Barny's 201Xs

26 .- The Go! Team - The Scene Between (2015, #3)



It might be their least Go Team-ish release, focusing more in the melodies and less on rhythm and samples, but it sounds like a greatest hits collection. All the songs have 2 or 3 incredible hooks, the ‘festive shoegaze’ production is matching and the different performers don’t distract from the whole picture. Seeing now the number of views/streams in Youtube for the singles and this is a pretty unfair world... but we're gonna dance through it.

Forgot how great that tune is. Thanks barny.

19 .- Tobias Jesso Jr. - Goon (2015, #1)



I really hope Tobias is waiting to release his sophomore effort for the day Macca dies, because that day I’ll really need some sad piano music to sob to. And a handful of gorgeous melodies (seasoned by understated production) that bring some comfort to this pouring heart.

53 .- Protex - Strange Obsessions (2010, #-)



Belfast band named after a Clash song about condoms, it seems they never managed to release this during their heyday in the late 70s. It's a shame because it's a rush of power pop goodness, sounding eerily more like The Exploding Hearts than like some of their punk peers. (video sounds quite worse than the record version, especially vocals, but couldn't find any better)

It's OK Barny, I won't attack you for including an album in your 2010s list recorded 40 years ago

This is cool stuff, I'd never heard of these. cheers

21 .- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat the Devil's Tattoo (2010, #4)



BRMC were one of my darlings and at that point probably my favourite live band. This week I've read some pieces about the 10 years since The Suburbs by Arcade Fire was released, a record that leaves me pretty cold. But yeah I can see where they're coming from, as even if this album doesn't have a high concept it brings me back to that moment in time. On that tour I went to see them in Italy, ending up in a crazy trip moving to another city and getting back home later than expected due to the Iceland volcano thing, great times innit.

I couldn't have guessed it back then, but (for me) it was probably the last great ROCK album from the garage revival era. Also the last time they had an edge in the rock numbers while developing enough interesting moody pieces too, resulting in their most expansive and complete piece of work.

I'm usually not keen on doing that but yesterday I started playing to 'spot the influences' with these songs: from an acoustic stomp akin to the Rolling stones (title track), a modern take on Elvis (Consciense Killer), Neil Young ditties (Sweet Feeling), NIN diversions (War Machine), JAMC meets BJM (Evol), Nirvana (Mama Taught Me...), Ride with bollocks (Shadow's Keepers) or beating the Verve on the space-rock outros (Half-State). Bad Blood is a fantastic goth pop tune and Aya would top my fictional 'best striptease songs' ranking.

It's a pointless activity, but here it helps reflect how coming from all these different references from the beginning they were able to build a tight blend of sounds, creating a recognizable Black Rebel Motorcycle Club vibe.

"I could see it in your eyes and now it's gone" indeed

The biggest comeback since around the world with Mahoney! Huge scenes.

10 .- Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (2010, #-)



RYM quote: "Few albums can lay more claim to demonstrating the ramifications of life as a confined homosexual than Halcyon Digest, and none have shown it at a better time. With its easily impressionable lyrics and pleasing, yet expertly crafted sound, Deerhunter's 2010 feat will last as a standing testament to the countless lives who succumb to their torment, and the ones who outlasted it with a chip on their shoulder." The production is one of its main assets, a timeless sad psychedelic fog. Never before or after were they as epic and as mainstream as on Desire Lines. Oh, and I fucking love Coronado.

IT'S ALIVE!

39 .- Nobunny - Secret Songs: Reflections From the Ear Mirror (2013, #5)



This is like a bastard version of rock’n’roll history: Bo Diddley, Iggy, Ramones, glam and more are referenced more or less explicitly both in lyrics and music. 14 songs in 30 minutes, it feels like he's hurrying to capture something important but then he forgets what it was all about and starts a different piece as manic as the one that came before. Do The Stooge is the perfect boogie for those that love dancing in their underwear on the top of an old car with a beer on one hand and a gun on the other. In a way it's a shame he hasn't released anything since, but it'd be pretty hard to improve Secret Songs.

if you didn't know he was part of that whole burger records cancellation and has ended Nobunny because of it. Love that record, though my favourite was First Blood.

Had forgotten about it but it was like he cancelled himself, wasn't it? Well, ok...

yeah.

Fun fact: He once crawled between my legs to get on stage.

So unacceptable! I think you might get some quid from him, were you wearing a skirt? One of those moments were you wish you were Scottish?

No, but he was just wearing a little pair of pants at the time.

1 .- David Bowie - ★ [Blackstar] (2016, #1)



The death of Bowie hit me like a sledgehammer, from the moment I read the tweet I couldn't really concentrate at work anymore and spent that whole day a bit benumbed. The fact that I couldn't really explain to anyone how deep I was impacted by the death of someone I didn't really know only made things worse.

Bowie was (is) endless. His reach is (was) impossible to define, but it was mesmerizing to see so many people around the world feeling the same way and it was one of the most wonderful moments of collective grieving I've ever seen. From the very first moment famous people started creating art inspired by this record as a coping mechanism and 5 years later are still doing so. Homages big and small will succeed and its reputation probably will never be diminished.

Besides his most acknowledged singles, I was actually a latecomer to him, joining the bandwagon around The Next Day release and growing incrementally from there through his deep catalogue. Blackstar came at the exact point for me where he was no more an admired figure but a unique and charming entertainer of the highest order, someone totally irreplaceable. There's a Bowie record or character for everyone, but at that point in time nobody expected an experimental masterpiece that would gather universal praise from fans, critics and newcomers.

I had already listened to Blackstar a couple of times before his death, but the discussion about the album gaining popularity "because of it" is totally pointless, because it's quite clear you can't separate the art from the circumstances. At least not THIS art, which was actually inextricably created with that fatal moment on mind.

Everything about this work was magnificent: the iconic artwork, the videos (I'd love to see them in a cinema), the quote-heavy lyrics, the production (Visconti!), the backing jazz band assembled along that eerie menacing electronic sound, the vocalisation... From the 10 minute trip that is the title track to the unsubtle farewell of I Can't Give Everything Away, I can't imagine a better way to round off the oeuvre of an alien who always seemed to play with the limits between art and life, so good in fact it sounds like fiction.

Revisited Blackstar the other day Barny. Sounded even better than I remembered.

Yeah, let's talk about that day and that album.

I too had listened a couple of times before his death and was actually listening on the day and second that I read the news on the bbc website on the morning commute. All of a sudden the lyrics came into needle sharp focus and it was quite a thing.

Perhaps it was my imagination, but everyone on the morning commute in TCOTU seemed even more subdued than normal.

But, the day ended with the most joyous celebration in Brixton, when a facebook organised tribute flashmob turned into a gathering of a couple of thousand all gathered round an amp, with someone's phone plugged in and mass sing and dance-a-alongs.

The press turned up and I think TV cameras too.

Only saw two policeman the whole night and someone from the third or fourth floor of a side street building got a projector going showing Bowie videos on the wall of the opposite building.

I'll turtle some of the vids of that evening and stick them on here when I get a minute.

A truly sad day ended as a truly joyful one.