LIST 195 - 25/03/16

Hello again,

An arboreal feel to the start of this week's List, all inspired by the title track of the new album by Hintermass, yet another winning psych-pop act to grace the roster of the impressive Ghost Box imprint (see also Cavern of Anti-Matter, Soundcarriers, Belbury Poly, John Foxx, etc).  Early contender for my personal favourite track of the year...

...as is "Out of Control", the lead track on the first original material by the newly reactivated Lush for two decades.  Such was the switch from the shoegaze/dream-pop template of their earlier years to the (for my money very much less satisfying) Britpop of final album Lovelife back in 1996, I've approached the return of Miki Berenyi, Emma Anderson et al with a degree of trepidation up to now, but it's pleasing to hear - albeit admittedly on the limited evidence of the one song - that the intention of the reunion has not been to pick up where Lovelife left off with half a dozen new takes on "Single Girl" and the like.  "Out of Control" is vulnerable, blurred around the edges, and very beautiful indeed.

Monkey Swallows the Universe rightly close out this week's selection, ahead of their for-one-night-only reunion gig in their native Sheffield that garnered enough interest for the venue to be upgraded to the Queens Road Social Club - do go along to see these fine word- and songsmiths one last time if you can (before, presumably, Nat Johnson returns to solo pursuits). 

From a far earlier era of Sheffield music, the inclusion of 1,000 Violins' nearly-eponymous second (I think it was) single seems reason enough for me to consider whether I could craft an entire List of tracks where the song title is also the band's name - LFO by LFO and the like.  Hmmm, one to keep in mind for the weeks ahead, I think...

J xx



MONTY PYTHON – The Larch (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0zVsxUbbjM

HINTERMASS – Apple Tree (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV-dmDXq5c0

FOOLS GARDEN – Lemon Tree (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCDIt50hRDs

GRAND NATIONAL – Cherry Tree (2004)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kGYq9VqZOs

MBONGWANA STAR - Kala (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAZxMZBZ628

PLUME OF FEATHERS – First Date (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNgmyYn6XME

ELECTRONIC – The Patience of a Saint (1991)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wXQZNC1864

GIRLPOOL – Before the World was Big (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDprSv9DjxY

ITAK TEL – Babel (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKlp_7PXolw

GUY CARAWAN – We Shall Overcome (1961)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdEv4BvQiuw

LUSH – Out of Control (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD4O20ePnXo

LUSH - Sweetness and Light (1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7cqkpy4QrQ

LAKE RUTH – Cabin Fever (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_D08_73Cqc

MOON B – Moments in Slank (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjxuKYF88Kc

1,000 VIOLINS – Like 1,000 Violins (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpkqYhmaD5E

MIKRON – Sleep Paralysis (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIWjyIn0KXA

DOG CHOCOLATE - Emotionally Buff (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8iyU7Yepvk

渚にて [NAGISA NITE] - Me, on the Beach (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAVl0M6E_FY

THE EUROPEAN – The Settler (2010)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_teyz3AIuxI

MONKEY SWALLOWS THE UNIVERSE – Gravestones (2007)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT7IbeRxF44

LIST 194 - 18/03/16

Hello again,

Plenty to enjoy as usual this week, including an early offering from splendid new Colour Me Wednesday offshoot Baby Arms; something from the current Wire leftovers album that's actually even better than many of tracks which did make it onto the most recent studio album; something from last year's first I, Ludicrous album in over a decade which I inexplicably managed to miss at the time; and some stonking psychedelic fun from a band named after a genuine nine metre square (or should that be three-sided?) area of West Yorkshire. 

The inclusion of Gordon Giltrap's 1977 top 30  hit Heartsong is, as most of you will probably have guessed by now, entirely to do with it having been used as the theme tune of the BBC's long-running Holiday programme during the tenure as host of Cliff Michelmore, who departed this earth just four years shy of a century just yesterday.

J xx



BABY ARMS – A Sign (demo) (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bJsCNcMZvg

THE HELIO SEQUENCE – Leave or Be Yours (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_X3REFg5bY

THE WEDDING PRESENT – My Favourite Dress (1987)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uErGpb3SvIM

NICOLA RATTI – W10 (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNFbv2L8cZg

THE PARKING LOT EXPERIMENTS – Life After Death (2016)
http://parkinglotexperiments.bandcamp.com/track/life-after-death-2

THE HOUSE OF LOVE – Destroy the Heart (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nza7AlHV5I

THE HANGING STARS – Crippled Shining Blues (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufuz1sZzeHY

WIRE - Nocturnal Koreans (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NaPDtrTgFg

BRIAN ENO - Alternative 3 (1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9AldyuIh5A

I, LUDICROUS - Cheer Up (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix4ifoyCHcs

I, LUDICROUS - Quite Extraordinary (1987)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n726gCFVomE

MATTHEW BOURNE – Daniziel (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjKrhAfx4Go

YUCK - Hearts in Motion (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhKSyNiXIgs

THE HIDDEN CAMERAS – Smells Like Happiness (2003)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdmJvOoki4

DAMIEN JURADO – Exit 353 (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhL6jN00FBo

THE BALLET – Is Anybody Out There? (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PqyfVvLlLQ

GORDON GILTRAP – Heartsong (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWTU4vXTV0I

WHYTE HORSES – Natures Mistakes (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xgf3irBXW8

THE RHUBARB TRIANGLE – Wakefield City Blues (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HritTiwNck

LIST 193 - 11/03/16

Hello there,

The return of PJ Harvey rates an obvious highlight this week (can the new album possibly match up to the stellar Let England Shake?  It might yet...), but by no means the only one, with new output to enjoy as well from Witching Waves (I really ought to have learned by now whether they're named after the early 20th century ride at Luna Park on Coney Island, but haven't), Big Ups (plenty here for fans of the likes of Shellac to relish), Goon Sax (whipsmart Brisbane teenagers) and Anna Meredith (pounding, astonishing multi-instrumentalism).

The inclusion of Frankie Machine, Finnmark! and The 10p Mixes could hardly be more timely, each set to make an appearance at Macho Music Is Stupid & Sparklemotion's spring acoustic pop alldayer at the Rutland Arms, Sheffield tomorrow (Saturday, March 12th).  Six pounds (or three for the unwaged) for a superb afternoon and evening's line-up which also includes the First Lady of indiepop Amelia Fletcher in her Caternary Wires guise is surely the best value entertainment you'll find anywhere this weekend.  The bar downstairs has the plum porter back on, too, I'm given to understand.

J xx



PJ HARVEY – The Wheel (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ReW0jJkag8

AFX – umil 25-01 (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nRsbS8_hc4

THE HIGHLINERS – Henry the Wasp (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX_uz8uo5cE

BIG UPS – National Parks (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiPV7T56iyU

FRANKIE MACHINE – How Great Thou Art (2016)
http://frankiemachine.bandcamp.com/track/how-great-thou-art

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS – Strange Powers (1993)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci37lvMsTsA

WITCHING WAVES – The Threat (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdRP3Dnp3kk

VIOLENT FEMMES – Memory (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIa_L25kR3M

VIOLENT FEMMES – Blister in the Sun (1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE-dqW4uBEE

FINNMARK! – A Quiet Night in Stockholm (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FTLcIHig98

GOON SAX – Boyfriend (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilBf_nZbxvw

ETON CROP – It’s My Dog, Maestro! (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX7iVgHdiJw

DEATH AND VANILLA – California Owls (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvpe_lklFww

THE 10p MIXES – Everything I Do Is Gonna Be Sparkly (2013)
https://soundcloud.com/the-10p-mixes/everything-i-do-is-gonna-be

BJÖRK GUðMUNDSDÓTTIR & TRÍÓ GUðMUNDAR INGÓLFSSONAR – Brestir Og Brak
(1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7QFzjT3JMM

ANNA MEREDITH – R-Type (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4F2_cWk8cY

PALLENBERG – Bella-Esque (2015)
https://vimeo.com/147360055

KING OF WOOLWORTHS – Big Sur (2004)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVeasEhlahs

LIST 192 - 04/03/16

Hello again,

Snow!  In quantity!!!  Well, in quantity for this corner of South Yorkshire, at least.  I'm no fan of the stuff, but this late, defiant blast of cold weather after a relatively benign winter hitherto gives me the perfect opportunity to share a couple of snow-related gems in this week's List.  Twinned as it is with Geoffrey Jones's BFI film of the 1963 Big Freeze, the composition from BBC Radiophonic Workshop figurehead Daphne Oram is a particularly wonderful, evocative contribution.  Enjoy.

Elsewhere, it's a pleasure to share contributions from Slowdive-and-Mogwai-and-Editors supergroup Minor Victories; York's finest purveyor of deadpan, acerbic sprechgesang Mark Wynn; the first sighting of post-Dada jazz punksters and The Very Things forerunners The Cravats (cult hero The Shend and all) for aeons; and some seriously smart genre-bending work from Jlin (electronic/footwork/trap) and Golden Teacher (dancehall/Afrobeat/musique concrete). 

J xx


MINOR VICTORIES - A Hundred Ropes (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oz6nzPSZLg

GOLDEN TEACHER – Shatter (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qruqTtgWkxY

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS – Something 4 the Weekend (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1QyO4TkWts

CLARK - Omni Vignette (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2tzRRm1dxA

ALPACA SPORTS – Need Me the Most (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_5gxdrDnY8

PUBLIC ENEMY – Gett Off My Back (1992)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXw_80Ktdwg

DARREN HAYMAN AND THE LONG PARLIAMENT – Old Man (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFP683p0HM4

MARK WYNN - Captain Fantastic (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBhvBxx6pV8

JOHN CARPENTER – Dark Star (1974/1980)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaiI2TN8ghk

THE CRAVATS – Batter House (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf2n9SwwSLc

THE CRAVATS – Rub Me Out (1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le5tnOU8cH4

TINDERSTICKS – Were We Once Lovers? (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1DDgKWc2HY

JLIN - Nandi (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I70DoLRXhBo

THE PRESETS – Beams (2005)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIkLUl-Phh0

XAOS - Pontos Blues (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyG3UeYbAHk

TREMBLING BLUE STARS - Snow Showers (2000)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLHdB7d-L3w

DAPHNE ORAM – Snow (1963)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl4pJwcE7JI 

LIST 191 - 26/02/16

Hello again,

Early-ish contender for the most insanely catchy single of the year in this week's List, I reckon, with Animal Collective as playful and poppy as I can ever remember (on their own terms, though). 

A single quote from Edgar Allan Poe common to both tracks is excuse enough to include a new Pinkshinyultrablast track and not-new Propaganda track side by side.  Elsewhere, it's a pleasure to welcome back enduring Canadian electronic artist I Am Robot And Proud; indie/world music magpie Beirut; and indiepop doyen (and University of Westminster lecturer) Pete Astor; plus give a first airing in any List up to now to the wares of contemporary composer/loop experimentalist William Basinski and Bremen/Leipzig-based producer Jascha Hagen.


J xx


ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – FloriDada (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuoIvNFUY7I

PINKSHINYULTRABLAST – The Cherry Pit (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuDscQBInyA

PROPAGANDA – Dream within a Dream (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4E1zMLghhY

THE MIDDLE ONES – OMC (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg2Z_X7K-7k

TRICKY – I’m Not Going (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxeBB3N4Bo8

DINOSAUR JR – The Wagon (1991)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5yxVuNDLmo

I AM ROBOT AND PROUD – Light and Waves (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg2KDt31zAw

I AM ROBOT AND PROUD – The Catch (2001)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65k_P7wwizA

MERCURY REV – Coming Up for Air (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S64TDcLqzjM

BELLATRIX – Jediwannabe (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh4Fv27qGRc

BEACH HOUSE – PPP (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFhJRTdmviA

BEIRUT – No No No (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8lOkgyPcaU

THE THREE JOHNS – Death of the European (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLvMMIIrvSI

WILLIAM BASINSKI – The Deluge (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKabjrMeVjo

POSTAL BLUE – I Always Knew (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8g_l47-V0E

BIRDIE – Folk Singer (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPIRvP5nP6g

PETE ASTOR – Mr Music (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ihym05obto

JASCHA HAGEN – Pan That Shit Out of Your Brain (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq6U-aouBfk

LIST 190 - 19/02/16

Hello again,

Seems somewhat appropriate to include a new Cavern Of Anti-Matter track in the same week as featuring old and brand new produce from mainstays Tortoise, given the sustained association of the latter's John McEntire with Cavern frontman Tim Gane in his Stereolab days.  X degrees of separation, post/drone-rock style...

Christine And The Queens' track is classy French pop.  T-Shirt Weather and The School are so many shades of indiepop wonderful.  Electric Cake Salad features a vocal performance so reminiscent of Ozzy Osbourne as to be uncanny. 

And yep, that is the real Twiggy; the Captain Beaky albums from which her selection is taken are a not-at-all-guilty pleasure as far as I'm concerned, considering the project's musical arrangements by same the Jim Parker who scored the amazing Sir John Betjeman albums (as played by the likes of Jarvis Cocker and Gideon Coe and loved by me) only a couple of years earlier.

J xx



T-SHIRT WEATHER – When Your Heart (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvfkh8jarGw

JOHN GRANT – Grey Tickles, Black Pressures (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rUw5FhgN4Y

FELT – Primitive Painters (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCRdY7ZH7xo

CAVERN OF ANTI-MATTER ft BRADFORD COX – Liquid Gate (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIPfPQslS-s

CAPTAIN BEAKY & HIS BAND (vocal: Twiggy) – Nathaniel Gnat (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku6lq62gNDE

CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS - Christine (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs40yxHjTxQ

TORTOISE - Younder Blue (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUy6cbSEGGY

TORTOISE – The Taut and the Tame (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oegKn6Aw6B8

ELECTRIC CAKE SALAD – Dimenticato (2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYCjkAkUcQM

VENETIAN SNARES – You and Shayna (video version) (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toZDhQzImyw

RED MONKEY – My Bed and Ancestry (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mHQCLlyRiU

THE SCHOOL – Put Your Hand in Mine (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_LRy5zOUQw

WILD NOTHING – Life of Pause (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkUDQRqJWWs

PAVEMENT – Carrot Rope (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G53DW71BlNk

FLOATING POINTS – Nespole (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfYP7uTZX8Y

MIKA BOMB – Super Sexy Razor Happy Girls (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEgpDKLycAk

BULLY – Trying (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7LLBBGOfKY

BLUMFELD - So lebe ich (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItWAgvjG-6w

LIST 189 - 12/02/16

Hello again,

Further mixed offerings again this time and, sad to say, another in loving memory moment following the passing earlier this week of Des Stanley aka Wild Planet, founder of and guitarist with early-mid 1980s punk revellers !Action Pact!.  The Heathrow Touchdown EP, in particular, will be familiar to John Peel fans of the period, and the later track included at the end of this week's List gives no less accurate an indication of the tremendous amount of fun they were at their peak.  Rest easy, Des.

Ex-Standard Farer Emma Kupa and ex-Stereolabber Tim Gane make an appearance this time around with new produce from their respective Mammoth Penguins and Cavern Of Anti-Matter projects; ditto The High Llamas, the longstanding vehicle of course for another Stereolab alumnus (and Microdisney before that) in the shape of Sean O'Hagan.

Curios old and new include the most Sheffield track ever to reach the UK top 10 singles chart; Bjork doing a spot of jazz all of 26 years ago; and an all too pertinent, biting Smiths cover...

J xx


MAMMOTH PENGUINS – Strength in My Legs (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Sk-ITID20

CAVERN OF ANTI-MATTER - Phototones (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa0cR-PGKdE

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS - Focus Pocus / Debiel (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az00dyUbJmY

CALEXICO – Falling from the Sky (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_gfQ9CssLA

CRUMPLEHORNS – On Off (2014)
https://soundcloud.com/crumplehorns/on-off

BRIAN ENO - From the Same Hill (1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixF6OsJfOME

KAKI KING – Great Round Burn (2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVG8DJLOs5U

MBONGWANA STAR - Kala (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAZxMZBZ628

TONY CAPSTICK – The Sheffield Grinder (1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTXjp2bf1vo

THE HIGH LLAMAS - Here Come The Rattling Trees (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-7h9cfoDlw

THE HIGH LLAMAS – Campers in Control (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFGEy2yAM48

JOY AGAIN – Looking Out For You (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx-4NuzjA1Y

THE STRANGLERS – Thrown Away (1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmYHEH1P8w

HONG KONG IN THE 60s – Patricia (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkqJuhfpwsg

SARAH CRACKNELL ft THE RAILS – Take the Silver (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON-MTg5103c

BJÖRK GUðMUNDSDÓTTIR & TRÍÓ GUðMUNDAR INGÓLFSSONAR – Pabbi Minn (1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWExAM2ZSYU

ELVIS PERKINS – Hogus Pogus (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNqRb8JdWkY

LOW – Spanish Translation (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0TJrlemmVQ

THE BOO RADLEYS – Reaching Out From Here (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQSgSpnNghQ

THE IAIN DUNCAN SMITHS – Girlfriend in a Coma (She’s Fit for Work) (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So5fszZjvMs

!ACTION PACT! – Johnny Fontaine (1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5elt4ajvIc