Outsideleft Week in Music Faces a Nemahsis

First new Cure song since 2009 though its been their live set opener for a while now.. What's it like? Stately keyboards... Tasteful drumming... And halfway in a toddler pensioner wailing about being alone.... Nigh on 7 minutes of nothing much. It sounds like Robert Smith just said 'AI write me a Pornography era Cure song' and this is the result. One terribly lonely heart.

Maybe they caught me at a bad moment. But really who gives a rats ass that someone can read a wikipedia page about the spece-time-continuum over a dancey-jazzy track. I know a lot of people love that sound right now and DFA are above criticism of course, so. My permanent ear infection is maybe having an undue influence today. I'm having a little balance problem, possibly because of that and having slept on the sofa—because after playing badminton for the first time in 50 years I couldn't climb the stairs. Keep in mind, this isn't made for me obviously.

Spike Polite is a bit of a face on the NY punk scene, known for his previous act, Reagan Youth.  Recently, he added slightly more famous singer/songwriter Michelle Shocked to his charmingly named band 'Sewage' on vocals and bass, who squawks along happily in the background.  This track is a slightly lumbering punky blast at AI, moaning that all powerful robots will take away jobs from us pathetic fleshy humans, and actually be quite good at doing them too.  Bad news for slackers everywhere. Not that this single will make one jot of difference, of course.  In fact, it would be comically easy for AI to create this, so formulaic is it. AI isn't worried though, so will allow Spike Polite and Michelle to have a bit of a sing song together whilst it's world domination plan is brewing.  Won't be long now.  Just need to be patient.

Looking at some of my reviews I can come across a little negatively when a release is as bad as this one is.  So I've decided to employ the gentle art of extreme sarcasm, which gets my point across whilst allowing their PR to select a line or two that makes it appear to be a positive review.  Its a win-win. So here goes.  This is a highly innovative and catchy song, quite unlike any I have heard before, refreshing in its originality and lyrical cleverness.  Not. 

This is pretty great and some older guys with hair and shades covering the wrinkles can get away with lines like "She suffered from PTSD from an early age..." C'mon, Peter. Get the band back together. You know we want you to. 

Vamberator sure like using their video filters don't they?  The video for this track is effectively a demo for a whole range of filters and plug-ins, and also a warning against over doing it (which they have). The track itself verges on overblown too, with excessive use of strings to give it a 60's TV theme/lounge music vibe. I am going to dispute singer Jemaur Tayle's claim to be the reincarnation of Lou Reed, though.  Firstly, he was born well before Lou Reed croaked. Secondly, this sounds nothing like anything Lou would put his name to.  Its more Prefab Sprout  than Velvet Underground.  Lush (not the band) is the best description I can come up with for this, and that's a good thing.

They've been away for while and they'd been back for a minute and just as I was thinking, maybe I can enjoy this, after a minute they deny me that simple pleasure with... What kind of new hell is this? Listen in, around a minute. It's inexcusable really. And it gets a lot worse if you have to look at it. I recall that they were nice to a friend one time way back, so a couple of stars for that. 

Sometines I just choose a review from the pile because the name is funny.  This is one of those.  I could kinda guess what this would be like without even hearing it, and surprise, surprise, I was bang on. They even look exactly how you'd imagine, like a cross between a zombie apocalypse and Suicide Squad.  That's not me insulting them btw, that really is the look they are going for, and proud they are of it, too. Lyrics are the usual dystopian melange of gore, death, armageddon, etc etc. They really don't think it will all turn out ok for the human race.  That's not news.  Fiddling whilst Rome burns is what we all do. Musically, think Marilyn Manson tribute band. Cradle of Filth formed back in 1991 and started this whole sorry Gore Fest genre off.  They have a lot to answer for, and a lot of copyists. A lot!  Thousands I'd say, and all sounding and looking pretty much identical to this.

Everything is in the right place. Like, the details are there. Tambourine, rolling drums, vocals and those guitars and it's just so psychedelic and studied and from the get go I only wished when they were kids someone had put the guitars on a higher shelf way out of reach. You know why.

Starcrazy look good, they really do. Like old school rock stars.  They describe themselves as "retro glam rockers' and wear their influences shamelessly on their sleeves. In a world where there is nothing new left to do in music, you may as well celebrate your heroes and ape their sound, without apology.  This bunch of Aussie rockers certainly do that, and do it very well. 'What It's Worth' is a retro stomper par excellence.

Out there for a couple o' weeks now. Tucker Zimmerman appears to have been wholly reanimated by Adrianne Lenker. Good pick. This duet of sorts, between the pair iis under the radar, understated pretty. And pretty darn rich. The piano sparkles like the stars. It feels like, that feeling you get when you get home. 

Untitled is the second single release by Connecticut self styled "heavy duo" Turkey Vulture, from their forthcoming EP On The List. As with their August release Fiends Like Us it's a furiously upbeat and invigorating assault on the senses which this time appears to owe as much to 80s US hardcore punksters Black Flag as to early Black Sabbath and (minus the twiddly neo classical bits obv.) early 70s Dutch heavy rockers Focus. The duo; Jessie May: guitars/bass/vocals and Jim Clegg: drums/ backing vocals, report that much of the song is a reimagined "hand-me-down" from their previous incarnation as Jimmy Junk Bird and The Stiffs, including much of the original lyric by former band-mate Christopher Baldwin, about "the restorative and unifying power of music" . A belief that chimes strongly with the crew here at Outsideleft. Turkey Vulture's forthcoming six track EP, On The List is set to be released on October 25, and as we mentioned in our review of Fiends Like Us last month, includes a "deadly folk song" featuring banjo, "accordion and grimly humorous lyrics". Frankly, we're waiting with bated breath.

Primarily a highly regarded fine artists these days, the former front person for Deadly Snakes makes this easy listening malarky look easy. Outside of skilled hands, it ain't, of course. Got a touch of the Clash's 'Shepherd's Delight' from Sandinista - you gotta go deep to find it, but these shepherds denuded of any energy whatsoever. S.C.U.D.S. worthy of your SQUIDS! Dude... Lovely.

Godspped You! Black Emporer, GY!BE, as I will call them, are brilliant at what they do. Huge instrumental build ups to the most intense crescendos followed by release and a slow fade.They've been doing it for 30 years and the sheer scale of it never fades. Some of their tunes top out at 20 plus minutes however this album is one of their shorter offerings topping out at six pieces of music in less than an hour, but they still maintain a clout few others will ever match. This isn't music for the faint hearted but it is still beautiful. However, unlike their late 90s contemporaries Sigur Ros and Mogwai, it's doubtful you'll ever find GY!BE soundtracking nature films or football documentaries. Essentially GY!BE are a Post Rock AC/DC in that they've made the same album 8 times but my goodness it's a bloody good one!

Whilst the name Greg Lisher may be unfamiliar to most, you will probably have heard of Californian alt rock band Camper Van Beethoven, with their 1986 debut single 'Take the Skinheads Bowling', and possibly their later cover of Status Quo's 'Pictures of Matchstick Men'. He also formed the band The Monks of Doom.  Basically, he is a big noise in the Californian rock scene.  Like many a guitarist in a name band, there is a yearning to branch out from guitar into other areas.  A musician should be able to play music on whatever instrument he chooses, right?  Thankfully, Greg resisted the temptation to attempt acting too. That didn't work out well for Bowie, Jagger and others. Instead, he headed over to synths and electronic music, as his bandmate Jonathan Seager also did. The result is a very digital sounding instrumental album of Art Rock, Library/Production Music and what can best be described as 'Modern Electronic' sounds.  Its clean and impeccably recorded, but is bland to the point of nothingness.  Lift music, if you like. Ideal for demonstrating hi fi, but is it really why I listen to music? The dirty, imperfect elements that define good electronic music, and give it an edge, and are why gritty analogue synth sounds still continue to be popular today, are wholly absent here, giving the album a clinical and soporific quality that would not look out of place in a Ballard novel.  You can't fault Independent Project Records presentation, though.  The vinyl package is simply lovely.  Heavy and well pressed vinyl, Obi strip, a beautiful fold out sleeve and  perforated printed insert, it really is a joy to behold.

A Canadian artist, Tim Brady writes symphonies for electric guitar, contemporary classical pieces reviewed by Gramophone Magazine, The Wire, The New York Times. Wonderfully unclassifiable, playing with an ensemble of electric guitars called Instruments of Happiness, this album begins with a 24 minute piece entitled This One Is Broken Into Pieces (Symphony #11 2019-2024) for chorus and guitars, with lyrics from Ian Ferrier's work Coming and Going, itself written for an artistic performance. As a listener you are immersed in a layered soundscape, the guitars and voices reverberate, sanctify and terrify in equal measure. The work might recall any number of artists at different moments, Cabaret Voltaire, Durutti Column, occasional heavier guitar, occasional tranquillity. Slow, Simple (Music for 20 Electric Guitars, 2020) continues this dream like atmosphere, bereft of voices this time, and absolutely clarifies that the guitar can be a full orchestral instrument, in fact, a full orchestra. While individual trilled and tremolo notes vibrate, giving character and detail, the whole edifice builds, a towering cityscape, slow, simple, relentless. Five Times (Four Guitars) is a suite of shorter pieces, with sustained, sinister held notes over jazz like improvisations, for whatever reason I particularly enjoyed listening to the feedback squall of part IV. The album closes with (Very) Short Pieces for (Jazz) Guitar, a recording of his first chamber work from 1979. The title of this album is a perfect introduction: imagine many guitars, and more to the point, imagine everything that the guitar can pretend to be. A meditative, articulate, intricate set of pieces which also redefines what a symphony might be imagined to be. Found here

To mark what would have been Leonard Cohen's 90th birthday, Perla Batalla provides a tribute to a friend in the form of a new covers LP. Perla has a fine voice and has released a previous Cohen tribute album 'Bird on a Wire' (2005); I don't own that but was aware of it, so I'd opine her new one would be decent too! Jennifer Warnes' 'Famous Blue Raincoat' is to me the high watermark of Lennie tributes, there are a few nice ones, including First Aid Kit's remarkable live set, 'Who By Fire'. Leonard was such a Tower of Song!

Eddie and the Hot Rods got sorta swept away and just couldn't hang on by their fingernails til the 1970s storm was over like say Dr. Feelgood, or the legacy that is The Only Ones. Still the left behind this fun and somewhat inspiring pop song. No matter what they say here, I managed for most of the time, not to do anything I wanted to do, but did for the most part avoid doing much of anything I didn't want to do. I owe Eddie a bit for that.

Jaunty, melodic and beautiful. A kora player with an international reputation. Find out more about Kadialy at Celebrating Sanctuary Birmingham. Check out Kadialy appearing with onstage Green Peng Tea at Somerset House on youtube. And this...