New(ish) music - February 2023

Every month me and six other pals create a playlist for each other consisting of 14 tracks. Now and again, when we cannot meet to talk through our selections, I send some mini reviews. Below are my comments on the playlist for February 2023.

At one stage this evening I was simultaneously watching the FA Cup Rooneys on television, picking my way through the Electric Light Orchestra’s back catalogue on my acoustic guitar and, every now and again, listening to G ruminating on why he doesn’t like Wild Man Fischer. Is this what the technological determinist Neil Postman was talking about when he said we were “entertaining ourselves to death”? Anyway, on to the main monkey business of reviewing this month - gonna hit shuffle and scribble down my thoughts in the order they’re spat out. Only two things at once - why, I’ve practically become a 21st century minimalist!

Not Needed Anymore - Louis Cole

Wiry acoustic guitar paired with peculiarly airless singing - one is left with the impression of some mid-sized rodent with asthma. Still, there’s a nagging quality to the song in the best way - it’s the chorus hook that lodges itself in the brain like a bubblegum-flavoured shard of shrapnel. And then - whoosh! - it’s gone, just before the catchiness mutates into a maddening irritant.

Don’t Dance - Anthony Green
There was a moment in the midst of G’s review where it was just words - something about Coho Labs and a bunch of bands I’ve never heard of - genuinely, you could be transmitting code to your CIA handlers at that point and I’d have been none the wiser. I always thought this was a dude singing, because it sounds like an emo Daniel Johnston. Well, this is pretty good; I’ve long been a sucker for rock ‘n’ pop that employs a decent brass section. My beef, and it applies to a fair amount of music of this ilk, is that it sounds just a wee bit antiseptic. 

stream of silllver - the ollam

Whoever thought to combine the audio palette of New Romantic synthpop with Irish folk music was having an inspired day. This track had me kicking myself, because every time it started up I’d think “huh, I don’t recall any Kajagoogoo on this month’s playlist”, and then the pipes would start up and I realised I’d been hoodwinked. Every time. So where does this fall? Has anyone come up with a portmanteau phrase like ‘Celtic fringe synthwave’? Because this is it, right? This is Celtic fringe synthwave. Expect the Spotify playlist soon.

Leviathan - White Ward
Thirteen minutes plus of heavy atmosphere, with some really interesting musical twists chucked into the mix. If any track can be described as - pass the sick bucket - a ‘journey’ this month, here it is. Y’know, I had my dose of bleakness earlier this month at Winter Assault IV, Brighton’s annual black metal festival. It strikes me that nothing I heard that day was as accomplished or ambitious as this. I mean, around the seven minute mark we get a trumpet that could come from Bernard Herrman’s Taxi Driver soundtrack, yet it doesn’t sound out of place. Very impressive. You’re all coming to Winter Assault V next year, right? 

The Lost Souls - AFI
Wow, thanks for reintroducing me to the oeuvre of Davey Havok, I really appreciate the opportunity to relive the “single shitty earphone running from a Discman in GCSE Latin” experience that I was so desperately craving. But seriously, ain’t nothin’ wrong with this bad boy - it balances sugar ‘n’ spice in the mix very nicely, and you know what? If I was getting heated at reading about Caecilius for five straight years, I’d want to break stuff to AFI too.

Witness (1 Hope) - Roots Manuva
I pretty much love everything about this joint. Charismatic toasting from the main man, coupled with by turns some alternately fuzzy and bubbly synth sounds, all underscored with a mesmerising, unyielding beat? This is the business, and certainly in contention for my pick of the month’s tracks. Reflecting on the individual elements of ‘Witness (1 Hope)’, I don’t think there’s anything particularly sophisticated going on - it’s just fun sounds and a big spunking dollop of attitude.

Woodstock - Matthews Southern Comfort
Speaking of sophistication, this has what, two chords? Three at a push? But fuck me, if this isn’t the best-sounding song in the playlist. It’s right in that expansive, golden production sweet spot of a certain era that feels like being wrapped in a duvet stuffed with marshmallows. All from the guy kicked out of Fairport Convention for having a wimpy voice. A Joni Mitchell song originally, this is the most hippy-dippy jive from the Age of Aquarius (aside from, er, ‘Age of Aquarius’ by the 5th Dimension) imaginable, but by god, I want to believe. Were musicians just better back then? There’s a vibration running through this song that quantized, ProTools-filtered junk just doesn’t possess. Absolute catnip for this erstwhile Classic Gold radio fan.

Glass - STIFF RICHARDS

What’s with the name in all caps? Is he Japanese or…? Anyway, this has the single nastiest guitar sound of anything on the playlist, so points for that alone. It’s used relatively sparingly too, so I’ve often got something to look forward to. I can always get behind a track that’s a bracing slap around the chops; my only gripe here is that the waspish music is not being met with sincere, existential angst. This dude sounds like he’s miffed that he had to wait for a parcel being delivered in a 9am to 7pm window, and guess what? It’s already 6.30pm, bro.

Merry Go Round - Wild Man Fischer
Interesting - as someone who read a lot about Frank Zappa (and these days, probably enjoys reading about Zappa more than listening to his music), Wild Man Fischer was a name that cropped up every so often. Never heard his music knowingly, until now. I could’ve suffered to have gone on longer. I have a relatively high tolerance for ‘outsider’ music - Wesley Willis, the Shaggs, Jan Terri - but this really tested me. Its artlessness charmed me for a couple of days, but very quickly became grating. Not sure I could’ve made it the entire month without skipping if this was a leap year.

Hidden Knives - AFI
I mean, this shit just straight up sucks. Very much the neutered version of AFI on the playlist. Why, in the verses, does this sound like “baby’s first punk record” if it was being played by Johnny Hates Jazz? This only avoids being bottom of the slop bucket because someone else elected to take up space with some deranged acapella performance. What’s the deal here? What simulacra of human emotion are you hoping to coax into existence when faced with this? Do you ever ponder as to whether you’ve lost the mandate of God?

Silver Spoon - Faim
It turns out there’s a bunch of Australian pretty-boy showponies called The Faim, and this ain’t them. This is great though, a proper blast furnace of a tune. My goodness, though, that singer is going to do herself a damage if she keeps that up. Hence, amidst the churning hardocre sturm und drang, I am also given to images of Lemsip. Really fucken’ brutal Lemsip though, like you’d shotgunned a packet of the stuff in someone’s backyard whilst listening to Municipal Waste.

Hey Allison! - Jeff Rosenstock
Do I overuse the word ‘candyfloss’ when describing music I quite like that nonetheless lacks any degree of stickiness? Absolutely. Do I also think it’s one of the more apt metaphors I have at my disposal? Yeah, obviously, because it’s basically every other word that comes out of my mouth. Case in point - ‘Hey Allison!’ is a perfectly cheerful pop-punk track that pops into the old brainbox without overstaying its welcome. In that sense, it’s the ideal of disposable pop music. Songs like this act like the memory wiping devices in the Men In Black films; I emerge slightly dazed, unable to recount what just happened for the last three minutes yet completely untroubled. And that’s Two for Joy, baby!