Knockouts from the past…
21 December 2019
Band: The Stone Roses
Song: She Bangs The Drums
B-sides: Standing Here, Simone and Mersey Paradise
Released: July 1989 – 30 years ago
Album: from their self-titled debut LP
Score: it peaked at #34 in the UK
THE STONE ROSES: Facebook
Great magazine covers from the past…
PATTI SMITH
August 1988
Melody Maker
Remarkable live moments…
American singer-songwriter SHARON VAN ETTEN released with her fifth studio album Remind Me Tomorrow one of the best longplayers of 2019. One of the
many highlights of the record is ‘SEVENTEEN‘, a highly fervid, nostalgic track.
Yesterday, 19 December, she played it live with her friend NORAH JONES on
American program ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ in a transformed version.
Much slower and more intimate, giving this beauty a sparkling magic touch.
Enjoy here…
Here’s the original, more ardent, recording…
SHARON VAN ETTEN: Facebook
The following 15 Knockout Tracks activated my limbs, impressed
my greedy ears and made me move in mysterious ways in 2019.
1. ‘Better’ by RICH GIRLS ((New York, NY, US)
A punchy and mesmeric shot of electrifying guitar pop adrenalin…
.
2. ‘Feet’ by FAT WHITE FAMILY (London, UK)
A chant-like odyssey with a ghostly and hypnotic vibe and – yes – a Gregorian choir…
3. ‘Air BnB’ by KIM GORDON (US)
A battering jackhammer with a vehement drift and a gloomy impact…
4. ‘Hurricane Laughter’ by FONTAINES D.C. (Dublin, Ireland)
Stormy steamroller with an irresistible punk drive by one of the best new bands in town…
5. ‘White Male Carnivore’ by YAK (London, UK)
This is a really nasty sledgehammer. A thunderous rocker with a droning force…
6. ‘Going Norway’ by GIRL BAND (Dublin, Ireland)
Bone-crushing chainsaw electricity and exorcistic howling. Demonic stuff…
7. ‘More Is Less’ by THE MURDER CAPITAL (Dublin, Ireland)
A dazzling post punk uppercut fueled with stormy guitars and angry vocals all over it…
8. ‘Cave Person’ by PEUK (Belgium)
A sickly catchy, grungy outburst with the scariest primal screams I heard in years…
9. ‘Destiny’ by PRYSM (England)
A multi-layered tumultuous stunner that grabs you by the throat from the get-go…
10. ‘Time Bomb Sounds’ by THE LOCALS (Chicago, US)
An emotional corker resonating gloriously rapturous and exultantly epic…
11. ‘Motor City Steel’ by THE DANDY WARHOLS
An utterly addictive earworm that keeps buzzing in your head after one spin…
12. ‘Disco Peanuts’ by WARMDUSCHER (London, UK)
Funky disco fuel for all misfits, outsiders, and desperadoes out there…
.
13. ‘Ar.Mour’ by UNKLE Feat. Miink & Elliot Power (UK)
Trip-hop at its trippy best. Tantalizing beats, dancey vibrations, and an addictive rhythm…
.
14. ‘Ego’ by FERAL FIVE (London/Kent, UK)
A vibrating and flamboyant European disco cracker to dance yourself dizzy to…
15. ‘The Desert’ by WHERE WE SLEEP (London, UK)
Intoxicating swagger, sensuous vocals, hellish guitars, cutting atmosphere…
.
All 15 Knockout Tracks
together on Spotify…
.
Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…
Last weekend two JARVIS COCKER fans, driven by their post-election depression, started a Facebook campaign to encourage other fans to stream and download Cocker‘s 2006 solo single ‘RUNNING THE WORLD‘ so that it could hit the top spot of the UK Singles Chart on Xmas Day. The protest song has become an anthem for all those who are sad, mad and frustrated with the result of last week’s UK election because of the track’s lyrics attacking political leaders:
“If you thought things had changed / Friend, you’d better think again /
Bluntly put, in the fewest of words: / Cunts are still ruling the world.”
Jarvis Cocker said he loved the initiative and campaign and immediately announced that he would be donating all proceeds from the single to the Homeless Charity Shelter.
Here’s a recent live version of ‘Running The World‘…
And here’s the original recording (full lyrics clip)
JARVIS COCKER: Facebook
Great magazine covers from the past…
THE PRODIGY
September 1997
SELECT
R.I.P. Keith Flint
1. ‘No Home Record’ by KIM GORDON (US)
Former Sonic Youth icon Kim Gordon stunts triumphantly with her phenomenal solo debut album. An enigmatic and venturesome noise record that sounds arresting, unshrinking and mind-puzzling. Pure underground brilliance with an astounding aural impact! Top LP!
Play here…
.
2. ‘The Talkies’ by GIRL BAND (Ireland)
These Irish noise engine’s bone-crushing and soul-pulverizing resonance is
both idiosyncratic and bloodcurdling. It’s remarkable how all their intimidating
havoc comes together as one coherent crusade going in the same tumultuous
direction. Expect sonic exorcism at its hellish best. A hair-rising achievement!
Play here…
.
3. ‘Drogel‘ by FONTAINES D.C. (Dublin, Ireland)
A razor-sharp modern-day post-punk record about youth’s anxiety and perturbation for the future. This triumphant debut is packed with adrenalized ripsnorters that will energize your bloodstream. These Irish wolves with their charismatic frontman will be big soon!
Play here…
.
4. ‘Tainted Lunch’ by WARMDUSCHER (UK)
This London’s mad combo’s fourth album is undoubtedly their best. These group of miscreants produce doomed disco grooves for all outsiders, misfits and bohemians
who hate mainstream music. This funky record’s spirit is wicked and gloriously wacky.
Play here…
.
6. ‘Serfs Up!’ by FAT WHITE FAMILY (London, UK)
South-London‘s desperadoes’ third LP is a versatile record of multi-layered tunefulness, hypnotic grooviness and funky psychedelia. Less provocative, but still enough wicked tales and quirky observations. Half speed, half valium. And live still one of the trenchant best!
Play here…
.
7. ‘Welcome To Silvertown’ by SAINT AGNES
After years of sweaty work this 4-headed British psycho-blues-rock turbo released
its rip-roaring debut lonplayer filled with filthy licks, devilish hooks and terrific guitar electricity while singer/guitarist Kitty Austen leads the troops with sensual panache!
Play here…
.
8. ‘Peuk’ by PEUK (Belgium)
Smashing debut performance by this fresh Belgian grunge 3-piece with clamorous and howling singer/guitarist Nele screaming her heart and lungs out and leaving you behind, out of breath and pretty puzzled with rad echoes from Nirvana, Sonic Youth and Hole! Wow!
Play here…
.
8. ‘A Life Extinct’ by CROSS WIRES (UK)
This is a most thrilling band that cares. A band that roars about what they care. A band
that matters. A band on the top of its hot-tempered game, tackling the grim times we all experience! This is a rowdy record filled with fiery post-punk rippers and raging blasts!
Play here…
.
9. ‘Bury The Sun’ by DOWN THE LEES
The debut album by this forceful Belgian trio is a spine-tingling record that expresses
the band’s concern about our world’s future, about our world’s climate drama, about
our world’s survival. Noise rock with a big heart, a gripping soul and a passionate voice.
Play here…
.
10. ‘Amyl And The Sniffers’ by AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS (Melbourne, Australia)
70s punk and glam rock revisited with kamikaze frontwoman Amyl Taylor spitting and sneering crazily and wildly. The Runaways, The Plasmatics and Motörhead, all in one. Ace!
Play here…
.
Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…
19 December 2019
Band: THE OUTLINES
Who: Three lads from the X mining suburban streets of Nottingham, bringing their own individual and idiomatic modern take on punk rock. The band was formed in 2015 by
Kyle Peters. Since then they released two albums and one EP.
Track: MIND TRIP – the first cut from new EP ‘House Of Thieves‘, out 28 February 2020.
Score: My, oh my! What a storming wallop! ‘Mind Trip‘ has just everything you need to go completely bonkers. From the get-go insane guitars, a stomping bass/drums engine, and frantic vocals grab you by the throat and when the impetuous chorus kick in you’ll start looking for a wall to bang your head against. What The Outlines do here is mixing post-rock and punk turmoil into a boiling riff loaded pandemonium that will have an instant impact on your ears, on your speakers and on your neighbours. PLAY IT LOUD!
Tune in and feel the overwhelming potency right here…
THE OUTLINES: Facebook
Knockouts from the past…
19 December 2019
Dance-pop duo PET SHOP BOYS topped the UK singles chart 32 years ago, on 19 December 1987 with ‘ALWAYS ON MIND‘. The song has a long history. It was written
by a trio of professional songwriters: Johnny Christopher, Mark James, and Wayne Carson.
and was first recorded by B.J. Thomas in 1970. Over the years countless artists covered
the song resulting in a total of 300 registered versions. The most famous interpretation was the one by The King, by Elvis Presley in 1972.
It was in 1987 that Pet Shop Boys picked ‘Always On My Mind‘ to perform on a TV special commemorating the tenth anniversary of Elvis‘s death. Their version had such an impact that the duo decided to record and issue it. And the rest is number one history.
Here’s the original clip…
PET SHOP BOYS: Facebook
18 December 2019
Rolling Stone KEITH RICHARDS, also known as The Human Riff was born on 18 December 1943. Happy 76 to one of the most iconic rock stars that ever walked this planet. Here’s,
to celebrate the guitar hero’s birthday, an awesome live version of Sly and Robbie‘s reggae track ‘TOO RUDE’ which Keef played at the Hollywood Palladium, on 15 December 1988, with his band The X-Pensive Winos…
KEITH RICHARDS: Facebook
(photo on top: FB Keith Richards)