I know it is obscenely late to still be harping on about the events of 2014 (I mean, all music that happened before 31st December DIES on January 5the each year, every music-blog reader/writer knows that), but January was such a slog I literally haven’t had a chance to finish the few meagre paragraphs that comprise this post, that I was meaning to post just after completing the ‘records of the year’ run-down last month.

Before getting my shit together to move on to some actual 2015 listening then (to be honest, I usually find myself just listening to compilations and old records for the first grim few months of each year these days), time to finally close the bloody curtain on ’14 with some quick round-ups of other music stuff that pleased me during the year.

1. Live.

Amid a pretty wide variety of truly great live music I witnessed last year, the couple that stand out most strongly in my mind (not including the gig I attended in Japan, various performances by friends’ bands, my band’s own little tour etc), were, perhaps significantly, those relating to the Southern US garage-punk scene – a keen remember that those guys, collectively speaking, can still be untouchable in terms of live rock n’ roll, even they’ve arguably been slacking off a little on the “making awesome records” front in recent years.

#1 gig of 2014 then, to my surprise as much as anyone’s, was Jack Oblivian playing backed up by Memphis band The Sheiks, in a spacious and sparsely-attended Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club on an inauspicious Sunday night. What can I tell you – the group were, as the phrase goes, ‘cooking’, all ragged and good-humoured after a grueling European tour, and when they finished their allotted set and no curfew was called, they continued cooking, eventually playing for something like two hours, as the remaining attendees, last train home long abandoned, danced on past midnight. And when I say ‘danced’, I don’t mean “moshed” or "threw themselves about like drunken monkeys", I mean the people were actually dancing, to live rock n’ roll played by a well-lubricated band with a bag full of half-remembered r’n’b covers and very little idea what they’re gonna do next. If only that could happen every weekend. A really special evening.

Nearly as good were Tennessee band Natural Child, playing at the functional but always slightly dispiriting Shacklewell Arms. To keep it brief, going to this gig wasn’t my call, and I found myself feeling rather suspicious of the crowd, suspicious of the support acts, suspicious of the general vibe, suspicious of what I knew of the headliners via some quick googling. Then Natural Child walked on-stage and within ten seconds I was comfortable as a baby with a fresh bottle. What a fucking great band. If you follow my path of googling, you may find yourself unconvinced by copious weed-championing, dirty joke lyrics, some of the worst record covers of all time and a new album that sounds a little bit too much like The Eagles for comfort, but believe me – see ’em live and it will all make sense. These guys play like they were born with rock n’ roll in their bones – zero pretense, a warm, welcoming groove and a wicked good sense of humour too. Heroes to a man. (Intermittent testament to this greatness can found on their ‘1971’ LP from a couple of years back.)

Third best night out of the year was Shonen Knife, playing a short notice end-of-tour set at Café Oto. I’ve seen Shonen Knife quite a few times over the years, but this was by far the best. With the small venue, party atmos and fans-only crowd, the band seemed really comfortable, and happy to play whatever songs they felt like playing, dragging out some deep cuts and album tracks rather than relying on the same old fan favourites. The current line-up play magnificently, belting it out with the kind of world-beating, hyper-efficient positivity that does the stereotypical view of their country proud, and being able to stand right in front of them as they did so was a joy. The unusually varied set-list made for a great showcase of the strength & breadth of Naoko’s song-writing over the years, and anyone who has (perhaps understandably) written them off as a novelty cakes n’ kittens twee band really needs to check their head and hope they one day catch a set as good as this one.

Fourth best gig of the year was finally seeing Bong, playing at… what’s the name of that goth/metal pub, on a side street by Camden station..? I’ve forgotten. Seemed like a thoroughly decent place to watch bands and drink beer, anyway. I had taken some out some money with the expectation of buying a pile of obscure merch from the band, but as said merch was not forthcoming, there was only one solution: a quadruple whisky to sip as I stood front of the stage watching the band set up, and things went just swimmingly. Having built these guys up to the level of galaxy-bestriding gods in my mind, it was quite humbling to just see some young-ish, soft-spoken blokes from Newcastle quietly setting up their not-quite-as-elaborate-as-you-might-expect gear, but when they finally began…. the even-more-colossally-world-destroying-than-you-might-imagine maelstrom did the business. (Said business being an out-of-body noise-worshipping nirvana that no mere blended whisky could account for.)

Fifth and sixth best gigs of the year were the Static Shock events I wrote about here, with particular reference to the mighty Rakta (sorry – channelling Mary Anne Hobbs a bit there), and coming in at seven is the Makoto Kawabata & J. Francois Pauvros set I wrote about here. Catching Pelt in St Pancras Old Church a few months back made for an oft-challenging but ultimately rewarding number eight, pushing perennial number # 1 live act Chain & The Gang into a shocking NINTH place, even in view of them playing on the same bill as Comet Gain. Tenth? I dunno, my memory is all out at this point, but I’ve probably forgotten at least a few great things, so if you went to something unspeakably awesome and saw me there standing watching it, maybe write it in this space: _________________.



2. Comps & Reissues.

Here is a list of my eleven favourite reissues and compilations of old music from 2014. Really top year for this kinda stuff, and sadly I didn’t have the times or funds to check out even a fraction of the releases I would have liked to. I wish I’d found the time to write about all of the records below, because they are awesome, but those I did manage to squeeze out some words on are duly linked.




3. Old Records.



So, that’s it – END. 2014 is ovah! Look out for more scintillating, red hot coverage of 2015’s verdant musical marshland here whenever I can be bothered.

Labels: best of 2014, Bong, Jack Oblivian, live reviews, Natural Child, Pointless Lists Week, Shonen Knife

Pointless Lists Week # 3:
The Five Most Disappointing Records of 2010.

A counterbalance to all that damned positivity.

1. Roky Erickson & Okervill River – True Love Cast Out All Evil

”The guy from Okervill River presents manipulative, saccharine alt-country arrangements of Roky Erickson’s most boring songs, featuring vocals from Roky Erickson”, more like. Always nice to see an official Roky release on the shelves, but if you like music, download some ‘70s/’80s Aliens/Explosives bootlegs instead and send a generous donation straight to the man.

2. Jonathan Richman – Oh Moon, Queen of Night on Earth

It breaks my heart to say this, having seen Jonathan on such great form a few months back, putting across some of the songs from this record so well, but… this is really not a Jonathan Richman album that needed to exist. For the record, that’s the first time I’ve ever said that.

3. Pastels/Tenniscoats – Two Sunsets

Again, I thought they were sublime live, but what’s going on here? Self-satisfied dinner party vibes all round.

4. The Strange Boys – Be Brave

I liked their last one a lot. Dunno where they’re going with this thing, but I’m not buying a ticket.

5. oOoOO – Ooooo

Dude, Morcheeba might not have had a cool, unpronounceable witch-house name, but at least they had tunes and pleased people’s mums.

Labels: bad news, disappointment, Pointless Lists Week

Pointless Lists Week # 2:
Thirteen Old Records that I Wish I’d Had the Time to Write About during 2010.



1. Rodriquez – Cold Fact
2. Black Flag – 1982 Demos
3. J.D. Blackfoot – The Ultimate Prophesy
4. Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus & Max Roach – Money Jungle
5. Saint Vitus – Born Too Late
6. Alternative TV – The Image Has Cracked
7. Black Devil – Disco Club
8. John Cale – Fear
9. Randy Newman –Sail Away
10. The Deviants - Disposable
11. The Coup De Villes – Waiting Out The Eighties
12. The Ventures – The Ventures in Space
13. The Endtables – reissue CD on Drag City

Labels: Pointless Lists Week, Rodriquez

Pointless Lists Week # 1:
The Thirteen Best Live Performances I Witnessed in London during 2010.



1. Chain & The Gang, Cargo
2. The Ex & Brass Unbound, Tufnell Park Dome
3. Those Dancing Days at the Lexington
4. Jonathan Richman at the Amersham Arms
5. Zola Jesus at Camp Basement
6. Dick Dale at the Luminaire
7. Hard Skin at the 100 Club
8. Betty & The Werewolves, all the times I’ve seen ‘em this year
9. Calvin Johnson, what was that youth club place in Dalston called again?
10. Bracelettes at the Birds Nest, Deptford
11. Pastels & Tenniscoats at Bush Hall
12. Sylvester Anfang II at Cargo
13. Horowitz at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes
14. Best Coast at the Old Blue Last

Labels: Chain and the Gang, Ian Svenonious, live reviews, Pointless Lists Week

Wrap Up.


To prepare you for the impending tedium of this year’s Pointless Lists Week, here are a bunch of utterly redundant yet strangely satisfying statistical findings culled from my Top 40 count-down..

COUNTRIES -

USA – 25
UK – 9
Canada - 3
Australia – 2
Exciting USA/UK crossover – 1

Hmm.. bad night for the non-English speaking world. What can I say, I suck..

LABELS –

Not Not Fun – 3
Goner – 2
Sacred Bones - 2
Other small indie labels – 18
Other medium/big indie labels – 13
Self-released / no label - 2
Major labels – 0

Yay! Die lame corporate “music industry”, etc etc.

MUSIC BASED PRIMARILY AROUND GUITARS?

Yes – 30
No – 10

Y’know, I think for me this is probably a record.

SIGNIFICANT FEMALE SONGWRITING/SINGING CONTRIBUTIONS?

Yes – 19
No – 21

“Hey, that’s almost like real life!”.

HIPPY OR PUNK?

Punk – 19
Hippy – 11
Could go either way – 7
INDIE, MOTHERFUCKER – 3

I am frankly terrified by this resurgence of hippy in my contemporary music taste.

Labels: best of 2010, Pointless Lists Week

Pointless Lists Week.

#6 My Favourite Albums, 2000 – 2009, limited to one per artist.


1. Comet Gain – Realistes
2. The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree
3. Mclusky – Do Dallas
4. The Detroit Cobras – Life, Love & Leaving
5. The Exploding Hearts – Guitar Romantic
6. Silver Jews – Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
7. The Thermals – More Parts Per Million
8. Guided By Voices – Isolation Drills
9. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
10. Herman Dune – Switzerland Heritage
11. Oneida – Anthem of the Moon
12. Dead Meadow – Shivering King & Others
13. Jeffrey Lewis – Em Are I
14. Birchville Cat Motel – Our Love Will Destroy The World
15. The Caretaker – A Stairway to the Stars
16. The Heads – Under Sided
17. Help She Can’t Swim – Fashionista Super Dance Troupe
18. Mr. Airplane Man – Moanin’
19. Lift To Experience – The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads
20. Cat Power – You Are Free


Runners up (no particular order):

Melt Banana – Cellscape
Greg Ashley – Medicine Fuck Dream
The Dirtbombs – Ultraglide in Black
Vivian Girls – s/t
Those Dancing Days – s/t
Future Of The Left – Travels With Myself And Another
Robert Wyatt – Comicopera
Nodzzz – s/t
Stephen Malkmus – s/t
Holly Golightly - Down Gina's At 3
The Wave Pictures – Instant Coffee Baby
Apples in Stereo – Velocity of Sound
Mastodon – Leviathan
Electrelane – Rock It To The Moon
The Buff Medways - Steady The Buffs
Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabete – In the Heart of the Moon
Helen Love – Love & Glitter, Hot Days & Music
Slumber Party – s/t
Charalambides – Joy Shapes
Grant – Something to Believe In
Party of One – Caught the Blast
Le Tigre – s/t
Ikara Colt – Chat & Business
Comets On Fire - Blue Cathedral
Animal Collective – Spirit They’ve Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished
The Micragirls - Feeling Dizzy Honey
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Madonna
Vibracathedral Orchestra – Hex Hostess
Hang On The Box – For Every Punk Bitch & Asshole
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Horse of the Dog
Pelt – An Empty Bell Ringing in the Sky
The Loves - Love
Todd – first EP
Hotpants Romance - It's A Heatwave
Sunn 0))) – White One
Carla Bozulich – The Red Headed Stranger
Jennifer Gentle – Valende
The Boredoms – VisionCreationNewSun
Nile – In Their Darkened Shrines
Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
David Thomas Broughton & 7 Hertz
Weird War – If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Bite ‘Em
Tinariwen - Amassakoul
Double Leopards – Halve Mean
Fursaxa – Mandrake
The 5678s – Teenage Mojo Workout
The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
Anaal Nathrakh – The Codex Necro


Well I’m bloody glad I got that out of the way.

Proper, non-list based content returning imminently!

Labels: best of the 2000s, Comet Gain, Pointless Lists Week

Pointless Lists Week.

#5 Five Musicians With Pleasant And Reassuring Names.


1. Monty Buckles (singer/guitarist, Lamps)
2. Mornington Lockett (British saxophonist)
3. Cecil McBee (jazz bassist – Alice Coltrane, etc.)
4. Smokey Hornell (session guitarist)
5. Fats Domino (Fats Domino!)

Labels: goofery, Lamps, names, Pointless Lists Week

Pointless Lists Week.

#4 The Five Bands Whom I Own The Most Music By, according to iTunes.


1.The Velvet Underground (29 albums; 251 songs; 2.09GB)
2. Guided by Voices / Robert Pollard (36 albums; 592 songs; 2GB)
3. Sonic Youth (26 albums; 262 songs; 1.43GB)
4.The Mountain Goats (31 albums; 354 songs; 1.29GB)
5. Neil Young / Crazy Horse (26 albums; 221 songs; 1.20GB)

Labels: Pointless Lists Week, The Velvet Underground

Pointless Lists Week.

#3 Eight Amazing Songs by The Embarrassment.


1.After the Disco
(“I heard a noise coming from next door... made me jump around real funny..”)
2.Dino in the Congo
(“DAMN the driver of our truck, but we were in a hurry!”)
3.Celebrity Art Party
(“...there goes Art Carney again..”)
4.Age Five
(“Austere Buster preached, and fit the world he preached..”)
5.Patio Set
(“You were my favourite mon chere, my one and only lawn chair..”)
6.Chapter 12
(“There’s been sex twice / one child, one price..”)
7.Woods of Love
(“Well that’s what I think..”)
8.Two Week Vacation
(“Who knows what the next life brings / I’m a person, I know things!”)

The Embarrassment double CD retrospective “Heyday: 1979-83” holds 44 such songs. SOMEONE REISSUE IT NOW!

Labels: Pointless Lists Week, REISSUE NOW, The Embarrassment

Pointless Lists Week.

#2: Six movie soundtracks, beyond the obvious ones, that you should, like, totally check out:



1. Danger: Diabolik! (Ennio Morricone)
2. The Shuttered Room (Basil Kirchen)
3. A Lift To The Scaffold (Miles Davis)
4. The Holy Mountain (Don Cherry, et al.)
5. Il Grande Silenzio (Ennio Morricone)
6. The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (Nora Orlandi)

Labels: Basil Kirchen, Don Cherry, Ennio Morricone, film, Miles Davis, Pointless Lists Week, soundtracks

Pointless Lists Week.

#1: The Beatles, in order:


1. Ringo
2. George
3. Yoko
4. Paul
5. John

Labels: Pointless Lists Week, The Beatles