Swedes Ahoy!

It has got to that time of the year when you start looking back over the music of the last twelve months and drawing up lists designed to demonstrate that you have left the zeitgeist behind you and moved into realms of hipness previously unexplored. Mine may or may not appear between Christmas and New Year depending on when I get away from the Premier Inn in Watford.

But while doing so I rediscovered loads of stuff issued this year that I had intended to share with you but never got round to and, in most cases, probably never will. Here are three exceptions which have one thing in common - they are all Swedish artists.

Sakert! is Annika Norlin, formerly of Hello Saferide. This track comes from her album "På Engelska", released in October, which contains English language versions of songs previously head on her album "Facit".

Det Vackra Livet  is a side project from Henrik and Philip Ekström of The Mary Onettes, and one in which they appear to have been transported back to the 1980s.

Of Twiggy Frostbite I can tell you nothing, having long since lost the PR blurb I was sent, but this is what they look like.

"The Flu" - Sakert!

"Juni Berättar" - Det Vackra Livet

"By The Ocean" - Twiggy Frostbite

Because I am feeling in a holiday mood, here are another seven Swedish songs of various vintages. They include Träd Gräs Och Stenar's cover of the Teddybears classic "Punkrocker" and what appears to be a sincere tribute to Ace of Base from Jaqee. All that Swedishness is makin' me itch.

"And I Found This Boy" - Maia Hirasawa

"Beatmaker" - Doris

"Chris Craft No. 9" - The Shanes

"Crystal Shade Of Loneliness" - Turid

"Kokoo Girl" - Jaqee

"Mean Street" - Mando Diao

"Punkrocker" - Träd Gräs Och Stenar

Oi!

On Saturday I went down to Spitalfields Market for the Independent Record Labels Christmas Fair. There were some top labels there - the likes of Loose, Memphis Industries and the excellent Soundways to name but a few. With a grim inevitability I spent a lot more than I had planned buying a load of goodies, and a few pretty averagies as well.

Among the goodiest of the goodies was "Oi! A Nova Musica Brazileira!", which, for those of you whose Portuguese is less fluent than mine, means "Oi! New Brazilian Music". Released last year on the Mais Um Discos label, it is a two CD, 40 track compilation featuring all sorts of musical styles that is intended to be a beginner's guide to, well, new Brazilian music.

With that sort of breadth not everything is going to grab you, but there were plenty that did, including these two.

"Amarelasse" - Mini Box Lunar

"Carimbó Pra Maria (Luico K Remix)" - Mestre Curica

Here are four bonus Brazilan tracks of a rather less recent vintage:

"Não Quero Dinheiro" - Tim Maia

"Tao Longe De Mim" - Os Brazões

"Xica Da Silva" - Jorge Ben

"Tum Tum Tum" - Jackson Do Pandeiro

And we finish with something else quintessentially Brazilian for my friend Conical, who only really likes these bits. And Chuck Mangione.

Green's Christmas Party

The Victoria public house in Dalston undoubtedly has many charms (although a lack of proper beer is not one of them), and it has a nice big room at the back that can take about 150 people. Even so it is not the sort of place you would expect to see hotshot music types playing on a Thursday night in December.

However the Victoria also happens to be Green Gartside's local, which is presumably why he chose it as the venue for his first gigs as Scritti Politti in about four years. They played there on Thursday and Friday nights just gone, and Mister F and I were lucky enough to be there on Thursday to join in the fun.

And great fun it was too. Scritti played an excellent set which covered the very early days ("Skank Bloc Bologna"), the Eighties hits, the comeback album from a few years ago and a couple of new songs which Green described as "work in progress". The new ones sounded pretty good although some of the harmonies on the song provisionally called "Slow Deceit" were a bit too 10CC for my taste.

Not only that, to get us in the festive spirit there was a raffle, pass the parcel, mince pies and a cocktail of Mr and Mrs Gartside's own devising which included Guinness and Drambuie among other things and tasted like a liquid Christmas pudding.

First up on the night was our old friend Robyn Hitchcock. He is a bit of a poseur but he writes a nifty song and got things off to a fine start. He also reappeared at the end of the evening to duet with Green on a very nice version of Nick Drake's "Free Ride". Here is that performance captured on my trusty camera. Apologies for swearing in the middle when Mister F stuck his mobile phone in the way.



I knew Scritti and Robyn would both be good, but the surprise package for me was Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip. I know nothing of their work but Mister F assures me that, like almost all modern music, there are no proper tunes, you can't make out the words and it is all just bang bang bang. So I hadn't been expecting the mellow, soulful set that Alexis gave us in the company of Rob Smoughton on guitar and vocals (Alexis himself providing keyboards and vocals). They bookended the set with covers of "Be Careful" by R. Kelly and "Let Me Roll It" by Wings, and listening to them you could almost imagine they had just stepped off the plane from Muscle Shoals.

You have been very patient so as a reward here is a track apiece from Scritti and Robyn. These weren't played on Thursday but if they had been it would have made an excellent night even more excellent. I don't have any of Alexis Taylor's music so instead here is the Wings original of the song with which he finished his set. And as a further nod to him, here is the old Willie Nelson classic he played when DJing later (in between the Incredible String Band and "Move Closer" by Phyllis Nelson - it was that kind of night).

"Asylums in Jerusalem" - Scritti Politti

"Mr Wife And My Dead Wife" - Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians

"Let Me Roll It" - Wings

"Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer)" - Willie Nelson

And here are a few photos from the night.

That's it now. I promise. 

The Other Pistols

I said the other day that I would post some Two Dollar Pistols and, as I am a man of my word, that is exactly what I am doing. I really love John Howie Jr's baritone. His uptempo songs are pretty good, but his heartbreakers are even better.

"It's All Fun And Games (Til Someone Breaks A Heart)" - Two Dollar Pistols (from "Hands Up!", 2004)

"You've Grown Tired Of Me" - Two Dollar Pistols (from "You Ruined Everything", 2002)

I find it hard to listen to "You've Grown Tired Of Me" without (a) sinking into a deep gloom, and (b) sinking even further by listening to this companion piece by Mr. Chirpy himself, Richard Thompson.

"Why Must I Plead" - Richard Thompson (from "Rumor And Sigh", 1991)

I don't think I will put those three on my mixtape for Rita the Armenian barmaid in Tbilisi - it might seem a little needy. I think maybe I will go for something a bit more uplifting, yet also deep and thoughtful. Something like this, perhaps.

I Blame Özkan

Way back in the early 1970s Mazhar Alanson and Fuat Güner were respectable Turkish psych rockers who hung around with the likes of Barış Manço being generally groovy - as this 1973 track shows.

"Sur Efem Atini" - Mazhar & Fuat

Then a mate of theirs called Özkan Uğur got out of the army and joined up with them. Under the name Mazhar Fuat Özkan (or MFO for short), they proceeded to hit the big time with a series of generally rather uninteresting AOR records - so successfully that they became one of Turkey's most successful ever bands. What was behind this transformation? I don't like to cast aspersions but it must be Özkan.

But even Özkan couldn't sap their spirit entirely. Every now and then they came up with something decent. Take for example, this funky little number from their 1990 album "Geldiler". Admittedly it is more Spandau Ballet than Shriekback, but it isn't bad.

"Ik Ben" - Mazhar Fuat Özkan

 Who were Shriekback, you say? You're having me on, surely?

Tsonga Tsaturday

On 5 November there were fireworks for fans of Tsonga Disco as the Nkowankowa Stadium in Tzaneen hosted the 8th MLFM Xitsonga Music Awards. The winner of the best male vocalist was someone we have not featured here before, Mr Benny Mayengani. It is about time we put that right. Here's Benny.

"Tiba Ben" - Benny Mayengani

"Egiyani" - Benny Mayengani

Other winners included more familiar faces, such as Thomas Chauke and the Shinyori Sisters (for best song) and the Shangaan Svengali himself, Joe Shirimani (for best disco song). I don't yet have the winning songs, so here is a song apiece from their respective back catalogues.

"Wani Kolota" - Thomas Chauke & The Shinyori Sisters

"Nwa Mashalani" - Joe Shirimani

If that doesn't get you in the mood for Saturday night I don't know what will. Maybe this. If the Bay City Rollers and Ann Margret (why???)can whip an audience of pensioners into a frenzy just think they could do for you. Look out for the woman with the massive ear trumpet at 1:07.

They Had It All

Like a lot of what goes on here, today's post is inspired by - or ripped off from, depending on your point of view - Ramone666 over at 'For The Sake Of The Song'. Unlike me, he is a proper music blogger, and the rest of the 666 family must be very proud of him.

Earlier today he posted four versions of Donnie Fritts' classic tune "We Had It All". They were all good but did not include the version by Dobie Gray, which in my humble opinion knocks all others into a cocked hat. It is also the song that my Dad plays when he needs to get back in my Mum's good books or wants to make my sisters cry.

For good measure I have added three more. One comes from what I believe were Tift Merritt's first ever recordings, with the Two Dollar Pistols back in 1999 (I must put some more Two Dollar Pistols up here). One features my close personal friend Alan "Tyler" Tyler back when he was still fronting the Rockingbirds. And inevitably there is a reggae version, from Dobie's cousin Owen.

"We Had It All" - Dobie Gray

"We Had It All" - Two Dollar Pistols (featuring Tift Merritt)

"We Had It All" - The Rockingbirds

"We Had It All" - Owen Gray

Sticking with matters 666, here are Iron Maiden. I would like to dedicate this to my mate Dave. We were at a football match once and at half-time it was announced that the winning raffle ticket was number 668. Quick as a flash, he turned to me and said "668 - The Neighbour of the Beast". He's never been as funny since.