Kicker’s Monthly Mix – September 2013

So that was the summer, then. Now it’s back to school and the football season…

… but fear not!!

Here’s a whole load of songs to keep your spirits, if not your teams, up. Yes, here is the fiftieth KOE mix the wizards have been presented with.

And you, lucky listener, can enjoy it in part below thanks to our friends at Spotify.

This month we kick off, ahem, with the requisite Robert Pollard related track. This time we find the Fading Captain performing under the name Indian Alarm Clock, and why not, One of 100 essential tracks on the first Suitcase collection released in 2000, it is the anthemic Pantherz. Take yer teeth out! Going even further back we follow that with Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band with their debut single – a version of Bo Diddley’s classic Diddy Wah Diddy. Is it laughable to suggest Mr Van Vlet’s version is by far the superior?

Next up, it’s time for some Belgian psych-rock. Of course, Belgian psych-rock. [In fact it’s French psych all the way from Rennes – TTW Ed.] It’s Sudden Death Of Stars with a track (and some excellent pluralisation) from their latest album on Ample Play Records http://ampleplay.tumblr.com/ (a label set up and run by faves of the pod, Cornershop). After them it’s a single on Rough Trade (cool!) from British Sea Power before we get some gonzoid-surf from those mad Australians, Hoodoo Gurus.

Bringing us right up to date, it’s the unpigeonholeable Sheffield band, Screaming Maldini (I have written to the band to point out they should really be called Screaming Tardelli, but, surprisingly, they haven’t responded.)

Next, it’s Liverpool’s Clinic (a band that splits opinion with the wizards), but from a time before they started wearing their face masks – here on the first Pure Morning single, which is, frankly, brilliant.  A jump across continents next to pick up on the current Brazilian music scene with the oddball Graveola and then it’s back to the 90s with the magnificent Sloan (A real favourite with the spelling pedants, this one.). More psychedelica follows with The Blank Tapes and a song taken from the free (if you’re too mean to donate) Active Listener compilation: http://theactivelistener.bandcamp.com/

Lee Hazlewood (a particular Garbanzo favourite) pops up next with his own version of So Long, Babe from a collection called The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood that I picked up on pristine vinyl from the Oxfam on Smithdown Road in Liverpool for a couple of well spent quid this month. Moustachetastic!

More http://www.ilovealcopop.co.uk/ bang and crash next as we learn about the dubious hygiene regimen of Doctrines (on purple vinyl, natch) then some Dancehall magic from Wayne Smith before the very strange and very lovely Amanda Palmer sings about this bunch of chancers. Sort of.

A bit of 90s indie from The Non-Commissioned Officers takes us up to one of my favourite songs from that decade, Capital Letters, from the one-drummer-is-not-enough kings, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. The pace then slows for a new one from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy accompanied here by Dawn McCarthy and then another great song from the Active Listener comp this time from that cheery lot, The Magnetic Mind.

The last three songs start with a classic from Suicide before Darren Hayman sneaks his way on to yet another KOE mix with his cinematic rumination with A Little Orchestra. Then, to close, there is still time for a little bit more Robert Pollard with an oft-overlooked gem from the fantastic double album From A Compound Eye.

Here is the full track listing (and the links to the many tracks not available on Spotify – poor show):

1. Pantherz – Indian Alarm Clock

2. Diddy Wah Diddy – Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XcdG_sXZjA (What a fantastic video!!)

3. Supernovae – Sudden Death Of Stars

4. Childhood Memories – British Sea Power http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE-AjSSm4cA

5. Mars Needs Guitars – Hoodoo Gurus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpwK1_Cvmu8

6. Minor Alterations – Screaming Maldini

7. I Don’t Want You Around – Pure Morning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlmhZo0jD7Y

8. Lindo Toque – Graveola

9. Underwhelmed – Sloan

10. Double Rainbow – The Blank Tapes

11. So Long, Babe – Lee Hazlewood (Here’s the Nancy Sinatra version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGTiu29HaHQ – get yerself down to a charity shop sharpish for the, better, Lee version ‘cos it’s not on YouTube.)

12. Perpetual Motion Machine – Doctrines

13. Under Me Sleng Teng – Wayne Smith

14. Leeds United – Amanda Palmer

15. Just North – The Non-Commissioned Officers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mysvs12ZZHs

16. Capital Letters – Ned’s Atomic Dustbin

17. Just What I Was Looking For – Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (Here’s a live version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n8pEv4moak but check out the superior duet on the What The Brothers Sang LP, which you should pick up from an independent record shop like this one: http://www.normanrecords.com/records/138607-dawn-mccarthy-what-the )

18. Stay Away From The Door – The Magnetic Mind https://soundcloud.com/themagneticmind/stay-away-from-the-door

19. Ghost Rider – Suicide

20. The Permanent Way – A Little Orchestra http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP0m60CEJ9w

21. A Boy In Motion – Robert Pollard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxVHEiE_Yvg

Every Moment Blurred

And just because it’s the 50th monthly mix, this month we have a real prize on offer.

The first 5 listeners who contact us on our Facebook Page telling us which song from this month’s mix they like best will receive a full CD version of this mix and one other by choosing a number between 1 & 49. Yes, really.

See you next month!!

Previous Monthly Mixes

August

July