“I wouldn’t work with Damon Albarn again. We were walking through Leeds and we were in this fucked up area and I looked around and I said, ’These kids got nothing’, and he said to me, ’They’ve got us’… “
“I take a trip to Gaza, it’s really love I’m after” might be the point but “She’s got a giggle when she talks, she’s close to God, I treat her like a a dog” is the money shot. With air raid sirens as the hook, this is one of the most lovely songs and strange songs you’ll hear this year. Is he being ironic? Unlikely – A
Sun Down – Tricky – With a fine young singer named Tirzah, on a song that sounds as much Portishead as Tricky or Massive Attack, the echoed beat is invaluable and the mood so completely 2014 it is as if r&b caught up with him – B+
Full disclosure: in the mid-90s I did a tropical Latin music show on WPFW-FM so I wasn’t paying attention in those years to Anglo-American music, and in the late nineties I had a kid and was too exhausted to keep up, but in the mid-00s, I did go back to fill the gaping lacunae. I’m sure I missed some major tunes, so feel free to let me know what they are.
Blondie at Highline were just incredible, you could feel Debbie’s star power tingling and X? And John Doe performing “Look How We Are”? Worth the price of admission in itself. Both bands on the same bill is a real thrill, so get thrilled at Roseland on Friday October 4th
S.O.S. In Bel Air – Phoenix – The catchiest song off their last album and neither song nor album has lit the world on fire, but that doesn’t mean this catchy electronic pop rock shouldn’t have done better – B+
