Hello, hello, dear fellow music maniacs, and welcome to the second half of our exploration of the wonders and quirks of that hazy and broadly defined genre: Post-Punk. A genre that Dave has further broadly defined and made very hazy indeed.
So please pogo and/or skank as necessary to the herky-jerk rhythms, deadpan vocals, amateurish playing, DIY ethos and all-round super coolness of our post-punk celebration!
On this week’s show, we listened to:
- The Monochrome Set – “Eine Symphonie des Grauens” – Volume, Contrast, Brilliance: Sessions and Singles, Vol. 1, 1983
- The Au Pairs – “Dear John” – Playing with a Different Sex, 1981
- Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Every Night I Die at Miyagi’s” – House Arrest, 2002
- Essential Logic – “Aerosol Burns” – Wanna Buy a Bridge?, 1980
- The Shins – “Mine’s Not a High Horse” – Chutes Too Narrow, 2003
- GOAT – “It’s Time for Fun” – single “Time for Fun” b/w “Relax”, 2015
- Wye Oak – “Holy Holy” – Civilia, 2011
- Dungen – “Åkt Dit” – Allas Sak, 2015
- Young Marble Giants – “Final Day” Colossal Youth, 1980
- Delta 5 – “Triangle” – See the Whirl, 1981
- Scritti Politti – “Skank Bloc Bologna” – Wanna Buy a Bridge?, 1980
And we were super excited to see Dave’s Top 5 return this week. For this Top 5, Dave pursued his theory that the saxophone – after some years in the wilderness – is being reinstated to its rightful place in rock music…but in new and unusual ways. So here, in no particular order, is Dave’s Top 5 Modern Rock Songs Featuring The Sax:
- Modern Nature – “Footsteps” – How to Live, 2019
- Julia Holter – “Sea Calls Me Home” – Have You in My Wilderness, 2015
- This Is the Kit – “Hotter Colder” – Moonshine Freeze, 2017
- Deer Tick – “Limp Right Back” – Deer Tick, Vol.1, 2017
- Shannon Lay – “Death Up Close” – August, 2019
Thanks for listening.
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Hello Dave and Mary, and fellow listening partygoers!
I thought I’d take up Dave’s invitation to put together my own mixtape, so here it is, in Spotify playlist form that I hope you can access okay:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1TLPiLV9zoww1bFzJD5iaK?si=LRH1ed1GT6qFy8Ycws6I6g
There’s no overarching theme here. It’s just a selection of songs I love, put together in a sequence that hopefully flows nicely. I hope folk enjoy them as much as I do. But if you don’t, that’s cool too.
If you want a bit more info behind these choices, here’s a tracklist with some notes.
Michael Hearst, Popsicle Parade – Loved this silly tune ever since hearing it on an NPR All Songs Considered podcast some years ago. It’s from his album Song for ice-cream trucks, and serves here as kind of a fanfare for what follows. If I ever write a sitcom, this will be the theme music.
Michael Marra, Letter from Perth – Michael Marra was a kind of Scottish Tom Waits or Randy Newman, a soulful storyteller with a true, unique voice. First exampe on this list of what nobody is calling ‘Caledonian content’.
George Harrison, Miss O’Dell – The first single I bought was Give me love (Give me peace on earth) by George Harrison. This was on the B-side. I love it then and love it still. Expecially George’s giggling.
Tamikrest, Tinant an Chatma – There are several great bands that have come out of Mali. I could easily have gone with Tinariwen, who share Tamikrest’s Taureg heritage and are also wonderful, but this fantastic, groove-laden tune proved irresistible. I love the way the female voices lift the final bars of each verse.
Joni Mitchell, Edith and the Kingpin – One of my very favourite Joni Mitchell songs, from her brilliang Hissing of summer lawns album. Get out of there, Edith!
Warren Zevon, My shit’s fucked up – Humour so dry it’s parched, matched to a beautifully restrained arrangement. It’s amazing that this was written well before Zevon was diagnosed with inoperable cancer.
Mackenzie, Siubhlainn a gheamhraidh (A’Chiad Phairt) – Wonderful Gaelic harmonies by three sisters from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Eilidh, Fiona and Gillian Mackenzie.
Neil Finn, She will have her way – How many songs can you identify from the very first drumbeat? This one, and Like a rolling stone, maybe? Finn at his joyous, melodic best.
Jueee Sill, Lopin’ along though the cosmos – Classic Sill: mystical, melodic, melancholy, slightly bonkers, utterly individual.
Bob Dylan, Is your love in vain? – The singer’s point of view here is completely self-centred, sexist even, but also bracingly honest. I don’t know another love song that lays out so boldly just how much commitment lovers need to be prepared to make. Plus, I find the second verse hilarious.
Partner, Comfort zone – More Canadian content here. A fantastic rock song that celebrates the joys of lazing around and watching crap TV during the daytime. Reminds me of my daughter, for some reason.
John Grant, Sigourney Weaver – Grant has a superb knack for combining humour, sadness and drama in both his words and music. This is such a great song.
The Roches, Mr Sellack – One of the standouts from the Roche sisters’ eponymous debut album. I have no idea what a steam table is, but I sure wouldn’t want to have to scrub behind one.
Arctic Monkeys, Crying lightning – A lot of the attention goes to Alex Turner, and he’s a fantastic writer and singer, but a big part of what I love about Arctic Monkeys are that they’re a proper band, with each member contributing to the distinctive overall sound.
Ian Hunter, Irene Wilde – He’s best knows as a rocker, but Hunter has a sentimental side that has produced some beautiful, tender ballads, none more moving than this lovely ode to teenage moondreaming.
Martyn Bennett, Nae regrets – Gone too soon, Martyn Bennet was a bona fide musical genius. He combined a love of traditional Scots songs and tunes with rave culture and classical music to produce something uniquely his own. Maybe it’s my Celtic heritage, but I find his music completely transfixing and uplifting. From his final album Grit, this is a great example.
Glenn Tilbrook, You see me – Tilbrook’s solo career has been overshadowed by his work with Squeeze, but he’s come up with several gems that deserve to be far better known. This collaboration with Ron Sexsmith (more Canadian content) is just beautiful.
Paul McCartney, Old Siam, sir – A classic McCartney rocker from the Wings era. Full of melodic and rhythmic hooks, an uncharacteristic twin guitar section, Paul doing his Little Richard vocal, and a lyric that’s more than slightly daft. A loveable throwaway from a masterful musician.
Aberfeldy, Love is an arrow – Two and a half minutes of pop perfection from Edinburgh’s Riley Briggs and his band Aberfeldy. To record their brilliant debut album, Young Forever, the musicians clustered around a single microphone in an Edinburgh flat and the sound is amazing. The lines ‘Love is a verb and a noun as well / Fnd it in the dictionary under L’ make me smile every time.
Amadou and Mariam, Politic amagni – So many great tunes packed into one song along with a heartfelt message. From the album Dimanche a Bamako, produced by Manu Chao, and an absolute classic.
Franco Battiato, L’animale – Battiato is a superstar in Italy and Spain, where his songs have had chart and critical success for over 40 years now. Although I love his experimental, playful side, the lushly romantic L’Animale is an atypical favourite.
Teenage Fanclub, Neil Jung – While I went back and forth on a lot of my selections for this list, there was never any doubt as to which song would round things off. Ah, the mighty Fannies, Bellshill’s finest. Their (big) star faded as they aged, but the run of albums they had through the 1990s has earned them a place in my heart and on my phone forever.
If we’re thinking of the same saxophone documentary, at the risk of making anyone feel defensive, I believe it’s called “The Devil’s Horn.” I think there’s a strong case — a violin case, as it were — to be made for the fiddle being the primary Devil’s Instrument in pop culture. People accused Paganini of selling his soul to the devil to play so well. Fiddles are used in a lot of folk dance music so of course anything fun has got to be evil. According to my mother, the accordion was also considered sinful by my Finnish grandmother’s family because dance music was played on it. My grandfather’s family owned a music instrument shop for a while, so that would have made him a “bad boy” in 1920s rural Finland.
I’m curious about how one goes about having a Top 5 Modern Rock Songs Featuring the Sax? Maybe Dave can explain what are his current sources of finding new music to listen to.
Another great show Dave and Mary. Mary, I think the highlight for me was your three little pigs joke. Oh, and the music – that was great too. Thanks, Chris, for making your list, I look forward to listening to it, too.
I really hope you enjoy most of the songs I chose, Lezah. It was a lot of fun putting the list together.
Once again, a hugely enjoyable episode. For some reason, I’ve never really explored the Monochrome Set, so thank you for another reminder of how great they could be. I’m with Dave on Essential Logic – there’s something irresistible and fun about their bratty insolence that captures the spirit of those musical times. Almost all the other songs were pretty great. The only one that didn’t work with me was Ariel Pink, though the story behind the music made its inclusion more than worthwhile.
Loved the sax songs too. I think the bass player Dave was trying to recall from the Miles Davis Quintet was the great Ron Carter. (Okay, I’ll admit I looked that up…)
Dave, you definitely don’t need to worry about coming across as defensive in response to comments. Quite the opposite. You’re always the first to acknowledge that people have different tastes and are open to hearing other points of view. Also, it’s good to hear you stand up for a song or artist you really love, even when (Lawrence, anyone?) you’re quite plainly wrong, sir.
Ha ha, Chirs! I love all the rock’n’roll madmen and they don’t come much madder than Lawrence!
I love your description of Essential Logic – that really sums it up! “Bratty insolence.” I think that’s what I love and look for in so much of the music I listen to. That little nose tweak that says, “Don’t be so serious. It’s only music!”