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100 Articles

IT’S hard to know quite where to start with this month’s issue of Uncut . Do we talk, first, about our wonderful free CD – a 17-track collection of bespoke covers of Wilco songs? Masterminded by Jeff Tweedy himself, this includes splendid reinterpretations of classic Wilco tracks, deep cuts and rarities by the likes of Low, Courtney Barnett, Cate Le Bon, Ryley Walker, Kurt Vile and Sharon Van Etten. When Tweedy first proposed this idea to us, we were understandably delighted – but I don’t think any of us who’ve watched this project develop quite expected it to turn out as astonishingly as this. Or, perhaps, we should talk about our world-exclusive interview with Jimmy Page? Those readers with long memories will hopefully remember Jon Wilde’s exhaustive career retrospective with…

IT’S hard to know quite where to start with this month’s issue of Uncut . Do we talk, first, about our wonderful free CD – a 17-track collection of bespoke covers of Wilco songs? Masterminded by Jeff Tweedy himself, this includes splendid reinterpretations of classic Wilco tracks, deep cuts and rarities by the likes of Low, Courtney Barnett, Cate Le Bon, Ryley Walker, Kurt Vile and Sharon Van Etten. When Tweedy first proposed this idea to us, we were understandably delighted – but I don’t think any of us who’ve watched this project develop quite expected it to turn out as astonishingly as this. Or, perhaps, we should talk about our world-exclusive interview with Jimmy Page? Those readers with long memories will hopefully remember Jon Wilde’s exhaustive career retrospective with Paul…

Exhibition rock!

WHEN putting together November’s exhibition at the Museum Of London to celebrate 40 years of London Calling, curator Robert Gordon McHarg III had access to the impressive archives of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon as well as those of photographer Pennie Smith and designer Ray Lowry. But despite all that, Gordon says his most prized items might be the solitary objects from drummer Topper Headon. “Those two drumsticks are the crown jewels,” he says. “I would have thought Topper’s boppers would be everywhere, but those are really rare, nobody has them. We only have these two because his mum kept them.” Gordon previously worked on an excellent pop-up Clash exhibition in Soho in 2013 called Black Market Clash as well as the recent Strummer boxset 001, so he…

Exhibition rock!

Exhibition rock!

WHEN putting together November’s exhibition at the Museum Of London to celebrate 40 years of London Calling, curator Robert Gordon McHarg III had access to the impressive archives of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon as well as those of photographer Pennie Smith and designer Ray Lowry. But despite all that, Gordon says his most prized items might be the solitary objects from drummer Topper Headon. “Those two drumsticks are the crown jewels,” he says. “I would have thought Topper’s boppers would be everywhere, but those are really rare, nobody has them. We only have these two because his mum kept them.” Gordon previously worked on an excellent pop-up Clash exhibition in Soho in 2013 called Black Market Clash as well as the recent Strummer boxset 001, so he was…

Exhibition rock!

“Portraiture and disorder”

WHEN Nick Cave heard that Greek artist Stefanos Rokos wanted to make a series of paintings inspired by every song on the 2001 Bad Seeds album No More Shall We Part , he was, to say the least, sceptical. Fourteen paintings, two exhibitions and one book later, Cave is a confirmed fan. “Stefanos was one of those peripheral noisemakers that become the bane of us songwriters, who always want to do something with our work,” says Cave. “However, over the years, and many plates of octopus later, I watched him develop a series of paintings that I find to be truly extraordinary and quite unforgettable. He is a wonderful artist and has become a dear friend.” The 14 richly detailed paintings, made from watercolour, acrylic and pencils on cotton paper, can be…

“Portraiture and disorder”

“Portraiture and disorder”

WHEN Nick Cave heard that Greek artist Stefanos Rokos wanted to make a series of paintings inspired by every song on the 2001 Bad Seeds album No More Shall We Part , he was, to say the least, sceptical. Fourteen paintings, two exhibitions and one book later, Cave is a confirmed fan. “Stefanos was one of those peripheral noisemakers that become the bane of us songwriters, who always want to do something with our work,” says Cave. “However, over the years, and many plates of octopus later, I watched him develop a series of paintings that I find to be truly extraordinary and quite unforgettable. He is a wonderful artist and has become a dear friend.” The 14 richly detailed paintings, made from watercolour, acrylic and pencils on cotton paper,…

“Portraiture and disorder”

Man in the radiator

WHEN David Lynch met Devo in 1977 at the director’s favourite LA diner Bob’s Big Boy, they were all there for the most experienced artist present, Peter Ivers. Devo had loved his Eraserhead song “In Heaven” and wished to cover it. Apparently crooned eerily by the film’s Radiator Lady, her androgynously high voice is in fact Ivers’ own, as he sings, with deadpan naivety: “In heaven, everything is fine/You’ve got your good thing, and I’ve got mine.” Ivers was a part-time martial artist, apocalypse-fixated yogi and industrious singer-songwriter, whose fourth and final flop album had been released in 1976, when he was 30. Though signed to Warner by Van Dyke Parks and dubbed “the finest blues harp player alive” by Muddy Waters, he’s remembered today for two things: “In Heaven”, and…

Man in the radiator

Man in the radiator

WHEN David Lynch met Devo in 1977 at the director’s favourite LA diner Bob’s Big Boy, they were all there for the most experienced artist present, Peter Ivers. Devo had loved his Eraserhead song “In Heaven” and wished to cover it. Apparently crooned eerily by the film’s Radiator Lady, her androgynously high voice is in fact Ivers’ own, as he sings, with deadpan naivety: “In heaven, everything is fine/You’ve got your good thing, and I’ve got mine.” Ivers was a part-time martial artist, apocalypse-fixated yogi and industrious singer-songwriter, whose fourth and final flop album had been released in 1976, when he was 30. Though signed to Warner by Van Dyke Parks and dubbed “the finest blues harp player alive” by Muddy Waters, he’s remembered today for two things: “In Heaven”,…

Man in the radiator

Hill country blues

“IT was a perfect Sunday afternoon that rolled into the evening,” Luther Dickinson recalls of the day Wyatt McSpadden came to North Mississippi in 1996. The Texan photographer had arrived to take pictures of local musicians. Singer-guitarist Dickinson, along with his drummer brother Cody, took it upon themselves to act as guides, introducing him to blues greats RL Burnside, Otha Turner and Junior Kimbrough. “Everybody was just hanging out, playing music,” says Luther, who’d recently formed North Mississippi Allstars with Cody. “We all ended up at Junior’s juke joint.” McSpadden shared a few images with the Dickinsons, but forgot about the rest until he tracked Luther down in 2017. “Wyatt showed me all these photos and they blew my mind. We decided to make music to accompany them, in a…

Hill country blues

Hill country blues

“IT was a perfect Sunday afternoon that rolled into the evening,” Luther Dickinson recalls of the day Wyatt McSpadden came to North Mississippi in 1996. The Texan photographer had arrived to take pictures of local musicians. Singer-guitarist Dickinson, along with his drummer brother Cody, took it upon themselves to act as guides, introducing him to blues greats RL Burnside, Otha Turner and Junior Kimbrough. “Everybody was just hanging out, playing music,” says Luther, who’d recently formed North Mississippi Allstars with Cody. “We all ended up at Junior’s juke joint.” McSpadden shared a few images with the Dickinsons, but forgot about the rest until he tracked Luther down in 2017. “Wyatt showed me all these photos and they blew my mind. We decided to make music to accompany them, in a fantasy…

Hill country blues

It’s a very, very, very fine mag: Uncut’s latest Ultimate Music Guide, in UK shops now, celebrates 50 turbulent, harmonious years of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Expect classic archive interviews and deep new appreciations of their recorded work, both together and apart… Following on September 27 is the latest in our Ultimate Record Collection series, this time covering 1975-79. Wisdom from Lee “Scratch” Perry! In the studio with Wire! And of course, nods to over 600 essential albums… The 63rd BFI London Film Festival on October 2–13 boasts an impressive lineup of music docs, including Miles Davis: Birth Of The Cool, My Friend Fela, Ronnie Wood’s Somebody Up There Likes Me and Mystify, about Michael Hutchence. There’s also Springsteen’s Western Stars and This Is Not Berlin, a coming-of-age feature…

It’s a very, very, very fine mag: Uncut’s latest Ultimate Music Guide, in UK shops now, celebrates 50 turbulent, harmonious years of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Expect classic archive interviews and deep new appreciations of their recorded work, both together and apart… Following on September 27 is the latest in our Ultimate Record Collection series, this time covering 1975-79. Wisdom from Lee “Scratch” Perry! In the studio with Wire! And of course, nods to over 600 essential albums… The 63rd BFI London Film Festival on October 2–13 boasts an impressive lineup of music docs, including Miles Davis: Birth Of The Cool, My Friend Fela, Ronnie Wood’s Somebody Up There Likes Me and Mystify, about Michael Hutchence. There’s also Springsteen’s Western Stars and This Is Not Berlin, a coming-of-age feature set…

THE artist Jean Arp, the astronomer Halton Arp and the synthesiser manufacturer ARP: when you name your musical act after three pioneers of the 20th century, there’s a lot to live up to. Fortunately, the American voyager Alexis Georgopoulos is in no particular hurry to prove himself. His ever-evolving Arp project has been a going concern since 2007, carefully joining the dots between electronic minimalism, Balearic pop and German kosmische, but it is only since his fourth album, last year’s lushly realised Zebra, that he seems at all content with his work. “Zebra felt like a true beginning for me,” the 45-year-old tells Uncut over the phone from Milan, slightly jetlagged having flown in from in New York, where he lives, to start his Italian summer holiday. “I have mixed feelings…

THE artist Jean Arp, the astronomer Halton Arp and the synthesiser manufacturer ARP: when you name your musical act after three pioneers of the 20th century, there’s a lot to live up to. Fortunately, the American voyager Alexis Georgopoulos is in no particular hurry to prove himself. His ever-evolving Arp project has been a going concern since 2007, carefully joining the dots between electronic minimalism, Balearic pop and German kosmische, but it is only since his fourth album, last year’s lushly realised Zebra, that he seems at all content with his work. “Zebra felt like a true beginning for me,” the 45-year-old tells Uncut over the phone from Milan, slightly jetlagged having flown in from in New York, where he lives, to start his Italian summer holiday. “I have mixed…

THE COMET IS COMING The Afterlife IMPULSE! Headier companion mini-LP to March’s Trust In The Life Force Of The Deep Mystery, Joshua Idehen in the Kate Tempest role of fervid soothsayer. LANA DEL REY Norman Fucking Rockwell! POLYDOR Sharper songs, sumptuous arrangements and plenty of “24/7 Sylvia Plath” on her most gripping exploration of heroically doomed romance to date. TINDERSTICKS No Treasure But Hope CITY SLANG Veteran miseryguts find something approaching tranquility in an elegant new collection of waltzes, lullabies… and even an unconditional love song. TOM CARUANA Inner Space TEA SEA Can I kick it? Czukay and co’s antsy rhythms masterfully diced and spliced with rap a cappellas from the likes of MF Doom, Pharoahe Monch and Run The Jewels. ITASCA Spring PARADISE OF BACHELORS Fourth album of sublime spectral folk from Kayla Cohen, conceived in the canyons and pueblos of New Mexico…

THE COMET IS COMING The Afterlife IMPULSE! Headier companion mini-LP to March’s Trust In The Life Force Of The Deep Mystery, Joshua Idehen in the Kate Tempest role of fervid soothsayer. LANA DEL REY Norman Fucking Rockwell! POLYDOR Sharper songs, sumptuous arrangements and plenty of “24/7 Sylvia Plath” on her most gripping exploration of heroically doomed romance to date. TINDERSTICKS No Treasure But Hope CITY SLANG Veteran miseryguts find something approaching tranquility in an elegant new collection of waltzes, lullabies… and even an unconditional love song. TOM CARUANA Inner Space TEA SEA Can I kick it? Czukay and co’s antsy rhythms masterfully diced and spliced with rap a cappellas from the likes of MF Doom, Pharoahe Monch and Run The Jewels. ITASCA Spring PARADISE OF BACHELORS Fourth album of sublime…

“I was pretty bad at being a pop star” AN AUDIENCE WITH BRUCE HORNSBY

“I’ve never been the vehicle for your stroll down memory lane” SITTING in his hotel room in Denver, Bruce Hornsby is wryly pondering his current predicament. His latest album, Absolute Zero , has re-established him as a creative force – inspired by Don DeLillo and Steve Reich, it artfully combines the resonant, piano-led heartland rock of his 1980s heyday with spry neoclassical arrangements, jazz-funk and avant-garde flourishes, sometimes ending up not a million miles from the rousing, deconstructed anthems of his famous disciple Justin Vernon (who also guests on two tracks). Yet Hornsby is still being booked to play the kind of civic festivals where vintage rockers are expected to boost the profits of local breweries by smiling politely and playing the hits. “Who knows what they’re gonna think when I start…

“I was pretty bad at being a pop star” AN AUDIENCE WITH BRUCE HORNSBY

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE

Colorado REPRISE ALBUM OF THE MONTH 8/10 T’S now seven years since Psychedelic Pill, Young’s last album with Crazy Horse, a hiatus during which Young has cycled at speed through a number of albums that have often felt like haphazard reports from a restless, hyperactive mind. There has been a no-fi collection of cover versions, an orchestral album, two rangy records with Promise Of The Real, a shaggy solo outing and a film soundtrack; not to mention several retrospective endeavours that have offered tantalising glimpses of the long-anticipated Archives 2 motherlode. One of the greater pleasures in this occasionally exasperating flurry of activity has been the return of the doughty Crazy Horse, reconvened first for live dates last May, with Nils Lofgren replacing a now retired Poncho Sampedro. Fortuitously, the persistent, heroic sense…

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE

“I was pretty bad at being a pop star” AN AUDIENCE WITH BRUCE HORNSBY

“I’ve never been the vehicle for your stroll down memory lane” SITTING in his hotel room in Denver, Bruce Hornsby is wryly pondering his current predicament. His latest album, Absolute Zero , has re-established him as a creative force – inspired by Don DeLillo and Steve Reich, it artfully combines the resonant, piano-led heartland rock of his 1980s heyday with spry neoclassical arrangements, jazz-funk and avant-garde flourishes, sometimes ending up not a million miles from the rousing, deconstructed anthems of his famous disciple Justin Vernon (who also guests on two tracks). Yet Hornsby is still being booked to play the kind of civic festivals where vintage rockers are expected to boost the profits of local breweries by smiling politely and playing the hits. “Who knows what they’re gonna think when…

“I was pretty bad at being a pop star” AN AUDIENCE WITH BRUCE HORNSBY

NILS, DON’T GO

After The Goldrush REPRISE, 1970 Lofgren made his recording debut at the tender age of 18. He played piano and acoustic guitar on Young’s Topanga classic: “I was the kid who tagged along!” he says now. “Tell Me Why” finds Lofgren and Young joined by Crazy Horse on backing vocals – the first time the grouping are credited together. The following year, Crazy Horse put out their solo debut – with Lofgren on board. Tonight’s The Night REPRISE, 1975 Convened after the deaths of Crazy Horse’s Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry, this grouping – the Santa Monica Flyers – featured Lofgren, Molina and Talbot. Of the sessions, Lofgren says: “We’d sit around, shoot pool, have tequila, sketch out four of five songs. Then we’d go perform. David [Briggs] and Neil would say, ‘We don’t…

Nils Lofgren “It was a bunch of old friends… rediscovering what they’ve always had”

HOW is it, being back with Crazy Horse? They’re probably my oldest musical family. Fifty years ago in May, I walked in on them at the Cellar Door. We made friends. I made the first definitive Crazy Horse album with Danny Whitten, with Jack Nitzsche producing. It was an amazing thing and we’ve had some great chapters ever since. And here we are! “We jumped into it with all the craziness and technical glitches and got used to playing as live as we could” When was the idea of Crazy Horse recording a new album first mooted? This February, we did two shows in Winnipeg. We had what we called the Polar Vortex – the whole country was being slammed with ice and snow. Ralphie and I went to Billy’s house in…

Nils Lofgren “It was a bunch of old friends… rediscovering what they’ve always had”

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE

Colorado REPRISE ALBUM OF THE MONTH 8/10 T’S now seven years since Psychedelic Pill, Young’s last album with Crazy Horse, a hiatus during which Young has cycled at speed through a number of albums that have often felt like haphazard reports from a restless, hyperactive mind. There has been a no-fi collection of cover versions, an orchestral album, two rangy records with Promise Of The Real, a shaggy solo outing and a film soundtrack; not to mention several retrospective endeavours that have offered tantalising glimpses of the long-anticipated Archives 2 motherlode. One of the greater pleasures in this occasionally exasperating flurry of activity has been the return of the doughty Crazy Horse, reconvened first for live dates last May, with Nils Lofgren replacing a now retired Poncho Sampedro. Fortuitously, the…

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE

2020 WEIRD WORLD 9/10 LAST time we came face to face with Richard Dawson, he was adrift in ancient Britain. The Newcastle singer-songwriter’s fifth album, Peasant, was set in Bryneich, a Middle Ages kingdom that stretched between Scotland and the River Tyne somewhere around the 6th century AD. These were faraway times, barely documented in the written word, so on the surface his new album 2020 – which is very much a record of the here and now – should feel like a world apart. Yet there’s something about the way that Dawson writes – in a vivid first-person style, full of grit and vigour – that gives his music a consistent thread, and roots it in something very human. 2020 is, without a doubt, Dawson’s most direct album to date. Entirely self-played…

Like much of your work, 2020 is written in the first person. How much of what we hear here is autobiography, and how much is character sketches – real or imagined? It’s not autobiography, and it’s not sketches. The people in the songs feel very real to me. Of course I learned a lot from my own experiences and my friends and family and lots of people I’ve talked to in different situations, but - and I realise this might sound like a way of distancing or deflecting, or a symptom of strange mental weather - but to me the people in the songs are real. My experience is that music is revealed and not made.... and so it’s important to honour that and follow where they and the music wants…

NILS, DON’T GO

After The Goldrush REPRISE, 1970 Lofgren made his recording debut at the tender age of 18. He played piano and acoustic guitar on Young’s Topanga classic: “I was the kid who tagged along!” he says now. “Tell Me Why” finds Lofgren and Young joined by Crazy Horse on backing vocals – the first time the grouping are credited together. The following year, Crazy Horse put out their solo debut – with Lofgren on board. Tonight’s The Night REPRISE, 1975 Convened after the deaths of Crazy Horse’s Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry, this grouping – the Santa Monica Flyers – featured Lofgren, Molina and Talbot. Of the sessions, Lofgren says: “We’d sit around, shoot pool, have tequila, sketch out four of five songs. Then we’d go perform. David [Briggs] and…

Nils Lofgren “It was a bunch of old friends… rediscovering what they’ve always had”

HOW is it, being back with Crazy Horse? They’re probably my oldest musical family. Fifty years ago in May, I walked in on them at the Cellar Door. We made friends. I made the first definitive Crazy Horse album with Danny Whitten, with Jack Nitzsche producing. It was an amazing thing and we’ve had some great chapters ever since. And here we are! “We jumped into it with all the craziness and technical glitches and got used to playing as live as we could” When was the idea of Crazy Horse recording a new album first mooted? This February, we did two shows in Winnipeg. We had what we called the Polar Vortex – the whole country was being slammed with ice and snow. Ralphie and I went to Billy’s…

Nils Lofgren “It was a bunch of old friends… rediscovering what they’ve always had”

ALLAH LAS Lahs MEXICAN SUMMER 7/10 Not as far from home as they hoped, but no matter The stated aim of Lahs was to gaze outward from Allah Las’ base of Los Angeles, which they had profitably mined on three fine previous albums. Measured by that intention, Lahs must be considered something of a dud. It could not have come from anywhere but LA, clearly being a record by native speakers of the dialect of The Doors, The Byrds and Love. But even if Lahs isn’t quite the album Allah-Las believed they were making, it’s still a minor marvel. There’s a glorious stoned languor to “Spaced” and “Polar Onion”, and “Prazer Em Te Conhecer” is Bakersfield country via Brazilian samba-pop. An album for which sunglasses feel strangely necessary. ANDREW MUELLER KENDRA AMALIE Intuition BEYOND BEYOND IS…

2020 WEIRD WORLD 9/10 LAST time we came face to face with Richard Dawson, he was adrift in ancient Britain. The Newcastle singer-songwriter’s fifth album, Peasant, was set in Bryneich, a Middle Ages kingdom that stretched between Scotland and the River Tyne somewhere around the 6th century AD. These were faraway times, barely documented in the written word, so on the surface his new album 2020 – which is very much a record of the here and now – should feel like a world apart. Yet there’s something about the way that Dawson writes – in a vivid first-person style, full of grit and vigour – that gives his music a consistent thread, and roots it in something very human. 2020 is, without a doubt, Dawson’s most direct album to…

Comet Gain have always been political, but on Fireraisers Forever! , they’ve upped the ante – it’s a fearsomely visceral response to our collective socio-political malaise. “The context has shifted,” singer, songwriter and guitarist David Feck agrees, “but the overall feeling hasn’t… It’s only become more focused and necessary to at least feel like there is some kind of positive reaction to the dismantling of all that keeps us decent and ‘human’. “Trump, Bolsonaro and the Tories and all the other creeps and minions and hidden generals of hate and dismay have upped the game, so the focus has been made sharper,” he continues, reflecting on the motivation behind Fireraisers! “A lot of it is about changing the minds of as many of the people who have fallen for the bullshit,…

Like much of your work, 2020 is written in the first person. How much of what we hear here is autobiography, and how much is character sketches – real or imagined? It’s not autobiography, and it’s not sketches. The people in the songs feel very real to me. Of course I learned a lot from my own experiences and my friends and family and lots of people I’ve talked to in different situations, but - and I realise this might sound like a way of distancing or deflecting, or a symptom of strange mental weather - but to me the people in the songs are real. My experience is that music is revealed and not made.... and so it’s important to honour that and follow where they and the music…

Carrying On NEW WEST 8/10 IF there’s one song on the new album from Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum that speaks to life’s rhythm – something of a preoccupation in folk and country music – it’s “Providence Place”. Employing effortless vocal harmonies and an elegant swing, the cousins paint a tender portrait of an elderly musician hanging up a fiddle on the wall and laying a mandolin in its case, ready for the move into a care home – very likely the same centre in Moose Jaw, south Saskatchewan, where the teenage Kacy & Clayton used to play a regular Sunday evening set. The emotional force of the song lies in its unsentimental acknowledgement that all things must pass, but that there’s real comfort in longstanding friendships and shared pleasures – making…

ALLAH LAS Lahs MEXICAN SUMMER 7/10 Not as far from home as they hoped, but no matter The stated aim of Lahs was to gaze outward from Allah Las’ base of Los Angeles, which they had profitably mined on three fine previous albums. Measured by that intention, Lahs must be considered something of a dud. It could not have come from anywhere but LA, clearly being a record by native speakers of the dialect of The Doors, The Byrds and Love. But even if Lahs isn’t quite the album Allah-Las believed they were making, it’s still a minor marvel. There’s a glorious stoned languor to “Spaced” and “Polar Onion”, and “Prazer Em Te Conhecer” is Bakersfield country via Brazilian samba-pop. An album for which sunglasses feel strangely necessary. ANDREW MUELLER…

What’s your relationship with Jeff Tweedy like? He’s a busy man in high demand so it’s encouraging to have him in the room focusing intently on our songs and performances. There’s no ego coming from Jeff at all and the people around him possess the same modest nature. The environment at The Loft is so dialled in you can’t not want to make your best music with and for your friends. The LP has a sadness that stems from belonging to a place/community… Yes, but I think we’ve always written songs in that way. I’m a sentimental person and as a child I grieved people I’d never met because the stories about them were so well told. I was 12 when I wrote a song about an old cowboy who had to quit…

1 The Forty-Ninth Parallel 2 Carrying On 3 High Holiday 4 In A Time Of Doubt 5 Intervention 6 Mom And Dad’s Waltz #2 7 Providence Place 8 The South Saskatchewan River 9 Spare Me Over One More Year 10 That Sweet Orchestra Sound Produced by: Jeff Tweedy Recorded at: The Loft, Chicago Personnel: Kacy Anderson (vocals, guitars, Therevox synth), Clayton Linthicum (vocals, guitars, piano, autoharp, wind-powered organ), Andy Beisel (bass guitar), Mike Silverman (drums, percussion), Charlie McCoy (bass harmonica on “High Holiday” and “That Sweet Orchestra Sound”), Sima Cunningham (vocals on “Mom And Dad’s Waltz #2”)…

Comet Gain have always been political, but on Fireraisers Forever! , they’ve upped the ante – it’s a fearsomely visceral response to our collective socio-political malaise. “The context has shifted,” singer, songwriter and guitarist David Feck agrees, “but the overall feeling hasn’t… It’s only become more focused and necessary to at least feel like there is some kind of positive reaction to the dismantling of all that keeps us decent and ‘human’. “Trump, Bolsonaro and the Tories and all the other creeps and minions and hidden generals of hate and dismay have upped the game, so the focus has been made sharper,” he continues, reflecting on the motivation behind Fireraisers! “A lot of it is about changing the minds of as many of the people who have fallen for the…

Carrying On NEW WEST 8/10 IF there’s one song on the new album from Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum that speaks to life’s rhythm – something of a preoccupation in folk and country music – it’s “Providence Place”. Employing effortless vocal harmonies and an elegant swing, the cousins paint a tender portrait of an elderly musician hanging up a fiddle on the wall and laying a mandolin in its case, ready for the move into a care home – very likely the same centre in Moose Jaw, south Saskatchewan, where the teenage Kacy & Clayton used to play a regular Sunday evening set. The emotional force of the song lies in its unsentimental acknowledgement that all things must pass, but that there’s real comfort in longstanding friendships and shared pleasures…

AMERICANA ROUND-UP

Much admired by fellow Canadians Ron Sexsmith and Doug Paisley, kindred spirit Jerry Leger returns in November with Time Out For Tomorrow, produced by Cowboy Junkies’ Michael Timmins. It’s the third consecutive album that Timmins has overseen for Leger, backed by regular band The Situation, on the Junkies’ own Latent label. Occupying a space between folk grooves and rootsy blues, coloured by pithy lyrical observations, Leger’s two somewhat unlikely touchstones were Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby and Nick Lowe’s The Impossible Bird. Later that month, a whole cadre of names pay tribute to Tom Waits on Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits DUALTONE. Rosanne Cash, Aimee Mann, Patty Griffin, Phoebe Bridgers, Corinne Bailey Rae and Courtney Marie Andrews are among those involved. Producer Warren Zanes says that…

AMERICANA ROUND-UP

What’s your relationship with Jeff Tweedy like? He’s a busy man in high demand so it’s encouraging to have him in the room focusing intently on our songs and performances. There’s no ego coming from Jeff at all and the people around him possess the same modest nature. The environment at The Loft is so dialled in you can’t not want to make your best music with and for your friends. The LP has a sadness that stems from belonging to a place/community… Yes, but I think we’ve always written songs in that way. I’m a sentimental person and as a child I grieved people I’d never met because the stories about them were so well told. I was 12 when I wrote a song about an old cowboy who…

KELSEY WALDON White Noise/White Lines OH BOY/THIRTY TIGERS 8/10 Captivating breakthrough effort from Nashville’s newest Kentucky queen KELSEY WALDON recorded her first self-released album, Anchor In The Valley, in 2010. A small handful of others have since followed, mostly going unnoticed outside of her adopted Nashville, but her recent signing to John Prine’s Oh Boy label (the first artist to do so in 15 years) has finally created the buzz that her talent so richly deserves. White Noise/White Lines is a compelling showcase for both her admirable songwriting skills and, as Prine puts it, “one of the more authentic country voices I’ve heard in a long time”. Anyone looking for a handy primer as to Waldon’s back story should head directly to “Kentucky, 1988”, a condensed piece of autobiography that serves as her own Coal…

“Like most of the country I feel I’ve had the stuffing knocked out of me, so it couldn’t be another uplifting album,” Guy Garvey says of Elbow’s darkest record to date. As if the tragedy of Grenfell Tower – “the starkest example of injustice I’ve seen in my lifetime” – and the hateful xenophobia unleashed by Brexit weren’t enough to fill his songwriting with a sense of doom, Elbow’s frontman suffered three personal tragedies while Giants Of All Sizes was in the making. First he lost his father, then Jan Oldenberg and Scott Alexander, two longstanding Manchester friends of the band, both died unexpectedly at the end of 2018. “I delivered two eulogies and carried two coffins in eight days,” Garvey says. “What is the point of uplifting songs in…

1 The Forty-Ninth Parallel 2 Carrying On 3 High Holiday 4 In A Time Of Doubt 5 Intervention 6 Mom And Dad’s Waltz #2 7 Providence Place 8 The South Saskatchewan River 9 Spare Me Over One More Year 10 That Sweet Orchestra Sound Produced by: Jeff Tweedy Recorded at: The Loft, Chicago Personnel: Kacy Anderson (vocals, guitars, Therevox synth), Clayton Linthicum (vocals, guitars, piano, autoharp, wind-powered organ), Andy Beisel (bass guitar), Mike Silverman (drums, percussion), Charlie McCoy (bass harmonica on “High Holiday” and “That Sweet Orchestra Sound”), Sima Cunningham (vocals on “Mom And Dad’s Waltz #2”)…

Michael Kiwanuka “Racial inequality, self-acceptance and self-care are huge topics on this album for me” How does the new album resemble Love & Hate , and how does it differ? This album definitely carries on from where I left off. The sonic palette I’m still influenced by [includes] emotive string sessions and expansive textures, and I still love fuzzed-out, buzzy guitar lines. For me, the difference between this album and the last one is the lyrical content and [a desire] to go deeper in creating a vivid world sonically and musically. Racial inequality, self-acceptance and self-care are huge topics on this album for me. What do your collaborators contribute? Brian and Inflo bring so much creativity and expertise to the projects, musically and conceptually. They really guide me through the process of making an…

KELSEY WALDON White Noise/White Lines OH BOY/THIRTY TIGERS 8/10 Captivating breakthrough effort from Nashville’s newest Kentucky queen KELSEY WALDON recorded her first self-released album, Anchor In The Valley, in 2010. A small handful of others have since followed, mostly going unnoticed outside of her adopted Nashville, but her recent signing to John Prine’s Oh Boy label (the first artist to do so in 15 years) has finally created the buzz that her talent so richly deserves. White Noise/White Lines is a compelling showcase for both her admirable songwriting skills and, as Prine puts it, “one of the more authentic country voices I’ve heard in a long time”. Anyone looking for a handy primer as to Waldon’s back story should head directly to “Kentucky, 1988”, a condensed piece of autobiography that…

1 You Ain’t The Problem 2 Rolling 3 I’ve Been Dazed 4 Piano Joint (This Kind of Love) Intro 5 Piano Joint (This Kind of Love) 6 Another Human Being (Interlude) 7 Living In Denial 8 Hero(intro) 9 Hero 10 Hard to Say Goodbye 11 Final Days 12 Interlude (Loving the People) 13 Solid Ground 14 Light Produced by: Danger Mouse & Inflo Personnel: Michael Kiwanuka (vocals, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion, Prophet synthesizer, Hammond organ, piano), Inflo (drums, electric guitar, piano, organ, synthesizer, programming, percussion, background vocals), Danger Mouse (electric guitar, keyboards, programming, percussion, tambourine), Kadeem Clarke (piano, synthesizer, Wurlitzer), Rosie Danvers (string arrangements), Jean Kelly (harp), Graham Godfrey (percussion), Nathan Allen (percussion), Chloe Vincent (flute on “Hard To Say Goodbye”), George Hogg (trumpet on “Hard To Say Goodbye”), Jasmine Muhammed, Saundra Williams, Alecia Chakour, James Casey, Paul Boldeau, Yolanda Greaves and LaDonna…

AMERICANA ROUND-UP

Much admired by fellow Canadians Ron Sexsmith and Doug Paisley, kindred spirit Jerry Leger returns in November with Time Out For Tomorrow, produced by Cowboy Junkies’ Michael Timmins. It’s the third consecutive album that Timmins has overseen for Leger, backed by regular band The Situation, on the Junkies’ own Latent label. Occupying a space between folk grooves and rootsy blues, coloured by pithy lyrical observations, Leger’s two somewhat unlikely touchstones were Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby and Nick Lowe’s The Impossible Bird. Later that month, a whole cadre of names pay tribute to Tom Waits on Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits DUALTONE. Rosanne Cash, Aimee Mann, Patty Griffin, Phoebe Bridgers, Corinne Bailey Rae and Courtney Marie Andrews are among those involved. Producer Warren Zanes says that…

AMERICANA ROUND-UP

MICHAEL KIWANUKA

Kiwanuka POLYDOR 9/10 LOVE & Hate, Michael Kiwanuka’s 2016 breakthrough and UK chart-topper, was the result of a uniquely inspired collaboration that teamed the London-based singer-songwriter with two fellow polymaths: studio auteur/music scholar Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton and emerging hip-hop producer/multi-instrumentalist Inflo. Together, they built the tracks playing a variety of instruments, surrounding Kiwanuka’s strikingly soulful vocals and evocative guitar work with strings and female backing chorales. The LP’s centrepiece, “Black Man In A White World”, was Kiwanuka’s finest song to that point, while in the US, he went from virtual unknown to artist on the rise when “Cold Little Heart”’s captivating hook was used as the theme of HBO drama Big Little Lies. The songwriter and his two cohorts were delighted by what they’d achieved, Kiwanuka calling Love & Hate “perfect –…

MICHAEL KIWANUKA

“Like most of the country I feel I’ve had the stuffing knocked out of me, so it couldn’t be another uplifting album,” Guy Garvey says of Elbow’s darkest record to date. As if the tragedy of Grenfell Tower – “the starkest example of injustice I’ve seen in my lifetime” – and the hateful xenophobia unleashed by Brexit weren’t enough to fill his songwriting with a sense of doom, Elbow’s frontman suffered three personal tragedies while Giants Of All Sizes was in the making. First he lost his father, then Jan Oldenberg and Scott Alexander, two longstanding Manchester friends of the band, both died unexpectedly at the end of 2018. “I delivered two eulogies and carried two coffins in eight days,” Garvey says. “What is the point of uplifting songs in…

MICHAEL KIWANUKA

Kiwanuka POLYDOR 9/10 LOVE & Hate, Michael Kiwanuka’s 2016 breakthrough and UK chart-topper, was the result of a uniquely inspired collaboration that teamed the London-based singer-songwriter with two fellow polymaths: studio auteur/music scholar Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton and emerging hip-hop producer/multi-instrumentalist Inflo. Together, they built the tracks playing a variety of instruments, surrounding Kiwanuka’s strikingly soulful vocals and evocative guitar work with strings and female backing chorales. The LP’s centrepiece, “Black Man In A White World”, was Kiwanuka’s finest song to that point, while in the US, he went from virtual unknown to artist on the rise when “Cold Little Heart”’s captivating hook was used as the theme of HBO drama Big Little Lies. The songwriter and his two cohorts were delighted by what they’d achieved, Kiwanuka calling Love &…

MICHAEL KIWANUKA

Twenty-five years making incendiary noise has crept up on Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt. “I saw The Who on their 25th reunion and they felt like really old men, so it’s scary to last this long,” he says. “Although I’m psyched it’s still fun and creative - I’m proud people are still into it.” This sense of fun oozes from their latest, an album that is discordant and noisy yet refined with melodic touches. “I brought a new amount of focus to my vocals,” he says. “That approach is a real shift for the Lightning Bolt sound - to have vocal clarity… somewhat.” Likewise, their use of the studio impacted on this one. “When you roll into a studio you can either record the band or make a record. Generally we’ve documented…

The Livelong Day ROUGH TRADE 8/10 IT takes a certain nerve to sober up the most popular Irish drinking song of all time, especially for a band from Ireland. Dublin quartet Lankum have decided to do just that as an opener to their latest album, The Livelong Day, by giving “The Wild Rover” a bracingly different complexion. All connotations of a boozy knees-up are neglected in favour of an intense, hymnal 10 minutes in which singer Radie Peat teases out a theme of bitter regret over a steadily rising hum of harmonium, guitar and viola. As the song eventually pitches headlong into a VU-type drone, the final verse is sorrowful rather than celebratory. There are no cosy taproom lights here, just chill comforts. “If I had half the money I left in your…

Michael Kiwanuka “Racial inequality, self-acceptance and self-care are huge topics on this album for me” How does the new album resemble Love & Hate , and how does it differ? This album definitely carries on from where I left off. The sonic palette I’m still influenced by [includes] emotive string sessions and expansive textures, and I still love fuzzed-out, buzzy guitar lines. For me, the difference between this album and the last one is the lyrical content and [a desire] to go deeper in creating a vivid world sonically and musically. Racial inequality, self-acceptance and self-care are huge topics on this album for me. What do your collaborators contribute? Brian and Inflo bring so much creativity and expertise to the projects, musically and conceptually. They really guide me through the…

1 You Ain’t The Problem 2 Rolling 3 I’ve Been Dazed 4 Piano Joint (This Kind of Love) Intro 5 Piano Joint (This Kind of Love) 6 Another Human Being (Interlude) 7 Living In Denial 8 Hero(intro) 9 Hero 10 Hard to Say Goodbye 11 Final Days 12 Interlude (Loving the People) 13 Solid Ground 14 Light Produced by: Danger Mouse & Inflo Personnel: Michael Kiwanuka (vocals, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion, Prophet synthesizer, Hammond organ, piano), Inflo (drums, electric guitar, piano, organ, synthesizer, programming, percussion, background vocals), Danger Mouse (electric guitar, keyboards, programming, percussion, tambourine), Kadeem Clarke (piano, synthesizer, Wurlitzer), Rosie Danvers (string arrangements), Jean Kelly (harp), Graham Godfrey (percussion), Nathan Allen (percussion), Chloe Vincent (flute on “Hard To Say Goodbye”), George Hogg (trumpet on “Hard To Say…

Radie Peat on the Lankum approach: “We’re all very intense” How do you breathe fresh life into traditional folk music? The drone notes of the uilleann pipes are indigenous to Ireland; we’re sort of hamming that up to achieve a certain sound. We all have a soft spot for krautrock and drone-heavy music too, so it’s more like we’re taking elements that exist and treating them through the filtration system of our own tastes. We’re all very intense. What prompted your alternative take on the “The Wild Rover”? We’ve all heard the clap-along, “no nay never” version, but we were inspired by the 1974 version by Pat Usher – from the Usher Family in Louth – and wanted to make people listen to it in a different way. It’s so sad and pensive. And…

1 The Wild Rover 2 The Young People 3 Ode To Lullaby 4 Bear Creek 5 Katie Cruel 6 The Dark Eyed Gypsy 7 The Pride Of Petravore 8 Hunting The Wren Produced by: John “Spud” Murphy and Lankum Recorded at: Meadow Studios, Delgany; Guerrilla Sounds Studio, Dublin Personnel: Ian Lynch (vocals, uilleann pipes, English concertina, tin whistle, percussion), Daragh Lynch (vocals, guitar, bowed guitar, percussion, piano), Radie Peat (vocals, bayan, concertina, harmonium, hammond organ, piano, wurlitzer, harp, Mellotron), Cormac Dermody (vocals, fiddle, viola, bowed banjo, double bass, vibraphone, piano, percussion), Alex Borwick (trombone), Adrian Crowley (Mellotron), Katie Kim (backing vocals)…

Twenty-five years making incendiary noise has crept up on Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt. “I saw The Who on their 25th reunion and they felt like really old men, so it’s scary to last this long,” he says. “Although I’m psyched it’s still fun and creative - I’m proud people are still into it.” This sense of fun oozes from their latest, an album that is discordant and noisy yet refined with melodic touches. “I brought a new amount of focus to my vocals,” he says. “That approach is a real shift for the Lightning Bolt sound - to have vocal clarity… somewhat.” Likewise, their use of the studio impacted on this one. “When you roll into a studio you can either record the band or make a record. Generally…

Sam Shepherd “I wanted to emulate the Krautrock spirit” Crush was inspired by touring with The xx – how did that translate into a studio album? They asked me if I wanted to come on the road and warm up playing before they came on. I actually had this idea to play lots of mellow, melodic arpeggio things. But also I was listening to the Harmonia Live 197 4 album. I kind of wanted to emulate the spirit of krautrock but with more electronic drums. That’s how my live set started, using that equipment. I transposed that back into my studio, then used the live set-up as the start of making the new album. There are lots of strings and woodwind on Crush – how much of that is live and how much…

The Livelong Day ROUGH TRADE 8/10 IT takes a certain nerve to sober up the most popular Irish drinking song of all time, especially for a band from Ireland. Dublin quartet Lankum have decided to do just that as an opener to their latest album, The Livelong Day, by giving “The Wild Rover” a bracingly different complexion. All connotations of a boozy knees-up are neglected in favour of an intense, hymnal 10 minutes in which singer Radie Peat teases out a theme of bitter regret over a steadily rising hum of harmonium, guitar and viola. As the song eventually pitches headlong into a VU-type drone, the final verse is sorrowful rather than celebratory. There are no cosy taproom lights here, just chill comforts. “If I had half the money I…

Radie Peat on the Lankum approach: “We’re all very intense” How do you breathe fresh life into traditional folk music? The drone notes of the uilleann pipes are indigenous to Ireland; we’re sort of hamming that up to achieve a certain sound. We all have a soft spot for krautrock and drone-heavy music too, so it’s more like we’re taking elements that exist and treating them through the filtration system of our own tastes. We’re all very intense. What prompted your alternative take on the “The Wild Rover”? We’ve all heard the clap-along, “no nay never” version, but we were inspired by the 1974 version by Pat Usher – from the Usher Family in Louth – and wanted to make people listen to it in a different way. It’s so…

1 Falaise 2 Last Bloom 3 Anasickmodular 4 Requiem for CS70 and Strings 5 Karakul 6 LesAlpx 7 Bias 8 Environments 9 Birth 10 Sea-Watch 11 Apoptose, Pt.1 12 Apoptose, Pt 2 13 LesAlpx (Dub) Produced by: Sam Shepherd Recorded at: EMS4 and Snap Studios, London Personnel includes: Sam Shepherd (keyboards, synths, electronic instruments, voice, arrangements), Sini Simonen, Marike Kruup, Jennymay Logan, Paloma Deike (violin), Charlotte Bonneton, Amy Stanford, Rosie Tompsett (viola), Christopher Graves, Natalie Rozario (cello), Alexei Watkins (horn), Peter Cigleris (bass clarinet), Luke Newby (clarinet), Renate Sokolovska (flute)…

1 The Wild Rover 2 The Young People 3 Ode To Lullaby 4 Bear Creek 5 Katie Cruel 6 The Dark Eyed Gypsy 7 The Pride Of Petravore 8 Hunting The Wren Produced by: John “Spud” Murphy and Lankum Recorded at: Meadow Studios, Delgany; Guerrilla Sounds Studio, Dublin Personnel: Ian Lynch (vocals, uilleann pipes, English concertina, tin whistle, percussion), Daragh Lynch (vocals, guitar, bowed guitar, percussion, piano), Radie Peat (vocals, bayan, concertina, harmonium, hammond organ, piano, wurlitzer, harp, Mellotron), Cormac Dermody (vocals, fiddle, viola, bowed banjo, double bass, vibraphone, piano, percussion), Alex Borwick (trombone), Adrian Crowley (Mellotron), Katie Kim (backing vocals)…

FLOATING POINTS

Crush NINJA TUNE 8/10 DESPITE his widely respected reputation as a boundary-pushing polymath and sonically promiscuous club DJ, electro-jazz boffin Sam Shepherd has flirted a little too heavily with overly cerebral tastefulness on previous albums. Two years ago, his site-specific post-rock project Reflections – Mojave Desert saw the young Mancunian composer embracing Floydian soundscape territory with a full band, to sporadically sublime but somewhat sedate effect. Music as art installation can be a fertile pursuit, but it dilutes Shepherd’s full spectrum of passions, from circuit-bending modular synth experiments to marathon late-night sets at Plastic People and Berghain. Shepherd’s third album, and first for Ninja Tune, gives a richer account of his different musical personalities, however. Full of densely detailed textural and tonal digressions, Crush draws on a broad jazz, classical and avant-garde hinterland.…

FLOATING POINTS

FLOATING POINTS

Crush NINJA TUNE 8/10 DESPITE his widely respected reputation as a boundary-pushing polymath and sonically promiscuous club DJ, electro-jazz boffin Sam Shepherd has flirted a little too heavily with overly cerebral tastefulness on previous albums. Two years ago, his site-specific post-rock project Reflections – Mojave Desert saw the young Mancunian composer embracing Floydian soundscape territory with a full band, to sporadically sublime but somewhat sedate effect. Music as art installation can be a fertile pursuit, but it dilutes Shepherd’s full spectrum of passions, from circuit-bending modular synth experiments to marathon late-night sets at Plastic People and Berghain. Shepherd’s third album, and first for Ninja Tune, gives a richer account of his different musical personalities, however. Full of densely detailed textural and tonal digressions, Crush draws on a broad jazz, classical…

FLOATING POINTS

Love From The Planet Gong: The Virgin Years 1973-75 UMC REISSUE OF THE MONTH 9/10 THE master of the Voisines hunt and his friends don’t look like the kind of rural Frenchmen who would appreciate a psychedelic collective living in the woods nearby. Not so: “Gong are very friendly,” says the huntsman, interviewed on French TV’s Rockenstock in 1973. A friend adds, “We’ll be sad when they leave, because they play gigs all around here. We like them.” A year later though, after drugs and customs busts, Gong would leave France, and head to the Oxfordshire town of Witney, not previously known for its collectives of like-minded musical, spiritual and chemical explorers. There they carried on what they had begun in that old hunting lodge 60 miles southeast of Paris, namely, the trilogy…

Sam Shepherd “I wanted to emulate the Krautrock spirit” Crush was inspired by touring with The xx – how did that translate into a studio album? They asked me if I wanted to come on the road and warm up playing before they came on. I actually had this idea to play lots of mellow, melodic arpeggio things. But also I was listening to the Harmonia Live 197 4 album. I kind of wanted to emulate the spirit of krautrock but with more electronic drums. That’s how my live set started, using that equipment. I transposed that back into my studio, then used the live set-up as the start of making the new album. There are lots of strings and woodwind on Crush – how much of that is live…

STRONG & STEAMIN’

GONG Magick Brother BYG ACTUEL, 1970 It all starts off, of course, with a gong. Across the following 10 songs, Daevid Allen fully introduces his wonky melodic sense and out-there poetry, though the vibe is more lysergic psych-pop than spacey jam session. 8/10 GONG Camembert Electrique BYG ACTUEL, 1971 An otherworldly classic, incorporating heavy riffs (“You Can’t Kill Me”), stoned silliness (“I’ve Bin Stoned Before”) and groovy kosmische exploration (“Fohat Digs Holes In Space”). Still completely unique. 9/10 STEVE HILLAGE Fish Rising VIRGIN, 1975 Featuring most of the classic Gong lineup, Hillage’s debut solo album is as playful and kaleidoscopic as the Radio Gnome Trilogy. The opening “Solar Musick Suite” is a highlight. 8/10…

STRONG & STEAMIN’

1 Falaise 2 Last Bloom 3 Anasickmodular 4 Requiem for CS70 and Strings 5 Karakul 6 LesAlpx 7 Bias 8 Environments 9 Birth 10 Sea-Watch 11 Apoptose, Pt.1 12 Apoptose, Pt 2 13 LesAlpx (Dub) Produced by: Sam Shepherd Recorded at: EMS4 and Snap Studios, London Personnel includes: Sam Shepherd (keyboards, synths, electronic instruments, voice, arrangements), Sini Simonen, Marike Kruup, Jennymay Logan, Paloma Deike (violin), Charlotte Bonneton, Amy Stanford, Rosie Tompsett (viola), Christopher Graves, Natalie Rozario (cello), Alexei Watkins (horn), Peter Cigleris (bass clarinet), Luke Newby (clarinet), Renate Sokolovska (flute)…

CD 1 : Flying Teapot - Original album Remastered 2018 CD 2: Angel’s Egg - Original album Remastered 2018 CD 3: You - Original album Remastered 2018 CD 4: Shamal - Original album Remastered 2018 CD 5: BBC Radio 1 Sessions 1973-75/ Edinburgh August 21, 1973 CD 6-7: Paris Bataclan Live, May 20, 1973, Pt 1&2 CD 8-9: Roanne – Club Arc En Ciel Live, Aug 17, 1973, Pt 1& 2 CD 10: London – Hyde Park Live, June 29, 1974 CD 11-12: London – The Marquee Club Live, Sept 9/ 10, 1975, Pt 1 & 2 DVD 1: You - Quad Surround Sound (PYE MIX) 1 Thoughts For Naught 2 A PHP’s Advice 3 Magick Mother Invocation 4 Master Builder 5 A Sprinkling Of Clouds (WESTLAKE MIX) 6 Thoughts…

Love From The Planet Gong: The Virgin Years 1973-75 UMC REISSUE OF THE MONTH 9/10 THE master of the Voisines hunt and his friends don’t look like the kind of rural Frenchmen who would appreciate a psychedelic collective living in the woods nearby. Not so: “Gong are very friendly,” says the huntsman, interviewed on French TV’s Rockenstock in 1973. A friend adds, “We’ll be sad when they leave, because they play gigs all around here. We like them.” A year later though, after drugs and customs busts, Gong would leave France, and head to the Oxfordshire town of Witney, not previously known for its collectives of like-minded musical, spiritual and chemical explorers. There they carried on what they had begun in that old hunting lodge 60 miles southeast of Paris,…

WHAT’S it been like “curating” Love From The Planet Gong? We finally got the privilege of going through the complete Virgin Gong tape archive, and that’s what I was particularly involved in, going through the tapes and selecting what we’d use. There have been other Gong boxsets, but they’ve never had access to the Virgin archive. But now we’re finally putting the record straight – we’ve got the first proper CD release of Flying Teapot from the original masters on here. You were a fan of Gong before you joined, weren’t you? Yeah, I saw them as keeping the torch alive from the ’60s. It had all gone a bit funny at the end of the ’60s, beginning of the ’70s, and I was seeing Gong as a second wave of psychedelia.…

STRONG & STEAMIN’

GONG Magick Brother BYG ACTUEL, 1970 It all starts off, of course, with a gong. Across the following 10 songs, Daevid Allen fully introduces his wonky melodic sense and out-there poetry, though the vibe is more lysergic psych-pop than spacey jam session. 8/10 GONG Camembert Electrique BYG ACTUEL, 1971 An otherworldly classic, incorporating heavy riffs (“You Can’t Kill Me”), stoned silliness (“I’ve Bin Stoned Before”) and groovy kosmische exploration (“Fohat Digs Holes In Space”). Still completely unique. 9/10 STEVE HILLAGE Fish Rising VIRGIN, 1975 Featuring most of the classic Gong lineup, Hillage’s debut solo album is as playful and kaleidoscopic as the Radio Gnome Trilogy. The opening “Solar Musick Suite” is a highlight. 8/10…

STRONG & STEAMIN’

Abbey Road APPLE CORPS 10/10 ON the morning of August 8, 1969, the photographer Iain Macmillan took precisely six pictures of the four Beatles walking in single file across the zebra crossing opposite EMI Studios for the sleeve of the band’s 11th, and final, studio album. However, what seemed like a penny-pinching alternative for an album tentatively entitled ‘Everest’ – named in tribute to sound engineer Geoff Emerick’s favourite brand of cigarette, with a potential cover shoot in the Himalayas – was in fact all part of a carefully constructed plan. The photograph, like the album itself, was designed to show the band walking away from the studio in which they had spent so much of the previous seven years. “I think in a way it was the feeling that it might be…

Giles Martin “Some of the tracks were one take” How do you approach a task as monumental as remixing Abbey Road? It’s a bit like an archeological dig in some respects, in that you’re going back over old ground with ultimate respect for the guys who worked on the original sessions and for The Beatles themselves. It’s a bit like going through the materials they built the Taj Mahal with, and putting them all back in the right order. Were there any particular challenges working on Abbey Road? It was harder [than Sgt Pepper and the ‘White Album’] because the original album sounds really good. Abbey Road is a much more modern record than the other Beatles albums. It was recorded on eight-track tape rather than four, and they used a much more modern desk, so…

CD 1 : Flying Teapot - Original album Remastered 2018 CD 2: Angel’s Egg - Original album Remastered 2018 CD 3: You - Original album Remastered 2018 CD 4: Shamal - Original album Remastered 2018 CD 5: BBC Radio 1 Sessions 1973-75/ Edinburgh August 21, 1973 CD 6-7: Paris Bataclan Live, May 20, 1973, Pt 1&2 CD 8-9: Roanne – Club Arc En Ciel Live, Aug 17, 1973, Pt 1& 2 CD 10: London – Hyde Park Live, June 29, 1974 CD 11-12: London – The Marquee Club Live, Sept 9/ 10, 1975, Pt 1 & 2 DVD 1: You - Quad Surround Sound (PYE MIX) 1 Thoughts For Naught 2 A PHP’s Advice 3 Magick Mother Invocation 4 Master Builder 5 A Sprinkling Of Clouds (WESTLAKE MIX) 6 Thoughts…

3CD+BLU-RAY SUPER DELUXE EDITION Disc 1 (CD) : 2019 Stereo Mix Disc 2 (CD): Sessions 1 I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (Trident Recording Session & Reduction Mix) 2 Goodbye (Home Demo) 3 Something (Studio Demo) 4 The Ballad Of John And Yoko (Take 7) 5 Old Brown Shoe (Take 2) 6 Oh! Darling (Take 4) 7 Octopus’s Garden (Take 9) 8 You Never Give Me Your Money (Take 36) 9 Her Majesty (Takes 1-3) 10 Golden Slumbers/ Carry That Weight (Takes 1-3/Medley) 11 Here Comes The Sun (Take 9) 12 Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (Take 12) Disc 3 (CD): Sessions 1 Come Together (Take 5) 2 The End (Take 3) 3 Come And Get It (Studio Demo) 4 Sun King (Take 20) 5 Mean Mr Mustard (Take 20) 6 Polythene Pam (Take 27) 7 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (Take 27) 8 Because (Take 1 – Instrumental) 9 The Long One (Trial…

WHAT’S it been like “curating” Love From The Planet Gong? We finally got the privilege of going through the complete Virgin Gong tape archive, and that’s what I was particularly involved in, going through the tapes and selecting what we’d use. There have been other Gong boxsets, but they’ve never had access to the Virgin archive. But now we’re finally putting the record straight – we’ve got the first proper CD release of Flying Teapot from the original masters on here. You were a fan of Gong before you joined, weren’t you? Yeah, I saw them as keeping the torch alive from the ’60s. It had all gone a bit funny at the end of the ’60s, beginning of the ’70s, and I was seeing Gong as a second wave…

CARAVAN The Decca/Deram Years: An Anthology 1970–1975 UNIVERSAL 8/10 Thorough 9CD survey of the land of grey and pink As Caravan hawked their homemade demo tape around in the late 1960s, Island records’ A&R department decreed that frontman Pye Hastings had such a feeble voice that they would be better off without a singer. Weakness, though, was a strength of the archetypal Canterbury-scene band, this compendium of their big 1970s albums underscoring that gawky romanticism was as much a Caravan hallmark as fuzzed-up Hammond, crude puns and the impossible tempos of “For Richard”, their own “Dark Star”. If courtship prog-style tended toward the brutish, Caravan’s “And I Wish I Were Stoned/Don’t Worry”, “Winter Wine” and “The World Is Yours” showed that romance was still possible in 7/9 time. The line between pleasingly boyish and…

Abbey Road APPLE CORPS 10/10 ON the morning of August 8, 1969, the photographer Iain Macmillan took precisely six pictures of the four Beatles walking in single file across the zebra crossing opposite EMI Studios for the sleeve of the band’s 11th, and final, studio album. However, what seemed like a penny-pinching alternative for an album tentatively entitled ‘Everest’ – named in tribute to sound engineer Geoff Emerick’s favourite brand of cigarette, with a potential cover shoot in the Himalayas – was in fact all part of a carefully constructed plan. The photograph, like the album itself, was designed to show the band walking away from the studio in which they had spent so much of the previous seven years. “I think in a way it was the feeling that…

Giles Martin “Some of the tracks were one take” How do you approach a task as monumental as remixing Abbey Road? It’s a bit like an archeological dig in some respects, in that you’re going back over old ground with ultimate respect for the guys who worked on the original sessions and for The Beatles themselves. It’s a bit like going through the materials they built the Taj Mahal with, and putting them all back in the right order. Were there any particular challenges working on Abbey Road? It was harder [than Sgt Pepper and the ‘White Album’] because the original album sounds really good. Abbey Road is a much more modern record than the other Beatles albums. It was recorded on eight-track tape rather than four, and they used…

THE YUMMY FUR Piggy Wings ROCK ACTION 8/10 Full-pelt mayhem; retrospective kudos for spiky 1990s Glaswegians EXPLAINING the creative spasm that sparked him to form ne-plus-indie Scots the Yummy Fur in the early 1990s, John McKeown explained: “Sonic Youth and Nirvana was all-pervasive; everyone was doing full-on noise and weird sorta stuff and we were just like FUCK THAT!” If The Yummy Fur yearned for simpler things, that is rarely apparent on this distillation of their two-and-a-half albums and armful of singles. Released on near-neighbours Mogwai’s Rock Action label, Piggy Wings is a dangerously overheated stew of puritan guitar clank, Captain Beefheart melody tumbles and wise-ass witticisms, which comes on like The Fall, Huggy Bear, Bogshed, The Fall, Pavement, the Fire Engines and The Fall. “I’d like to make a civilised customer complaint,” hectors McKeown with…

3CD+BLU-RAY SUPER DELUXE EDITION Disc 1 (CD) : 2019 Stereo Mix Disc 2 (CD): Sessions 1 I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (Trident Recording Session & Reduction Mix) 2 Goodbye (Home Demo) 3 Something (Studio Demo) 4 The Ballad Of John And Yoko (Take 7) 5 Old Brown Shoe (Take 2) 6 Oh! Darling (Take 4) 7 Octopus’s Garden (Take 9) 8 You Never Give Me Your Money (Take 36) 9 Her Majesty (Takes 1-3) 10 Golden Slumbers/ Carry That Weight (Takes 1-3/Medley) 11 Here Comes The Sun (Take 9) 12 Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (Take 12) Disc 3 (CD): Sessions 1 Come Together (Take 5) 2 The End (Take 3) 3 Come And Get It (Studio Demo) 4 Sun King (Take 20) 5 Mean Mr Mustard (Take 20) 6 Polythene…

THE LOUVIN BROTHERS

Tragic Songs Of Life CAPITOL, 1956 Forsaking the gospel hues of their Capitol singles, the Louvins’ long-playing debut for the label trained the spotlight on the bleaker side of the secular world. They found a signature tune in the murder ballad “Knoxville Girl” (later revived by Nick Cave), and the trad paean to convicts digging coal “In The Pines” is another highlight. 7/10 Satan Is Real CAPITOL, 1959 The distinctive cover shot has taken on a life of its own, and the album itself is remarkable as a showcase for Charlie and Ira as eloquent writers (six of the record’s 12 tracks are self-penned). It’s unashamedly Bible-thumping, but there’s an especially nuanced articulacy to “Are You Afraid To Die?” and “The Angels Rejoiced Last Night”. 8/10 My Baby’s Gone CAPITOL, 1960 Less focus on either the Grim Reaper…

THE LOUVIN BROTHERS

Disc 1: Don’t Tell A Soul Redux (Matt Wallace Mixes) 1 Talent Show 2 I’ll Be You 3 We’ll Inherit The Earth 4 Achin’ To Be 5 Darlin’ One 6 Back To Back 7 I Won’t 8 Asking Me Lies 9 They’re Blind 10 Anywhere’s Better Than Here 11 Rock’N’Roll Ghost Disc 2: We Know The Night: Rare and Unreleased (Tracks 1-9: Bearsville Versions) 1 Portland – Alt Mix 2 Achin’ To Be 3 I’ll Be You 4 Wake Up 5 We’ll Inherit The Earth 6 Last Thing In The World 7 Rock’N’Roll Ghost 7 Darlin’ One 8 Talent Show – Demo Version 9 Dance On My Planet 10 We Know The Night – Outtake 11 Ought To Get Love – Alt Mix 12 Gudbuy T’Jane – Outtake 13 Lowdown Monkey Blues – Feat. Tom Waits 14 If Only You Were Lonely – Feat. Tom Waits 15 We Know The Night – Feat. Tom Waits (Rehearsal) 16 We Know…

CARAVAN The Decca/Deram Years: An Anthology 1970–1975 UNIVERSAL 8/10 Thorough 9CD survey of the land of grey and pink As Caravan hawked their homemade demo tape around in the late 1960s, Island records’ A&R department decreed that frontman Pye Hastings had such a feeble voice that they would be better off without a singer. Weakness, though, was a strength of the archetypal Canterbury-scene band, this compendium of their big 1970s albums underscoring that gawky romanticism was as much a Caravan hallmark as fuzzed-up Hammond, crude puns and the impossible tempos of “For Richard”, their own “Dark Star”. If courtship prog-style tended toward the brutish, Caravan’s “And I Wish I Were Stoned/Don’t Worry”, “Winter Wine” and “The World Is Yours” showed that romance was still possible in 7/9 time. The line…

THE REPLACEMENTS

Dead Man’s Pop RHINO 7/10 IF ever an album was a fixer-upper, it’s The Replacements’ 1989 Don’t Tell A Soul. With a recording process that was chaotic and self-destructive even by the Minnesota quartet’s peerless standards, a firestorm of external and internal band pressures, and sky-high expectations after their peak Let It Be/Tim/ Pleased To Meet Me run, the album was primed to fail. So Dead Man’s Pop, the working title for Don’t Tell A Soul, is the rarer form of deluxe-edition boxset, not an obsessive documentation of a treasured work, but a reclamation project. Presenting essentially two new versions of the record, in addition to a live show and bonus tracks from the period, it argues that a few tweaks can rewrite the historical place of The Replacements’ sixth record from the…

THE REPLACEMENTS

THE YUMMY FUR Piggy Wings ROCK ACTION 8/10 Full-pelt mayhem; retrospective kudos for spiky 1990s Glaswegians EXPLAINING the creative spasm that sparked him to form ne-plus-indie Scots the Yummy Fur in the early 1990s, John McKeown explained: “Sonic Youth and Nirvana was all-pervasive; everyone was doing full-on noise and weird sorta stuff and we were just like FUCK THAT!” If The Yummy Fur yearned for simpler things, that is rarely apparent on this distillation of their two-and-a-half albums and armful of singles. Released on near-neighbours Mogwai’s Rock Action label, Piggy Wings is a dangerously overheated stew of puritan guitar clank, Captain Beefheart melody tumbles and wise-ass witticisms, which comes on like The Fall, Huggy Bear, Bogshed, The Fall, Pavement, the Fire Engines and The Fall. “I’d like to make a…

Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) 50th Anniversary Edition BMG 8/10 THERE is a puzzle at the heart of The Kinks’ apparently nostalgic 1969 album, and it hinges on the ambiguity of that cumbersome title. There’s a lot of work going on inside those brackets, and if you accept Ray Davies’ wry invitation, you have to wonder about the relevance of Britain’s colonial past to the fortunes of his disappointed everyman, Arthur. As legends go, Arthur’s is a modest one. The story Davies set out to tell isn’t necessarily the one he ended up with, but this 50-year-old concept album, already deluxed, and now granted the full boxset treatment, has a curiously elastic relationship with time. On its release, Arthur was given critical encouragement while not causing a commercial…

THE LOUVIN BROTHERS

Tragic Songs Of Life CAPITOL, 1956 Forsaking the gospel hues of their Capitol singles, the Louvins’ long-playing debut for the label trained the spotlight on the bleaker side of the secular world. They found a signature tune in the murder ballad “Knoxville Girl” (later revived by Nick Cave), and the trad paean to convicts digging coal “In The Pines” is another highlight. 7/10 Satan Is Real CAPITOL, 1959 The distinctive cover shot has taken on a life of its own, and the album itself is remarkable as a showcase for Charlie and Ira as eloquent writers (six of the record’s 12 tracks are self-penned). It’s unashamedly Bible-thumping, but there’s an especially nuanced articulacy to “Are You Afraid To Die?” and “The Angels Rejoiced Last Night”. 8/10 My Baby’s Gone CAPITOL,…

THE LOUVIN BROTHERS

THE REPLACEMENTS

Dead Man’s Pop RHINO 7/10 IF ever an album was a fixer-upper, it’s The Replacements’ 1989 Don’t Tell A Soul. With a recording process that was chaotic and self-destructive even by the Minnesota quartet’s peerless standards, a firestorm of external and internal band pressures, and sky-high expectations after their peak Let It Be/Tim/ Pleased To Meet Me run, the album was primed to fail. So Dead Man’s Pop, the working title for Don’t Tell A Soul, is the rarer form of deluxe-edition boxset, not an obsessive documentation of a treasured work, but a reclamation project. Presenting essentially two new versions of the record, in addition to a live show and bonus tracks from the period, it argues that a few tweaks can rewrite the historical place of The Replacements’ sixth…

THE REPLACEMENTS

Disc 1: Don’t Tell A Soul Redux (Matt Wallace Mixes) 1 Talent Show 2 I’ll Be You 3 We’ll Inherit The Earth 4 Achin’ To Be 5 Darlin’ One 6 Back To Back 7 I Won’t 8 Asking Me Lies 9 They’re Blind 10 Anywhere’s Better Than Here 11 Rock’N’Roll Ghost Disc 2: We Know The Night: Rare and Unreleased (Tracks 1-9: Bearsville Versions) 1 Portland – Alt Mix 2 Achin’ To Be 3 I’ll Be You 4 Wake Up 5 We’ll Inherit The Earth 6 Last Thing In The World 7 Rock’N’Roll Ghost 7 Darlin’ One 8 Talent Show – Demo Version 9 Dance On My Planet 10 We Know The Night – Outtake 11 Ought To Get Love – Alt Mix 12 Gudbuy T’Jane – Outtake 13 Lowdown…

Dave Davies ”A lot of the ideas are bittersweet” What are your memories of recording Arthur? I remember it being enjoyable but mixed with sadness, because a lot of the ideas are bittersweet, because of Rosie and Arthur and Terry emigrating to Australia. It was a major event in Ray’s household. In a broader sense it was: what have we come to? What are we doing? Once we got the songs together, we had more scope in the studio to experiment. The Who were also doing a pop opera with Tommy. That’s a strange area of interest. Ray and Pete Townshend had a mutual friend called Barry Fantoni and I don’t know how much information went from one camp to the next. It’s too much of a coincidence. It feels very timely – this examination…

Vexations LES DISQUES DU CREPUSCULE 8/10 WHILE it’s generally accepted that Brian Eno identified the ambient concept with 1975’s Discreet Music, it’s stretching things to argue that he invented it. Though his liner notes famously refer to the goal of making music “a part of the ambience of the environment”, in truth this was purely an adjustment to a notion established by composer Erik Satie in 1917. “Furniture music”, as the Frenchman defined it – though he applied the term to only five pieces – represented, he said, “a sound that should not be actively listened to, but present at the periphery of our daily lives”. Eno’s notes, it must be stressed, acknowledged his debt. Twenty years earlier still, in the mid-1890s, Satie had penned Vexations, which bears remarkable similarities to Eno’s work.…

Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) 50th Anniversary Edition BMG 8/10 THERE is a puzzle at the heart of The Kinks’ apparently nostalgic 1969 album, and it hinges on the ambiguity of that cumbersome title. There’s a lot of work going on inside those brackets, and if you accept Ray Davies’ wry invitation, you have to wonder about the relevance of Britain’s colonial past to the fortunes of his disappointed everyman, Arthur. As legends go, Arthur’s is a modest one. The story Davies set out to tell isn’t necessarily the one he ended up with, but this 50-year-old concept album, already deluxed, and now granted the full boxset treatment, has a curiously elastic relationship with time. On its release, Arthur was given critical encouragement while not…

COMING NEXT MONTH...

Embargos – the superinjunction of the music world – mean that we can’t reveal some of the promising albums coming next issue… However, we can confirm we’ll be taking a look at a load of great new records, including the fantastic Xylouris White’s The Sisypheans, Vetiver’s Up On High and Networker, the new one from Atlanta post-punk trio Omni. Meanwhile, Miranda Lambert reveals her Wildcard, and São Paulo’s Sessa reinvents Tropicália with Grandeza. In the world of archival releases, there’s a stellar boxset of Gene Clark’s No Other, and deluxe packages of Prince’s 1999, The Pop Group’s Y and The Chemical Brothers’ Surrender. Not bad at all. TOM.PINNOCK@UNCUT.CO.UK…

COMING NEXT MONTH...

LA GHOSTS & FLOWERS

“I HAVE to show you this picture,” says Kim Gordon, reaching for her phone. “Sorry! You’ll probably regret bringing it up…” Gordon finally finds the photo she’s looking for on Instagram – a shot of her Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Syd Barrett, sitting nervously on a beanbag. “He’s 11,” she explains. “He’s got an enlarged heart, which means he coughs a lot. Now I understand why people have support dogs.” Syd is back in Los Angeles, but his owner has flown to London, where she’s meeting Uncut in the ornate, low-ceilinged library of an 18th-century Clerkenwell hotel to discuss the first solo album of her storied career. A brave mix of abstract guitar, grimy electronics and Gordon’s impressionistic vocals, No Home Record playfully combines her long-standing interests in radical sound and art.…

LA GHOSTS & FLOWERS

Dave Davies ”A lot of the ideas are bittersweet” What are your memories of recording Arthur? I remember it being enjoyable but mixed with sadness, because a lot of the ideas are bittersweet, because of Rosie and Arthur and Terry emigrating to Australia. It was a major event in Ray’s household. In a broader sense it was: what have we come to? What are we doing? Once we got the songs together, we had more scope in the studio to experiment. The Who were also doing a pop opera with Tommy. That’s a strange area of interest. Ray and Pete Townshend had a mutual friend called Barry Fantoni and I don’t know how much information went from one camp to the next. It’s too much of a coincidence. It feels…

Vexations LES DISQUES DU CREPUSCULE 8/10 WHILE it’s generally accepted that Brian Eno identified the ambient concept with 1975’s Discreet Music, it’s stretching things to argue that he invented it. Though his liner notes famously refer to the goal of making music “a part of the ambience of the environment”, in truth this was purely an adjustment to a notion established by composer Erik Satie in 1917. “Furniture music”, as the Frenchman defined it – though he applied the term to only five pieces – represented, he said, “a sound that should not be actively listened to, but present at the periphery of our daily lives”. Eno’s notes, it must be stressed, acknowledged his debt. Twenty years earlier still, in the mid-1890s, Satie had penned Vexations, which bears remarkable similarities…

“BEST TOUR EVER …”

“I FIRST met Kim when we opened for Big Black at Maxwell’s, our first New York area show, and Kim and Thurston were there. I guess this was the Bad Moon Rising era. Kim was nice, they were all nice to us – we were really hated where we lived, we couldn’t get a gig, so it was refreshing that people seemed positive about us when we played in New York. That’s where we ended up playing because no-one liked us anywhere else when we played. Kim and Thurston and the New York scene kind of adopted us. On our first tour, we opened for them. We were driving around in Lee’s parents’ station wagon – that was our best tour ever, I would say. They really helped us a…

“BEST TOUR EVER …”

COMING NEXT MONTH...

Embargos – the superinjunction of the music world – mean that we can’t reveal some of the promising albums coming next issue… However, we can confirm we’ll be taking a look at a load of great new records, including the fantastic Xylouris White’s The Sisypheans, Vetiver’s Up On High and Networker, the new one from Atlanta post-punk trio Omni. Meanwhile, Miranda Lambert reveals her Wildcard, and São Paulo’s Sessa reinvents Tropicália with Grandeza. In the world of archival releases, there’s a stellar boxset of Gene Clark’s No Other, and deluxe packages of Prince’s 1999, The Pop Group’s Y and The Chemical Brothers’ Surrender. Not bad at all. TOM.PINNOCK@UNCUT.CO.UK…

COMING NEXT MONTH...

THE ROAD TO NO HOME RECORD

CICCONE YOUTH THE WHITEY ALBUM ENIGMA/BLAST FIRST, 1989 Improvised in the studio, this side-project from Sonic Youth and Mike Watt paid fuzzy tribute to Madonna and ’80s hip-hop, demonstrating that Gordon has always taken notice of pop music. FREE KITTEN NICE ASS KILL ROCK STARS, 1995 Gordon teamed up with Pussy Galore’s Julie Cafritz, Boredoms’ Yoshimi P-We and Pavement’s Mark Ibold for this scratchy debut. “Harvest Spoon” alludes to Sonic Youth’s time touring with Neil Young, while “Scratch The DJ” demonstrates Gordon’s love of hip-hop: “Find the room and the DJ asshole/Grab the mic, freestyle out cold…” SONIC YOUTH A THOUSAND LEAVES GEFFEN, 1998 The opening “Contre Le Sexisme”, a poetic drift of hushed noise, laid the groundwork for some of No Home Record, while Gordon, as on 1995’s Washing Machine, put down her bass in favour of…

THE ROAD TO NO HOME RECORD

EVEN NOMADS GET THE BLUES

IT is Solstice in Morocco. Down towards the south of the country, the pale sandstone fortifications of Essaouira face out across the Atlantic. Inside the town’s walls, very little has changed architecturally since the 18th century. Pass through the ancient gates and the old medina is a jumble of narrow, bustling streets filled with craft shops, cafés and – presumably in a nod to its colonial past – boutique French restaurants. Orson Welles, Paul Bowles and Hendrix have all been drawn to the mystical stone buildings and windswept headlands – while more recently, HBO came here to film Game Of Thrones. Currently, though, Essaouira is hosting a very different kind of entertainment: the annual Gnaoua festival, a free event that brings 500,000 people from across Africa and Europe. Now in…

EVEN NOMADS GET THE BLUES

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