Mark Leckey

I do have a soft spot for the texture and feel of old VHS footage. Another inspiring piece of work originating on VHS is Fiorucci Made me Hardcore, Mark Leckey’s mesmerising found footage collage of subcultures that takes in everything from 70’s Northern soul to 90’s hardcore rave.

Leckey had this to say about it’s look:

It’s VHS so it’s analogue, so it’s got this particular grain to it, this feel, that I think has been fetishised. Marshall McLuhan said in the 70’s ‘Poor TV definition demands more activity from the viewer, who ends up investing the image with a peculiar vitality.’ I think that’s how Fiorucci works, because you can’t quite see it so you look harder. There’s something very compelling about that fuzz of VHS. It pulls you in, but it’s always pushing you out at the same time. It’s like a faded wallpaper, the graphic intensity is lost, but there’s something compelling and seductive about that.

Mark Leckey// Fiorucci Made me Hardcore

King Krule

King Krule’s first new music since 2017 album The Ooz appeared at the tail end of last year as part of a 15 minute short film Hey World featuring 4 new tracks.

I love the extremely lo-fi nature of the VHS shot film. Parts of it remind me of my own hi-8 experiments from 20 years ago.

King Krule// Hey World

Andy Hague// UNTITLED (hi-8 experiments)

Blueprint Productions

Nigel Pearce uses a blueprint photography process to produce original artwork. Check out a promotional video I made for him here:

Blueprint Productions// Records

In return I received a blueprint record artwork with my desert island disc choices listed on the label.

To decide what tracks to choose I used my Top 30 playlist as a starting point but soon realised that despite being my favourites most of them didn’t have any deep meaning or memories attached so I ended up combining them with some more personal choices. Choosing just 8 tracks to represent yourself and your life means leaving out a lot of amazing music. Artists/ genres that didn’t quite make the cut included LCD Soundsystem, The Avalanches, African Highlife, The Beach Boys, New Orleans Funk, Caribou & The Bees. 

 

1. Little Ole Wine Drinker Me - Charlie Walker

I’ve got a soft spot for Country & Western after spending many a car journey as a kid singing along to one of my parents C&W cassettes.

2. Club Tropicana - Wham!

My older sister had a heavy influence on my musical taste as I grew up in 80’s suburbia. Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Top of the Pops and Smash Hits! As I got older I fell out of love with the 80’s sound with a few notable exceptions (see also ‘I Can’t Go For That’ by Hall & Oates or ‘Close to Me’ by The Cure).

3. Beardsman Ska - The Skatalites

This represents my love of all things Jamaican; Ska, Reggae, Rocksteady, Dub. The horns on this track are joyous and infectious.

4. I’m Sticking with You - The Velvet Underground

I almost picked ‘Sweet Jane’ by the Velvets (a mainstay of my top 30) but this one seemed a more fitting end to side A. It’s the song that Clare and I performed at our wedding and will always bring back wonderful memories.

5. A Message to You Rudy - The Specials

One of those songs that has always been in my life and I never grow tired of hearing. It’s another Ska track, this time from the English Ska revival that came out of Coventry in the late 1970’s.

6. Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight & The Pips

I’ve always been a soul boy at heart. Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Womack, Jackie Wilson, Stevie Wonder.. I chose this track over the rest as it has my favourite backing vocals of all time.

7. Sound and Vision - David Bowie

Timless and unlike anything else ever recorded. This is my favourite Bowie track.

8. Stand by Me - Ben E. King

A perfect end to side B. I sang this song (along with You Are My Sunshine) to each of my three children every night before they went to sleep when they were small.

Favourite Music of 2019

My favourite album of 2019 (and my favourite cover artwork too) was Thom Yorke's Anima, definitely his strongest solo album and up there with the best of Radiohead.

And this is my favourite music video..
All shot from the POV of a LEGO train. Genius!

Anna Meredith// Paramour

Here's a playlist of my fave tracks:

A Hard Day's Night

The most famous and distinctive single strum in all of rock n' roll history has had guitarists guessing how to play it since it was first heard in 1964 at the start of The Beatles hit single A Hard Day's Night. Randy Bachman of Bachman Turner Overdrive puts an end to years of speculation after Giles Martin lets him in on the secret:

Randy Bachman's Guitarology

Joker

Another film currently splitting audiences right down the middle is Todd Phillips Joker. It's been hit with a barrage of bad press since it's premiere at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Golden Lion for Best Film.

I love the way Phillips has made an art film out of a comic book origin story and it's sure to surprise many viewers who will go to the cinema expecting a completely different type of film. Joaquin Phoenix gives an Oscar worthy performance as Arthur Fleck, his second film in as many years that owes a big debt to Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver after 2017's You Were Never Really Here.

The scene pictured here where Joker dances down the subway steps in slow motion is one of the films most iconic but has caused controversy for it's use of the Gary Glitter song Rock 'N' Roll (Part 2).  I found the song choice to be entirely in keeping with the grotesque nature of the film and, despite what the tabloids have reported, Glitter (who is currently serving a 16 year jail term for sex with a minor) will not profit from it's use in the film as he sold off the rights to the recording and publishing of his entire catalogue more than two decades ago.

The makers of Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood faced a similar moral dilemma over whether they should use a Charles Manson song on the soundtrack and checked first to ensure that no-one connected with the Manson estate would profit.

This throws up the age old question, is it possible to seperate the art from the artist?

I know plenty of people who have stopped playing Michael Jackson music after the child abuse revelations that came out of the documentary Finding Neverland but it will be interesting to see whether people's stance softens over time. Unlike Gary Glitter, whose music was never particularly fashionable, Jackson's back catalogue may prove too good to be ignored.

Thom Yorke

Thom Yorke’s fourth solo outing ANIMA is his strongest yet and feels less like a side project and more an extension of the themes and cutting edge sounds he’s been exploring with Radiohead since heading away from the mainstream in 2000 with Kid A.

I’ve said before that the films I find myself drawn to are often those that blur the line between the conscious and unconscious (awake/ asleep). Films such as The Double, After Hours, the majority of David Lynch films. Watching the Paul Thomas Anderson directed short film that accompanies ANIMA it struck me that there is an overlap with my taste in music. The film plays out like a fever dream starting with a smartly choreographed scene of tube passengers falling asleep. Much of Thom/ Radiohead’s output seems to exist in a dream like void that leaves you trapped with a paranoid feeling of not knowing what’s real and what’s imagined. As he sings in How to Disappear Completely from Kid A; ‘I’m not here. This isn’t happening.’

Favourite Music of 2018

My favourite album of the year was Neneh Cherry's Broken Politics, her second album to be produced by Kieran Hebden (Four Tet). 4 tracks from that album spearhead a playlist that is this year dominated by female artists, accounting for around two thirds of the tracks.

My favourite music video was the incredibly simple and very charming TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME by The 1975.

Top 30 #5

Everyday - Buddy Holly (1957)
Be My Baby - The Ronettes (1963)
Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen (1975)
Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground (1970)
Goon Gumpas - Aphex Twin (1996)
Optimo - Liquid Liquid (1983)
Beardsman Ska - The Skatalites (1965)
Darlin' - The Beach Boys (1967) 
Gimme Danger - Iggy & the Stooges (1973)
Winter Rose - The Bees (2010)
Odessa - Caribou (2010)
I Want More - Can (1976)
Osalobua Rekpama - Sir Victor Uwaifo & His Melody Maestros (1969)
Since I Left You - The Avalanches (2000)
Sound and Vision - David Bowie (1977)
Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight & the Pips (1973)
Ordinary Joe - Terry Callier (1972)
A Message to You, Rudy - The Specials (1979)
Sitting in the Park - Billy Stewart (1965)
Soul Sister - Allen Toussaint (1972)
You Should've Seen the Other Guy - Nathaniel Rateliff (2010)
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell (1968)
Oh! Sweet Nuthin' - The Velvet Underground (1970)
Home - LCD Soundsystem (2010)
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads (1983)
Out of Time - Blur (2003)
Please Stay - The Cryin' Shames (1966)
Seabird - Alessi Brothers (1977)
Keep Your Dreams - Suicide (1977)
True Love Ways - Buddy Holly (1960)

This is my Top 30 playlist of favourite tracks as it currently stands, with a few standout new entries.. 

I prefer to listen to authentic first generation Ska and Reggae and yet will always have a soft spot for The Specials and their timeless cover of Dandy Livingstone's 1967 Rudy, A Message to You, a track I should probably have included in my list of favourite cover versions.

It's great to finally get a New Orleans artist on the list in the shape of Allen Toussaint's Soul Sister. I've always been a great admirer of the unique sound of 60's/ 70's New Orleans Funk and Rythmn & Blues, the likes of Eddie Bo, The Meters, Betty Harris and, of course, the hugely influential Fats Domino, whose Blueberry Hill very nearly made it this time around.

Graham Coxon's guitar sound undoubtedly contributed a great deal towards the success of Blur and yet my favourite Blur track is Out of Time, the first single not to feature Graham following his departure during the recording sessions for their 2003 album Think Tank.

Without Coxon the band were forced to look for new ways of adapting and expanding their sound. Damon Albarn was working with musicians from Mali for his side project Mali Music and an African influence can be heard throughout the album with some of it (including all the vocal tracks) recorded outside in Marrakech giving it an authentic street music vibe.

Out of Time// Damon Albarn (Featuring the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians)

It seems fitting to bookend the list with Buddy Holly, a remarkable talent who achieved so much in his short recording career before he died in a plane crash at the age of 22. True Love Ways was one of the last songs he recorded and, along with It Doesn't Matter Anymore, showcased a more mature sound that moved away from straightforward Rock 'N' Roll and makes you wonder what could have been.

Nothing Has Changed

Two years before his death in 2016 David Bowie pulled off a masterstroke of curation by placing the tracks on his career spanning 59 track, 3CD Greatest Hits package Nothing Has Changed in reverse chronological order.

Audaciously kicking off with the off kilter Sue (or in a Season of Crime), recorded with Maria Schneider and her Jazz orchestra, the album shines new light on the records he made in the 00's and 90's with improved mixes and edits (thankfully skipping the Tin Machine years) before zipping backwards through each different persona of his 80's and 70's heyday to his breakthrough success Space Oddity in 1969. 

But it doesn't stop there, it continues back to Can't Help Thinking About Me, the first track he recorded under the name David Bowie all the way to Liza Jane, credited to Davie Jones and the King Bees. The only misstep is the inclusion of Dancing in the Street with Mick Jagger. I much prefer the musicless version of that one!

1967: Sunshine Tomorrow

My favourite reissued album of last year was the new stereo mix of The Beach Boys Wild Honey, released  alongside a wealth of outtakes, demos and live recordings as part of the 2xCD set 1967 - Sunshine Tomorrow.

It's always been my favourite album by The Beach Boys but now it sounds better than ever, the new mix giving it greater clarity and allowing you to hear the finer details of the production.

Clocking in at just over 20 minutes, Wild Honey is the sound of The Beach Boys getting back to basics after Brian Wilson had reached a zenith of studio experimentation with Pet Sounds, Good Vibrations and the abandoned Smile album, all of which he recorded with session band The Wrecking Crew whilst the rest of the band were on tour. With a new soulful, stripped back sound and notable contributions from the whole band Wild Honey is like a breath of fresh air.

American Honey

I'm a bit late to the party here but I finally saw Andrea Arnold's American Honey and it blew me away. 

It's up there with the best of her gritty British work; Red Road (2006) and Fish Tank (2009), but this time she takes us on a road trip through the heart of the American Midwest with enigmatic newcomer Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf (in a career best performance) and a motley crew of happy-go-lucky teenage magazine sellers.

Once again presented in Arnold's preferred 4:3 aspect ratio, the film feels fresh and euphoric, with dazzling cinematography by Robbie Ryan and a pumping, irresistible soundtrack. I would go as far as to say it's in my top 10 films of the decade so far.

Favourite Music of 2017

American Teen - Khalid
Dangerous - The xx
Home - Joe Goddard
Since You've Been Gone - The Allergies
No Roots - Alice Merton
Get it Together - Drake
Cuffed - Nick Hakim
Lush - Four Tet
Them Changes - Thundercat
Location - Khalid
Passionfruit - Drake
Uh Uh - Thundercat
SW9 9SL - Four Tet
Outlier - Bonobo
Young, Dumb & Broke - Khalid
Say Something Loving - The xx
Children - Joe Goddard
(How Could Anybody) Feel at Home - Open Mike Eagle
passionfruit - Yaeji
Tonite - LCD Soundsystem
Get on the Floor - The Allergies
Hopeless - Khalid
On Hold - The xx
Daydreaming in the Projects - Open Mike Eagle
LOVE. FEAT. ZACARI - Kendrick Lamar
Drink Dat - Thundercat
Human Heart - Joe Goddard
Angels - Khalid
Test Me - The xx

This years playlist is mainly composed of songs from my 3 favourite albums of the year; Khalid's American Teen (an amazing achievement for a 19 year old!), Thundercat's Drunk and The xx's I See You. I also enjoyed Electric Lines the debut solo album from Joe Goddard (Hot Chip/ 2 Bears) and New Energy, a return to form from Four Tet.

My favourite music video is Ryan Staake's genius video for Young Thug's Wyclef Jean. The shoot didn't quite go to plan, in fact Young Thug never even showed up. Instead what we get are cards that explain how things unraveled intercut with some of the footage Staake did get, based on the bizarre ideas that Thug had initially sent him; models riding kiddie cars, children dressed as cops smashing up police cars etc.

Young Thug// Wyclef Jean

Top 30 #4

It's about a year since the last installment of my top 30# so time for an update..

Everyday - Buddy Holly (1957)
Be My Baby - The Ronettes (1963)
Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground (1970)
Optimo - Liquid Liquid (1983)
Carry On Bring Come - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes (1963)
Baby Please Don't Go - Them (1964)
Gimme Danger - Iggy & the Stooges (1973)
Beardsman Ska - The Skatalites (1965)
Winter Rose - The Bees (2010)
Odesa - Caribou (2010)
I Want More - Can (1976)
Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order (1986)
Radio Head - Talking Heads (1986)
Osalobua Rekpama - Sir Victor Uwaifo & His Melody Maestros (1969)
Since I Left You - The Avalanches (2000)
Rival Dealer - Burial (2013)
Sound and Vision - David Bowie (1977)
Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight & the Pips (1973)
Ordinary Joe - Terry Callier (1972)
You Should've Seen the Other Guy - Nathaniel Rateliff (2010)
Johnny Appleseed - Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros (2001)
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell (1968)
Oh! Sweet Nuthin' - The Velvet Underground (1970)
Late for the Sky - Jackson Browne (1974)
Genius of Love - Tom Tom Club (1981)
Home - LCD Soundsystem (2010)
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads (1983)
Please Stay - The Cryin' Shames (1966)
Seabird - Alessi Brothers (1977)
Keep Your Dreams - Suicide (1977)

As an Editor it makes sense that I find myself drawn to compositions that are concise, economical and fat free. A third of the tracks here clock in at 3 minutes or less, in my mind the optimum length for the perfect song. 

One of the exceptions at the heart of the new list is Burial's sprawling 10 minute epic Rival Dealer, a track that throws the rule book out of the window and defies categorization or genre. Other standout new entries include a track that one band named themselves after and another (Vampire Weekend) based their whole sound on; Radio Head by Talking Heads, the sample-tastic; Since I Left You by The Avalanches and the sublime Wichita Lineman, it's greatness brought into focus by the passing of the legendary Glen Campbell last year.

Link Wray

Native American Fred Lincoln Link Wray Jnr is known for his Rock 'N' Roll instrumental track Rumble recorded with his band Link Wray & His Raymen in 1958. It's said to be the first song to use guitar distortion and power chords, inspiring the likes of Jimmy Page, Neil Young & Pete Townshend to first pick up a guitar and paving the way for all future guitar based rock music.

Aside from this landmark track and a few other fuzzy guitar instrumentals I knew very little about Link Wray's work and hearing his self titled 1971 album for the first time recently was as revelatory as discovering Sixto Rodriquez a few years back. 

At the tail end of the 60's Link Wray gave up on music to become a farmer but in 1971 came out of retirement, reinvented his sound and recorded one of the greatest roots albums of all time. 

Recorded on a 3 track tape machine in a converted chicken shack Link Wray is raw and primal, with rasping vocals, out of tune pianos, bare bones drums, claps and stomps. You can clearly see the influence it had on Jack White, most notably on My Doorbell by The White Stripes.

Link Wray// Fire and Brimstone

Cassius

A simple yet very effective idea for the Cassius track Go Up featuring Cat Power & Pharrell Williams, directed by Alexandre Courtès, juxtaposes two unrelated shots to create new meaning using a simple splitscreen.

Cassius// Go Up ft. Cat Power & Pharrell Williams

The xx

I think Pitchfork get it spot on with their review of The xx's latest album I See You.

When I heard lead single On Hold at the end of last year it didn't blow me away, but hearing it afresh as part of the record as a whole it makes perfect sense. The cheeky Hall & Oates sample, along with Say Something Loving's use of The Alessi Brothers and the horn stabs that kick off Dangerous, adds colour and freshness to the classic xx sound and bring it closer in line with Jamie xx's solo work.

The added variety in sound make for a more interesting listen than their two previous albums and, as always, Jamie's production is of the highest class. It's sure to be a contender for album of the year come December.

Favourite Music of 2016

Decks Dark - Radiohead
Metal Bird - Gold Panda

I Exhale - Underworld

The Space Program - A Tribe Called Quest
Because I'm Me - The Avalanches
In My Car - Gold Panda

Dis Generation - A Tribe Called Quest
Subways - The Avalanches
Hold Up - Beyoncé

Tilted - Christine and the Queens
We the People....  - A Tribe Called Quest
Chiba Nights - Gold Panda
Black Man in a White World - Michael Kiwanuka
Love on the Brain - Rihanna
Rings of Saturn - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Ova Nova - Underworld
Ful Stop - Radiohead
Never Ending - Rihanna
Whateva Will Be - A Tribe Called Quest
If I Was a Folkstar - The Avalanches
Present Tense - Radiohead
Nylon Strung - Underworld
I Can't Give Everything Away - David Bowie

For me 2016 was the year of the comeback album with over half of my songs of the year playlist made up of tracks from great records by A Tribe Called Quest (first album since 1998), The Avalanches (..2000), Underworld (..2010) and Radiohead (..2011).

It wasn't a great surprise that it took 16 years for The Avalanches sophomore effort seeing as their 2000 debut Since I Left You was said to contain around 3,500 samples. As with their previous effort Wildflower is bursting with ideas and textures, tracks flowing into one another to create an epic suite of sound, set apart from it's predecessor by a number of tracks featuring guest vocalists. It's my favourite record of the year and also spawned my favourite music video Because I'm Me directed by Greg Brunkalla.

The Avalanches// Beacuse I'm Me

The playlist ends fittingly with a David Bowie track from his final album Blackstar. 2016 will be remembered as the year we lost so many talented musicians and artists.. the legends Bowie, Prince, George Micheal and Leonard Cohen among them.

Perfect World

I'm really pleased this is getting so many views.. My pals Karni & Saul create a beautiful winter wonderland made out of sugar in the video for Katie Melua's Perfect World:

Katie Melua// Perfect World

Top 30 #3

Here's where the constantly evolving playlist of my favorite 30 songs, my extended desert island discs, is currently at..

With Me Tonight - The Beach Boys (1967)
Be My Baby - The Ronettes (1963)
Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground (1970)
Goon Gumpas - Aphex Twin (1996)
Optimo - Liquid Liquid (1983)
Carry On Bring Come - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes (1963)
Baby Please Don't Go - Them (1964)
Love and Death - Ebo Taylor (2010)
Odesa - Caribou (2010)
I Want More - Can (1976)
Before We Begin - Broadcast (2003)
Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order (1986)
Memphis - Chuck Berry (1963)
Osalobua Rekpama - Sir Victor Uwaifo & His Melody Maestros (1969)
Ordinary Joe - Terry Callier (1972)
Sound and Vision - David Bowie (1977)
Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight & the Pips (1973)
Sitting in the Park - Billy Stewart (1965)
You Should've Seen the Other Guy - Nathaniel Rateliff (2010)
You Made Me Forget My Dreams - Belle & Sebastian (1997)
Oh! Sweet Nuthin' - The Velvet Underground (1970)
Late for the Sky - Jackson Browne (1974)
Your Young Voice - King Creosote & Jon Hopkins (2011)
Film - Aphex Twin (1997)
Home - LCD Soundsystem (2010)
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads (1983)
Please Stay - The Cryin' Shames (1966)
Dirty Harry - Lalo Schifrin (1971)
Seabird - Alessi Brothers (1977)
Keep Your Dreams - Suicide (1977)

I've taken out some of the tracks that have been there since day one but have suffered from being overplayed (Thunder Road, Young Americans etc.) and broadened my reach to include some joyous Jamaican horns from Justin Hinds and the Dominoes, and some colourful African Highlife - Ebo Taylor from Ghana and Sir Victor Uwaifo from Nigeria.

Along with Phil Spector and Brian Wilson, Joe Meek was another producer who fully exploited the potential of the modern recording studio using unusual and innovative techniques, adding an extra dimension to The Cryin' Shames reverb soaked cover of the Burt Bacharach penned Please Stay - the last Meek produced single to be released before he took his own life after killing his landlady Violet Shenton with a single barreled shotgun.

Other new tracks on the list with a timeless quality include Broadcast's Before We Begin with it's haunting Trish Keenan vocal and Keep Your Dreams by Suicide. Marc Masters recently wrote on Pitchfork of Suicide's debut album; 'There’s something thrilling about how Suicide found their own space between scenes and styles. They overlapped with punk, post-punk, and disco, and are often cited as the godfathers of no wave. Yet no other band in any of those genres sounded like them.'