Krafty Kuts & Chali 2Na - Hands High

I've been looking for this track for a few weeks now after hearing it on 6 Music a fair bit. Amazingly the panel on 'Lammo's' Round Table thingy slagged it off saying it sounded a bit derivative before spunking themselves into a frenzy over some dull as ditch water grime nonsense. Bah, humbug (it's nearly December, we can talk like that now). I've been a bit of a fan of all things Jurassic 5 since hearing their first EP in much missed Brum record shop Plastic Factory (RIP) back in the day and Chali 2Na's latest collaboration with Krafty Kuts is right up there with their very best. Enjoy!

PS: Here's some old skool J5 just in case you missed it back in 1997! Twenty years ago? Seriously? Good grief I suddenly feel ancient...

Handbag - Super Star Car Crash

Always on the look out for something a little different from the past, present or future (yeah, I'm just like Mystic Meg) I came across (steady now) gay punkers Handbag in a well thumbed copy of Mojo magazine. As with many bands it seems as though the 'bag were pretty much shafted left right and centre by the music biz but the ruddy brilliant glam punk of Super Star Car Crash surely deserves more than the paltry 351 views it's currently got on You Tube?! Good grief. Play it loud. Play it to your mates. Play it to Auntie Julie at Christmas.

Free World - Kirsty MacColl

In just a few weeks time it'll be 17 years since Kirsty MacColl was effectively murdered by a speeding powerboat in Mexico driven by, well, let's just say that money talks...or maybe it doesn't in this case eh? Anyway, I heard this track on 6 Music yesterday and bugger me backwards it sounded great. And where did it get in the charts way back in 1989? Top 5? Nope. Top 10? Nope. Top 20? Nope. Try number 43. Seriously people, there were 43 better tracks than this in the charts in March 89? Good grief. Anyway lyrically and musically I think this track's aged better than most of that era which makes her loss at the age of just 41 when she was, if anything, going from strength to strength, all the sadder. 

MNDR & Scissor Sisters - Twerlk

I do love a bit of disco so when Scissor Sisters burst onto the scene back in the early noughties I was all over them like glitter on a ball. We were lucky enough to see them in a pretty small venue and had a natter with Ana and Jake afterwards and they were as lovely as you'd expect them to be. The first album was an utter disco classic and they went on to release three more before going on hiatus back in 2012. Until this year that is. Back in June (yep, I'm right on the case with this one) they released a new single called Twerlk. I think there's a dance to go with it but I have trouble standing up these days let alone mixing a swirl, twirl and a...er...twerk. Anyway, as well as being a perfect Friday banger it was released to help raise funds for the victims of the PULSE nightclub shooting back in 2016, so that's two reason to Swerlk yourself silly. 

PS: Just in case you don't feel like dancing Scissor Sisters have that covered too...

Goat Girl - Cracker Drool

Not sure if any of the ladies involved in this are actually goats but who cares when it sounds this good? It's a bit 60s, it's a bit Riot Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl (goat or otherwise) and the video appears to show the band beating someone to death (probably a man...men deserve it right...all men...bloody men...being all manly and stuff...) before setting fire to them. Men...so much cheaper than coal.

Jona Lewie - You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties

As I'm spending tomorrow painting the kitchen this track's been going round and round in my head pretty much all day. It's another fine example of those oddball 80s records that really shouldn't work - bloke who can't sing much, very basic synths and a pretty downbeat subject (although...spoiler alert...there's a happy ending) - but somehow just do. This particular clip features an early appearance from the late, great Kirsty MacColl too.

PS: Just in case you have no idea who Jona Lewie is you'll probably be hearing a lot more from him over the coming weeks as he hit the big time with the even more downbeat Christmas classic Stop The Cavalry which reached number 3 in the UK charts and number 2 in Germany...

Ecca Vandal - Price Of Living

Take a little Slits, add a little Rage Against The Machine, stir in just the merest hint on The Knack's My Sharona and voila, you've got Ecca Vandal's latest single Price of Living. For some inexplicable reason it's only had 4,091 views on You Tube, no doubt a plug on The Aid will get that number soaring right up...ahem...might even hit 4,093 if we're lucky. Anyway, great track, play it loud and...er... smash stuff.

Vinyl...it's the future...part 369

The continuing (I Am The) resurrection of vinyl continues with news that Sainsbury's (yes...that Sainsbury's) is setting up a record label and global sales of vinyl records are expected to (ZZ) top $1billion this year. One pressing (Robert) plant in the Czech Republic that saw production (The) fall to just 350,000 discs in 1993 is pressing an incredible (String Band) 30 million records in 2017, okay so it's still a drop in the (Billy) Ocean compared to how things were in the 1980s but for a (DJ) format that has its (Misty in) roots in the 1880s it ain't too shabby (Road)...I'll stop with the puns now.

Apparently almost 50% of people these days don't play their purchases (!) but at least people are actually buying a physical thing which has to be good news, right? Regular readers will know how much of a personal bugbear the almost unlimited access to 'free' music is to me. It's all far too easy for it to become a background soundtrack to life rather than, for the 40 minutes or so that many albums last, the sole focus of life itself but there we go. Of course we'll never go back to the days when listening to music involved a bit of effort but let's hope that, at least once in while, we can set aside an hour or two to, in the words of that nice  Mr Timothy Leary, turn on, tune in and drop out. 

The Day Ends / CPM Connection live and online...

Fresh footage has emerged from the recent CPM Connection and The Day Ends shindig Under The Same Roof 2017 and, as you'd expect, it's all cracking stuff. The new line up of The Day Ends spit out a mash up of Black Country blues, psychy guitar and Miles Perhower at his petulant best whilst The CPM Connection warm the cockles that other bands just can't reach (kudos to The CPM Connection's Ben Love for some quality moshing during The Day End's set too!).