Crazy Covers Session: Brighton

 

We all love a cover version, especially if it's given a totally new spin, so I was really honoured to be invited to help Steve KIW kick-off his Crazy Covers Session in Brighton at the weekend. My BAOL partner and I managed to bypass the curfew by an hour or so, so we must have been doing something right.

 

 

My tunes in no particular order -

 

 

 

'Slave To The Rhythm' – The Shortwave Set (Grace Jones)

 

 

 

'Pegasus' – Temple Music (The Hollies)

 

 

 

'Locomotive Breath' – Atomic Forest (Jethro Tull)

 

 

'Vampire Blues' – Wooden Shjips (Neil Young)

 

 

'Summer (The First Time)' – Millie Jackson (Bobby Goldsboro)

 

 

'It’s All Over Now Baby Blue' – Them (Bob Dylan) 

 

 

 

'Hey Joe' – Johnny Hallyday (Jimi Hendrix)

 

 

'In The Midnight Hour' – Maloko (Wilson Pickett)

 

 

'On the Road Again' – Rockets (Canned Heat)

 

 

 

'Theme One' – Schizo Fun Addict (Van Der Graaf Generator)

 

 

 

'Lost In Music' – The Fall (Sister Sledge) Cog Sinister 12”

 

 

 

'Norwegian Wood' – Cornershop (The Beatles)

 'When I Was Born For The 7^th Time' LP

 

 

 

Dancin’ In The Streets – Grateful Dead (Martha and the Vandellas)

Arista 12”

 

 

 

'Song 2w'o – Zinger Meats Spry (Blur) Red Egyptian 7”

 

 

 

I’m A Believer – Robert Wyatt (The Monkees) Virgin 7”

 

 

 

'Wichita Lineman' – Johnny Harris (Glen Campbell)

 'Moments' WB LP

 

 

 

'Don’t Be Cruel' – Billy Swan (Elvis Presley)

Monument 7”

 

 

 

'From The Morning' – Beautify Junkyards (Nick Drake)

Fruits De Mer 7”

 

 

 

'Into The Groove' – Ciccone Youth (Madonna)

Blast First 12”

 

 

 

Tubular Bells – Billy Green and The Love Machine

(Mike Oldfield)

Dynamite Soul 7”

 

 

 

'Sweet Jane' – Cowboy Junkies (Lou Reed)

Cooking Vinyl 12”

 

 

 

 'Mrs Robinson '– The Lemonheads

(Simon and Garfunkel)

 

 

 

 'Gently Johnny' – Woodbine and Ivy Band

 (Paul Giovanni Wickerman OST)

Static Caravan 7”

 

 

 

Trois Gymnopedies – Gary Numan  (Erik Satie)

Beggars Banquet 7”

 

Love Will Tear Us Apart – The Swans (Joy Division) 12”

The Williams Fairey Band – What Time Is Love (KLF) 'Fuck The Millennium' Blast First 12”

Ziggy Stardust - Bauhaus  (David Bowie) Beggars Banquet 12”

Hair – James Last (Hair OST) Polydor LP

Blues For Brother George Jackson – Raw Deal (Archie Shepp) Straight Ahead 12”

Oh Dear What Can The Matter Be – Terry Callier (Trad.Nursery Rhyme) 'The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier' LP

Heroes – Nico (David Bowie) 'Drama of Exile', Aurra LP

Get Back – Deirdre Wilson Tabac (The Beatles) Jazzman 7”

Please Don’t Touch – Motorheadgirl School (Johnny Kid and The Pirates) Bronze Records 7”

Love Will Tear Us Apart – June Tabor & Oysterband (Joy Division) Topic Records 7”

The Hurdy Gurdy Man – Butthole Surfers (Donovan) Rough Trade 12”

There’s A Ghost In My House – The Fall (R Dean Taylor) Beggars Banquet 7”

No Regrets – Half Man Half Biscuit & Margi Clarke  (Edith Piaf) Probe Plus

Submerged Forest Bank Holiday All-Dayer

FUN YOUR EAR PRAGUE 2

 

'The Balearic Assassins Of Love – a hirsute raggle-taggle collective of vinyl junkies who worship at the altar of sunrise and sunset like Kicker-shod party druids. Forever on an eternal quest to slay the dragon of segregation and the pigeon of hole they gather frequently and mix together musical forms as diverse as hypno Latvian Acid Skiffle and mystic Tibetan yacht rock to create that ecl*ctic, highly danceable, don't care ‘last day of the holiday’ feel. With DJ monikers such as Sherman, King Sunny Ade P and Keep It Wheel, they share a commonality with the Beastie Boys - had they been born on Spike Island and never rapped - with a freestyle expression that seamlessly binds sporadic vinyl inspiration through technical flair and copious amounts of alcohol. Equally at home playing downtempo sunset and woodsmoke campervan sessions to happy times hands-in-the-air hay-bale raves, the BAOL straddle all genres like a well-heeled Achillea colossus in smiley T-shirt and Day-Glo poncho. Formed sometime in the last century the BAOL have played a huge amount of parties never repeating a set or compromising on venue; a beach front Acid drenched Scout hut, an ex-communist Prague nuclear bunker, the Lord Mayor 's Carnival, Primavera, strobe flecked Brighton basements, 10 hour sets on Hastings pier, Numerous North London clubs and Bars, sunset/sunrise sets in beautiful Sussex fields and Fawlty Towersesque hotel cellar bars, always with a smile and a laugh and a joke. Some people believe music is a matter of life and death, the Balearic Assassins of Love can assure you it is much, much more important than that. Expect the unexpected avaibable for bookings and ‘Ave IT!

A Life In The Day

 

An elderly record shop buyer was ready to retire. He told his employer of his plans to leave the vinyl purchasing business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family, embroiling within capes and playing plenty of deck quoits. He would miss the pay cheque, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The record shop owner was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could buy just one more collection of very rare vinyl as a personal favour. The record buyer said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work anymore. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and bought inferior records. Instead of rare Sun Ra ‘Horo’ pieces he bought Steps; instead of Mellow Candle’s Swaddling songs he bought Leo Sayer; instead of Jason Crest’s Turquoise Tandem Cycle he bought, The Best of Jim Reeves; instead of The Madman Running Through the Fields by Dantalian’s Chariot he bought Mrs Mills; instead of Fire’s Father’s Name Is Dad he bought Now That’s What I Call Music 16, and instead of Rainbow’s Ffolly Sallies Forth he bought Chris de Burgh ‘A Retrospective.’ It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career. When the record buyer finished his work he placed all the pieces in a flight case and the employer came to inspect the vinyl.

His boss handed the flight case back to the record buyer, and said, ‘My Gift to you’. The record buyer was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own collection, he would have done it all so differently. So it is with us.

We build our record collections a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the construction. A bit of mediocre Nu-Jazz here, a Charity shop Funky House 12” there; A bargin bin badly pressed bruk comp here and a dull ambient noodle there. Then with a shock we realise we have to live with the collection we have built. If we could do it over we’d do it differently. But we cannot go back. You are the buyer. Each day you nail a tune, score a piece of vinyl, or erect new shelves for more pieces. ‘A Record Collection is a do-it-yourself project someone has said: ‘Your selections and the choices you make today, build the collection you’ll live with tomorrow.

 

Let’s be careful out there!

Thick Robin and other Upfront Promos

 

• Thick Robin - 'The Chronic Aesthetic'. Creepy, misogynistic, and aboot five minutes too long, this R+B lite pile of bird excrement is the sound of a barrel being well and truly scraped and a bird feeder being well and truly fraped.
• Little Missy Molly Da Feckless Ho - ‘Let’s Titillate the Ghetto Voyeurs’ (Popinjay Zee Re-edit)'. Popinjay Zee demonstrates why he's the 'go-to-guy' for that 2013 eclectic sound. Cleverly samples Alien Sex Fiend's 'I Shoplift Kohl From Boots'.   
• DJ Ballcock and MC Leaky Raw Sewage – ‘New York Shit’ (Soil and Pump mix). The Hip Hop/Jazz/Gastroenteritis crossover tip revival starts here.
• Rennie Pilfering – ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows 2013’ (Natalie Imbruglia Mix). Trance, Trance, Trance Yourself Dizzy with this slab of lyrically eccentric rolling stock. 
• Benny Singh – ‘Can You Hear Benny Sing?’  Ex Tea cosy bothering Crossroads/Shropshire Doctors star embraces Sikhism in this broken beat electro-forensic spook fest.
• Tiger Lily Allen Key – ‘Retribution, No Remorse, No Repent’. Tiger Lily Allen Key, the scatty daughter of the professional idle layabout Johnny Lass Vegas sings about ‘getting even’ after her (ex) boyfriend unfriended her on Facebook.
• Toovar Dal – ‘Woman on Beach with Dog’ Ethereal, Tinnitus, Bonavox, and Daktari wallpaper all spring to mind in this wispy ode to all things Byron, Shelley, Keats, Rod, Jane and Freddy. 
• Bugz in the Arctic Monkeys – 'Bruk in the Dolls House (Hamble Mix)'  North Korean bootleg of the ‘Monkeys’ broken beat remix album. ‘Bet You Look Good in a Pair of Your Sister’s Chequered Deck Shoes’ is a particular favourite.
• The Orange Fleeced Jester Hat of Warrington and Runcorn- 'Street Drinking Man (Cabyll-Ushtey Mix)'  The cliché is the handrail of the human mind; all flats and houses in Paris have a view of the Eiffel Tower. The Orange Fleeced Jester Hat are a festival collective who sing about their ‘backs against the wall’ and ‘meths being good for you’.
• Torquemada's Thumb - ''Zombies, Dawn of the Bubble wrap'. Godawful pile of mouse droppings. The aural equivalent of the dental work in Marathon Man.
• 'San Antonio: The Real Sound of Ibiza'.  Rose and Crown Resident, DJ Chavette side-steps some of the more esoteric Balearic fare and goes straight for the mainstream jugular with surprisingly shit results.
• Storm Pestrels – 'In Jim Kerr We Trust'  Following on from the success of The Guillemots and The Chaffinches, The Storm Pestrels take the leftfield Simple Minds/Coldplay remit even further. Imagine Sun Ra covering, Don’t You Forget About Me, in a Digbeth squat.

West Exit Pirate Festival

Electric Stag July