The Counterforce No. 2
Shin Joong Hyun, Kim Jung Mi, The Most Beautiful Songs I Know, White Reaper, Jeff Chon, Tom Verlaine, 7 Songs
This week was spent exploring the work of Korea’s “Godfather Of Rock”, Shin Joong Hyun. I first discovered him upon hearing Kim Jung Mi’s lovely Now LP from 1973, which Light In The Attic have re-released. Michael Telles - who makes some rather lovely indiepop himself as 3 A.M. Again - recommended it to me. And thus I got to be captivated by one of the most gorgeous songs I’ve ever heard in its opening track, ‘Haenim’.
Great album sleeve too.
There’s a lot of recorded output by Shin Joong Hyun, the best of which is featured on the Beautiful Rivers and Mountains: The Psychedelic Rock Sound of… compilation. Whole record on YouTube:
Quite groovy stuff. Lots of fuzzy blues-based guitar lines and 60s drumming, with pop gems contained inbetween.
‘Haenim’ got me thinking about the other songs I consider to be the most beautiful I know. Mina’s ‘Se Telefonando’, of course. Still blows my mind that Morricone wrote this for a TV show.
Françoise Hardy does a rather wonderful French-language cover of it. Great video too
And of course there’s Siouxsie’s ‘The Last Beat Of My Heart’. The live single version on Twice Upon A Time really bringing it out
Listened to the new White Reaper album, Asking For A Ride. Have loved them since I first heard ‘Last Fourth Of July’ on Letterkenny. Wow. After the pop direction of You Deserve Love, I really was not expecting this to be so hard rock. Bordering on Metallica at points, definitely hearing Motörhead in there too. It seems to be a record of two halves, with all this heavier stuff loading Side A, and the catchier songs coming on the flipside. A good portion of it reminiscent of My Chemical Romance’s Danger Days, not a bad thing at all. ‘Heaven Or Not’ really being the stand-out track, of where they could’ve gone continuing on from the pop tip of the last record.
Other highlights being the (somewhat) 60s-ish ‘Crawlspace’, ‘Getting Into Trouble’ is very catchy, as well as the very rock single ‘Fog Machine’
I haven’t had much time to read this week with everything that needs to be done before I leave for tour tomorrow. But Jeff Chon and I traded our new books, and I’m psyched to be bringing his This Is The Afterlife on the road with me. I read the first story ‘P.A.L.A.D.I.N.’ and was impressed. It read so much like autobiography, giving such a felt sense of the events within, that I flipped back to the front to see if there was anything there to confirm this. I was greeted with this note:
“This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. If you feel any of these stories are about you, then perhaps you should reassess your life and consider each and every mistake you’ve ever made.”
Hahaha. Well played. Plus how could I not like all the mentions of 80s metal and hair metal bands?
Speaking of that tour, my The Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass is out this Thursday, February 9th. If you’re in or near any of these cities, come out and say hello. I’ll be doing a 30-40 minute talk/reading and then signing copies.
Would love to do more too, so let me know if there’s any cool record stores/bookshops/cool venues near you that might have me
And lastly, Tom Verlaine’s passing. That night my entire Twitter feed stretched for miles and miles of tributes to his genius. And rightly so. I remember in high school, inspired to learn more about that New York scene that spawned my beloved Ramones, and finally getting my hands on Marquee Moon. And it didn’t sound anything like punk as I knew it, but rather how pop music should be.
And much like seeing McCartney give birth to ‘Get Back’ on the recent Beatles documentary - moments of such magnitude that perhaps we should never be privy to - Birmingham 81 posted this:
Full Ork Loft Tapes here:
Seven Songs
Jacobites - ‘Heartbreaks’
Another killer rock tune from Nikki Sudden & Dave Kusworth. Stuck in my head all week
Tom Verlaine - ‘Kingdom Come’
One of my faves of his. R.I.P.
Lee Jung Hwa - ‘I Don't Like’
My other favourite tune by Shin Joong Hyun. Awesome Korean soul
The Textones - Vacation
Until my friend J texted me with it this week, I had no idea this came from one of Kathy Valentine’s earlier bands! Ms. Valentine will be signing copies of her book at Grimey’s in Nashville two days after I’m there. On Valentine’s Day, of course. Nice.
Michael Monroe - Superpowered Superfly
Love this tune. Still reading Sami Yaffa’s excellent autobiography, The Road Bends. It’s so great, I don’t want it to end. Learning about so many of his other projects. How they chose ‘Michael Monroe’ as a band name so they wouldn’t have to spend years building up a new band name with no one knowing they had ex-Hanoi Rocks members. Great, catchy rock song, joyous and with that tinge of melancholy like so many of the best have.
Nina Simone - My Sweet Lord + Today Is A Killer
I saw this on Twitter the other day:
“I'll tell you what freedom is to me.... No fear” - Nina Simone
and it reminded me of just how incredible this is
Belly - Stay
J also texted me that it’s been 30 years since Belly’s Star was released. We saw them at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT on that tour, which was also our introduction to Mary Timony and Helium, who opened. I have always found this song to be so gorgeous.