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

[daf]

Marshmallow ‎– Casting Couch



Released in January 2005 -  did not chart

Marshmallow were a UK based band formed by bassist Alan Gregg after leaving New Zealand rock band The Mutton Birds. Other members included Bert Thomas, Richard Turner and Cy Winstanley.

Alan Gregg : "There wasn't really a moment when I decided to do a record. I've had all these songs kicking around for a while and then I found myself back in London. I started recording them slowly one by one and eventually realised that I had an album's worth of songs. And because the songs were already there and a few more came along during recording, it was quite a natural process."



Alan Gregg : "I recorded a lot of the basic songs in the attic of the house I've been living in London. That was just me with the computer and a guitar. Then I spent a bit of time in New Zealand when The Mutton Birds played the Lord of the Rings premiere last December. I was flown down for that so it was a good opportunity to hook up with some people that I'd worked with in the past in New Zealand, including David Long. I spent quite a bit of time at his place in Wellington and got in a few different players to add things to the tracks."

[Butchers Blind]

Not listened to that record since it was released. Remember enjoying it a lot at the time. Must dig it out.

[Brundle-Fly]

Would It Be Impossible - The Superimposers.  Released on Little League in 2005.





Lush tunes from this forgotten underrated downtempo pop unit.

The Superimposers are Dan Solo, Miles Copeland and Shawn Lee.

For some, including the good people over at Wichita, Jimmy Webb's songs for Glen Campbell are as close to perfection as pop has ever got. This is the territory to which Bournemouth band the Superimposers have bravely staked a claim. Their album Sunshine Pops! is a treat for lovers of 60s baroque, harmony and sunshine pop, as well as fans of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, Thom Bell and any other of those all-time melodic greats who wielded flugelhorns and timpani with pride. If you also miss the el and Sarah labels, those budget revivalists of all things innocent and bright, who privileged softness as a strength, you'll love what this trio do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3ezsYuH_Ag

[Smeraldina Rima]

Richard Youngs and Alexander Neilson - Rolling in the Dew



Collaboration between Richard Youngs and percussionist Alex Neilson, later of Trembling Bells. A version of a traditional folk song. Shirley Collins recorded it as Dabbling in the Dew for Folk Song Today in 1955, a few years before Sweet England.

[jamiefairlie]

Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

https://youtu.be/tWX3El-slpY



From his fifth album (in six years, very prolific at this point in his career) "Illinois".

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

King Creosote - Not One Bit Ashamed



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfviOnl1ReI

Kenny Anderson, primarily known by his his stage name King Creosote, is an independent singer-songwriter from Fife, Scotland. To date, Anderson has released over forty albums. In 1997 Anderson co-found the Fence record label, a DIY collective encompassing artists such as Anderson, The Pictish Trail (aka Fence co-founder Johnny Lynch), Kid Canaveral, James Yorkston and Lone Pigeon (aka Gordon Anderson, formerly of The Beta Band).

Not One Bit Ashamed is the opening track from Anderson's 2005 album, KC Rules OK.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

The New Pornographers - The Bleeding Heart Show

https://youtu.be/xWQFX3VhVWM

The New Pornographers are a 'power pop supergroup' consisting of a loose collective of musicians based in Vancouver. They are fronted by Carl Newman and at this point included Neko Case and Dan Bejar, among others.

This track, which builds into what I believe music journos call a 'soaring climax', is from their 2005 album Twin Cinema.

[DrGreggles]

Super Furry Animals - Sunny Seville
[Super Furry Animals] {Epic}
(from the Lazer Beam CD single)



Omitted from Love Kraft, the 7th album by Super Furry Animals, for being "energetic and poppy" and "not really fitting in with the rest of the album", Sunny Seville found a home as a bonus track on the only single released from it: Lazer Beam (reached #28 in the UK).
Quickly written and recorded during the album's sessions in Spain (this was the band's "foreign record" and they were unusually fast-working due to a desire to escape the intense heat and return to Wales), the song was also included on the Japanese edition of Love Kraft.

[Brundle-Fly]

My Beauty In The Room - Kelley Polar.  Released on Environ in 2005.





Eighties electro pop influenced magic.

Kelley Polar AKA Michael Kelley was born in Dubrovnik, Croatia to parents in the US Diplomatic Corps. A musical prodigy, he began playing violin at age 3 and composing soon after. His first symphonic-disco composition (entitled "Get in the Love Bubble") was published a year later.

Polar's classical and electronic music sensibilities continued to evolve side-by-side: refusing to specialize, he listened to both Kraftwerk and Schubert, Thomas Dolby and Dvorak. While obtaining an advanced degree from The Juilliard School in New York City, Kelley collaborated with Metro Area's Darshan Jesrani and Morgan Geist on hit tracks like "Miura", "The Art of Hot" and "Caught Up".

Recently expelled from Juilliard for the "riot" during his Master's Recital, Mr. Polar has retired to New Hampshire, where his reclusive tendencies have flowered. He lives in his farmhouse basement studio, and is the caretaker of a herd of Scottish Longhair cattle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTiuePqeFHU

[daf]

Milk Kan ‎– Bling Bling Baby



Reached #78 on the UK chart in December 2005

With this single Milk Kan takes you down a wonderful road of folksy attitude. Bowling out of your stereo like a less political Billy Bragg, this acoustic trio comment on modern society with a wit and twang that is increasingly noted and lauded today. As we demand more from our music than mere dance moves, the bands of the moment deliver. 'Bling Bling Baby' is a bouncing circus of Saahf London rhetoric foiled by a mildly ska following and a lightning snarl from the kind of singer that Mike Skinner could never be. The sheer quality of the lead track is backed up by a couple more stellar annotations of the apparently quite dastardly world in which we live. Tailored exquisitely for breakfast radio, daytime radio, drivetime radio and your local indie club, there is surely no way that this can fail.

I particularly like the tiny Looney Tunes cat's whisker 'twangs' inserted to cover up the mild swears.

[Smeraldina Rima]

Mary Hampton - Eros



A song from Book One, one of 'six songs of refusal' by folk singer and musician Mary Hampton. "Eros" is adapted from a prose poem by Baudelaire called "The Temptations or Eros, Plutus and Glory", in which two Satans and one she-devil bring their three temptations to the speaker's bed chamber and are sent away. In the song the focus is on a version of the erotic Satan, a returning first lover who makes a seductive atmosphere with the violin (the Satanic instrument specified by Baudelaire) and asks: 'do you not long to lose yourself?'

Here's the Eros part of the prose poem in case you want to compare it with the story told in the song:

Last night two superb Satans and a She-devil not less extraordinary ascended the mysterious stairway by which Hell gains access to the frailty of sleeping man, and communes with him in secret. These three postured gloriously before me, as though they had been upon a stage—and a sulphurous splendour emanated from these beings who so disengaged themselves from the opaque heart of the night. They bore with them so proud a presence, and so full of mastery, that at first I took them for three of the true Gods.

The first Satan, by his face, was a creature of doubtful sex. The softness of an ancient Bacchus shone in the lines of his body. His beautiful langourous eyes, of a tenebrous and indefinite colour, were like violets still laden with the heavy tears of the storm; his slightly-parted lips were like heated censers, from whence exhaled the sweet savour of many perfumes; and each time he breathed, exotic insects drew, as they fluttered, strength from the ardours of his breath.

Twined about his tunic of purple stuff, in the manner of a cincture, was an iridescent Serpent with lifted head and eyes like embers turned sleepily towards him. Phials full of sinister fluids, alternating with shining knives and instruments of surgery, hung from this living girdle. He held in his right hand a flagon containing a luminous red fluid, and inscribed with a legend in these singular words:

"DRINK OF THIS MY BLOOD: A PERFECT RESTORATIVE";

and in his left hand held a violin that without doubt served to sing his pleasures and pains, and to spread abroad the contagion of his folly upon the nights of the Sabbath.

From rings upon his delicate ankles trailed a broken chain of gold, and when the burden of this caused him to bend his eyes towards the earth, he would contemplate with vanity the nails of his feet, as brilliant and polished as well-wrought jewels.

He looked at me with eyes inconsolably heartbroken and giving forth an insidious intoxication, and cried in a chanting voice: "If thou wilt, if thou wilt, I will make thee an overlord of souls; thou shalt be master of living matter more perfectly than the sculptor is master of his clay; thou shalt taste the pleasure, reborn without end, of obliterating thyself in the self of another, and of luring other souls to lose themselves in thine."

But I replied to him: "I thank thee. I only gain from this venture, then, beings of no more worth than my poor self? Though remembrance brings me shame indeed, I would forget nothing; and even before I recognised thee, thou ancient monster, thy mysterious cutlery, thy equivocal phials, and the chain that imprisons thy feet, were symbols showing clearly enough the inconvenience of thy friendship. Keep thy gifts."

[...]

So I replied, with all disdain: "Get thee hence! I know better than wed the light o' love of them that I will not name."

Truly, I had the right to be proud of a so courageous renunciation. But unfortunately I awoke, and all my courage left me. "In truth," I said, "I must have been very deeply asleep indeed to have had such scruples. Ah, if they would but return while I am awake, I would not be so delicate."

So I invoked the three in a loud voice, offering to dishonour myself as often as necessary to obtain their favours; but I had without doubt too deeply offended them, for they have never returned.

The Temptations or Eros, Plutus and Glory
Les Tentations ou Éros, Plutus et la Gloire

[Johnny Foreigner]

The Dust of Basement － Turmdrehkran

This ode to the tower crane was the very last track on The Dust of Basement's final album, Meridian, from 2005, before they disbanded in 2006. The Dust of Basement were a Berlin rock collective founded in 1991, which soon turned towards electronic music when Sven Wolff became the group's keyboard player in 1992. Vocalist, Brigitta Behr, was a graphic artist who designed the CD sleeves. Another vocalist is simply known as M.S.

The Dust of Basement were initially inspired by the Sisters of Mercy, then developed a sound that combines goth rock and electronic pop music. When the project had come to an end, Sven Wolff created his own band, Patenbrigade: Wolff.

'Turmdrehkran', therefore, was their swan song, in their own words: 'ambient music for tower crane operators'.

[jamiefairlie]

The American Analog Set - The Green Green Grass

https://youtu.be/RxCMlRFQ_FU



Taken from their sixth and, sadly, final album, "Set Free". They left behind a rich catalogue from their ten year existence.

[Brundle-Fly]

I Can See For Miles - Petra Haden.  Released on Bar/None in 2005.





Another fantastic cover, this time by Petra Haden from her mint Petra Haden Sings The Who Sell Out homage album. The old green eye but from the female perspective. Apparently, Pete Townshend's wife's aggressive aggressive message to behave himself while on tour with The Who.

Petra Haden (born October 11, 1971) is an American musician and singer. She has been a member of That Dog, Tito & Tarantula, and The Decemberists. Haden has contributed to recordings by Bill Frisell, The Twilight Singers, Beck, Mike Watt, Luscious Jackson, Sun Kil Moon, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Weezer, The Rentals, Victoria Williams, Yuka Honda, The Gutter Twins, Sunn O))), and Cornelius.

She is the daughter of the jazz bassist Charlie Haden, and is the triplet sister of bassist Rachel Haden (her bandmate in That Dog) and cellist Tanya Haden (married to singer and actor Jack Black); she has performed with her sisters as The Haden Triplets. She is also the sister of bassist-singer Josh Haden, leader of the group Spain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc6IqwM0Z_U&t

[Brundle-Fly]

Eerie. Perfect music for returning home to an empty flat on a chilly eve.

[Brundle-Fly]

The American Analog Set - The Green Green Grass

https://youtu.be/RxCMlRFQ_FU



Taken from their sixth and, sadly, final album, "Set Free". They left behind a rich catalogue from their ten year existence.

Video unavailable Jim

[Brundle-Fly]

Milk Kan ‎– Bling Bling Baby



Reached #78 on the UK chart in December 2005

I particularly like the tiny Looney Tunes cat's whisker 'twangs' inserted to cover up the mild swears.

LUV IT! My old son!

[Smeraldina Rima]

Video unavailable Jim

I got that with the Vashti Bunyan link too. Easy enough to look it up obviously but maybe worth mentioning if it's to do with regions or something.

Since I've made a post, I'd also like to say I'm looking foward to more from The Mollusk, I miss chveik's contributions and I loved that long Boredoms track. A lot of the time I don't mention when I like stuff because I haven't really got the light human touch for those interactions and end up agonising over saying 'great track' or 'loved that' and finding descriptive words.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Aberfeldy - Tom Weir



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU1yQY_OVC8

Another one for our very own Rizla.

This B-Side is a tribute to a peripatetic broadcaster who possibly means nothing to people outside of Scotland. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Weir's Way was a programme in which the woolly-hatted host traipsed around Scotland chatting to reticent fishermen and lighthouse keepers. Weir, the brother of Molly Weir of Rentaghost renown, was an avuncular old chap who always looked quite thirsty. I like to think that whoever decided to repeat his programmes on STV at around 1am in the mid-'90s knew exactly what they were doing. Perfect post-pub viewing.

RIP Tom. I hope you're getting pleasantly pissed by a rural pub fireplace, somewhere out there in the great beyond.

[The Mollusk]

Since I've made a post, I'd also like to say I'm looking foward to more from The Mollusk, I miss chveik's contributions and I loved that long Boredoms track. A lot of the time I don't mention when I like stuff because I haven't really got the light human touch for those interactions and end up agonising over saying 'great track' or 'loved that' and finding descriptive words.

Thanks for the kind words! And I think there's nothing wrong with simply commenting that you enjoyed the song. I hate the thought of people feeling like they need to be super descriptive or eloquent when talking about music when honestly sometimes just seeing someone saying "mate this is GREAT" can brighten up a thread. Shameless enthusiasm is what makes sharing music such a huge joy. Whenever I play music to a friend and they say "yeah, that was ace, nice one for sharing" I am full to the brim with love.

[jamiefairlie]

Aberfeldy - Tom Weir



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU1yQY_OVC8

Another one for our very own Rizla.

This B-Side is a tribute to a peripatetic broadcaster who possibly means nothing to people outside of Scotland. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Weir's Way was a programme in which the woolly-hatted host traipsed around Scotland chatting to reticent fishermen and lighthouse keepers. Weir, the brother of Molly Weir of Rentaghost renown, was an avuncular old chap who always looked quite thirsty. I like to think that whoever decided to repeat his programmes on STV at around 1am in the mid-'90s knew exactly what they were doing. Perfect post-pub viewing.

RIP Tom. I hope you're getting pleasantly pissed by a rural pub fireplace, somewhere out there in the great beyond.

Yeah, loved Tom Weir. I get a similar vibe from Bob and Paul's fishing show now.

[Brundle-Fly]

The Night We Saw A Badger - Oddfellows Casino. Released on Pickled Egg in 2005.





This Robert Wyatt-esque song encapsulates a perfect gentle evening out in Brighton, East Sussex in a nutshell. 

Another one of those slightly eccentric, criminally unsung, English national treasures that we should cherish.

https://www.drbramwell.com

Oddfellows Casino AKA David Bramwell is a British writer, musician, performer and broadcaster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G2BbtQYRHA

[jamiefairlie]

Arab Strap - Speed-Date

https://youtu.be/hZmiwbzA-Gs



Welcome return to the chart from the Falkirk duo, their first from me since their 1996 debut. This is from their "The Last Romance" album.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Devendra Banhart - I Feel Just Like a Child



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHK-hLxqBWE

A hippie-trippy Tyrannosaurus Donovan for the 21st century? Sure, why not?

Devendra Banhart is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist. His music is often referred to as psychedelic folk, freak folk and New Weird America, and is associated with acts such as singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom, musical group CocoRosie, and contemporary folk band Vetiver. Critics have compared Banhart's style to that of Tyrannosaurus Rex, an early version of British rock musician Marc Bolan's T. Rex. However, in a 2004 interview Banhart stated that he was unaware of Tyrannosaurus Rex until after he began writing and recording music. Go figure.

[Smeraldina Rima]

Deerhoof - Odyssey



From The Runners Four.

[daf]

Feist ‎– Inside And Out



Reached #83 on the Uk chart in February 2005

In the summer of 2001, Feist self-produced seven songs at home which she called The Red Demos, which have never been released commercially. She spent more than two years touring throughout Europe with Gonzales.

While on tour in Europe with Gonzales, they began recording new versions of her home recorded Red Demos, which would later become her major label debut 'Let It Die', released in May 2004 in Canada and July 2004 in the UK.



The album included the UK singles "Mushaboom" and the Bee Gees cover "Inside And Out".

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Deerhoof - Odyssey

That's lovely.

[jamiefairlie]

Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body

https://youtu.be/uizQVriWp8M



Taken from their sixth album "Plans", it's a fine slice of US-indie/folk a la REM.

[daf]

Aberfeldy ‎– Summer's Gone



Released in October 2005 - did not chart

Aberfeldy's single "Love Is an Arrow" was featured by Lorraine Kelly on GMTV's Kelly Plays Pop section. The single reached no. 60 in the UK charts February 2005, but sold out in less than a week, due to not enough copies being pressed.



"Summer's Gone", saw use in a range of commercials. It was used in Argentina to advertise Quilmes beer. It was used again for a Diet Coke commercial in the USA and Canada, appearing initially during the 2007 Oscars and also during American Idol. In 2010, the song was featured in a commercial for Travelers Insurance.

Riley Briggs : "The only reason I wrote that song is because I bought this amazing sounding 60s kids' organ at a car boot sale. It turned into a nightmare because it never stayed in tune. I drilled a hole in the bottom so I could reach it and ten minutes before every Aberfeldy gig I was crouching underneath this organ. It was like trying to artificially inseminate a gerbil."

[The Mollusk]

Deerhoof - Odyssey



From The Runners Four.

One of my all time favourite albums!