Brian Bordello Shea’s Final Roundup of 2022
SINGLES/EPs
John Howard ‘Christmas Was Made For The Children’
‘Christmas Was Made For The Children’ is pure schmaltz, pure Christmas Schmaltz as all great Christmas songs are. John Howard succeeds where so many seem to fail as he wraps the Schmaltz in a melody so beautiful and timeless it takes one back to the golden days of 70s Christmas TV, when the Val Doonican or Bing Crosby Christmas special would be aired mid evening on Christmas Eve and we’d be entertained by there special guest who would perform a song just like ‘Christmas Was Made For The Children’ as the host looked on resplendent in their Christmas jumper.
This song is filled with magic and nostalgia and I almost feel like I’m that young kid trudging through the cold to attend midnight mass, at least comforted by the thought that my Christmas morning would not have to be interrupted by an hour or so of God bothering. If you are going to buy one Christmas song this year I suggest you choose this gem.
LINN ‘Okay, Sister’
This is a slow dance with your own shadow; a mixed delight of a lone shard of glass reflecting the crescent of the moon; a night time bathe in melancholia; a song to sing to your loved one as they leave you wanting alone with only memories for company; a bewitching jewel of longing and regret. A fine and beautiful song.
Humour ‘Jeans’
(So Young Records)
I really like this, it has a wonderful wonky post-punk Captain Beefheart, Zappa feel to it; a song that sent me spiralling back to my youth of energetic nights out drinking in the local alternative pub soaking up the pleasures of too many bottles of newkie Brown and soaking up the sounds of Wigan’s finest, The Volunteers [whose Bladdder Of Life mini album is a must own for all lovers of wonky guitar thrills]. Yes indeed, I enjoyed this track a great deal. You could say I enjoy the cut of their Jeans, which I imagine to be quite flair-y but darn sexy at the same time.
Dead Patrons ‘Nothing’
There is nothing like a good Christmas song and video to bring the oncoming tide of nostalgia rushing towards you like the onslaught of a swarm of meat hungry giant turkeys all ready to weave a wave of mass destruction on the waiting children all ready for Santa to bring them their ideal Christmas gift, but instead are pecked to death in their beds, their last thought being it did not look like this in the Argos catalogue. But luckily for us this is not a wholesome Christmas ditty but instead a slow and dirty as death hardcore slow romp of mental cold metal anguish and depravity that we all really need this time of the year: believe me we really do.
Kevin Robertson ‘Why/D.C.B.A 25’
(Fruits Der Mer)
The new single from the infamous Fruits der Mer label, the label of course that released vinyl releases when vinyl releases where not the thing to release but did it anyway and over the years have released a whole slew of collectable vinyl, mostly psych shenanigans of the first degree, is a double-sided joy of 60s cover jangle by Kevin Robertson. The A-side ‘Why’ is a colourful and calmly laid-back reworking of The Byrds gem that explodes in the middle with a guitar solo and a half of acid induced seagull frenzy [which believe me is such a thing]. The B-side is a cover of Jefferson Airplanes ‘D.C.B.A 25’, which actually sounds like The Byrds strangely enough and is wrapped in a blanket of chiming almost Christmassy 12 string guitars, which I suppose this time of the year is very apt and no doubt the radio will soon be blessed with the sound of Chrissie Hynde telling us that 2000 Miles is very far.
ALBUMS
Sanfeliu ‘To Absent Friends’
(4000 Records)
This is a rather lovely relaxing wonky album of synth pop; an album full of bleeps and whooshes and wizzes and soft vocals that at times reminded me of The Frazier Chorus and at others, the Magnetic Fields, and on the excellent ‘El Rey Y La Reina De Los Descastados’ Sanfeliu seems to evoke the spirit of the wonderful Wilder album by The Teardrop Explodes: all hushed tones of angelic beauty, a really lovely track on an album filled with them. To Absent Friends is a must hear for all those with a love of synth pop and smooth relaxing warm slightly wonky music.
Richard Öhrn ‘Sounds In English’
(Big Stir Records)
Sounds In English starts with a beautiful chiming jangle of the 12-string guitar, which should come as no surprise as of course this album is released on the excellent Big Stir record label. As anyone who reads my reviews will probably realise I normally review at least one album most months from the label. So, you will know what to expect as Big Stir specialise in releasing albums of well written and performed slices of guitar magic, and Sounds In English is yet another lovely gem of that ilk but with a much calmer and pastoral edge and with a baroque pop quality; ‘The Coolest Manners’ could easily fit on Costello’s Imperial Bedroom and ‘5th Month Announcement’ and ‘Love And Friendship’ recalling the sound of Simon And Garfunkel. ‘Every Shade’ has a fine seventies singer-songwriter feel – I think Big Stir might have found their own John Howard.
Richard Öhrn has crafted a fine and enriching grower of an album, the more you listen the more the melodies seep in and soundtrack your days.
Eamon The Destroyer ‘A Small Blue Car -Re-made/Re-modelled’
(Bearsuit Records)
‘A Small Blue Car -Re-made/Re-modelled’ is a remix album of sorts of the excellent Eamon The Destroyer album, and this is a rare thing as I actually prefer it to the original, and I enjoyed the original a great deal.
This album has a spooky warm quality to it and the opening track ‘Nothing Like Anything’ has a feel of The Beach Boys ‘Cabinessence’ and sounds like it is having its thigh stroked in a sensual way by a slightly out of it Momus. And track nine, ‘Uledaru’, is taken over and consumed by the brilliance of the Schizo Fun Addict taking the track on a short detour to heaven.
A Small Blue Car… is another overwhelming success of a release taking the experimental and layering it with blankets of alternative pop electronica warmth.
Scott Robertson ‘Footprints In The Butter’
(Subjangle)
Scott Robinson is a young man from Scotland and member of the excellent Jangly 60s inspired Vapour Trails [who I have written about in the past] and another band whose name escapes me [let’s call it a senior moment shall we], who are a little more prog and 90s alternative psych sounding and also excellent, but I have for some reason never written about [let’s call it another senior moment and be done with it].
Anyway, young Scott is a talented chap and this, his debut, album lies somewhere between his two bands. Opening track ‘Lost My Curtains’ is a lovely soft psych-tinged ballad recalling Teenage Fanclub when they where worth a damn, and ‘The Death Of Daylight Saving’ again psych’s it up with Cinnamon Girl guitar riffs and a Byrds like adventure that has not been heard since the long-lost adventure filled days of the early 90s when the much-underrated Spirea X looked like they where about to rule the roost.
Footprints In The Butter is a lovely album filled with a mature songwriting but with a veal and adventure that can only be performed by a young soul not yet fully tarnished by life. And an album I like so much it has had me dipping into my paypal: heating bills be damned, I will just keep myself warm frigging vigorously to this excellent debut.
Monthly Playlist: November 2022: Cities Aviv, Mui Zyu, Edrix Puzzle, Juga-Naut, Illogic, Arthur King…
November 30, 2022
CHOICE MUSIC FROM THE LAST MONTH
CURATED BY DOMINIC VALVONA
The very last monthly playlist of 2022 is a bumper edition of eclectic choice music from the last month, with a smattering of tracks from upcoming December releases too.
This month’s picks have been collected from Dominic Valvona, Matt Oliver, Brian ‘Shea’ Bordello and Graham Domain. The full track list can be found below the Spotify link.
The monthly will be back in the New Year. Until then absorb this behemoth of a selection, and next month, ponder and peruse the blog’s 140 plus albums of 2022 features.
TRACK LIST IN FULL
Black Market Karma/Tess Parks ‘The Sky Was All Diseased’
Enter Laughing ‘Met Me When I landed’
Salem Trials ‘Man From Atlantis Is Dead’
Humour ‘Jeans’
Cities Aviv ‘Funktion’
Vlimmer ‘Mathematik’
Gabrielle Ornate ‘Phantasm’
Dead Horses ‘Can’t Talk, Can’t Sleep’
Lunar Bird ‘Driven By The Light’
Mui Zyu ‘Rotten Bun’
Thank You Lord For Satan ‘When We Dance’
Pozi ‘Slightly Shaking Cells’
My Friend Peter ‘When I Was’
U.S. Girls ‘Bless This Mess’
Sofie Royer ‘Feeling Bad Forsyth Street’
Surya Botofasina ‘Beloved California Temple’
Edrix Puzzle ‘Shadow of Phobe’
Let Spin ‘Waveform Guru’
Etceteral ‘Gologlavka’
Juga-Naut ‘Camel Walk’
The Pyramids ‘Queens Of The Spirits Part 1’
Illogic ‘Nowhere Fast’
Planet Asia/Snowgoons/Flash ‘Metabolism’
Dabbla/alone ‘Adept’
Karu ‘Spears Of Leaves’
Neon Kittens ‘Nil By Vein’
Renelle 893/King Kashmere ‘My Demons’
Mount Kimbie/Don Maker/Kai Campos Ft. Slowthai ‘Kissing’
Homeboy Sandman/Deca ‘Satellite’
Uusi Aika ‘S-T’
Gillian Stone ‘The Throne’
Raw Poetic/Damu The Fudgemunk ‘A Mile In My Head’
Boldy James/Futurewave ‘Mortemir Milestone’
Arthur King ‘Dig Precious Things’
Tom Skinner ‘Voices (Of The Past)’
Trans Zimmer & The DJs ‘Wind Quintet No. 3 In E Major, Second Movement’
George T ‘Dub On, King’s Cross’
The Dark Jazz Project ‘Great Skies’
Noémi Büchi ‘Measuring All Possibilities’
Russ Spence ‘Spectrum’
Seez Mics/Aupheus ‘Cancel The Guillotine’
Dezron Douglas ‘J Bird’
Fliptrix/Illinformed ‘Eden’
Apollo Brown/Philmore Greene ‘This Is Me’
Illogic ‘She Didn’t Write’
Milc/Televangel Ft. AJ Suede ‘Ronald Reagan’
Vincent/The Owl/Nick Catchdubs ‘Fade 2 Black’
Shirt/Jack Splash ‘Cancel Culture’
Clouds In A Headlock/ASM/Daylight Robbery ‘3D Maze’
The Strange Neighbour/Leolex/Bobby Slice Ft. DJ Sixkay ‘Keep Your Head Straight’
Kormac Ft. Loah & Jafaris ‘Bottom Of The Ocean’
A. O. Gerber ‘Walk In The Dark’
Ben Pagano ‘Hot Capital’
Hög Sjö ‘Love Is A Gamble’
Kinked ‘Introduzione Alla Fabula’
Årabrot ‘Going Up’
Old Fire Ft. Julia Holter ‘Window Without A World’
Meg Baird ‘Star Hill Song’
Susanna/Stina Stjern/Delphine Dora ‘Elevation’
Rita Braga ‘Nothing Came From Nowhere’
Orchid Mantis ‘Endless Life’
The Zew ‘Come On Down’
Ocelot ‘Santa Ana’
LINN ‘Okay, Sister’
Sanfeliu ‘Grassy Patch’
Young Ritual ‘Ages’
Yermot ‘Leaning To Lie’
The Monthly Playlist Revue: May ’22: Junior Disprol, Misha Sultan, Vera Di Lecce, Celestial North…
May 30, 2022
THE PLAYLIST
Dominic Valvona/Matt Oliver/Brian Bordello Shea
All the choice tracks from the last month, plus a few missed ones we’ve corralled from last month, the Monolith Cocktail team’s playlist revue is both a catch-up and showcase of the blog’s eclectic and mind bending tastes. Sitting in on this month’s selection panel is Dominic Valvona, Matt Oliver and Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea.
TRACK LIST IN FULL IS:
Junior Disprol Ft. Krash Slaughta ‘Rotund Shogun’
Deca ‘Tuning’
Exterior ‘Orthodox Dreams’
FAST DE ‘Miss Trutti Finally Found Her Gem’
Pussy Riot Ft. Slayyter ‘HATEFUCK’
Masai Bey ‘Stanza X’
BITHAMMER! ‘Make You Mine’
Flat Worms ‘Into The Iris (Live)’
Salem Trials ‘Vegaville’
Walker Brigade ‘Disease’
Team Play ‘Sunrise’
James Howard ‘Baloo’ Adam Walton ‘Mary Sees U.F.O.S.’
Joviale ‘UW4GM’
Shabaka ‘Black Meditation’
Kritters ‘New York’
Ralph Of London ‘Lys’
Ethan Woods ‘Utopia Limited (Cuddly Tie-In)’
Staples Jr. Singers ‘I’m looking For A Man’
Ramson Badbonez ‘Rap Bio’
Mr. SOS & Maxamill ‘War Criminal’
The Difference Machine ‘Old Men’
Omega Sapien ‘Jenny’
Mr. SOS ‘Peace & Prosperity’
Jermiside & The Expert Ft. Tanya Morgan ‘Crime Rule The City’
Quelle Chris ‘DEATHFAME’
Wish Master & Billy Whizz ‘THOUGHTS OF THOUGHTS’
Guillotine Crowns ‘Killer’ Orryx ‘Eldritch’
Celestial North ‘When The Gods Dance’
Henna Emilia Hietamäki ‘Protesti’
Lucrecia Dalt ‘No One Around’
STANLAEY ‘Fluorescent Fossils’
Your Old Droog ‘Go To Sleep’
Tommaso Moretti Ft. Ben LaMar Gay ‘A Call For Awareness’
Black Mango Ft. Samba Touré ‘Are U Satisfied’
Avalanche Kaito ‘Flany Konare’
Tomo-Nakaguchi ‘Halation’
Private Agenda ‘Splendour’
Sebastian Reynolds ‘Four-Minute Mile’
Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers ‘Agwetaroyo’
Misha Sultan ‘Nyepi’
The Master Musicians Of Jajouka ‘Khamsa Khamsin’
Gustavo Yashimura ‘Las Prendas del Corazon’
Stephanie Santiago ‘Activa Tu Cuerpo’
Gabrielle Ornate ‘Free Falling’
Black Monitor ‘Xexagon77’
Borban Dallas & His Filipino Cupids ‘Too Convenient’
Martha And The Muffins ‘Save It For Later’
Super Hit ‘Blink 182’
Reverend Baron ‘Let The Radio Play’
Alas The Sun ‘Distant Drone’
Jelly Crystal ‘I Tryyy’
LINN ‘Happiness Is Real’
Lenka Lichtenberg ‘That Monster, Custom’
Brigitte Beraha ‘Blink’
Vera Di Lecce ‘Altar Of Love’
Francesco Lurgo ‘I Am Already Far Away’
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea’s Roundup
Unless stated otherwise, all releases are currently available to buy.
SINGLES:
Schizo Fun Addict ‘Fate Chaser’
Schizo Fun Addict are one of the Magnificent Seven; one of the most important bands in the underground today: one of the seven bands that are making music as good as anything released in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.
Music wise they are a jack-of-all-trades and master of them all. They take musical genres and mix them with a cunning ease and panache that other bands can only stand with mouths agape wondering how they achieve such beauty and experimental originality. With this their new single they dip their toes into the magical myth that is the Laurel Canyon of the late 60s, and produce a song of supreme summer jangle. This is the sound of Michelle Philips combing her hair; the sound of Arthur Lee preening himself in front of a full-length mirror in the castle. This is pure nostalgia, a song of the summers we no longer seem to be blessed with; a tear stained memory of teenage romantic yearning.
bigflower ‘The Pill’
The dark world of bigflower once again is upon us with a lovely strange voyage of psyche and psychosis; an off-kilter journey where not everything seems to be where it should be, but strangely fits together perfectly. A song that strangely could and should last longer, which is indeed a very rare thing; an aural journey of a song with shuffling drum beat and beautifully simple strummed electric guitar led astray in a wave of vague drone solitude. Another winner from Ivor Perry.
Borben Dallas & His Filipino Cupids ‘Too Convenient’
I love this single. It starts off all scuzzed-up rock ‘n’ roll and dank and pringy and urgent, then in the middle goes all experimental and almost Beach Boys like. It gives one the impression that Borben Dallas has just found god or at least a God substitute. The post-finding-God section of the song goes back to the first but with an added pringiness that one can only bow their head or even shake it in a Status Quo like manner to. A spellbinder of a single. Originality is not dead it is alive and well and living in the essence of Borben Dallas and His Filipino Cupids.
Martha and the Muffins ‘Save It For Later’
The man who wrote this song is actually a bit of a fan of my band The Bordellos, calling me the natural successor to John Cooper Clarke. Maybe he meant I too am skinny and wear all black, but sadly my hair has long gone the way of my hopes and dreams completely out the window. But that man be the wonderful talented songwriter Dave Wakeling who of course was and is frontman of Ska Beat legends The Beat and this my dearest cherubs is a cover of their classic ‘Save It For Later’, and it’s not a bad version. It’s all post punk jangles and a melody no doubt one would hear emitting even echoing on a beach [see what I did there] from a tiny transistor radio this summer. Martha And The Muffins have indeed done a pop delight of a cover and has managed to put a smile on my face and a skank to my hips. [Please do not take that image to bed with you, I beg of you].
James Howard ‘Baloo’
(Faith & Industry)
As I sit mid Sunday morning writing reviews, this is pretty perfect listening; a song that takes and pulls in the art of traditional songwriting and wraps it around ones heart, squeezing tears and hope from your now moistened eyes. A track of pure beauty; a song I can imagine the great Elvis Presley performing with such gusto and panache extinguishing all the previous night’s demons. James Howard could well be one to watch and I await an album with my breath somewhat baited. A true beaut of a song.
Fast De ‘Miss Trutti Finally Found Her Gem’
(Bloomer Records)
A lovely instrumental surprise of fuzzed-up pop grandeur, fuzzy synths get off my tail eloquence, and a sweet, so sweet scuzzy melody that it will not just rot your teeth as you chew on it, getting all the juicy goodness from the track, but your grandmas and her twice removed wannabe lovers teeth as well. Yes indeed it is times like this one can only sit back and enjoy the taste of adventure in music.
Pineapple ‘Trials’
(Metal Postcard Records)
Pineapple is a fruity little dish of a band, taking in post punk and talking in post punk sensibilities. It’s an EP of nostalgic splendor; one that takes me back to the days when the local punk band had to compete with the jukebox in the down at heel pub venue, we of a certain age all have played/frequented at some time in our lives. Yes, this is an EP of enjoyable guitar punky scrunge that takes in Billy Childish, Julian Cope and The Fall in equal measure, and ‘Snake & Ladders’ is one of the best songs about football I have heard in many a year.
Linn ‘Happiness is Real’
I love this track. I have listened to it a number of times in a row, and found it a song that is both utterly bewitching and quite disconcerting: imagine Jane [‘Its A Fine Day’ fame] being swallowed whole by early My Bloody Valentine on the sunniest yet saddest day of the year. I hope Linn has an album coming out soon as I think I’m ready to be seduced.
ALBUMs/EPs
Faust ‘Punkt’
(Bureau B)
Punkt is the lost album by Faust and everybody loves a good lost album. But in honesty many lost albums actually deserve to remain lost and never be found. They are lost for a good reason normally, the reason quite often being it is not very good, but years later are looked through rose-tinted nostalgic eyes and held to one’s collective bosom as a work of previously unreleased genius.
But there is always an exception, and like Shacks masterwork Waterpistol, Punkt is that exception.
Punkt carries on where Faust IV left of, with a brief ear turned and tuned into melody where the industrial noise is swamped with psych-tinged song writing skill and invention. ‘Morning Land’ sounding very much like what Einstürzende Neubauten would make years later with great success. ‘Knochentanz’ is indeed a Chinese burn of a track, taking jazz and electronic noise to new extremes; like a melting corpse dripping into the eyes of the soulful bugler at dawn wondering whether alcohol will taste quite the same again, it is almost funky and after many spirit enhancing drugs could well be danced to and even at the length of 11.45 it never outstays its welcome. ‘Fernlicht’ follows as a short psychedelic interlude, again covering the noise and drone with a quite becoming melody. And that is a fair summing up of the album actually: the normal Faust invention of drone and noise but with a covering of instrumental beauty, as the quite breath-taking journey of a track ‘Schön Rund’ proves: the sound of Elton John slowly sinking into the ocean; a treat indeed.
So as a lost album this is indeed a found again treasure; one that all lovers of Krautrock will enjoy and stroke the chins over a martini to [or other tipples of choice].
Jelly Crystall ‘ILY’
(Smuggler Music/PIAS) 3rd June 2022
All said and done this EP is rather beautiful. The opening track reminds me of the beautiful Paul Quinn and the Spirit of Independence albums, which is indeed high praise. There is such a romantic 50s early 60s magic that those periods in time oozed with, and Jelly Crystal have captured the magic without being too retro.
This is music to be heard coming out of your radio whilst you slow dance with your significant other in the darkness, in the park with the cool evening breeze whispering sweet nothings…truly magical.
Alas The Sun ‘Wild Honey Inn’
(Taxi Gauche Records)
The beautiful sound of summer is what we have here; jangling guitars beautiful harmonies and well-written songs with heart and soul. Everybody who reads these reviews of mine knows I am a sucker for bands with boy/girl vocal duets, and Alas The Sun are indeed blessed with such a thing; both voices blending into a soft honey dew like substance that melts and makes you feel all warm inside.
Whether it be the jazzy ‘Distant Drone’ or the subtle ‘White Rabbit’ soft shuffling beat of ‘Love At Twenty-Two’, which is almost Prefab Sproutish in its texture and feel, Wild Honey Inn is an album of laid-back beauty; an ideal record to soundtrack sheltering in the shade on a too hot summer’s day, when lazing about relaxing is all one needs in life.
Black Monitor ‘Snake Of My Heart’
(Ikarus Records)
Snake Of My Heart is an album full of tuneful joyful psychedelic pop, and lovers of such will indeed enjoy it. To be honest, there is nothing not to enjoy about it, as it is vibrant, wide space music made to fill the wide musical space in your life; an album taking in the influences of Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett, the Brianjonestown Massacre, early Blur and many other fine pop bands touching on c86 jangle, especially on the Sarah Records like ‘On A Wire’. But there is a slight difference as Black Monitor has a slightly dark edge to the music, a slight uneasiness that many bands that produce music of this ilk do not quite manage to achieve.
There’s a slight appealing wonkiness and depth to the songs that I think will draw me back to and explore more and more over the coming weeks, a quality that many fail to produce with alt radio friendly songs. This a quite lovely and rewarding listen.
Super Hit ‘Pocket Rock EP’
(Metal Postcard Records)
There is a beauty in lo-fi jangly guitar music that I cannot resist, and this seven-track mini album is full of the beautiful little blighters. Any one of the seven songs could quite easily fit onto the compilations Sarah Records released in their all too brief existence. Songs that beguile and charm in equal measure, songs soaked in DIY bedroom lack of glamour but steeped in a yearning and heartache and pure charm that really is hard to beat, and Super Hit is an artist deserving of more attention.
Spiral Of Silence ‘Landmark’
(Jezus Factory)
This is Spiral Of Silence’s first release in 20 years, a band I have not come across before, and described as the Belgian Joy Division – probably because they are from Belgium and have that Peter Hook/Cure bass thing going on and are quite dark and gothic. And despite all that I still enjoyed the EP.
It is nothing I have not heard before, but The Spiral Of Silence do the Joy Division thing very well and cover their darkness with layers of radio friendly melody, and I can see it appealing to the long black coat brigade [if they still exist].
Monolith Cocktail Blog 