25th May 2025

Titus writes:

Ladynsax is the stage name of Russian Saxophonist Anastasia Vysotskaya, known for her excellent performances, and her ability to fuse electronic and saxophone music. I first spotted her videos a couple of years ago online, and it reminded me of my Dad’s love of the saxophone.  He was also a saxophonist and part of the big band era in the 1930’s & 40’s, (the late Glenn Miller being perhaps the most famous band leader).  He had his own band The New Lyndons, in which my mom was the vocalist...... the message on their publicity cards was “Smile, darn you, smile” ....... but that’s another story for maybe another time!
Ladynsax’s music, as far as I know, is only available online in this country, and some of her popular tunes are ‘Ameno’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘For You’ and ‘Space’ – all released on albums from 2020 to 2025.  I understand that she was born on 28 April 1989 in Novokuznetsk.  Not a lot of people know that the saxophone was invented in 1841 by a guy called Adolphe Sax, who wanted to create an instrument that would be the loudest of the woodwinds and the most versatile of the brass, and would therefore fill the then vacant middle ground between the two sections.  Listening to Ladynsax, I feel that she has more than fulfilled this role.  I shared a track with Anne a couple of years ago, and although I don’t think she shares my love of female bands and artists, I believe that she appreciates that here we have a genuinely good musician.
 
The most well known albums that Ladynsax has released in this country are ‘Ameno’ (2021), ‘The Ameno Remixes’ (2022), ‘For You’ (2021), and ‘Sacrifice’ (2020), although she collaborated with Alexander Barabash in 2025 to produce ‘Lounge Zone’ and A-Mase in 2023 with ‘Dreamhouse’.  She also went into a joint venture with Sergey Filippov, and in particular their track ‘Whisper’, wherein I absolutely adore the mix between guitar and saxophone. I’m sure you can appreciate that research..... much as I enjoy it..... into the work of this extremely talented artist is difficult.  Information about her is brief & sketchy, although most of her music seems to be available on the streaming platforms.
 
Now, decision time – WTF can I request our intrepid Truroian / Casablancan to play?  I can honestly say that there isn’t one track of Ladynsax’s that I dislike, and judging from the comments that are written in English, I don’t think I’m on my own.  I said earlier on that ‘For You’ is perhaps one of her most well-loved tracks, and for this reason I have chosen the studio version, which can be found here. There is a live version of this track that in my opinion is equally as good as the studio one, (so seek it out!), but looking at the video, it extends several minutes into applause and appreciative presentations of flowers.

23rd May 2025

Downloading & replaying is discontinued. However, tracks played on Friday evening were:

Ian Dury & The Blockheads - I Want to Be Straight
Girl group - Life Is Dumb
The Distillers - Drain the Blood
Coffintexts, Le Poodle - Vamos AI Club
Daily Toll - Killincs
Wet Leg - Catch These Fists
Tropical Fuck Storm - Goon Show
The Bordellos - The Sweetest Hangover
Ashee - Dustin
New Dad - Entertainer
Bonuru - Flammarion
Verge Collection - Cocaine
Plant Opal - Visioni Sottovetro
Smerz - Feisty 

16th May 2025

Downloading & replaying is discontinued. However, tracks played on Friday evening were:

The Strokes - Someday
Freak Slug - Liquorice
Fergy LH  - Talk It Out
She Drew The Gun - Something For The Pain
Elastica - Waking Up
Big Special - Black Dog - White Horse
Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United
Saya Gray - Thus Is Why (I Don't Spring 4 Love)
Modern Woman - Achtung
Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek - Ceylan
Heather Jones - Nos ddu
Stiff Little Fingers - Gotta Getaway
Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka
Pierre Terrasse - Sexy Rouge (Remix)
Crystal Gates - Moonshine & Sorrow
Sparks - Beat the Clock (Extended Version)

9th May 2025

Downloading & replaying is discontinued. However, tracks played on Friday evening, broadcast from Casablanca, were:

CASALEX - Balcony Beats
The Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright
The Damned - Smash It Up (Pts. 1 & 2)
Snow Patrol - Run
Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows
Miso Extra - Ghostly
The Libertines - Don't Look Back Into The Sun
Stella - Omorfo Mou
The Futureheads - Hounds of Love
Japanese Breakfast - Mega Circuit
TV On The Radio - Mercy
Samia & papa mbye - Mad At Me
Doves - There Goes The Fear
Saâda Bonaire  - You Could Be More As You Are

5th May 2025

Titus writes:

American singer-songwriter & musician Samia Najimy Finnerty is a Californian by birth – born in Los Angeles on 12 December 1996 to actors Kathy Najimy and Dan Finnerty.  She was named after her maternal grandmother who was of Lebanese origin.  After a fairly uneventful childhood, she moved to New York when she was fifteen and attended York Preparatory School.  After briefly forming a band, Samia went solo and began writing songs for her first studio album which was entitled ‘The Baby’.  This was released on Grand Jury Records, as have all of her subsequent records.  The first track on the album was ‘Pool’ which begins with the last voicemail Finnerty’s grandmother left before passing away in 2015, and she is in fact singing a Lebanese lullaby.  Finnerty described the concept of the album as “emotionally accepting that I need people” and that “I am the baby”.  She released five singles from this album, the first of which was the excellent ‘Is there something in the movies’.....this was NEARLY my choice for Lex to play....very nearly.
 
In 2021 she released a couple of albums.  First there was ‘The Baby Reimagined’ which was a collection of covers and remixes from her first LP, and then the compilation album ‘’Before the Baby’.  She also released her only E.P. that year, called ‘Scout’ which contained three original songs, plus a cover of When in Rome’s ‘The Promise’.  The E.P. generally received positive views from the music press.  I suppose you could refer to it as a ‘sideline’, but Samia formed the band Peach Fuzz in 2022, and they released an LP ‘Can Mary Dood the Moon?’.  2022 also found Samia writing songs for her January 2023 album ‘Honey’, and six singles were released from this album.  ‘Honey’ also attained positive reviews and when speaking about the album, Finnerty said “Optimism is the saddest thing in the World to me and I have a lot of it”.  I think she was referring to the fact that the album contained both sad and happy personal songs.  Perhaps surprisingly, Samia released 2 other singles in 2023, that didn’t appear on ‘Honey’, one of which was a cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs ‘Maps’.
 
In 2025, a similar discography pattern emerged, whereby Samia released several singles from her new album ‘Bloodless’ before its release in April.  The album has received mixed reviews, for instance from the N.M.E. who opined that it “thrives on complexities and intricacies”.  A tour is planned for June 2025.  Samia’s musical style has typically been defined as indie-rock and indie-pop, and she has cited a range of musical influences including Lana Del Rey, Nirvana, Father John Misty and Brittany Howard.  Personally I can hear a a lot of another idol of mine who I have blogged about – Cat Power.
 
I mentioned earlier on that Finnerty moved to New York at the age of fifteen. Indeed she began her musical career there, but moved to Nashville in 2021 for a “less chaotic” environment. Ironically she later moved back to her birth place of Los Angeles, but currently lives in Minneapolis.  She insists that her folks raised her as a feminist and that it is a “deeply embedded part of her identity”.  She adds, that feminist themes in her songwriting are not intentional and that she feels that feminist ideals are inherently part of the female experience.  She does, however insist that rather than writing about a place of empowerment, she is usually writing from a place of desperation or pain.  I have requested Lex to play Samia’s ‘Mad at me” (which also features Papa Mbye) from the ‘Honey’ LP, which can be found here.

5th May 2025

Downloading & replaying is discontinued. However, tracks played on Friday evening, broadcast from Casablanca, were:

The Rolling Stones - Come On (Saturday Club, 26th October 1963)
E-rotic - Head Over Heels
Head Over Heels.mp3
#KNEECAP - H.O.O.D
Biig Piig - One Way Ticket
Haute & Freddy - Fashion Over Function
Pale Blue Eyes - The Dreamer
Voice of Baceprot - God, Allow Me (Please) To Play Music
Toots & The Maytals - 54-46 Was My Number
Into the Evernight - Dead Reckoning
Fourth Daughter - Higher (Just A Feeling)
Mankind, Melanie Williams - Dr Who (Time Waits) (Jose Jimenez Radio Edit)
Dead Poet Society - .CoDA.
Goat Girl - The Man
Garbage - I Think I'm Paranoid (2018 Remaster)
Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains (2015 remix)
Hole - Celebrity Skin
TISM - The 'C' Word
The Murder Capital - A Distant Life