Still in the 90s

I can't seem to escape the 90s anymore. A couple of weeks ago I saw a terrific band  Chinese Handcuffs who had me flashing back to slowcore into post-rock Godspeed stylee. Then there is this bar I sometimes frequent and I swear the last 4 or 5 times I've dropped in they have been playing Afghan Wigs. Then there is hip hop which I hadn't listened to willingly for something like 15 years but after going back to Hardcore/Jungle etc. it made perfect sense to check out some of those gems from the 90s and even further back. You know before it all went a bit shit. I'm even gonna put some old DJ Shadow onto my I-Pod in a minute. I never thought I'd listen to those records ever again but listening to Wagon Christ the other day put me mind of this stuff. I was really diggin Throbbing Pouch, Wagon Christ's 90s classic. Still can't bring myself to put on Tricky or even other 90s faves Mouse On Mars. I guess it's only a matter of time.

I was nearly thinking of abandoning an end of year best of 2012 article which will be due soon but I've come out of my fear of the present and have started listening to recent LPs again. Artists might not be breaking much new ground but there is still some great shit out there worth listening to.

A picture from the park a couple of
weeks ago just because. Nice.

The Sopranos/Nostalgia for the future

Funny that I mentioned Tindersticks in that last post. I've just started rewatching The Sopranos from season one and I'm gonna watch the lot. Anyhoo in an excellent episode towards the end of the first season  called Isabella The Tindersticks song Tiny Tears appears during one of Tony's meltdowns. I was surprised and thought 'yeah! they had some great songs and were a bit of a funny band.' I'm intending on pulling those first couple of records out of the closet maybe. The first one and that live one were pretty good stuff. Were they Boz Scaggs fans? Their other influences were pretty obvious though Hazlewood, Van Zant, Scott Walker, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Triffids etc. It was funny having this British group with all these Australian influences. I guess Gallon Drunk were a bit like that as well, you know sounded a bit like they could have been from Melbourne.

Good tunes for panic
attacks on the toilet!

The Dreamy Isabella.

                                                                                                                                                             

Been loving the music on The Sopranos. There were so many good songs used and put to good use as well. Kasey Chambers turns up on one episode where Ralphie becomes a captain with the song...er...The Captain. Her voice may sometimes be grating but there is no denying her talents as a formidable songwriter.

Anyway I'm still obsessed with the whole hardcore/darkside/jungle/ambient jungle etc.90s timeline thing. I must admit though I can't bring myself to listen to possibly my favourite record of the 90s Tricky's Maxinquaye. I think this was pretty much the only record I listened to in 1995. In Energy Flash's Trip Hop chapter Simon Reynolds waxes lyrical about the record and with good reason, it's fucking brilliant. It is a dark record though, dark times personally too and perhaps I just played it to death. It was a bit of a shame though that his debut was his Pet Sounds or Exile On Main St...... er ..... meaning his peak, his Masterpiece, his piece de resistance. Then again who cares it's one of the all time great records!

MAXINQUAYE
Best LP of the 90s?

After tracking down a bloody lot of the great tracks from the hardcore etc. era I'm now onto AOJ. Album orientated jungle. One of the few other records I did listen to in 95 apart from Maxinquaye was Omni Trio's The Deepest Cut and 4Hero's Parallel Universe (that was originall released on vinyl in 94 but the cd which I had didn't come out til 95). Also getting back into A Guy Called Gerald, Spring Hill Jack and Jacob's Optical Stairway. Jungle's twistedness was starting to be straightened out and I didn't go much further with it after that. I couldn't get into Roni Size/Repazeant and all that. Maybe I missed some things by getting off the train before tech-step. Now I'm supposed to mention MC Esher (no he wasn't a rapper) and how jungle parallels the impossibilities, confusion and illusions that he created. Kodwo Eshun summed it all up nicely with the often quoted "rhythmic psychedelia." K-Punk says "temporal delirium" What more can I add. This was in no way nostalgic this music (ironically talking about it now is), it was speeding into the future with no map or coordinates and with unprecedented vigour. This was twisted, elastic, sharp, slimy & shapeshifting music for hopped up Martians going interstellar.