Playlist form the Barbara Manning/Gerard Love gig

Of course, one of the best things about putting on a pop show is the opportunity to inflict your music taste on a fairly captive audience via a mood-setting playlist. Last Friday morning was spent picking tunes and compiling them into a playlist on my laptop (no 'original vinyl only' policy here!). Unfortunately, it turned out not to be time well spent as you couldn't really hear the music before, between and after the artists. I did ask for a wee volume boost or two but to no avail. Ah, well - next time! So, for no other reason than posterity, here's what made the air molecules in the room vibrate just a little (all song titles are links):

1. Tia Blake "Wish I Was A Single Girl Again"
2. Yo La Tengo "Polynesia #1"
3. The Umpteens "People Ride Their Scooters"
4. Carolyn Sullivan "Dead"
5. Hortense Ellis "Can I Change My Mind"
6. Irma Thomas "Two Winters Long"
7. Summer Snow "Flying On The Ground Is Wrong"
8. The Happy Couple "Another Sunny Day"
9. Clydie King "Missin' My Baby"
10. Lee Hazlewood "The House Song"
11. Dino, Desi and Billy "The Rebel Kind"
12. The Sequins "He's A Flirt"
13. Tight Knit "I Want You"
14. East Village "Cubans in the Bluefields"
15. The Springfields "Sunflower"
16. Oh-OK "Choukoutien"
17. The Siddleys "Bedlam on the Mezzanine"
18. The Foggy Notions "Need A Little Lovin'"
19. Birdie "Folk Singer"
20. Club 8 "A Place In My Heart"
21. Rachel Love "Down The Line"
22. The Cookies "Wounded"
23. Linda Smith and Nancy Andrews "A Passing Cloud"
24. Aluminum "Solar"
25. The Tills "One Sided Love"
26. The Umbrellas "Near You"
27. Seablite "Breadcrumbs"
28. Chime School "Love You More"
29. Buzzcocks "Sixteen Again"
30. Tammi Terrell "I Gotta Find A Way (To Get You Back)"

Summer Snow's ultra-gentle take on Buffalo Springfield's divine "Flying On The Ground Is Wrong" has been something of an obsession of late. It appears on this fine mix of Capitol Records' sunshine pop/pop-psych output. On the evidence of it, The Guess Who's beautifully-sung rendition and The Sneetches' slightly more rollicking verison, it's a song that seems to be done well by everyone smart enough to cover it.

Playlist from Hard Left gig

Any show with the combined brutal talents of Anxiety, Kaspar Hauser and Hard Left is a Saturday night show if ever I saw one.  Despite being on a Sunday night, all three groups whipped up a storm

and amply rewarded the hardy souls who were in attendance.  Unfortunately, I dropped my pen into the dark recesses of The 13th Note so was unable to write down what I played but what made it from my little 7" box to the decks was as follows but I can't vouch for the order being accurate:

Fatal Microbes Violence Grows

The Nightingales Paraffin Brain

Bush Tetras Too Many Creeps

Tesco Bombers Hernando's Hideaway

The World It Takes 2
The Mekons Where Were You?

Buzzcocks Love You More

The Quads There Must Be Thousands

Wild Billy Childish and The MBEs Thatcher's Children

The Avengers We Are The One

Royal Trux Waterpark

The Muffs Big Mouth

The Zeros Main Street Brat

Lungleg Maid To Minx

Primetime Pervert

Momus Hairstyle of the Devil

CC Dust New Ways

Molly Nilsson Ugly Girl

Crash Bright Colored Lights (in honour of Mike from Hard Left's old group)

The Rain Parade You Are My Friend

Memphis You Supply The Roses

A big thank you to David from Ski Pie Rage for telling me about that Quads 7" a couple of years back.  It's a real topper and, for once, doesn't cost a fortune on discogs! 

Playlist from the We Love Soft Power! gig

Last night's farewell to Soft Power Records was a largely blasting affair, high on intensity and gut churning intensity.  It was brilliant!  Here's what made it from my stuffed 7" box to the decks (ineptly, as usual - there was a wee issue with one of the turntables which lead to sticking records and dead air):

September Girls Gay Bar (Bachelor)

Bent Skeleton Man (Moontown)

The Wake Of The Matter (Factory)

The Mekons Where Were You? (Fast Product)

> Blood of the Bull live

CTMF Song For Kylie Minogue (Damaged Goods)

Shopping Straight Lines (Fat Cat)

Veronica Falls Teenage (Bella Union)

> Current Affairs live

Broadcast American Boy (Warp)

CC Dust New Ways (Night School)

Primetime Pervert (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Vital Idles My Sentiments (Not Unloved)

> Dora Maar (Andrew Hill solo) live

The Royal Sitars Eloise (Agitated)

Scars Horrorshow (Fast Product)

The Fall It's The New Thing (Superior Viaduct)

Tommy James and The Shondells Hanky Panky (Philips)

Billie Davis Billy Sunshine (Decca)

> Witching Waves live

Bikini Kill I Like Fucking (Kill Rock Stars)

A Certain Ratio Do The Du (Peel Session version) (Soul Jazz)

The Frowning Clouds All Night Long (Saturno)

Sugababes Overload (London)

Marnie The Hunter (Soft Power)

Sandra Plays Electronics Her Needs (Minimal Wave)

X Ray Spex Identity (EMI)

Babes In Toyland Handsome and Gretel (Insipid Vinyl)

> H. Grimace live

The Raincoats Fairytale In The Supermarket (Rough Trade)

Patience The Church (Night School)

Carol So Low (Weyrd Son)

David Bowie Rebel Rebel (RCA)

Maureen Tucker Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (Trash)

> Kaspar Hauser live

Alternative TV Action Time Vision (Deptford Fun City)

The Brats Be A Man (Hozac)
Gary Walker You Don't Love Me (Columbia)

The Diaboliks Hangover Head (Vinyl Japan)

The Sorrows Take A Heart (Pye)

Psychic Dancehall A Love That Kills (Art Fag)

CC Dust New Ways (Night School - played again for Seb from Current Affairs)

Hearing "Hangover Head" louder than I've ever heard it before was a real treat:

"New Ways" by CC Dust (7" coming soon on Night School) seemed to fit the mood of the evening perfectly:

The Poetry Club setlist (15/08/2014)

Last night was terriffic!  Teenage Fanclub eased through a beautiful set in the loveliest of settings.  The Poetry Club afterwards was fun, too.  Here's what I played:

1. Sandy Posey - Single Girl (MGM)
2. Maureen Tucker - Around and Around (Trash / Varulven)
3. Memphis - You Supply The Roses (Swamplands)
4. Mystic Eyes - I Can't Wait To Love You (Get Hip)
5. The Groove Farm - Surfin' Into Your Heart (The Subway Organisation)
6. Myron & E w/ The Soul Investigators - On Broadway (Timmion)
7. The Striders - There's A Storm Coming (Columbia)
8. The Palace Guard - Falling Sugar (Orange Empire)
9. Comet Gain - You Can Hide Your Love Forever (Fortuna Pop)
10. Crystal Stilts -Through The Floor (Fortuna Pop)
11. The Shall-I-Say-Quois - It's So Hard To Be Happy (Damaged Goods)
12. The Youth - I'll Call Your Bluff (State)*
13. JJ Barnes - Real Humdinger (Tamla-Motown)
14. Othello Robertson - So In Luv (Outta Sight)
15. Bettye Swann - Fall In Love With Me (Money)
16. Lung Leg - Maid To Minx (Southern)
17. The Mo-dettes - White Mice (Rough Trade)
18. The Third Booth - I Need Love (Independence 68)
19. The Paper Dolls - All The Time In The World (Vogue)
20. Petula Clark - Fancy Dancin' Man (Vogue)
21. The Magic Kids - Hey Boy (Goner)
22. The Chills - Heavenly Pop Hit (Slash / London)
23. Jackie Wilson - Because Of You (Go Ahead)
24. The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go? (Stateside)
25. The Gentle Touch - Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy (Kapp)
26. Mamie Lee - I Can Feel Him Slipping Away (MGM)
27. 1910 Fruitgum Co. - Goody Goody Gumdrops (Buddah)
28. Noonday Underground - London (Jonathan Whiskey)
29. The Chesterfields Kings - She Told Me Lies (Mirror)
30. The Embrooks - Dawn Breaks Through (Circle)
31. The Motions - The Same Old Song (Havoc)
32. Kaleidoscope - Jenny Aritchoke (Fontana)
33. The Style Council - Shout To The Top (Polydor)
34. James Fountain - Seven Day Lover (Harmless)
35. Delores Hall - Good Lovin' Man (Keymen)

Thanks for all the dancing, folks!  It was a total blast to hear The Shall-I-Say-Quois' strident mixing of Jacques Dutronc's "Le Responsable" with The Monkees' "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" at head-wrecking volume:

* Thanks to Mole from State Records for the loan of a test pressing of The Youth 7".  You're a gent, sir!

Record Store Day 2013 playlist

(thanks to Katrina for taking such a flattering picture!)

Record Store Day 2013 at Monorail Music was immense! I bought some great music (the megalithic Half Japanese box set, the killer new Vic Godard and The Subway Sect 7" etc.), chatted with so many lovely folks (the place was heaving) and got to play some records to the throng with the lovely Jenny Rollo (from the fab All The Rage night).  Unfortunately, the first hour and a half of our slot was blighted with technical issues. Jenny bore the brunt of it but she and Dougie (the sound man) did a great job working through the issues - thanks, guys! - and Jenny's iPad sure came to the rescue.  Of what I played, Girl One and The Grease Guns was certainly the hit; I wrote three notes for curious folks.

The Seeds Mr Farmer (GNP Crescendo)
The Bang(le)s Getting Out Of Hand (Downkiddie)
Dangerloves Young Pretender (Static Shock)
Shoes Tomorrow Night (BOMP!)
Thomas and Richard Frost Where Did Yesterday Go? (Liberty)
Baby Lemonade The Secret Goldfish (Narodnik)
Don and The Goodtimes I Could Be So Good To You (Epic)
Alpaca Sports I Was Running (Duffelcoat)
Ringo Deathstarr Rip (Club AC30)
Pat Lewis No One To Love (Beecool)
The Squires Going All The Way (Crypt)
The Springfields Tranquil (Summershine)
The Yellow Balloon The Yellow Balloon (Canterbury)
Flowers When You Lie (Cloudberry)
Girl One and The Grease Guns Driving Without Headlights (Once Again) (Squirrel)
Mikki Farrow Set My Heart At Ease (Kent - Pied Piper series)
The Stems Tears Me In Two (Citadel)
The #1s I Wish I Was Lonely (Art For Blind)
The Nightblooms Crystal Eyes (Fierce)
The Hush Puppies Hey, Stop Messing Around (Playboy - grey area reissue?)
Kids On A Crime Spree Creep The Creeps (Slumberland)
Delphine La Fermeture Eclair (Feral Child - grey area reissue?)
Motions It's The Same Old Song (Havoc)
East Village Cubans In The Bluefield (Sub Aqua)
Television Personalities I Was A Mod Before You Was A Mod (Overground)
Blank Realm Hey, Little Child (Negative Guest List)
Veronica Falls Teenage (Bella Union)
Sandi Sheldon You're Going To Make Me Love You (Starburst reissue)
The Volcanos Storm Warning (Arctic)
Burning Hearts Night Animal (Shelflife)
The Wake Talk About The Past (Factory)
The Go-Gos Our Lips Are Sealed (IRS)
The Supremes Where Did Our Love Go (Stateside)

Alpaca Sports' recent-ish Duffelcoat 7" seemed to fit the mood of the afternoon with its light, summery feel:

Thanks again to Dep, Stephen, Russell, Mark and Tara from Monorail Music for making Record Store Day such a great occasion and for asking me to be part of their big day.

Aggi Doom 7" launch playlist

(Ace photo by horsemeatpie)

Sunday night gigs are a tough sell.  Some really great groups have played to fairly sparse crowds on recent Sunday nights in Glasgow so it was a great relief to see a healthy crowd for the launch of Aggi Doom's (link below) tremendous debut single.  The group looked amazing, especially drummer Scott in his turban and black robe (dress?) ensemble, and delivered their glamourous gloom pop with verve.  The highlight of their set was the single, "Bring Me The Head", for which they were enhanced by bassist Joan's dad on sax and a friend (whose name I didn't catch - whoops) on clarinet for added No Wave power.   Palms were as full on and as shouty as I could have wished and Northern American War rocked angularly for maybe just a little too long.  The Soft Power Records kids were kind enough to let me dust off some of my 7" vinyl collection and share it with their public.  Here's what I played:


Virginia Astley Love's A Lonely Place To Be (Why Fi?)
The Revolving Paint Dream Sun, Sea, Sand (Creation)
The Snowdrops Mad World (Tears For Fears cover) (Matinee)
Taken By Trees Lost and Found (Rough Trade)
The Jasmine Minks Cold Heart (Creation)
Unrest Yes, She Is My Skinhead Girl (K)
Sunray Baby Honey (The Pastels cover) (Strawberry)
Swell Maps Let's Build A Car (Munster)
Beat Happening Zombie Limbo Time (K)

Lush Sweetness and Light (4AD)
Stereolab The Light That Will Cease To Fail (Big Money Inc.)
Beach Fossils Plastic Flowers (The Wake cover) (Captured Tracks)
The Champagne Socialists The Young Runaways (Slumberland)
The Chalfontes He Loves Me (Mercury – 70s reissue)
Thee Headcoatees My Boyfriend’s Learning Karate (Vinyl Japan)
Bratmobile Cool Schmool (K) – for Angela
Lung Leg Theme Park (Guided Missile)
French Kissing Wild Woman (Croque Madam)
Black Time The Girls In The Garage (Bancroft)
Big Maybelle 96 Tears (? and The Mysterians cover) (Rojac – reissue/grey area)
The Delmontes So It’s Not To Be (Rational)
The Bodines Paradise (Creation)
The Babies Meet Me In The City (Make A Mess) – for James in honour of his lovely Babies tee!
The Rosehips Room In You Heart (The Subway Organisation)
The Gentle Waves Weathershow (Jeepster)
The Flips I Just Don't Know Where I Stand Anymore (Hozac)
My Favorite Go Kid Go (Swingset)
A Certain Ratio Do The Du (Soul Jazz)

>> North American War

Bush Tetras You Can’t Be Funky (ROIR – reissue)
Grass Widow Disappearing Industries (M’lady’s)
Olympic World of Pastelism Hot Wheels (Domino)
Kleenex Beri Beri (For Us)
Kleenex Ain’t You (For Us)
Wax Idols All Too Human (Hozac)
Bleached No Friend Of Mine (Ooga Booga)
Bubblegum Splash Plastic Smile (The Subway Organisation)

>> Palms

The Shop Assistants Safety Net (53rd & 3rd)
Catatonic Youth Control My Gun (Almost Ready)
The Caravelles Lovin’ Just My Style (Dionysus)
Le Tigre The Hot Topic (Wiiija)

>> Aggi Doom

Mika Miko Forensic Scientist (Post Present Medium)
Marlena Shaw California Soul (Jazzman – reissue)
Lightships Sweetness In Her Spark (Geographic)
Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers Rollercoaster By The Sea (Beserkley)
Barbara Mercer Hey!! (Golden World)
The Chesterfields Ask Johnny Dee (The Subway Organisation)
Chin Chin We Don't Wanna Be Prisoners (Mississippi)
Hurrah! The Sun Shines Here (Kitchenware)
Sweater Girls Pretty When You Smile (Happy Happy Birthday To Me)
The Tartans West of La Brea (Yay! Label)

Gentlest:

Noisiest:

Big thanks to David Barbarossa for letting me use his needles. Much appreciated, sir!

Post "How Soon Is Now?" reading playlist

Tonight's reading/Q&A at Mono with Richard King was really enjoyable. More to follow on that in due course but in the meantime here's what I played (particularly ineptly) this time:

Suicide Cheree (Remix) (Blast First)
Dirty Beaches True Blue (Art Fag)
Grab Grab The Haddock For All We Know (Cherry Red)
The Wake On Our Honeymoon (Captured Tracks -reissue)
Aggi Doom Bring Me The Head (Soft Power)
The Make-up Pow! To The People (Vesuvius)
Amelia Fletcher Can You Keep A Secret? (Fierce Recordings)
A Certain Ratio Do The Du (Soul Jazz)
The Evolution Control Committee Rebel Without A Pause (Pickled Egg)
Sweet Tee I Got Da Feelin' (Cooltempo)
bratmobile Cool Schmool (K)
Unrest Cath Carroll (Teen Beat)
Huggy Bear Her Jazz (Wiiija)
Gang of Four I Found That Essence Rare (Peel Session) (Strange Fruit)
The Petticoats Normal (Blah-Blah-Blah)
My Favorite The Informers and Us (Harriet)
The Bats Made Up In Blue (Flying Nun)
Silicon Teens Just Like Eddie (Mute)
Marie Applebee Toom Toom (Jubilee)
Talulah Gosh Bringing Up Baby (53rd & 3rd)
Adventures In Stereo Nobody's Scared (Subway Sect cover) (Creeping Bent)
Strawberry Whiplash Stop, Look and Listen (Matinee)

Somewhat shockingly for Not Unloved, some of these records were on 12" vinyl (yeah, I know...gasp!).  I had planned to work through the likes of MARRS "Pump Up The Volume" and Bill Drummond's "Julian Cope Is Dead" but, somehow it didn't quite happen.  It was, however, sweet to hear post-Marine Girls group Grab Grab The Haddock at a decent volume in a nice, airy venue where people were chatting in a relaxed way.  It was fun, too, to be able play Aggi Doom's forthcoming single.  Thanks for making that happen Soft Power Records!