Playlist 3

Here's the soundtrack to my last month or so.  I think everyone will know at least a couple of these...

‘Anarchy in the UK’, The Sex Pistols

Johnny Contemplates A Long Tradition Of Dissent

I’ve been reading Greil Marcus’s ‘Lipstick Traces, A Secret History of the Twentieth Century’ that places the Pistols in a long tradition of alienated dissent including the Brethren of the Free Spirit, Dada and the Parisian ‘68ers’.  It’s hard to credit now just what a kick in the teeth Malcolm McClaren’s post-Situationist art experiment seemed in 1976.  Nevertheless, John Lydon/Johnny Rotten’s introductory “Rrrright – noowww” and deranged claims to be “An Antichrist” sound like he really might turn over society this time round.

‘Sandinista’, The Clash

Triple Album Madness At A Great Price

From the Sex Pistols it’s a short step to The Clash.  Despite their initial Punk stance, Joe Strummer’s song writing literacy and Mick Jones’ musicianship meant they’d quickly outgrow the genre’s limitations.  Releasing an experimental triple album covering such wide stylistic terrain was a mad proposition at the time but there’s great stuff on here and the Clash did pull off White Reggae where others failed.

‘Hard Rain’, Bob Dylan

Bob Contemplates Headgear Choices 

Recently we experienced a truly Biblical thunderstorm here - complete with massive hailstones that dented my car.  Old Bob recorded his rawest live album outdoors in heavy weather, in 1976.  Enveloped in a glorious, shambolic racket and looking like a disgraced messiah, Dylan seems battered by psychic as well as metrological elements or like a man who has behaved badly and is reaping the whirlwind.  His bottleneck guitar runs on ‘Shelter From The Storm’ are inept but totally justified.

After all these years and repeated hearings, it’s easy to take Dylan for granted but his delivery of a line like, “I came in from the wilderness, A creature void of form”, proves no one else ever went quite so far lyrically.

‘Das Ist Ein Groovybeat, Ja’, Jake Slazenger

My infatuation with Mike Paradinas’ back catalogue continues.  Jake Slazenger seems to be his pseudonym for stuff that’s a bit less ‘intelligent’ and more straightforwardly funky.  This one gets criticised for being kitsch and over repetitive but I don’t see the problem and hesitate to over-analyse, as it’s mostly just loads of fun.  It’s got some immense beats, terrific cheesy synths and a big fat bottom.  It’s also got a fantastic title and a nice blue Volkswagen on the front.

‘Shangaan Electro - New Wave Music From South Africa’, Various

I have a neighbour who plays African Pop from his upstairs window.  It makes a pleasant change from the usual bass thump of passing cars and sent me to this compilation from last year.  The Shangaan Electro sound combines weirdly speeded up beats with soulful chanted vocals and practically no bottom end.  It’s unmistakably African, absolutely of the Twenty-First Century and very refreshing.

‘The Indestructible Beat of Soweto Volume 1’, Various

The Shangaan Electro album reminded me of an earlier era-defining compilation of South African music.  In the mid 1980s Paul Simon patronised some of these musicians as a backing band but this sounded like the real thing.  It showcases the cream of Zulu/Township Jive and includes some blistering tracks.  I left a vinyl copy in a Bristol pub once and suffered genuine loss.

‘The Sabres Of Paradise Are Sabresonic’, The Sabres Of Paradise

Stick This One In Your Ear

I lamented the unavailability of this for years and nearly bought a tatty CD version from Oxfam a while back until I saw the state of its playing surface.  I’m glad I held back as it’s available now as an official download.  Andrew Weatherall and his colleagues used their rhythmic sense and production know-how to produce a masterpiece of atmospheric techno that’s genuinely sensual and goes way beyond mere enjoyment of structures.

‘Replica’, Oneohtrix Point Never

Daniel Lapotin Contemplates Mortality

Daniel Lapotin’s most recent LP appears to mark a significant departure from his previous O.P.N. releases.  There are plenty of the smeared washes of quasi ambient sound that characterised ‘Returnal’ but also a new reliance on rhythmic patterns and almost-identifiable found sounds apparently constructed from chopped samples of 1980s adverts.  His skill lies in using just enough of each snippet to imply past content without lapsing into the pure abstraction of earlier ‘Clicks & Cuts’ forms.  It appeals to the same part of my brain as Actress.

‘Goats Head Soup’, The Rolling Stones

I haven’t played the Stones for ages but some media activity around their 50^th anniversary coincided with this being on offer locally.  I’ve always enjoyed their stuff from the late 60s and early 70s when they combined the self-parodic decadence of Rock and Roll with real musicianship.  This includes three of my favourite of their songs in ‘A Hundred Years Ago”, ‘Silver Train’ and ‘Hide Your Love’.  If ‘Star, Star’ shows them at their most puerile and sexist, it’s still more life affirming than the cold sexual commodification pushed at teenagers today.

‘Birdsong From The Stroud Valleys’, Various 

A Lovely Little Nuthatch Contemplates...A Nut, ( Probably)

Does birdsong qualify as music?  Can music be made by other species?  Do animal calls become music when processed by the human brain?  Is it even necessary to distinguish between music and sound anymore?  This provided some respite from all the snarling punks, chanting Africans, old rockers and repetitive beats.