After a not so restful few days in London we've now arrived in the Isle of Man for eight days of hiking. Step inside for another entry in the Alphabet Soup series covering the S Artists in ten tracks.
Sounds like retirement can be just as busy as pre-retirement!:) At least it's on your terms (mostly).
Lots of stuff on this playlist I didn't know at all. I always appreciate your schooling me on the unsung (or lesser sung) bands from Canada. I think I had heard of Spirit of the West, but I did a bit of research on them and think I maybe had heard "...Venice Is Sinking" but nothing else. I really liked this song and a few others I played. Spookey Ruben, at least on "These Days are Old" reminded me of XTC, and I say the song is a good one; though I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics (I rarely do).
Happy to see Stereolab here again (you had them in your lists before, right?). They are getting written about in a lot of Substacks lately which has me wanting to do a deep dive into their vast catalog.
Splashdown sounds like the definitive Mark Nash band to me. Not that I know you well at all, but I know trip-hop and grunge are big genres in your sonic toolbox. I lean more in the trip-hop direction and "Ironspy" leans that way too so I really like it. It's got lots of counter energies, which I love. The strong melodic vibe mixed with off-kilter noise. I can see really getting into this band in the 90s.
I'll skip Spacehog as they to me are derivative and too much in the grunge direction I don't like. Though they did know how to write a catchy hook or two, as this track attests. Ditto, Staind.
I was worried that I was gonna have to wade through three grungers in a row...:) Social Distortion might have moved in that direction a bit in the late 90s (the album this song is from for example), but they thankfully come from a melodic punk background, like later-era Husker Du or later-era Clash.
I don't think I've ever heard She Wants Revenge before, so this was new to me. It definitely has 80s dark wave vibes. As a big fan of this genre, I dig it. I think that a whole album of the singer's voice might rub me the wrong way, but a song or two I'm into.
I remember the name Skunk Anansie, but no songs came to mind. I can't say this tune did much for me though I can appreciate vocalist Skin's power and intensity.
This playlist led me to explore Spirit of the West a bit -- I was surprised they were Canadian at all as the vocalist has a faux-British (Irish?) accent on several songs. And they do play a lot of Irish-sounding folk songs.
And Stereolab will be emanating from my Stereo Lab (sorry) for the next week I have a feeling.
You seem in your element at the Harry Potter studios!
There was so much great music around in Canada when I was there. I’m sure there still is, I’m just not plugged in to that scene anymore although there are still current Canadian bands out there that I really like (Metric would be near the top of that list).
I was actually shocked that I hadn’t featured Stereolab before, at least not in this series. I referenced them at some point when discussing Ivy’s album Apartment Life from the same year but I never featured them here surprisingly.
Splashdown was very much a Mark Nash band because of those influences you mentioned. A lot of musical elements that I was really into at the time.
I really loved that She Wants Revenge album despite what critics had to say. Not sure how you feel about mashups. More often than not I don’t like them, but when they’re good they can be very good as is the case with this mashup of Tear You Apart with Bela Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus. The archival go go dancing footage just takes it to another level: https://youtu.be/dkF0kwP_DsI
Yeah Skin definitely had a powerhouse voice but overall their songs don’t really have staying power for me.
Apparently Spirit of the West did have a Celtic music vibe in their earlier albums, which they carried forward to some degree in Venice Is Sinking. I was surprised to find out they’d released as many albums as they have.
Sounds like retirement can be just as busy as pre-retirement!:) At least it's on your terms (mostly).
Lots of stuff on this playlist I didn't know at all. I always appreciate your schooling me on the unsung (or lesser sung) bands from Canada. I think I had heard of Spirit of the West, but I did a bit of research on them and think I maybe had heard "...Venice Is Sinking" but nothing else. I really liked this song and a few others I played. Spookey Ruben, at least on "These Days are Old" reminded me of XTC, and I say the song is a good one; though I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics (I rarely do).
Happy to see Stereolab here again (you had them in your lists before, right?). They are getting written about in a lot of Substacks lately which has me wanting to do a deep dive into their vast catalog.
Splashdown sounds like the definitive Mark Nash band to me. Not that I know you well at all, but I know trip-hop and grunge are big genres in your sonic toolbox. I lean more in the trip-hop direction and "Ironspy" leans that way too so I really like it. It's got lots of counter energies, which I love. The strong melodic vibe mixed with off-kilter noise. I can see really getting into this band in the 90s.
I'll skip Spacehog as they to me are derivative and too much in the grunge direction I don't like. Though they did know how to write a catchy hook or two, as this track attests. Ditto, Staind.
I was worried that I was gonna have to wade through three grungers in a row...:) Social Distortion might have moved in that direction a bit in the late 90s (the album this song is from for example), but they thankfully come from a melodic punk background, like later-era Husker Du or later-era Clash.
I don't think I've ever heard She Wants Revenge before, so this was new to me. It definitely has 80s dark wave vibes. As a big fan of this genre, I dig it. I think that a whole album of the singer's voice might rub me the wrong way, but a song or two I'm into.
I remember the name Skunk Anansie, but no songs came to mind. I can't say this tune did much for me though I can appreciate vocalist Skin's power and intensity.
This playlist led me to explore Spirit of the West a bit -- I was surprised they were Canadian at all as the vocalist has a faux-British (Irish?) accent on several songs. And they do play a lot of Irish-sounding folk songs.
And Stereolab will be emanating from my Stereo Lab (sorry) for the next week I have a feeling.
You seem in your element at the Harry Potter studios!
Wow thanks for the comprehensive feedback Steve!
There was so much great music around in Canada when I was there. I’m sure there still is, I’m just not plugged in to that scene anymore although there are still current Canadian bands out there that I really like (Metric would be near the top of that list).
I was actually shocked that I hadn’t featured Stereolab before, at least not in this series. I referenced them at some point when discussing Ivy’s album Apartment Life from the same year but I never featured them here surprisingly.
Splashdown was very much a Mark Nash band because of those influences you mentioned. A lot of musical elements that I was really into at the time.
I really loved that She Wants Revenge album despite what critics had to say. Not sure how you feel about mashups. More often than not I don’t like them, but when they’re good they can be very good as is the case with this mashup of Tear You Apart with Bela Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus. The archival go go dancing footage just takes it to another level: https://youtu.be/dkF0kwP_DsI
Yeah Skin definitely had a powerhouse voice but overall their songs don’t really have staying power for me.
Apparently Spirit of the West did have a Celtic music vibe in their earlier albums, which they carried forward to some degree in Venice Is Sinking. I was surprised to find out they’d released as many albums as they have.
Yes I was very much a kid on the HP studio tour!!