You didn’t really think I’d pass on the opportunity to do another mix before the end of the year, did you?
Right, in case this isn’t clear from what is to come: I love New Year’s Eve more than I love Christmas.
There. I’ve said it.
Some of my favourite nights out have been on New Year’s Eve. Granted, some of my worst nights out too, but let’s not focus on those.
In case – just in case – you don’t fancy Jools’ Hootenanny this year, but have nothing else lined up to replace it, musically, here I am, to your rescue, with a mix that focuses on the new, on starts and restarts, and on generally being as hopeful and as positive as its possible to be about the forthcoming twelve months.
No sleeve notes this time around; all I would say is that if a) I think I’ve avoided the obvious NYE tunes, so no ABBA or U2, sorry ’bout that (not sorry at all), b) this starts off in typically low-key, if classier than usual, mode; builds up and circles round to a downbeat, but gorgeous conclusion, c) this started off as ‘New’ themed mix, but I soon fell foul of the age old problem: including songs because they fit the theme rather than whether they fit the mood, or are any good (and yes, I’m very aware The Fizz still made the cut – deal with it), – just 3 songs from the original effort made the final cut – and d) if you’re genuinely bereft of entertainment to the extent that you decide to use this as your soundtrack to the new year, it’ll work a lot better if you start it playing at around 11:37 pm. You’ll see why.
Sorry, unintended glimpse into my internal monologue there.
Welcome one, welcome all, to the latest instalment of Friday Night Fun that is the Friday Night Music Club.
I’m short of time this week, so no sleeve-notes this time I’m afraid.
And I’m so short of time I’ll get straight down to business rather than waffling on for ages about what’s on the menu, except to say that this week we’ve an obligatory and brilliant Northern Soul track, two remixes by the previously obligatory (and brilliant) Soulwax, and two from artists who passed away this week; the obituary and brilliant, if you like.
One bit of admin first though: there are at least three songs in tonight’s mix with some effing & jeffing, so it gets a statutory one of these stamped on it:
My Bloody Valentine – Soon (The Andrew Weatherall Remix)
Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death (Soulwax Remix)
Blondie – Rapture
Sugababes – Round Round (Soulwax Remix)
Mylo – Drop The Pressure
Tony Clarke – Landslide
Jean Knight – Mr Big Stuff
eels – It’s A Motherfucker
Teenage Fanclub – December
All Saints – Never Ever
Dragonette – I Get Around
British Sea Power – Who’s In Control
The Pogues – The Body Of An American
I’ve no plans to post anything specific about Shane MacGowan’s passing, not because I don’t think he was an utter genius, frontman and poet (I do think that), but I’ve read so many beautiful tributes to him since he passed, I don’t think I have anything to add. So many have said it so much better than I ever could.
I mentioned last week that I had prepared and stockpiled several mixes whilst I was away, and it turns out this was quite fortuitous, as I’ve had a few technical issues with iTunes and the DJ mixing app I use, which I haven’t been able to fully resolve yet (and which I won’t bore you with here). I mention it now merely as apology for the absence of any posts this week.
I also mentioned last week that some of the mixes needed “…need a bit of tweaking…” and when I managed to listen back to them all, it transpires that there was something about a lot of them that I wasn’t entirely happy with, be that the running order or the song choices.
Also, having (finally) returned to work last week, albeit on a phased return/reduced hours, and working from home, I haven’t quite got the work/home ratio quite right yet. When logging off my work laptop, the last thing I then felt like doing was cranking up my own one and starting all over again.
But enough about my own woes; what I’m trying to say is this: this week we have a playlist which wasn’t planned to be posted for several weeks, but hey ho, here we are.
Anyway, it’s the usual mix of indie tunes and pop songs either fondly remembered or pretty much forgotten (with good reason, some might say) that you’ve come to know and, in some instances, if not love then quite like.
There’s no real need for me tell you anything about tonight’s featured artist, as they have featured on these pages many times before.
The song, though? Well, it’s lifted from their 7th album Howdy! which was released way back in 2000, and was released as a single in June 2001. Much like so many of their singles, it failed to chart, which is no reflection on how good it is and they are.
What I love about this – or rather, one of the things I love about this – is the mix, where the main guitar sequences alternate between speakers, in a way which reminds you just what stereo was invented for. Listen to via headphones to get the full effect.
In short, another near-perfect entry in a near-perfect back catalogue:
Here we are again, this week with the penultimate part of my six-hour mix, divided into six parts for your ‘delectation’.
And this week I think it’s fair to say we’re going full-on Indie Disco, albeit one from circa 1992 (with a few notable exceptions).
It’s also fair to say that once we’ve got past the chanting monks at the start of the first tune (and what better way is there to start a mix than with some chanting monks, right?) we go very LOUD before settling down to a mix of songs you’ll know, some you’ll have forgotten about, and possibly some that you’ve never heard before. Which is exactly how an Indie Disco should be, in my book: entertain and educate.
Many of these tunes remind me of when I used to DJ at college, but two in particular remind me of the first time I DJ’d in around 10 years or so (I’m excluding the time Llŷr and I DJ’d at a friend’s wedding, as all I did that day was hand him records to play).
I was at a party at Hel’s old flat in North London; our friend Ruth, her decks set up on the breakfast bar which looked out on to the living room-cum-dancefloor, has just performed a mammoth set of around 8 hours. People were starting to leave, and I figured she deserved a break. It was around 4am when I sidled up to her: “Do you mind if I have a go?” She nearly bit my hand off, and went and sat on the sofa with Hel.
Since they were practically my entire audience, every one else having left or crashed out, I decided to play some quieter stuff. My first choice caused both of my audience to break off their conversation momentarily, look in my direction, and go “Awwww!” I repeated the trick with my second choice. “Ahhhhhh!”, sighed the two ladies.
“Still got it,” I thought to myself, and played for another hour or so, until it was time to pack the decks away so Ruth could go home too.
I shan’t spoil things by telling you which two tunes I played, but you’ll spot them alright. Partly because, if you know the tunes in question (and I’d be very surprised if you don’t recognise either of them) you’ll probably make similar noises to Hel and Ruth when they start (I’ve put them together here, for maximum effect), but mostly because I couldn’t resist putting a massive sign-post in right before them.
I’ve done mixes, playlists, call them what you will, for years in various guises, from mix-tapes played in the 6th Form common room, in the motorway ‘restaurant’ I worked in during the holidays at 6th Form and at college (and for a year after I graduated), and in the video shop I pretended to work in after I finally graduated, all were sound-tracked by an ever-growing collection of mix-tapes. DJ’ing at college was almost inevitable, really. And then, when I left college – bar a very short, unpleasant stint working for a mobile DJ in Cardiff in the early 90s, which I’ll tell you about some other time (if I haven’t do so already) – nothing.
It was in those moments, standing in Hel’s kitchen, playing to an audience of two awake people and several sleeping ones, that I realised how much I missed DJ’ing, which is why I do these mixes.
So whilst the last of the six parts will be here next week, I’m already adding the final touches to the one for the week after. In short: tough luck, I’m not stopping just yet.
Time for the usual disclaimer: any skips and jumps in the mix are down to the mixing software; any mis-timed mixes are down to me (although on this one, it’s all about the timing rather than the mixing, as the cross-fader literally didn’t move from it’s central position throughout this one).
A cross-fader, yesterday
I’m not sure if that’s something I should be proud of, let alone advertise, to be honest…
There is, as usual, a little bit of potty-mouthed effing and jeffing, only on one song (I think), and as you cast your eye down the track-listing below, you’ll have no problem identifying which one it is. Previous mixes have contained worse (and next week’s mix definitely does), but it would be remiss of me not slap one of these on it for those of a delicate constitution:
Super Furry Animals – (Drawing) Rings Around The World
Teenage Fanclub – Star Sign (Remastered)
The Soup Dragons – Slow Things Down
Strawberry Switchblade – Since Yesterday
Blur – Coffee + TV (Radio Edit)
Pulp – Something Changed
One Dove – White Love (Radio Mix)
Prince – Little Red Corvette
Next week is, then, the final part of this series, where the cross-fader is in full effect as I give you over an hour of dance bangers (as I believe “The” “Kids” say, or used to anyway), which tests my actual mixing skills to the maximum, including as it does what my mate Rob insists is “the hardest tune in the world to mix in or out of.”
One Saturday shortly after I moved into my new gaffe, in an rare and unrepeated fit of gusto and determination to get things done, I spent an afternoon unpacking boxes and rearranging furniture for what felt like the umpteenth time.
The inspiration behind this sudden explosion of energy was that I had just bought the new Teenage Fanclub album, wanted to listen to it, but felt guilty about just listening to it; no, I needed to feel like I had done something to deserve listening to it.
And so I spent that afternoon listening to the entire back catalogue (albums only) of this marvellous band who I have adored for so many years now. The idea was that my work would culminate in their latest missive, Endless Arcade, which I could sit down and relax to at the completion of my long list of tasks.
Except I decided I couldn’t wait that long, and so listened to the albums in reverse chronological order, like the dastardly Sequence Round from Only Connect brought to life.
For those of you unfamiliar with their body of work – and I am assuming there must be at least one or two of you out there – the band have developed from a jangly guitared-Big Star influenced indie rock band, to a much more folky, but crucially still jangly, sound, whilst losing none of their melodic or harmonic qualities.
But it was quite interesting listening to them this way, hearing them as they…regressed, I suppose is the closest way to describe it, although that implies getting worse, which certainly isn’t the case here. Ask me to pick my fab four from their twelve studio albums, and it would definitely be the four-in-a-row run they went on between 1991 and 1997 – that is to say: Bandwagonesque, Thirteen, Grand Prix and Songs from Northern Britain, beauties one and all.
That’s not to say I dislike what has come since, but it’s my old theory – about the bands and albums that get you when you’re young and impressionable that stay with you, becoming life-long friends, getting you through the tough times – that applies here, I think.
Actually, there’s a much simpler explanation of why I fell for them; you only have to go as far as the opening couplet from Bandwagonesque‘s opening song:
She wears denim wherever she goes, Says she’s gonna get some records by The Status Quo, oh yeh!
Anyway, Endless Arcade continues in much the same vein as predecessors Here, Shadows and Man-Made, more folky then jangly, but no less potent for it, which is no mean feat given the departure of Gerard Love in 2018 after the release of Here.
How much of this can be credited to the arrival of new band member and for Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci main man Euros Childs is unclear, but you can definitely tell he’s involved. And that’s a good thing, hopefully giving the band a whole new lease of life and allowing them to continue for many more years.
Because whichever period it’s from, I can guarantee that listening to a Teenage Fanclub record pretty much always makes me happy. Or happier, at least.
Here’s the opening track from Endless Arcade, an harmonic strummer with a gently shuffling rhythm, appropriately titled given what I was doing when I first listened to it:
For quite some time now, I’ve been pondering what it is that is preventing me from posting with the same regularity as I was last year.
I’ve worked it out.
Regular readers will know that I generally sit on a Friday night, have a few drinks and write posts for the next week. But for a while now, I’ve become preoccupied on doing a new mix.
Warning: artist at work excuse incoming.
See, whilst they seem remarkably unpopular, I really enjoy piecing together a long playlist/mix/call it what you will, and that inevitably means a few drafts which don’t quite, to quote Echo & The Bunnymen, cut the mustard.
So, I’ve been working on this mix for some time now, but somehow something always seemed to prevent me from finishing it, be it me tinkering with the running order, or thinking of new tunes to toss in, or some kind of technical calamity, or (more often) listening to it and realising I’ve utterly messed up a mix and I simply can’t bear to have anyone else listen to it.
I’m not going to pretend all of the mixes between tunes here are perfect – there’s at least one which I know isn’t – but I’ve reached the point where it’s close enough to let it go and move on to something else, before I drive myself mad searching for perfection.
So here’s my latest mix, imperfect though it may be; frustrating as it has been, I really like this one, which starts off in the usual way – slowly – before getting into a groove which includes Kings of Leon from before they went stadium and knew how to use a cowbell, a new(ish) track by The Chemical Brothers, an obligatory Soulwax remix, two of the finest female pop stars going: Miley Cyrus & Dua Lipa (not on the same tune, sadly), the occasional hidden ‘joke’ (by which I mean it seemed funny when I first put the songs together, less so now), via Madonna having a short chat with Johnny Cash.
It’s the usual mix of songs you love, songs you’ve forgotten about, and songs which make you think “What the hell has he put this on here for??”. Some might say eclectic, but I couldn’t possibly comment. Think mainly Indie guitar stuff, with a few dance tunes, 80s pop songs and a couple of timeless classics – at least one of which you probably won’t have heard before – thrown in.
As always, no track-listing – I like to imagine your faces when the next song kicks in – but there’s a list of featured artists on the right hand side in case you want to see what you’re letting yourself in for. Which is a treat, obviously. If you desperately need to know what a track is, either Shazam it or, if you’d like to feed my ego, ask me via the Comments at the bottom of this post.
Usual disclaimer: any skips and jumps are down to the mixing software; any mis-timed mixes (and, as I say, there is at least one) is down to me. Either way: Sorry!
One more thing: you may recall that last time out I mentioned that my brother had said he managed to predict what I was going to play next, which annoyed me greatly. No such criticism of the last mix, although he told me he listened to it whilst out on his morning run, so some of the sudden gear changes weren’t helpful. I’ve tried to rectify that this time, with a relatively steady beat and tempo maintained throughout (after you’ve got past the traditional slow start) for those of you who listen to this whilst doing your exercises (not that I really understand what that means). The danger was that it would denigrate into either a Ministry of Sound pumping dance mix or a Top Gear/Best Driving Songs…in the World…Ever! playlist, but I think the song choices just about keep us on the right side of that happening.
Let’s say it starts slowly, gets into a groove, and then has more false endings than a Status Quo single.
I’m a bit annoyed that since I first decided to include it, at least on song here has popped up in an advert – and you know how I feel about them – for burgers, of all things. Rest assured, the advert in question was not the inspiration for the song’s inclusion. You’ll know it when you hear it, I think.
Oh and there are several songs which feature effing and jeffings – “sexual swear words” as Simon Bates used to say at the start of videos – so please avoid if you are easily offended by unfettered vulgarity and sauciness. Look, there’s a Goldie Lookin’ Chain tune which is probably the rudest and most inappropriate (but funny) thing I’ll ever post, so beware.
For a limited time (until I do another one, so y’know, could be months), you can stream or download it via Soundcloud here.
Creation Stories is a Sky Original film which attempts to dramatise the life of Creation record label founder, Alan McGee.
A quick glance at the promotional material fills you with hope:
Missing from that is that this was co-written by Irvine Welsh. But there’s Danny Boyle’s name given prominance. And although you may not recognise him from the picture, that’s Ewen Bremner in the main role.
And what a soundtrack that promises to be!
Here’s the trailer:
Looks good, right?
*Scrolls through the rest of the imdb entry*
Look, there’s actual proper acting royalty in the form of Steven Berkoff and Saskia Reeves. Actual comic acting royalty supplied by Paul Kaye, Rufus Jones and Danny John-Jules. There’s Richard Jobson, making a pretty good fist of doing something useful for the first time since The Skids split up. There’s comedians Ed Byrne as…er…Alistair Campbell (I wish I could say: “Now that’s ironic!” here, but it isn’t) and Alistair McGowan as Jimmy Savile (are you sure about this? – Ed). Blink-and-you’ll-miss-them cameos by Bez, Carl Barat and Brix Smith-Start. And practically the entire cast of This Is England is involved (well, the ones who haven’t gone on to super-stardom since, anyway) and that can’t be a bad thing.
Oh wait.
Danny Boyle is just the Executive Producer. Along with fourteen others (not including Co-Executive Producers). Which means he’s put some cash into the project and that’s about the end of his involvement.
Oh wait.
I don’t know if you saw it flash up in the trailer, but this is directed by Nick Moran, who also plays Malcolm McLaren. Hmm, this is starting to look less promising by the second.
And so it proves to be.
There’s an awful lot that’s wrong with Creation Stories.
The first thing is that given the vast amount of Class A drugs ingested by McGee in the film, and given he is played by Ewen Bremner – a fine actor, and no mistake – it becomes almost impossible to shake off the memory of the other drug-guzzling character he has played in a Boyle/Welsh collaboration: Spud in Trainspotting.
There’s nothing here but reminders of Spud’s most iconic moments, the interview:
and the…er…morning after scene:
(The fact that in a review of one film, I’m posting clips from an entirely different film speaks volumes.)
To be clear, I’ve seen Bremner in many other productions, and after the initial recognition has passed, not once did I have Spud on my mind. It’s not Bremner’s fault that Creation Stories is such a dud, he does the very best he can with what he’s been given. I just think they could have cast somebody who didn’t invoke all these memories and comparisons, which have an undesirable effect on his performance and the film. Although I am struggling to think of who that might be.
And what of the crowd-pleasing creatives, namely Boyle and Welsh? To be honest, I can’t see Boyle’s influence at all here, and I reckon the most that Welsh had to do with writing it was ensuring the Scottish vernacular remained honest and true. “I’ve finished the screenplay now Irvine, can you chuck some swear words in, and make sure they’re not snorting when they should be smoking?”
To drive the plot, the film uses perhaps the laziest premise for a biopic: a journalist is interviewing McGee for a retrospective article in an American paper, or magazine, or TV show, it’s not made terribly clear. His story is told via a series of anecdotes, transposed to flashbacks. This method is employed so that the narrative can jump from one momentous moment to the next without really having to explain how we got from point A to point B.
(I wasn’t taking notes, but I also suspect there were several errors in the chronology.)
And I wouldn’t get too excited about that soundtrack, for the moments when you’re swept away by the music are few and far between.
I appreciate, of course, that Creation Records were responsible for a lot of amazing output during it’s all-to-brief tenure as the self-proclaimed “Coolest Record Label on Earth”, and there’s a lot to try and cram into one movie, but there are some acts who are conspicuous by their absence: there’s no mention at all of Super Furry Animals, and they once hired a tank and drove it through London to promote one of their records, which surely would have been visual gold.
Similarly, Teenage Fanclub barely get a mention, overlooking how integral to the label’s success their Bandwagonesque album was. I think I heard a snatch of this in the background in one scene, mind:
McGee is presented as an egotistical chancer, who repeatedly got lucky by being at events where unsigned bands just happened to be playing, and I’m not sure that’s entirely true.
But it’s here that I found the one true highlight of them film, when McGee’s own band are playing in a dingy backstreet London boozer, the Television Personalities invade the stage and take over, perform one song, announce “Here’s our second song. It’s the same as the first one, BUT LOUDER!” once it’s finished, before launching into exactly the same song, which they do indeed played louder than they had the first time.
If you’re at entry level, know nothing about Creation Records or Alan McGee, then I’d recommend Creation Stories as a stepping-on point and nothing more.
Otherwise, I’d say avoid at all costs. Stick with the 2010 Upside Down: The Creation RecordsStory documentary instead.
I’m sure I won’t be the only person posting this today.
We’re in quite the quandary, aren’t we? To spend time with our family at Christmas, and potentially kill them, or not spend time with our family at Christmas, and tuck into an ASDA Christmas meal for one (other revolting, not as good as your Mum makes, processed Christmas dinners are probably available), pull a cracker by ourselves (not a euphemism) and hope there’s a Morecombe & Wise Christmas Special being repeated somewhere (there will be, there always is).
See, the annoying thing about the Government’s announcement this week that we can have 5 days off trying to beat the virus, is the guidance which came with it.
Because there wasn’t really any guidance at all.
It’s “you can if you want to, but the decision is yours. Don’t blame us.” After a year of unmitigated disaster, it’s PM Johnson trying to make himself more popular by “saving” Christmas. It’s the reverse Grinch, if you like.
And it’s bullshit.
I never thought I hear myself say this (and I can, because I speak what I type) but I think I’d rather the Government had been more forceful in their direction. Tell me to stay at home if that’s what the experts say. Don’t leave it up to me, for feck’s sake.
This had been my plan up until now: in the week or so before Christmas, I’d go and get myself Covid-checked, and then depending on the outcome (assuming I got the result before I was due to travel), I could decide what the best course of action is.
But even then, I don’t drive, so I’d be taking public transport up to see my parents, so it could be that I was Covid-free when I had the test, but picked something up en route.
And then you look at the charts and see that, when we come out of lockdown on December 2nd, the vast majority of England will either be in Tier 2 or Tier 3. Sure, that’s going to get reviewed on 16th December, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything will change for the better.
So it could be that I’m travelling from a Tier 3 zone, to my parents, and then back again.
It’s so difficult. I’m writing this on Friday night, and at the moment I’ve landed on this: Covid doesn’t have any family of its own to visit at Christmas, it’s not going to take 5 days off, so why should I? Therefore, I should stay at home, and we can do a family get together later in 2021 when it’s safer (hopefully).
But I’ll probably have changed my mind by the time you read this. I already have several times, and the announcement only came yesterday.
Anyway. More than any other year, for making me choose, December, I want to assassin you:
A History of Dubious Taste 