From New Wave to the 'NOW', experience the thrill of NEW WAVE from it's beginnings in the late '70s to the modern bands so obviously influenced by it! So, if you grew up in the '80s and still enjoy discovering new sounds as well as rediscovering old favorites, then read on!
PUNK! POWER POP! SYNTH POP! NEW WAVE! POST-PUNK!
OK, let's be honest here: I'm not going to pretend that I know everything that there is to know about Helen Love. I've always been an admirer from a distance. I've picked up their CDs over the years and I've listened to them quite a bit. I'm most certainly a fan, but I've managed to remain happily ignorant to WHO they are, what kinds of cars they drive, what their favorite TV shows are, etc. Here is what I do know:
1. Helen Love is a band AND a person (but I will refer to them as a band)
2. They are Welsh
3. They adore Joey Ramone, Debbie Harry and quite a few other original Pop icons
2. They love all sorts of pop culture but especially music
1. They make great Pop records
Roughly 20 years ago, they released their debut single, "Formula One Racing Girls", a slab of lo-fi Twee pop that was blessed with more imagination than musical chops, but it was obvious they were destined for bigger things... especially with their blend of 8-bit video game samples, Punk guitar and Girl Pop melody. Over the next two decades, they've perfected that formula while losing members, gaining members, turning up the guitars, adding Techno to the mix, turning down the guitars, etc. As they've moved towards an Electronic-based sound, their songwriting style hasn't changed. They are still very much influenced by The Ramones, Blondie, Glam Rock, Bubblegum Pop, Girl Pop and whatever else suits their fancy. It's really kind of interesting just how many different things they've added and subtracted to the mix and yet they remain uniquely Helen Love.
When Elefant Records released the excellent It's My Party And I'll Play What I Want To album back in 2007, it was a groovy platter that referenced everything from the 1910 Fruitgum Company to the Macca & Wings single "Jet" to Rodney Bingenheimer's legendary nightclub Rodney's English Disco. Their lyrical focus was still firmly in the past, but their music kept moving forward. the songs had more depth, more shadows and more light. To some, it may have seemed as if they were playing the same old song over and over, but if that was the case, it was a pretty damn great song!
Now, six years later, Helen Love return with an album that continues their forward trajectory without sacrificing a bit of who they were. In fact, if you couldn't tell by the album's title, Day-Glo Dreams, the band has finally embraced the '80s and added a lot of great references to that era in their lyrics. "Spin Those Records" namechecks Michael Jackson and Culture Club in the bridge and middle eight and chorus! However, they certainly haven't turned their backs on their roots. "Atomic" may or may not be titled after the Blondie song (it probably is). "We Are The Lo-Fi Kids" references their Indie beginnings, but they sound much bigger and bolder than their initial run of singles. More electronic than guitar oriented, Helen Love are a Pop band right down to the core. There are so many hooks on Day-Glo Dreams that it should be sold in a Bait & Tackle shop in every beach town up and down the coast!
Helen Love may not change the world, but they probably don't want to. Their simple yet catchy pop tunes might possibly change YOUR world. This is an album that will enchant Indie Pop fans as well as Electropop and '80s fans. Helen Love are definitely charming and their tunes are quite delicious. Beloved by those that have fallen under their spell, Day-Glo Dreams will hopefully rope in a new generation of fans and maybe encourage the band to come out with something a little quicker next time around! Until then, this is pure audio bubblegum that will keep us Pop geeks quite happy for the next 100 spins or so!
Let's be honest: there is no artist out there quite like VINI REILLY, who has been recording as THE DURUTTI COLUMN since 1980. For over three decades, Vini and his cast of bandmates (drummer Bruce Mitchell is the only other constant) have created some of the most emotional music released in the last half century. What you hear on record never changes, but The Durutti Column is one of the few acts that can record music that can only be interpreted by the emotions of the listener. So, if you are feeling sad, then the songs feel quite lonely and melancholy. If you are upbeat, then those very same songs feel warm and life-affirming. Very few artists are able to achieve that sort of magic, but for Vini, it is simply natural.
Vini is an incredibly gifted guitarist and most of Durutti's recordings have been chiefly instrumental. When vocals are needed, Vini has handled the bulk of the singing but he has worked on plenty of Durutti albums that featured guest vocalists. In many cases, the vocals are merely another instrument laid upon Vini's shimmering musical landscapes. They are important because they do convey thoughts, but it is the atmosphere and melodies that draw the listener in. They are such works of beauty that each and every song by The Durutti Column is a piece of art... and Vini paints gorgeous aural pictures with his guitar!
Vini hails from Manchester, a city bursting with musical talent (including everyone from 10cc to Joy Division to Oasis). Signed to the legendary Factory Records by Vini's mentor Tony Wilson, Durutti recorded a series of albums that were sometimes labeled 'New Age' and other times 'Post Punk'. While neither of those genres are accurate, Vini's music does fall somewhere in between those styles. But trying to pin Durutti to one particular genre is useless: they are indescribable...
With many albums to choose from, sometimes it can be tough for the uninitiated to find a place to start their Durutti collection. The fact that many of them are out of print for the time being doesn't help. Luckily, there have been a series of reissues that have hit the market in the last few years that are excellent places to begin your love affair with all that is The Durutti Column. Here are a few of them...(and there's more to come so stay tuned!)
P.S. You might recognize Vini's guitar playing from Morrissey's debut solo album, Viva Hate. Vini was the main guitarist on that album. And if you manage to stop by The Durutti Column's webstie (www.thedurutticolumn.com), please wish Vini well. He is recovering from three strokes over the last few years but is on the mend...
The second Durutti Column album, LC was originally released in 1981 and has become a firm favorite amongst fans. The album's original 10 tracks are now joined by an additional 23 tracks including non album single and EP cuts, compilation tracks and demos. The album itself is a stunner, but the bonus material makes this a must-own and one of the best places to start your DC journey...
Expanded edition of Vini Reilly and DC's 1985 album Circuses & Bread featuring ten bonus tracks. One of DC's finest albums as a whole, Circuses & Bread is as beautiful as it is emotional. The bonus tracks include the rare Japanese single 'For Noriko'/'Love Fading', compilation tracks 'Verbiers' and 'The Aftermath' plus four previously unreleased tracks from the cancelled 1983 album Short Stories For Pauline. Also includes the rarely heard 1983 single 'I Get Along Without You Very Well', a Hoagy Carmichael cover sung by Lindsay Reade and dedicated to her former husband, the late Anthony H. Wilson (Factory Records founder and Durutti Column manager). The booklet restores the original cover design by 8vo.
Short Stories for Pauline is the legendary 'lost' fourth album by cult Manchester group The Durutti Column, recently issued as a limited edition vinyl album on the Factory Benelux imprint. Originally recorded by Vini Reilly in Brussels for Factory Benelux in 1983, the 14 track album features several exquisite pieces including College, A Room in Southport and (most notably) Duet. Recorded with Tuxedomoon viola player Blaine L. Reininger, this poignant instrumental proved - ironically – to be the downfall of the album, after Factory director (and Durutti manager) Tony Wilson insisted that Duet form the basis of an entire neo-classical album. As a result, Duet became Without Mercy in 1984, and Short Stories for Pauline was shelved. Although individual tracks from Short Stories for Pauline have appeared on several compilations, notably highbrow Crépuscule collection Hommage à Marguerite Duras, this is the first time the original album has appeared in its entirety. The 2012 remastered edition is a must for Vini Reilly and Factory collectors alike, and a priceless addition to the Durutti canon. The CD edition comes with a bonus disc, comprising 10 tracks recorded live in Brussels on 13 August 1981 together with a Vini Reilly radio interview.
Digitally remastered and expanded two CD edition of this seminal 1989 album from Manchester guitars Vini Reilly AKA The Durutti Column. Disc two was curated from a TDK tape which was found in a storage box recently. It was marked 'Sample tunes' and contained the demo's and sketches which were used by Vini during the making of the record in London. Bruce Mitchell recalls that the recording was not a particularly easy time. The artist was unwell and had to be wheeled in and out to get the material together with Stephen Street. 'I could not bring myself to even listen to the finished article until a couple of months had passed' recalls the drummer, 'but when I heard it I knew what a great record we had made'.
Manchester has given birth to some of the most exciting artists of the Rock era including Buzzcocks, 10cc, The Stone Roses, Davy Jones, The Chameleons, Van Der Graaf Generator, Inspiral Carpets, Herman’s Hermits, Simply Red, The Hollies, The Fall, Magazine, 808 State, James and, of course, Oasis and The Smiths (and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!). For every Manc band that achieved great success in other parts of the world, there are many that did not, although that has nothing to do with their talent or influence on the city’s thriving music scene. Dislocation Dance is one of the finest and most influential bands to emerge from Manchesteryet they remain relatively unknown outside of the UK. While it may be presumptuous to say that they had a big hand in creating the Indie, Post-Punk, Twee and Alternative genres, they were certainly at the forefront of those scenes back when the Punk movement kicked open the doors ushered in a new era in Rock music.
Formed in November of 1978 by singer, guitarist and songwriter Ian Runacres, Dislocation Dance always did things their way while not realizing that ‘their way’ was going to influence the next generation of Manchesterbands. DD’s sound was rough around the edges but was a unique and melodic blend of Pop, Jangle, Jazz and Funk. Their live shows and stunning array of songs helped the band ink a deal with local indie label New Hormones (which was run by Buzzcocks and their manager Richard Boon). The band released their first EP on the label in 1980, followed by another EP in ’81 and then finally their debut album, Music Music Music, that same year. Sounding like no other band at the time, their musical output was so varied that they could have easily aligned themselves with the Postcard Recordsscene (Aztec Camera/Orange Juice) as well as the Post Punk (The Fall/Durutti Column/Crispy Ambulance) and Punk Funk (Higsons/Pigbag/Rip Rig & Panic) scenes. But alas, Dislocation Dance chose to travel their own path and, even though they didn’t cross over to the mainstream, they created some of the most engaging records of the early ‘80s.
After signing with Rough Trade in ‘82 and releasing a handful of stunning singles, the band finally unleashed their second album, Midnight Shift, in 1983. Again, Dislocation Dance sounded like no other band, which didn’t help them commercially. Though the band received plenty of critical kudos and toured throughout Europe, they failed to connect with a larger audience. Through it all, though, younger bands were paying attention and were inspired and moved by what the band accomplished both live and in the studio. Sadly, Dislocation Dance called it a day in 1986.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why the band didn’t achieve greater success. Perhaps it was their ever-(r)evolving line-up that often-times would include a female vocalist sharing duties with Runacres. It also could have been the band’s desire to stretch themselves musically, creating an eclectic catalog that confused the casual listener (yet still sounds fresh and exciting to this day). Or maybe it was the fact that the band never signed with a major label? In any case, the band may not have become a household name, but they did inspire many successful bands including The Smiths, James (DD’s horn player Andy Diagram has been a long-time member of James) and, indirectly, Oasis.
As luck would have it, continued interest in the band encouraged Runacres to reform Dislocation Dance in the new millennium. That line-up of the band recorded the Cromer album in 2005. The following year, LTM Records went back and properly reissued DD’s first two albums complete with a plethora of bonus tracks. More recently, Runacres took DD back into the studio and recorded their 2012 platter, The Ruins Of Manchester. Instead of picking up the band’s sound where they left off in the ‘80s, The Ruins Of Manchester (and Cromer) sounds fresh and contemporary, as if the band never went away and had naturally matured into this more focused direction. Leave that to Runacres’ ability to create a musical moment that remains timeless. He did it 30 years ago and he’s still doing it today.
Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to catch up with Ian Runacres and discuss the band’s past, present and future…
SPAZ: LTM have recently released your latest album, The Ruins Of Manchester, packaged together with your 2005 album Cromer. How are you feeling about this release and everything leading up to it?
IAN RUNACRES: I’m really excited about the new album. Ruins was a lot of fun to make and it was great collaborating with new musicians. The initial responses have been really positive. I’m also really pleased that Cromer will reach a new audience, too. I’m very proud of that album. The songs are lovely and it has some of my best ever guitar playing, plus Andy’s, (Diagram), trumpet, flute, violin, soprano sax, mandolin and ukulele; it’s a very organic sound.
SPAZ: The Dislocation Dance of 2012 are sonically different than when the band first began over 30 years ago. When a band reunites after a couple of decades, fans expect them to go right back to where they left off. Were you ever tempted to try to recapture that period in time?
IAN: Interesting you should say that. For me, the songs on Ruins are very Dislocation Dance and reflect my writing style. Having said that, Midnight Shift (1983) did have those ‘80’s drum machines, synths and reverbs, which somewhat place it that time period. I guess I’ve lived through a transition, which might not be apparent to the old fans, in that I wrote and recorded a couple of albums with my other band, Brightside, in the ‘90’s, called Slide & Dive and Snakes & Ladders, plus Shinjuku Junction and Cromer, as Dislocation Dance, in the ‘00’s, for Vinyl Japan. So there’s a lot of stuff out there which fills the gap.
SPAZ: When the band first formed, what was the music scene in Manchesterlike? Judging by the great Punk and Post-Punk bands that came from there, it must have been very exciting…
IAN: Manchesterwas an extraordinarily wonderful place to be in the early ‘80’s. In fact the new album makes reference to it. When I say wonderful, I guess have to put it in context: the City had very high levels of deprivation; it had the infamous Moss Side riots; there were constant threats of IRA bombs, some of which were realized; the Factory Club had just opened and Post Punk was flourishing. Surprisingly, there was a huge amount of optimism. I was very active in the Manchester Musicians Collective, working with other bands to organize and promote gigs; share sound systems; manufacture compilation LPs and so on. It was through the MMC that I trialed a pre-Smiths Mike Joyce as a potential drummer and where I met Andy Diagram (later recruiting him as my trumpeter). The music scene was a real community, with a genuine fondness between bands across labels and styles, with loads of cross overs. We played in each other’s bands; I particularly liked to step in as a bass player and even had the interesting experience of being Nico’s bassist, for a short stint.
SPAZ: Where did the band’s name come from?
IAN: Alliteration! Everyone was at it in the early ‘80’s. Actually, what interested me was being musically accessible, but with a subversive content. I still feel the same, as you may hear on new songs such as “Hang Fire”, which is pretty dark. I’ve always liked the idea that you could both subscribe to and challenge the pop song convention; ideally all within one song.
SPAZ: While some bands from the era may have been easily classifiable, Dislocation Dance were most certainly not. What were the influences, musically and otherwise, that helped to shape the DD sound?
IAN: Yes. I know. Not being classifiable was probably commercial suicide. Geoff Traviswanted to promote us as Manchester’s Aztec Camera, when he signed us to Rough Trade, alongside the Smiths. The Smiths, however, made his job a lot easier, by having a consistent and easily recognizable sound. A brilliant sound, too, of course. We, I think, were much more difficult to market, as every single sounded like a different band. Having said that, I simply couldn’t help myself. I was listening to Dr Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, Burt Bacharach, Chic, Pere Ubu, Scritti Politti, Talking Heads, Iggy Pop, early Gong, TV & Film music, Eric Satie, Holst, Charlie Mingus and, of course, I grew up listening to The Beatles. So what chance was there of writing in one style and sound?
SPAZ: There were many different sides to the band, musically. Did you see the band as ‘different’ to what was going on around you?
IAN: If you’re a genius, you can create a distinctive and unique style; but there aren’t many of those in the world. At the other end of the spectrum, some just copy one particular style, even though, in some cases, they do it really well. I can’t do either. I get bored too easily to just have one approach to writing and like always like to try something new. I’m certainly influenced by whatever I’m currently into, but rather than copy, I like to let the essence seep in. It’s musical osmosis. Besides, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t write a normal song. That was one of the most exciting things about the Post Punk days; there was an understanding that you didn’t have to conform, you didn’t have to please a major label (although, that might have been a good idea, in retrospect), and you could be true to yourself. It’s true, though, that Dislocation Dance weren’t like other Post-Punk bands, nor did I want us to be.
SPAZ: You are linked to many of Manchester’s greatest bands such as Buzzcocks, James and The Smiths. Was it true that Morrissey was a big fan of your music? And for the uninitiated, what was your relationship with Buzzcocks and James?
IAN: Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks) was our guest vocalist when we played at the Factory Club, as a treat for Tony Wilson. Pete asked me out, afterwards, but I declined and he never sang with us again. Tony wanted to sign us, but as I’d ended up sharing a house with Richard Boon, the Buzzcocks’ manager, we were firmly bonded to New Hormones, (easily as good a label as Factory, but with no capital, to invest, ha ha). Tony always maintained an interest in the band, even bailing us out in New Yorkwhen we couldn’t afford the hire of our backline for our 1982 East Coast tour. Morrissey used to hang out at the New Hormones offices; he was a big fan of Ludus. I remember him giving Richard a cassette of his poetry, interspersed with New Hormones label acts, (he liked “Spare Concern”, from Dislocation Dance’s 8 track EP). His poetry was a spoken version of his later approach to Smiths vocals. I have to say that Morrissey seemed so shy, that we just left him sitting in the corner and no one spoke to him. Tim Booth (frontman in James) was just the vegan fella in the ground floor flat below Factory’s offices on Palatine Road. We gave him a lift back from a Leeds, after we’d supported Orange Juice and our paths kept crossing over the following decade. James had their offices next door but one, to mine, in the late ‘80’s, when I’d become a label (Bop) rather than a gigging band. I used let James use our photocopier. One of my bands, The Man From Delmonte, lent them a guitarist, who ended up being a permanent fixture, (Saul), closely following by Andy, who still tours with them, as we speak.
SPAZ: By the time your second album, Midnight Shift, was released, you had added a semi-full time female vocalist to the line-up. The band seemed more focused than ever. Did writing for another voice appeal to you?
IAN: I’ve always thought of myself as a writer, rather than a singer. I like writing songs for women. The range and dynamics of a woman’s voice is so different to anything I can achieve and, of course, I can experiment with the sentiment. Mind you, for the song “Here Comes Love” from Midnight Shift, I imagined I was a 1940’s crooner. I wanted Sinatra to sing it.
SPAZ: Why did you end up calling it quits in ’86?
IAN: I thought it was time for either a major deal, or set up my own label. I was writing songs with a vocalist called Sonja, who had a lovely soulful, jazzy voice, with great range and amazing phrasing. She reminded me of Cory Day, the Savannah Band’s vocalist and had a real presence. We did a few return visits to the usual suspects, however the lyrical subversion, (there was songs about child abuse and female contraception as a form of oppression), plus my usual slightly eclectic musicality probably made us a marketing challenge. So, I then moved into being a manufacture, (of cassettes, for the likes of Womad), and a label; indie, world and dance. That was certainly fun. We got to release James, Inspiral Carpets, 808 State, A Guy Called Gerald and The Man From Delmonte. It was only by overstretching; we wanted to be a magazine and set up a Manchester Motown, old school soul label, too, that finally caused a spectacular crash.
SPAZ: Since the band’s original break-up, did you start noticing a Dislocation Dance influence in some of the indie acts that started to infiltrate the scene in the early ‘90s? it seems that some of the bands that came out of the Twee Pop scene sounded remarkably similar to tracks off of your two albums…
IAN: I like to think that the ripples from our small pebble in the pond of popular music had an impact. Think Stereolab, Belle and Sebastian, Cardigans, Saint Etienne….? I definitely know that Rip Rig and Panic took away something from our early sound (Punk/Jazz) because they were so vocal at our gigs. We toured so much, in the early ‘80’s and had reasonable exposure that I’m sure our sound filtered through. I know, for certain, too, that the Japanese pop singer Kahimi Karie, was influenced by the band, because she said so. You should hear her 1992 single “Mike’s Always Diary”, which sounds uncannily like our single “You’ll Never Never Know”, (which is on the LTM version of the LP Music Music Music). It was Kahimi’s reference to Dislocation Dance that formed the catalyst to our late ‘90’s re-releases in Japan and our Japanese tour of 2000.
SPAZ: Almost 20 years after DD split, what inspired you to reform the band and record the Cromer album?
IAN: After the collapse of my label, I decided to call it a day. However, in the mid 1990’s I’d started collaborating with a writer called Phil Lukes who used to bring me demos when I ran the label. We recorded a couple of albums together, under the name Brightside, called Slide & Diveand Snakes & Ladders, with a more indie leaning. Phil is superb bass player and he joined the rest of the line up for our Japanese tour. After that we carried on writing, firstly an album called Shinjuku Junction, of which the title track currently features on Omoiyari for Japan, a charity album for the victims of the Tsunami. This album was just feeling my way back into a Dislocation Dance zone, however, it was Cromer that really worked for me, as the natural extension of that original DD sound.
SPAZ: Now, half a dozen years later, The Ruins Of Manchesteris available. How did the album come about?
IAN: I know I take too long to record albums, although, that’s partly to do with there being lots of songs and versions which didn’t make it to the end product. We’d been playing gigs with the new line up, partly to promote the lovely LTM re-releases. So, I had the perfect opportunity to try out new songs with a band, which then turned into an album. There are few songs which look back, notably Ruins, which, as I’ve said, is about how amazing Manchester was in the early ‘80’s. The bands owned the City; it was ours. Mancunians were radical and political. We marched for CND and Rock Against Racism and gave sanctuary to a Tamil Tiger. The ‘ruins’ are the now. It’s a wonderful city, but it’s not what it was, back then.
SPAZ: Is the songwriting process completely different from when the band first started?
IAN: Well, I’m very lucky to have a songwriting collaborator. I always like to have several ideas on the go, but I’m not too good at finishing. Phil is a talented lyricist and like Paul Emmerson, back in the early days, I like to put music to someone else’s words. Phil and I, however, are a great team and we bring a lot to each other’s ideas. They why, on the whole, we’ve been writing as a partnership: Some are more mine and some are more his. Phil was a big fan of Midnight Shift, all those years ago, so the sound is kind of in his blood. The thing that’s nice about the current line-up is that I can try out songs as a band, which brings a new dynamic.
SPAZ: While you have other projects, do you foresee DD as being an ongoing project, at least sporadically?
IAN: Yes, I think so. We’ve been playing live, to promote Ruins, and what’s nice about being Dislocation Dance is that I can play songs like “Don’t Knock Me Down”, from the 1981 album Music Music Music, alongside “Stop Breathing”, from the new album and they sound like they were written at the same time. Also, I’ve been Dislocation Dance, in one form or another since 1978 and I’m keen for that to continue contributing to the body of work under that name.
SPAZ: What’s next for Ian Runacres and Dislocation Dance?
IAN: Well, I’ve already started writing new songs, for what is likely to be a new Dislocation Dance product, but first I’m keen to promote the LTM Ruins/Cromer release. I think it’s a product to be proud of and I’m obviously keen for people to hear it. I also ask that as many people as possible download the track “Crash”, with its commentary on the economic elite and their contribution to the current crisis, as it’d make a great single. It’s also a vehicle for my love of ‘70’s guitar playing (which I don’t express often!!).
SPAZ: What is currently spinning on your CD, DVD and record players?
IAN: Oh yes. This is one of those questions which allows artists to affect a certain credibility by citing cool and, in some cases, obscure tracks as a way of demonstrating their musical sensibilities, however I’ll just be completely honest and let you exactly what I’ve just been listening to. Here goes. I have to say that I’m enjoying the new Rufus Wainwright album, Out of the Game. It’s quite understated and he has a lovely turn of phrase and musicality to his voice. I’ve also been listening to Ron Sexsmith’s Long Player, Late Bloomer, Regina Spektor’s Far and Neil Finn’s American version of One All, for similar reasons. I do have a soft spot for Andrew Bird, especially the Mysterious Production of Eggs, plus Flaw, by the Bombay Bicycle Club, both for their lovely organic textured sound. I’ve also recently dug out Bowie’s Hunky Dory, which has to be my favorite of his albums and whilst in a ‘70’s mood decided to download 10cc’s “The Dean and I” (how uncool is that, but it does really sound great and is beautifully put together), oh and R. Dean Taylor’s “There’s a Ghost in My House”, just for the nostalgia, (remember, I was a teenager in love, when that came out!) and finally Todd Rundgren’s “Be Nice to Me”. That just about sums me up, for now.
Spaz tracks down elusive British Psych/Folk singer/songwriter NICK GARRIE to discuss the deluxe two CD reissue of his classic 1969 album, The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas
By Stephen SPAZ Schnee
Nick Garrie may not be a household name, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t deserve to be. Some of you readers are learning his name here for the first time, while others already hold him in high esteem and insist that he is the most under-rated singer/songwriter of the late ‘60s (and beyond). Most folks fall somewhere in between these two poles, but that’s probably because they’ve never heard Nick’s 1969 solo masterpiece The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas. One listen to this slab of Psychedelic Baroque Folk Pop and you’ll be mesmerized.
Nick Garrie has been compared to the tender and touching work of Nick Drake mixed with the Pop sensibilities of Billy Nichols and a pinch of solo Syd Barrett, yet those comparisons only touch the surface.Garrie’s work is unique and moving yet avoids all the self-righteous pretentiousness of other Folk-centric singer/songwriters of his ilk. He’s sweet when he needs to be, worldly when he wants to be and always intriguing, fascinating, mysterious and, most importantly, engaging and melodic. But was he a Psychedelic Folk troubadour, as many have claimed?
“I’ve never categorized my stuff, “says Nick these days. “It made me smile to see it categorized as ‘Psychedelic’!”
Nick’s original demos were striking, beautiful and often haunting, rooted here on earth yet they obviously possessed a head full of stars.Once his producer Peter Vartan got a hold of the songs, he brought in an orchestra in order to take them to a whole new level.
“Lost and confused!” is how Garrie describes his initial reaction to Peter’s grandiose production of his songs. “Vartan was appointed by DiscAZ (Nick’s label). He was a very nice man who did his best.”
While Nick himself was a bit concerned about the direction of his album, one listen to Stanislas today reveals a collection of songs full of melodic wonder. While comparisons may be made to some of his contemporaries, there is no discernable influence in his music.He was (and is) a unique songwriter.It is as if Garrie had arrived from another planet, recorded this wonderfully warm collection of songs and then faded into the mist.
While fans and music lovers are completely gob-smacked by the album, Nick’s initial reaction was far less favorable.
“I was disappointed,” he says, some four decades after the album’s release.
The most shocking thing about theNightmare Of J.B. Stanislas album is that it was never officially released! The album was doomed once his label couldn’t figure out how to promote and market the album and then its fate was sealed when the label’s head, Lucien Morisse, committed suicide. With all these disappointments, Garrie walked away from Stanislas and didn’t bother to look back.
In most cases, that would have been the end of that.While Garrie still recorded sporadically (including releases under the name Nick Hamilton), his output was not exactly prolific.But the Stanislas album soon became a legend amongst the hardcore music collectors.It was the holiest of holy grails!The internet’s far reaching capabilities only helped the legend to grow. And all the while, Garrie was oblivious to the hordes of devoted followers and fanatics who deciphered his every word and musical note. Well, that is until the first part of the millennium!
“When I started teaching seven years ago, I typed in ‘Nick Garrie’ as a joke.” he says about the first time he discovered that his long-forgotten album had an immense and devoted following. “I was absolutely stunned!”
By 2009, four decades after his debut, Garrie was back in the studio with a host of devoted followers and new musical co-horts including Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) and Duglas T. Stewart and Francis McDonald of BMX Bandits. The resulting album, 49 Arlington Gardens (Elefant Records), was one of the best albums of the year.His voice and musical style were instantly familiar, yet age had brought depth and more confidence to the songs.While not as epic as Stanislas, the album was every bit as beautiful.
“The recording was a joy: different young people turning up. It was like a little cottage industry. “remembers Garrie. “I'm very proud and grateful for that album and, yes, I do think one or two of the songs might glisten in the sun, so to speak, and when I play them live, they sit well with the Stanislas songs.”
While 49 Arlington Gardens may have brought Nick’s career full circle, there was still some unfinished business in regards to Stanislas.While the album had been officially released in CD a handful of years ago, it was just crying out for an expanded edition. Thankfully, the good folks at Elefant Records were more than prepared to take on the project.
OnThe Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas, the 40th Anniversary two CD deluxe edition, fans are treated to a treasure trove of bonus material. Disc One contains the original album while Disc Two features a glorious assortment of rare and unreleased tracks including songs of a more recent vintage, Nick’s first single and acoustic demos of songs that would later make it onto Stanislas. It also comes with liner notes written by Garrie. In short, it’s essential purchasing and listening!
So, what does the man himself think of this long overdue expanded reissue of his mythical and legendary debut album?
“Elefant have presented Stanislas with the love they give to all their productions.” He says. “I think it’s beautiful and I'm very proud. It gives me a jaunty side step!”
Darla Records is proud to offer the seventh album by iconic post-punk/new wave pop craftsmen Modern English, best known for their hit song “I Melt with You”. Their classic album After the Snow(4AD: 1982) featured what became a radio/club mega-hit and MTV staple, “I Melt with You”, which was used in the film Valley Girl, in more than one TV advertisement and became the flagship track on the popular Nouvelle Vague covers album.
Now as then, Modern English is smart, modern pop, firmly rooted in post-punk yet undeniably Beatle-esque. Described by Robbie Grey as, “Some real music for real people with real emotions”, Soundtrack marks the convincing return of a band with a solidly recognizable, signature sound and pop sensibility. The songs ranging from the uplifting, jangle-pop with infectious, sing-along chorus and dance-able beat of “It’s Ok”, the record’s obvious single, and the equally inspired “Blister” and “Up Here in the Brain”, to dark, downtempo grooves with somber keyboard washes in which Grey sings of never-far-off blackness and suicide, “Soundtrack”, “Bomb”, “The Lowdown”, are all characteristically introspective and consistent with Modern English’s best work.
Modern English now is Robbie Grey (vocals), Steven Walker (guitar), Nik Williams (bass), Matthew Shipley (keyboards) and Jon Solomon (drums). Modern English’s George Martin, Producer Hugh Jones (“I Melt With You”, After The Snow, Ricochet Days, plus Simple Minds, Echo & The Bunnymen, That Petrol Emotion, Pale Saints, The Charlatans, etc.) produced Soundtrack. The album was recorded residential style - living, eating and sleeping music at Chapel Studios in the English countryside over a two month period, then mixed at Pete Townsend’s studio, The Barge, on the Thames in London and mastered at Metropolis Studios, London.
We have a few words to describe these songs – uplifting, summery, opulent, dreamlike, exquisite, moving – with Guthrie quietly coaxing beauty out of layers of echoes and always inventive soundscaping.
Given the quality of the recent album and two EPs, it's not surprising that as a guitarist and producer, Guthrie has been a massive influence on everyone from My Bloody Valentine through to Antony and the Johnsons, new 4 A.D. Act The Big Pink and M83.
In recent years he's worked with School Of Seven Bells, John Foxx (Ulrich Schnauss, Harold Budd and shared a stage with Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine). Most people know about his work in the Cocteau Twins, but he's also produced Ian McCulloch, Edwyn Collins and Felt, as well as defining the now vogue-ishly fashionable early '90s shoegazing scene with his productions for the likes of Lush and Chapterhouse.
"…almost defies gravity with totally compelling arrangement and more hooks than a fisherman’s tackle box." – Record Collector.
Most of the material on the album was recorded at Foxx's Shoreditch studio, The Garden, between 1981 – 1985. "I hadn’t listened to the recordings that are being released as the My Lost City album since they were made, over twenty years ago,' says Foxx. 'When I played them I was struck by the way they evoke a time and a place - and how I’d been unaware of this when they were made. Then they seemed like fragments, unfinished and unsatisfying. A stop on the way to somewhere else."
"Now they seem like a time capsule discovered from under the streets. Made by someone else. Like an old radio tuned into a long gone station. Curious psychic electricals, crackling distantly from the speakers."
"They were recorded in East London. Back then, Shoreditch and Spitalfields were abandoned, dark and forgotten, yet only a step away from the City of London, the country’s financial dynamo. I built a studio in the basement of an old Edwardian department store – trees growing from the upper storeys when we moved in. I remember trying to make connections in this little laboratory between synthesizers and hymns and cities, churches, electricity and memory."
For two decades the material remained untouched; just some old, forgotten tapes buried away in storage until they were rescued in late 2008. Apart from some minor remixing, they're essentially the sound of analogue synthesizers and a lost era when the area around the now bustling, brutally hip and ultra-expensive Hoxton Square was still an abandoned, deserted area of London. A kind of industrial ghost-town.
In recent years, John Foxx has been experimenting as a film-maker (including a pioneering video for L.F.O. and recent performances of his Super 8 project Tiny Colour Movies in Melbourne, London and Barcelona), artist (exhibitions in London and New York and his images have been used on the covers of books by Anthony Burgess and Salman Rushdie) and musician and he's now developing a growing international reputation as a writer – last year he headlined a major literature festival where he reads extracts from his as yet unfinished novel The Quiet Man. He is currently working on new material with Paul Daley (Leftfield) and Benge.
Tracklisting:
1 Imperfect Hymn
2 Holywell Lane
3 Magnetic Fields
4 Just Passing Through
5 Barbican Brakhage
6 Hidden Assembly
7 Hawksmoor Orbital
8 Piranesi Motorcade
9 City Of Disappearances
10 Umbra Sumus
11 Scene 27 - Intro To The Voice Behind The Wallpaper, Trellick Tower 3am
Robin Guthrie releases a new album of filmic, intricate instrumental music Carousel, the follow up to the critically acclaimed instrumental albums Continental and Imperial.
We have a few words to describe Carousel – uplifting, summery, opulent, dreamlike, exquisite, moving – with Guthrie quietly coaxing beauty out of layers of echoes and always inventive soundscaping.
Guthrie has been a massive influence on everyone from My Bloody Valentine through to Antony and the Johnsons, new 4AD Act The Big Pink and M83. In recent years he's worked with School Of Seven Bells, John Foxx (on this year's Mirrorball album, described by Q Magazine as 'full of myriad charms . . . encompassing the best of both artists'), Ulrich Schnauss and Harold Budd (with whom he made two albums in 2007, Before The Day Breaks and After The Night Falls). Given the quality of Carousel, it's not surprising that as a guitarist and producer, though most people know about his work as the Cocteau Twins principal sound designer, his defining role in the now vogue-ishly fashionable early '90s shoegazing scene with his productions for the likes of Lush and Chapterhouse shouldn't go un-noticed.
Guthrie is also developing an impressive reputation as a composer of film soundtracks and in the visual arts. He's scored two movies – Greg Araki's Mysterious Skin and the Dany Saadia directed 3:19 – for both of which he released a soundtrack album, and has performed extensively with Lumière, and its recently premiered successor Galerie, both films that he has created as backdrops for his atmospheric, hypnotic guitar-based instrumental concerts.
(Elefant Records), was one of the best albums of the year.
, released October '09 and 
, released August '09.
