Kicker lifts a finger… and a mixtape is there… Yeah, fuck you, Yoffi, what good is a mouse anyway? Ahem.
that, my friend, is a very natty scarf
Yes, welcome to this month’s mix, which kicks off with the band Moth Effect and their track, Fingerbobs, which once again has come to me via the wonderful Active Listener series. Then we have Sir Vincent Lone, the alter-ego of the late lamented Jackie Leven, with a track from the noticeably electronic heavy Songs For Lonely Americans album. I am still of the opinion that you really had to see Jackie live to fully appreciate his stuff, but this track is pretty neat in any case. It is followed by a track from Broafield Marchers, a band from Kentucky who have definitely heard both Guided By Voices and Big Star. No real surprise then to learn that I really like their stuff and particularly this When The Lifted Connive set. Up next is a track from erstwhile Mynci Euros Childs’ 2013 solo album, Situation Comedy, which takes underselling your own product to a new level, and is more loveable for that. Unfortunately it is not yet on Spotify, but here it is in video form being performed live from a couple of years ago.
Continuing the Welsh theme, the next track is one of many excellent sounds on the compilation of singles released on the Peski label, Peski 20 that I snaffled along with that great Gwenno LP I have featured before. This one is from the band Radio Luxembourg and is real singalong treat. After them, we have the queen of Italian Beat, Carmen Villani, with her terrific Questa Sinfonia single from 1968. Bellissima. An artist relatively new to me is up next. It’s Nat Lyon, self-styled alternative experimental pastoral punk thrash merchant, hailing from Connecticut, who came recommended via the wonderful Ash Cooke of Pulco fame. So taken was I with Nat’s stuff on first listening that I went and bought up his back catalogue and am still enjoying it tremendously. This track is the title track from his New England Paradigm Shift collection. If you like it (and you will) go and check out the rest of his stuff right now. Next we have a supergroup featuring musicians from Hula Hoop and Boyracer that came to my notice on a sampler of sounds from the Emotional Response label. Amongst a number of cracking tunes the pick for me was Hulaboy, which you’ll have to click on the link in the tracklisting to hear. In the meantime though, whet your appetite with the sound of Boyracer with a fantastic song of their own in the video below.
The Spook School are next with a track from their wonderful 2013 release, Dress Up, which really should have featured in my best of the year list. Sadly, I didn’t get round to listening to it until last year. My bad, I’ll be honest. Another single that I listened to a lot comes from the band Table Scraps who are pleasingly raucous all over this blast of a song. Halfway through the mix, it’s time for a bit of a chill out with the always listenable Thievery Corporation, here with a track from their Radio Retaliation release. After them it’s big favourites of Chorizo Garbanzo, I, Ludicrous, with a song that I was reminded of when putting together a mix of ‘number songs’. It really is everything you’d want from an I Ludicrous song, so check it out on the video below.
Lost your phallus? Who hasn’t? The Phallus Band certainly have and here they are to tell us all about it. Yes, it’s time for some rough and ready Belgian punk taken from the pleasingly titled Everything Is Shit: Punk In Brussels 1977-79 collection. Rather more erudite are the band Monkeys In Love, who seem to perform mostly in owl costumes, or at least one of the band does, which is clearly a good thing. Here’s a track that had me recalling how I learnt German watching dubbed versions of Der Mann das immer noch ein Frage hat. It is taken from the band’s The Monkeys In Love Will Pet & Cuddle You album, which is as comforting as that sounds. A bit of soul for you after that with an oldie from John Williams & The Tick Tocks that is still tremendous to these ears. Former Mole and Cardinal, Richard Davies has made a load of excellent solo records too including the album Telegraph – the next track is my favourite, which you’ll have to enjoy in video form. Unless you own the record yourself, of course.
This month Tex Pix a track from a band he and I saw at last year’s Liverpool International Psychedelic Festival, September Girls, taken from their Veneer release. This is much darker than I remember them being live, but it is undoubtedly a great sound. I follow this with another artist Tex and I enjoyed seeing together. We came across Daniel Knox supporting pod favourites The Handsome Family earlier this year and his generally bluesy take on John Grant won us both over. So impressed was Tex that he bought both of Daniel’s albums on the spot. This track was the one that really stood out for me, the very Magnetic Fieldsy Don’t Touch Me from the Daniel Knox self-titled LP. Our Argentinian amigo Billordo recently posted some early Caetano Velsos on his Facebook feed and had me going back to the records I brought back from my time in Brazil. One of these, the fanatstic Transa, features the next track on the playlist, mostly sung in English, it is just timeless. As, of course, is the whole of the massive back catalogue of Robert Pollard. The final track here has Pollard performing under the guise of Lifeguards with one of the longest songs in his repertoire taken from the legendary Mist King Urth album and also featuring the guitar genius Doug Gillard. It’s sounding pretty not bad on purple vinyl as I type.
Those all important tracks in full:
2. Sir Vincent Lone – Moscow Train
3. Broadfield Marchers – Unshakable Rumble Child
4. Euros Childs – Holiday From Myself
5. Radio Luxembourg – Mostyn A Diego
6. Carmen Villani – Questa Sinfonia
7. Nat Lyon – New England Paradigm Shift
9. The Spook School – I’ll Be Honest
11. Thievery Corporation – 33 Degree
12. I, Ludicrous – Approaching 40
13. Phallus Band – J’ai Perdu Mon Phallus
14. Monkeys In Love – Columbo Shopping
15. John Williams & The Tick Tocks – Blues, Tears And Sorrow
16. Richard Davies – Confederate Cheerio Call
17. September Girls – Black Oil
18. Daniel Knox – Don’t Touch Me
19. Caetano Veloso – You Don’t Know Me
20. Lifeguards – Red Whips And Miracles
Corruption And Gossip
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TRUST THE WIZARDS 
don’t forget we’re seeing Euros Childs is at the Indietracks festival next month Kicker
Is he playing on the Saturday? Rhagorol !!