The Counterforce No. 6
Panic Pocket, Hettie Judah, Hungry Beat, The Weirdos, Vermooste Vløten, and more...
Hello, and get ready to be earwormed! My London friends have been banging on about Panic Pocket for years, and I’m sorry to say it’s taken me this long to check them out. But I’m so glad I did when I saw their new video for ‘Mad Half Hour’ dropped this weekend. At first their stationary figures and quick cuts had me a bit disoriented, but after 20 seconds when the chorus kicks in and they start moving, my god, it’s awesome. The song has been stuck in my head pretty much non-stop since this weekend. A great slice of pop, and referencing Geri Halliwell no less. Debut album coming in May from Skep Wax.
I saw that Hettie Judah was giving a talk about ‘The Secret Lives Of Stones’ at The Colloquium For Unpopular Culture at NYU last Tuesday, and with a name like that, how could I, Aug Stone, not go? Sukhdev does great stuff at The Colloquium, always putting on interesting events, and quite frequently too. I highly recommend getting on the mailing list if you’re in or near NYC. I first went down when he was screening The Jangling Man documentary about Martin Newell, and later on for the release of the Prince book, The Beautiful Ones, with editor Dan Piepenbring. I’ve enjoyed all three events very much. Hettie’s talk was fascinating, so much detail, and each paragraph from her book covers a wide array of subjects in relation to the stones – science, pop culture, history, mythology, environmentalism, biographies of captivating characters - really packing a punch. I eagerly picked one up and am looking forward to diving in. She also told me about Stone Club, which I really must join. She said Julian and Dorian Cope are members, as well as Gwenno.
I was listening to the audiobook of Victor Svorinich’s Listen to This: Miles Davis and Bitches Brew on the drive to NYC. A lot of history in here, and not just of Miles, but of the musicians who worked with him on that record, as well as the figures like Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix, and James Brown, whose styles Miles was absorbing. Miles once said “I could put together the greatest rock n roll band you ever heard.” And his groups from those Bitches Brew dates in August 1969 through the early 70s were certainly contenders. The musicianship unbelievable. Lots of info on the sessions themselves, and I’m glad he went into detail about A Tribute To Jack Johnson too, which is one of my favourite albums of all-time. ‘Right Off’ is what I want music to sound like. Also inspiring me to listen to The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions. Awesome to hear Miles’ rasp in the back and forth with producer Teo Macero. I especially love Miles’ melody line at 7 minutes in to this one:
While we’re talking about Miles, I’ve really enjoyed the last two episodes of The Spindle Podcast, Marc Masters & John Howard’s show dedicated to the 7”. Latest one deals with Funkadelic’s ‘One Nation Under A Groove’, and the preceding episode reveals that Columbia released singles by Miles in the early 70s, including a strange, exclusive mix of ‘Vote For Miles’ from On The Corner.
Then I started in on Hungry Beat: The Scottish Independent Pop Underground Movement (1977-1984) by Douglas MacIntyre and Grant McPhee. People have been raving about this for months and I’m glad to see it lives up to everything that’s been hyped. It is Awesome. An incredibly detailed oral history of the enormous contribution Fast Product and Postcard Records had to indie music, in Scotland and well beyond. Was fascinating to hear how the ideologies and aims held by the people behind these two iconic labels - Bob Last and Hilary Morrison from Fast Product, and Alan Horne from Postcard - played out in pop history. And a lot of acknowledging James Kirk’s great contribution to Orange Juice. Causing me to explore his work further. There’s not much, an album from 2003, but also this lovely single as Memphis from 1985.
While we’re here, does anyone else think that ‘Orange Juice’ is just a completely insane name for a band? I’ve felt this way since I first read about them 30+ years ago.
Before I forget, follow Grant McPhee on Twitter. His upcoming film on the Liverpool scene looks ace!
Sad news about Dix Denney from The Weirdos dying. I so fondly remember being 17 and Rhino Records releasing those regional punk compilations. I’d been reading so much about The Germs but back then it seemed impossible to actually hear them - remember those days? - so I was thrilled when DIY: We’re Desperate - The L.A. Scene (1976-79) was released. But it was track number 7, The Weirdos’ ‘Life Of Crime’ that really blew me away. That gnarly, seething guitar line. The whole song containing a fierce nighttime energy.
And of course, ‘We Got The Neutron Bomb’ is one of the best punk anthems ever committed to tape.
Speaking of bands being impossible to hear, a strange bit of serendipity shone for me a couple weeks ago right after I had this excellent conversation with Brian Slattery of The New Haven Independent about The Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass. Brian asked me if I still had any holy grails left, and there has been one this past year that I keep searching for. In Nikki Sudden’s 610 page autobiography, The Last Bandit, that I luckily had with me to keep me company during my bout with COVID last year, he mentions a band - just one little sentence on page 479 - “the deliciously loony girl band, Vermooste Vløten…”. And those few words were enough for me. I had to hear them. But for a self-released album from 1996, and none even available on Discogs, this was proving a mighty feat. But as the name is not run of the mill - translating, a German friend tells me, to ‘mossy flutes’, but a play on something much more vile - I Googled them to spellcheck. And to my absolute delight, someone has finally put their debut, that Nikki produced, up on YouTube. It reminds me of if Nico had flown Moe Tucker and The Shaggs over to Germany for a very lo-fi recording session. A little more about the band here.
And a lovely quote that’s on the back of the Nikki Sudden book: “Never give up on your dreams… they won’t give up on you.”
SEVEN SONGS
Fishbone - ‘All We Have Is Now’ . A new one from a band I’ve loved for more than 30 years. Cool video too
The Pastels cover of Sly & The Family Stone’s ‘Everybody Is A Star’. I love this tune. My mom used to play it all the time when I was growing up. I’ve been on a huge Pastels kick lately, and only just discovered that they did of a version of it.
Miss Grit - ‘Like You’ . New Mute signing that I’ve been digging since their earlier EPs. Reviewed their full-length for The Quietus here.
The Weirdos - ‘We Got The Neutron Bomb’. Such an anthem. And “Gonna drop it all over the place, you’re gonna get it on your face” cracks me up every time.
Julian Cope - ‘Stone Circles ’N’ You’. Catchy 60’s-esque number from 20 Mothers that goes along with Hettie Judah’s book above
Aerial - ‘In Your Room’. Andy from Visible Voice Books posted a clip of this on IG and it is some great dreampop.
Subhumans - ‘Waste Of Breath’. I was in the excellent record shop Darkside Records in Poughkeepsie, NY this weekend and they had all the Subhumans albums out on display. I must say it did my heart good. I loved all those in my early twenties. This is such a great tune. Good lyrics too. Check out Darkside, owner is huge Nick Cave fan, we chatted about that for a while, and they ship all over the world.
RIP Dix Denney