An Alternative History of "Pop" Music: Part 3, 2004 -

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Beyond the Wizards Sleeve - Creation

Erol Alkan and Richard Norris, aka Beyond the Wizards Sleeve, are a lysergic pop duo from England. This is taken from their, to date, only album, The Soft Bounce. The guest vocalists are Hannah Peel and Jane Weaver.

[Brundle-Fly]

Beyond the Wizards Sleeve - Creation

Erol Alkan and Richard Norris, aka Beyond the Wizards Sleeve, are a lysergic pop duo from England. This is taken from their, to date, only album, The Soft Bounce. The guest vocalists are Hannah Peel and Jane Weaver.

Good call! I always really liked this 2008 comp.

https://www.discogs.com/release/1435141-Beyond-The-Wizards-Sleeve-Beyond-The-Wizards-Sleeve-Ark-1

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Ta, Brundle, I'll definitely check that out.

[Brundle-Fly]

Excellent Zoophites - Jonny Trunk.  Released on Trunk in 2016.





We covered Jonny Trunk in '2004' and here our dashing hero returns with his lush, cut and paste, hauntological homage to the Jules Verne novel. BTW, It sounds amazing underwater, if you happen to own one of those MP3 players for swimmers.

The time stamp YouTubetime facility seems to be not working today. So, here's the whole album for your nautical pleasure. If you can be bothered, the track is at the 5m 39s mark.

[jamiefairlie]

Sophia - California

https://youtu.be/2Kg7ocLShp8



From "As We Make Our Way/Unknown Harbours"

"Here we have a new album that sounds strong. It feels unrestrained, yet focused.
It's elements are simplistic, yet it never feels dumb or basic. It's emotively mature and, in some ways, rather graceful."

[jamiefairlie]

Tears Run Rings - Something You Can't Hide

https://youtu.be/44DYhSNmf-w



From "In Surges"

"Sonically, the bands of reference would certainly include Slowdive, along with Hammock (in their more up-tempo mode), Airiel and German outfit Malory. They inhabit the dreamier end of the shoegaze spectrum,"

[jamiefairlie]

The Amazing - Perfect Day For Shrimp

https://youtu.be/aJCe5lKQmz0




From "Ambulance "

"By using layers of shoegazey guitars and powerfully mic'd-up drums, they create soundscapes that combine Americana with English pastoralism"

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Cass McCombs - I'm a Shoe

There are some delicate, pretty tracks on Cass McCombs' stylistically all-over-the-place Mangy Love album, but this isn't one of them. Grimy, twangy guitar and languid drumming provide the backing for some cryptic lyrics referencing the long-abandoned ghost town of Bodie, California.

The lyrics "Well, goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie" reference the words of a letter apparently written by a young girl in San Francisco the late 19th century when informed by her family that they were moving to this notoriously godforsaken and inhospitable den of debauchery high in the barren mountains.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Deep Sea Diver - Wide Awake

Deep Sea Diver is the musical project of Jessica Dobson, touring member of various bands, including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Shins.

From the 2016 album Secrets.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Joan as Police Woman/Benjamin Lazar Davis - Let It Be You

Title track from the electro-pop-styled collaborative album from Joan Wasser and New York-based musician Benjamin Lazar Davis.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

White Denim - Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)

White Denim are a '70s rock, funk and soul-influenced band from Austin, Texas. But don't let that basic description put you off, they sound nothing like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They're more like a neo-psychedelic Lynyrd Skynyrd. Anyway, this is taken from their seventh album, Stiff.

[Brundle-Fly]

Ain't It Funny - Danny Brown. Released on Warp in 2016.





One the great left field (and turn left again field) hip hop artists out there.

Daniel Dewan Sewell (born March 16, 1981), known professionally as Danny Brown, is an American rapper and comedian. He has been described by MTV as "one of rap's most unique figures in recent memory".

His fourth studio album, Atrocity Exhibition, was released on September 27, 2016, and his fifth studio album, U Know What I'm Sayin?, was released on October 4, 2019, both albums being received with further critical acclaim.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me

A should've-been-a-hit single from the album My Woman.

[jamiefairlie]

The Wharves - My Will

https://youtu.be/YUMcKDohaBM



London-based folk-rock trio of Marion Andrau, Gemma Fleet and Dearbhla Minogue

From "Electa "

"The closer "My Will" is a hymn that induces chills, the choral heights a total wave that subsumes the tom tom trot. Those rhythms make this add up to more than folk + rock. But the ancient rhymes transcend equations"

[jamiefairlie]

Wire - Forward Position

https://youtu.be/cwW1xRNdpio



From "Nocturnal Koreans"

"Nocturnal Koreans, the band's 15th album, forgoes power for stillness, and manages the unprecedented: It's the best thing they've done in 14 years"

[jamiefairlie]

Weird Dreams - Binary

https://youtu.be/mTI-07tDXzs




the nom de plume of the now Paris-based multi-instrumentalist, Doran Edwards.

From "Luxury Alone"

"Moving to Paris has perhaps given a more reflective, introspective air to Doran Edwards' music. Gone is the hooky power-pop of 2012's 'Catastrophe''s punchier tracks, replaced by something more soothing, lazy and hazy; a sound that feels something like smoke curling gently into a summer sky"

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Dope Lemon - Honey Bones

Weird scenes inside the gold mine...

Angus Stone is an Australian musician, record producer and audio engineer. He is one half of the musical sibling duo Angus & Julia Stone, with whom he has released four studio albums. His debut solo album, Smoking Gun, was released in 2009 under the pseudonym Lady of the Sunshine. His second solo album, Broken Brights, was released under his own name in 2012. Stone currently records under the moniker of Dope Lemon.

[jamiefairlie]

48 Hour Alert!

2017 will open for business later on Saturday

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Okkervil River - Call Yourself Renee

Mellow, drifting track from the album Away, featuring harmony vocals from Marissa Nadler and Jonathan Meiburg.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Laura Gibson - Not Harmless

Laura Gibson is a singer-songwriter from Oregon who balances a folk sound with a tougher edge. This track is from her 2016 album Empire Builder:

"She addresses transformation, loss, connection and apartness in literate, finely turned pop songs centred on her sweet, pellucid voice and filled out with dreamy loops and strings."

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Wild Nothing - Lady Blue

Jack Tatum's third album under the name Wild Nothing featured a wider range of musicians and a more layered sound, although the reverb-heavy guitars of the previous two albums are ver too far away either.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

The Lemon Twigs - These Words

A band that divided opinion, I think it's fair to say - their theatrical take on some unfashionable 70s pop-rock sounds inspired a love or hate response, or so it seemed at the time.

Remarkably, brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario were only 19 and 17 years old, respectively, when they released their debut album Do Hollywood in 2016.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The Saxophones - If You're On the Water

The Saxophones are a husband and wife duo from northern California. Their melancholy music is inspired by dreamy '50s exotica, jazz and early '60s surf instrumentals. This, like all of their early songs, was written on their housebout in the depths of winter. And that's exactly what it sounds like, two people huddling for warmth on a gently bobbing vessel.

[Brundle-Fly]

Sea Calls Me Home - Julia Holter. Released on Domino in 2016.





Hyper talented musician whose gorgeous album, Have You In My Wilderness incidentally, soundtracked my fortnight's package holiday in Tenerife one year. I'm sure that information will really sell her to you now.

Julia Holter is a an L.A. based American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, born 18 December 1984 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Anna Meredith - Nautilus

Anna Meredith is a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra who moved into electronic and avant-garde music. This striking track, fusing electronics, cello and tuba, is the opening track on her debut album Varmints.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Haley Bonar - Kismet Kill

Haley McCallum, aka Haley Bonar or just plain Haley, is a Canadian singer/songwriter. This is taken from her seventh studio album, Impossible Dream.

[Pauline Walnuts]

Haley McCallum, aka Haley Bonar or just plain Haley

Bit rude.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Bit rude.

Fair play, it was there for the taking.

[Brundle-Fly]

Anna Meredith - Nautilus

Anna Meredith is a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra who moved into electronic and avant-garde music. This striking track, fusing electronics, cello and tuba, is the opening track on her debut album Varmints.

I was going to nominate this behemoth of a track at some point but I'd missed the boat by four years because I had it on the album in 2012. Didn't realise she re-released it in 2016.

[Norton Canes]

Like a ghost illuminated by radioactive fallout

Kedr Livanskiy (Lebanese Cedar) - Razrushitelniy Krug (Destructive Cycle)

"Draws a waltz in a thin circle
Destroying everything around
From me to you and vice versa"

From her 2016 album January Sun