OK, I've been away but I'm not gone! Ready for another mix, clocking in at 56 minutes and 10 seconds? As per usual, the entire list of my Spotify playlists is available here. All red comic-strips are courtesy of Get Your War On, one of the funniest comics ever.
First of all, I've discovered Lloyd Cole and The Commotions. Their album "Rattlesnakes" is sublime and really nice. Imagine Johnny Marr moon-lighting with Vini Reilly going rocky cirka 1985 and you've got a pretty good idea of what the music's about. The song, however, is an acquired taste if you ask me. At first, it was the dealbreaker. Then I got into Cole's quite nasal, non-trained voce and got to enjoy the songs again. The lyrics are really interesting to me, intellectual with a strange, poetic twang, bar the line "read Norman Mailer or get a new tailor" in this track...
Contrasting the typical 80s biz is Vitalic, finally back with an EP. Although I deem the EP to be substandard in comparison with the album "OK Cowboy", this song is quite nice. His sound is quite recognisable, much like Orbital, Justice and The Chemical Brothers in the electronica pigeon-hole.
Richard Hell is a guy who used to be in punk-cum-art-rock band Television, where he ruled for an album's length before breaking out into a solo career. Lester Bangs used to hail him as the true poet of punk, and he might have been right, at least in regards to what little I know of the New York punk scene. Anyway, "Love Comes In Spurts" is like a hand held out to Buzzcocks' "Orgasm Addict".
The Bees is a weird band, quite in the same vein as The Beta Band. The track "A Minha Menina" is so relaxed and contains some really sweet chords. It's what I like about some artists like Manu Chao. Laid-back, still feet to the floor. Which is why it's so nice to go around that feeling completely, by listening to Kristeen Young. Her back-catalogue is not available through Spotify, but this spoken-word/music bit is, and it should be enough to grant you a feel of what she can do. I really like her music. Do mind her album "Music For Strippers, Hookers and The Odd-Onlooker", which is out now.
Fever Ray's cold, free and beautiful music proved everybody who thought her brother, Olof, to be the sole musical engine behind The Knife, the band she's otherwise in. Let's not forget that Karin used to be part of Honey is Cool, together with Anders Göthberg and Håkan Hellström (Broder Daniel).
Speaking of strong musicians, Scout Niblett is the closest you'll get to Kurt Cobain since his demise. I'm not joking. From the brilliant album "Kidnapped by Neptune", incidentally produced by Steve "In Utero" Albini, this track is sublime and really strong. Which brings me to Lady Gaga's often misunderstood genius; this track is a small electro-pop diamond. She wrote it and threw in Flo Rida for good measure.
SebastiAn is often mistaken for a shitty Swedish artist with a wet fringe, spawned from the Pop Idol phenomenon. I usually like Klaxons, but SebastiAn's mix of their "Golden Skans" surpasses the original in my mind; where the orig is pretty much standard indie pop, this is turned into SebastiAn's trademark staccato electro.
The Magnetic Fields. I cannot state more than I did here, on the beautiful mess that is the triple album "69 Love Songs". It took me quite some time to get into them, but now I'm not letting go.
The Stone Roses will never, ever reunite. In the mean-time, their ubiquitous debut album has been released as a "20th Anniversary Legacy Edition", which is corporate speak for extra track and a tacky badge demos, live outtakes and possibly a DVD.
The Tough Alliance is shamefully neglected in most parts of the non-Swedish speaking world. Despite some people trying to push for them - woo! one single post out there! - they're still a Swedish phenomenon. And phenomenon being key here! I've tried to see them live twice but no cigar, as they've been drunk out of their minds and pretty late to hit the stage; which isn't at all unusual being them. If it weren't for some of their great tracks and the sound of their extremely cool laziness I'd hate them. This is a great fuck-off song for all those trying to stand in the way of your own laziness.
Speaking of being lazy, it doesn't go well with being young and prone to steal cars. Jarvis Cocker expressed some lyrics about this in "Joyriders", the first track off the album "His 'n' Hers", which launched just before their massive success album, "Different Class". The sound is a little flat on this album, but still, it's great as a whole.
Pat Benatar. Pat Benatar. Why? The guitar-solo, the verse, the outro, the bridge, the 80s production - nothing in here is as good as the freaking chorus ((Yes, despite lyrics in the verse, e.g. "You come on with your come-on", and "You're one tough cookie".)) Brilliant. It's so glorystupid that it actually works.
Well, nothing like a real song to end a compilation. Journey is basically looked upon as a joke band, but this is a sort of intro to MOR American 80s rock if anything. Imagine your dad and his male friends wearing too tight clothes and you get the picture. This is Karate Kid music, but the solo. The solo and the song. Oh, and the piano in the beginning? And the freaking echoed flageolets? And the power chords and the 80s synth? KILL ME WITH BLISS. I believin'.
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Bonus: Hitler has something to say about Noel Gallagher leaving Oasis.