Mix CD #44 - The Dancing Dolls Of Porcelain

Greetings fair wanderer. Come in and rest yourself awhile by the fire, yon minstrels shall strum you a most soothing roundelay.

That is to say, there's the 44th mixblog thing I've done. There's no theme again this month, I did think it might be a good cover and title for an all women blog as I've been fancying doing that theme for a while but, well, I didn't. 

Like the last blog, there's music from several countries featured, almost definitely Canada for sure this time. There's stuff from Denmark, The Netherlands, Australia, Japan, and Greece as well the usuals.
There's a few longer songs this time too, which is good for me as it means less writing.

I'll be starting work on the next blog (Just Some Kid On A BIke) in the next day or so and hopefully, I'll have it out on time for next month.

Until then, take care!
Cheers,
Luke
x

Tracklisting
Bitter Ruin - The Dancing Dolls Of Porcelain
Devin Townsend - Gulag
Woodshed - Til The Cows Come Home
Barb Wire Dolls - Darby Crash
ACxDC - Hipler Youth
Hilltop Howlers - Big Love
King Buffalo - Eye Of The Storm
Lovebites - Warning Shot
Caligula's Horse - Fill My Heart
Jukebox The Ghost - Under My Skin
Gin Annie - Damage
3 Headed Giant - Caught By Surprise
Crystal Knight - Sweet Dream Maker
The Dagg Nabbit Stubbs - Tractor Pull 
Flora Greysteel - Use Your Words
Crosslight - Fighting For What?
Lullwater - Fight Of Your Life
Frank Zappa - Trouble Every Day (Live)

 You can download the mix from HERE should that be your wont.



Bitter Ruin - The Dancing Dolls Of Porcelain
Taken from the 2010 mini-album Hung, Drawn & Quartered

This Dark Cabaret duo have been quiet for the last few years to the point where I thought they'd called it a day. Then, last month they announced a brand new song, Caution To The Wind. It's good to have them back! 
I've picked The Dancing Dolls Of Porcelain for a couple of reasons though, first and foremost, it's a really good song. Ben and Georgia play off each other well, it has an intriguing, jerky rhythm and a faintly creepy melody and a lyrics about falling in line with Societal and Governmental requirements without question. 
The other reason I picked it was because I felt it fit the cover photo well. I love that in a time when women were expected to exude decorum, be beautiful and all that "Lie back and think of England" malarkey, these girls were instead hidden on a rooftop, thumping the living shite out of each other and there's a whole different notion of beauty in that I feel.

Devin Townsend - Gulag
Taken from the 2019 album Empath: Tests Of Manhood

Devin has just released his umpteenth album, Empath and it's a gloriously ambitious, sprawling piece of Progressive Metal. It's full of choirs, orchestras and epic soundscapes. Reviews have either called it a work of staggering genius or an awful mess. Personally, I love it and think it's one of the best things he's ever done. 
As he has tended to do with his last few albums, the deluxe edition come with a second disc of Demo songs and Empath is no different. All 10 of the songs on that disc are excellent and probably aren't what most people would call a demo, I wouldn't have been able to tell if it didn't say (demo) in brackets on the CD. Gulag is one of the highlights on it and, while it may be simplistic in comparison to the tracks on the first disc, it's still an atmospheric, beautiful piece of music with a fine riff and a comparatively restrained vocal from Devin.

Woodshed - Til The Cows Come Home
Taken from the 2019 album Between The Dreams

Woodshed are a Grungy, Hard Rock trio from Washington (the US state not the North Eastern UK town) and have a bit of swampy, Southern Rock about them in places. Til The Cows Come home is quite a pacy track that kicks off with some talkbox guitar (Tommy used to work on the docks...) and features a lively boogie riff as well as Vocalist/guitarist, Hunter Venturo's impressive, wailing voice. This sounds like a classic nineties Seattle song, not something released this year. I mean that in a good way.

Barb Wire Dolls - Darby Crash
Taken from the 2016 album Desperate

This Glam Punk band from Greece first came to my attention when my mate Chris put on one of their gigs a couple of years ago. Being the crap friend I am, I did not attend. But I have since listened to the band and they're actually pretty damn good so I'm kicking myself for not going. 
Darby Crash is a snarling, sleaze of a song, I really like that "Let me hear your secret" pre-chorus part. Vocalist iQueen has a perfect voice for this sort of music and I think they'd be fantastic live. Which I would know for definite if I'd bothered to go.
Darby Crash was the singer of the Punk band, The Germs. He killed himself back in 1980 at the ripe old age of 22.

ACxDC - Hipler Youth
Taken from the 2014 album Antichrist Demoncore

ACxDC are a Californian Grindcore band with elements of Powerviolence and Crust Punk to their sound. Unlike a lot of Grindcore bands who scream through songs, ACxDC occasionally slow it down a bit and chuck in some impressive Hardcore beatdown riffs. I say slow it down, they're still pretty breakneck and the entire album is done with after just over 20 minutes. This album is almost five years old now so a new one wouldn't go amiss.

Hilltop Howlers - Big Love

Taken from the 2019 album Gloria

 This album popped up on one of the... differently legal download sites I peruse and I gave it a listen on a whim, not really knowing what to expect from this Dutch band. It turned out to be an extremely enjoyable blend of Country and Blues Rock. In hindsight, I guess that's obvious looking at the band name. Anyway, Big Love is one of my favourites on Gloria and its massive chorus has been stuck in my head for a while now.

 King Buffalo - Eye Of The Storm
Taken from the 2018 album Longing To Be The Mountain

 I've been meaning to include this song on the last few blogs but it's hard fitting in a song that's just shy of ten minutes sometimes and I've ended up booting it. Until now. 
Longing To Be A Mountain was released towards the tail end of last year and is an excellent album. Unfortunately, I didn't get it listened to enough to include in my AOTY blog, which is a shame as I think it would have been pretty high, King Buffalo play a laid back, almost Post Rock, psychedelic take on Stoner Rock. Eye Of The Storm is reflective, immersive and a gorgeous song. When the heavy parts do eventually kick in, they are that much more effective. I really like this track, despite being pretty long it doesn't feel like it's outstaying it's welcome at all.

Lovebites - Warning Shot
Taken from the 2017 album Awakening From Abyss

As you can probably tell from the above photo, Lovebites are an all-female band from Japan. Less obvious is the fact they're a great Heavy Metal band in the vein of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest etc. Warning Shot is built around an impressive, shredding riff that speeds along and gets your head nodding. I particularly like when it changes up in the last 30 seconds or so. The drums are also really good on this track too, I love that powerful, galloping beat and also that it comes from such a tiny little person!

Caligula's Horse - Fill My Heart
Taken from the 2017 album In Contact

Caligula's Horse are a Progressive Metal band from Australia and plow a furrow that lies somewhere between Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree, heavier than the latter but not as metal as the former. There are touches of Maynard James Keenan in Jim's voice too. 
In Contact was their most recent album and is a couple of years old now, I think the band have gone through a couple of line up changes during that so maybe there's something new due soon? Dunno. 
Anyway, Fill My Heart seems to be about, and there may some underlying metaphor that I'm missing completely, two estranged brothers and the lamenting thereof. It starts gentles then ebbs and flows as it meanders along gracefully. That chorus about mountains and fountains is subtle but once it's sunk into your noggin it isn't going anywhere.

Jukebox The Ghost - Under My Skin
Taken from the 2008 album Live & Let Ghosts

I lost touch with this Power Pop/Piano Pop band a while ago. I had a couple of their albums and then, because of technology being the way it is, I didn't anymore. I stumbled across the 2019 rerelease of their last album, Off To The Races recently, I enjoyed that and tracked down their older albums again. Maybe I should have included a more recent song but this quirky little track was always one I loved. Jukebox The Ghost are very similar to Ben Folds, maybe a little derivative of him at times but all their albums are enjoyable and worth a listen.

Gin Annie - Damage
Taken from the 2019 album 100% Proof

Gin Annie are a Hard Rock band from the Midlands and released their debut album, 100% Proof, back in January. Though they're not the most cutting edge of bands, they do have some great songs, of which this is my current favourite. I like the stop/start riff in the verse, the chorus is huge and instantly hooky and Dave Foster's voice is smooth and perhaps more understated than others of this genre. 
The song itself is about the dangers of falling for a naughty lady but being unable to help yourself and it feels very much like it would have a video featuring the band driving a convertible Chevrolet down Sunset Strip. Possibly starring, say, Heather Locklear as the aforementioned naughty lady.

3 Headed Giant - Caught By Surprise
Taken from the 2016 album 3 Headed Giant

This French Canadian Alt-Rock band, as far as I can tell, feature no guitar and the music is all just bass and drums. If that is, in fact, the case then, bassist, Gabriel Jetté pulls out all the stops because Caught By Surprise doesn't ever feel like there's something missing, especially not something you'd think was quite important. 
It's a catchy, flamboyant song about finding out ghosts are real the hard way. Unless this is yet another one of those songs that appear to be about one thing but are actually about another but I'm too dense to get it.

Crystal Knight - Sweet Dream Maker
Taken from the 1985 album Crystal Knight

I discovered this Danish NWOBHM* band on an old school Metal group on Facebook. People were laughing at how awful the album cover was but remarking that the music was actually pretty good. It turns out they're right on both accounts. The album cover looks like it was drawn by an averagely talented 13 year old but there are some cracking songs to be had. Sure, they've dated in the 30+ years and the production isn't up to much, but songs like Sweet Dream Maker have a real charm to them and it's worth 3 minutes of your time to listen to it. 
There was actually a (quite cheap) video for this song that you can watch if you want. 
Crystal Knight - Sweet Dream Maker

*I know the B stands for British so they can't technically be NWOBHM but shush.

The Dagg Nabbit Stubbs - Tractor Pull
Taken from the 2011 mini- album The Eagle's Greatest Hits

I had a rough idea because of what's said in the song but I had to Google what Tractor Pulling was before writing this. It turns out that I needn't have bothered because it's tractors. Pulling. It really doesn't seem like my sort of thing.
What is my sort of thing, however, is The Dagg Nabbit Stubbs and their lighthearted brand of chaotic Stoner Rock. There's a large section of Tractor Pull that sees frontman, Sweetwater Jones, impersonating a Tractor Pull host that's often hilarious but, more importantly, this stupid song has had me inadvertently singing "Just gimme some fuckin' coooooorn" at work all week.

Flora Greysteel - Use Your Words
Taken from the 2019 album From The Ground

Flora Greysteel are from my home town of York and are a pair of multi-instrumentalists called Emily and Simon. They dabble in the same kind of Dark Cabaret as The Dresden Dolls and Bitter Ruin (who were the first band on this mix, go scroll up and see) and that sort of ilk.
From The Ground is their debut album which, unfortunately, saw them being another victim of the PledgeMusic debacle and even though they reached their target they've yet to see a penny from Pledge. I hate what's happened with Pledge but I hate that bands like Flora Greysteel have essentially been robbed because of it more. Somehow they've managed to find the money to honour people's purchases so I really hope they get their money back at some point.
Use Your Words was the first track released as a teaser for Pledgers and it's a perfect introduction to the band; a haunting piano-led melody, vocals from both Emily and Simon and lyrics about the breakdown of a relationship due to lack of communication and stubbornness. You can get their album, EP and a couple of other bits and bats from their Bandcamp page HERE


Crosslight - Fighting For What?
Taken from the 2018 album Road To Recovery

I heard this young, Britsh Alt-Rock band on the excellent podcast Down The Front when they played the single Run Into Flowers. I liked that, checked out the album and it's pretty decent! Fighting For What? is one of the standouts on it and lyrically similar to the Flora Greysteel song above but much different in tone and pace. It kicks off with some weird Medieval music that sounds to me like it's taken from an old 90's RPG, like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights or something. All of a sudden, the song proper kicks off with a riffed up version of that melody and we're away into a modern take of Emo Rock. There's elements of My Chemical Romance and maybe early Paramore as well as more current bands like Marmozets. I like the vocal melody that runs through the verses and the chorus is impressively memorable too.

Lullwater - Fight Of Your Life
Taken from the 2019 album Voodoo

This is another band I stumbled across while on one of my many Youtube bumbles. They're from Athens, Georgia and, much like Woodshed featured towards the beginning of this blog, peddle a modern take on Grunge with a few flashes of Southern Rock. While Lullwater have a definite sound of the early 90's it doesn't feel dated or derivative but fresh and vital. 
Fight Of Your Life highlights their strong grasp of melody the band both in the vocals and the music. John Strickland has elements of both Eddie Vedder in his voice, as well as touches of Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland, but still sounds like his own man. 
I can see Voodoo placing quite highly in my AOTY come December as it's a really, really good album.

Frank Zappa - Trouble Every Day (Live)
Taken from the 1986 album Does Humour Belong In Music?

I've always been a fan of Frank but, other than Apostrophe (') and Sheik Yerbouti, I've only ever really had compilations of his stuff. During a quiet weekend at work, I vowed to remedy that and set about downloading his discography. 61 albums and several hours later I had about 70% of his stuff and I was happy to leave it at that! 
Working my way through it all I discovered that A) he has a massive amount of live albums and B) I enjoyed the live stuff more than the studio recordings. It just sounds more alive, like the whole band are playing off each other and all enjoying themselves. Frank frequently adds and changes lyrics as he sees fit. It's no secret he was a phenomenal guitarist but he surrounds himself with a group of top notch musicians that are able to freestyle as much as he does. They're also just as silly.