The Mixtape: A Three Minute Ride

Friday the 24^th of August is New Zealand’s National Poetry Day … so here is my extremely rudimentary, not very politically correct, contribution to that cause. The context being that this was written some years ago, back in the day when making a mixtape (like, an actual cassette tape) for the person of your affections was a far better option than, you know, actually talking to them about pesky feelings and stuff. 

Disclaimer: everythingsgonegreen is a much better person these days ;- ) … even if my poetry remains as bad as it ever was:

The Mixtape: A Three Minute Ride 

A mixtape with Siouxsie, the Sisters, and Cure

I’d woo her with darkness and gothic allure
She’d sense my heartache, my mystery, my gloom
And sooner or later she’d be up in my room

But that didn’t work, she just looked at me funny

So I’d try one more time, all sweetness and honey
Some Eagles, some Beatles, and maybe some Bread
But then I decided I’d be better off dead

So revert to plan B and reveal the real me

Some Clean, some Exponents, perhaps some Dead C
But that was no good, she hated that stuff
If only I’d gone for some Coconut Rough

By now I was desperate, and feeling alone

Nothing I did would get me that bone
Maybe the Stones, some glam, and some punk
James Brown, Barry White, and a whole side of funk

Then up in my room, just smoking some pot

I found a new sound that hit the right spot
Some Marley, and Tosh, some Scratch, and some dread
It worked, she was cooked, clothes off, into bed

It lasted one song, not even a side

Over and done, a three minute ride
The mixtape had worked, but the love didn’t last
And that girl soon became a thing of the past

Porky Post … Album Review: Half Man Half Biscuit - No-One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin' Hedge Cut (2018)

Porky’s back, looking for laughs, so he sought out the new work by the incomparable Half Man Half Biscuit:

It’s impossible to tire of Half Man Half Biscuit, regardless of the unfortunate fact that bands trading on wit and sardonicism tend to have a short shelf life. The Biscuits, however, are made of sterner ingredients.

After a break of four years, following 2014’s eight-out-of-ten Urge For Offal, they’re back in action for their 13th studio album for which I am expecting exceptionally good things. 

Usually the song titles alone are an indicator of the content and in tracks such as Alehouse Futsal, Mod. Diff. Vdiff. Hard Severe, and Swerving the Checkatrade, it’s obvious that the Wirral four-piece has lost none of its panache and love for the minutiae of life.

The archetypal Nigel Blackwell cynicism about life’s characters is cranked up to 11 for a track that has its heart (and nose) in South America:

“You went from Magaluf to Stalingrad/ On altogether more different snow” which leads to Blackwell stating the bleedin’ obvious: “What made Colombia famous/ Has made a prick out of you.” 

Knobheads on Quiz Shows is, rather disappointingly, given its title, one of the weaker tracks, but the scathing lyrics pretty much make up for the limp bog-standard indie. Village idiots on television is par for the course, and they’re an easy target – which is why they are hauled up by the producers in the first place. But the Biscuits make it into an acidulous crusade anyway: 

“I don’t watch films in black and white/ The trees and flowers and birds have passed me by/ I’ll just guess and hope I’m right/ The first man into space was Captain Bligh.”

Its caustic content makes it the natural successor to Bad Losers on Yahoo Chess (from the band’s 2008 album CSI: Ambleside).

Renfield’s Afoot is equally caustic, with Blackwell beginning with his observation of a notification about a bat walk which recommends taking along warm waterproof clothing and a flask, and a time to meet. To which the Biscuits go all punk rock guitar and our hero has a go at the well-meaning organiser, informing them that he knows the place like the back of his hand and won’t be following the party line … 

“So don’t go trying to organise my bat walks/ I’ll be going on any-time-I-like walks” …

The outdoor life, you sense, is one that Blackwell adores but has an intense dislike for those who partake in such pleasures. Such as the man who got a Boardman bike off a Cycle to Work scheme and now goes out every Sunday in a “full Sky replica kit.” 

Football mentions are alas brief, nothing in the line of All I Want for Christmas is A Dukla Prague Away Kit. 

There’s namechecks for Dorothy Perkins, Battenberg cake, the Hadron Collider and Throbbing Gristle – and that’s just on Harsh Times in Umberstone Covert.

On realising that perhaps he is being a little too obscure, and for the assistance of his listeners in Crieff and Kinross, Blackwell whispers after a chorus in Bladderwrack Allowance mentioning Robert of Blaby, that Blaby is in Leicestershire.

Here’s some more lyrics: 

“Somebody’s mumbling Galatians/ Somewhere a wolf-print fleece needs 90 degrees/ Pushchair-related confrontations/ Pastoral conceits, Italian fancies, comic glees.” (Terminus) 

“I don’t think I’ve encountered a man so irate/ You’re a better man than I if you get past his gate/ He treats hawkers and Mormons with equal disdain/ Jesus I feel won’t be coming back again.” 

(Man of Constant Sorrow (With a Garage in Constant Use))

I think you get the picture, but the wit and obscure references are more than matched by a band on fire and making a sound that is ensuring this album is gaining more attention that the past few.

Oh, and the insert includes a crossword. I don’t imagine any Cliff Richard albums had one of those.

More Miloux ...

I wrote a little bit about the music of Auckland-based electronic artist Miloux back in 2016 (here) when she released her debut EP, the aptly titled EP1. Miloux – Rebecca Melrose to her parents – then disappeared off the radar with no recorded output of note until July of this year, when a digital single, ‘Paris’, popped up on Bandcamp. It turns out that release was merely a precursor to a more expansive EP hitting the same platform earlier in this month, titled, you guessed it, EP2. ‘Paris’ features as the centrepiece among the five tracks on the release, all of which explore similar themes, and employ the same synthpop MO, to those found on the debut. If you liked that one, you’ll probably enjoy this one. As with the first release, Miloux generously offers it up as a name-your-price download ...

Classic Album Review: Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)

I was a relative latecomer to the delights of Daydream Nation. It’s the album where cult heroes Sonic Youth completed their gradual transformation from experimental noiseniks to hugely influential guitar-based alt-rockers. 

Whether this was a conscious and deliberate path, or otherwise, this album sounds a little bit like the missing link between Eighties post-punk and the (then) fledgling grunge scene, and it probably stills stands as the band’s most structured and commercially-flavoured work. 

Whatever else it was, Daydream Nation has subsequently become a highly feted album, lauded by critics and fans alike, and the esteemed music webzine Pitchfork went so far as to rank it as its No.1 album of the Eighties. Sales figures don’t tend to support this lofty position, but there is no denying its wider influence, and that of the band itself.

Partners in crime, and onetime partners in life, guitarist Thurston Moore and bassist Kim Gordon share the majority of songwriting and vocal duties, but fellow axeman Lee Ranaldo also features prominently on both counts. Distinctive guitar - angular, jerky, unusual tunings, but lots of riffage as well - and thundering rhythms dominate as tracks form almost seamlessly from one to the next, the album eventually becoming a procession of controlled noise, with only occasional forays into the realm of experimentation, something this band has always been heavily associated with.

I wasn’t a big fan of Sonic Youth prior to hearing this, though I loved (side-project) Ciccone Youth’s version of (Madonna’s) ‘Into The Groove(y)’, and ‘Superstar’, the band’s contribution to an early Nineties Carpenters covers compilation, but if it did nothing else, finally getting to grips with Daydream Nation meant I could fully appreciate what many others had known for a very long time.

The opener, ‘Teen Age Riot’, which was released as a single, is a definite highlight, as is the (closing) ambitious ‘Trilogy’, but there are no obvious weak tracks on Daydream Nation. A genuine “must-have” album for fans of post-punk or indie, as you’re bound to hear shades of your latest favourite band on here. There was an updated 2007 Deluxe release, which is probably the version to go for.

Restless Electric

I’ve been quite impressed with this self-titled EP release from the Auckland-based four-piece Restless Electric. There’s five tracks on the release, three of them sit at the more mellow end of the indie rock spectrum, bookended by opening and closing tracks which veer heavily into the realm of psychedelia. It was released on Bandcamp earlier this month as a name-your-price download … grab some:

Frank Booker's Sleazy Beats

I saw Frank Booker perform live at Leroy’s Bar in Wellington back in November last year, but it wasn’t a set I’ll recall with any great fondness, and I doubt he will either, thanks mainly to the sparseness of the crowd and a rather flat atmosphere on the night. It wasn’t so much that Booker was off form, far from it … more the fact that DJ performances tend to rely heavily on crowd response. There’s only so much the artist can do if they’re playing to a partially empty room. Quite why it turned out like that, given Booker’s wider profile within global dance music circles, remains a mystery. That said, Booker has played a fair bit around Wellington over the years, and anecdotally it would appear that the poorly attended Leroy’s gig was an exception, rather than the rule.

Anyway, Booker has just created a Bandcamp account, to showcase and release a collection of tunes previously issued by Sleazy Beats on vinyl only, and it’s well worth checking out. Nine tracks of pure state-of-the-art disco, crossing over into deep house. I really love Booker's use of the bassline from Shriekback's 'My Spine Is The Bassline' on the closing track 'Roady', which makes it one of the stand-out tracks on the release. But they're all pretty good. Here’s the blurb from the man himself:

“A collection of the three releases from the wonderful Sleazy Beats Recordings camp. These were strictly limited pressing, vinyl only, and have never been available as digital downloads. After seeing some of the prices being paid on discogs, I contacted Guy & Kris to see if they were ok with making these available for digital heads, and this release comes with their blessing…” 

Lost & Found

Black City Lights - now defunct - were one of the best, yet mostly unheralded, New Zealand bands/duos of the past decade. They've uncovered some lost recordings and uploaded them on Bandcamp. Lost & Found is a collection of early demos, unreleased material, instrumentals, and remixes. Also note that the Another Life album and the Parallels EP are still name your price downloads on the same platform. I’m going to write a little bit more about BCL in the near future. Stay tuned.

Classic Album Review: Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always (1985)

By 1985, and the rather belated release of the Sisters of Mercy debut album, First And Last And Always, the band had already established its reputation, alongside the equally influential likes of Bauhaus and the Jesus And Mary Chain, as forefathers of the still fairly embryonic goth-rock genre. 

The Sisters were already a fixture on the UK independent charts thanks to a series of highly regarded landmark singles and EPs - Alice (1983), The Reptile House (1983), Body and Soul (1984) - and had impressed as a darker, harder, black-leather-clad alternative to the leading bands of the (by then) mass-marketed punk and “new wave” scenes. 

After making fans wait a couple of years for a full-length album, it’s probably fair to say that First And Last And Always was a highly anticipated release. And those early EP releases have all gone on to become highly sought after by vinyl collectors and fans alike.

The Sisters of Mercy would release just three (studio/non-compilation) albums; the bigger budget follow-up, Floodland (1987), is another classic of its type, with, for better or for worse, far more emphasis on production values, while Vision Thing (1990) found the band losing its way a little, with main man Andrew Eldritch seemingly content to set the band’s default option to: “bloated metallic parody of former self”. As poorly received as it was however, even Vision Thing contained the odd gem. 

First And Last And Always then, pretty much represents the Sisters Of Mercy in their purest, most unaffected form, and it’s the only Sisters album to feature key original, Wayne Hussey, who would later go on to front The Mission. This is where it all started, and that's probably all that needs to be said. 

Highlights: opener ‘Black Planet’, the epic closer, ‘Some Kind Of Stranger’, plus ‘Walk Away’, ‘No Time To Cry’, ‘Marian’, and ‘Possession’.

Porky Post: 10 Aussie Bands That Don’t Stink (like a decomposing wallaby)

J’accuse an entire nation of musical crimes. Yes, this is you Australia in the dock. In your attempts to prove you have cultural leanings you forced upon us Kylie, Dannii, Guy Sebastian, The Bee Gees, The Wiggles, The Seekers, Powderfinger, Peter Andre, Jessica Mauboy, Rose Tattoo, Tina Arena, Olivia Newton-John, John Farnham, Cold Chisel, Delta Goodrem (okay, okay, we’ve got the point, get on with the bloody article – Ed). 

So, in no particular order, here’s a list of ten acts from Oz that are more than bearable. 

The Go-Betweens: A band in cahoots with the back catalogues of both the Velvet Underground and The Monkees were on a hiding to nothing in the 80s. Yet the Go-Betweens, formed in Brisbane in 1977 around the nucleus of arts students Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, garner little more than a cult appreciation. Up to 1989 the Go-Betweens released six albums, most of which were lavishly praised, but none of which sold. Though revered by critics and fellow musicians, the band remains an acquired taste. They are filed away in the what-could-have-been cabinet. I have a compilation album from the 90s, a glorious double-album that filled me with both joy and melancholy. But mostly joy. They are perhaps a mood band and I haven’t found the right mood to listen to them again in a long time. That day will come however. 

Bad Seeds

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Born out of the ashes of the Birthday Party (see below), Cave and his merry men set forth on a career built on death ballads, rock’n’roll, gloom, happiness, and more gloom. They soon became the goths it is acceptable to like. If such a thing is possible. Undoubted highlights are Abattior Blues/The Lyres of Orpheus, a double album released in 2004 that is one half rock-blues ideal for the bad side of your character, the other half a more sedate affair with a theatrical flair; and Dig !!! Lazarus Dig !!! released in 2008, was about as scuzzy as Cave and his mob would ever get.

Tame Impala: Like The The and Aztec Camera, this Perth act is really a one-man band, centred around one Kevin Parker. Tame Impala embody the sound of The Beatles, Syd-era Pink Floyd, and The Flaming Lips. In 2010 they released the excellent neo-psych album, Innerspeaker, setting the controls for the heart of Sgt. Pepper. The follow-up, 2012’s Lonerism was better arranged, but like many acts that produce a corker of a debut, the second lacks a certain edge. It sounded contrived, but was nevertheless more of a commercial success. Parker has since released Currents (2015) and is no doubt feverishly working on another collection of psych-drone-pop.  

Yothu Yindi: Perhaps this is the most important band of them all. A mixed race band from the Northern Territory which played traditional instruments like the yidaki and bilma, and proudly displayed their aboriginal cultural identity. ‘Treaty’ is the band's most recognised hit. It was written after Prime Minister Bob Hawke had pledged to recognise Indigenous Australians. Yothu Yindi toured the United States with Midnight Oil in the late 1980s, which would have made for a curious evening. 

Radio Birdman

Radio Birdman: Borderline entry perhaps but included because they were the first real punk band in Oz alongside The Saints. The Sydney six-piece formed in 1974 when Stooges and MC5 fanatic Deniz Tek relocated from the States. The police would regularly shut down their gigs because of the noise or raucous behaviour of their fans. The early days featured performance art at the gigs, including poetry readings of pieces by Jim Morrison and the Last Poets. That ended when frontman Rob Younger scooped offal from a skull and spat it into the audience. They produced one of the first punk records – the Burn My Eye EP in October 1976, but only released one album*, Radios Appear.

The Saints: Formed about the same time as Radio Birdman, The Saints beat their rivals to a debut release by a month with the incendiary ‘(I’m) Stranded/ No Time’ on their own Fatal Records label when no other labels wanted to know. Their brand of high octane punk/rock'n'roll first got them a recording deal with EMI Harvest in the UK. The band described themselves as being ".. a punk group before it was fashionable", and their music seemed in tune with the (then) current British punk scene. The problem was that The Saints didn’t put a great deal of emphasis on their image, when punk was an image as much as a sound and an attitude. Comparisons to AC/DC probably didn’t help. Retrospectives are more favourable. In the year of punk, The Saints released the sizzling ‘This Perfect Day’, the Know Your Product EP and the brilliant (I’m) Stranded LP. They were fucking immense. 

The Birthday Party: Born out of The Boys Next Door - a poor excuse for a Melbourne punk band in reality - The Birthday Party were a challenging act, one that people either loathed or wet their pants over. It was rock’n’roll at its edgiest and most unhinged; like the band itself, perhaps. Two albums were recorded for that home of weird bastards, 4AD: Prayers On Fire (1981) and, Junkyard (1982). This was uncompromising music, with Nick Cave ranting and raging about lost souls and the grotesque characters who infested his imagination. 

The Thought Criminals: I knew nothing of this lot till I entered an Adelaide record store a few years back and asked for “something punky and new wavy” and was directed by the owner to a few CDs, one of which was the Peace Love and Under Surveillance EP, released in 2007. They didn’t sound new though and I later discovered they were one of many punk bands that formed in 1977 - in Sydney - but doing well to last till 1981. The Thought Criminals took their name from George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and based some of their songs on the ideals from the book. There were also songs called ‘Hilton Bomber’, ‘I Won’t Pay (For Punk Records)’, and ‘Fuck The Neighbours’. Jangly guitars rather than full on distortion and drums that didn’t puncture the ear, and a sort-of manifesto: “Don’t want no top ten hit/ Don’t want no disco shit/ Just wanna have fun”. 

Midnight Oil

Midnight Oil: Formed, like, forever ago (ie mid-70s) the Oils are a national institution and figures of hate in almost equal measure. While musically their straight-down-the-line-rock’n’roll is hardly earth-shattering we include them for their hard-hitting attitude and defence of the vulnerable. For example, Indigenous Australians on the universal hit ‘Beds Are Burning’. Too many albums since 1978 to detail, and they remain a live circuit favourite, reforming last year for a world tour that included a couple of dates in Newzild.

The Triffids: There were few Velvets/ Stooges/ Eno fans in Perth in the late 70s, and the select few of them ended up in the Triffids. Breaking Australia is a mission in itself with days spent travelling to gigs, but the Triffids built up quite a following. Attempting to replicate that modest success in Europe proved tough, however. “Even the ballads were confrontational”, recalls singer David McComb. A string of low-key, lo-fi releases, some only on cassette, came before a trilogy of fey, and magnificently lovelorn albums arrived in the shape of Born Sandy Devotional (1986), Calenture (1988), and The Black Swan (1989). I have two of them, one bought from an op shop in St Andrews for the price of a bag of lollies. 

The Laughing Clowns: After The Saints’ demise, the band’s guitarist Ed Kuepper formed The Laughing Clowns which strayed a rather different path, integrating jazz influences into their unique take on post-punk. The Clowns released several records between 1980 and 1985, with their debut, a self-titled, six-song EP on Aussie independent Missing Link. In 1982, they moved to London, where they recorded their debut LP, Mr. Uddich Schmuddich Goes to Town. The Law of Nature was released in 1984, and the band's final studio LP, Ghosts of an Ideal Wife, came out in 1985. And then the laughing stopped. 

Everything's A Thread

The John Steel Singers: A six-piece from Brisbane for whom the word obscure was invented for. I know only of them from the illuminating album cover I spotted at Wellington Central Library and took out on the basis of that. Sometimes you can judge an album by its cover and Everything’s A Thread (2013) was incredibly illuminating. They sound like ... ummm ... a bit like ... well ... ah, just go on Bandcamp. Oh, and there is no John Steel. 

Severed Heads: Minimal electronic and synthpop are among the terms bandied about to describe Severed Heads but neither are entirely appropriate. Essentially the life project of sole core member, Tom Ellard, Severed Heads is not a band but more a representation of what a truly creative life can be. Ellard showed touches of self-flagellation when in 1985 they were signed to a major label and flown to the UK for some gigs that were expected to open doors. As The Quietus explains, it didn’t quite go to plan ... “A crowd gathered expecting to hear dance-floor friendly synth pop, and instead Ellard and co treated them to a 30-minute ambient trance piece. The reception was mixed, to say the least.”

Yes, I know there’s 13, I got carried away. 

Also recommended: You Am I, The Church, The Drones, The Scientists, The Primitive Calculators, The Vines, Machine Gun Fellatio, The Hoodoo Gurus, Paul Kelly …

(* I fear Porky has forgotten about a second Radio Birdman album, Living Eyes, which was recorded prior to the band breaking up in 1978, but not released until 1981. There may have been a completely unheralded post-millennium album also - Ed).

Terrorball’s Dizgo Edits ...

Something old, new, borrowed, and glittery from Hamilton-based electro/funk producer Terrorball - an album of remixes, or dizgo edits, as they’re occasionally called in the Tron. Eight of the shiny little beasties, none of them especially formulaic or particularly obvious, which makes this release all the more precious, I guess. Includes more Sylvester than most can handle in one sitting. Name your price ...