“New Year’s Day” was one of the first big hits for U2 back in 1983. Here is a lesser known version of the song, a “USA Remix” that was curiously released overseas and features a dramatically different lyric. For a fix of the classic version, here is the group performing it during their incidiary set at the US Festival in May of 83:
Happy New Year!
Since its inception in 1975, Saturday Night Live has always featured classic holiday sketches. In 2005 Robert Smigel contributed to this legacy by combining classic holiday animation style and classic holiday pop music resulting in this piece of merriment. Below he recounts its making as fairly effortless, which seems almost as absurb as the video itself. Happy Holidays!
Here’s a holiday jazz classic performed on what sounds like a pedal steel guitar. I couldn’t find much information on J.R. Bohannon, but I like what he’s got going on here!
Special dedication to all the gift shoppers out there! A yuletide thriller from Jacob “The Killer” Miller:
On Sunday, November 26, 2023 Killing Joke guitarist Geordie Walker passed away. The band were a crucial part of the UK post-punk scene and Geordie’s guitar tone a critical part of their sound. I first caught wind of their heaving riffs and political lyrics by seeing the video to their single “Eighties” on MTV:
As big as their studio sound could be, the more impressive aspect to the band was their live performances. Singer Jaz Coleman would don face paint and look almost cartoonishly menacing, all while the band would pummel the audience with their grooves:
They were performing concerts up until March of 2023. Their final show was at the legendary Royal Albert Hall in the heart of London.
I had one brush with the greatness that was Geordie Walker. I put together a music video for a supergroup he was in named The Damage Manual. Also featured in the group were Chris Connelly and Jah Wobble:
Rest in Eternal Guitar Power Geordie!
On November 20, 2023 reedist Mars Williams passed away after a battle with cancer. Mars was a true artist as musician, his career spanning multiple genres and his influence extending into various spheres of the music world. Having gotten his start with The Waitresses, he became a member of The Psychedelic Furs in 1983. He garnered a Grammy nomination with his acid jazz combo Liquid Soul. He was a stalwart member of the worldwide free jazz and improvised music scenes. Above all, he was true to the jazz scene in Chicago. Whenever he was not on the road you could find him on a Monday night at Beat Kitchen on Belmont Ave. playing alongside his musical compatriots in the group Extraordinary Popular Delusions, finding new paths of collaboration, experimentation and expression. Rest in Power, Mars!
Yabby You was a singer, songwriter and producer during the Roots era of Jamaican popular music. Uncommon amongst other musical figures of the era, Yabby was Christian and would often get into serious religious reasonings with Rastas. These beliefs led to his nickname, “Jesus Dread”. Yabby You’s output continues to be a influence for many musicians. Here’s a particularly thankful tune with an accompanying DJ track by Trinity. Flash it!
I’m not 100% sure about who is in Straw Man Army, where they’re from or what exactly they are about. The only things I know are that they make nice post-punk styled jams and that they are all for indigineous people’s land rights. I you like this piece, go support the whole release on Bandcamp. 100% of the proceeds go to Red Nation.
In the early 80s Kingston based audio engineer Hopeton Overton Brown, aka Scientist, mixed and recorded a series of four dub albums for the UK based label Greensleeves. Each one featured a cheeky title portraying the dub mixer as a hero type character along with amazing cover art by Tony McDermott. The third album of the series, “Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires” is by far the best of the lot. Not only are the dubs superbly mixed, but the whole album serves as a creepy kind of concept album indebted to all things scary. Unfortunately, due to a very horribly litigated copyright lawsuit, Greensleeves has gone forward with taking Brown’s credit off the albums and has now turned the producers of the original tracks into the heroes on the covers. This historical revision is vile and ruins the legacy the great Scientist as well as tarnishing the already muddled story of reggae. That’s the REAL horror story, folks!
Tino Corp. is a colloborative project between members of Meat Beat Manifesto, Dimensional Holofonic Sound and Bo Square. They focus on creating breaks records that also function as solid and thematically driven albums. The last one they made was a Halloween record, featuring lots and lots of horror-related samples. Turn off the lights and vibe out!
Light Sounds Dark is a mysterious label specializing in releasing electronic music of mysterious origin solely on vinyl. Most of their releases come with no identifying marks whatsoever. Are they comps of old, forgotten pieces made by old, forgotten artists? Are they new things that sound old? One thing is for sure, the music sounds interesting and it is refreshing to not have every little detail laid before you in this “all the information” age. Tune in, turn on and drop out!
It’s next to impossible to talk about Goth music without bringing up Specimen. After forming in Bristol, the band moved to the Soho neighborhood in London and lead singer Olli Wisdom started the Batcave club night, a pivotal moment for kids you liked to dress up like things that go bump in the night. Here’s a television piece about the night and its denizens:
Jimi Hendrix is a pillar amongst rock and roll legends, and for good reason. Hendrix’s mastery of the blues idiom set him off on tangents that others do not even attempt. This tune, based on a dream Hendrix awoke from, has a unique time structure wherein the verses are in 3/4 time and the chorus in 4/4. Set adrift on the blues/jazz/ambient thing he and the Experience cooked up.
Lusine is a Seattle, WA based electronic musician who is also has a couple of music video produced and directed by Lord Dubious. Dating back to the early 2000s, the video “Autopilot”, from the “Serial Hodgepodge” album, leans heavily on video delay techniques employed by Dubious during his stint as Visualist for the turntablist crew Phonograph Scientists. “I consider this an ode to video feedback and my old tube televison. I was able to create a kind of video delay effect utilizing the video camera’s slow shutter effect. Some of the colors that the feedback would create were really great. On top of just plain old video feedback I shot some more organic footage to incorporate at a park by some railroad tracks in the northside of Chicago. I think it holds up to the test of time pretty well.”
Soundmurderer and SK-1 are two eclectic electronic music producers from Detroit, MI. Respectively named Todd Osborn and Tadd Mullinix, this incarnation finds them crafting ragga jungle with more than a hint of drill and bass complexity. Unlike a lot ragga jungle, Todd and Tadd show a healthy obsession with bashment dancehall by liberally sampling from sound system session tapes for their creations. Hoooold onnnn!
There’s a lot to take away from the September 11 attacks and their aftermath. Don’t forget to think critically about history!
By the late 70s Dolly Parton was already a major music star. Having gotten her start in 1967, Dolly had attained such success that Hollywood came a-knockin’. 20th Century Fox took on Jane Fonda’s project “9 to 5” as a vehicle for Dolly to enter the world of the silver screen The movie was a resounding success, catapulting Dolly into superstardom. The theme song written and recorded by Dolly was also a smash hit and garnered her an Academy Award nomination as well as two Grammy awards in 1982. If you haven’t seen the flick in a while, or ever, gave it a view. It really holds up! Big up Dolly!
A summer favorite around here is keyboardist Jackie Mittoo’s Studio One album “Macka Fat”. Filled with lots of laid-back vibes, classic riddims and soul covers, it sounds like the feeling of a lazy summer day. Here’s Mittoo’s take on Marvin Gaye’s classic “What’s Goin’ On?” Take a sip and take a dip!
Hot Tubs Time Machine is a squirrelly little band from Melbourne, AU. They make little looping ditties about fairly mundane topics. This one’s all about being curious about the lives of people you see at shows. Not sure why youtube’s not got it labeled as “Gig Face”, like it is on the album. “Does it matter to you?”
Madlib and Hip Hop turn 50 this year. Both are exceedingly prolific and influential. Here is a more recent Madlib production for an album he made with Gary, IN’s own Freddie Gibbs, with a special feature from Wu Tang Clan member Raekwon the Chef. Peep the skills!