listening2… is a series of regular posts on what I’ve been listening to. Tracks from my travels. New songs and music to explore further. Half forgotten tracks from my collection. Roadtrip gems. If you like this post, let me know or, even better, let someone else know!
Listening2… #9: 24/8/2024
In this week’s listening2… a lot of my listening these last two weeks has been focussed on researching a longer post coming up soon, around electronic music mag, Moonbuilding and the scene it lovingly chronicles and supports. There’s just one track here from that exploration (the new single from Maria Azor), however: you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for more from the wonderful world of DIY electronica.
Meanwhile, on the listening2… playlist this time: new and old/new music from the aforementioned Maria Uzor plus Jalen Ngonda, Micky Greaney, Frightened Rabbit, the strange & wonderful Manudigital, and a new single from Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. A couple of bonuses too, a film featuring Sharon Jones, and a track, by Deco, that crept in at the last minute ‘cos it made me smile….1
1. Maria Uzor - What U Need
New single on Hey Buffalo Records
Maria Uzor is probably my favourite new-find artist at the moment. I came across her on the Autumn ‘23 cover of the excellent Moonbuilding magazine and I keep diving into her new album, Soft Cuts – it’s consistently good. Her new single, What U Need, equally strong, keeps the vibe going – experimental, squelchy beats, synths and a unique voice that sounds so far underground it should be playing in Khazad-dûm.
2. Jalen Ngonda - That’s All I Wanted From You
From his 2013 LP: Come Around And Love Me
A while ago, I got into Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. An ultra-tight, old-school soul and funk outfit, with drop dead vocals from Sharon. Tragically, she died from pancreatic cancer in 2016, but the Dap-Kings band and their Daptones label go on.2
Another extraordinary voice emerging from this excellent soul label is Jalen Ngonda. I found him on one of the small Glastonbury BBC filler sets from this year’s festival (find that performance HERE). I then discovered his debut LP a week or so back in my favourite shop, Dead Sea Records in St Davids, and couldn’t resist…
It’s one of those albums that could have existed – and been praised to the rafters - in any of the past six decades. It’s that good, and Jalen’s voice is that unique… I could have chosen any song from the album. Here’s That’s All I Wanted From You:
3. Micky Greaney - Look At Me Now
From his ‘new’ album, And Now It's All This
I was trawling around t’internet - as you do - and came across an Instagram post by Paul Hillery, the frankly extraordinary curator of funk folk and other delectations, with hundreds of online mixes on Mixcloud and Soundcloud, and several excellent compilation albums on BBE and WARM…
He simply posted an image of the cover of Micky Greaney’s album, And Now It's All This, and wrote “YOU NEED THIS ! Go to Bandcamp and buy this album.” I had a listen, went straight to Bandcamp and bought that album…
It’s actually a historical document, though it had never been released. The album was recorded in Abbey Road studies in 1995 and 1996, but didn’t see the light of day. It’s a classic, so I can’t really understand what happened there. I guess it doesn’t sound like a lot of the brit-pop and indie that was coming out around then, but there seems no excuse on the part of a label not to release this record.
It’s truly a great collection of songs, played beautifully, sung incredibly and really well produced. There’s a story there to be told, undoubtedly - and I’ll try to tell it, in time. In the meantime, enjoy this gorgeous, almost-8-minute epic that would make The Verve green with envy. Track 9 if you’re interested…
4. Frightened Rabbit – Backyard Skulls
From their 2013 album, Pedestrian Verse
I have to admit that Frightened Rabbit passed me by a little. I knew they’d been a Scottish indie fixture since 2003, and I knew people who swore by and loved them. In 2018, when lead singer Scott Hutchinson tragically died from suicide, I registered the outpouring among FR fans, but still didn’t go down the invited burrow…
It wasn’t till I read Allie Bailey’s running book, There Is No Wall (see Phil’s article on it here) in which she lists one of Frightened Rabbit’s songs, Footshooter, as a favourite playlist track, that I decided to explore the band a little further.
Coincidentally, Pedestrian Verse, their fourth album, was half price in the Rough Trade sale (see also my Listening2… list from 1/8/24), so I gave it a go. It’s really good, and I particularly like Backyard Skulls, with its rippling organ and frankly disturbing video - though we’ve all been to a party like that ––– haven’t we? ––– Haven’t We????
5. Manudigital ft Rhumba Youth - Standing Firm
From the 2024 EP, Digital UK session
Inspired by Ziggy aka Steve’s recent journey into reggae and dancehall, I must have been looking out for something a bit skanky. This is a bit mad actually, in concept and in practice. Basically, a French reggae producer who goes by the name of Manudigital, takes a tiny portable keyboard (a Casiotone MT-40) around the world and gets local rappers, MCs and toasters to produce a track with him. In the street.
You can get the picture from this video - this is literally it. But it somehow works, and the results are actually rather wonderful. The latest EP, Digital UK session videos are HERE and I’ve chosen Standing Firm by Shumba Youth below as my standout track:
6.Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Hashtag
From the forthcoming album, Woodland Studios
I’m really very excited about this one. Back in the day, I was a massive fan of Gillian Welch and her first trio of albums: Revival, Hell Among The Yearlings and Time (The Revelator). Welch and Rawlings have carried on producing amazing music since then (turns out I have a lot of catching up to do!) and this track is a beautiful gem.
It does just what it has to do - which is to make us stop and listen. And then afterwards, reflect. And then afterwards - maybe - play it again…
The fading American dream right there…
You said time makes the wheels spin And the years roll out and thе doubt rolls in In the truck stops, in the parking lots And the chеap motels When will we become ourselves? When will we become ourselves? When will we become ourselves?
Next week: part 2 of Ziggy’s (aka Steve) Pala Records top ten - 5 down to number 1!!
Bonus 1: Deco - Wonderwall x Smalltown Boy Mashup: The thing about music is that you can be feeling a bit crap or flat or down for one reason or another - or no reason at all actually - and you hear a tune that makes you smile. There’s not a lot else that does that. Often we choose something to engage with that matches a mood - a sad poem, an enigmatic piece of art or a serious piece of writing. Music, on other hand can just bounce up like Tigger: bouncey, bouncey, bouncey, and demand that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
So this track, by Deco bounced up on my feed this morning. It’s a 2021 mash-up of Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy - a work of bittersweet pop genius if ever there was one - and Oasis’s Wonderwall - great song in its day but possibly overplayed… (Controversial opinion? Discuss!).
It’s a timely find, as the Bronksi’s album. The Age of Consent is about to be re-released in a 40th anniversary edition (40 years? WTAF!!! Where did all THAT time go). More on Smalltown Boy, Bronski Beat and the mighty Jimmy Somerville in the near future…
Bonus 2: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings produced a host of great soul records from around 2001. I think I got hold of Soul Time around 2011, and discovered her earlier album Naturally around then too. Both are full of exuberant funk and soul – belted out by the irrepressible Sharon Jones. When she fell ill with cancer in 2013, filmmaker Barbara Kopple followed Jones’ journey in a film, Miss Sharon Jones, which you can watch on YouTube (see below). She died on November 18, 2016, at the age of 60. The film is a great and moving tribute to a wonderful soul artist - one of the best of her generation…