The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance

As someone with a large collection of vinyl records and a blog to rant and rave about music, I'm often asked what the first album I bought was. I've never been totally sure of the answer but I was always a little embarrassed by what I believe to be the honest truth. I think that I went through a stage of lying and saying that it was a Beatles CD, something by The Kinks or another of those so called classic albums from classic bands, or in other words, something I couldn't be mocked for, or that didn't expose my poor taste (no such thing as "poor taste" by the way).

So it's good to purge myself of any first-album-paranoia by stating here, on a public, if not very widely read, blog, that my first album was The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. Actually My Chem, as we used to call them, were my first two albums because I'm pretty sure that I bought their second album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, at the same time as The Black Parade at my local HMV.

So why the embarrassment? Probably because of My Chem's connotations with Emo subculture, not because I am/was against the Emos - as the old saying goes; an Emo never hurt anyone but themselves - but I was never really an Emo myself so saying that The Black Parade was my first album often gives people the wrong idea as to what I was getting up to during my teens. Yes I had some dodgy long hair but that was mainly due to me not wanting to go to the barber. I did dabble with mascara once, but the less said there the better. 

With the news that My Chemical Romance are releasing a 10th anniversary special of The Black Parade, I've been reliving my youth and giving the album a listen. What struck me after all these years is not just that I remember so many of the lyrics, but also just how incredibly camp the whole album is. It's a raving rock opera of incredible pomp, posturing and pop. It's pretty unfair that the band's been pigeonholed into the Emo genre, with its depressing death connotations, although it's fair enough, the song titles alone aren't the cheeriest; The End, Dead, Cancer to name a few, but it turns out that there's a load of fun to be had with this album. Opening track The End is a mental barrage of rock riffs and mood changes just like Welcome to The Black Parade. I challenge anyone of my generation not to get a little emotional at the opening piano notes, which are immediately recognisable as this operatic ballad. The song goes through three movements, each one being more dramatic and over-the-top than the last. Its wailing, Brian May like guitar is so incredibly camp alongside Gerard Way's performance, and it can only be called a performance - there's so much charisma, emotion and power in his voice, it's magnetic, it makes me want to join the Black Parade and march off to the Costa del Emo. Remind yourself of that video below. It's just brilliant isn't it? 

There's more to the album than just pop rock tunes to wail away to. There's a great level of light and shade and Way's voice can move from searing rage to trembling pain with ease. Tracks like Cancer and I Don't Love You are up there with some of the best heart-wrenching songs of all time and they sit perfectly alongside the anthemic, Teenagers - a classic punk/rock n' roll song that perfectly captures the ludicrous fear that "respectable society" can have of a group of teens. 

The Black Parade is a bonkers album. Its creativity and fun are often hidden beneath connotations of eyeliner and military jackets but this goes far beyond any superficiality. It hits at our deepest emotions and a wide array of them at that. It's a great album with every song a winner and blending together to make an album to last through generational fads and "growing-up". The 10th anniversary LP comes with a MCR flag and I might just fly mine high. Any first-album-shame has well and truly gone. 

My Chemical Romance
The Black Parade
Warner 
Triple Vinyl LP with FLAG!! out: 23/09/2016 at The Band's Official Page        

Something - Honey Lung

My girlfriend recently described someone she had just met by saying that he is "stuck in 2002: he wears converse, got kinda long hair and listens to guitar music". It made me chuckle. Ha! 2002, good one. I then thought, is guitar music (what I call a couple of dudes or dudettes rocking out with guitars) really something of a throw back or something that isn't popular music now? 

It reminded me of a guy I met in a queue once. He told me that despite what folks say about music being "dead" and that Bieber and his lot have placed the last log onto music's funeral pyre, just waiting for Gaga or Rebecca Black to do the deed and light a match, this geezer told me that now is the best age music has ever had. Bye bye 1969, roll over 1976, let yourself out 1984 because it is now, 2016, that is the best of times and probably, the worst of times. What with your Soundcloud, your Youtubes, ya iTunes and Spotify, hell, even The Irregular Riff, now you can find any obscure genre, 1970s hidden psychedelic gem or any band with a single released from their home studio in some woods in Sweden or indeed, a combination of all of those. All that from some throw away joke my girlfriend made. 

Honey Lung tick two of the boxes. Band with one single that you can stumble across on the internet - tick. A guitar band rockin' it large in 2016 - tick it. Another box they tick is the like one. The trio are about to release their debut single, Something through RYP Recordings. It's a good ol' swirling freak out at times; with loud wailing guitar swarming around you, held together by some solid, slamming drums. There are quieter moments which have some sweet Smiths like guitar but what hooks me in are the slurring, distant vocals that give everything a slouched, psychedelic feel and remind me of some of the heavier Shoegaze bands such as My Bloody Valentine, The Rain Parade or Splashh. Check out the video below and give them a follow over at their Facebook page. There's a single launch in London tomorrow on the 26th so get down for what'll probably be a sweaty gig full of people wearing converse with kinda long hair and listening to some pretty damn good guitar music. 

Honey Lung

Something

RYP Recordings

Download out: 29/07/2016 at iTunes   

Nobody Can Live Forever - The Existential Soul of Tim Maia - Tim Maia

Some artists have a story which can be more infectious than their music. My true introduction to the classic rock band Cream was through the excellent documentary Beware of Mr Baker (2012), which documented the life of the band's drummer, Ginger Baker. Cream are an incredible group - with Clapton on guitar and Ginger on drums it was bound to be - but it's not the kind of music I lap up enthusiastically, playing on repeat until I know every slight key change, peddle press and bass tweak. But Ginger's story and character is so incredibly bold, brash and hedonistic, it becomes magnetic; pulling me in so I can learn more about the complex man who's true rock n' roll credentials are shown by the fact he's known by his first name; Ginger. It's a story of booze soaked violence, drugs, sex, crazy falling outs with his band mates, his label, his family. It's one of those true rock n' roll lifestyles which we all crave a little but most, like myself, are happy to live them vicariously through the true stars, ultimately being content with life as a lame office drone when we see the present day Ginger; grouchy, finding it hard to walk and living on a ranch in South Africa, penniless and having broken most of his friendships. Beware of Mr Baker is a great film and I think it's on Netflix and other such sites so do check it out. The trailer's enough to make me want to watch it again: 

It was a desire to be close to this character, even if sat in my bedroom, watching a Youtube video of Ginger doing a drum solo back in the '70s, that lead me to listen to Ginger's music. It's all very, very good, but it didn't totally grab me. It was Ginger himself who did that. I eventually saw Ginger playing live, playing the jazz music he talks about so passionately in the documentary. He had to have help walking to the drums but no help when playing them. He was brilliant, the band was brilliant, the sound was fantastic but I hadn't really gone for the music, but to see a bona fide rock and roll legend.

So is the case with Tim Maia. There's something about Maia's music which has always distanced me a little. I think it's his voice. It's deep and rounded and perhaps a bit too polished for my liking. The instrumentation is great, moving from funk to soul to pop, but it's not as good to my ear as that of another Brazilian super star, Marcos Valle. But Tim Maia sounds like he was a proper star. Watch the cool video to accompany this compilation to learn a bit more about this crazy cat;

  

The chubby, slightly nerdy looking Maia with his big afro, dodgy moustache and bad album covers, contrasted with the stories of his rock n' roll lifestyle, is enough to grab my attention. All that said, Maia's music is damn groovy, with some great horns and instrumentation and has a really great mix of American soul and the kind of Brazilian experimentation that is in much of the country's music in the 1970s. This compilation by Luaka Bop, the same guys who did the William Onyeabor compilation, is a great intro to the man's vast back catalogue and is getting a repress later this month. Check out one of the standout tracks, Bom senso, and let me know what you think. To my ears this track has a very Tom Jones feel. Nice. 

   

       

Tim Maia

Nobody Can Live Forever - The Existential Soul of Tim Maia

Luaka Bop

Double Vinyl Repress out: 22/07/2016 at Resident

Phantoms of Dreamland - Michal Turtle

I was first introduced to the record label Music from Memory by the sound of the track Caravan Revisited by Workdub coming through the speakers at a local record shop. Check it out below but be aware that it sounds so much better and deeper on a proper speaker system. It's an unusual track of graceful synths and off-kilter percussion which seems ethereal and timeless. It is actually from 1989 and was created by two musicians, Virgil Work Jnr. and Nicholas Georgieff, messing about in their basement home studio. They released an LP and a CD and then faded into obscurity.



Music from Memory's brief is to re-release songs to a wider and more deserved audience than the original release may have received, or to finally get unreleased material onto wax. I can't think of much more honourable than that and Music from Memory pull out some gems that would have otherwise remained hidden to the majority of people. Along with other excellent reissue labels such as Now-Again Records, Light in the Attic and Soundway, Music from Memory are at the top of their game in my humble opinion. The label also has a strong aesthetic and style and it's one to follow for sure.

Their latest release is a double LP of music by Michal Turtle. Phantoms of Dreamland expands on a 12" release of Turtle's work that Music on Memory issued in 2015 with more strange, hypnotic electronica from 1983-85. The release is made up of mainly unreleased tracks that were created by the 22 year old Turtle in his living room in South London. He'd invite musicians over and mess about with synths, recording everything to tape or to cassette.

The music itself is a collection of strange experimentation, often with soothing, layered synths and clunking percussion. It can be comforting and fuzzy or alien and cold but there's something new with every listen. It could easily be a modern electro LP but there's a certain naivety in the tracks which makes the album endearing and engaging. My favourite tracks include the glittering Spooky Boogie, shimmering Ball of Fire and El Teb, which brings Eastern inspirations to synth experimentation. 
Check it out below and let me know what you think and be sure to take a look at Music from Memory too. 

Michal Turtle
Phantoms of Dreamland
Music from Memory
Double Vinyl LP out: 15/07/2016 at Music from Memory
 

     

Elafonissi Blue - GUM

- Hey dude.
- Oh hey, thanks for checking out the blog, needs all the help it can get these days.
- Ye sure. You know that the single Elafonissi Blue was released on GUM's album Glamorous Damage, in like, November of last year!
- Um, ye I did, ye.
- But, I'm pretty sure that this whole "Irregular Rift" thing...
- It's The Irregular Riff actually...
- I'm pretty sure you said it's only to look at upcoming releases?
- I might have said...
- Ye, here it is, "All the releases must be not available at the time of writing".
- Oh lord, you've gone back to the archives.
- Dude, you've got like 3 blog posts, just scroll down and read it! 
- Ye, so I can see how this might look like I'm breaking my own rules, but actually GUM and the super cool label he's on, Spinning Top Music, released a music video for Elafonissi Blue only recently on the 28th of June. Check it out, it's pretty funky: 

- But that's still in the past you idiot! Not upcoming in the slightest. Why you calling GUM a "he" anyway?
- GUM's the name for Jay Watson's solo project. He's a regular member with the awesome, mental psych band POND and he's a live member with Tame Impala. He's a pretty cool dude I think. I've seen him live with Tame Impala and Pond and he can rip it up on guitar or bust some sweet keyboard grooves and I'm pretty sure I saw a video of him wacking a drum, so a solo project makes sense.
- Oooh, get you being all relevant and seeing Tame Impala live! GUM's a stupid name. Does he just blow raspberries and put it onto vinyl or something. What a joke.
- Actually there's a lot going on with Elafonissi Blue. There are huge '80s vibes - I'm talking Pet Shop Boys, Prince and that sort of disco-funk from the likes of Cameo.
- Oh God, is this some sort of gay propaganda? 
- I'm going to ignore that. There's also hints of Dam Funk, Boards of Canada, College and lo-fi synth rock. It's got a banging chorus and it's just funky man, with some sweet swooshing synths and a driving bass line - it reminds me a bit of the College soundtrack to the film Drive but with a bit more mental fun attached.
- So it's a good song which came out ages ago. Why do you not write about Yellow Submarine then? Ey? This blog has gone to the dogs already. Is it even getting a physical release? I thought that was one of the blog criteria too?
- Well, it's already out on the excellent Glamorous Damage LP...
- From November last year? Did you create your silly little "word-art" thing and then realise it was already out? You did didn't you.
- No, I just thought that with the recent release of the music video I could share this really good...
- That's it isn't it! You know nobody actually cares about those word things anyway? They think it's weird. 
- Well, I...
- You're a joke mate. 
- Cheers, bye then.

GUM
Elafonissi Blue
Spinning Top Music
Vinyl LP out: NOW at Spinning Top Music  

Introducing The Irregular Riff - A Riff To Get Stuck in Your Head

What makes a good old fashioned riff? Those few notes which whirl around your skull all day and put a big fat grin on your face. Notes which produce the sort of guitar line that you can almost chew a chunk out of. A good riff is almost something natural, as if hewn from a rock, harvested, foraged, fished for in the murky depths of the sea. It can seem impossible for that sound to have ever not existed, for it to have been made rather than just be. There's something primal about a good riff, as if it exists in all of us. I always think that a riff has similarities with the homing ability of birds, as if a killer riff is inherent in all of us even if we don't know how. How many times have you heard the opening riff to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and unconsciously started humming along, letting it fly you to the Wild West, before you realise that you have no idea which film it's from, who wrote it, or how you know the song at all? Those few wobbly notes, crafted by my hero Ennio Morricone, are now inbuilt in us all, like migrating swallows know to fly south for the winter, there's something in us which knows these few notes seemingly even before we've had a chance to discover them. The power of the riff is what brings stadiums of sweaty football fans together to chant the dark-electro opening of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the Eurythmics and makes beer bellies bounce to The White Stripes and Seven Nation Army.

It is an earworm riff that can be that first introduction to the giddy joy you can get from a great tune, and The Irregular Riff is hopefully going to be the place to find more great, unusual, compelling and just damn fun songs and sounds. Here I am going to post a new release that I have found and I feel the need to share, shout about, wax lyrical about and all that. The only criteria is that these must be upcoming releases, something you can buy for yourselves in the coming days, weeks or months but is currently just a youtube video or a wiggly line on a soundcloud page. So none of ya Beatles, Kinks or Stones, I'm gonna be ploughing into the new stuff, although I will also highlight new reissues or compilations if I feel the music needs some attention. 

The Irregular bit? Hopefully not an indication of the frequency in which I post new music but rather of the types of music. No genre limits here. If it sounds good or interesting or just so damn strange that I need to share it, it'll make it onto The Irregular Riff. 

So check back as often as you fancy. I aim to make the blog something you can just dip into whenever you want for a browse, see what's what and hopefully find something new which gives you that bottom-lip-biting-feeling and happily rattles around your head for the next couple of days.