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

[jamiefairlie]

Novo Amor & Ed Tullett - Freehand

https://youtu.be/dUe2fSRiU90



the stage name of British artist and producer Ali Lacey

From "Heiress"

"Throughout Heiress the pair have crafted a beautiful sonic story, characterised by its entire duality; unexpected loud, climactic, bold swells, and yet also reaching mind-blowing pin-drop quiets. The result is stunning, and Heiress is as absorbing, as it is enjoyable"

[jamiefairlie]

Piano Magic - You Never Stop Loving (the One That You Loved)

https://youtu.be/MOVcvhoC-u4



From "Closure "

"It's Johnson's voice that takes centre stage, however (clear, plaintive and inviting, as though the ghost of Grant McLennan had dropped by to give some pointers), and as he explores the concept of closure through relationship breakdowns--painting the very notion as mythical, unattainable--you ponder why the time is apparently right for Piano Magic to call it quits"

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Karl Blau - As Blue as my Name

Some Lee Hazlewood-esque horns on this track from the album Out Her Space.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Colorama - It's Not You

An elegant and simple track from Some Things Take Time, the seventh album from Welsh musician Carwyn Ellis's Colorama project.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Lucky Soul - No Ti Amo

Why wasn't this chic (not Chic) disco banger a hit? Does not compute.

Lucky Soul are a pop group from London. This is taken from their third album, Hard Lines.

[jamiefairlie]

Public Service Broadcasting - Progress

https://youtu.be/bQcdvmEIZK4




From "Every Valley "

"Every Valley, Public Service Broadcasting's lush, sweeping ode to Welsh miners, sees far past the National Coal Board's touting of the industry's fantastical, misperceived longevity, and instead peers into the lives of a proud working class that lived and died by the dank tunnels in which they methodically toiled"

[jamiefairlie]

Shadow Band - Eagle Unseen

https://youtu.be/vrr-btIers0



Psych-folk band from Philadelphia,

From "Wilderness Of Love"


"It's an album filled with mellow, hazy instrumentation, continually threatening to drift away like a will o' the wisp, even when the '60s pop riffs of the likes of 'Endless Night' burst forth. It's no surprise that they spent some time recording in an old, allegedly haunted mansion"

[jamiefairlie]

Slowdive - No Longer Making Time

https://youtu.be/uxlXJf5iUzU



From their self-titled reunion album and their first entry in 24 years.

"The narrative structure of nighttime reveries can often feel unsettling, but throughout Slowdive, the band use foggy images and slippery transitions as a soothing sort of déjà vu--you feel like you've been here before, even though you obviously haven't"

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Kamasi Washington - Truth

Kamasi Washington is an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. In 2017 he released Harmony of Difference, a mini concept album described as "a six movement suite" in the liner notes. The final track on the album, Truth, is a dynamic thirteen minute epic combining the melodies and musical ideas from the first five tracks.

[Brundle-Fly]

Scatter Me - TC & I. Relaesed on TC Recordings in 2017.





Well, it was nice while it lasted.

TC&I were the bassist Colin Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers, both formerly of the band XTC. The EP was released on 7 October 2017. The record marked the first recordings by Chambers since 1984 when after leaving XTC, he relocated to Australia and joined the band Dragon, touring with them 1983 to 1984 and recording an album.  With the exception of guest appearances as a session vocalist, bass player, and collaborator on several albums, the EP also marks the return to recording by Moulding in his own right (his first new recordings since XTC's disbandment in 2006).

XTC co-founder Andy Partridge praised "Scatter Me" and "Kenny" as his favourite cuts on the record, and wished "Colin (and Terry) all the best in the world."

TC&I played six sold-out shows at Swindon Arts Centre in October and November 2018, their first live performances together for 35 years.

In January 2019, a statement released through social media announced that TC&I had disbanded, and that Moulding has once again put his music career on hold in order to spend more time with his family. Moulding stated that he was not interested in pursuing a tour, as the performances were simply to satisfy "a curiosity", but said that Chambers may continue playing gigs.

[daf]

Banger!

The first three tracks on that could easily go on a proper XTC album - his best work since Skylarking.

Forgot that they'd made a video. Lovely to see Terry there - though it'd be nice to see his kit too (maybe they forgot to bring it - and Terry's just bashing the air?)

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Karine Polwart with Pippa Murphy - All on a Summer's Evening

More of a folk/ambient recording really, but Karine Polwart has featured on this thread before, so I'm having it. It being the opening track on A Pocket of Wind Resistance, an album with its origins in Polwart and Murphy's acclaimed Edinburgh Festival poetry/music/theatre show from the previous year.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Michael Nau - I Root (Trio Version)

An alternate version of a track from the Maryland indie musician Michael Nau's album Some Twist, as featured on The Load EP, also released in 2017.

[Smeraldina Rima]

Denis Mpunga & Paul K - Fuanyaka



Belgian/Congolese duo on Music from Memory. Artwork by Denis Mpunga. There was a remix album as well. Trivia: Mpunga and Jean-Marie Billy are credited with the music for the 1996 Dardenne brothers' film The Promise but I can only remember music in a scene with the actors singing two pop songs, "Marina, Marina" And "Siffler sur la colline"; maybe he was playing backing music for these? Title track: Criola

[Smeraldina Rima]

Colleen - Winter Dawn



From A flame my love, a frequency

Colleen bought a Critter and Guitari Pocket Piano with the aim to use it through a newly-acquired Moog filter pedal to create new and interesting rhythms to accompany her voice and viola da gamba. But it turned out the sounds of this viola and rhythm combination was not what she was looking for, so in typical Colleen fashion, she set the viola da gamba aside altogether and picked up an additional Critter and Guitari synth, the Septavox, dug out her her trusted Moog delay and dove right in.

Don't think she had done as much, if any, singing on previous albums either. I saw her play this album in 2017 in an echoing church in London. Before the last song she realised she hadn't had one of the settings plugged in properly and was a bit upset about it, but I didn't notice anything had sounded wrong. A couple of years later I was listening to some Brian Eno track that reminded me of the plinky plonky sound of this album...

[Smeraldina Rima]

Yves Tumor - E. Eternal



Repeated riff and then chanting from self-released Yves Tumor album, Experiencing the Deposit of Faith

[jamiefairlie]

Sodastream - Moving

https://youtu.be/TWWmYDIma-0



Back with their first entry since 1998.

From "Little By Little"

"Electrification may increase tonality and dynamics of music; but has not really improved on emotional impact. You need listen no further than the opening notes of "Colouring Iris" by Sodastream on their new album "Little by Little" where you will be greeted by a throbbing double bass followed by sparkling guitar. A gorgeous cello interlude completes the mood. This terrific, beautiful song immediately grabbed my attention and secured it with its successful homage to the music of Nick Drake"

[jamiefairlie]

Sumie - Walk Away

https://youtu.be/1MimVRMwusE




Sumie Nagan, Singer songwriter from Gothenburg

From "Lost In Light"

"On her second LP, Gothenburg's Sumie Nagano recites her depressive, wintry haikus in a soft, pure voice"

[jamiefairlie]

The Barr Brothers - Queens Of The Breakers

https://youtu.be/-pceEBu_ooI



folk quartet founded in Montreal

Title track of their debut album

"busy without ever feeling overcrowded, its liquid acoustics following the soft contours of Brad's vocals to telling effect."

[Brundle-Fly]

A Net Of Memories (London) - Judy Dyble/ Andy Lewis. Released on Acid Jazz in 2017.





More retro-psychedelic summer joy.

August 2017 saw the release of Judy Dyble and Andy Lewis's psychedelic folk collaboration Summer Dancing. Dyble was the original vocalist in Fairport Convention appearing on their self-titled debut, before joining Giles, Giles and Fripp and then recording the awesome UK psych masterpiece Morning Way under the name Trader Horne with her then boyfriend Ian McDonald. Andy Lewis was the original DJ at legendary Brit-pop club Blow Up, before recording his own albums for Acid Jazz and scoring a top forty hit with his collaboration with Paul Weller Are You Trying To Be Lonely? in 2007. After that he joined Weller's band of which he was a member until the end of last year. The album is made of the very stuff of British psychedelia, an obsession with childhood, the country and the city. It emerges from a place somewhere between Broadcast, the soundtrack to The Wickerman and Stereolab.

[Astronaut Omens]

A Net Of Memories (London) - Judy Dyble/ Andy Lewis. Released on Acid Jazz in 2017.

Top stuff! Surely another contender for longest gap without an entry on here?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Susanna Hoffs - Take Me With U

As every pop-crazed youngster knows, Susanna Hoffs and her Bangles scored one of their biggest hits with Manic Monday, a song written by Prince. In 2017, solo Hoffs returned to the little fella's songbook with this baroque arrangement of a standout track from Purple Rain

[Astronaut Omens]

Oki Dub Ainu Band- Utarhythm

A group of musicians from Hokkaido, Japan, with roots in the indegenous Ainu culture there, whose bandleader plays the srringed lute-sounding tonkori instrument over psychy dubby sounds. You'll like it!

[Astronaut Omens]

Gail Ann Dorsey and Donny McCaslin-Lazarus

A head-to-head tribute to Bowie by two of his key later-years collaborators.

[Brundle-Fly]

Top stuff! Surely another contender for longest gap without an entry on here?

Could be right there.

[jamiefairlie]

The Bats - Rooftops

https://youtu.be/1YdQVotl-dY




From "The Deep Set"

"beautiful, contemplative and warm. If you've ever enjoyed a Bats' record, be sure to pick this one up as well"

[jamiefairlie]

Could be right there.

I posted a solo Judy track from 1972, so that's 50 years unless there was a later entry?

[jamiefairlie]

The Clientele - Lunar Days

https://youtu.be/qP_gLrFPWXA




From "Music For The Age Of Miracles"

"full of elegant, occasionally even majestic orchestrations and unexpected melodic twists that slip by subtly enough to keep from disturbing the quiet grace that is a Clientele signature"

[jamiefairlie]

The Last Dinosaur - Atoms

https://youtu.be/zt5qShcPlFQ



the brainchild of songwriter, Jamie Cameron

From "The Nothing"

"The Nothing is a record that comes at you like a wood-burning stove. The band are unafraid to experiment and there are frequently moments of affecting dissonance but the dissonance is paired with a simple distracting prettiness that beguiles and transports"

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Alvvays - Dreams Tonite

I've never been too sure about the 'dream pop' label/genre, but it seems as good a description as any for this track from the album Antisocialitesby Canadian band Alvvays.