To Hull And Back

I was hooked on Chiedu Oraka's new single Cocoa Butter on the first listen less than 24 hours ago, and the video, reimagining America's Wild West "somewhere in the east of Yorkshire", is great.

Cocoa Butter is the lead track from the Kwechiri EP, out on 18th November, but in the meantime I've checked out Chiedu on Bandcamp and there's over a decade of music to be found and enjoyed. Like 2024 single Counselling, for example.

If you think that's good, imagine what Counselling would sound like, performed live in the room with an 8-piece orchestra. Actually, you don't need to imagine, Chiedu did it.

Hailing from Hull, the self-titled Black Yorkshireman blends compelling tunes with incisive, unflinching lyrics , all delivered with with his distinctive regional accent. "You're too high...if you're saying I'm too Yorkshire to sound black."

Another standout track from my limited dive so far is Kid From The Estate, from 2025's Undeniable EP. A sharp production by Deezkid and the memorable line,

"I'll tell you something, I'm not Craig David, so don't expect me there on a Sunday."

However, Cocoa Butter provides reassurance that today is good, as "Every day's Friday, call me Chris Tucker".

Chris Tucker, The Black Yorkshireman, Chiedu Oraka. Call him what you will, but his music speaks for itself. 

Comfortingly Discordant

Today's post title is the first comment left on the YT posting of TV Priest's new single, Just So You Know, left by @psydefekct

I know naff all about TV Priest, so here are 8 facts that a 2 minute internet trawl unearthed. Some of these may be true.

1) TV Priest formed 2019, as a four-piece comprising Charlie Drinkwater (vocals), Alex Sprogis (guitar), Nic Bueth (bass, keyboards) and Ed Kelland (drums). The four had known each other since they were 11 years old and, prior to forming TV Priest, had played together in various bands.

2) Officially, TV Priest's live debut took place inside a disused industrial freezer in Hackney, London, in November 2019. There's no record of how people turned up...or who let them out after the gig.

3) That gig - and their early music - was sufficient to attract the interest of Sub Pop Records, who signed TV Priest and released their debut album Uppers in 2021.

4) Although Uppers was pretty much fully written and recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it's release was delayed, meaning that TV Priest had to promote the album entirely from home during lockdowns. 

5) When not fronting TV Priest, Charlie Drinkwater's other occupation is as a visual artist and designer. Aside from the band's artwork, he has designed album covers for other artists, including A Hero's Death by Fontaines D.C., The Art Of The Lie by John Grant, Sucker Punch by Sigrid and Cannonball by Man/Woman/Chanisaw.

6) Following an exhausting promotional cycle and tour for second album, My Other People, throughout 2022, Nic and Ed departed from the band. TV Priest has returned with Just So You Know, a precursor to new album Cartoons, as a duo of Charlie and Alex.

7) Cartoons is out on 6th November, described as a concept album tracking the "daily unspooling of the worlds we thought we knew" and framing modern life as "a cartoonish struggle between surveillance, sanctuary, and increasingly blurred lines between heroes and villains."

8) TV Priest will also be taking to the road to promote Cartoons. starting with an album release day gig at Rough Trade in London. Bristol gets not one but two shows: Rough Trade Bristol (9th Nov) and The Louisiana (25th Jan).

This is a song about leisure

Our fears and pleasure

Automatic dreams

And 65” screens

Just so you know

Just so you know

Just so you know

You can reach me any time

Darling, you’re not the first to own the night

But maybe

We are the first to notice the price

And I am,

The lounge lizard by the lagoon

And I am,

Our ruined honeymoon

And I am,

Your ticket to the moon

(Hey hey hey)

Just so you know

Just so you know

Just so you know

You can reach me any time

There’s a drive-thru at the end of the world

And it’s waiting to take our order

There’s a brass section at the bottom of this barrel

And it’s playing at our funeral!

There’s a drive-thru at the end of the world

And it’s waiting to take our order

There’s a brass section at the bottom of my bottle

And it’s playing at your funeral!

Just so you know

Just so you know

Just so you know

You can reach me any time

What's Your Destination?

When ABC returned in 1985 with a new line-up comprising founder members Martin Fry and Mark White, plus David Yarritu and Eden aka Fiona Russell Powell, it seemed to be met with an unfair level of sniffiness.

Admittedly, ABC had set the bar impossibly high with their debut album The Lexicon Of Love a mere three years previously and the follow up, Beauty Stab, but commercially speaking, less successfully attempt to do something different.

Third album, How To Be A Zillionaire, was somewhere between the two: songs were peppered with classic ABC musical motifs, Fry's lyrics were typically sharp but accessible; on the other hand, the production reflected the shift in the times and the image...? Well, could it have been more mid-80s/MTV-friendly?

I think some of the ire directed at ABC may have been because the newbies weren't 'proper musicians': David Yarritu was a photographer, Eden a journalist. But what did it matter, really? 

The singles were great, the look was striking, not just Eden and Yarritu, but Mark White with his Tin Tin quiff and Martin Fry swapping his gold lamé suit for drainpipe trousers and a huge belt circling an impossibly thin waist.

There were four singles from How To Be A Zillionaire, only one of which cracked the Top 30, peaking at 26 in April 1985, two places higher than the parent album six months later.

Be Near Me is one of my favourite ABC songs. Although I didn't buy my own copy on 12" until a few years later, I was surprised to find that it wasn't a bigger hit at the time. Then again, the competition at the top was stiff: Philip Bailey & Phil Collins, Pie Jesu by Sarah Brightman, Tears For Fears and Go West; even the #2 success of the umpteenth single from Frankie Goes To Hollywood's debut album was also a sign that the wheels were coming off the bus.

A couple of years later, ABC would have another hit single (When Smokey Sings) and Top 10 album (Alphabet City), but Be Near Me stands out as a classic single that should have been on the radio everywhere back in 1985.

Feline Groovy

"Losing a cat is like losing a lover", opines Momus in the opening line of his new song, Lost Cat. 

I have checked and Catty K is accounted for, seemingly comatose about three metres from where I'm sitting, but for the odd whimper as she no doubt dreams of small mammal massacre (thankfully not something that she is in any way competent at in the waking world).

Lost Cat's intro misdirected me towards This Is The Day by The The merged with Fade Into You by Mazzy Star, but is of course neither and plays out like a downbeat, forlorn neighbour of Jellypop Perky Jean by Julian Cope. Well, it's about a lost cat for goodness sake, it would be forlorn, wouldn't it?

It also got me thinking of other cats in my music collection, though no Stray Cats, you may be disappointed to read.

I included Pussycat by Mulu in the second of my recent #HappyMusic selections. My go to is the jaunty 12" remix by François Kevorkian. There is a version on YT, which rather clumsily edits the original video to fit a radio edit of FK's mix.

Me'Shell NdegéOcello has been releasing a series of collaborations which presumably will make up a forthcoming album. In keeping with today's theme, one of those partners is - unexpectedly and delightfully - Cat Power (well, I featured Cat Stevens yesterday).

Even more unexpectedly, they duet on a cover of Don't You Want Me by The Human League. Despite a bassline to die for, I'm still deciding whether Meshell and Cat's version is better or worse than the 1992 effort by The Farm....

I've been revisiting Gavin Friday's 1995 album Shag Tobacco in the past few weeks. I love all of Gavin's solo records, but I think this edges it as my favourite. A highlight amongst highlights is the cabaret wa-hey-hey of Mr. Pussy. I've no idea what the source of this video is, but it's both ill-fitting and morbidly fascinating.

My last offering really needs no introduction, it's The Lovecats by The Cure. This was the first record of theirs that I bought, on German import 12" vinyl from HMV, sometime in 1987. At the time, I plumped for this over the (then) new release Why Can't I Be You? No regrets.

Apologies to any visitors who are allergic to cats, this blog will be a feline free zone tomorrow.

Tinkling The Ivories

Whether it's 'tinkling' or 'tickling' seems to depend on where you live, but in this neck of the woods, it's always been 'tinkle'. And in my experience, there has never been any confusion with the other application of 'tinkle', resulting in riotous scenes of grown men pissing on pianos with impunity.

But I digress. Today's selection collects thirteen songs that prominently feature the piano, although I suspect that some of you may also consider it's a lot of piss.

To focus my attention, I imposed three basic criteria:

1) songs released between 1968 and 1979;

2) UK Top 20 singles only; and

3) one song per artist or band.

Much as I'm happy to listen to Metal Machine Music, Throbbing Gristle or Coil, I am also not adverse to music that Mama and Papa K would find more palatable. I don't own a single album by Cat Stevens, Elton John, Supertramp, Billy Joel or Gilbert O'Sullivan. The Beatles and David Bowie are very well represented in my collection; Aretha,  Carole and Carly less so. However, they all have a place in today's lucky 13.

I decided to beat the Monday blues by booking today as holiday. In reality, I think this will just mean that Tuesday will feel like Monday at work, though I will have a shorter week to compensate.

And how will I be spending my precious day off? Replacing a toilet seat and some wall tiles, painting a door, and cancelling my credit card as some b'stard nicked my details and treated themselves to Dominos pizza and Uber rides in London at the weekend. 

What a rock and roll lifestyle I lead...!

1) Lady Madonna: The Beatles (1968) (#1)

2) I Say A Little Prayer (Cover of Dionne Warwick): Aretha Franklin (1968) (#4)

3) Killer Queen: Queen (1974) (#2)

4) Something In The Air: Thunderclap Newman (1969) (#1)

5) Morning Has Broken: Cat Stevens (1972) (#9)

6) Life On Mars?: David Bowie (1971) (#3, July 1973)

7) It's Too Late: Carole King (1971) (#6)

8) You're So Vain: Carly Simon (1972) (#3)

9) Your Song: Elton John (1970) (#4)

10) The Logical Song: Supertramp (1979) (#7)

11) Without You (Cover of Badfinger): Nilsson (1971) (#1)

12) Just The Way You Are: Billy Joel (1977) (#19, Feb 1978)

13) Alone Again (Naturally): Gilbert O'Sullivan (1972) (#3)

1968: Aretha Now: 2

1968: Lady Madonna EP: 1

1969: Hollywood Dream: 4

1970: Elton John: 9

1971: Hunky Dory: 6

1971: Nilsson Schmilsson: 11

1971: Tapestry: 7

1971: Teaser And The Firecat: 5

1972: Alone Again (Naturally) EP: 13

1972: No Secrets: 8

1974: Sheer Heart Attack: 3

1977: The Stranger: 12

1979: Breakfast In America: 10

Tinkling The Ivories (47:38) (GD) (M)

Dub '96

An hour of dub not dub today, with a 10-song selection of remixes circa 1996.

Dub '96 follows the tradition of previous Dubhed excursions to 1983 and 1985 (twice), with a varied (re)mix of indie and electronic music, all put through the club/dub filter.

Everything But The Girl were partying like it was, er, 1999, teaming up with Spring Hill Jack for the drum and bass-infused title track of their Walking Wounded album. 

Dubstar called Mother... no, not theirs, the DJ/producer duo of Jools Brettle & Lee Fisher... to take their single Stars into space, a dub oddity if you will.

18 Wheeler on the other hand stayed on terra firma, getting Greg Hunter in to dub their single, transforming it into Beyond The Valley Of The Hours And The Times, in homage to Russ Meyer's 1970 film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls.

Inspired by Dubstar, The Beloved were visited by one half of Deep Dish, the fortuitously named Dubfire (Ali to his ioved ones) to go even further with Three Steps To Heaven. Unfortunately, the record label didn't approve and the remix remained unreleased for many years.

Alter Ego proposed getting out of their heads on Mescal, or should that be Mezcal? You may be interested to know that all tequila is a type of mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila. Two Lone Swordsmen create a suitably out of body dub.

From out of their heads to Out Of This World by Republica. This remix was originally released as a promo 12" in 1994, back when The Chemical Brothers were still blagging it as The Dust Brothers, until The Dust Brothers found out and told them to stop. The dub remix turned up on a single in 1996... at least that's what it said on the sleeve. Turns out it was actually April 1997. Ooops!

Grace was a project for Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, who recorded Not Over Yet in 1993. It wasn't a major hit until 1995, by which time original vocalist Patti Low had departed. Subsequent singles were led by Dominique Atkins, although it was "all over" for Grace by 1997.

Innerzone Orchestra is a collective pulled together by electronic music pioneer Carl Craig. Bug In The Bassbin is perhaps their most well-known track, with a slew of remixes. I only released after I'd completed this selection that the Graphic Dub included here is supposed to be 5 minutes long. My CD rip is a smidge over 1 minute. Ooops!

It's that guy Steve Osborne again, this time remixing indie legends Lush. Again, another quirk in my digital music collection. The original running time was listed as 10:51, until I realised that the file was corrupted. One refresh later and the track is 6:31 as it should be. Housekeeping, eh?

To finish, The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown, Primal Scream teaming up with Denise Johnson and Irvine Welsh, for one of the best football related songs of all. This dub is about as close to the dub genre as you'll get today, no surprise when it's Adrian Sherwood at the controls.

Continuing the tradition of the previous Dub '80s posts, I've resurrected my shameless rip off of Rol's far more inspired Saturday morning quiz over at My Top Ten.

The only prize for participating is the knowledge that somehow you have made it to the end of the five questions (and this post) with your sanity intact. 

Answers will be posted in the Comments below on Monday morning.

1) Which band member, now an acclaimed author, denounced The Beatles as “the absolute curse of modern Indie music”, citing their favourite Beatle as Yoko Ono?

2) When asked what they would do when their music career slowed down, who said that they would take a 6-month course in dry stone walling and set up a 24-hour emergency repair service, using a 3-wheeled motor trike?

3) Whose autobiography is titled Patient?

4) Which song had three videos made, one in a disused swimming pool in Hackney, another in Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California, and the third and final one in a London studio, for it's re-release as a single?

5) Who appeared in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice whilst still in the womb?

1) Walking Wounded (Spring Heel Jack Dub Mix By Ashley Wales & John Coxon): Everything But The Girl (Walking Wounded EP)

2) Stars (Mother Dub Mix By Jools Brettle & Lee Fisher) (Extended Album Version): Dubstar (Disgraceful/The Mixes (Expanded 2CD Edition))

3) Beyond The Valley Of The Hours And The Times (Greg Hunter In Dub Mix): 18 Wheeler (The Hours And The Times EP)

4) Three Steps To Heaven (Dubfire's Paradise Dub) (Remix By Ali Shirazinia): The Beloved (X Remixed (unreleased promo mixes))

5) Mescal (2 Lone Swordsmen Dub) (Remix By Andrew Weatherall & Keith Tenniswood) (Full Length): Alter Ego (Peppered With Spastic Magic: A Collection Of Two Lone Swordsmen Remixes)

6) Out Of This World (Chemical Brothers Dub) (Remix By Ed Simons & Tom Rowlands): Republica (Drop Dead Gorgeous EP)

7) Not Over Yet (BT's Peyote Dub) (Remix By Brian Transeau): Grace (Not Over Yet EP)

8) Bug In The Bassbin (Graphic Dub) (Remix By Claude Young): Innerzone Orchestra (Bug In The Bassbin EP)

9) Last Night (Hexadecimal Dub Mix By Steve Osborne): Lush (Last Night EP)

10) The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown (Full Strength Fortified Dub) (Remix By Adrian Sherwood): Primal Scream ft. Denise Johnson & Irvine Welsh (The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown EP)

Dub '96 (1:01:38) (GD) (M)

And if that's not enough dub for one day, here are my three '80s dub selections to date:

Dub '83 (September 2023)

Dub '85 (January 2025)

Double Dub '85 (April 2025)

Rewired, Reworked And Remixed

Danny Briottet has revived Renegade Soundwave with a package of upcoming 'rewires' by an impressive roster including Carl Cox, Leftfield, Don Letts & Gaudi, Mark Archer (Altern8) and Nookie. Kicking things off, Leeroy Thornhill, formerly of The Prodigy, transforms their seminal track Ozone Breakdown. 

Like Fluke's recently released The Second Bite and it's remix companion, Danny has re-recorded 15 Renegade Soundwave tracks and and handed the stems over. If Ozone Breakdown is anything to go by, Renegade Soundwave Rewired will be a must purchase.

Inspired by this, I've pulled seven other reworks and remixes from the last decade and a half that have floated my boat and are readily available on Bandcamp.

The selection starts with Special Request aka Paul Woolford taking on The Grid's epic track Floatation. Bearing in mind that Dave Ball and Richard Norris wrote it, Andrew Weatherall co-remixed the original, and Prins Thomas updated it, these are big footsteps to follow. No problem. Floatation becomes a 13-minute trip into space, NASA dialogue and all, that takes it's time but is all the better for it.

The remaining edits and remixes feature a diverse cast including Sparks, The xx, Leftfield, Jimmy Cliff covering The Clash, and Misled Convoy and Uncle Fester On Acid dubbing up Dub Syndicate and Bim Sherman covering Lloyds Parks.

Arguably the most unexpected of all is Leonard Cohen, not the first artist you think of when compiling a Balearic chill out perhaps, but hey if it worked for Chris Rea, why not? DJ Pantelis has (excuse the pun) hit the right note with his remix of Cohen's 1984 song Dance Me To The End Of Love. 

1) Floatation (SR Offworld Mix By Special Request): The Grid ft. Sacha Souter (2019)

2) My Other Voice (Kommissar Keller Edit): Sparks (2025)

3) Ozone Breakdown (Leeroy Thornhill Rewire) (Extended): Renegade Soundwave (2026)

4) Shelter (Nebulist Remix By Baz Popiolek): The xx (2014)

5) Not Forgotten (HUD Remix By Neil Hudson): Leftfield (2026)

6) Dance Me To The End Of Love (DJ Pantelis Remix): Leonard Cohen (2025)

7) Guns Of Brixton (Kinky Electric Noise Remix By Ken Arguelles): Jimmy Cliff (2012)

8) Mafia (Dub Remix By Misled Convoy x Uncle Fester On Acid): Dub Syndicate ft. Bim Sherman (Cover of Lloyd Parks) (2021)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like It Always Does

Happy birthday to Richard Melville Hall aka Moby, born 11th September 1965.

Whether you're aware of Moby as a musician, vegan, Christian, baldie, animal rights campaigner or a complete and utter twonk, it's hard to think of another artist that has combined all of these elements so successfully.

I was a huge fan of Moby's music throughout the 1990s and enjoyed the twists and turns of his career. Yes, I was one of the 472 people who bought his thrash metal (kind of) album Animal Rights on release in 1996. And liked it.

I haven't followed every release since then, but I have enjoyed the occasional dip back into Moby's 21st century albums. I must revisit Innocents from 2013, which I recall as being pretty good. 

The last Moby album I acquired was Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt in 2018 and, apart from the You & Me EP with Anfisa Letyago in 2024, I've pretty much no idea what he's released in this decade.

That said, I've still managed to come up with a (mostly) 21st century selection, ten songs moving from metal to machines and back again, also serving to showcase the vocal talents that Moby has collaborated with over the years. 

With the exception of Mark Lanegan, all female singers and likely ones that are undeservedly unfamiliar. Mindy Jones is a long-time musical partner of Moby, whilst others such as Rozz Morehead and Erin Marszalek made fleeting but significant appearances.

I've also thrown in a few remixes, courtesy of Torsten Stenzel, Photek and Moby himself.

Ten songs, all done and dusted in three quarters of an hour, just enough and not too much.

Have a good one, Moby.

1) E2D (Outtake From 'Play') (1999)

2) Don't Love Me (Album Version ft. Mindy Jones & Inyang Bassey) (2013)

3) Spiders (Album Version) (2005)

4) Porcelain (Torsten Stenzel's Edited Remix) (2000)

5) Move (Electro Mix By Moby ft. Rozz Morehead & Carole Sylvan) (1993)

6) Extreme Ways (Single Version) (2002)

7) Ooh Yeah (Album Version ft. Erin Marszalek & Luci Butler) (2008)

8) Come On Baby (Single Edit)

9) You & Me (Extended Mix) (Moby x Anfisa Letyago) (2024)

10) The Lonely Night (Photek Remix ft. Mark Lanegan & Mindy Jones) (2013)

1993: Move - The Mixes EP: 5

1996: Come On Baby EP: 8

2000: Porcelain EP: 4

2002: Extreme Ways EP: 6

2003: 18 DVD: Outtakes & Bonus Songs: 1

2005: Hotel: 3

2008: Last Night: 7

2013: Innocents: 2

2013: The Lonely Night EP: 10

2024: You & Me EP: 9

Like It Always Does (46:05) (GD) (M)

As it's Moby's birthday, here's some more Dubhed selections from the archives:

Another Green World (1999 mixtape, posted Jan 2023)

Kaleidoscopic Mind (2000 gig setlist, posted Feb 2026)

Somewhere Around (random selection, posted July 2022)

...things will go the way you want them...

Another entry point into a long-time career, I stumbled across Kutiman and You Will Shine, the title track of his forthcoming album, and second full length record this year.

You Will Shine is described by one online fan as "Tame Impala meats Röyksopp" [sic], which is fair enough. It reminds me of Dan Snaith and his work as Caribou and Daphni too; music that moves the body and strikes an emotional chord. 

Kutiman is Ophir Kutiel, a Tel Aviv-born, Surat Thani-based polymath who has been releasing music since 2007.

On a random YouTube trawl, Kutiman discovered Dunfermline-based singer Misha Sutherland and You Will Shine is constructed from an accapella vocal loop from one of Misha's at-home performances. What a lovely story.

Misha is currently available to "sing at care homes, birthdays, anniversaries, garden parties, weddings, [or] at any venue you require me at" from £65.00. Wouldn't it be great if her appearance on Kutiman's album was a game changer and opened up a whole new audience?

Return To The Other Side

From yesterday's working class hero to today's Working Men's Club and a new song and video, Devout.

First impressions, very good. I can't help but be reminded of Clan Of Xymox in their 4AD pomp, but Sydney Minsky-Sargeant's vocals are less aching and forlorn, more insistent and inviting.

The beats are pulsing and insistent, with lots of squalls and screeches to keep the listener present and not drift into a trance. I'm intrigued that Working Men's Club have worked with producer Atticus Ross on this one, who I'm familiar with from his collaborations with Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails, Barry Adamson, Jehnny Beth and Bomb The Bass. On the strength of this single, I hope there's more.

Heading over to Bandcamp to buy, I was put off by the eye-watering $9.00 price tag for the track, with no indication that this is a pre-order for an album, so I can only assume it's a typo and will be corrected.

In the meantime, head straight to WMC's label Domino where you can buy Devout for a much more reasonable 99 pence.