Grape have released a rather fab Christmas song. It starts out with a lovely, unassuming jolly vibe and then the magnificent hook and full band come crashing in perfectly after 70 seconds. But not only is it a good song it is raising money for St Mungo’s, a charity whose purpose is to end homelessness and rebuild lives after homelessness. Grape is a veritable supergroup made up of members of Alt-J, Gang Of Youths and Tellison. You can stream the track for free, but why would you do that when for just £1.50 you can download it and contribute to a great charity. Check out more details on Bandcamp here. Alternatively you can donate direct to St. Mungo’s here. If you can spare even the smallest amount it will help a great cause.
Gus Unger-Hamilton who is a member of Alt-J and also a St Mungo’s ambassador said this about the release “I am extremely proud to be an ambassador for St Mungo’s and, as Londoners, we in GRAPE all feel an acute desire to help people sleeping rough as much as we can. With this song’s lyrical themes of a difficult life in the process of being rebuilt at Christmas, it felt like a no-brainer to release this song in support of the charity.”
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Blue Violet have been championed by some influential radio stations including BBC 6 Music whose Steve Lamacq described them as “a cocktail of Iain Banks and Jane Austen”. I can see where Steve was coming from having witnessed Blue Violet for the first time back in November. To continue Lamacq’s literary comparison theme I would add Douglas Coupland. Their music has a dark and mysterious pop rock style and is loaded with great hooks. Their new album has arrived and what a delight it is! This sophomore release follows their debut, ‘Night Calls’, from 2022. It contains six very classy songs issued as singles across 2024 and 2025. The collection opens with the current single “Sweet Success.” It is a well-crafted slice of electro glam pop. This track draws on a diamond-studded history of some fine British bands like Depeche Mode and the Eurythmics. It has a mesmerising marching synth riff. “Imagine Me” has a darker feel which borders on Sisters Of Mercy territory and incorporates some fabulous synth riffs. Lyrically it seems to be a tale of stalking after a failed relationship. Although I could be wrong. If you like 60s influenced pop rock, then “Survival” is for you. I love the 21st century girl group feeling it has. It features a fabulous everything but the kitchen sink psych-out towards the end. The percussive opening on “Talking To You” is deeply hypnotic. Sarah McGrigor’s voice here made me think of Sarah Nixey, vocalist with cult British band Black Box Recorder. One of my favourite tracks on the album is “The Librarian”. The slow brooding vocal from Sam Gotley with a gorgeous counterpoint drew me back to those heady days in the 90s when Babybird first broke through.
Photo by Stuart J Clapp
Musically “Cold Hearts” feels a little like the Police’s “Every Breath You Take”, but it is so much more with a beautiful lamenting vocal performance from Sarah. Warped guitar riffage and crunchy synth sounds open “Boogie Shoes”. I think this should have been a huge hit when released as a single last year. Can we get it out there again? How can a lyrical refrain like “dance for pleasure, dance for pain” be ignored? Another single, “Fire” has a wonderful funk injection and is a song that it is impossible not to move your body to. “Teeth Out”, what a great title that is, oozes magnificent dark balladry. If a new take on ‘Twin Peaks’ ever materialises (RIP David Lynch) this song must be on the soundtrack. A paean to equality and being who you are is what “Barefoot On The Seine” is. It hides it’s darker moments behind some of the sweetest pop sounds imaginable. The title track, “Faux Animaux”, closes the album. It is cinematic and neo-classical in scope and ambition. It draws on the essence of later period David Bowie in its desire to be different. Of that final song Sam Otley says “The fake animals could be seen as the powers that be, leading us down paths that result in us ignoring our more natural instincts, often making decisions without our permission.” It is a great way to end such a fabulous album.
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Millie Manders and the Shutup will release their sophomore album ‘Wake Up, Shut Up, Work’ on 2nd August. They are arguably one of the greatest live acts the UK has ever produced and having seen them four times I can attest to that! Their first album ‘Telling Truths, Breaking Ties’ was an exquisite debut, how will the new one compare? Read on to find out! The new album kicks off with “Angry Side” which was issued as a single earlier this year. It stays closer to the band’s root ska punk sound and Millie had this to say about it “I guess, a letter from my teenage self, apologising for being so angry and wanting to burn down the world. I had a lot going on back then and I hid behind bravado a lot. I suppose it’s also me telling my younger self that it’s OK to have been that angry when I went through a bunch of trauma that I couldn’t process well enough to deal with it all. I was a kid.” The song perfectly encapsulates the fiery and purposeful passion that Millie possesses. The next track is “Shut Your Mouth” which showcases how the band can move across so many styles and genres, this is full-on punky metal and no one can do sarcasm, anger, and humour in a lyric as well as Millie can. This was a single last year and the chorus hook stays with you and has you repeating the “shut your mouth” line regularly in your head, well I think it was always in my head, or did I sing out loud at work? There are some sublime punk riffs on “Me Too” that take down the misogyny of the #metoo perpetrators, this song hits the target flawlessly. Lyrics like “Make her feel like she’s the one on trial / They say that she had tempted him / Said; ‘Asking for it, weren’t you though?” are exceptionally brilliant. Despite the song’s titular global movement, in 2024 less than 2% of rape victims in the UK ever get justice in a court. Millie says this of the track “For people who have been raped or abused, I want them to know that they’re not weak and it wasn’t their fault, and even if they didn’t get justice, they’ve been heard.” There is a ska pop punk feel to “Fun Sponge”. I have often used the epithet of energy vampire for people with the ability to suck all the life and fun out of others, now I will be using fun sponge. “Fun Sponge” will be even better in a live show. The instrumentation on “Windows” makes you want to dance crazily around the room, which is what I did. In the verses, Millie shows just how good she is at writing ace lyrics that might also stand up as poetry. There is a supremely well-pulled-together 70s pop-rock vibe on “RIP” which shows just how versatile this astonishingly great band has become. The bass alone is worth the listen.
The opening guitar on “Halloween” draws you in oh so delicately to what is essentially a modern power ballad of lost love. I can imagine this being a real audience pleaser in a live show, a time to get your lighters and phones in the air. Millie’s vocals are tender, emotional, and quite frankly gorgeous on this one. The strings add so much depth to a sublime and magnificent ballad. Live favourite “Rebound” is next and it rocks like an absolute bastard, try and listen to this and not sing along, I bet you can’t! It is a great critique of someone who clearly cannot get over their ex. The simple venom in the lines “Saying you’re over your ex now, ex now. You’re ready to move on to something new’ But they’re all you ever talk about When you’re here with me. Might think I wanna hear about it, But you’re boring me” is simple and so very effective. Fans of the band will know, and love, “One That Got Away” which is simply a song that packs far more punch than Tyson Fury. “Threadbare” keeps the tempo of the album switched to number 11 and this will, I am sure, be a song in which Millie ventures into the crowd at her gigs.
On the classy and punky “Can I Get Off” Millie takes aim at how the mainstream media and so many people in the world have stood by while the Israel Defence Force commits acts against the Palestinian people that are tantamount to genocide. But she doesn’t direct her venomous and righteous rancour only at what is going on in Gaza she talks of Chad, Ethiopia, Congo, China, Sudan, and the refugees that risk their lives to cross the channel. It riles me that so many people have fallen for the “you can’t criticise the Israeli government because it is anti-semitic” line. It is not, I despise what the Israeli government is doing, but I don’t hate Jewish people. In exactly the same way I despise everything about Hamas, but not all Palestinians are Hamas. This conflict has been around for years and did not just begin when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th last year. Millie takes on the “if you are against Israel you must support Hamas” line head-on in the lyric “Am I siding with Hamas? Are you gonna ask that one again?” I am 100% behind her on this. Millie talks of white fragility and our apparent need to side with aggressors because there is money in weapons, oil, and gold. The UK government is complicit with so much of the world’s oppression and killing, it needs to stop. In the song’s coda, she calls on the “boys in bands” to speak out, rather than be quiet and worry about losing followers. If your followers (and I include mine in that) are too cowardly to say anything while people are being murdered then we don’t fucking need them! Shouting “Fuck The Tories” at gigs is fine, but it isn’t enough. Most people who follow bands probably hate the Tories but are uninformed or scared when it comes to other conflicts in the world. Millie says this of the song, “The Western world is privileged because it has pillaged resources from everyone else in the world. We need to unlearn what we know and recognise the suffering people are going through as a result of our greed. “Can I Get Off? is an outpouring of my frustrations about that“. The album ends with “Pressure” which had me thinking of the Clash, but fronted by Millie Manders. This album will, deservedly, be a contender for album of the year in so many publications.
You really need to buy this album and to make it easy for you I have given you eight preorder outlet links below. Click on any of them and get yourself sorted for getting your hands on a brilliant album early next month!
The picture above gives details of the autumn tour in support of the new album. Be There or be square. I hope to see you in Hull on 6th November!
The double A-Side release in April of “Can I Get Off” and “Angry Side” targetted raising funds for the non-profit organisation Mercy Without Limits whose mission is “To educate and empower women and children by enabling them to have an effective and positive role in constructing a better society.” They began by working in Syria but now work in many areas of conflict in the Middle- east, including Gaza. Pre order the album and if you can please make a donation to Mercy Without Limits .
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I first saw Jah Wobble playing his thunderous bass in the early days of Public Image Ltd at the Rainbow in London on December 26th, 1978. While I have followed his music career and prolific output with great interest I am embarrassed to say that I have not witnessed him in a live environment since then. Well until this Pocklington show. what are more than 45 years among friends right? This was my first visit to the Pocklington Arts Centre and what an awesome venue it is! I had a tiny problem when getting there in that I wasn’t showing on the press list. The staff, and the band, sorted it out in a matter of minutes. The staff were interested and attentive all night and the band sent a message saying thy hoped that I would enjoy the show. Did I enjoy it? Just read on to find out, but regular readers probably already know the answer to that question.
There were two 1 hour sets scheduled with a break/ intermission between them. It is apparent from the off that Wobble is a really witty raconteur as he regaled us with some fabulous tales. If you want proof of just how good a raconteur he is, check out my review of his book here. This was to be his first gig wearing spectacles, he bought said eyewear using a “plan” and spoke about everything (cars, dentists, opticians, etc.) being on a “plan”. He floated an idea of a “plan” for Invaders of the Heart, Fifty grand, and then everything after that is free, seems like a good deal doesn’t it? In opening set 1 Wobble said that there would be no set list, just chaos, a very old-school punk attitude. There were many highlights during that first hour. “Becoming More Like God” was an inspiring, transcendental masterpiece. I love Jah Wobble’s take on older Public Image material. He makes the song “Public Image” his own and follows it with a dub version where the bass can be felt in your chest. Truly spectacular and it retains the sentiment of the original while being so far removed musically. The extended funky jazz jam at the end of “Visions Of You” was stunning. Another old PiL tune, “Poptones” got a stylish introduction with Wobble doing his best Laurence Olivier vibe with the “Now is the winter of our discontent” speech from William Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’.
Set 2 was another collection of mountainous highlights. “Every Man Is An Island” is an exotic, eastern-flavoured, excursion into the magic of music with the best guitar solo of the night. “The Socialist” was predominantly a funky jazz groove, but with added metal chords. “Careering” veered and careered in a sublime psychedelic direction. In his time Wobble has covered some great film music, “Get Carter” is impeccable and feels cinematic in the way the band plays it. How could anyone not love the dubby version of the Harry J classic “The Liquidator”, that was perhaps one of the best points of the second set for me, but there was some amazing competition. The little skit with Wobble referring to the bass guitar as the lion and therefore the king of the jungle was marvellously entertaining. Then he introduced each member of the band and referred to their instrument’s position in the jungle musical hierarchy. The guitar is the meerkat, the drums are the elephant and the keys are the snake!
What genre are the Invaders of the Heart? Are they post-punk, jazz, funk, groove, spoken word, reggae, dub, punk, world, avant-garde? They are every one of those and so much more. I will definitely not be leaving it 40-plus years before I see John Wardle playing live again. I also plan on returning to the Pocklington Arts Centre very soon!
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Iconic Manchester band James who formed more than 40 years ago have released a new single, “Life’s A Fucking Miracle“. The song is the third single to be released from their forthcoming album ‘Yummy’. I listened to it a few times when reviewing the album and it really is shaping up to be a classic James song. This is the ideal festival sing-along song! In the album review, I said “The way that “Life Is A Fucking Miracle” evokes the work that Brian Eno did with David Byrne, with added bird noises is rather wonderful. The melody and beat have a Talking Heads feel about it too. But what raises this song above so many is the way the melody plays tag with the beat and Booth’s voice. He is right, life is indeed a fucking miracle. I love the injection of a pronoun refrain towards the end too“. I stand by everything I said then, yeah lazy reviewing, right? This will be one of my go-to songs for the foreseeable future and is highly likely to feature on the Mayhem Chart soon. I had wondered if this would be released as a single, given that radio stations won’t play songs with fuck or any variants of it in their lyrics or title. Then I thought, could you blank it, bleep it, or change it to fluffing? The band has gone for the option of changing the title and lyric to “Life’s A Shocking Miracle”, if it gets this great tune on the radio then I am behind it all the way. Check out “Life’s A Fucking Miracle” which is a Fucking (or perhaps Shocking) Order!
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James have a new album out on 12th April, their 18th studio record. That number makes me feel old, how about you? But one thing I love about James is that there is never a reliance on resting on tried and tested success from the past, this is not a collection of “Sit Down” clones, nor is it a rehash of my favorurite James album ‘Laid’ (1993). ‘Yummy’ is the work of a band that is still vibrant and most definitely relevant. Not bad for a band that formed in 1982 and released their first album in 1986! The lyrics throughout are sharp, incisive and full of the whole range of human emotion. There is nothing nubilous in Tim Booth’s lyrics. ‘Yummy’ was produced by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, Jarvis Cocker, Jon Hopkins, Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor) and mixed by Cenzo Townsend (Courteeners, The Specials, Everything Everything).
The album opens with the single “Is This Love” where musically, lyrically and vocally the band is firing on all cylinders. How could you not love lyrics like “Love is a bomb, a Tsunami that rolls over our life as we cling to the wreckage of our peace of mind”. This stands, for me, as one of James’ finest singles to date. The way that “Life Is A Fucking Miracle” evokes the work that Brian Eno did with David Byrne, with added bird noises is rather wonderful. The melody and beat have a Talking Heads feel about it too. But what raises this song above so many is the way the melody plays tag with the beat and Booth’s voice. He is right, life is indeed a fucking miracle. I love the injection of a pronoun refrain towards the end too. The backing vocals on “Better With You” evoke a slightly more subdued Fabulous Wealthy Tarts (Paul Young’s backing vocalists from the early 80s) performance. The song feels like a love song, but not an obvious love song, so some wonderfully typical James obliqueness then, right? “Stay” is a song that oozes hope and is a call to arms to the younger generation to stay and fight for the planet and themselves. Well, that is what I took from words like “Life’s a struggle of love, and often a struggle to love“.
Photo by Paul Dixon
If this album is a universe, then it has as its sun “Shadow Of A Giant”. This is an elaborate and yet simple epic tune. From the orchestral and piano driven overture through to the almost gospel-like refrain of the chorus. Who is the giant that Tim Booth is singing about? Honestly, I am not sure, could it be God, government, Gaia, parents or Booth as a rock god? Whatever you feel the subject of this anthemic, and beautiful tune is you cannot deny that it is beyond special and for me the best song on this stunning collection. In case you were wondering I think the song is about Gaia, or the living planet. The protagonist of “Way Over Your Head” appears to be someone who has found it hard to handle life and succumbed to addiction, maybe alcohol or drugs. I think it has a message that shows how close we probably all are to a horrendous break down if our luck and circumstances changed quickly or catastrophically. Sometimes all we need are friends and perhaps we all need “a simpler life, a spit of land, community“. Booth takes a shot at AI and the modern curse of technology in “Mobile God” and how we are all controlled by that slim little box of apps made of plastic, metal, and glass. The lyrics are incredibly dark and in contrast the music and chorus hook make you feel instantly happy. I think Tim Booth speaks for all of us and our electronic device addiction when he sings “I’m the last thing you stroke in the evening before bed, I’m the lover you touch in the morning“. Talking about AI Booth says, “It’s shocking the way we’ve given up our responsibility to AI, We are already cyborgs“.
James take issue with the corporations that see themselves as running the world in the OMD-like “Our World”. I love the positivity in the message that perhaps the human family will come good, and we will learn to share not spoil. In my heart I long for that to happen, but I fear that it never will. In a message to the greed mongers the lyrics state “Our world isn’t your world, you just stole the world“, that is the truth in my view. I don’t believe that ageism is as bad as it might have once been, but we need to embrace the knowledge and experience that age brings to many of us (not everyone though!). When Booth sings “I’ve been a punk, a saint, a fool, Vishnu” I think to myself that in my own head I have been two of those and in a fashion sense one of them! The introduction to “Hey” suggests a real dance vibe and like many of the songs here it would be a prime candidate for a really good dance mix. It deals with our world and its conspiracies, notably the UFO stories. When Tim sings “my UFO’s landing soon” he means it. He says this of the whole UFO conspiracies, (or are they just hidden stories) “In the past the government has ridiculed/threatened anyone who said anything about UFOs. The two CIA whistleblowers have now provided us, with the Government’s blessing, with radar and cockpit pilot footage. [Theoretical physicist] Michio Kaku has said the burden of proof is now with the sceptics to prove UFOs don’t exist because we have the proof that they do. And yet no one, in the mainstream is looking at it. It’s fascinating to me how in denial we can be now that very strong physical evidence is being produced, and that this hasn’t become the biggest story of the century“. “Butterfly” perhaps discusses the fragility of the current generation but continues to believe in the power of the youth and their ability to change the world. The orchestration and harmonies on “Butterfly” will send shivers down your spine, in a wonderfully, quasi-religious way in which you can imagine rock ‘n’ roll actually having the ability to save the world. This is the song from which the album draws its title (the “yummy, yummy, yummy” lyrical refrain) and the inspiration for the record’s cover. As artists get older, they often deal in songs of death, notably David Bowie and Leonard Cohen on their final albums. On album closer “Folks” James confront the reaper and they don’t fear him. Musically the song is 100% James, but it has a mood of both Richard Hawley and the Arctic Monkeys at times. ‘Yummy’ showcases a band that is firing on all cylinders musically, lyrically and vocally. Many of James’ contemporaries are showing signs of being past their prime, but Booth’s band of merrie men (and women) are still on an upward trajectory! You can catch the band live around the UK in June and if you are a James mega fan the deluxe 2 CD release of ‘Yummy’ contains a second CD called ‘Pudding’ and that incorporates demos produced by the four songwriters in the band. Another twelve tracks! Finally, Tim Booth has written a novel called ‘When I Died For The First Time’ Apparently it is “A dark comedy musing on the music industry, addiction, racism, altered states, creativity and love, written from the point of view of a fucked-up singer coming back from rehab” The book is published on 28 March 2024.
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“Shopping” is one of the most different and original songs that I have heard in quite a while. It sounds like someone put Blur, BA Robertson, Pulp, Talking Heads, and Yard Act in the same wash and they all blended together mixing colours and styles into something brand new. The song is an anti-celebration of the slow death of the UK High Street and the parallel rise of ridiculous and obscene levels of consumerism driven by those greedy online giants. Yes, Amazon and friends I am talking about you! The song quickly works into your head and refuses to come out. Welly is the frontman and obviously gives his name to the band too. Welly was born in Southampton and apparently showed no interest in music as a child, although he was allegedly obsessed with the same six songs on an iPod Shuffle that his father clipped to his school trousers every day! I would love to know what those six songs were! Based on “Shopping, ” Welly is probably an expert in the lyrical kitchen sink dramas of everyday life and has a voice on bigger issues. I can picture Welly being around for a very long while and a band that will adorn festival stages across the UK regularly. The video is ace and it looks like the band had a lot of fun making it at The Keiller Centre in Dundee.
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This was not a standard DMA’S show, the boys are used to playing much bigger venues these days. Their biggest headline show to date was the Alexandra Palace in London for 10,000 fans back in October 2021. This was essentially a fans-only special acoustic show supported by Crash Records as part of the band’s ‘How Many Dreams? UK Record Store Tour’. If you bought the new DMA’S album, you could purchase up to four tickets. It was, as expected. a sell-out and the Crescent is a perfect intimate setting for a gig like this. The crowd was full of DMA’S acolytes and disciples who worshipped the band and hang onto their every word. The DMA’S are very much a lad band in the bastard sons of Oasis lineage. That said they do have some great songs with epic choruses though, most of which knock the spots of anything Oasis recorded after “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?” They have had some pretty high-level support slots with Liam Gallagher, the Kooks, and Richard Ashcroft to name just a few. On record, particularly with the new album, their fourth, the DMA’S have begun to develop and move a little further away from the core sound of their earlier songs. But at the Crescent they were playing to the gallery and pulled out all the stops to make this a truly special treat for their fans. The crowd voiced their “lad band chant” of “D, D, DMA” at every opportunity and every one of the audience seemed right up for a great night, and that is exactly what DMA’S delivered.
Tommy O’Dell’s voice was in great shape and Johnny Took was the band’s key communicator with their fervent fans. Looking at how the band reacts with their punters it is clear that they really “get” who put them where they are, truly humble and in many respects not just a lad band, but a people’s band. I can’t see DMA’S ever doing a Royal Blood. The set had many highs, for me “Silver” from 2020’s ‘The Glow’ album and “Fading Like A Picture” from the new album were stunning. Of course, they performed their now obligatory cover of Cher’s “Believe” which is always good. For their next cover, I would love to see them tackle a rock cover of a Kylie classic in homage to a fellow Aussie success story. Set closer “Everybody’s Saying Thursday’s The Weekend” ended the short set on a high of mountainous proportions. For a short time you never would have believed it was a Sunday night, the crowd went mental and were properly “mad for it”.
There are three dates left on this tour, but I reckon they might all be sold out, but give it a try just in case!
Sun 11 June Edinburgh Assai Records @ The Caves Tue 13 June Middlesbrough Reflex Records @ The Empire Wed 14 June Manchester Crash Records @ GorillaJune
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