Pulp start their North American tour in just minutes…
We’re on the road in Hotlanta tonight to see Pulp. A “bucket list” thing I never thought for a minute would happen. Then tomorrow night it’s America’s finest…Sparks. We will report back with our findings as soon as we’re able.
Not even six weeks ago I reviewed the “new” single from Sunshine Blind that had been rescued from their DAT tape archive from the 90s in front of new material manifesting and at the time I concluded, “maybe now you can hear why I simply cannot wait for the new material the band are preparing.”
We didn’t have to wait long.
Sunshine Blind have been busy in their studio with the core duo of Caroline Blind [lyrics and vocals] and CWHK [everything else] prepping their first new single in over 20 years, “Scarred But Fearless,” for release this Friday, September 5th. The songs adhere to the overall title of the single with their defiant pose courtesy of lyricist Caroline Blind. We’ve been given a taste and the prognosis is that the patient is in rude health after two decades in cryogenic suspension.
Bandcamp | US | DL | 2025
Sunshine Blind: Scarred But Fearless – US – DL [2025]
Ghost Of You 3:16
Unsinkable 4:22
The delicate hi-hats and ringing chords of the intro to “Ghost of You” were but a clever ruse! Once that drum fill kicked in, the overdriven bass chug that was the foundation of this song kicked into “full on” while the guitar was relegated to providing feedback harmonics in the right channel of the mix. Not until the chorus did the guitars of CWHK pivot to melody. Then on the middle eight, the multitracked vocals of Caroline Blind coalesced into glorious technicolor. Leaving this driving, relentless number a clear path to the song’s sharp climax as the thuggish guitar riffs that boosted the song for one last burst of energy, also finished it off.
Launching at full power, “Unsinkable” had a monster groove in the engine room with contrapuntal guitar chords cutting perpendicular postpunk arcs across the horizon of the song. Ms. Blind’s vocals were doubled for impact here, only to be bested by the anthemic chorus reeking of power and impact. The instrumental middle eight manifested reckless surf harmonic energy to cede the spotlight to the galloping bass line as the song made its ascent to the climactic level. The last reverberated guitar lick of the tune stinging sweetly.
I’ll embed some players once the single gets released and until then, it can be yours in pre-order with CD-resolution files for a scant $2.99 in their Bandcamp store. This is not mopey Goth Rock. If you can stand some high energy and even frissons of surf energy with your dramatic serving of shadows then you could hardly do better than with Sunshine Blind. DJs hit that button!
The usual gray, overcast photo was no longer appropriate…
So last week I was on vacation. I’ve touched down back to work for a few days, so now we can blog. You may know the rules of PPM, but if you don’t it’s easy: we blog during our lunch hour at work. Which is a scarce phenomenon for the next fortnight. Anyway, we trekked up to Akron, Ohio and as usual, there would be a visit to Time Traveler but with many crucial differences this time.
First and foremost, the act of buying music while simultaneously attempting to rid my Record Cell of a thousand titles, is somewhat self-defeating. So my goal this trip, unlike all of other times I’ve visited this store for the last 30 years [where I’ve spent thousands of dollars], was simple. Only buy the few things that I really want. I’ve had it up to here with buying what’s only conveniently in the store at the time of my visit. Where want list items are always very thin on the ground! That’s getting old. This time I was going to special order what I wanted. I might as well support one of the best stores going these days.
So I called owner Scott Shepard during a break on the drive up to Ohio last Saturday. And the word I got from him was, “could you call on Monday, I’m really busy right now.” That’s a good sign that he’s staying afloat in weird times, so I was happy to comply. We turned our attention back to the trip fully. We ostensibly go to Akron to see family and friends, not record stores [believe it or not].
Come Monday, I called at 11-ish and Scott said, “I’ve got a big order checking out and I need the phone line, could you call back later?” Sure thing. [insert seven fruitless calls] So it looked like Monday was a busy day as well for the store. As my wife and I were running errands that day, at a certain point we were driving down Market Street and my wife said, “we might as well just drop in to the store to get your orders in.” True, that.
I walked in the store and Mr. Shepard might recognize me by now. I said hello and got down to business. I had a shortlist of recent DLX RMs that were burning into my consciousness that I had skipped on at the time of issue due to saving for the 2024 Euro vacation. Now was the time to reel them in…if they were available.
First order of business was the DLX RM of Bryan Ferry’s “Mamouna.” Check! Not an issue. I also wanted both of the Electribe 101 recent reissues. Their luxurious 4xCD of “Electribal Memories” and the missing-in-action second album that never was! Score on the 4xCD but a bust on the orphaned album. I next turned my thoughts to The Revillos and The Rezillos. Cherry Red had issued several titles, but all were on the dreaded “back order.” Shorthand for “you’re too late.” So I went down to the second tier on my want list and got better results from the Bruce Woolley contingent. The 3xCD “Definitive Anthology” was still available! As we were into the triple digits by this time, I felt that was enough for this day.
Scott said that his orders are delivered on Thursday, so we could drop by on Friday and pick them up. Perfect! Friday was our day to have lunch with our friend Dean, another big music geek we always try to see when in town. We had a lunch at noon on Friday at Luigi’s and Time Traveler was almost walking distance from the 80 year old font of good pizza. During this trip I couldn’t help buy notice that this one was not like all of my other visits for the last 20 years in a major way.
I have joked that I could run the same, gray, overcast photo of the door of Time Traveler every visit on my blog and it wouldn’t matter. Apart from better cameras on my personal devices, they are of a piece. Not today. The 68˚F weather, and the bright blue sky was an abject anomaly! As my loved one said to me, “if people didn’t know any better they would want to live here [on a day like this]!”
When Dean and I arrived I saw the desired discs waiting for me. Scott said that one of his customers saw it and asked him to order it but the distributor was sold out! I was j in the nick of time, I guess! I looked in the store despite having committed $110 to the discs in hand. There might be something to tip my hand, but there was nothing else that I looked for this day. But I was happy not get just what I came for and keep the wheels of Time Traveler greased to the best of my ability.
High value wants…for a change!
So this was the way I need to roll going forward. Special order what I actually want if I’m going to hit brick and mortar stores. Keep the influx of music tight and focused. I’m not getting any younger. The “thrill of the hunt” is all but over for me. I almost never find that things I truly want as much as these titles. And I returned home to 11 titles leaving the Record Cell, so we’re at better than parity for the overall number!
It was pretty cheeky of Jarvis Cocker to pilfer an iconic John Foxx song title for “My Sex,” but the important thing was…how was he going to stamp his imprint on such a loaded title? By deconstructing the very idea of his sexuality, of course. The bass and Fender Rhodes piano plowed a steady mid-tempo groove as the the tang of Mark Weber’s guitar snaked through the groove. The abstract choir being used rhythmically at the song’s midpoint were being used creatively here in lieu of loops as the voices lagged behind the beat as they chanted a series of letters and numbers. Eventually a whipcrack sample joined in, suggesting that perhaps one view of “my sex” as ultimately being a cruel taskmaster. With rhythmic pants playing off of the string section.
Single “Got To Have Love” was a propulsive serving of Morricone Disco perhaps germinated in the year of self-searching that saw Cocker split from his partner before they ultimately rejoined each other in marriage. Cocker excoriated the loveless life with a pitiless series of exclamations that were potent in their vehemence. The backing vocal choir had an envelope applied to their “got to have love” exhortations that made them function as brass within the midrange-heavy song.
“Without love, you’re just making a fool of yourself, Without love, you’re just jerking off inside someone else”
“Got To Have Love”
Cocker’s spoken middle eight thirty two began as the music bed dropped out and then slowly built up to effectively ramp up the tension in the song as a segue into the one fiery guitar solo from Mark Weber to be found in the entire string-heavy album. As the song vaulted for the heavens in its climax.
The shimmering ballad “Background Noise” had the vibe of a track from “His + Hers” due to the fact that this was the first song on the album where Candida Doyle was playing a synthesizer as well as the big Spector drumbeats marking the drama in the song to be expertly milked by Emma Smith’s violin. Cocker sagely commented on the Rough Trade website, when he said “if I was a life coach I’d say part of the secret of life is to find a way of not getting bored of things that are good.” The central metaphor here was how something as precious as love became something one could ignore if not careful.
“Love turns into background noise. Like this ringing in my ears, Like the buzzing of a fridge, You only notice when it disappears”
“Background Noise”
“Hymn For The North” was written for a play [“Light Falls” by Simon Stephens] a few years before being recorded by Pulp for “More.” Stephens set the play in the North of England and had given Cocker the title, but the rest was up to him. Mr. Cocker looked at his son who was graduating school and getting ready for college as the spark that lit the fires of the song. It was a song of two halves with the intimate, cabaret style of the first part [featuring Chilly Gonzales on piano] then a dramatic shift to the larger theatrics of the second half as the soundstage widened when the string orchestra and larger band swelled to encapsulate a father’s feelings as they watched their child become independent.
The album ended on an intimate note with “A Sunset” just having a dialogue between violin and acoustic guitar until the chorale of Enos [Lotti, Cecily, Darla, Irial, and father Brian] joined in the song and the greater band joined in the bucolic yet bitterly sarcastic song. Herein, Mr. Cocker posited a time and place where tickets were sold to sunsets as the celestial phenomenon had finally become monetized by forces beyond the wildest dreams of cynicism. Ending the album on a featherlight landing to emphasize the the satirical hope that we never get to such a place. Notably, the band have chosen to donate songwriting credit to the Earth Percent Initiative.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Musically, the album hits the familiar Pulp high points from their Imperial Period with some of the orgasmic shimmer of “His + Hers,” coupled with the more direct approach of “Different Class.” But the biggest touchstone that I heard on this one was what might have been the unfinished business of “We Love Life” and its exploration of string orchestra and the contribution that it could make to these songs. With the requisite new wrinkle being the addition of a prominent chorale for backing vocals. All of this occasionally allowing for fortissimo while studiously avoiding overstatement.
The biggest thematic change was in the formerly reticent Jarvis Cocker’s desire to get out of his introverted head and to live within his feelings. Experiencing them fully. The word itself crops up here with regularity and signifies a tonal shift that allows these songs a sense of intimacy with the listener. This may be down to the fact that he approached this album by first examining his notes and notebooks to see what he had to say instead of downing a bottle and writing what rose up from the depths…after the music beds were all put down to hard drive. While it had worked spectacularly with “Different Class,” it most certainly did not with the touchy “This Is Hardcore” album that was an experience that he didn’t want to put the band through again.
Fortunately, it doesn’t mean that we’ll never get the electric charge of a “Common People” or “…Running The World” again, only that such direct political salvos will be tempered with the sort of internal perspectives that gave “A Sunset” a light touch for its provocative premise. The underlying thought that “Spike Island” delivered was that the older, wiser Mr. Cocker was now ready to give the band the platform he felt that they deserved so let’s hope that a few more turns by this renewed band are still in the queue to make the next few years a little more kind.
So Pulp’s “More.” dropped two months ago,” but I’ve been busy paying out travel costs from this month through Rocktober, so buying new music is not a high priority. Except for the fact that one of those “Rocktober” trips I’m taking is to see Pulp and Sparks in Atlanta on September 4th and 5th! So two weekends ago I was jolted from my torpor by that gig’s proximity and thought I’d special order the new CDs from Pulp [and Sparks] at my local emporium so I can be up to date on the new music from both beloved acts.
I was looking up their phone number on the web and saw that their website has a handy new stock inventory feature and well bust my britches… they had both CDs for the asking, so I drove over to Harvest Records and bought them! This is so far removed from how things usually happen in my local stores over the last 10-15 years, but a Monk can be thankful for small miracles. The first single, “Spike Island” was certainly up to the old Pulp standards! And yet, I see that it got a UK Pop chart placing no higher than a single week at [sputters] …number 98???!!!
Doing a “Simon LeBon”
That’s a shocking fate for a record that frankly plays like a Top 10 opus from the band’s imperial period! And possibly indicative of the Coming Tribulations. The Synare hook played by Adam Betts in the intro was deliciously garish and prepped the senses for the Disco overkill of the song [you’ve got to love those handclaps on the backbeat]. With Andrew McKinney’s bass strategically fattened with delay to widen the rhythmic footprint of the song.
And Great Googley Moogley…! The slide guitar that was the glue that held the song together was courtesy of Mr. Cocker himself! I remain astonished at what Candida Doyle managed to wring from just a Farfisa organ on this track and throughout the album. This one, once heard, exerts a tight grip on my brain to dominate the Mental Walkmen® all day long.
The next track was completely different as “Tina” painted a self-portrait of erotic obsession with someone with whom the narrator had less than even a scant interaction with. They instead erected castles in Spain over nothing at all; all couched in a Morricone swirl of dramatic strings and what sounded like a bevy of horn samples. Making the track sound positively ripped from 1968. Perhaps showing that even a quarter century later, the band still bore the imprint of Scott Walker, who had produced their last album prior. The dreamy backing vocals of the choir certainly evoked that proto Adult Contemporary sound that was moving in parallel to the youth culture of the late 60s; unnoticed by the youths…but not their parents.
Speaking of whom, the next tracks was “Grown Ups,” a jaunty number based on a bouncy chord that rambled through a sardonic revisit of the maturation theme of “Disco 2000” albeit now from the perspective of a 60+ year old Jarvis Cocker. Here’s a Mighty Monsatic Fact® for you; Cocker is apparently one week older than Yours Truly, if the internet is to be trusted. The misty-eyed youth-looking-forward-to-maturation viewpoint of the earlier single has been supplanted by a more problematic conclusion that the desire to cling to youth is so strong that now nobody wants to grow up. The embittered spoken middle eight [which went on far more than eight bars] drily delivered by Cocker was a classic of its kind.
A change of tempo arrived in the form of “Slow Jam;” a self-referential title if ever there were one for a track constructed minimally from evanescent sustained strings and bass ganks drizzled with the odd pizzicato pluck. Sarafina Steer of the JARV IS project contributed to the music here. Next came the piano and string laden ballad “Farmer’s Market.” Wow! Mr. Cocker hit the nail right on the head with this novelistic impression of his relationship with his second wife as he claims that he’s finally allowing himself to access his feelings and get out of his intellect when writing now. The wealth of telling detail that makes up the lyric impresses this listener but when I hear shift from “Ain’t it time for living” to hear him conclude with “ain’t it time for feeling,” Ye Olde Monk gets a little misty eyed.
Shriekback Spokesmodel Mr. Andrews models the goods
When we last reported on the new Shriekback album, “Monument” there was some confusion over the hows and whys of distribution. Like usual, the album was crowdsourced but this time, I never caught wind of this possibly due to natural disasters concurrent with the campaign where I was without internet for the better part of a month. But the CD and even the LP of Shriekback18, is it’s dispassionately known in some circles, is now out there at the point of distribution; the Shriekback website.
Along with three other “new” CDs and a trio of t-shirts for the Shriekfan. Okay, so only one of the remaining three CDs is”new,” that being the Stic Basin “In Dub” CD [a.k.a. Stic Basin IV], but the remaining pair of CDs are things that were once creaky CD-Rs a long time ago in galaxies far, far away. Available in back alleys from Shriekback themselves. Here’s the rundown…first the Shriekback followed by Non Shriekback.
SHRIEKBACK AND PERIPHERY: 4X ALBUMS
SHRIEKBACK: Monument CD/LP
Available on the silver disc for £10.00 for those who want convenience and durability. And every disc is signed by the Artiste himself, Mr. Andrews. Includes DL version as well para su telefono.
If your taste runs towards the famed licorice pizza, Shriekback’s got you covered there, too. It’s yours for £25.00, and is in a gatefold sleeve! How Prog! But I hope you’re not jonesing for a compact cassette. Those are nowhere to be found…just the complimentary download.
SHRIEKBACK: Heaven To Deinze CD
Live “bootleg” recordings of Shriekback live in ’83 at the iconic Heaven club cheek by jowl with an ’84 live run from a festival in Deinze, Belgium. Belgium, man…Belgium!!! Have we ever seen Mr. Andrews in shorts before as on the cover foto??! With DL version as a courtesy at £10.00 per.
STIC BASIN: In Dub CD
We’ve kept an eye on Mr. Andrews’ excursions outside of the Shriekback Universe as he flexes those other muscles that stray from the Shriekbackomfortzone, as our German friends might have it. This is a radically different take on what’s normally a radically different take for Andrews. Yours, with DL for £10.00.
ILLUMINATI: Thunder Among The Lillies CD
And finally, the Illuminati project was Mr. Andrews along with the great, sadly deceased rhythm section of Matthew [Thomas Dolby, Thompson Twins] Seligman and Kevin [China Crisis, League Of Gentlemen] Wilkinson. Guitars were courtesy of Jon Klein from The Banshees. They were providing support for singer Adrienne Loehry as a a fledgling album recorded in 1990 that never quite left the nest. I’ll be visiting this one soon as it’s tantalizingly described as…Rock music!
As you may have guessed, it too, is £10.00 with a DL provided. Upgrade that now useless CD-R that Shriekback offered briefly on their website…23 years ago, with a glass mastered CD!
And if you’re of the disposition that demands everything, there’s a 4-pak® discount price for the likes of you. £35, for all four. DJs hit that button!
SHRIEKBACK TEES
The Canon…or The Gold?
The band have T-shirt designs on your wallet as well. The “Canon” shirt lists all 18 albums with the distinctive Shrieklogo by John Warwicker of Tomato. Available only in black or white for these polarized times. The one that caught the Monastic eye, was the “Oil + Gold” design, also with the Shrieklogo but featuring the band name and “Oil + Gold” in the distinctive Unifon D phoneticfont as seen in the original inner sleeve to “Oil + Gold.” Purrrrrr…! Any of these is £23.00 [insert stinger] but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. In L/XL only, so no children, sorry! Bundle of three for a discount at £60.00. DJs hit those buttons.
Yesterday I got a submission to the contact form that certainly raised an eyebrow…or three. The mysterious Euro collective A State Of Flux joined with Stefan Netschio of Beborn Beton and Pete Burns [no, not that Pete Burns] of Kill Shelter to revisit the darkly brooding Ultravox classic “Dislocation.” And I just got goose pimples merely typing that phrase. It makes a lot of sense that this track would be getting the love now. Can we not deny that the “Systems Of Romance” track was probably the second step towards a new genre first taken by Kraftwerk months previous on “Hall Of Mirrors,” and if not precisely point zero to the Darkwave genre, it was certainly so close to the Düsseldorf quartet’s bold stylistic flashpoint that its second-to-market status was inconsequential.
A State Of Flux are represented by this image…
A State of Flux were collaborating here with Messrs. Netschio and Burns. Netschio called his background Synthpop but it was already of the crepuscular latter Depeche Mode variety. While Burns stated that his brief was to inject Frippian Belewisms of the original release period into the track in order to create perpendicular tension within the music. How can we not be ready to receive such gifts?
R3 Records | EU | DL | 2025
Stephan Netschio + A State Of Flux: Dislocation – EU – DL [2025]
Dislocation 3:38
The percussive metallic attack on the intro riff moved laterally instead of the ascent of the original, and it was mercilessly cut short by the arrival of the heavily chorused slabs of synthetic doom. Stefan’s vocal came from a very different place to Foxx’s original dispassionate performance as the descending synth harmonics displacing the original “oh, oh, oh” backing vocal added their downward drag to the whirlpool of sound to be found here. Netschio’s delivery on the middle eight played against the heavy weight of the backing track as he altered his phrasing to build an ascension amid the downward pull of it all.
Pete Burns contributed sheet metal guitar to add discomfort to the inhospitable landscape of the song
Back in 1978, it was radical of Ultravox to release a song that was completely synthetic. Nearly 50 years later re-introducing guitar, albeit with heavy processing, was itself a radical act. Burns’ guitar howled like sheet metal being drastically reshaped on a stamping press. Issuing sparks from the very song itself as he surgically slashed into its core. The song itself leaving a barren landscape in its wake as the track retreated into its fade. Try it yourself and see what you think.
Let me say that I’ve been listening to this song since 1981. I consider it a pivotal song by my favorite artist on what is my favorite album I’ve ever heard. If artists see fit to cover an indelible song like “Dislocation,” then at least they’ve expanded their efforts to move the song outside of its original, immaculate template. Dystopia is no longer an abstraction. It is breathing down our necks and that is reflected in this rendition of the song.
I was sent a promo of this but my esteem was such that I immediately bought a copy at twice the modest €1.50 asking price. And sure, sure. I got the better than CD resolution 24/48 copy on my network. I’m just saying that if you hold this song in the same high regard that I do, that you might consider it as well. DJ hit that button!
Post-Punk Monk 