Don’t Get Why It's So Hard To Find Some Peace And Quiet

Courtney Barnett is one of those artists who I'm predisposed to like, but I haven't obsessively bought everything that they have released. 

I think I would have been flicking through a music magazine - Mojo or Uncut, most likely - in late 2014/early 2015 when I saw a picture of Courtney and was immediately captivated by her eyes. I then read the article and I was even more intrigued.

Pedestrian At Best was my first listen, followed by Depreston and Kim's Caravan, all three appearing on Courtney's debut album sometimes i sit and think, and sometimes i just sit. I was won over.

Fast forward a decade to October 2025, and Stay In Your Lane, the first sniff of a new song from Courtney's fourth album (sixth, if you count a collaboration with Kurt Vile and a soundtrack) entitled Creature Of Habit.

Site Unseen (a duet with Waxahatchee) followed in January, with 'visualisers' for two more songs last month then a fifth song, One Thing At A Time dropping on Tuesday. 

Site Unseen is the best of the three videos, albeit essentially a fun promo for Juliana and Nicola GIraffe aka Giraffe Studios. Album opener Stay In Your Lane is my favourite song. I love Courtney's solo to close One Thing At A Time, but I'm less convinced that, at 4:42, it's a single and the video is a bit of a naff distraction, if I'm honest.

 

Some of the Aussie inflections and edges which made Courtney's vocals stand out have been smoothed out since those songs I first heard in 2015, but I still can't help but smile when I hear that voice and guitar. I wouldn't always describe it as 'in perfect harmony' - and I'm glad it's not - but a singer and musician who are quite happily co-habiting. 

I'm looking forward to hearing Creature Of Habit in full this weekend. You can find it on Courtney's website, on Bandcamp or a clutch of other retailers.

In My Dreams I Wrote The Best Song I've Ever Written

Another random, eclectic selection for your listening pleasure.  

 

Fujiya & Miyagi start proceedings with a bold attempt at a New Order classic from Power Corruption & Lies, swiftly followed by a track from the sole EP from The Badgers, one of many (I've lost count now) bands that I've discovered thanks to the ever-wonderful music blog The Vinyl Villain. We then jump from Norfolk to the Netherlands, and 90s indie pop to 80s electro disco, with the Modern Danceable Music Company, who thankfully also used the acronym M.D.M.C. Ben Liebrand on the mix here, luckily a few years before he incorporated the break from Think (About It) by Lyn Collins in every bloody remix he produced.

 

Fast forward to a contemporary favourite - and the source of today's post title - the wonderful Courtney Barnett, remixed by the equally wonderful 10:40 aka Jesse Fahnestock. As the mix title suggests, most of the vocals have been excised but this is definitely a case of less is more, with a lovely dreamy vibe leading into Psychic TV's foray into vocal house music with 1990's Towards Thee Infinite Beat and remix companion Beyond Thee Infinite Beat.

 

A sharp swerve Psychic TV to Micah Blue Smaldone, who was brought to my attention earlier this month by The Swede, firstly via an excellent Imaginary Compilation Album at The Vinyl Villain then a follow up post on his own blog, Unthought Of, Though, Somehow. The Swede perfectly describes Micah Blue Smaldone as "an old-timey acoustic folk-blues troubadour [...] delivering a series of lyrically dense, folk-noir songs" and Time, the track featured here, was the stirring closer to his ICA. 

A trio of legends follow: John Cale collaborating with Bob Neuwirth and David Byrne almost remixed out of existence by Jack Dangers, the latter dovetailing into an early instrumental of The News About William, preceding the vocal version that appeared on Calexico's 2008 album Carried To Dust.

 

Bringing the selection to a close is Irish singer/songwriter Gemma Hayes who I first heard via her cover of Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay in 2004, which I featured with multiple other versions of the song in January this year. Iona features on Gemma's (to date) last album, 2014's Bones + Longing but Gemma's been back on the live circuit this month and is promising new music later in 2022.

 

1) Your Silent Face (Cover of New Order): Fujiya & Miyagi (2011)

2) Ragged Jack: The Badgers (1992)

3) How About It (12" Version By Ben Liebrand & Sander Bos): M.D.M.C. ft. Karin Klare & Margie Davies (1983)

4) History Eraser (10:40's Redacted Dub) (Remix By Jesse Fahnestock): Courtney Barnett (2021)

5) Horror House (Album Version): Psychic TV (1990)

6) Time: Micah Blue Smaldone ft. Colleen Kinsella (2013)

7) Who's In Charge?: John Cale & Bob Neuwirth (1994)

8) Ava (Nu Wage Mix By Jack Dangers): David Byrne (1991)

9) The News About William (Instrumental Version): Calexico (2007)

10) Iona: Gemma Hayes (2014) 

1983: How About It EP: 3

1990: Towards Thee Infinite Beat: 5

1992: Picnic EP: 2

1994: Last Day On Earth: 7

2002: Pro.File 1: Meat Beat Manifesto/Jack Dangers Remix Collection: 8

2007: Tool Box: 9

2011: Power Corruption & Lies Covered (Mojo magazine promo CD): 1

2013: The Ring Of The Rise: 6 

2014: Bones + Longing: 10

2021: Left Behind Blues EP: 4

 

In My Dreams (45:25)