The music I missed
If you read our publications you may have heard that we have been recording and mixing our new record! This has disturbed my daily listening sessions of new music. Time to catch up.
If you read our publications you may have heard - laughs manically - that we have been recording and mixing our new record!
We have been holed up in the studio for far too long. Now the album has been mastered and sent to the the pressing plant, there is a sense of joyous release.
This intense work severely curtailed the listening sessions of new music which I enjoy when Hummock and Bobby take me out for my daily walk.
I use a lot of different publications to research new music. Louder, Pitchfork and recently The New Cue - which is brought to you by Ted Kessler, Chris Catchpole and Niall Doherty, the former editors of Q Magazine and which I subscribed to for many years.
Besides writing articles, my wife and musical partner Suzy Starlite and I present ‘The Supertone Show’ which is a music-inspired chat show about songs and the people who make them and features an eclectic mix of music from our vinyl collections, new music that excites us and special shows focussing on inspirational people who have influenced and changed the sound of modern music. Check it out.
The music I missed
For the past two weeks, I have been voraciously consuming everything that was in my listening queue and thought it would be fun to share the most interesting, rather than just my favourites.
Grab your headphones, here we go…
Paul Simon | Seven Psalms
I always forget how good a guitar player Paul Simon really is. Feel, tone, melody, light touch - he has it all.
Having listened to the record a fair few times I became really interested in what he was up to and subsequently found this interview conducted by Tom Power of Canadian broadcaster CBC where he talks about losing the hearing in his left ear which currently, precludes him from playing live. He also discusses the meaning of the album and the death of Gordon Lightfoot.
Even though he kinda disagrees, this is a death album where he is coming to terms with the end in a cool way.
His voice is a little more frail but his playing is fantastic and the arrangements are sensitive to the content, which sadly is becoming rarer these days, where producers want to leave a distinctive and sometimes unnecessary mark on the recording.
The YouTube trailer is cool as it gives an insight into the recording process.
The album is quite beautiful and love the fact that it’s one track that should be played in one sitting and like all Paul Simon records, the lyrics are inspirational.
Worth 33 minutes of your time…
Sparks | The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte
I have always had a soft spot for the brothers Mael - quirky, unconventional and ultra cool. When I first heard them in 1974 it seemed like a comedy show (I was 16 and had just picked up a guitar) but I soon realised that this pair are the real deal. Art Rock at its finest.
They disappeared off my radar for years but then I saw them, via BBC iPlayer, performing on The Park Stage at Glastonbury and as far as I am concerned, they shone brighter than many of the headline acts.
They are not young men (Ron 78 and Russell 75), but you would never realise and does it really matter? Totally not, they were a vital and original live act. I loved their band as well, very appropriate and did a brilliant job supporting the duo.
Oh, I do love My Baby's Taking Me Home (watch the video).
Although not my favourite track from the album, I have to feature the title track of The Girl Is Crying Her Latte.
It’s a great song but the video is sensational and features the wonderful Cate Blanchett, who is a big fan of the band along with McCartney, who was watching the performance from stage-side. The album is great.
Mandy, Indiana | I've Seen A Way
Yes, they make music in my home city of Manchester, but that’s not the reason I have included them and in any event, only Scott Fair, Simon Catling and drummer Alex MacDougall are Mancunian, with vocalist and lyricist Valentine Caulfield hailing from Paris.
I have always really adored experimental electronic music and this instantly got me and do seem to gravitate to these Anglo-French outfits being a big lover of the mighty Stereolab.
I've Seen A Way - post-punk, electronic, or noise? I don’t know what it is.
What I do know is that they create unsettling textures with weird and interesting recording techniques and places: there are also a lot of field recordings going on.
Wikipedia tells me the album was partially recorded in a cave in the West Country and in a nearby crypt which, listening to it, makes a lot of sense so don’t expect Paul Simon here, this is leading-edge stuff IMHO.
Apparently, visual influences come from Blade Runner 2049, the video game BioShock and the films of Leos Carax and Gaspar Noé which is good enough for me.
Squid | O Monolith
In recent weeks we thought it would be fun to feature music on the Supertone Show from the counties/cities where we are playing on our September/October UK tour.
In episode #127 we highlighted Sussex (East & West) and found these badgers who hail from Brighton (technically the city is called Brighton and Hove).
Zoë, one of Suzy’s great friends, lives in this beautiful part of England and we have spent quite a few fabulous days lapping up the atmosphere of this very arty and classic British seaside town.
Anyway, back to the band and their second album O Monolith. It seems that the album came from live onstage jams (we love this) during their seated-only socially distanced 2021 tour.
Their drummer and vocalist Ollie Judge said he really got into ANIMISM - the idea that spirits can live in inanimate objects inspired by Twin Peaks where Josie Packard's spirit goes into a chest of drawers.
Track four - Undergrowth - was written from the perspective of Ollie being reincarnated as a bedside table in the afterlife, and how the thought of being reincarnated as an inanimate object would be really dreadful. What a cool concept…
It’s produced by Dan Carey who along with Nigel Godrich and Daniel Lanois, is becoming one of my favourite producers having recently worked with more of my favourite artists Black Midi and Fontaines DC.
British experimental post-punk who are influenced by dystopian science fiction - you’ve got to love that.
Peter Gabriel | So Much (Dark-Side Mix)
Another death song…
Gabriel says:
So much is about mortality, getting old, all the bright, cheerful subjects, but I think when you get to my sort of age, you either run away from mortality or you jump into it and try and live life to the full and that always seems to make a lot more sense to me. The countries that seem most alive are those that have death as part of their culture.
To me, the song is simple and is all about the lyric. As you would expect from Gabriel, the song is beautifully produced and recorded at Real World Studios - Bath, The Beehive - London and British Grove - London (my favourite studio right now and owned by Mark Knopfler).
When I was walking around with the hairy beasts, a couple of lyrics made me chuckle out loud. So accurate, so true.
“Oh, there’s so much to live for. So much left to give. This edition is limited. There’s only so much can be done”
So much unfinished business All sticking with desire Raking through the empty shells Of all the rockets we fired Set the navigation For the Earth all warm and wet And as the longing drops away The compass is reset Oh, there’s so much to aim for You can shoot right at the sun And all of it just comes and goes There’s only so much can be done Time slips in the mirror As an old man, I was born And I've grown to be a baby With a halo and a horn Burned like a lightning bolt All gone within a flash You look around to find a home Where the asteroid will crush The body stiffens, tires and weakens In its wrinkled blanched skin With each decade, more camouflage From the wide-eyed child within Now close your eyes for a moment Look down and look above All the warmth inside of you Comes from those you love Oh, there’s so much to live for So much left to give This edition is limited There’s only so much can be done So much to aim for Shooting up by the sun When it all comes and goes There’s only so much can be done So much can be done Only so much can be done
The Sex EP | The Dare
And now for something completely different.
Girls is an offensive and directly misogynistic track by indie sleaze artist Harrison Patrick Smith, but given the 22-year time difference, it’s really no worse than Tenacious D (released in 2001) considering the propensity for fucking everywhere in 2023.
It’s fun, catchy and very tongue in cheek but certainly not as innovative as James Murphy’s early work with LCD Soundsystem.
I feel conned, manipulated, cheated upon and slightly grubby, but still like it…
Eric Cantona | The Friends We Lost
Yes, you read this correctly. The polymath takes a grip of music.
I don’t really follow football anymore but my team is Manchester United, like my dreadful mother. My dad was a Liverpool fan so you can imagine the atmosphere in the house when those two teams were playing each other.
Cantona was around in the Alex Fergusson glory days of course and I loved his presence both on the pitch and off.
He also appeared a few years ago in the Liam Gallagher video for Once and was not playing football but playing himself.
You can’t argue with his presence and talent. Charisma in bucket loads and then a dumper truck of extra charisma turns up.
Is it any good? Can he sing? Well, I don’t know really but he has a wonderful timbre to his voice and lots of people love Charles Aznavour and Serge Gainsbourg.
More power to his elbow.
Ryuichi Sakamoto | Funeral
Being big fans of his work Suzy and I were very sad when we heard of the death of Ryuichi Sakamoto and discovered a little later that he had created a Spotify playlist for his funeral.
This quote is from the playlist description.
We would like to share the playlist that Ryuichi had been privately compiling to be played at his own funeral to accompany his own passing. He truly was with music until the very end.
What a badass…
And finally…
It would be rude of me not to include the lead single Saving Me from our concept album, STARLITE.ONE which is released tomorrow and available to preorder right now.
I hope you have enjoyed this and if you all respond favourably, I will do another one.
Next week we are back to normal with Starlite in the hot seat.
Much love
Simon
Working on: Press releases and videos for the new single.
Listening to: LOTS - I think you get the message by reading this post!
What’s cooking: Homemade Chili con carne, but with Turkey as opposed to beef - I am thinking of publishing the recipe, so keep an eye out for that.