18th February 2024

Titus writes: 

  

I hope you enjoyed my blog on The (mighty) Fall. Such a complex band spanning over 40 years, and as I inferred, I’d still be typing now if doing a full appraisal. All I would say is find out about them via the various media sources – you won’t look back!

 

This week I’m going to talk about a band that really struck me in the eighties, and are still performing today – The Sex Clark Five from Huntsville, Alabama. They called their music “strum and drum” and if that description is alien to you, like it was to me, it has a jangly , almost surf guitar sound, similar to several Southern bands of the day. They were notorious for the unpredictability of their live shows, e.g.  drummer Trick McKaha would sometimes wear a bag over his head – in a way pleasing that he was the drummer rather than say a guitarist!

 

Not surprisingly, the Sex Clark Five came to the attention of John Peel when he acquired a copy of their first EP “Neita grew up last night”. The band was so impressed by being liked by JP, that in 1986 having recorded an album in founder James Butler’s basement – amazingly entitled “Strum and Drum” – and Peel concurred with the views of the American music press who were extremely praiseworthy, lauding the album as a ‘pop milestone’. They also referred to the Sex Clark Five as “America’s most inexplicable band”.  Peely was impressed by the fact that there were 20 very short tracks on it, (some barely a minute long), and  having heard The Ramones and nearly all punk bands play he once pronounced that  “the three minute single is back” – he became weary of the seventies 20+ minute tracks, particularly with a drum solo incorporated.

 

The band had been set up by school friends and guitarists James Butler, Rick Storey, drummer Trick McKaha and vocalist Joy Johnson. McKaha & Johnson left the band in 1993 & 1995 respectively.

Butler continued to write the songs and the band had a small but devoted fan base.  The nineties found the band continuing to record, but they, like a lot of others, found only the small labels with very few resources willing to promote them. Their discography reveals that they have spent a great proportion of their recordings, for Records to Russia records

 

In the year 2000, Butler & Storey got together on ‘Crimson Panzer’ with McKaha temporarily re-joining the band for this – this appeared almost exclusively on Peely’s programme. You’ve heard the expression before, but I guess that in real terms they were “unsung heroes”. A bit of a case like Northern Ireland’s Would Be’s who I wrote about, a couple of months ago...... a talented band that never quite made it.

 

Devotees of the band would argue that they must have been doing something right, by the fact that in 2020, Captured Tracks Records remastered & released ‘Strum & Drum’ as a double album, (albeit with a slight alteration to the title – they called it ‘Strum & Thrum!) with a few tracks added to the original version. This week I am requesting lex to play Alai from the original ‘Strum & Drum’ album.

16th February 2024

Sadly Clumpton was poorly and couldn't make his 8pm Wrinkly Rock slot. As a result, this week's WTF_Is_This show is two hours long! These are the tracks played in the first hour. Get well soon Clumpton!

Click HERE to listen again (the full 2 hours) or to download (downloading & playing is more reliable).

Cara Dillon - Man In The Rain
Redwood - The Darkest Star (Tune of the week)
Krokus - Screaming in the Night
Eluveitie - The Call Of The Mountains
The Fall - Theme From Sparta F.C. #2 (Single Version) (See blog by Titus below)
Eagle-Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
CAN - Vitamin C
Mark Knopfler - Beryl
Maël - Short Break
Jill's Well Sängerin Jackie mit Tiziana Gulino - Ryf
Tina Arena - Chains
Eve Kay - I Dream In Colour
Jaël - Shuffle the Cards
Romana Danina - White Trees
Mia Aegerter - Bye Bye Mein Altes Ich
Ladina - Haunt Me
The Common Linnets - Calm After The Storm
Mark Knopfler - What It Is

12th February 2024

Titus writes:

I make no apologies when I say that The Fall were, and still are my favourite ever band. I could write reams on them as their career spanned over 40 years, but shall try and keep this down to my normal blog length. Again, I won’t bore you with their various line ups, as only the leader, Mark E. Smith remained constant throughout.   Mark formed the band in 1976 in Prestwich, Manchester. Their music has always been indefinable and I go along with everyone who labelled Mark a genius. Their songs covered most subjects and were generally driven by a repetitive guitar sound, with tense drum & bass rhythms. He had a menacing voice, and often sang out of tune, having had no formal musical training. The Fall never really covered any widespread commercial success, but always maintained an immensely strong cult following. They were called “the most prolific band of the British post-punk movement”. They released 31 studio albums, and more than three times more other albums such as compilations. They also recorded 24 sessions for the Peel Show. Mark and John had a strange relationship in that despite Peel championing their cause at every opportunity, they rarely exchanged anything more than friendly ‘grunts’. Smith wasn’t known for being ‘a great bloke’, and in fact his prickly nature always dictated that he would be outspoken in most things.   In 1977 The Fall recorded heir first EP ‘Bingo Master’s Break-out’ and their first LP was released in 1979 entitled ‘Live at the Witch Trials.’ (still sounds good today) A sixteen year old Marc Riley (remember him?) was the band’s roadie, but was recruited to play bass.   In the early eighties, Mark had an American girlfriend, Brix Smith, whom he married, and she joined the band, and her quest was to find a wider audience for The Fall. She liked to dress elegantly which Mark felt belied the group’s working class image, but they achieved modest success with cover versions of R. Dean Taylor’s ‘There’s a ghost in my house’ and the Kinks ‘Victoria’. Several LP’s followed , but one stood out – ‘I am Kurious Oranj’ which was a collaboration between Smith and dancer Michael Clark. Brix left the band in 1989, and her marriage to Smith ended in divorce, but in the early nineties, The Fall had modest success with the singles ‘Telephone Thing’, ‘White Lightning’ ‘Free Range’ and ‘Why are people grudgeful’.  In 1997 following ‘Levitate’s release, the NME’s Steven Wells wrote “If you’ve never heard The Fall, ‘Levitate’ will be the best and worst record you’ve ever heard”.   When a short U.S. Tour ended one evening with Smith fighting on stage with other members of the band, the following day he was arrested on charges of assault. In September 2002, Smith’s third wife Elaena Poulou took over keyboard playing, and this brought about some much needed stability to the Band, especially with the release of ‘The Real New Fall LP’, and it is from this album, that I am requesting lex to play my all time favourite ‘Theme from Sparta FC’. There are many other tunes of theirs that I love, like ‘Rebellious Jukebox’, ‘Mr Pharmacist’ & ‘The day I wrote Elastic Man’, but for me ‘Sparta FC’ shades it.   Incidentally there is an amazing BBC4 tv programme ‘The Fall : The wonderful and frightening World of Mark E Smith’, which is good viewing and downloadable on YouTube. Smith thought it hilarious that John Peel’s producer John Walters had said to him “You lot are even worse than Siouxsie & the Banshees.....would you like to do a session for us?”   Mark E Smith, musician, & artist died on 24 January 2018 having been diagnosed with terminal lung & kidney cancer.   As I said earlier, I could go on writing about The Fall, but I hope this blog will suffice.

9th February 2024

Click HERE to listen again or to download (downloading & playing is more reliable).

Old Mervs - Leave That
DMA'S - Lay Down
Royel Otis - Fried Rice 
Redwood - So Silent
Trembling Blue Stars - Idyllwild (Tune of the week)
Notch - Nuttin Nuh Go So (Remix Mike VT)
Marlène Nerini - Ma Main Sur Ta Peau
Stefanie Heinzmann - Där Sohn vom Pfarrär
Floy - Soulful Man
Suzie Candell - Merry Go Round
Jetstream Pony - Seven Days
The Exbats - Best Kiss
Marked Men - A Little Time
Sir Thomas Wyatt (Read by Andrew Scott) - They flee from me (Poem)
Katy Perry - Part Of Me
Colour Of Rice - Peanuts
Loudon Wainwright III - A Father And A Son
Neutrals - Personal Computing
Patrick Bishop - Steps

5th February 2024

Titus writes:

 

As many of you know, I am not generally into ageing rock stars – I find it embarrassing to watch some of these people perform, and question what on earth they think they are doing, singing their old songs in a way that doesn’t seem to bear any resemblance to the original. Of course I have exceptions – the Canadian comtemporary musician Neil Young being one. Whether you could reasonably put Dr. John Cooper-Clarke into that category is perhaps questionable, because as I said in a recent blog, he is primarily a poet.

 

In the case of the American singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III, I have followed his career closely from 1967 right to the present day, and to me, he continually strives to re-invent both himself and his music. He has released 26 studio albums, six compilations and four live albums. In addition to his musical attributes, Loudon has also acted – mainly in smallish roles, and indeed got heads together with a fellow musician – Joe Henry – to write the sound track for Judd Apatow’s film, ‘Knocked Up’.

 

He was born in North Carolina in 1946, and always referred to the great Tom Lehrer as a big influence on him. When in Rhode Island, Loudon’s gran got him a employment working in a boatyard, and it was here that he bought a guitar and wrote close on twenty songs in a year, in a witty, self-mocking style. As well as Tom Lehrer, Wainwright cited Bob Dylan’s performance at the Newport Folk Festival of 1963, as another major influence.

 

You will not be at all surprised that LW recorded 16 sessions for the Peel Show (1970 – 2003), and at the end of the seventies, Radio 1 collaborated with BBC television, by producing the weekly programme ‘Sight & Sound in Concert’ which was a simultaneous  broadcast between radio and television – needless to say, Loudon made an appearance on this too.

 

His first marriage to folk singer Kate McGarrigle ended in divorce, but they produced 2 children, Rufus & Martha, both of whom are musicians. Rufus was the inspiration behind two of his father’s songs and these were  entitled ‘Rufus is a tit man’ (about his breastfeeding) and ‘A father and a son’ which I have asked lex to play. Rufus later wrote a song ‘Dinner at Eight’ about his conflictive relationship with his father, whilst Martha & her father sang a duet ‘Father daughter dialogue’ from the 1995 LP ‘Grown Man’. Loudon, Rufus & Martha still play nowadays, and Dad, despite being 77 shows no sign of giving up yet awhile. His web site is here.

2nd February 2024

Click HERE to listen again or to download (downloading & playing is more reliable).

The Piglets - Johnny Reggae
The Motors - Dancing The Night Away
Anshelle - Little Mountain
Redwood - Glass Train
FKJ (ft. Santana) - Greener
Wednesday - Got Shocked (Tune of the week)
Bar Italia - Glory Hunter (Wasn't played in full due to being too loud/clippy)
We Are Eva - You
Lunik (/Jaël) - Me Time
Eros Ramazzotti - Fuoco Nel Fuoco
Fontaines D.C. - Jackie Down The Line
Joy Division - Atmosphere
The Luka State - Bring Us Down
House Of Love - Destroy The Heart
The Jerks - All the Lies You Said
Biosphere - Phantasm (Sample thereof)
Mike Oldfield - Moonshine
Flo - One Two Dejavu

28th January 2024

Titus writes:

 

Now, if I were to ask you why I am talking about music made by Richard David James (Born Limerick, but brought up in Cornwall) and Geir Aule Jenssen (Born & brought up in Tromso, Norway, which is within the Arctic Circle), I’m sure most of you would think I’d taken leave of my senses, although maybe a few would recognise those names. In fact they’re both well established icons of electronic music, and use the names Aphex Twin and Biosphere respectively.

 

During the punk & post punk era, it was difficult for various genres of music to not only stay afloat in the U.K. but to obtain much air time on National radio or television. as I’m sure many would agree.

In the main during the “progressive era” we got used to hearing longer and longer tracks, and I won’t name some of the artist(e)s but it did get a little silly with some penning such crazy things as e.g. 40 minute Space Operas. Electronic German bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk resolutely stuck to their roots, but at this time, the return of the 3 minute single became the norm........until the end of 1989, when John Peel played what was then a big change to his normal nightly fayre. This was by a band called The Orb, who had been experimenting since the birth of acid house, with improvisational sounds & ambient music, and they produced a single track lasting 22 minutes “A huge ever growing brain that rules from the centre of the Ultraworld”. Peely’s listeners loved it, and in traditional JP style, he quickly unearthed other electronic works from many countries.

 

Aphex Twin released a number of albums, and it all began for him, by producing sounds via his Sinclair home computer. He began DJing at clubs and raves in Cornwall, with some donations allegedly taken in cannabis! He is largely self taught and has no formal musical training. His first release was a 12” called ‘Analogue Bubblebath’ in 1991, and since then has released 6 studio albums. He was once described as “one who has constantly pushed the limits of what can be accomplished by electronic equipment” and has always lauded the acid house / techno movement. He is still an active performer.

 

In the case of Geir Aule Jenssen a.k.a. Biosphere, I was first alerted to his work inevitably by Peel. Like Aphex Twin he produced ambient electronic music, and his 1994 album release entitled ‘Patashnik’ is fascinating to me, as it employs the idea of a lost cosmonaut, aimlessly drifting through space. Counting compilations, re-issues & one E.P,  Biosphere’s discography totals 18, and notably a track called ‘Novelty Waves’, was used by Levi Strauss in an advertising campaign. Again like Aphex Twin, Biosphere still performs to this day. I could write pages and pages about this type of music plus modern techno where a DJ creates and re-mixes, but I’ll keep this minority taste brief.

 

The track I am requesting lex to play, is Biosphere’s ‘Phantasm’, from the ‘Patashnik’ album , and within this track there is a short extract from the film  ‘The Krays’, of the twins having had the same dream.