Many happy returns to Neneh Cherry, born on this day in 1964. I've accumulated quite a few of her records
over the years, from Rip Rig & Panic and Float Up CP to her successful solo career and beyond. Her 1981 guest
appearance with The New Age Steppers, on the infectious 'My Love', was the first though. That's the late great
Bim Sherman sharing vocal duties with Neneh.
George Martin's name will forever be associated with The Beatles, and quite rightly so, but
I've looked elsewhere in his broad production back-catalogue to select a couple of non-Fab related tunes with which to mark his passing. From the sublime 'Dum Dum' by The Stan Getz Quartet, recorded live at Ronnie Scott's Club in 1971 and featuring a great keyboard solo by Eddy Louise, to Spike Milligan's ridiculous and inspired 'Q5 Piano Tune' from 1969.
Mrs S & I are fans of Edinburgh's Young Fathers. We've got both of their fine albums and we caught a
memorable and very intense show on their UK tour last year. The band make an equally intense
guest appearance on Massive Attack's 'Ritual Spirit EP'. The video for the tune doesn't mess about either.
When it comes to dancing in public, I'm the owner two of the leftest feet that you'll ever trip over. However this small matter doesn't prevent me from busting a few sweet, free-form moves in the privacy of my own home. Nothing compared to the dancers in this video though. Francis Ducharme, Louise-Michel Jackson and Andrea Martini each demonstrate intense, radical, interpretive rug-cutting of the highest order.
Mrs S & I have been very partial to the music of Canadian band Plants and Animals since their first recorded work back in 2003. The very fine 'Stay' is taken from the band's 4th LP, 'Waltzed in from the Rumbling', scheduled for release on April 29th. Stand clear. I'm joining in and there may be flailing.
As you join me, I'm nursing a large fennel tea to combat a dicky tummy. It's not my usual morning brew,
but needs must. I've just read that Thrill
Jockey recording artist Glenn Jones releases his sixth LP, 'Fleeting', in a couple of
weeks. Glenn's music is a perfect fit for my current delicate condition, so enjoy the beautiful
'Bergen County Farewell' from 2013's 'My Garden State'.
Late in 2007, Canada's Holy F*** released their second LP (imaginatively titled, 'LP'),
which contained a series of frantic, pounding slabs of noise that would go on to form a substantial part of my
soundtrack for the following year. Mrs S & I saw them in concert in April 2008 - and they fair
blew our socks off that night too. Sandwiched among the aural chaos of 'LP', is the, erm,
lovely 'Lovely Allen', an epically catchy tune that, were it not for that moniker,
would surely have gained them far wider recognition than it did.
There has been no new music from Holy F*** since their 3rd LP, 2010's 'Latin',
but suddenly, out of the blue, they're back. One evening last week, with little fanfare,
Marc Riley premièred 'Tom Tom', the first taster from a brand new album, 'Congrats', scheduled for
release at the end of May. It's like they haven't been away.
A small handful of 2015 albums found their way into my collection during the second half of December,
too late for me to make an impartial judgement vis-a-vis their inclusion in my year end round-up.
One of those albums was 'HiFi Classics' by Meatraffle, which, given a little more time to absorb it,
would've made my 2015 top 20 without question. For starters, how can you fail to love a band who's
line-up includes among its membership; Fats McCourt, Tingle Lungfish, Zsa Zsa Sapien and Cloudy Truffles?
The genre descriptors that the band give their music are equally inventive, if not especially helpful;
Trapdoor Jazz anyone? Speed Waltz? Or perhaps a little Erroneous Funk?
To give you at least some idea of what we're actually dealing with here, a few of the reference points that came to mind as I began to immerse myself in 'HiFi Classics' were; 'The Return of the Giant Slits',
'Bon Chic Bon Genre' by Campag Velocet, 'Pigeonhole' by New Fast Automatic Daffodils and 'Accept the Signal' by Regular Fries. Chuck that lot into a blender and you'll be heading in the vague direction of the uniquely wonky, cock-eyed view of pop that is
Meatraffle's.
'Aurora' and 'The Horseshoe' are currently on particularly heavy rotation round these parts. If you like these, I urge you to check out 'HiFi Classics' in full here. It's a blinder.
