Easy. Easy like Sunday morning.
Oh, good morning, kids. I was just about to changes shoes and sweaters for no apparent reason. It’s a nice day out. A nice day to head down to the railroad tracks and heckle the king.
It may be quite a walk today. My neighborhood is in mid-gentrification and they’re pushing out pensioners like myself along with the ne’er-do-wells to far out suburbs. I’m not bitter. It just means I have to walk a little further. And dodge a few more bullets.
On the way, we’ll collect my monthly check if the neighborhood roughnecks haven’t already turned it into malt liquor. Let’s take some travelling music along, shall we? That’s right. A little song or two to put a bounce in our step and a sock full of nickels in our hip pocket…
[Previous versions available here: Heavy Rotation Archives]
Happy Mondays – Cuntry Disco
After 15 long and presumably sober years, the Happy Mondays are fookin’ back. And they’ve brought their questionable sense of humor with them. That is not a typo. Great track about doing a variety of things outside someone’s bedroom window, with a little steel guitar thrown in for cuntry fans. A little something for Ramblin’ Rooster as well, with some bookending “Cock-a-doodle-doo’s” belted out in Ryder’s inimitable Mancunian drawl.
Trans Am – Televison Eyes
The space rock side of this trio comes to the fore in this track, which features some nicely robotic vocals and some synth work that seems to incorporate a little melody from Telstar. Not to repeat myself, but a dangerously underrated band, whose body of work is truly a pleasure to experience.
Zero Le Creche – Last Year’s Wife
I got ahold of this goth track on an extremely shitty goth comp that was issued by the mysterious ZZZ Records. Apparently a pretty tough band to track down, what with only one release. Not so much goth like dark, but actually more along the lines of early New Order and Echo & the Bunnymen. Melancholy at its finest.
Justice – Planisphere Pt. I (MMMatthias Mix)
Now, we will head to the club. I have, to this point, mainly spared you from my repetitive beats fascination. Consider yourselves unspared. German producer MMMatthias takes the already bombastic beats and synths of French House producers Justice and trims away anything vaguely resembling restraint. Clocking in at a little more that 4 minutes, it’s a tad short for club play, but the intensity probably wouldn’t stand up to further stretching.
Rekid – Next Stop Chicago
Radio Slave’s alter alter ego (Matt Edwards to his mum) kicks out a damn near minimal track, only without all that minimal bullshit. While I seem to be verging on oxymoron here, let me explain. Rather than clicky nothingness, the synthwork and vocal samples lend it a dark propulsion that wouldn’t feel out of place in a bassbin or in a long drive through the dark.
All mp3s in one lumbering zip file (link opens in new window):
Heavy Rotation Vol. 9
-CLT