Greetings folks,
Hope you're all doing good in your hoods. September continues to be mostly warm and sunny here in Amsterdam, which is very welcome indeed. Many gentle evening strolls (both with and without hype cat), meals and drinks have been the order of the day. I reckon as this summer got off to a late start, the least we can do is ride it out in style, eh?
"Like most of us, my #LC picks usually fall into one of two groups, either something super new, or something historical that has special meaning. This one's in the latter group, and very Marmite-y. No sitting on the fence here (it's covered in barbed wire anyways), you'll either love this or hate it.
I discovered this artist a long, long, long time ago, back when I was a miniscule music sponge, sucking up whatever my pocket money could find and afford, using my imagination (and Record Mirror) to fill in the gaps. I'd seen this artist's name linked to another (chart-topping) one that I really liked, playing a guest spot on a few of their tunes and supporting them on tour (not possible for me to see at such a miniscule age), so I saved my pennies, scurried down to the local disc-o-rama, made the purchase, scurried home twice as fast, pulled the vinyl from the sleeve, dropped the needle and... "what the flying fuck is this???"
To lil' sponge me, nothing about this record made sense. Most of the genres you'd drop this record into either didn't exist or were still in very early stages when it was made (trying to be a bit vague, here). The choice of cover versions (nearly half the album) is decidedly unhinged, sometimes awesome and occasionally hilarious, and the artist's whole onstage schtick and related lyrical themes (for want of a better term) was (and still is), decidedly abnormal. (A few of the lyrics, I have to admit, don't stand up to 21st century analysis (thinks back to me singing along to them as a kid, chuckles wryly to self) but certainly fit the aforementioned schtick and the style of the era, for sure).
Not to mention wondering what the reaction was of the English teenyboppers subjected to this artist's performance as support to their awaited megastar. I'm sure it acted as a perfect palette-cleanser, but suffice to say that continued global success never happened, and after this album the artist returned to being pretty much a local hero. So it goes.
But apart from all that, what mostly blew me away as a lil' sponge is the sound this artist makes. Even after years tracking down information about some of the machines and instruments used, I've never managed to come anywhere near emulating it. Amplifiers? Effects pedals? No idea, but I'd never heard electronics churn like this before, and as for the solo instruments, what's going on there? The album cover gleefully states "There are no guitars", so what the hell is that screaming sound flying out of the speakers...???
Listening back now, yep, it's astonishingly future-facing and unique but still definitely a work of it's time, and for lil' sponge me, an important stepping stone into the universe of potential musical lunacy. Bless 'em.
You get the idea, I hope you enjoy. Turn it up loud right from the start.
PS You may already know this artist, especially if you're from their locality, if so, hope you're up for another spin!
Drinking club? Bull's blood red wine, or a decent bourbon."
Right then. Direct download is here, stream's below...
See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1) tonight.
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