2021 and all that

In mid-November, right at the point where the busyness level at work changed gear from simply hectic to full-on pre-Christmas panic, I started to feel a bit under the weather. Not Covid under the weather, but unusually fatigued and retreating to bed at 6 in the evening under the weather. I couldn't fathom it and soldiered on feeling grotty for four weeks until one evening when I removed my shirt and it all became clear. A vivid rash had appeared across my chest, which by the following morning snuck under my armpit and around onto my back - shingles. With the rash came searing pain to add to the fatigue. My doctor prescribed a course of 5 huge tablets a day on top of the regular painkillers I was consuming every four hours just to obtain some level of comfort. The long and the short of it is that I've been off work now for by far the longest period since catching mumps from a record shop customer in 1980! I'm well on the mend though and only mention all this to explain the tumbleweed that's been blowing around the corridors of this blog for some time. I return with a brief look at some of the music that has kept me going throughout 2021. Links to further information/listening in red.

Laura Cannell & Kate Ellis - These Feral Lands

A monthly EP project, which picked up where the 2020 album of the same name left off. A total of 48 tracks written, recorded and released across the past 12 months, featuring words and music inspired by feral animal sounds, ancient stories and personal folklore. I'm already dreading the empty space where an EP should be come the end of January.

AMOR/LEMUR

The second LP of avant-mutant-disco from Glasgow's AMOR (this time made in conjunction with Norway's LEMUR) appeared way back in January. Since then Richard Youngs has released his usual steady stream of  solo records throughout the year. I've managed to pick up up about half a dozen of them, but I'm sure I've missed many more.

Kungens Män - Den Nya Skivan

In February Kungens Män put out a limited edition box set ('Innanför Boxen') containing four LPs previously only available digitally plus 'Den Nya Skivan', which helpfully translates as 'The New Record'. Providing we're all still here to tell the tale, the band are due back for some UK dates in April. Go see them, they will change your life.

Richard Dawson & Circle - Henki

As many of my oft-postponed concerts of the past 18 months finally started taking place this year, I found myself picking and choosing what to actually attend, passing on several and masking up for just a precious few. One of the essential shows was by the phenomenal Richard Dawson. There really is no-one like him on stage or on record and his recent collaboration with the Finnish group Circle sits easily amongst the best things I've heard in 2021.

Modern Nature - Island of Noise

With every successive release, Jack Cooper sheds a little more of his previous musical skins and now 'Island of Noise' finds almost all traces of Mazes and Ultimate Painting erased. A completely analogue project, 'Island of Noise' was record onto 2" tape, is available only on vinyl and is housed within a box with an accompanying booklet all of which were manufactured using recycled and sustainable materials. Admirable though these details are, they'd mean little if the music itself wasn't so rich and rewarding. 

Alden & Patterson  - Hunter

An absolutely majestic debut duo album from Christina and Alex, who also play in a trio with steel guitarist Noel Dashwood. 'Hunter' is only the first of two lockdown projects from Alden & Patterson to arrive, the second, their first child, is due in February.

National Information Society - Descension (Out of  Our Constrictions)

This brief overview of standout records released over the past twelve months is not in any order of personal preference, though if I had decided to reveal its contents in a TOTP chart countdown format, 'Descension (Out of  Our Constrictions)' would unquestionably be my No.1 album. Recorded live, it's a single, hypnotic, 75 minute piece, spread across four sides of vinyl. Genre defying.

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I'll leave you with Beak's wonderfully sinister festive offering from back in 2017, 'Merry Xmas (Face the Future)'. Compliments of the season everyone - here's to better times ahead.

Monday Long Song

One way and another, the tail end of last year was hectic time for your humble author, so it's no surprise I suppose that I managed to completely miss a couple of otherwise essential additions to The Swede's personal house of wax. One I've managed to pick up, but the other I missed the boat on, so it's over to Discogs and eBay I go to track that particular beauty down. The LP I did acquire, later rather than sooner, was 'Twelve of Hearts' by long time favourite of this parish Richard Youngs, in cahoots with Daniel O'Sullivan, released on the OGenesis label in December. I'll come back to that in due course. Today's tune is another to feature the always prolific Mr Youngs, this time in his guise as one quarter of AMOR. I ordered their new LP (a joint creation with LEMUR) way back in November and I'm reliably informed that it's winging its way towards as I type. Fortunately, the complementary download is already safely ensconced on my hard-drive and, swipe me, it's flippin' magnificent. 

There are only 500 copies out there, so if you're tickled, don't shilly-shally. (Here)

AMOR/LEMUR - For You

Monday Long Song

Richard Youngs is a man rarely known for looking back throughout his 170-odd album (and counting) career, so it's a particular joy to find him circling around to rekindle the terrific AMOR project once again. A new 4 track 12" EP is due for release in January, resulting from pre-lockdown Glasgow sessions in cahoots with Norwegian combo LEMUR. 'Unravel' is the first taste - order the EP here.

AMOR/LEMUR - Unravel

A Dozen From 2018

For a number of reasons, my head hasn't really been in the blogging game for some time now. Having said that, over at Before the Streets Were Aired (my other place), I'm just about to sail through the 1100 consecutive daily posts mark - where did that time go? Meanwhile, here on the good ship Unthought of Though Somehow, I'm doing my best to keep the blighter afloat by joining in with the weekly Monday Long Song fun, at the very least. Where to from here? I couldn't really say right at the moment.

I can say that it's been a very good year for music though. At the end of both 2016 and 2017 I bemoaned the fact that I'd spent the previous 12 months listening to more old music than new, but I'm pleased to report that that particular trend has reversed in 2018 and I ended up with a long-list of around 40 albums to choose from for selection in this year's round-up. Tomorrow I might pull a slightly different handful of records from the shelves, but for now, for today, (in alphabetical order) here are twelve of the many LPs that rocked my world in 2018. I've included a few tunes at the end, but click on the individual links to learn/hear more.

AMOR - Sinking Into a Miracle The first of two Richard Youngs related releases on this list, both issued within the past month. The Glasgow collective follow their incendiary pair of 2017 12" singles with a stonking debut LP. Mutant disco anyone?

The Coke Dares - Fake Lake 35 superbly crafted songs, bursting with more ideas than many bands can boast in the course of an entire career.

Hen Ogledd - Mogic Experimental, sonically diverse, genre defying.

Kikagaku Moyo - Masana Temples  A melodic, wonky, woozy, groove fest from start to finish.

Kiki Pau - Hiisi  From melancholic pastoral loveliness to full-on poly-rhythmic wigouts and beyond, interspersed with occasional soothing birdsong interludes - what's not to love?

Kungens Män - Fuzz på Svenska  Dark, intense and, let's be honest, pretty darned noisy. Sweden's finest.

Massage - Oh Boy Do you, like me, love bands like The Feelies, The Go-Betweens & The Clean and music released on labels like Sarah Records and Flying Nun? Of course you do, in which case you'll probably love 'Oh Boy' too.

Minami Deutsch - With Dim Light  Early 1970s German inspired tuneage from Japan.

Brigid Mae Power - The Two Worlds A remarkable album that creates and inhabits its own universe. Gothic, hymn-like, confessional and fairly harrowing in places.

Regal Worm - Pig Views 21st Century prog. I've probably said enough.

Alasdair Roberts - What News Another year, another remarkable Alasdair Roberts LP. His first of solely traditional songs since 2010.

Richard Youngs - Memory Ain't No Decay Only issued last week, the 5th of Richard's eight 2018 releases I've picked up this year - and it's very possibly the best of the lot. I've already pre-ordered his next LP, due in January.

More AMOR

Five months on from their first release, 'Paradise' (here), AMOR return with single number two, 'Higher Moment'. Driven by discordant piano and looping bass, Richard Young's distinct vocals exhibit a hypnotic, 'almost Utopian positivity' throughout the 11 minutes of the tune. Once again the 12" is issued in a limited run of 500. AMOR is a very special collaboration, don't miss out. Order it here.

AMOR

I couldn't make it to the bloggers summit in Glasgow a couple of weeks back, but I've enjoyed reading every subsequent account of the bash from those that did. One of the sweetest stories to emerge from the weekend has to be that of Brian's meeting with Stephen Pastel in Monorail Music - I'm sure that everyone is familiar with the glorious tale by now, but just in case, read all about it here. I've never been into Monorail's store (hell, I've never been to Glasgow), but I have made several purchases from that esteemed establishment, the latest of which arrived through the post on Tuesday morning.

Your humble author with his latest slab'o'wax 

As is so often the case these days, Swiss Adam over at Bagging Area was the cause of my financial downfall, albeit via the good offices of Andrew Weatherall's Music's Not For Everyone NTS radio show. As usual, I listened to the show in fits and starts, pausing to further investigate any tunes that caught my ear along the way, one in particular stopped me in my tracks though. The voice was very familiar, even if the musical setting wasn't. The song in question was entitled 'Paradise' and credited to a new combo, AMOR, although I immediately recognised the vocalist as being the uber-prolific Richard Youngs. The AMOR project finds Youngs' dry, somewhat disconnected vocal laid over an mutant-disco backdrop, a combination that hooked me instantly. I'd located and purchased a copy of the 12" single from Monorail before Weatherall's show had finished and this was the record that the postman handed over to me on Tuesday. Get your dancing shoes on.