EPs and other oddities ...

My regular reader (Hi Mum!) will know I use this blog as a way of recording my thoughts on all manner of new release albums, with album reviews - both current and “classic” - accounting for a fair portion of everythingsgonegreen content. But I don’t often get around to covering off my many EP or shorter format purchases. Of which there have been quite a few over the past 18 months or so. 

Across 2020 I did manage to record some thoughts on EP releases from Dub Empire (here), Féroces (here), and International Bad Boys Inc. (here), but there were a good number of other worthy EP additions which failed to get a mention on the blog at the time, despite my best intentions. To put that right, this blogpost will be all about some of those new-ish release EPs. That often ignored and mostly unloved stray waif of a format … the hard to nail down “mini album”. The not-quite single and the not-quite album. Usually anything from four to seven tracks in length, and usually less than 30 minutes in duration at its most generous.

I’ll start with 48 Hours at Neon Palms by The C33s, which was released as far back as 2018. The C33s were new to me when a friend sent through a link to the Manchester band’s terrific 2020 single, ‘Harpurhey Hostility’. Which prompted me to work my way back through the band’s discography - all singles, no album yet - until I found the debut EP, which consists of four surf-pop-styled post-punk tracks of the highest calibre. I now have a copy of everything the noisy three-piece have released (to date) and I can hardly wait for a full-length outing. Maybe this year? 

I’ve reviewed three relatively recent Pet Shop Boys albums on the blog, and if you’ve read those reviews, you’ll know how much I struggle with PSB. What I like, I really love. What I don’t like, I dislike intensely. With a passion, even. I just can’t seem to get a handle on my feelings about the prolific duo’s work. So, I was very surprised how much I enjoyed their well-below-the-radar 2020 EP, My Beautiful Laundrette, which I suppose is more formally recognised as a “soundtrack album”. A very belated soundtrack album recorded specifically for a - planned, possibly postponed - 2020 stage production of the Hanif Kureishi-penned 1985 cult classic (film) of the same name. The majority of its seven tracks are instrumentals, but all capture the vibe and atmosphere of the original film perfectly. I can well imagine a couple of these tracks being quite big hits had they been conceived or recorded and included in the film at the time. It takes a special sort of talent to recreate the mood of working class, multicultural, homophobic, peak-Thatcher London, some 35 years after the fact, but Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe play a blinder on My Beautiful Laundrette. If you’ve seen the film, track titles like ‘Omar’s Theme’, ‘Angelic Thug’, and ‘Johnny’s Darkside’ will resonate. If you haven’t seen the film … where the hell have you been?

Minuit Machine’s album Infrarouge was one of the very best things I heard back in 2019, so it was a no brainer for me to pick up a copy of the duo’s EP/single Don’t Run From The Fire when it was released in late 2020. Four tracks, all stunning state-of-the-art dark melodramatic synthpop at its finest. If anything, the release had a harder edge to it than much of the material found on Infrarouge, with an almost industrial feel to the still very danceable title track. I’m fast becoming a big fan of the Synth Religion label/platform it was released on, and I’ve also recently picked up a copy of the duo’s Basic Needs EP of 2021 … although at just three tracks that one might be considered more of a “single”.

I suspect Scottish band Snow Patrol is deeply unfashionable these days. That wasn’t always the case. I loved the breakthrough hit ‘Run’ all those years ago, and of course, the band’s biggest hit, ‘Chasing Cars’, was a global monster which propelled the band well beyond its original “indie pop” niche and into the mainstream stratosphere. 2020 saw Snow Patrol return with a new EP called The Fireside Sessions. Written and recorded during lockdown, it was a fairly unique little beastie in that it was made in collaboration with fans of the band. Five songs written and constructed during a series of streams on Instagram Live called The Saturday Songwriters. How very 2020. More to the point, it’s actually pretty good, with ‘On The Edge Of All This’ in particular becoming a firm favourite of mine during the second half of the year. All proceeds from the sale of the EP went to an anti-poverty charity, so kudos to Snow Patrol for that.

French melodica ace and committed Augustus Pablo disciple Art-X has received plenty of coverage on everythingsgonegreen previously. He’s been quite prolific with output over the past half dozen years or so - just check out this link to his Bandcamp page (here) for proof of that. 2020 saw yet another album release, Tales of Melodia, and while I picked up a copy of that release later in the year and enjoyed it, I was far more impressed with his earlier Polarity EP collaboration alongside The Roots Addict. Six melodica-drenched gems with a deep rootsy dub vibe, I played it loud, and I played it often.

Right at the start of 2021, or perhaps even in late December 2020, the hugely underrated Death Cab for Cutie released The Georgia EP – a five song collection of covers of tunes originally released by artists from Georgia (the US state, not the country). TLC’s ‘Waterfalls’ (yes, really, and it’s a great version even if you’re not a fan of the original), R.E.M.’s ‘Fall On Me’, and Cat Power’s ‘Metal Heart’ being the pick of a fairly decent bunch. The Cat Power cover is close to brilliant, which is as much due to the song itself as Death Cab’s treatment of it. I’m uncertain of the specifics or the precise charity involved, but I’m fairly sure this was another release which saw sale proceeds donated to a cause – in this case, I think, a pro-US Democratic Party-political cause … don’t make me research it, my eyes are already glazing over.

Last, but not least, by dint of it being the most recent EP addition to my collection, we have a mysterious self-titled debut EP from Lisbon-based darkwave devotee Floating Ashes (aka João Pinheiro). And it arrived - via Bandcamp name-your-price (here) - as a fully formed, quite dazzling piece of work, full of pulsating rhythms and glistening synths. With a requisite sense of darkness right at its core. The EP is quite short, at just three tracks across 15 minutes, but since it ticks so many of the musical boxes I hold near and dear, I’ve been giving it a real thrashing over the past month. I really don’t know much about the artist, but if this is what we can expect on future releases, it’ll be more than enough to keep me listening.

 

So that’s a wrap of all of the shorter-form releases I’ve picked up across the past 18 months. A fairly eclectic batch of music, admittedly, incorporating a number of different genres, so not all of it will appeal, but I reckon you could pick up the job lot for a combined outlay of around $50 and not regret any of it.

Album Review: Various - Ambient Maladies (2021)

Released this week on the Strange Behaviour platform, Ambient Maladies is a compilation of downbeat ambient work by a bunch of Aotearoa-based artists and producers. Clocking in at just a few minutes shy of an hour, over the course of ten tracks, it’s the sort of album that is probably best appreciated on headphones. An album to be fully absorbed without distraction, at a time when you’ve got little else to do other than to gaze off into the distance. Perhaps. Or maybe even the sort of album you’d listen to when you’re heavily under the influence of something that aids involuntary gazing off into the distance. I really wouldn’t know much about such frivolous indulgence. 

Compiled by Paul Berrington - who may (or may not) be better known as Wellington DJ B.Lo - it features local luminaries such as Ludus, who also mixed and mastered the release under the guise of her real name (Emma Bernard), Jet Jaguar, Stephen Gallagher, and a couple of artists who have previously featured on everythingsgonegreen, Arcology (see here), and Box of Hammers (see here). Plus there's a handful of others.

 For those who aren't big fans of the ambient “genre”, it may prove a bit of a mixed bag, but the highlights for me include the Arcology track ‘Now Exhale’, which was described by a friend as being “menacing”, which I thought was a very accurate description, Box of Hammers’ soundtrack-ready ‘Maelstrom’, and Stephen Gallagher’s excellent ‘Even A Bird Loves Its Nest’. 

Bonus point: the release is available on cassette. Grab it at the Bandcamp link below. 

Here’s the Bandcamp blurb: Welcome to Ambient Maladies, a selection of atmospheres, vignettes and expressions from Aotearoa New Zealand. Embracing the geographical isolation of the land of the long white cloud, Strange Behaviour's second release is at times dark and brooding while at others delicate, detailed and melancholy.

Gig Review: Courtney Barnett, San Fran, Wellington, 9 July 2021

Okay, so this review is a bit late to the party. Courtney Barnett’s short New Zealand jaunt is almost over. Which means any sort of comment I make on it is already largely redundant. But I feel compelled to post a few words about her opening night in Wellington a few Fridays back, just for posterity’s sake. Just because I was there. A sure sign that gigs are few and far between for me at present. 

The Friday night at San Fran was the first night of a three-night sold out run at the venue for the popular Aussie indie troubadour.

Support was provided by Emily Edrosa, and San Fran was already packed to overflowing when I arrived to catch the last 15 minutes of Edrosa’s well-received set. In all honesty, I wasn’t overly impressed with what I heard, but that may have been more to do with the fact that I was heavily distracted, and frustrated, by not being able to find a comfortable standing spot amid the throng of activity around me. I eventually settled for a spot at the rear of the venue, while my more resilient gig-companion opted for somewhere much closer to the stage. 

Barnett arrived on stage at 9.30pm and for the next 70 minutes she offered us an absorbing mix of decade-old songs and brand spanking new ones, an Arthur Russell cover, and a Kurt Vile duet that wasn’t really a duet at all. 

After opening with long-time favourite ‘Avant Gardner’, the solo Barnett then gave us ‘Walkin’ on Eggshells’ and ‘Dead Fox’ before being joined on stage by current co-conspirator Stella Mozgawa (of Warpaint) for new single ‘Rae Street’, which was followed by another new track, and the aforementioned Russell cover, ‘I Never Get Lonesome’. Mozgawa then exited proceedings temporarily. 

There was a lot of audience banter and interaction throughout, with the in-joke being that a lot of enthusiastic fans knew all of the lyrics and Barnett was quite happy to let the crowd sing along unaccompanied at various points. Never more so than on gig centrepiece ‘Depreston’, a highly relatable tune about the minutiae of suburban living, and easily the highlight of the night for yours truly. That song really has morphed into something of a signature tune for Barnett. 

Barnett sang both parts in the Kurt Vile “duet” ‘Let It Go’, which was slightly odd - if understandable, given Vile’s absence. That was followed by ‘Sunday Roast’ before Mozgawa returned to the stage for another brief run of songs from the pair’s upcoming collaborative album, Things Take Time, Take Time. 

All of the new tunes had a pronounced country/folkie flavour, and all were enjoyable enough. The sort that will doubtlessly grow in familiarity over time, with the album, as I understand it, not due for a full release until November. 

We finished up with ‘History Eraser’ and a one-song encore, ‘Nameless Faceless’, but not before Barnett had described the gig as “the best night of my life” in her finest deadpan voice.

I had my doubts about the authenticity of that statement, but much younger, less cynical attendees lapped it up and seemed convinced. As I set off to brave the chilly Wellington elements, post-gig, I tried to recall the last occasion (pre-lockdown) I’d seen an “international” artist live on stage at San Fran, but it was a forlorn task, and I was mostly just happy to have enjoyed a rare night out.    

Classic Album Review: Primal Scream - Evil Heat (2002)

Craig Stephen enjoys a close encounter with the Devil’s music … 

Through their multitude of stylistic changes, Primal Scream have always retained a bit of a punkish, anti-establishment streak. 

This could be partly explained by the band’s mainstay, Bobby Gillespie, coming from good socialist stock: a great-grandfather was one of the founding members of the Independent Labour Party in Glasgow, and his father, also Bob, was a union leader and a Labour Party candidate in Glasgow (losing to the Scottish National Party when he was effectively a shoe-in). 

So the young Gillespie would’ve grown up surrounded by such lofty ideals. 

Consequently, the Primals have never quite fitted in with the record industry, such as their adoption of electronica about 1990, a hitherto verboten idea in the world of indie music. 

They upset the poor wee things of Rangers FC (1872-2012) by branding them “the most fucked up scum/ That was shat into creation” on a Scotland football single collaboration with rabble rouser Irvine Welsh and On-U Sound. Cue an orchestration of contrived outrage from the dark side of football. 

As the band matured they perversely became more difficult to label, a band that the record industry never quite came to terms with. 

Therefore, the band’s seventh album, Evil Heat, is a bizarre, bewildering and yet mesmerising album that veers between extremes. 

As examined in a previous review, the predecessor album XTRMNTR was a veritable axe thrown at the world. This extraordinary collection mangled Suicide with Can and contained Molotov cocktails in the likes of ‘Swastika Eyes’ (“Exterminate the underclass/ Exterminate the telepaths/ No civil disobedience”). 

A year after that album’s release, Primal Scream toured with a song called ‘Bomb the Pentagon’. A problem arose when someone did exactly that during the 9/11 attacks. Rather unsurprisingly, no song with that title has ever appeared on record.

Gillespie’s excuse that that was because it wasn’t a particularly good song falls flat through the appearance of ‘Rise’ on Evil Heat. This is a reworking of ‘Bomb the Pentagon’ with a new chorus and a few other lyrical tweaks, but the music was largely unchanged. 

It was a rallying call to the dispossessed and the desperate: rise up you bastards FFS, Gillespie was screaming at the masses. 

“Hey wage slave where's your profit share?/ They got ya down, they're gonna keep you there ... Get on up, protest riot/ Are you collateral damage or a legitimate target?” 

There are external talents at play throughout Evil Heat. My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields produces six tracks, half the album therefore; Two Lone Swordsmen (aka old hand Andy Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood) produce a further four tracks, and one more is cooked by the ubiquitous producer Jagz Kooner. And on the other side of the window helping out were a veritable array of British stars, such as Jim Reid, Robert Plant on harmonica, and Shields himself on guitar effects. 

One contribution that came as something of a surprise is supermodel Kate Moss playing Nancy Sinatra to Gillespie’s Lee Hazlewood on the duet of ‘Some Velvet Morning’. Moss hadn’t shown previous form in a recording studio, but perhaps that was the objective. 

This is a remarkably different version from the Sinatra/Hazlewood original: big crunchy beats shower Gillespie’s initial, lush vocals. Moss does a decent job of her portion of the lyrics, and gives a beauty to what is a down’n’dirty electroclash take on a song that Hazlewood says was inspired by Greek mythology. 

‘Skull X’ sees the band delve into its punk roots, and there’s an element of the Sex Pistols in the robustness, but they actually sound more like The Stranglers. Lyrically, it reeks once more of Gillespie’s sharp, dark mind: “The sky's black with locusts/ My eyes are burning stars/ There's a mountain of gold teeth/ in every bank vault in this world.” 

The Weatherall/ Tenniswood-produced ‘Autobahn ’66’ is reminiscent of Kraftwerk. It appears to be an instrumental, until we first hear Gillespie at 2.29, with what is mere background vocals limited to an oft-repeated verse of “Dreaming/ Dreaming/Seeing/Seeing/Dreaming” for a minute and a half till the singer develops the theme with an expansive chorus. 

Album opener ‘Deep Hit of Morning Sun’ is a rabbit punch to the senses: backwards guitars, a mystical vibe, barely any drums, and a ghostly chorus. It’s unlike virtually anything the band have done, and I would like to imagine it as being left off XTRMNTR, but that’s probably not the case. 

‘Miss Lucifer’, meanwhile, is reminiscent of The Prodigy with its punk-techno feel; ‘Detroit’ is hard and heavy electronica; and ‘A Scanner Darkly’ is an instrumental similar to anything off the second side of Bowie’s Low. 

Evil Heat is something of a seminal album which is underpinned by pulsating electronica. It has no balance, no theme, and it often bemuses. And that is why I like it. I had previously regarded Evil Heat as a weak follow to XTRMNTR but having played it several times over the past few days I’m discovering an awful lot more than I did on the irregular listens over the past 20 years. It has a cult feeling; not everyone is going to like it, but those who do shower it with glowing terms.