Mix CD #30 - Who Will Sing Me Lullabies?

So here's the thirtieth blog. Is 30 a milestone? It feels like it should be a milestone. It's certainly a lot. I'd regale you with debauched tales of what I got up to on my 30th birthday, only I haven't a clue what I did, completely forgot. Maybe it's because it was such a wild night but more than likely I just spent it playing Halo. Birthdays are rubbish after about 23 or so anyway.

Yeah anyway, the blog. It's the usual mix of new and old. There's some heavy stuff, some Punk, Indie, a little bit of Folk, an even littler bit of Hip Hop. All just things I've liked and wanted to use. As always, you can read what I have t say about each track below and also download the mix if you want too.

The next blog is gonna be another themed mix I've decided. It's been an age since the last Covers mix and I have a huge batch of prospective tracks to use. I've also got a couple of non themed mixes backed up too so I'm good for the time being at least.

I hope you enjoy this one for now though.

Cheers

Luke

x

Tracklisting

Kate Rusby - Who Will Sing Me Lullabies?

Honeycrack - Sitting At Home

Möngöl Hörde - Blistering Blue Barnacles

The Martin Harley Band - Take What You Want

Antiproduct - Bungee Jumping People Die

Gangstagrass - In My Aching Heart Shadows Linger

Stabbing Westward - Falls Apart

Randy - The Pretender

Knives Out! - Left In The Lurch

The Regrettes - Hey Now

Nural - Not Guilty

Bughead - Monster Truck Monday

Crystal Viper - I Fear No Evil

Josh Woodward - Do Not Go Gentle

Ben Folds - Hiro's Song

Karnivool - The Caudal Lure

Bad Religion - Popular Consensus

Stone Sour - Fabuless

Pulkas - This Is It

Masters Of Reality - Doraldina's Prophecies

You can download the mix HERE as piques your fancy.

Kate Rusby - Who Will Sing Me Lullabies?

Taken From The 2012 Album 20

For some reason, Kate's albums are very difficult to track down on countless shonky download websites and I've only got a couple of her CDs, including this compilation. I'll have to get round to buying some more. Anyway, she's a veteran of the UK folk scene and hails from my native Yorkshire, albeit the West, not North. I think she has a beautiful, understated voice and I love the way her Barnsley accent sometimes slips through. I first thought this was a song about loneliness but it's more about the death of a loved one or parent and the grief we go through afterwards. It also features guest vocals from fellow Folk veteran, Richard Thompson and Phillip Selway (off of that Radiohead)

Honeycrack - Sitting At Home

Taken From The 1995 Album Prozaic

Shortly before The Wildhearts released their second album P.H.U.Q. there was a fair bit of internal strife that ultimately led to guitarist CJ getting the boot. Shortly after he resurfaced, teaming up with another former Wildheart, Willie Dowling, in the excellent Honeycrack. They were stylistically similar to The Wildhearts, though more refined and palatable to the mainstream; they released one of the best (in my opinion) Rock/Punk albums of the 90's before going their separate ways.
Honeycrack's songs were catchy and buoyant but intelligently put together, there's often abrupt time changes and genre shifts within. Willie is also a gifted lyricist, both in the way his songs tell stories and with stand out, one-liners. This song, for example, is about just being happy, minding your own business and not particularly wanting to socialise and the umbrage that people take to that. It features the very enjoyable line "I've only two complaints to make about the way you are, that's all you say and all you do"

Möngöl Hörde - Blistering Blue Barnacles

Taken From The 2014 Album Möngöl Hörde 

Möngöl Hörde are a side project of Frank Turner's and also feature ex-bandmate Ben Dawson from his Million Dead days and Matt Nasir, who is currently a member of Frank's backing band, The Sleeping Souls. Far removed from his usual Indie/Folk/Rock style, they instead offer up an exhilarating blast of angry, though often irreverent, Hardcore Punk. While the focus is obviously squarely on Frank, it's worth noting Matt's guitar work too as it's frequently interesting and impressive. This song is a good example of that. I also like the Tintin reference in the title and, I'm not totally sure about this but, the song seems to be the about Captain Haddock from the Tintin books, one of his many curses was "Billions of blistering blue barnacles!" Even if it's not about him, it's definitely about some bolshy ship's captain or other.
Obviously, they aren't for every Frank Turner fan but I honestly think it's my favourite album he's been involved in and I hope they make a second one.

The Martin Harley Band - Take What You Want

Taken From The 2010 Album Drumrolls For Somersaults

Martin Harley is a British modern Blues musician who specialises in slide guitar. I was introduced to him through a friend earlier in the year and I'm currently enjoying his music very much. I generally prefer the more uptempo songs like Take What You Want but all of his albums are quite varied in tone and are quality listens. He doesn't seem to have recorded anything for a while and I'm not sure what he's up to but hopefully, something is on the way soon.

Antiproduct - Bungee Jumping People Die

Taken From The 2000 Album Consume And Die...

Not to be confused with the US Crust Punk band, Antiproduct, this Antiproduct are/were a London based, dayglo Glam Rock band. They've been very quiet for a good while now and I dunno if they're even still together. They released a couple of great albums at the turn of the millennium, with Consume And Die... being their debut. I saw them live a couple of times and they were fantastic. This song is probably one of their most well known, relatively speaking, so maybe I should have picked a more obscure tune. I love it a lot though and it's been buzzing round my head for a while now. It's a subtle, intricate song with an outstanding chorus and it's maybe not a song you'd expect from a band looking as they do.

Gangstagrass - In My Aching Heart Shadows Linger

Taken From The 2010 Album Lightning On The Strings, Thunder On The Mic

Gangstagrass, as you might figure out by their name, are a fusion of Bluegrass and Hip Hop, the two supposedly diametrically opposed styles blend seamlessly and sound so natural together. In My Aching Heart Shadows Linger is a poignant account of a young man's last conversation with his older brother who, shortly after, is shot and killed by an unknown assailant. They've had a couple of albums since this one but this song cropped up on shuffle a while ago and I've been meaning to put it on a mix for a while now, I really like it.

Stabbing Westward - Falls Apart

Taken From The 1996 Album Wither, Blister, Burn & Peel

I've been listening to this Industrial band again quite a bit lately and I'd forgotten how good this and its follow up, Darkest Days were. At the time they were often derided as a Nine Inch Nails rip off which I always thought was a bit unfair. Of course there were similarities but there were plenty of other bands ploughing that particular field that didn't get half the grief Stabbing Westward did. I think they were just picked on because they had a pretty boy singer. It certainly wasn't the music, which I thought was mostly great. they split up around 2002 though have been playing a few reunion shows of late. Three of the band members also currently play in The Dreaming who, unsurprisingly, sound pretty similar to Stabbing Westward.

Randy - The Pretender

Taken From The 2005 Album Randy The Band

This Swedish band released half a dozen albums between 1994 and 2005 that, aside from the first two, combined the cheery Garage Rock of bands like The Hives with some snarling Punk bite. This was their final album but, like Stabbing Westward above, they have recently reformed for some shows. The Pretender is a short burst of energy with a big, infectious chorus and is about someone who refuses to join in, take sides and makes out like they're living free.

Knives Out! - Left In The Lurch

Taken From The 2016 Album Left In The Lurch

Knives Out! are a collaboration between members of Dog Fashion Disco and Nothingface, among others. Whereas Dog Fashion Disco (and their sister band Polkadot Cadaver) explore a Progressive, Avant-garde style, Knives Out! are a much more straightforward Alternative Metal band. 
That said, with Todd and Jasan involved they were never going to be another Godsmack and still take a few interesting twists and turns. Personally, I think Todd is one of the best Metal vocalists around at the moment and given that this song is built around a massive, lurching (ha) riff means that I like it very much.

The Regrettes - Hey Now

Taken From The 2017 Album Feel Your Feelings Fool!

I stumbled onto this young Indie Rock band from LA through youtube a couple of weeks ago, watched a few videos and liked them all. Their recently released debut album is full of chirpy little gems like this one. Considering the fact that Singer/guitarist Lydia Night is only 16 they show a lot of promise and are worth checking out if you like the wry wit of Hey Now.

Nural - Not Guilty

Taken From The 2005 Album The Weight Of The World

Once again, this is another CD I dragged down out of the attic and gave another listen. They're an Emo/Post Hardcore band and while they're very much of their time, The Weight Of The World is still a quality album. There's some great songs and Kyle Castellani had a decent pair of lungs on him. This song about a messy break up is a highlight of the album for me.

According to wikipedia they've long since split up but did release another album after this one though I've not had an awful lot of luck tracking it down. 

Bughead - Monster Truck Monday

Taken From The 2002 Album Whiskey, Eggs & Bacon

Back in the late 90's I used to buy a load of CDs by unsigned, independent artists via CD Baby, often without hearing anything by them first. I mention this as one of the bands I discovered this way was Bughead, a soulful Ska Punk band from Florida. I've got four of their CDs with this being the last. As far as I'm aware, they're still together so I dunno why there's not been any more new music in the last fifteen years. I hope I haven't missed a ton of albums! Anyway, this song is about eating leftovers the day after a barbecue. It's possible there might be a deeper meaning to it but I think I'd rather it was just a song about day old chicken.

Crystal Viper - I Fear No Evil

Taken From The 2017 Album Queen Of The Witches

Crystal Viper are a Metal band from Poland and tread the line between Power Metal and classic, Heavy Metal. Vocalist/guitarist, Marta Gabriel is an obvious focal point in this kind of music but she's more than got the chops to hold her own, she's a great singer and songwriter and throughout their seven albums are loads of memorable songs. Her Polish accent comes through strongly in her voice but personally I think it suits this kind of music well. I Fear No Evil is a joyous blast of Metal and the lyrics are awash with flames and demons, just as they should be. 

Josh Woodward - Do Not Go Gentle

Taken From The 2016 Album Unreleased

There's a guy I know whose wife recently went into hospital complaining of stomach pains, she eventually had it diagnosed as Cancer and, around three weeks later, she passed away. This alone is a horrific situation for him and his kids to be in but throw in credit card fraud, struggling to find enough to pay bills and all the other shit he's been thrown means that going through a tough time is an understatement. On top of that people seem to be criticising the way he's dealing with grief and his parenting, which seems very poor form to me. I can't begin to imagine how hard it is to go through and I think he's coping as well as anyone could hope, folk should either help or keep their noses out.

The reason I bring him up is this song came up on shuffle this weekand it's a moving song about watching the one you love battling a terminal illness and willing them to fight, even though they're quite clearly losing. It's a sad song at the best of times but doubly so when it's relatable. It's not actually a finished song, coming from his collection of demo's, but it seems finished enough to me.

I don't want to mention him by name but I'd like to dedicate this to him and his family, offer condolences and pray to whoever listens that they get through it. I guess he, or others who know him, will know who I mean if/when they read this. Take care, mate.

Ben Folds - Hiro's Song

Taken From The 2001 Album Rockin' The Suburbs

This tale of midlife crisis is a jaunty, cheerful song about a middle aged chap (called Hiro) who leaves his wife for his much younger secretary. She gets him to dress younger and go to clubs etc. Around the time he realises he 's not as comfortable with it as he thought she in turn, leaves him for a younger guy. It was originally a bonus track on some versions of his debut solo album, the fantastic Rockin' The Suburbs, though not on my copy, I had to steal it off of the internet.

Karnivool - The Caudal Lure

Taken From The 2009 Album Sound Awake

A caudal lure is the use of a wobbly tail to trick smaller predators into thinking it's prey, like a rattlesnake for example. Of course I knew this already and in no way had to Google first. 
Karnivool are an Australian Progressive Rock band that have been knocking around for a while now. their earlier stuff is pretty heavier but they've shifted gradually towards more atmospheric introspection of late. This song falls somewhere in between.

Bad Religion - Popular Consensus

Taken From The 2013 Album True North

I've been meaning to include this track on a mix for about six months now but it keeps getting passed over for one reason or another. This time I had 2 minutes to spare so it fitted neatly in. It's about how just because something is widely regarded as the truth doesn't necessarily mean it is and was one of my favourite tracks off their last album.

Stone Sour - Fabuless

Taken From The 2017 Album Hydrograd

Hydrograd is the new album from Stone Sour, Corey Taylor off of Slipknot's other band. He was singing its praises as the most amazing album ever and how pleased with it he was. Admittedly it is pretty good but I'm not so sure it's as Earth shattering as he made out. Still, there are some great songs on it including this one. I particularly enjoyed the references to both Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones in the pre-chorus. Its actual chorus is pretty memorable too.

Pulkas - This Is It

Taken From The 1998 Album Greed

Much Like Nural, this is another CD dusted off and given another listen. This British band were hailed as bright new stars destined for great things when Greed was released. Unfortunately, they were involved in a load of record label bother and eventually split up to not much fanfare. At the time I thought it was a disappointing album and didn't rate it at all but A few people have mentioned it as a great, forgotten album of late so I thought I'd give it another try. Turns out t's a lot better than I remember! They played energetic Hardcore influenced Nu-Metal, maybe a touch of Prog Metal in there too. Luke Lloyd's vocals are slightly accented which give it an almost Post Punk feel too. This particular song has a relentless, urgent riff running through it and doesn't let up the pace until it comes to a crashing end.

Masters Of Reality - Doraldina's Prophecies

Taken From The 1989 Album The Blue Garden

You know how songs sometimes evoke memories every time you listen to them? Images of a certain place where you listened to it first, maybe. Perhaps it's the song playing when you met your lover and so forth. Doraldina's Prophecies, for whatever reason, reminds me of being in assembly at Infant school. I left it and started Junior school in 1986 so why this song would evoke memories of something at least five years before it was released I dunno. It curiouses me. 

You'll find that golden little anecdote spellbindingly interesting I'm sure.

The song itself is a creepy, piano led tune with a spoken word intro from the viewpoint of a fortune telling machine, like Zoltar speaks in the movie, Big.That one with Tom Hanks in it.

It wasn't originally on The Blue Garden but on a Def American album sampler called Til Def Us Do Part (that also featured Slayer, Danzig, The Four Horsemen, Trouble, The Black Crowes and Wolfsbane) though it did appear on the reissue a year later.