New(ish) music - October 2022

For the past few years, I and a group of friends have been using Spotify to turn each other on to new music. Each month we upload two songs each to create a playlist; we chat about the songs on WhatsApp, and at the end of each month we try to get together to review our picks.

On those occasions where I haven't been able to make our video chats, I've written short reviews of each song. Here is what I thought of October 2022's picks!

October 2022

So perhaps this wasn’t the greatest month for TFJ - and in truth, the middle part of it was quite crap for me. I became so ill I went delirious with fever, and started to hallucinate wildly at one point. Not that it excuses ‘Your Ontario Town…’ - nor should there be an excuse. I like the song. It sounds like it was recorded in the back of a butcher’s van and it’s a mean-spirited take on growing up in rural Canada. You may think of those as demerits, but in my musical constellation, recording a barely-listenable melodic black metal song using nowt but a circa-2001 Line 6 Multi-FX pedal is admirable.

I was briefly elated when OH mentioned that he liked “the Scottish track”, thinking he meant Orange Juice (from Glasgow), but alas, I think he means Stephen Durkan. Hmm! You know, that’s Edwyn “A Girl Like You” Collins fronting the OJ boys. That was a cool song…

Powered Up - Cobra Man
Great name, great tune. If it were up to me, there would be far more groups who sound like Recycler-era ZZ Top around and making moves. But then I recall that I’m about the only dude around who likes Recycler, so what the fuck. Maybe these guys dig it too. Maybe they like Trans by Neil Young also? We could be friends. Anyway, absurdly fun, a bit goofy, and it sounds like Recycler by ZZ Top.

I’m Bored - Iggy Pop
Wasn’t this on an advert once? It’s good - as one of those lizard-brain clank-a-longs this is primo Iggy. When did he stop sounding insane though? My only problem here is that he sounds like a more reasonable version of Lou Reed on this, and I don’t want either of those mofos acting as if you can chat with them about sports or the weather. 

Also, the Stooges are right there.

I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar - Jonathan Richman
I’ve long enjoyed the peculiar universe conjured up by Mr Richman. Another Lou Reed devotee, take note! I love that this track could’ve come from virtually any time within the span of twenty years of Richman’s career. His devotion to musical simplicity is, by now, heroic - and I adore his unaffected singing style. No need to groan and roll around for ol’ Jonny boy, the purism of his craft sees him through. One of the best this month. 

But, the Modern Lovers are right there. 

Hit the Breaks - PLOSIVS
You know what would’ve made this song a lot better? If they were singing “let’s hit the bricks”. Anyway, I don’t get this. It’s fine as a competently crafted rocker but doesn’t get the blood pumping, nor does it really get one’s head scratching. I’m neither feelin’ a dip in the hip nor a glide in my stride, so what’s the point?

Weird Fishes / Arpeggi - Rodrigo Y Gabriela
What is this, Enya for people who like acoustic guitars (and fretless bass)? I feel like these jabronis have drifted in and out of the periphery of my musical understanding for a while, and this crystallises why - every time I’ve given ‘em a chance it bores me. This is no exception - I can hear this playing in coffee shops patronised by folk in kaftans, but you know where I can’t hear this playing very often? My stereo. 

Breakin’ My Heart - Tom Verlaine
Tom Verlaine has one of those peculiar voices, like Tom Petty or Mark Knopfler, where you suspect it’s also exactly how they talk. Did they get bullied at school? Regardless, this is another highlight of this month’s action as it sounds like summat offa side two of Television’s Marquee Moon album, and Lord knows that’s a platter I love. I ooze love for it! Yet another track that hypnotises through the insistence and confidence of its central conceit, and works. Like Iggy Pop, like Jonathan Richman. See? This rock ‘n’ roll lark isn’t too difficult. Halfway through, this song busts out into guitar playing that feels like those clean, skeletal, geometric patterns that typified the best…Television songs.

And yes, Television are right there.

I Want My Minutes Back - Snapped Ankles
Beep! Bip! Boop! Now we’re really makin’ music, bay-beh! Just fuzz up them vocals, stick a few dits and doots over a Krautrock riff and we’re laughing. See? This rock ‘n’ roll lark isn’t too difficult. It’s alright, isn’t it? The only issue, I would say, is that it feels like every move this track can be telegraphed a mile off. Surprises don’t have to be big, they just need to be there in the first instance. Ironically, given their name, Snapped Ankles failed to wrong-foot me. 

The Acid Commune - Stephen Durkan
The lyrics mention an ‘endless cycle’, and that’s how I feel about TFJ’s seeming regard for anyone barking out sprechgesang doggerel in a Scottish accent. We’ve had this song before, no? Oh, that was Arab Strap? Ah, how to tell these irascible Scots, if one may employ a tautology, apart. If it’s gonna be this way, the lyrics need to be a jot smarter for my tastes, but this one actually does feature a badass Krautrock backing and some utterly unnecessary space-rock flourishes. And because the Hawkwindisms sound superfluous, they of course, sound fantastisch.

Janey - Foy Vance
What purpose does this serve?

Our Film - Tigran Hamasyan, Areni Aghbabian, Artyom Manukyan
Well, I like this, but could’ve done with more of the stuff the features early doors, which reminds me of the music I heard in Japanese malls, or perhaps the Tokyo Subway Museum. I’ve been chasing that particular high ever since. This kind of music, a kind of fey Hot Rats Zappa, wiv dance beats, feels rather modish these days. The dude I saw supporting Tricot sounded like this, as do Polyphia from time-to-time. No bad thing - the music has craft, skill, ideas and imagination. I just wish these guys properly went wild, you know? The jazz urge must exist within them, somewhere! 

Figure Skating - Porij
One of the daftest fucking names around, but this dancey little number wormed its way into my affections over the course of the month. Again, this feels like a bunch of stuff I’ve heard at the artsier end of the pop spectrum. Lots of contemporary artists seem to have come together to make music that sounds both sad and upbeat at the same time. Still, there’s a euphoric, slightly hysterical note to this, possibly enhanced by the airlessness of the production. I probably can’t listen to loads of this, but sprinkled into a playlist it’s a nice left turn.

Sleep Like a Baby Tonight - U2
Urrrghhhh, I really like this. What a revelation! If only U2 didn’t spend literal decades being shit, and instead made moody industro-pop like this, I might - might - forgive the rainforest-bothering prick some of his more venial excesses (I am, of course, talking about Larry Mullen Jr here). Seriously though, that falsetto is a revelation, and the boys certainly know their way around a chorus. Prowling, dark, sepulchral - another one near the top of the tree this month. And it’s bloody U2! C’mon Bono, let’s see you pull a Depeche Mode and transform into full-on leather sex perverts for the next album.

 That’s that, then. I didn’t listen to the playlist as much as I often do due to a combo of work, illness and holiday (Strasbourg is a very decent long weekend destination) but when I did it held my attention. Even the tracks that didn’t necessarily get my motor running often featured something to commend them. Except Foy Vance, that s-s-s-s-s-sucked!