a group of two

Johnny Domino - New Pink Shirt
Johnny Domino - Forever In Blue Jeans (Neil Diamond cover)
Johnny Domino has just released a free download album called "The Best Of The Shithouse Masters" - these two tracks are taken from it. The album has 22 tracks; over 77 minutes of lo-fi pop and a couple of cheeky cover versions.

Download the whole thing here.

The Shithouse Masters is the name we give to the 100+ songs Johnny Domino recorded between 1993 and 1998. The 22 tracks available to download are what I think are the best songs from that period.

I love these recordings. I'm really proud of the songs and the quality of the sounds we managed to get out a humble 4-track cassette machine. The limitations imposed by only having 4 tracks to record on, the dodgy equipment we had and the fact that most of the time it was just Ox and myself made us really think about what was necessary to the songs - the way of working has really informed the way we record today, I think.

I'd love to know what people think of these songs.

By the way, the image above is taken from a fantastically bad book Oxbow bought for me called "Rock Talk" by Julian Colbeck. The next page in the book is a sheet of lyrics by Out To Lunch (permanent residents of the "where-are-they-now" file) - if you're really good (or if I get enough requests in the comments box), I'll post the page.

Download The Best Of The Shithouse Masters
Visit Johnny Domino
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how sweet

Matthew Sweet- You Don't Love Me
Matthew Sweet has made consistently listenable power-poppy albums but 'Girlfriend' from 1991 is the essential purchase. Released at a time when increasingly mardy grunge was the dominant force, this was a breath of fresh air. The pop songs were nice and fuzzy round the edges which meant it avoided the dreaded 'twee' label and the presence of glitterati from the CBGB's scene like Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine gave the album instant cred.

It is the songwriting, though, that makes 'Girlfriend' a classic. Made in the wake of a divorce (I think) the ballads are touching and bittersweet. 'You don't love me' should be up there with Nilsson's 'Without You' and Eric Carmen's 'All by Myself' as a big standard break-up song. Matthew Sweet knows how to put chords together and when the solo should come...this is, in this case, a GOOD thing.

Matthew Sweet - Superdeformed
'Superdeformed' is a B-side from the 'Girlfriend' EP. 'Warm and punchy' is a banned phrase in Johnny Domino recording sessions but I think this sounds 'warm and punchy'. Like Teenage Fanclub's 'Grand Prix' this is not complicated or demanding music, it just feels good... and that's often a GOOD thing.

Buy 'Girlfriend' by Matthew Sweet
Visit Matthew Sweet

music for chameleons

Japan - Swing
There is a scene in one of the Alan Partridge series where Alan mimes fretless bass in his static caravan to Gary Numan's 'Music for Chameleons'. I think the writers missed a trick here, it should have been Japan. Mick Karn's gelatinous bass playing was one of Japan's USP's along with David Sylvian's foggy crooning. Sure, they were derivative, stylised and pretentious but they were a surefire way of getting to talk to the artiest and usually prettiest girls in school.

In terms of heaviest turntable rotation my favourite album of all time must be 1980's 'Gentlemen take Polaroids'. For about 3 years it held off all other challenges. It's an odd one, 8 tracks of long synth and bass dominated songs with little in the way of the trad songwriting values that I hold dear but it sounds great and drips with atmosphere. The synth sounds are a million miles from the lo-fi bleeps of the OMD post. It's a multi-layered and sophisticated record and an acquired taste.

Japan - All Tomorrows Parties
I know this version of 'All Tomorrows Parties' will irritate some Velvets purists. Tough, I think it captures the sleazy, trash glam aspect of the early Velvet Underground better than most cover versions.

I'm off to play a bit of air bass....

Buy Gentlemen take Polaroids - Japan
Visit Nightporter

he used to go stag, now he's got a hag

I'm a massive fan of Tom Waits, right up to and including last year's "Real Gone" album.

I love all the mad "Kurt-Weil-meets- Captain-Beefheart" stuff, the mad music-hall tunes, the storytelling, the human beatbox, the shouting and the bonerattling.

But I also love this stuff. Recorded in 1971, this at first sounds like a totally different person - where did the later crazed barking voice come from?? But if you listen carefully. it's still him - the beautifully written portraits of damaged people, the wry sense of humour and the real sense of songwriting craft.

This guy really knows what he's doing; the lyrics are fantastic (if you can listen to "Poncho's Lament" without feeling a little bit teary, then I don't think there's much hope for you) and even though the settings are a bit more low-key and maybe a bit more trad, you can see links to what he did later. Including an obsession with people called Frank.

Tom Waits - Poncho's Lament 
Tom Waits - I'm Your Late Night Evening Prostitute 
Tom Waits - Frank's Song

[songs not available online]


I think I read somewhere that Tom Waits hates this stuff himself - with the greatest of respect, I think he's missing a trick.

Visit Tom Waits 
Buy The Early Years Vol. 1

happy! happy! joy! joy!

... or "sometimes it snows on April".

April March is a cool lady.

She used to be one of the main animators on "Ren & Stimpy" (she also co-wrote and recorded "Don't Whizz On The Electric Fence" for the show and the theme tune for "I am Weasel"). She has recorded with Brian Wilson, Thee Headcoatees and Jonathan Richman, amongst others.

She has a bit of a thing for Yé Yé, a type of French pop music from the 60's...

April March - Cet Air La


She sometimes does English language versions of Serge Gainsbourg tunes...

April March - Chick Habit 


She has also recorded with genius eccentric songwriter/arranger Tim Hensley, about whom more in a future Domino Rally posting. This is where I first heard her doing very eccentric 50's pop tunes like...

April March - Stay Away From Robert Mitchum


Visit April March and buy her CDs.

rankin' come forward!

The Beat - Too nice to talk to 


The Beat are my favourite Two-tone/Ska band. The Specials were ace, their music throbs with controlled aggression but is there something a little misogynistic going on? Little Bitch, Niteklub and Too Much Too Young all express real bitterness about women.

Madness had great singles which went far beyond the Ska template but there is something a bit 'blokey' about them. The Beat had the urgency of punk and the itchiness of Ska but their sound was a little more deft and elegant. They were the Ska band in touch with their feminine side...they even had a dancing girl as their logo.

Like a lot of the 1979 Ska bands they came from the Midlands, Birmingham in their case and like Madness and The Specials they pushed their music outside the skankin' box. I hear 60's beat, calypso, soul and pure New wave pop when I listen to them. In Dave Wakeling they had a great singer and in Rankin' Roger an energetic force of nature, toasting and MC'ing. Remember this was at a time when Reggae dancehall culture was alien to most people. It's no wonder the Ska-kids were usually the coolest in school.

The Beat- Twist and Crawl


'Too nice to talk to' surges with energy and brilliant guitar hooks, 'Twist and Crawl' shows what a fantastic rhythm section they had. This is music to dance to but the lyrics are full of urban observation.

The Beat tend to be the forgotten band of the '79 Ska explosion, it's time they were re-discovered.

The Beat!
Buy The Beat- The Best of The Beat

Alt.country supergroup, anybody?

Pull up a chair, this could take some time...

Golden Smog started out as a studio min-joke goof-off for members of Soul Asylum, the Jayhawks, Wilco, Run Westy Run, Big Star and GeraldineFibbers.

The first EP "On Golden Smog" and LP "Down By The OldMainstream" were punctuated by hoary barroom covers (Thin Lizzy, Faces) and songs that sounded like The Jayhawks. They even gave themselves pseudonyms and fabricated sleeve artwork for previous releases - "America's Newest Shitmakers", "Temple of the Smog". So far, so average.

Which makes 1998s "Weird Tales" all the more remarkable - this is a great album, possibly one of the best "alt.country" albums ever.

Golden Smog - Until You Came Along 

Golden Smog - Please Tell My Brother 

Whereas on "Mainstream..." the bulk of the tunes sound like in-studio post-closing-time jams, on "Weird Tales" the band members (now going by their own names) served up some of their best material.

"Until You Came Along" sung by The Jayhawks' Gary Louris is simply one of the best American songs of the past 20 years, a glorious singalong to the redemptive powers of true love. I never really got the Jayhawks but then, they never recorded a song as good as this.

"Please Tell My Brother" is one of Jeff Tweedy's (Uncle Tupelo/Wilco) best songs, a gorgeously simple folksy amble.

Between "Mainstream..."and "Weird Tales", Wilco had released the incredible, horizon-expanding double album "Being There", which must surely have had some effect on the Smog musical landscape. There's a variety of tone and attack on the second album that is totally absent on their earlier recordings.

But whither Jeff Tweedy's erstwhile chum, grumpy Jay Farrar?

When Uncle Tupelo split, the sensible money was on him to rake in the glory. In Tupelo, he'd been responsible for many of their signature tunes, with Tweedy coming up with the frothier numbers.

When they split, Wilco (Tweedy's band made up of all the non-Jay Tupeloband members) served up "AM", a mostly uninspiring retread of past glories, whereas Farrar's Son Volt released "Trace", a truly great album, bookended by "Windfall", one of my favourite songs ever, and a great cover of Ron Wood's "Mystifies Me", featuring on bass... MarcPerlman of Jayhawks/Golden Smog fame. See how it all ties in together??

Son Volt – Windfall

Son Volt - Mystifies Me

Son Volt followed "Trace" with "Straightaways", which was... well, an uninspiring retread of past glories, and I stopped paying attention, really (if you have any suggestions of what I've missed out on, leave a comment).

Wilco released the amazing "Being There" and became one of the most exciting and interesting bands in the world today. Whod've thunk it?

Buy Weird Tales by Golden Smog
Buy Trace by Son Volt 
Buy Being There by Wico 
Visit Golden Smog 
Visit Wilco
Visit Wilko (arf!)
Visit Jay Farrar