MEMORIES OF ROY

ROY ORBISON is known as The Greatest Voice in Rock'n Roll. We are definitely not going to argue with that.
He is also known as mostly a singles' man. Indeed, we now have all of his albums and none of them is truly great from start to end. But that doesn't mean the man doesn't have some amazing deep cuts.
HERE IS JUST ONE OUT OF MANY from his lesser-known-of and absurdly underrated mid-60's output, when he wrote his darkest, saddest songs - which is saying a lot when we're talking about a songwriter who used the verb "cry" and the noun "heartache" in almost every song.
The historical backdrop, which explains the sadness and makes the songs from this period (this one especially) even more poignant, is the tragic death of his loving wife Claudette.

On a less depressing note, as we browsed YouTube to see if someone else had already uploaded this song so we wouldn't have to do it ourselves, we came upon THIS NICE LITTLE NUGGET: ROY invited on THE JOHNNY CASH SHOW and dueting on Oh Pretty Woman. Now the performance itself is really unremarkable (why do they sing in unison a song famous for its Everly-Brothers-inspired harmonies?) but seeing these two together is mighty heartwarming.

DON'T BE AFRAID

There are classics, and then there are absolute classics.
No matter how many thousand times I've listened to this song, it still always hits when I hear it. But why? Probably for these two reasons:
-No matter how many times I play this song in my head on the subway, I still have to play it when I get home, cos my mental jukebox simply cannot replicate AARON NEVILLE's angelic voice.
-Because that one small, short, elusive part that is the chorus, the title, the major hook, and the only moment where the voice is double-tracked, only occurs three times in the whole song, leaving you wanting to play it again. And again. And again.

HERE IT IS ON YOUTUBE. So far it has 112535 views, I believe half of these are me.

NEW BEAT SUPREME

During a short trip to Belgium, we've acquired quite a lot of NEW BEAT 12 inches. But it only confirmed what we already knew: the best (and possibly the slowest) NEW BEAT band in Belgium is without a doubt THE MACKENZIE.
ENJOY THIS 1990 CLASSIC.

JUST LIKE JC

Even if you hate U2, you cannot deny the power of THIS MASTERPIECE OF A SONG.
Incidentally, this is the one and only JOHNNY CASH song with an electronic backing. You can only wonder how great an album ENO and CASH would have made together had they tried.

NEW BEAT MEETS TOM TOM CLUB

Let's go SUBOCEANA.

SCARLET THREAD #1 : JUST LIKE BUDDY HOLLY

BUDDY was covered by THE BEATLES......one of them married PATTIE BOYD......who plays in THE KNACK AND HOW TO GET IT
Only click on THIS LINK if you're willing to have this BUDDY HOLLY COVER stuck in your head all day. I AGREE WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

THE IN SOUND FROM WAY OUT

JEAN-JACQUES PERREY has got a secret...

FINE TASTED GIRL

Whether or not you like FEVER RAY and THE KNIFE (we sure do), you gotta give it to KARIN DREIJER, she has impeccable taste. Check out THIS AMAZING MIXTAPE :

01. NEIL YOUNG - Guitar Solo 1
02. YO LA TENGO - Everyday
03. JOURNEY TO IXTLAN - Corpse On The Mesa
04. JAD & DAVID FAIR - Nosferatu
05. ZOLA JESUS - Devil Take You
06. MERCURY REV - Blue and Black
07. BRUCE HAACK - Mean Old Devil
08. KRAUSE DUO - Canopolis
09. BURIAL HEX - Will To Chapel
10. SUICIDE - Ghost Rider
11. AMADOU & MARIAM - Je Pense À Toi
12. SHACKLETON - Death Is Not Final
13. ENTOMBED - Night Of The Vampire
14. MADDALENA FAGANDINI - Interval Signals
15. BURUNDI - Chant Avec Cithare

Wow! From DEAD MAN's soundtrack to that OCORA ethno-musicology compilation about BURUNDI, this looks like a mixtape we could have made. More precisely, this looks like a mixtape we could have made collectively with the help of three other friends with wide-ranging tastes. And even then, there wouldn't be that song CANOPOLIS by DAS KRAUSE DUO. We had never heard of this current German band before, and it positively rocked our socks, IRMIN SCHMIDT FILMMUSIK style.
If you don't wanna hear the whole mixtape, go straight to CANOPOLIS, but you'd miss out on some freaky shit.

DX7 AND FRETLESS BASS

Normally, if a song features a fretless bass, it's a dealbreaker. Add digital synths and a snare that sounds completely innapropriately loud and trebly, and you got yourself a bad song.
However if you got all these ingredients, but the song itself is great, somehow it works.
Case in point: LOU REED'S "MAGIC AND LOSS" from the album of the same name.
It's an album about death, about being old, about losing your friends to cancer. About becoming like your father as you grow older, about depending on doctors; I'll take these lyrics over "Heroin, it's my life and it's my wife" any day of the year.

UNKOWN GENIUS OF YOUTUBE

I love YouTube. Who doesn't? You can find anything on YouTube. When I wasn't sure about whether I should buy a Roland JSQ60 Sequencer, all I had to do was type it on YouTube and I found a demo (which I suspect was made by WILL FERRELL). For the record, I did buy it.
So when I entertained the idea of leaving my analog days behind me, embracing digital technology, and getting a Korg 01W (for the record, I've decided against it since then, what was I thinking, I don't even like Korg, I'm a Roland man), I went straight to YouTube, and came upon this gem.
I don't know much about this man MOZOX. According to his YouTube account, he's 50 years old and a fan of Django Reinhardt. But who is he? Where does he live? And most of all, why would a grown man film himself playing keyboards with a scary mask on and a stroboscope?
Who cares, the man is a genius, and that's all that matters.

AGAINST THE EIGTHIES

A DENIM revival is way overdue. But can you call it a revival if the band was never succesful to begin with?

In the eighties, there was a band called FELT, and they were the best British indie band of that sorry decade. Unfortunately, the few people that might have been interested were too busy jerking off to pictures of Morrissey, listening to boring shit like Echo and the Bunnymen, saying no to drugs and keeping off meat.
After releasing ten albums and ten singles in ten years, Lawrence disbanded FELT and formed a new band for the new decade.
DENIM, it seems, was formed for all the wrong reasons, mainly bitterness.
Every second of the two albums they released seems to be saying: "I'll show these fuckers! So they didn't care that I had the right influences and I was going for the sound of VU's 3rd album? OK, from now on I'll go for MOR, I'll go for Bubblegum! They didn't care that I discovered genius keyboard player DUFFY before he left me for Primal Scream? Alright, I'll take Gary Glitter's group as my backing band! They didn't care about the heartfelt lyrics I wrote? From now on all my songs will be novelty/tongue in cheek with ironic lyrics and clever titles! They didn't care that I was one of the few musicians who didn't fall for that 80s sound? From now on it's gonna be MIDI on every song! Shit, in fact I'll use every single 80s sounding gimmick!"
Of course, by the time BACK IN DENIM was released (1992) with songs named I'M AGAINST THE EIGHTIES or MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, these sounds were so completely passé, and DENIM had even less success then FELT. The follow-up DENIM ON ICE (1996) was even more drenched in bitterness (it opens with the anti-Britpop anthem THE GREAT PUB-ROCK REVIVAL) and delusions of superiority (one track is called BEST SONG IN THE WORLD, and it's not even the best song on that album).
DENIM albums also featured genuine, tender (albeit disturbing) songs about Lawrence's experiences like growing up in the 70s (THE OSMONDS) or being addicted to heroin (GLUE AND SMACK). But my absolute favorite song is the ballad SYNTHESIZERS IN THE RAIN, which sounds like an outtake from THE LADY IN RED soundtrack gone right.
Nowadays, Lawrence fronts GO-KART MOZART, and goes for an 8-bit sound. I reckon fifteen years from now, this band will sound right.

And here is a rare DENIM television appearance on Jools Holland's BBC show from 1992. It takes forever to load, but it's really worth the wait. And yes, it does feature The Glitter Band.

LOVE IS REAL

I can't get this gay song out of my head.

NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

Angelo Badalamenti tells us how he wrote the Laura Palmer Theme from Twin Peaks.
Prepare for shivers being sent up and down your spine.

Angelo, I see Twin Peaks.

GOODBYE JACNO

Another genius died.
Mad RIP.

Jacno's masterpiece Triangle from 1979's self-titled album.

Fortunately, Jacno doesn't remain heirless.
New artist KOUDLAM, whose debut album "Goodbye" is out these days on Pan European Recording, also uses synthetic instruments to express authentic melancholy.


See, hear, smell KOUDLAM here.

NEW BEAT MEETS POP

1992 was one of the best years for music, ever. We'll get back to that later.

In 1991, Primal Scream fused Acid-House/Manchester-Rave with Rock'nRoll/IndieCred. They knew they would look cool, so they did it.

In 1992, Pulp fused New-Beat/Euro-Dance with Bubblegum/Pop. They knew they would look square, but they did it anyway.