The glorious heyday, between 1987-1992, of Madchester‘s legends and 24-hour party people HAPPY MONDAYS is long gone. But they keep on touring for years now (bills
need to be paid, I guess) mostly in the UK.
But last night they landed in my hometown of Ghent (Belgium)
for the first concert of their European tour.
And? The sound mixer messed up big time. He created a dung pool of noise, where
all instruments and voices seemed to try too hard to be the loudest, which turned the
whole resonance into a dissonant chaos. A real pity for big fans, like me.
That aside, we noted that Shaun Ryder‘s voice is still intact, well in the
moments it didn’t drown in the turbulence, and he’s still not moving.
The voiceless mover and groover, is the incomparable Bez of course, swinging from left to right and back, rattling his marakas non-stop, shaking hands with the front row now and then, inciting the crowd, of whom most weren’t really bothered by the disturbing racket and swayed their hips to the beat.
Without Bez (then and now) the energy and party vibes would drop to point zero. He is
the hardest worker in the band. Also notable is that longtime female singer Rowetta left the band at the start of this year and is now replaced by a similar great soul voice, named Firouzeh Razavi. She’s Bez wife.
1990
It was nice to see the former e-cstatic dopeheads back again after all these years. Nostalgia, you know. But as said the sound mixer turned the whole shebang into
an annoying havoc. Fire him.
Wait, I’ll stream their greatest hits (again) to make myself happy.
BLACK GRAPE (1993–1998, 2010, 2015–present) the side-project of Happy Mondays‘ frontman Shaun Ryder and dancer Bez released their debut singleREVEREND BLACK GRAPE. The song featured on their first LP It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah
and peaked at #9 on the UK Singles Charts.
“Oh Pope he got the Nazis
To clean up their messes
He exchanged the gold and paintings
He gave them new addresses
Clean up your messes
Heil heil Fuhrer!
Heil heil Fuhrer!”
The band featured happy mondays Shaun Ryder and Bez and rapper Kermit (Paul Leveridge). After second album Stupid Stupid Stupid the show was over until 2017 when they made a comeback with their 3rd full-length Voodoo Pop followed by another silence of 6 years.
They’re back once again, now minus Bez. Album number 4, baptized ORANGE HEAD (reference to clown Donald Trump Dumbed?) will see
the day of light on November 3rd via DGAFF Recordings.
Press info: “‘Orange Head’ will still see both members capture their
iconic “cosmic musical jigsaw” like seen in their previous albums, and
deliver that same unique blend of “melding rock, hip-hop, acid house,
psychedelic pop and reggae”.
Artist: SHAUN RYDER Who: Madchester hero(ine). Happy Mondays and Black Grape frontman.
Guest vocalist on countless collaborations. TV celebrity with several books
out.
Info: Ryder‘s personal manager and legendary Creation Records mastermind Alan McGee found enough songs recorded back around 2010 in hot Los Angeles
to fabricate a solo Shaun Ryder album, who probably has no idea he has ever
been in L.A.
Louder Than War says: “Shaun is no stranger to the continuous, endless cyclical twists
and turns of the industry conveyor belt and all that comes with its ebbs and flows, its ups
and downs, its peaks and pits. ”Someone is given a fresh start, and six months later, they’re repeating the exact same thing through bad habits, or whatever, or robbing, or whatever.
So it’s sort of all that shit going on. Personally giving a dig at someone”.
Full review here. Score: 9/10.
Turn Up The Volume: Want to be a rock star? Order Shaun‘s new book and learn. He knows all about it. Ahead of it, welcome the intoxicating teacher back from never being away. And? This guy is genuine. No boring birds and bees for the Manc man, no arty farty shit either. What you see and hear is what you get from this eternal desperado. And there’s enough sassy stuff to fill dance floors with.
Electro pop, fervid funk, hip and hop, trippy acid house, sweaty swagger, but also some unexpected soulful moodiness (Monster / Crazy Bitches / Turn Off The Air). After a couple of spins it feels like the dope expert accomplished one of his best works ever. He’ll twist your melons, once again. FACT! Bob’s your uncle, folks. Hallelujah!
Singles/clips: Pop Star’s Daughters / Close The Dam…
An infectious ditty, bouncing in your head before it ends. If this, simply irresistible, tune doesn’t do anything for you, you gotta go to your shrink. From Barnett’s new, upcoming album Takes Time, Take Time, out 12th November.
Catchy as hell…
Summer is only over when it’s over. Still time to move and groove to this disco
stomper from the recently released lost Prince album Welcome To America.
Why don’t we all get a tattoo, suggests Frank. I think he’s right, it’s
the only way to really go nuts to this bangtastic jackhammer. From
the band’s 4th longplayer called Sticky, arriving in October.
“I’m not looking for trouble, I’m looking for love / Let me in your hard heart Let me in your pub” sings Amyl over and over again with fervency and tons of gusto, while flamed-up guitars go mental. A blast from new album Comfort To Me, out 10th September.
A queer five-piece from London who play fun, fuzzy garage rock. Their songs are a mishmash of influences all pulled together by a love of loud noises, pop tunes, and
having a good time. ‘Soap And Cigarettes‘ is a stand-out knockout from their brand
new album Hedge Fun.
This ardent 4-piece flames with force on this new riff-roaring ripper. They operate somewhere between Green Day and Weezer, with peppery panache, gusty guitars,
vivid vocals, and a cracking chorus.
Darkwave electricity from Belgium. Haunting and ominous. You can smell Doomsday waiting around the corner. It’s 2021, folks, we need to fix our problems now. This sickly sticky roller coaster is a call to arms.
‘Highway To Hell’ by TOM MORELLO feat. Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen
Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello launches his new album titled The Atlas Underground Fire on 15 October. He invited several friends, like Springsteen and Vedder for a bombastic version of AC/DC’s classic headbanger.
The speedy and steamy title track is one of the fired-up highlights of the new album of this punked-up Brooklyn squad. A zigzagging collection of amplified belters to start and end post-lockdown parties with. More info here.
Wham bam, bloody bam! From the kick-off Money Song booms, bangs and batters. Hefty guitars blare in between and raise your blood pressure on the spot. And when the blissful chorus pops up it’s time to leave your cocoon and let your body do its thing. Don’t wait to boost your stream of adrenalin.
A stunning and shadowy top piece from this duo’s equally stunning
album Participation Mystique. And Tomorrow sounds cinematic,
atmospheric and spacey. Join Lore City on their journey.
Wurlitzer jukeboxes were invented for these 60s inspired humdingers, so they could be played in dark bars downtown were broken hearts gather at midnight. One more thing:
do not mess with SHE/BEAST, she’s not in the mood for fucking assholes and psychos.
And she’s absofuckinglutly right.
Press play…
‘Popstar’s Daughters’ by SHAUN RYDER (Manchester, UK)
The Happy Mondays frontman’s brand new solo album Visits From Future Technology is hip-shaking proof
that he still can fill dance floors. Here’s the trippy and poppy single…
‘All Nations’ by NADINE GAGNE and The Star Nation Collective (British Columbia)
This resonates as a bright sonic light at the end of our troubled world tunnel. Only with togetherness, friendship, mutual respect, equality, harmony and tolerance, humankind can have hope for the future. This tremendously catching chant reflects all that. It’s a joyful, anthem that should be played on radios all over the planet.
“We are all stars, all stars come on now. Rise, rise and shine, gotta stay proud!”
We need songs like these in the restless times we live in. Songs of hope, songs of consolation, songs of inspiration. Shauna wants humankind to fight to see the light
(at the end of the tunnel) again. Her thoughts are embedded in a starry-eyed and
instantly enthralling groove that hops from dreamy pop to hip-swaying rap and back.
Nowhere sounds like a desperation song, but one that has a deeply felt effect on your psyche, on your state-of-2021-mind. This spellbound jam is driven by melancholic guitar lines, reminding me of Interpol‘s electrically-charged drive. Affecting and soul-stirring fever.
An inspiring reverie for the countless girls/women and boys/men worldwide, struggling with the looks of their body when it doesn’t correspond with society’s everlasting sexist perception of how a body should look like, as we all know. Skin is an instantly heartfelt
slo-mo musing, turning after a distorted guitar intro, into a vocal and musical pearl, with touching piano play. I’m sure The Sundays‘s Harriet Wheeler would love it.
‘You Are A Runner And I Am My Father’s Son’ by PORRIDGE RADIO (Brighton, UK)
Porridge Radio‘s leading Amazon Dana Margolin is a fan of Canadian rockers Wolf Parade. Here’s her terrifically gripping rendition of the band’s 2005 composition.
Who: Frontman of Madchester icons Happy Mondays
and Black Grape. He also has several collaborations on
his resume (Gorillaz, tenor Russel Watson, Talking Heads…)
