By Christopher Hollow THE LIMIÑANAS & LAURENT GARNIER
DE PELÍCULA Because Music
I love a good cross-genre musical collaboration. Say, Joni Mitchell and Jaco Pastorius on ‘Coyote’ or ‘Portland, Oregon’ by Loretta Lynn/Jack White or Lil Nas X + Billy Ray Cyrus with ‘Old Town Road’, that kinda thing. De Película is a union of two of my fave but disparate French artists – club DJ Laurent Garnier and flower punkers The Limiñanas. Garnier came to prominence in the early 90s at the iconic Manchester club, The Haçienda, and has done a myriad of excellent records including 2010’s Alaska. The Limiñanas have also been super-consistent for more than a decade. You could say they’ve been in this past-meetsfuture territory before – eg. the late Andrew Weatherall doing a great remix of ‘Garden of Love’, their 2016 track with New Order’s Peter Hook. But De Película is a partnership from the ground up rather than an afterthought remix and it’s a kaleidoscopic powerhouse – very cinematic, very French. I’m told it’s a concept LP, following a romance road trip through France and Spain between two teenagers called Juliette and Saul. The lyrics get lost due to my lack of French, but the feeling conjured puts it right up there with my favourite records of the year.
When acting, it was all about the eyes with Karen Black. It turns out she had a unique singing voice too. Black was the off-centre star at the heart of the New Hollywood movement of the late 60s, early 70s American cinema. She played the absent-minded country-singing waitress Rayette in one of my best films ever, 1970’s Five Easy Pieces co-starring Jack Nicholson. She also made strong appearances in big films like Easy Rider, The Day of the Locusts, The Great Gatsby and Nashville, where she wrote, sang and received Grammy nominations for two tracks (‘Memphis’ and ‘Rolling Stone’) for the soundtrack. While other actresses of the time like Goldie Hawn and Peggy Lipton were getting record deals, it appeared Black wasn’t interested. Turns out, she was recording tunes as idiosyncratic as her acting. Cut to 2009 and Black collaborated with American indie artist Cass McCombs on ‘Dreams-ComeTrue-Girl’ off his Catacombs album. During this time, McCombs promised to go through Black’s songs. However, it was only after she died of cancer in 2013 that McCombs pulled together Karen’s various demos and studio recordings from the 70s plus another they wrote together from one of Black’s poems called ‘I Wish I Knew the Man I Thought You Were’ (basically Rayette’s character motivation notes from Five Easy Pieces). ‘I wish I knew the man that I thought you were,’ she sings in her private press voice. ‘He’d tell me not to trust the man you are.’ The only shame is that Karen Black isn’t here to enjoy another dimension to her fabulous career.
DREAMING OF YOU (1971-1976) Anthology
Musos often find inspiration from their record collections. Some bands take their names directly from lyrics from another
SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN
IMPRESSION
Org Music / PIAPTK
JEM RECORDS CELEBRATES BRIAN WILSON Jem
SYLVIE Terrible
or arrangements. Most of the artists are content to ape the originals rather than expanding them – granted, ‘Warmth of the Sun’ and ‘Please Let Me Wonder’ don’t need improvement/embellishment, but it’d be interesting to hear them presented in a new form. Pick up the bunch include the Grip Weeds ripping through my very favourite Wilson creation, ‘Heroes & Villains’, and blending it with another SMiLE number, ‘Roll Plymouth Rock’ aka ‘Do You Like Worms?’ while kudos to Nick Piunti for taking on ‘Hang Onto Your Ego’ rather than ‘I Know There’s An Answer’. The most creative venture is Lisa Mychols pairing a cut-up method mash of words to the instrumental, ‘Pet Sounds’.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
SYLVIE
KAREN BLACK
72
artist. One such act is Sylvie out of Los Angeles. They belong to the list of bands named after songs (Death Cab for Cutie, Ladytron, Radiohead and the Rolling Stones). Sylvie took their name from a number by ex-Fairport Convention singer, Iain Matthews, who recorded the folky ballad ‘Sylvie’ with Matthews Southern Comfort in 1970. But because Sylvie have also recorded ‘Sylvie’, they join the list of groups that have a track with the same name as the band – think, Bad Company, Black Sabbath, They Might Be Giants and The Monkees. But who has named themselves after a song and then recorded that song? Sylvie might just be in a club all their own. Come to think of it there’s ‘Motorhead’ (originally by Hawkwind). And ‘Talk Talk’ (initially done by The Reaction). Can you think of others? Anyway, check out Sylvie and ‘Sylvie’.
My fascination with Brian Wilson and his Beach Boys comes in waves. I can go forever without hearing their music, then suddenly I’m listening to nothing else but outrageously creative harmonies and dodgy lyrics (eg. ‘I’m fat as a cow - how did I ever get this wayyyyyyyyyyyyy?’). This power-poppin’ tribute album has sent me back under the spell of America’s band. The positive is it’s super tight, well packaged and a joyous celebration. The negative? Not enough surprises in the song choices
If you’ve read George Orwell’s Animal Farm, you know that Sugarcandy Mountain represents animal heaven - a mythical promised land perpetuated by Moses the raven, where it’s ‘Sunday seven days a week’. In rock music form, Sugar Candy Mountain is a duo from Oakland, California, who are aiming for a similar 7-day weekend euphoria. The new album, Impression, is the band’s fifth and, once again, slices and dices some very cool ’60s style influences. What impression does it make? That SCM are clever, and they have taste. ‘Running From Fire’ lays out all the strengths – persuasive rhythms, intriguing vocals and, as Orwell’s raven says, ‘situated somewhere up in the sky, a little distance beyond the clouds.’
