Best thing I’ve heard in a long time. Bronson says it all in the closing paragraph of his review.
Album coming soon. Find the Alabama Shakes EP here.
Listening to new music in January is a struggle. The old year is gone and the temptation to sample anything and everything in the rush to be instantly impressed is too great.. inevitably a whole host of new releases fall flat.
So we were fortunate to have an early 2012 visit from one of the finest guitar pop bands stalking the planet in the Dum Dum Girls, who summarily delivered a concise set of jangling sonic gems at the Kings Arms on Friday, and kickstarted my new year listening. Now, my love for the Girls has previously been documented in these pages, so I’m not going to ramble on again. Suffice to say they looked fantastic, and despite early PA problems, they sounded great.
And we definitely got two for the price of one on the night. Before Friday, Transistors were merely a name I’d spotted in the upcoming Laneway festival line-up. Now I know they’re a fiery punk trio I’d go see again without a second thought.. commitment, drive, mob-handed vocals, some set-ending string shredding, tons of feedback and .. yup.. some great songs.
Expect a new album sometime soon following the Laneway appearance. And if you want to hear what the feck I’m talking about, pop over to Bandcamp and get their first album, plus the lead single from the new one, absolutely free.
Cheers, guys. Nice to know you.
If you’re missing a tune or two for tonight’s NYE rave up, here’s something to get the solitary party groovers mixing and moving.
Cut Copy (the Aussie Duran Duran de nos jours) had a frighteningly large amount of success this year with the electro-poppy Zonoscope. Meh. Go figure.
But wait. Enter legendary DJ Andrew Weatherall, who did what he does best to the rambling overextended Sun God (from the abovementioned album). Nine minutes of perfectly produced bubbling blissed out Madchester (Madcunian?) groove. Download it courtesy of Stereogum.
Party on! Stay safe. See you on the other side.
My Famous Five
Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys
It says a lot to me about my life. Lovely – watch
Yuck – Yuck
A big fizzy scuzzball of fun. Play loud – watch
Radiohead – The King of Limbs
Can do no wrong. Did no wrong – watch
Destroyer – Kaputt
Looking forward to looking back? Give this a listen – watch
The War on Drugs – Slave Ambient
Kurt Vile gets more press, but The War on Drugs are where it’s at – watch
My Secret Seven
Top picks from my playlist this year:
The Black Keys – El Camino
Punchier and pithier and more hook-y than Brothers. Git it! – watch
Boris – Attention Please
Beguiling dream-pop and shoegaze from the prolific Japanese metallers – watch and download ‘Hope’
The Horrors – Skying
The sound of my record collection on one CD? What’s not to like? – watch
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Warm and welcoming – watch and download ‘Holocene’
Cornershop – Cornershop and the Double ‘O’ Groove Of..
Brilliant. Brimful of Bubbley Kaur – watch
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – Everything’s Getting Older
Indeed I am, and this is the soundtrack – watch and download ‘The Copper Top’
Dum Dum Girls – He Gets Me High EP
If this was vinyl, I’d have worn it flat. Pure pop for ‘now’ people – watch
I Could Listen To This Song All Day
The Old Stuff
You’ve already heard my thoughts on the Rolling Stones Some Girls re-issue. I’ve been listening a lot to the 20th anniversary edition of Screamadelica, and the Drive-By Truckers compilation Ugly Buildings, Whores & Politicians: Greatest Hits 1998-2009. Blueprint – The Best of 808 State takes me back to the good old days, and I bought so many re-issues from the Why Pink Floyd? campaign, I got a free t-shirt.
The Toppermost Of The Poppermost
Gotye (feat. Kimbra) – Somebody I Used To Know – watch and download a remix
The ‘Didn’t They Do Well’ Award for Old Folks In Rock
David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels, for the Paint The Town EP – watch
A Band To Watch
The Boys Next Door
Ghost Wave – Ghost Wave EP – watch
Best Dressed Sleeve
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will – a brilliant view of New York by Antony Crook.
See you in 2012, folks.
Nashville songstress Caitlin Rose teamed up with Keegan DeWitt and made a touching gentle ditty with more than a few sharp barbs embedded in its snow-covered aural landscape. “You never come home for Christmas, and maybe it’s better that way.” Ouch! Download it free from RCRDLBL.com.
Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys can always be relied upon for a warped outlook on life, and with seasonal song titles like ‘Post Apocalypse Christmas’ on his upcoming EP release, he certainly delivers. Stream it below, and buy it on his web site.
Have a cool Yule, y’all.
Watch out for my Best Music of 2011 list.. coming very soon.
Part 4 – Pure gold, and what might be described as Northern Soul’s biggest ever ‘find’, Frank Wilson’s Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) was originally released on Motown’s subsidiary label Soul in 1965. Frank wanted to concentrate on producing, and Motown boss Berry Gordy would certainly have had him do that. The vocal line isn’t quite as strong as you’d expect if Smokey or Marvin had cut the tune. Consequently the vast majority of the 250 demo discs were destroyed.
There may be as many as five in existence, and if the unthinkable happens and you find one, you’re on to a winner. In 2009, a copy sold for 25,742 pounds. That’s 40,000 dollars, Americans.
Not only a rare record, but a great record. And here’s the real zinger – it was the last record ever played at Wigan Casino when it closed in 1981. DJ Russ Winstanley explains what happened when he came to play the traditional set-closing ‘three before eight‘:
I played them, and then I played them again, because people were just handclapping to the beat when the records had finished. I don’t know why, but I then played what has since become recognised as the best and most valuable Northern track ever, Frank Wilson’s ‘Do I Love You’. After that, people just sat down and cried their eyes out.
A heartbreaking goodbye to the famous venue, but a moment in time which adds yet more lustre to the pure gold of the greatest record ever made*.
* Probably.
Russ Winstanley quote taken from Chris Hunt’s article.
Part 3 – The daddy of all Northern Soul clubs was Wigan Casino, though, as this fine article by Chris Hunt says, it may not have been the coolest or the most innovative. If you wanted to dance, however, it was the place to go.
And when you’d wrung yourself out on an all-nighter, the day was breaking, and it was finally time to go home, the crowd would always be treated to a signature ending from the DJ.. songs that became known as the ‘three before eight’: Jimmy Radcliffe’s Long After Tonight Is All Over, Tobi Legend’s Time Will Pass You By and Dean Parrish’s I’m On My Way.
They’re fine songs. They’re not brilliant songs – vocal lines wobble a bit, those horn charts might not be the sharpest ever written – but because of the indelible association of time and place, once again, they become some of the greatest songs ever made.
Try and put yourself in that place: the Casino, mid 70s. It’s early morning, you’re tired but happy. You’re getting your act together after a long night of dancing with your fellow devotees. You might have found someone special to spend the last few moments with. And then you hear..
Jimmy..
Tobi..
and Dean.
Now, that’s a little piece of magic right there, isn’t it?
The final part of this Northern Soul exposition will be along shortly.
We take a short break from Northern Soul to bring you the Christmas song of this (or any other) year..
Check out the seasonal four track EP from Aidan John Moffat over at Bandcamp.
Part 2 – a large part of the excitment of the underground Northern Soul scene was provided by the discovery of obscure records and the battles of one-upmanship between DJs. Find a record with that sound that no one else had, and play it at your particular venue? Pure gold. That venue may have been the only place where a punter could go to hear it and dance to it. Best not to let the collectors know too much about the record, either, or they’ll be in the bargain bins and record fairs and rooting out copies for themselves.
But as we have said, these are some of the greatest records ever made, and the greatest records ever made are not going to stay underground for too long on a thriving club scene. What are you going to do: swear 100,000 people to secrecy? Like that’s gonna work.
So when I was a teenager, Northern classics would pop into the charts on a regular basis, and some of them would hit the heights – most memorable for me being R. Dean Taylor‘s There’s A Ghost In My House. Originally released in 1966, given a re-injection of pace by Northern devotees, the re-issue reached #3 in the UK. It sounds alien, it doesn’t sound quite like your regular Motown record.. it’s totally distinctive and leaps out of the speakers even today.
It joined records like Robert Knight’s Love On A Mountain Top and The Fascinations’ Girls Are Out To Get You in the upper reaches of the charts in the early 70s. And there’s a dilemma.. when those records became super-popular, did they lose their lustre? No longer a record for the devotee, but a record that practically everyone in the country with a working set of ears and a transistor radio had heard. Your exclusive Northern Soul club scene just became a little more inclusive.
Note: The Fall covered There’s A Ghost In My House in 1988. Their version is still their highest UK chart placing. Here’s another original Northern Soul stomper from Gloria Jones you might have heard somewhere before. That cover would be Soft Cell’s highest chart placing too. You see, it’s the influence of.. the greatest records ever made.
Part three of this four part Northern Soul exposition will be along shortly.
