A really interesting record, released between punk and the rise of post-punk. Pre-post-punk? Art house gets a bad press when it comes to music. But Real Life shows that it needn’t be up its own arse. Shot By Both Sides amplifies the fucked by left and right message throughout. No future, etc.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Another drop from the forthcoming Sleaford fucking Mods album, The Demise of Planet X.

Here we have Bad Santa.

Ho ho bloody ho, etc.

But’s it’s not exactly a contender for an updated version of the absolute classic Now That’s What I Call Christmas album.

Bad Santa is non other than Trump. Sleafords thought now would be a good time to release the track, ahead of the album appearing in the New Year.

It’s a slight departure from the usual Sleaford rant ‘n’ rave. The beats are stretched out. There’s less all round frenzy taking place.

I often wonder where next for Sleaford fucking Mods. I still bloody love the racket they make. But have they got the balls to move away from the tried and tested formula?

Yep. Bad Santa shows what is possible.

The email from the mailing list to announce Bad Santa also mentions that Sleaford fucking Mods also have their own branded pizza.

I shit you not.

Gonna be a messy one, innit.

I cannot stress how much I absolutely adore The Auteurs debut. This has everything I want from a pop record: melodies, classic songwriting and a sharp wit.

It swings with ups and downs, never going for the safe middle ground. New Wave sucks you in with the promise of something joyous, and then leaves you thinking wtf was that?

Bands should have more cello players, although I doubt if Luke Haines agrees these days.

A strong contender for one of the best debut albums ever.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Chronixx has been keeping me rather happy over the past few days. The Exile album is a great example of the current shift back towards roots reggae.

Digi reggae seems to have nowhere else to go. The tech has transformed the genre, meaning it’s pushed the boundaries, and become a poor substitute for drum ‘n’ bass.

Meanwhile, roots remains timeless. Which is where Chronixx comes in.

Theres an unashamed attitude towards a revival on Exile. It’s an album that could quite easily have been released in 1976.

Family vibes feature strongly throughout. This is not a bravado record, but one that even has a neo soul feel to it in places.

The only criticism is that it is far too long. Seventeen tracks should have been slimmed down to nine.

Or even two standalone albums.

But Exile is a welcome return to a time when reggae was introspective, and not all about bragging rights.

I’m pretty obsessed with Tyler Ballgame right now. I’m always a sucker for a sob story, but not always a sob story sung by a falsetto voice.

I first saw Tyler on Later. With so little live music available on the telly these days, Later has become something of saviour when showcasing old and new.

And Tyler is a bit of both.

He makes no secret in drawing upon Roy Orbison in style. Plus there’s some low key funk riffs going off, bringing it all back up to date.

A little online digging, and Tyler Ballgame is an alter ego for Tyler Perry. He carries it well, self-referencing the character in his own songs.

Got a New Car is the stand out song so far. The vocals are high up on the scale, and so is the light touch Americana backing band.

He’s a man not afraid to refer back to the old craft of songwriting; he’s a man not afraid to to wear double denim - or even triple on a good day.

Signed to Rough Trade in the UK, there’s an album out soon-ish. I cant find a release date.

The sound of a man waving his willy in the air, and not giving it a shit.

We should all try this more often.

It’s relentless, from start to finish. The bass and drums pulsate with no let up. Iggy never was one for ballads.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Neil Young’s On The Beach.

Nice.

I wasn’t aware of this 1972 release until it was flagged up earlier this month on the 1,001 Albums list.

My broad rule of thumb with Neil Young is that you can’t go wrong, whatever the period.

Sure,, you’re going to get a change in styles over the decades, but at the base of it all, you’ll still find old Shakey, still looking for answers, and still giving shit to The Man.

On the Beach is part of Young’s ‘ditch’ period, apparently. The modern interweb tells me that he deliberately headed for the ditch, following the huge success of Heart of Gold.

Talk about a career car crash, etc.

The metaphor is even extended on the album front cover itself: Young is on the beach, on vacation and his Mustang is crashed into the sand.

DO YOU GET THIS?

But like I said - you can’t go wrong with Neil Young. He may have been trying go under the radar with On The Beach, but it’s more or less impossible for him to write a duff song.

Gosh, he’s very, very good, and over a considerable period of time as well.

There’s more to Slade than the singles suggest. Much of this album is good old boogie bar room riffs, with an English sense of humour. It’s bloody great fun.

But it’s not all one great big knees up. There’s a darkness to Slade, something that is rarely explored outside of the mainstream narrative.

The guitars get a little too heavy for my liking in areas. It almost strays deep into Led Zep territory. But what do you expect? It’s Slade, innit.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

There was a most unexpected and welcome surprise for the four-fer with Robert Elms on Saturday: Flowered Up’s It’s On.

CHOON!

The subject for the four-fer was youth club anthems. This is going to be ACE, I thought. Memories of early 80’s, with a wide palette of pent up teenage frustration to choose from.

Wrong.

It turns out that I am about a decade or so older than the average demographic of Elms listeners.

Instead we have early 70’s ska and bubblegum soul. It was all fine, but it wasn’t the racket of a youth club four-fer that I was expecting.

And then some fella called in and suggested Flowered Up.

OH MY DAYS.

Disclaimer: the 1991 release date was WAY BEYOND my own youth club experiences. I should have been selecting The Specials' Nite Club, or something similar.

Flowered Up were more of an undergrad sound for me. Weekender was a constant favourite at the SU Friday night discos.

Gosh, they were heady times. And a little fucked up as well.

And then around ten years later, I think I saw them in London around the turn of the Century.

This was when all things Madchester still had something of a bad name.The guns and drugs had taken over a few years earlier. The Stone Roses imploded spectacularly,

But around 2000 - 2001, there was a feeling in some of the circles that I moved in around the time that Madchester wasn’t dead; or it at least deserved a reappraisal.

The trouble was that all the original bands had long since cleared off.

I remember going to a club at Embankment one Friday night for a Madchester revival. I’ve no idea what the club was called.

In the back of my mind, Flowered Up were booked in to play a reunion gig - their first together in years.

This was a very messy scene. I can’t remember the exact details, but I don’t think Flowered Up actually played.

It might have been that some of the band turned up, but not the full outfit. It may even have been a cringe PA mime set that followed.

I was pretty fucked up tbh…

The fella on the four-fer described the Herberts perfectly: Youth Club Rave. I like that genre, but can’t pin anyone else down to it.

So yeah / no, I did / didn’t see Flowered Up.

I most deffo didn’t see Paris Angels whilst an undergrad. They split up en route to a gig at Colchester Arts Centre.

Musicians: messy.

The new album from Tortoise is very, very good. They’re a band that hasn’t really troubled me. But each time I hear about them, I only hear good things.

I’ve had little more time this week to listen to new music. Ive finally cleared the Gilles Peterson backlog of downloads that were sitting on my phone.

Much love, as always, to GP.

Plus the stupid international break has led to less Forest podcast action.

And so instead, Tortoise’s new Touch album has been on the online turntable.

It reminds me a lot of Ozric Tentacles - without the tie dye.

I’m increasingly drawn towards instrumental albums these days. It’s far from background music, but it’s what I need whilst I’m working away.

Touch isn’t exactly a… light touch. It’s incredibly unsettling in places. The distorted and out of sync drums add to the sense of confusion.

Post-rock - whatever that means these days - has become a feature for me in recent weeks. Bark Psychosis, Tortoise, and even some Clinic.

None of these are going to be pushing for that Christmas number one.