Seven (plus one) for Summer

I’ve done this before last Summer and the thought struck me that it would be fun to do it again. So here it is. Seven tracks that are providing me with a musical accompaniment to the Summer. They’re not exactly comprehensive, by which I mean some of them stand in for other tracks. So, for example, while I like the Manic Street Preachers song, there are better ones on that album by quite some way. But so far no one has got around to releasing a video on YouTube for them. And while some might say they’re not exactly Summery… well, this is my view of Summer and almost all of them bring to mind the long evenings and/or being at gigs with condensation dripping from the walls somewhere or another.

Manic Street Preachers.

Jackie Collins Existential Question Time

Great chorus and at least an echo of that snarling aggression which fuelled their peak of creativity in the early to mid-1990s – up to the point where Richey died (although I have a soft spot for Know Your Enemy from 2001). Sure, The Holy Bible is better, no question, but this is good, very good indeed and that’s a change after a series of really not so great albums.

All India Radio

Four Three

I could rave about these guys. They’re Australian, electronic and have been around since the late 1990s. They do ambient, television and film scores, pop and even New Order like dance excursions under their side project Big Spaceship. But their work as All India Radio is fantastic. This is a perfect summation on their melancholy take on dance. And for those of us who remember Screen Test with Michael Rodd from the 1970s and in particular the Young Filmakers’ short contributions that rather plastic looking spaceship looks fairly familiar (which is as it should be since one of their number claims to have made Super 8 movies of spaceships back when he was a kid).

Hawkwind

Treadmill

Well, it’s cheesy, it’s almost twenty years old and it does go on a bit, but there’s something about that guitar line that evokes Neil Young’s “Mr Soul”… in a good way. A three minute version would be a treasure. To me.

Doves

Jetstream

The album is neither as consistent nor as listenable as previous efforts, but… it does have its moments. This is 5 or so of them…

Sonic Youth

What We Know

Yeah, Sonic Youth indeed. Kim Gordon is 56. I hope I too am as fleet of foot and have learned to play the guitar (or the bass, I’m not fussy) in thirteen or so years. And while you’re thinking about that think about this… The latest album, The Eternal, is cracking. Riffs, melodies, discordance. Same as it ever was really. And like, say, Motorhead who have ploughed their own similarly individual furrow, you can’t ask for much more than that. Not really.

The Church

Pangaea

Taken from another somewhat disappointing album, #23, like that from Doves. Their latest doesn’t hit the highs of 2003’s Forget Yourself or even the more recent Uninvited, Like the Clouds which was fine albeit a bit Pink Floyd for my tastes (never a good thing). Mid-tempo compositions that leave a bit to be desired, but… there’s something about this track which does the business. Not least the way parts of the chorus reminds me of John Lennon…

Section 25

Looking from a Hilltop

A throwback to Factory’s finest hours. Now, no-one would ever say Section 25 were up there with New Order in the pop stakes, and arguably their more dour earlier side such as Friendly Fires was more effective, but… this’ll do. This’ll do.

Check out the ‘mobile’ phone on the video about 30 seconds in… dear God. It’s great.

And one extra, just for luck…

Blank Dogs

Setting Fire to your House

Speaking of Factory, here’s someone who one suspects really really wished they’d been back there way back then. Or otherwise it’s a pretty high quality pisstake (and consider that this is part of the no-fi or ‘shitgaze’ movement… yeah, cool)… Apparently highly popular in New York where Mr. Dog, it’s one man behind the band, is based – and there’s some link to Crystal Stilts. And the video? Somehow New Order videos come to mind. But, gotta love that bassline, lifted almost straight from NO’s Movement.

That and a useful safety message implicit in the song

I’d be interested in others lists…

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