assembled a variety of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s vocal weirdness, warblings and disconnected, verbal absurdities and profundities and added in plenty of dub effects, instrumentation, beats and more into his creative concoction. Hollie Cook joins Perry on ‘Butterfly Sky’, which, of course, rhymes with ‘Rasta Far I’ and ‘Fly, fly, fly’. It’s lots of infectious fun. Deep rhythms in dub-land. There are new takes on Perry’s back catalogue including his famous ‘Iron Shirt’ and a number of further dub mixes of tracks also on the main album. ‘Love is War’ is a paean to ganja-marijuana. Perry repeats that “Everything come from Africa”. ‘Love Sunshine Peace’ featuring Carol Thompson is one of many stand-out moments. ‘The Lizard’ dub mix is a bit special too. Ultimately, there’s always room for one more Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry album.  

‘Spaceship to Mars’ featuring Chris Bowsher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIJDv7NDuhQ

Necessary Animals: Full Moon at the Comet Hotel

An unusual new album which has now been released on CD – filmic, created with a rather European Art Movie brush. Imagine an essentially trippy, ethereal, sound and poetry offering. A soundtrack that meanders between horror and extra-terrestrial territories. Much of it features intense vocals, dark visions to: “Feed the Demons every day!”  Lots of visceral darkness, walls of swishing, swirling soundscapes with an underlay of deep rumbling of bass.  In its midst are moments of almost commercial songs and melodies. Track 4, ‘Burning Angel’ and Track 6, ‘Henry Walks Home’ provide such moments, though Henry’s walk evokes the vibe of a 1950s monochrome melodrama movie, mysterious, brooding, especially the horns section. Later, in ‘Psychedelic Green’, we step into an outer space peopled by ghosts, heard in whispers barely discernable. Finally, ‘The Last News’ takes us “walking with ghosts”, offering tantalising sonic glimpses of a flickering screen, fragments of a broken dream. It’s an elegant elegy in anomie.

Overall, Necessary Animals is an arts collective with Keith Rodway at the helm. They have crafted a piece of alternative sonic art. It exists on the fringes of electronic music such that has been previously created by the likes of The White Noise in ‘An Electric Storm’ and Laurie Anderson’s musical experiments.

This is a video made by Frankfurt-based visual artist and performer Daniel Hartlaub. Keith wrote ‘The Last News’ for his installation of the same name, held in the Hotel Nizza in Frankfurt. A woman lies in bed in a hotel watching the end of the world on TV. Atmospheric and surreal stuff! https://youtu.be/DRg7CI_bEg0?si=YqiqGupcoDKQ7h0y

Clang Group: New Clang

This is happy music. Plenty of witty, self-deprecating lyrics, particularly about addiction and alcoholism. Final tracks are ‘Addiction’ and the honky-tonk, sing-along, ‘Alcohol’. For instance, this is a clever line from ‘I know me’: “Whisky was tea – I know me.”  Clive Langer has been around the musical block for a long time. His phrasing and voice, not surprisingly, is reminiscent of Robert Wyatt who sang the song, ‘Shipbuilding’, which Langer co-wrote with Elvis Costello. This is especially apparent on the new song, ‘Hi-Lo’. There are also hints of Bowie in ‘It’s wild out there’, and Ian Dury in some tracks such as ‘Southend’. It’s a mixed bunch of songs and the variety keeps the interest level high. Mini-clip: https://www.facebook.com/CliveLangerClang/videos/945964304084185?locale=en_GB

The cover design is really striking and is the work of British artist Edwin Burdis, whom Clive Langer met during his time with Domino Records. From the New Clang on-line site I discovered that Edwin explains that, “Clive asked me to a studio in London to listen to his new album, still a work in progress...I was struck by the contrast between the upbeat music and its underlying melancholy, evoking clowns and cartoon characters and a nostalgia for London’s recent past. At the time, I had been drawing simple cartoon motifs that aligned perfectly with Clive’s songs. I wanted the campaign to be cohesive—black-and-white graphics that blend humour with a sense of tragedy and sadness.”

Can: Live in Paris 1973


A recent reissue. Much lauded in psych-Kraut rock quarters. It’s real hippy heaven or hell. Shades of Grateful Dead and Airplane jams. Much guitar noodling, scat vocals ranging from muffled and mumbled, through to full-on screams of consciousness. Vocalist Damo Suzuki was a true force majeure. He died in 2024 just two weeks after this album was released to tumultuous critical and public acclaim. Five tracks in all, and there are Indian guitar sounds in there, creative, combustible pounding percussion and doomy organ. There’s a heck of a lot going on and it gets propelled along at a frantic pace. Not for the faint of heart! It’s quite a pagan affair and sounds akin to a musical coven at the gates to Valhalla. The audience are ecstatic. And it’s nice that the live concert is paced from slow and trippy up to murderous peals of aural thunderstorms.  Some fine guitar picking and playing, likewise some haunting keys. There are also moments of chaos and discord. Not having heard much Can-music for a while, this live performance is a welcome reminder of their eminence and excellence. And the locomotive pace of some of their playing. Totally different in genre, but Can actually capture some of the same left-field vibes as Captain Beefheart and his  Magic Band. The tracks are enigmatically named:  Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier and Funf. Short clip link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNQKoX2fLAc

Philip Rambow: I’m an artist

The contents of Philip Rambow’s latest album veer between rock ‘n’ roll through Americana and even a nod to music hall in ‘Lost without you’. The opening track, ‘I’m an artist’, is perhaps how Phil sees himself: “I’m an artist, I make art”. It is certainly a varied musical fare. ‘Cold Blue Steel’ is an example of some pretty strong vocals, offering as it does, ‘sweet sweet fire’. Rambow’s background is likewise a hybrid affair, including his credit as the co-writer of ‘There’s a guy who works down the chip shop’ which was a hit for Kirsty McColl. Phil Rambow was also in a band with Maggi Ronson, Mick Ronson’s wife and Mick played with him a fair few times. Philip was frontman with the pub rock aficionados, The Winkies, who even backed Eno on one tour. The album features a collection of newish songs mostly penned with Malcolm Doherty. Meanwhile, Rambow continues to perform with another pub rock outfit, The Tex Pistols. Ultimately, the album like much of his career is redolent of the UK pub rock scene, despite his own Montreal, Canadian heritage.

The inside cover of the album features ‘Then’ and ‘Now’ pics of Philip.

First single from the new album> Video: ‘I’m an artist’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TfDMoWiYvs 

 

Jack White: No name

I only recently caught up with this new release from Jack. It’s one of his most powerful and impressive albums yet. ‘Old Scratch Blues’ kicks off proceedings with a crystal clear guitar and grunge vocals – pure psycho-blues! It’s an exhilarating, exciting, fearsome pleasure with rapid fire tempo changes. Jack out snarls Robert Plant or Ozzy at their most venomous. “Nothing in the World is free – at least not for me!” Jack obviously assembled some other great musicians for this musical outing. The 13 tracks are fuelled by great guitar playing and drum beats. In fact, it is jam-doughnut filled with killer riffs. Jack channels his hysterical gospel preacher soul as Archbishop Harold Holmes.

Live at the Black Cat, DC, August 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqZmqrtaBaY

This is a sonic assault on the senses. Raw Power, akin to being plugged into the mains electricity supply. One of the song titles sums it up neatly: ‘What’s the rumpus?’ It’s also more like the White Stripes than any of Jack’s previous five solo outings. I’ve been privileged and lucky to have seen Hendrix, the Stones and the Doors at their imperious best. ‘No Name’ from Jack White is up there with those earlier experiences still remembered from some 55 years ago – packed with maximum pomp and audacity. And what a track title to end the album with:

TERMINAL ARCHENEMY ENDLING.  Awesome.

Richard Davies & The Dissidents: High times and misdemeanours

This album is described as being ‘countrydelic rock ‘n’ roll’. That’s a pretty accurate summation. Think Tom Petty and Steve Earle and Rolling Stones. Anthemic, with oodles of stadium-pleasing tracks. It is fast and furious from the off with ‘Keep your fire burning’.  It kind of reminds me of ‘Eve of Destruction’ and moody Bob Dylan. There’s even a little hint of The Clash and ‘London Calling’ in there. All positive vibes to be shared and experience. Richard Davies provides the lead vocals and is joined on guitar by his collaborator from the band, Snakes, Nick Beere, providing some ‘All along the Watchtower-style’ histrionics. There are plenty of catchy rock tunes with a classic rock sound, as in ‘Age of the blade’. Plenty of atmospheric harp too. The band is a well-loved live act and often grace the stages of venues such as ‘What’s Cookin’ in London.

This is the lead single from the album: ‘Bring me out of the wilderness’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbvUAXsQ9Fo

Photo from ‘Vive la Rock’.

Jane Weaver: Love in Constant Spectacle

This album pervades a rich sense of kosmiche. The music floats in clouds, Jane’s voice clear as a bell, mostly softly spoken, with eerie keys and arrangements. The songs are created from a palette of pastel shades and gradations. Sounds which echo the ethereal nature of the material – this is constructed with lightly psychedelic, shifting riffs underpinned with jerky drum beats and occasional jumps into discord. It is filled with rolling organ sounds and Jane is at times a slightly bleak, glacial central character, occupying the territory that made Sally Oldfield and Nico appear like ice maidens. That’s the image that ‘Family of the Sun’ conjured up for me.  It is very ‘out there’, other-worldly. In the song, ‘Univers’, Jane intones: “Don’t blame me, it’s the Univers that’s wrong.”

Here’s a sample of the words from the title track, ‘Love in Constant Spectacle’:

“Over the head of you

Wanted an island to give to you

Never been subject to anything of this magnitude

It’s all you’ve ever known

Signs of greater things to come

Love undone, love in constant spectacle”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To6d6zPyffs

It is one of those albums which benefits from a number of plays. ‘Tis a complex musical beast!

Shaw’s Trailer Park: I thought I saw you…

The promo sheet says: “A new collection of fuzzed out garage psych!”

 

I really like the clear vocal sound on this album. And the vibe at times is a bit in the mould of The Cramps meet The Shadows in a basement bar, especially on the track ‘Sun Device’. The band is helmed by Tim Sanpher, who decamped from North London to Brighton in 2021. Lots of ‘proper songs’ with words that mean something, for example: “She’s got a tattoo on her forehead that says, there’s nothing left inside.” It quickly becomes like an old friend. Overall, the album offers quite a range, with lots of light and shade. But generally it’s quite fast and furious, and at times as in ‘On the News’, it is pumped-up, energetic rock-blues with a punky hue, with quieter, reflective interludes. ‘Crash landing’ descends into the psychedelic world of the Byrds. Gorgeous! Lots of vocal harmonies, tinkling guitars. Shaw’s Trailer Park are onto a winning musical formula. I wonder what Shaws Trailer Park on the outskirts of Harrogate make of it?

‘Crash Landing’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBxMRupxOvE 

 

Manu Chao: Viva Tu

Totally contagious. Happy, smiling dance and sing-along music made for long, hot party nights. It’s a blend of Gypsy and Dance cultures. Lovely stuff. Imagine a Mexican/South American carnival with added mariachi brass. Manu Chao’s album is just as infectious as ever, but doesn’t perhaps quite recapture the World Music party spirit of his early albums such as ‘Clandestino’ in the 1990s. ‘La Colilla’ is one of the catchiest tracks, a tad reminiscent of the novelty hit, ‘Macarena’ in 1996.

‘La Colilla’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30z5Sc5cmao

‘Tantus Tierras’ appears to channel a Spanish Dylan ‘Knockin’ on heaven’s door’. If you like to dance to world party music, this one is definitely for you!

Mary Halvorson: Cloudward

Ambitious, challenging and dissonant. Mary is an American, an absolutely stunning guitar maestro, but on this album she is operating on the outer edges of free jazz, along with other avant garde musicians, particularly on tracks like ‘Ultramarine’. Many of the soundscapes are stunning, with found sounds blended with hi-end bells, whale sounds and repetitions and dark resonances. Strange vibes, melancholic, meditative with short snatches of melody lines on tracks such as ‘The Tower’ and ‘The Gate’. It’s music from the existential jazz world of the likes of Derek Bailey, Steve Beresford, Anthony Braxton and John Russell. Challenging and off-kilter.  Probably a bit too challenging for me, though I do love much of Mary’s guitar stroking from her earlier album, ‘Paimon’, which is much more structured, and accessible, featuring music composed by John Zorn. That album really does offer Mary the opportunity to share her exquisite skills, making the guitar purr…with shades of Arabesque, flamenco and even hints of rock in a ‘Paint it Black’ idiom.

‘The Gate’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbhW2gUE-Pk

Buff: Everything is Stolen…Everything is Ash

You want your music really punk-fast and furious? You got it…

You want your music loud and shouty? You got it… with Buff!

This album takes me right back to 1976 in West London. Buff sing: “Punk connects me to my tribe” in their song ‘Defiance’. And this new album could have been produced any time since the mid-1970s. Buff have played live and loud on stages at many new Traveller and indie festivals in the last years. A live festi favourite. Banging, demonic, brimming with punk/metal attitude. They take No Prisoners! There’s loads of screaming vitriol and diatribes against the capitalist bastards, in song after song about control and repression, as they progress on their musical helter-skelter into hell. ‘Apex Predator’ is a class war anthem, whilst ‘Chameleon Response’ hints at Eastern promises of sounds, whirrings and whooshings that take them closer to early, heavy-psych Hawkwind territory.

The album is crammed with all things diabolical – parasites, demons, disease, or, as they chant:

“PESTILENCE – CONTRITION – ADDICTION – PERDITION”

Buff at Bandcamp: https://buff.bandcamp.com/

Anoushka Shankar: Chapter 2: How dark it is before dawn

This is the second recent release from Anoushka. I saw her perform live at the ‘Boom’ dance festival in Portugal a few years ago. She’s the master sitar player daughter of Ravi Shankar. But she is interested in blending traditional Indian structures and sounds with modern dance rhythms and indeed, rave culture. This album only hints at that musical ‘marriage’. This is deeply sensuous. ‘Pacifica’ is drop-dead, gorgeous with gently lilting sitar and drones. It is genuinely ethereal. It glistens and glides through what sounds like a sonic cathedral, all intertwined with found street sounds. The track, ‘In the End’, offers a tantalising melody, echoes of the beauty and frailty of life itself. There’s a gamelan quality throughout, particularly on ‘Offering’. It’s frequently deeply meditative, ambient and shimmering. Finally, in ‘Below the surface’ and ‘New Dawn’ we almost have lift-off into a dance track. Almost! We hear that there is to be a third mini-LP in this series, I believe to be titled, ‘We Return to Light’.

‘New Dawn’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py1VYb6TfJ4

 

 

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One Response to Alan’s New & Old Music: Early 2025

    1. For once, good reviews of several albums I’ve actually bought! Jack White tops my list and Manu Chao is a regular play in my house as it appeals so widely and I never think twice about playing it to my guests!

      Only juts got the Youth album, and first impressions are of an expected mad collection of Perry tunes. Dubbah-di-dub.

      Cheers
      Tom

      Comment by Tom Wiersma on 26 January, 2025 at 5:09 pm

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