TESTIFY by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE (2000)
Original video clip…
The single’s image came from the Olympics 1968 when African-American athletes,
Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist after the race when
the US national anthem played. Alarmingly relevant again today!!!
18 May 2021
Book: EXCAVATE! The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall
About: A book about Mark E. Smith and The Fall – or more precisely, their
ever-influential world. The Fall were so many things, so many worlds, if you
got it (and not everyone did), they represented everything.
Publisher: Faber
Available via Amazon and other renowned online shops.
Bob Stanley (co-editor) in an interview with We Are Cult: “The Fall are an education.
You can take from them what you want. They enrich your life. The book explains that without saying it out loud. We had to leave things out. We didn’t want to cram everything in and we definitely wanted to give it space to breathe so it didn’t look like a scrapbook. Not all squashed down… We didn’t really want to write a book about how many band members there’d been or what fags Mark E Smith smoked or whatever because there’s plenty of books on that already. Talking about M. R. James or H. P. Lovecraft [who were a big influence] though… that’s kind
of what we wanted.”
Louder Than War says: “It’s a book that requires a constant return—coming back to
its fragments over and over again in acts of readerly repetition—to gain new knowledge
with each bit-by-bit encounter. Excavate! feels like a Mark E. Smith version of the Arcades
Project—never finished, and always producing new meaning.”
THE FALL: Facebook
Black Lives Matter is dope too…
(image on top: cover of Bridges’ solo album ‘Coming Home’)
Daily electricity to load your batteries…
18 May 2021
Band: THE LANCASTERS
Who: A band from Italy capable to come up with something of their own,
yet to follow the footsteps of influential acts such as The Rolling Stones,
Led Zeppelin, Pond, T Rex and Black Sabbath.
New single: GOODNIGHT
About: “This is a hymn about two souls far apart and the forces that keep them
together despite everything; their true desire and love create the strongest bond
that holds them together and in balance. It’s a melancholic message of hope: the
darker the night gets, the more the light will shine when we see the dawn rise.”
says the band.
Score: An ongoing chainsaw riff comes and goes like a scary ghost in your worst nightmare, pushing this pitch-black ripper slowly but surely towards a hair-raising
finale. This scorching psych jam moves and grooves like a vicious serpent on a
destructive mission. But don’t be afraid, you’re not alone wails the vocalist with
petrifying passion in the bone-chilling chorus. Soulmates never leave each other
alone. ‘Goodnight’ is the most demonic love song I heard in ages.
Enter the darkness…
THE LANCASTERS: Facebook
17 May 2021
Band: THE BEACH BOYS
Album: PET SOUNDS – 11th LP
Released: 16 May 1966 – 55 years ago
AllMusic / Richie Unterberger: “The best Beach Boys album,
and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole
new level in terms of both composition and production, layering
tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly
symphonic sound.” Score: 5/5.
Stream the pets here…
.
THE BEACH BOYS: All Albums
Artist: PAUL McCARTNEY
Album: RAM – 2nd solo LP
Released: 17 May 1971 – 50 years ago today
Melody Maker: “A good album by anybody’s standards and
certainly far better than the majority released by British groups
and singers. Trouble is you expect too much from a man like
Paul McCartney.”
Stream here…
.
MACCA: Solo Albums
Band: ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
Album: FLOWERS – 9th LP
Released: 14 May 2001 – 20 years ago
Pitchfork: “Another 45-minute expression of the band’s love
of Jim Morrison, Arabic scales, and quasi-religious imagery. Only
Echo and the Bunnymen could have written the bulk of Flowers. ”
Score: 8/10.
Stream here…
.
BUNNYMEN: All Albums
17 May 2021
Artist: JOHN GRANT
Born in Buchanan, Michigan, U.S. – now living in Iceland, Europe.
Who: Former member of alt-rockers The Czars (1994–2006) / so far
he made 4 solo albums.
New album: BOY FROM MICHIGAN – out 25 June via Bella Union
New single: BILLY. It’s, after the title track Boy From Michigan
and Rhetorical Figure, the third taster off the upcoming LP.
“‘Billy’ is a song about how many men destroy themselves trying to live up
to stereotypes of masculinity and how this manifests in countless ways.”
Affecting, wayward and reflective.
Enjoy here…
JOHN GRANT: Facebook
Queens Of The Stone Age‘s general Josh Homme celebrates his
48th birthday today. He was born in Joshua Tree, California, US
on 17th May 1973. Bring on the noise!
Let’s hope Josh feels good about it…
TOYAH and her husband/soulmate ROBERT FRIPP and
their friend Sydney are unstoppable. They go nuts every
week in their little kitchen – since April 2020 – with their
hilarious Sunday Lunch cover sessions.
It was a special Sunday yesterday, as Robert Fripp
celebrated his 75th birthday. The King Crimson legend
was born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, UK on 16 May 1946.
Yoohoo! Bring on the cake!
That’s probably why the two YouTube stars
picked Steppenwolf‘s classic cracker from
1968: Born To Be Wild.
Another kooky Toyah/Robert performance. Time to get wet…
The timeless original…
