Sunday 25 May 2014

Currently playing

1. Neko Case: Man

I heartily recommend Neko Case's recent album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I love You. The song Man seems to send a nice anti-macho message with lyrics from different gendered perspectives, and overall is just quite simply a rousing great pop-rock tune. The album also has a high point in the graceful but catchy Calling Card.

2. Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros: X-Ray Style


This song keeps getting jammed in my head, since I went to a recent Strummerville night, with Ray Ganges on decks playing this, plus a bunch of other Strummer-related material, good reggae, old punk, and so on. I feel like as I get older, I prefer the work Joe Strummer did post-Clash, for the many more moments of tenderneess, intimacy and easygoing, breezy, calm sense. See also:

3.Joe Strummer: Sleepwalk


4. Viv Albertine: The Madness of Clouds



Really enjoying Viv Albertine's unique approach to music making - interesting sounds and her style of playing guitar and singing. Greatly anticipating her new rock biography too - not many books around that are by female musicians, frankly, plus there is that female perspective of punk that seems to have been written out of history.

5. Robyn Hitchcock: Keep Finding Me


Any excuse for a song by Robyn Hitchcock, really. This is a recent discovery of mine as I still have so much to explore of his glorious canon of work. He is rarely off the stereo in this house.

6. Go Kart Mozart: 



Only Lawrence could cover a Roger Whittaker song with such electric pop panache and perfection. But just when will Go Kart Mozart play London again... Last tour didn't even include a London date and got cancelled. We're waiting! Also, Go Kart Mozart are forever the mightier, better band of his career and we will never fathom this reverence for Felt this has been going on in recent years. Lawrence would agree too! Recommend all the band's albums (plus his work on Denim as well - synth pop excellence). I was going to link to Electric Rock and Roll on here, but Youtube doesn't have that one.