Song of the Day: This blistering new meta-song that also lampoons building developers comes from the London band’s forthcoming album Forest Of Your Problems. It’s a frenzy of krautrock-electronic-pop with echoes of The Fall and Suicide
Read moreSong of the Day: The Umlauts - Boiler Suits and Combat Boots
The Umlauts
Song of the Day; With a fabulous retro sound of early synth-pop, krautrock, new wave and post-punk, deadpan spoken German lyrics embody a humorous parody of “how artists fetishise Berlin as being the centre of the ‘cool’ art world and the dystopian uniformity”
Read moreThe Cool Greenhouse – The Sticks / London
The Sticks by The Cool Greenhouse
Song of the Day: The city or the sticks? A rock or a hard place? This first single from the forthcoming debut album and an older number marry driving krautrock, oddball psychedelia and echoes of The Fall with fabulous ironic humour and idiosyncratic, killer phrases
Read moreThe Fall – Cab It Up!
Mark E Smith and ex-wife and guitarist Brix in 1988
Song of the Day: Moving along now to the taxi ranks of Manchester and the unmistakable sound of Mark E Smith’s barking voice, one of many Fall songs in which taxis appear, in a frenetic schedule between gig, studio and pub
Read moreCaptain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Moonlight On Vermont / Tropical Hot Dog Night
Captain Beefheart, aka Don Van Vliet – musician, artist, visionary.
Song of the Day: With the recent passing of The Fall's Mark E Smith, and all the songs, tributes and stories that have followed, it now seems only appropriate to follow up with music Smith loved by one of his major influences
Read moreThe Fall – Blindness (and farewell Mark E Smith)
Mark E Smith 1957-2018
Song of the Day: With the sudden news of the passing of Mark E Smith, how can we choose a song to exemplify this force of nature, this difficult genius, this guttural great, this prince of post-punk lyricists inspired by HP Lovecraft, William Blake, Wyndham Lewis, Gene Vincent and krautrock
Read moreThe Fall – Touch Sensitive
The Fall, with one of many of Mark E Smith's lineups.
Song of the Day: So many to choose, but few match this one for sheer catchy, direct, repetitive brilliance. From 1999's The Marshall Suite, and co-written with Canadian guitarist and keyboard player Julia Nagle, as riffs and choruses go it's up there with the very best
Read moreThe Monks - I Hate You
The Monks in 1965
Song of the Day: From the humorous anger of Lou Reed, we dip into a lost classic by influential garage and punk pioneers – five GIs stationed in Germany who shaved their heads
Read moreR Dean Taylor – There's A Ghost In My House
R Dean Taylor is in the house – at Bailey's Club in the UK
Song of the Day: This foot-stomping, lingering-love northern soul favourite of the Wigan Casino and Blackpool Mecca was written by the Canadian artist with Holland-Dozier-Holland in 1967, but didn't become a UK hit until 1974
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