01 Tindersticks – The Not Knowing
One of the most treasured bands from my college years, early Tindersticks still ride an expressway to my skull.* I saw them play a few times in the mid to late nineties and – to my eternal shame – once tried to nick singer Stuart Staples’ jacket after a gig in Nancy Spain’s, Cork.* He caught me in the act and calmly pointed out that his jacket, tailored by Timothy Everest in London, cost him quite a bit of money and that if I wanted a memento of the gig, suggested I take a setlist instead.
02 Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Love Comes To Me
Will Oldham has been around the block so many times now, to quote a friend of mine who has bought possibly everything he’s ever released – “After about ten albums I thought: OK, we get it. We. Get. It”.* But the man still has the capacity to surprise and this tour-de-force from his later catalogue is up there with his best work.* In fact, I noticed Conor O’ Brien AKA Villagers remark in an interview that it was the song he would most like to have composed and recorded.
03 Peter Broderick – Below It
Still only 23, this native of Portland, Oregon has been quietly building up an impressive body of songs that belie his tender years.* Has anyone, at any point in history, sang the line ‘The sound of screaming girls’ with such pathos?
04 American Spring – Falling In Love
A B-side from 1972, produced by Brian Wilson, who was at that time married to Marilyn Wilson, one of the sisters in this early 70s pop duo, a duo who had previously released songs as Spring and before that again as The Honeys.
05 The Fantastic Baggys – It Was I
Just another one of your run of the mill American surf and hot rod groups, but for this cracker, which first came to my attention on Sonic Boom’s seminal ‘Spacelines: Sonic Sounds For Subterraneans‘ compilation.
06 Pavement – Trigger Cut
I also thought I liked Pavement, without being totally crazy about them.* But their remastered collection from earlier this year ‘Quarantine The Past’ brought songs to my attention that I hadn’t heard in years, songs with the capacity to make me giddy with joy, songs that I find myself practicing air guitar moves to around my music room* Is there any better motivation for a songwriter to write songs than to imagine his/her audience worked up in such a state?
07 The Books
This NYC duo have mastered collage techniques to such an extent that whether drawing on found sound or thrift-shop music instruments or obscure speeches, they know how to amalgamate it all into a funky brew or a “three part Christian harmony mixed with a sort of euro-disco-trash beat” as vocalist Nick Zammuto describes one of the tracks on their 2010 LP* ‘The Way Out’.* Probably not this track, but you get the picture.
08 Love – Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark & Hilldale
I’m a relatively newcomer to Love’s seminal ‘Forever Changes’. I’m not one of the precocious cool kids who was listening to Arthur Lee or John Coltrane VIA my parents’ record collection from an impossibly early age.* In the house of my childhood, it was all Seán Ó Riada and Liam Óg Ó Floinn, before I rebelled and started buying Madonna (Shep Pettibone-era) records.* But when Arthur Lee finally shone his light on me, only a few short years ago, this one sounded like it should have been part of my soundtrack down through the years.
09 Radical Face – Winter Is Coming
I played this for a friend recently who thought it sounded like the best song that Frank Black/Black Francis never wrote.* It’s from a 2007 LP on Morr Music called ‘Ghost’ by Ben Cooper, who had previously released electrocuted glitch-pop as Electric President.
10 Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – River Like Spine
The founder member of San Francisco underground legends Tarantel and The Alps, released a solo LP entitled ‘Love Is A Stream’ on Type this year. The LP is his tribute to the beautiful cacophonous dream pop of bands like Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine.* Which leads us nicely to…
11 My Bloody Valentine – Moon Song
Any excuse to play something from MBV’s frustratingly short but glorious back catalogue.* This is a ‘Loveless’-era rarity, from their ‘Tremelo EP’.* On my first podcast for Shock, over three years ago, I was looking forward to the remasters of their LPs coming out.* The latest release date announced on Amazon (which is put back every few months) is Jan 24th 2011.* Don’t hold your breath.
12 Laetitia Sadier – Statutes Can Bend
Onetime Stereolab chanteuse released her first solo LP ‘The Trip’ this year.* It’s startling beautiful to hear her voice in isolation on simple torch songs like this, without the ornate backing of her longtime band.
13 John Barry – Space March (Capsule In Space)
I revisited John Barry’s back catalogue, having seen Christoher Nolan’s ‘Inception’, in late summer.* There’s something about the snow scene on level 3 of that movie, which pays homage to ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,’ even in the way Hans Zimmer’s score takes on John Barry flourishes.* Sounds great in this snowy weather, I’ve been told.
14 Timmy Thomas – Why Can’t We Live Together?
I love the sparse production on this record, which was actually released in its demo form in late 1972 and went on to sell 2 million copies.** Producer Steve Alaimo of TK Records was going to re-cut it with a full band but decided it was fine the way it was.* Fair play.
15 Prince – Sign O’ The Times
According to Wikipedia, this song was written on Sunday, when the Purple One usually wrote his most introspective songs.* The version I had on CD sounds very tinny now (where are the re-masterers?) so I got my mate Cyril to bump it up and fill it out with bottom end.
16 Boards Of Canada – Happy Cycling
On the ‘An Taobh Tuathail’ Facebook page recently, I invited music fans to post their favourite Boards Of Canada moments.* People highlighted plenty of tunes that I had never really paid attention to, including this haunting Peel Session from 1999.* A good way to fade out that Prince guitar solo (which always annoyed me about his records, even his greatest ones).
17 The Divided Circle – Nowhere
Here is some background, copy and pasted from an online review by Adam Burrows: “Jon Rees was the songwriter in criminally overlooked indie-rockers The Sky Is Blue, while Krystian Taylor is best known for the dark, atmospheric dubstep of Forensics. Their first release as The Divided Circle is one of the year’s most striking debuts”.* The band sent me the song ages before it came out and as it slowly revealed its beauty to me, I found myself playing it more regularly on the radio with each passing week.* How often to you get to hear two male voices duetting so beautifully without a modicum of embarrassment? I can't think of another example right now.* Maybe Bernard Sumner and Neil Tennant as Electronic?* Anyway, it doesn't happen too often.
18 Darkstar – Under One Roof
There’s been a lot of positive spin about ‘North’, Darkstar’s début LP. Of course, it’s a huge departure from their early dubstep singles on Hyperdub and this put me off at first, until I really got to grips with their short but stunning LP, which sounds like Junior Boys produced by B-Movie Lighting. In other words, gorgeous heartfelt late-night electro-pop symphonies.
19 Tijuana Mon Amour Broadcasting Inc – Time Now
From Dresden, Germany from a 2007 LP called ‘Cold Jubilee (Of The Snowqueen)’, this has been a firm favourite on my radio show since its release.* File next to New Fast Automatic Daffodils as one of the great band names.
Cian Ó Cíobháin presents ‘An Taobh Tuathail’ (The Other Side) on RTE RnaG, Ireland, Monday to Friday, 11pm – 1am GMT.**
His next anthology ‘An Taobh Tuathail Vol IV’ will be released as a free podcast in February 2011.*
You can get in touch with him via
http://www.rte.ie/rnag/antaobhtuathail.html or Facebook.
Shock World Service #039 by Cian Ó’Ciobhain
Linear Mode
