Good Question That

This rollicking ride in typical Fall fashion was released in the grim early eighties, but is still as relevant and pressing today as it ever was alas, if not more. Hip priest Mark E. Smith's answer to his own question-ah is as cryptic as always, but amongst others he offers 'bad-bias Tele-V and intellectual half-wits'. Some truth in that methinks.

The Fall - Who Makes The Nazis?

Come Back Here

Just got the sad news that Mark E Smith has passed away yesterday. The cranky leader of the mighty Fall, a true original and eternal hip priest, was only 60. Miss him-ah.

The Fall - Dead Beat Descendant
The Fall - Fantastic Life

In Session

Some more Peel-related stuff? Why not indeed. Here's a six pack of tracks from a couple of his legendary sessions. Only the proverbial tip of the iceberg of course, as the list of bands the great dj and wonderful human being managed to coax into recording for aunty Beeb is all but endless.

Can - Geheim (Half Past One)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Love In A Void
The Slits - Newtown
Wire - Practice Makes Perfect
The Fall - Theme From Sparta F.C.
Billy Bragg - Which Side Are You On?

You Have Everything

"You can say anything you want, and you can do anything you want... If you have ghosts, then you have everything..." Presenting a ghostly six pack. Take that ride.

R. Dean Taylor - There's A Ghost In My House
Roky Erickson - If You Have Ghosts
Songs: Ohia - I've Been Riding With The Ghost
Bloody Ol' Mule - Holy Ghost Power
The Swanks - Ghost Train
The Fall - There's A Ghost In My House

Seen The Tail End

Hey, it's Monday once again... "But the fact is now cut clear, I'm fit and working, dear..."

Merle Haggard - A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today
Palace Music - Work Hard/Play Hard
The Fall - Fit And Working Again
Magazine - Model Worker
Chelsea - Right To Work
Queers - I Don't Wanna Work

Run Paint Run

Tomorrow night, I'll be spinning the tunes at the opening of a cool exhibition in exposition space Quarantaine in Amsterdam. Definitely a prole art threat, so do drop by if you happen to be in the area. "Someday, everything is gonna be different, when I paint my masterpiece..."

Bob Dylan & The Band - When I Paint My Masterpiece

The Fall - Prole Art Threat

Fever Tree - Man Who Paints The Pictures

Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Run Paint Run Run

Sparkle City Break

I'm off for a few days visiting the coolest city in the world. Maybe meet a hobgoblin or two. In my absence, please make do with this sparkling theme time ten pack. Hasta luego/back soon...

Shuggie Otis - Sparkle City MP3

Blind Willie Johnson - I'm Gonna Run To The City Of Refuge MP3

Bob Dylan - Marchin' To The City MP3

The Only Ones - City Of Fun MP3

Sonic's Rendezvous Band - City Slang MP3

Mark Stewart & The Mafia - Liberty City MP3

Luscious Jackson - Citysong MP3

The Fall - City Hobgoblins MP3

Pink Fairies - City Kids MP3

Horace Silver - Break City MP3

Imagine That

And while we're on the subject of writers, why not spare some time for the existentialist charms of French Algerian author Albert Camus? Mark E. Smith named his legendary band after one of his books (La Chute), the Cure based their early classic Killing An Arab on his debut novel L'Étranger, while Magnapop mourned his tragic end in their Michael Stipe-produced Favorite Writer. "In Corsica the engines blew, your favorite writer died... in a car, in a crash, died in a fire, imagine that..." After the crash, which actually took place somewhere in Burgundy, not Corsica, Camus was found with an unused train ticket in his pocket. He had planned to travel by rail, but accepted a ride from his publisher at the last minute. Imagine that indeed.

The Fall - Prole Art Threat MP3

The Cure - Killing An Arab MP3

Magnapop - Favorite Writer MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 42

It´s just another Wild Weekend as we jazz it up revolutionary style with mr. Shepp, take L Dopa with mr. Albini and preview El Classico with mr. Smith. Plus we´ve got a Cohen protégé, an sixties acid folkie and a new bluesy talent to watch. Enjoy and please do have a wild one.

And we´re off in jazz mode with Archie Shepp and a soulful monster from his ´72 masterpiece Attica Blues. Grooves like hell, lamenting in the meantime the miserable fate of activist George Jackson, the famous Black Panther and Soledad Brother who was shot by guards at Saint Quentin prison in an alleged escape attempt. Shepp had his doubts about this, and probably with good reason. Next up: renowned producer Steve Albini´s both revolutionary and uncompromising eighties power trio Big Black. Short but sweet sample track L Dopa hails from a certain razor sharp album with a sleeve and a title to die for. Alright?

Archie Shepp - Blues For Brother George Jackson MP3

Big Black - L Dopa MP3

El Classico will be played in Barcelona this Monday, which is an incredibly big thing in Spain, and especially in my dearest Catalunya. Barça vs. Real Madrid is a game drenched in history, which guarantees an electrical atmosphere in the Camp Nou. Better believe me, as I witnessed a couple of amazing encounters between the blaugrana and the blancos there myself. Forza Barça! Find Mark E. Smith´s ode to the match of matches on what´s possibly the Fall´s finest: Hex Enduction Hour. For something completely different, we turn to Charlie Parr. I read an enthusiastic piece about his last album in my newspaper of all places, checked out one of his bluesy Americana songs on the Hype Machine and immediately ordered When The Devil Goes Blind straight from the lion´s mouth. Yes, he´s that good.

The Fall - The Classical MP3

Charlie Parr - I Dreamed I Saw Jesse James Last Night MP3

A while back, reader Holly alerted me in a comment to an interesting album on the legendary underground label ESP by some weirdo who called himself MIJ. And indeed, Yodeling Astrologer (from ´69) does sound quite unique, as the acid drenched Grok (Martian Love Call) illustrates. Freakfolk avant la lettre. And we´ve come to the end of another Wild Weekend with a sunny sounding popsong by Neema, a Canadian singer from Egyptian and Lebanese descent who lives quite close to Leonard Cohen. "It´s a foggy night in the streets of Montreal..." The ageing master must have been rather smitten by his near-neighbour, as he co-produced her album Watching You Think, and drew its cover too. Quite a recommendation methinks.

MIJ - Grok (Martian Love Call) MP3

Neema - Escape MP3

A Flame That Moves

High time we aired some new sounds here again. All tracks below were either recently released or will be very soon. Featuring some new kids on the block, some relatively old hands and even one living legend-ah. Here goes.

If you like moving around in Will Oldham and Joanna Newsom territory, better check out Uncles. This fresh duo from Queens, New York will release their Replacing Words With Other Words sometime next month, and taster Settler´s Song really soars. Promising is definitely the word here.

Uncles - Settler´s Song MP3

Update alert: you can now download the whole Uncles album for free here.

And speaking of Joanna Newsom, you probably know by now that the harp-playing nymph recently released a new triple album. Kudos to her wonderful label Drag City, if only for simply daring to do such a thing. Three discs is a little too much for a fairly recent convert like me, but highlighs like Jackrabbits are not to be missed. "And Matthew spoke to me, said there's a flame that moves like a low-down pest, that says: you will be free..."

Joanna Newsom - Jackrabbits MP3

More Drag City up now, as Smog foreman Bill Callahan´s got a new live album in the works. Rough Travel For A Rare Thing just might be a stunner, if the moving Bowery is anything to go by. "I´m new here and I got a pit in my gut..." Is Bill Callahan the new Lou Reed?

Bill Callahan - Bowery MP3

Wonderful to see that the legendary Mark E. Smith is still at it-ah. The Fall has been musically subversive for more than thirty years now - see a recent post of mine on their two glorious ´79 albums here - but refuses to knuckle under. Your Future Our Clutter will be on the market in late April. Here´s a tasty amuse.

The Fall - Y.F.O.C. / Slippy Floor MP3

Time for some Americana now, with The Fox Hunt and their new longplayer Long Way To Go. These West Virginians have a fine singer in John R. Miller and use mandolin, banjo and fiddle to pepper their rootsy rock sound. If these guys aren´t real hot live I´ll eat Bono´s stupid hat.

The Fox Hunt - Screw Me Up MP3

Apart from playing in Chicago band Dolly Varden, Steve Dawson teaches songwriting at the Old Town School Of Folk Music in the Windy City. His second solo effort I Will Miss The Trumpets And The Drums shows he knows his trade well. Got a fine voice, too. Soulful rock with crossover potential.

Steve Dawson - Today She Found The Way To Break My Heart MP3

Leatherbag hails from Austin and will release their latest offering Hey Day in mid April. Frontman Randy Reynolds has a serious Reed/Dylan/Feelies fixation, and that´s a big plus in my book of course. Definitely one more band to watch.

Leatherbag - Start All Over Again MP3

Stop press: talking about living legends... I just got the sad news that Memphis maestro Alex Chilton has died. The singer and guitarist of the Box Tops and Big Star, invisible man who could sing in a visible voice, was one of the true greats.

Alex Chilton - Every Time I Close My Eyes MP3

Thieves Of Fire

Yes, and here we go again. Another summer tenpack, this time featuring nothing but British postpunk from the late seventies and early eighties. Arguably one of the most interesting periods in the history of pop music, as creativity was running rampant and boundaries were few.

Fall head honcho Mark E. Smith tells it like it is, with a nod to the summer of love:

"Stuck peanuts in my hair, and all the leaves are brown...

I'll be part of the music scene, envy of the choosy set, part of the music scare..."

Instant hits all of them, albeit in a parallel - and better - world. If you like what you hear and haven´t read it yet, head over to your local bookshoppe and pick up Rip It Up And Start Again by Simon Reynolds, a most inspiring standardwork on the postpunk genre.

The Fall - Music Scene MP3

Magazine - Back To Nature MP3

Cabaret Voltaire - Do The Mussolini (Headkick) MP3

Slits - Instant Hit MP3

The Pop Group - Thief Of Fire MP3

A Certain Ratio - Choir MP3

Young Marble Giants - Wurlitzer Jukebox MP3

Gang Of Four - Armalite Rifle MP3

Delta 5 - Mind Your Own Business MP3

Basement 5 - Heavy Traffic MP3