Few albums sound like their cover art. Junkyard is one such record. The follow-up to debut Prayers on Fire, it’s a riot. The Birthday Party were like a marauding razor gang. Every track is a little electric shock: pure viciousness, matching the Ed Roth/ Dave Christensen artwork. GrIpped by drugs and demons, the Australian post-punkContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: The Birthday Party- Junkyard”
Category Archives: Music
Lost In Music: Aphex Twin- Come To Daddy
In these terrible days of Boris and his cronies’ collective hubris, we need an anthem to guide us into the light- a song which, heads raised aloft like Boudicca, we sing to raise spirits and gladden hearts. It’s what Dame Vera stood for and by jingo, it’s what we need right now. Bollocks we do.Continue reading “Lost In Music: Aphex Twin- Come To Daddy”
Slang King
It’s been four years since Mark Edward Smith passed away and I can’t think of many curmudgeons who inspired so many bands and people, despite being such a divisive figure (Moz, maybe). My favourite lyrics by Smith can also be found in some of my favourite Fall songs. He’s particularly scathing when it comes toContinue reading “Slang King”
Bjork: MTV Unplugged/ MTV Live
Bjork Unplugged? Sounds like an oxymoron, and kinda is. This film compilation of MTV appearances, released in 2002, is one for completists only. Capturing the divine Ms Gudmunsdottir in 1994 at the height of her Debut success, both the performance and sound are too subdued to really impact. She tentatively prowls around the stage inContinue reading “Bjork: MTV Unplugged/ MTV Live”
Album Review: Boris-W
For well over two decades, Japanese experimental doom band Boris have been treading their own path, through line-up and label changes. Too avant-garde for the mainstream, they nonetheless have a loyal fan- base, not least because of working alongside collaborators like Sunn 0))). This, their first album for Sacred Bones, has enough light and shadeContinue reading “Album Review: Boris-W”
What Is Goth?
What is Goth? I see Goths all over Instagram,generally doing excessive glam make up tutorials, but as an old, and old school, Goth, it leaves me feeling somewhat alienated. Have they ever even heard Fields of the Nephilim or Sisters of Mercy? I suspect not. Young people, eh?!? Inspired by the spiky grandeur of art,Continue reading “What Is Goth?”
Always Tip The Waitresses
Before Wet Leg, Dry Cleaning and sundry damp post-punk/ new wave- inspired bands so beloved by Lammo etc, there was a band formed by a bunch of Ohio misfits, The Waitresses. Effortlessly cool, the band fused skronky saxophone, a la No Wave band James Chance and The Contortions, with pop sensibilities. When Chris Butler, whoContinue reading “Always Tip The Waitresses”
Oh! Brother Podcast
You have probably gathered by now (especially if you read our previous blog The Tempo House) that we’re fans of The (Mighty) Fall. So I thought it was time to write about the podcast which references all things concerning The Fall, Oh! Brother. Hosted by the band’s classic rhythm section, Paul and Steve Hanley, theyContinue reading “Oh! Brother Podcast”
Lost In Music: Kelis- Midnight Snacks
Sex and food are two pleasures that are (for the time being, at least) still legal. This is the first single from Kelis in seven years, a fridge raid that satisfies. Inspired by the seventies funk of Millie Jackson and Donna Summer, Kelis, in a squidgy synth bath, coos,”Guilty pleasures I just can’t deny”, asContinue reading “Lost In Music: Kelis- Midnight Snacks”
Overlooked Classics: That Dog (1993)
That Dog’s debut eponymous album is just the epitome of perfection to me. The combination of indie pop and strange classical and jazz elements is still quite unlike anything I’ve heard. The band are perhaps like a less brutal Miranda Sex Garden, or softer Slits or Raincoats. Songs- and harmonies- don’t quite go where theyContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: That Dog (1993)”
Hit The North 