MAYDAY MAYDAY

 

The 77th anniversary of my entry to this world is May 3rd. So as a gift to myself I'm going (to try) to do what the hell ever I want to this month. I intended to do something like this at the beginning of this year. I felt I had been pushing things too hard last year & wanted to slow down a bit. But this crazee blog thing has a life, a mind, & a tempo of its own & I've been going break-neck. I couldn't even finish April in April.

I'm just going to throw together what I'm listening to at the moment & see what forms of it all. That's what I say right now. We'll see what is transpiring come Memorial Day.

In Febuary I did a month of Dub & Dub adjacent musick, Started out the month with the great Don (Donovan) Letts. Highly successful, it led to Jah Wobble. Since then I've been listening to the Wobbly One quite a bit. Seems like a great place to start & a great way to start off my Birdlegs.

I suppose my favorite Jah Wobble project is Invaders of the Heart. Since the release of Without Judgement in 1990 I have been following their course. It is a varied but thoughtful journey, culminating last year with the double bassed enslaught of NYC with Wobble & my other favorite bassist Bill Laswell working the Invaders.

Here's their first, my first of theirs, & my all-time favorite that I still listen to regularly in its entirety even after 35+ years...

 

Invaders of the Heart - Without Judgement, KK records KK039, 1990.
all decryption codes in comments

Bungalow Park    
What the Problem Is    
Anything Can Happen    
A13    
Drowned & the Saved    
So Many Years    
Message from Our Sponsor    
Coypu    
Burger Bar    
What Will You Say    
Spirit    
Voodoo    
Psyche    
Good Ghosts    
Saracen    
Eternal Vendor    
Invisible Cities    
Inferno    
Location    
Uncommercial Road    
Will the Circle be Unbroken

 

 

 

 

 

Here's another one that will give the above a run for its money, the follow-up... 

Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart - Rising Above Bedlam, Oval 782386-2, 1991.

Visions of You
Relight the Flame
Bomba
Ungodly Kingdom    
Rising Above Bedlam    
Erzulie
Everyman's an Island
Soledad
Sweet Divinity
Wonderful World

 

 

 

 

 

One more Invasion that I couldn't forget... 

 

 

                      Jah Wobble & The Invaders of the Heart - Full Moon Over the Shopping Mall,                     30 Hertz Records 30HZCD10, 1999.

Full Moon Over the Shopping Mall
Ethos
Waxing Moon
Waning Moon
Acting the Goat
I'll Be Sad to See You Go

 

 

 

 

 

Finishing off this tour-de-force of the Wobbly One, a 34 track behemoth of Dub... 

 

 

Jah Wobble - In Dub 2xCD, 30 Hertz Records 30HXCD430, 2016.

CD1 - 
Cleopatra King Size with Temple of Sound 
I'd Love to Take You Away    
I'd Love to Take You Away (Dub version)    
Orion with Bill Laswell    
Metamorphosis (Burnt Umber Youth Dub) with Invaders of the Heart
Blacksmith with Invaders of the Heart    
Blacksmith Dub with Invaders of the Heart
Club Scene Dub    
Kodak Dub    
On the Right Road    
On the Right Road Dub    
Symphony of Palms with Temple of Sound    
Forest Funk Dub with Invaders of the Heart
Dragon & Phoenix with the Chinese Dub Orchestra
Dragon & Phoenix Dub with the Chinese Dub Orchestra
Universal Dub    
Invaders of the Heart (Decadent Disco mix)    with Invaders of the Heart

CD 2 -    
Shinto Dub with the Nippon Dub Ensemble    
Last Days    
Last Days Dub    
L1 Dub with the Chinese Dub Orchestra
Nice Cop; Nasty Cop    
Forest Gate Dub with Invaders of the Heart    
The Way I Feel alias The Sweetest Feeling (new mix)    
Lam Saravane with Invaders of the Heart    
Lam Saravane Dub with Invaders of the Heart    
Alam Dub with Bill Laswell    
Night    
Appearance & Thing-in-Itself    
I Remember that Time    
I Remember that Time (Dub version)
Inspector Out of Space (Youth Inner Space Dub) with Invaders of the Heart
Once Upon a Time in the East    
Tyger Tyger

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - Two Lone Swordsmen

 

Finishing off the letter T is one from two...Two Lone Swordsmen. that is. Only ran over by a couple days.

Thought I had all Andrew's stuff fixed up & sorted. Somehow overlooked this choice cut. 

 

All I need say is Keith Tenniswood & Andrew Weatherall. You all should know. I've shared elsewhere before now. Here's one of my favorites, repaired at last. 

 

Two Lone Swordsmen - Stay Down, Warp Records WARPCD58, 1998.
decryption code in comments

Hope We Never Surface    
Ink Cloud    
The Big Clapper    
Ivy & Lead    
We Change the Frequency    
No Red Stopping    
Spine Bubbles
Mr. Paris's Monsters    
Light the Last Flare    
We Discordians (Must Stick Apart)    
Alpha School    
As Worldly Pleasures Wave Goodbye... 

 

 

 

Anyone still waiting for ABBA, I was (April) foolin'.

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Wotk: T - The Tropicals

 

The Tropicals was the Italian duo of Giancarlo Barigozzi alias Ginazzi, a jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist & Oscar Rocchi alias Chiarosi who provides the electric piano & keyboard to the drum-laden LP Urubamba. 

 

Urubamba intermixes field recordings & sound library music with cavalcades of drums, flutes, & funk exotica. The release presents an overarching African flavor but travels to tropical climes of Jamaica, India, & other locations all around the globe. Rounding out the enthralling sounds is the tasteful use of acoustic guitars, several bongos, congas, & djembes as well as the terrific voice of an otherwise uncredited female singer who provides chants similar to Sally Terry's vocal range off Robert Drasnin's classic 1959 Voodoo!.  Urubamba is one of the lost exotica diamonds. 

 

The Tropicals - Urubamba, Jump Records J-0119, 1972.
decryption code in comments

Side A -
Urubamba    
African Popcorn    
The Girl from Morococha    
Brazilian Butterfly    
Flute Safari    
Tropical Love

    
Side B -
Tarzan Dance    
Jamaican Love Song    
Message from the Jungle    
Baobab Blues    
Amazon River    
Indian Cobra

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work : T - Techno Animal

 

Birningham native, multi-instrumentalist Justin Broadrick & London's Kevin Martin (The Bug & King Midas Sound) were Techno Animal. 

 

They now continue the Techno Animal sound performing as Zonal. 

 

Techno Animal - The Brotherhood of the Bomb, Matador OLE482-2, 2001.
decryption code in comments

Cruise Mode 101
Glass Prism Enclosure
Hypertension    
DC-10
Robosapien    
Freefall    
Monoscopic    
Piranha
Sub Species    
We Can Build You
Blood Money    
Hell

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - The Thing with Five Eyes

 

The Thing with Five Eyes is a experimental drone darkjazz project of Jason Köhnen, formerly of the Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble (which I have shared before here) & The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation. Where those bands mixed jazz with drone & doom elements to create ‘darkjazz’, The Thing with Five Eyes has a fresher appeal, taking electronica & jazz, then throwing in a palette of Middle Eastern sounds / atmospheres to create an album that feels more worldly with fewer mountains. 

 

About The Thing with Five Eyes, Jason sez:
       "Our music cleaves the depth of mystical and occult territories of the soul." 

On this one Köhnen is aided by Leila Bounos - vocals & Izzy Op De Beeck - trumpet. The harsh unpredictability & brutality of darkness is conveyed through a soundscape of body rumbling bass, intriguing drum/break formations, uncanny sounds of human heaving, electronic manipulations of rattling noises, & the plummeting yet buoyant vocals of the wonderous Algerian/French Leila Bounous who sounds a lot like Natasha Atlas of Transglobal Underground. 

 

The Thing with Five Eyes - Noirabesque, Svart Lava LAVA003, 2018.
decryption code in comments

Salem    
Alma    
Hedra    
Zigurhat    
Nakba    
Taurus    
Nehex    
Qun    
Selenga

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - Twiggy Frostbite

 

Twiggy Frostbite was originally a five piece indie pop outfit made up of Elin Lindfors - vocals, Joel Thedéen - guitar, AnnaKarin Berglund - keyboards, Emma Sjöberg - bass, & David Kramer - drums from Gävle, Sweden.

 

Twiggy Frostbite play a unique style of dreamy ethereal pop, spectral icy music that recall Mazzy Star, Cocteau Twins, or Sigur Ros. The band is now an all-female quartet consisting of Elin Lindfors, Anna-Karin Berglund, Emma Sjöberg with newly added member Sofia Stolpe. 

 

Twiggy Frostbite - Through Fire, Despotz Records DZCD006, 2009.
decryption code in comments

Intro    
Eye for an Eye    
Morning    
Thrown in Two
Chimera    
Heroes
Grime Star    
Narrow Pride
Along Your Way    
All I Need    
Still Here    
Angels

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - Tar Babies

 

The Tar Babies was a band from Madison, Wisconsin. The original line-up consisted of Bucky Pope - guitar), brothers Jeremy & Robin Davies - vocals & bass respectively with Dan Bitney - drums.

They played their own unique style of artsy-hardcore punk. With the departure of Jeremy Davies in 1987, the remaining trio signed to SST Records. By this point their sound had progressed into a streamlined punk/Funk sound.  

 

Tar Babies - Fried Milk, SST Records SST101, 1987.
all decryption sodes in comments

Side A -        
More Salt
My Spiritual Forklift
Clenched Fist
Swing Set
Loose Convictions
Karma Soldier
Pig Relevance
Sound & Color
No Light Ever
On the Phone (W/ Pepsodent)

Side B -
Love Epidemic
Vices
Ceiling Skies
Set Me Up
Blood Sugar
Stryofoam
Flower Power
Storm’s Over
Paradise Shines

 

 

 

 

 

On No Contest, the trio has added saxophone player Tony Jarvis who pushes their sound ever so slightly in a jazzier direction.

 

 

Tar Babies - No Contest, SST Records SSTCD169, 1988.

Lay of the Law    
Lupe    
Link in a Chain    
Actualizing    
Clean Living    
Catch My Fall    
Wisdom Drill    
Cure it All    
Blood Onion    
Real Time

 

 

 

 

 

The Tar Babies - Honey Bubble, SST Records SSTCD236, 1989.

Rockhead    
Rhino a Go Go    
Lab Test Animal    
Ninety Pounds    
Bimbos & Idiots    
Joy Ride    
Yama Yama Man    
Waking    
Reprise Reprise    
Spaight & Ashbury

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - Traces of Torpid

 

Traces of Torpid is a Russian trip-hop project made up of BogoMire (Mikhail Tulikov) - guitar / bass & Squash - sampling / programming / drums, recorded at SquashHomeStudio, Moscow, Russia. 

  

Traces of Torpid - Plastic Mirror EP, No Head Records, 2002.
decryption code in comments

Silence Sale    
Traces of Torpid    
Overhelming Sorrows Laugh    
Azure Pantomime

 

Enjoy,
NØ
 

Musick that Needed Work: T - Time for Dreams

 

Time for Dreams is the Australian duo of Amanda Roff & Tom Carlyon. 

 

They make bleak yet vivid bad-dream pop where the twosome's thoughts & memories are condensed into sound driven by deep Dub basslines, beats, mesmeric melodies, & vocals. 

 

Time for Dreams - In Time, It Records itCD009, 2017.
decryption code in comments

Projects    
The Stranger    
Lighthouse    
Move It    
I Love that Tiger    
My Operator    
Orders    
Newscene

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - Traffic

 

Traffic was basically a super-group of British musicians: Steve Winwood; Dave Mason; Jim Capaldi & Chris Wood. They were around from 1967 until 1975 with break-ups between & many line-up changes. Winwood was in post-Cream band Blind Faith during a 1969-1970 break-up. They re-united briefly in 1994. 

 

Here's one of their classics, released next after the John Barleycorn reunion of 1970, graced by the sublime presence of Rebop Kwaku Baah...

 

Traffic - The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Island Records SW9306, 1971.
decryption code in comments

Side 1 -        
Hidden Treasure
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
Light Up or Leave Me Alone

Side 2 -
Rock & Roll Stew
Many a Mile to Freedom
Rainmaker 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Over 5,000,000 Served

On October 4, 2025 I posted 4,000,000 Served. On that post I sez:
          "Well this time it only took from June 7 last year until now (October 4) to pass the 4,000,000 mark. So for a "backwater blog" like I've got going here, I'm even more more mightily chuffed. I have you all to thank for making my journey here so rewarding. You are the best."

Previosly it took from 2007 until July 2017 to reach 1 million, then from July 2017 until October  27, 2021 to reach 2 million, then from October 27, 2021 until June 4, 2024 to reach 3 million, then from June 4, 2024 until October 4, 2025 to reach 4 million...an ever accelerating rate that had my head spinning. 

Well, over night last night (April 23) my visitor count passed the 5,000,000 mark. So in less than seven months I’ve had another one million visits. I don’t even know how to express my gratitude to all of you who come by here for a look or a listen. The only reason that I do what I do is all of you. All I can really say to you out there cruising the interweb searching for musick is...

Thank you so much. I am truly overwhelmed, You all are what keep me going & I salute you.

NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - The The

 

This band survived the purge of "The" from the band names because there was nowhere to hide. I doubt if I need to go into much of a history of this band. Pretty much anyone interested in music is familiar with the musical work of Matt Johnson, the founder & only constant member of The The. 

 

This version of Soul Mining, The The's first full-length comes with a bonus 12" 45rpm limited edition... 

 

The The - Soul Mining, Epic EPC25525, 1983.
decryption codes in comments

Side A -
I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)
This is the Day
The Sinking Feeling
Uncertain Smile
Side B -        
The Twilight Hour
Soul Mining
Giant

 

 

 

 

 

The The - Perfect limited edition bonus 12", Epic XPR1250, 1983.

    

Side A (over) -        
Perfect
Side B -
Fruit of the Heart
Soup of Mixed Emotions

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - Twilit Grotto

 

Twilit Grotto was a short-lived experimental avantgarde Art rock Noise project of Mark Dicker of London.

  

Twilit Grotto - Holiday Snaps cassette, Beartown Records, 2013.

Side 1 -
Digging the Sunken Palace
Old City Walls
Side 2 -
Bats in the Cave
bonus track
Ascending Node

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - Thousand Yard Prayer

 

Thousand Yard Prayer is the alter-ego of Secret Archives of the Vatican's Vince Millett & Louis Counter & friends. 

 

They make Dark Age primordial music: medieval echoes, Dub dubstep, D'n'B, metal, & prog all rolled into one tight sound. 

 

Thousand Yard Prayer - Seven Towers, Broken Drum Records, 2015.
decryption code in comments 

 

Uyghurs with Attitude
Enter the House of Wisdom
The 24 Villages of Xianjing
The Fortress of Seven Towers
Fierabras

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Musick that Needed Work: T - Twisted Nerve

 

Twisted Nerve was a band from Edinburgh, Scotland. They formed in the late 70s as a punk unit originally caled the Insults. By the early 80s they had changed to Twisted Nerve & had transformed into a Goth band. They often played alongside Sex Gang Children as part of the old Batcave scene. 

 

The band consisted of Craig Paterson - vocals, Colin Moxey - guitar, Norbert Bassbin - bass, & Keith Hamilton - drums. 

 

Twisted Nerve – Eyes You Can Drown In 12" EP, Criminal Damage Records, 1983
decryption codes in comments

This Side –
Medusa
Other Side –
Gargoyle
Geronimo

 

 

 

 

 

Twisted Nerve – Séance 12" mini-LP, +1 Records, 1984.

Nerve 1A (45rpm) –
Séance

Nerve 1 (33.3 rpm) –
Yes Man
Twisted Nervosis
Freak of Nature
Scaramouche
It's All in the Mind

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ