Again and again and again (and again). Five more, same as last time (and the time before) five more music things, another five? Already? Alright already? You never answered the question, you never do, why is that? Poor what? Who? Where’s did we put the plot? Dive? Five more pieces of earfood? Shall we do it again? Back to back to back being back to the five musical things thing and the fractured music portal yet again (and again and again) and yeah, we did say all this last week and this is a test and the weeks before and blah blah blah while the whole world window and no, we never do and the proof of the pudding and all that proof reading. It doesn’t really matter if it was a television fizzing and going off and things back then when we first heard of the Window going off and things. and like we did ask last time, does anyone bother reading the editorial? Does anyone ever actually look down the rabbit hole or is it all just method acting? Cut to the chase, there’s loads of music further down the page, well five or so pieces of music, cut to the damn chase again. This can’t go on for much longer

This five musical things thing is mostly about just that, five musical things that have passed by in the last few days, five sound bites, five slices of musical information along with those oh so vital vital links and signposts staring back and making that hissing noise. You do read all this right? You did read that bit about Bandcamp Friday last time? I see Bandcamp Friday is coming up again. Enough of this, cut the crap you say, I know, on with the music, here comes whatever we have for you this time around, the low spark of high rise whatever… Let the music do the talking, here’s some Stuff and stuff

1: The Fourth World Quartet – “The brothers Miller grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They came of age during the Summer of Love. By 1969 they were engaged in freeform rock improvisations and started their first all-original rock band Sproton Layer. During this time, they would see the MC5 at a free concert in the afternoon, then head over to the University of Michigan New Music department to hear Stockhausen at night.  In 1975 the three brothers attended a small Art School. The Fourth World Quartet, with school-mate Jack Waterstone rounding out the quartet, was born out of their mash-up of colliding interests in free improvisation, classical music and jazz. All members composed, ranging from fully scored pieces to graphic scores. Laurence arranged the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s “Tnoona” for the group and Roger arranged the main theme from Igor Stravinsky’s mini-opera “Renard the Fox”. The boundaries were wide open.  In a few months the band put together this repertoire, a testament to focus and extreme creative activity. If they only played two shows and lasted only a very short time, the connections into the future were many. Included here are two songs by Roger that would later appear on the first Birdsongs of the Mesozoic record in 1983. By 1977 punk rock had kicked in, and Laurence (guitar) and Benjamin (alto sax) went back to their rock roots and joined the Detroit punk band Destroy All Monsters which included Ron Ashton from the Stooges and Michael Davis from the MC5. In 1979, Roger co-formed Mission of Burma in Boston, which went on to be very influential on the indie rock movement”.

This is never-before heard music from a pivotal time period.  Recorded March 1975 at Thomas Jefferson College, Allendale, Michigan.. Released June 25, 2021

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2: Boo Hiss – There’s a new video, a piece of eye candy t ogo with a track from the recent ‘Sike Roc’, out now on cassette and digital (as I;m sure the label wish us ot tel lyou. Here’s the Bandcamp, we much prefer Bandcamp to most other options don’t you? Or you could go to the label (anything but Spotify)

Hey, look, here’s the entire Boo Hiis album, we have posted it before, I do suspect you’re not always paying attention though. We’re always bumping into people who say things like “I wish you still did the Organ, I really miss it” Do like this Boo Hiss album, in another time in a universel long since lost it might have been for sale at Club Dog as a Better Days cassette and Monkey Pilot would be fielding questions about what he was playing in the Poodle Lounge of the George Robey. Don’t yer miss the daze of the dog.. Boo Hiss, could be this year’s Evil Edna’s Horror Toilet maybe? Well probably not, need more dub for that but you knowwhat we’re saying, Nodin’s Ictus maybe?

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“Boo Hiss? “Godfather of Beat Punk and long time Deathbomb Arc collaborator Todd Drootin (aka Books on Tape) has worked under many aliases over the years. In the recent ones, the name Boo Hiss was forged and seen frequently for testing out Todd’s wilder ideas and for collaborations with folks like True Neutral Crew and SHADI.

Now, the first official Boo Hiss album is here. Centered around explorations of techniques and styles that Todd considered outside of his normal range and instincts, this exploration finds him thriving in the unknown. The results are a far cry from the bouncing pop of Books on Tape, relishing in hard to grasp blends of 90s indie rock, shoegaze, minimalist noise and anything else Todd’s subconscious manifested. Even decades into his career, Todd has found a way to make something with the freshness and audacity of a “first album”, via Boo Hiss ‘Sike Roc.

3: Pretty Picture – The cynical smile within me is yelling oh come on, another Seaford Idles, the 47th “hot new take” the music industry has “introduced” to us so far this year, this lot are from Bristol, do they have to wait in line, do they want to wait in line. I could be udle here, Idols? Idles?

“Bristol punks The Pleasure Dome are back today with scathing new single, “Pretty Picture”. Somewhat at odds with its title, it paints an ugly scene of narcissism as currency, presented in a world where pride has become interchangeable with vanity. Through three short minutes the four-piece channel a raw and direct energy, in which “Pretty Picture” not only screams their distrust of social media’s curated lifestyles, but also begs for self-reflection as a way to break the harmful cycles it can be all too easy to fall into. It is part bitter rebuke, part message of self-love.

“Maybe I’m a narcissist / Maybe I can’t see
That all my best traits / Are my insecurities”

Kind of like them, kind of really want to not like them, kind of want do really like them, is there any substance, is there more than jumping on the latest bandwagon? Does’nt everyone jump on a bandwagon? They;re certainly not making empty noise, they certainly have something to say, maybe? They’re certinly worth our time and space and we are picky about our time and sapce

“Pretty Picture” was record live with producer Theo Verney (TRAAMS, Pip Blom, Egyptian Blue) who masterfully captures the band’s bludgeoning, caustic and vitriolic tongue. Several of singer and guitarist Bobby Spender’s lyrics are heavy with the weight of reality. “How can we dream when we don’t sleep ourselves” speaks to the idea of lost ambition, as we attach our self-worth to unrealistic levels of adoration. His repeated questioning of “What really happened?” points to how the way in which we portray ourselves online can often mask our truth. It’s a song of whirlwind intensity, harnessed into stunning clarity. Spender comments further:

“Self love is important. It’s important for our mental health, our relationships and even to our dreams and ambitions. Sometimes you wonder if anyone will love you, first love yourself. “Pretty Picture” is inspired by everything from the nursery rhyme, ‘Mary Mary Quite Contrary’ to Show Me The Body, Metronomy’s album ‘Nights Out’ and The Beatles the song ‘Taxman’ – it presents the idea of people’s desire to share their lives on social media, with their superficial sand castles soon lost to the scrolling tide. Their carefully crafted content is gone in a moment – does this impact the self, is it healthy, is personal social media contrary to the reason we do it? It explores these ideas of narcissism by looking inwards at the self, the way we give meaning to our own image based on our experience, how we can be blind to aspects of our personality which are clear to others.”

4: Bram Weijters’ Crazy Men – We’ll park this video here for now and we’ll tell you the rest of the album is just as good as this track. Here’s some information, we’ll be along with more in a couple of days..

“Bram Weijters’ Crazy Men is are thrilling take on Belgian jazz-rock and fusion from the 1970s. Consisting of musicians from a wide array of contemporary jazz bands including Lucid Lucia (ex BRZZVLL), Dans Dans, STUFF. and Cargo Mas, the ensemble is led by Antwerp based piano and keyboard player, Bram Weijters. The spark for this very special collaborative project was ignited by the reissue of composer, arranger, pianist, and keyboardist Koen de Bruyne’s 1974 rare Belgian gem, ‘Here Comes the Crazy Man!’ via Sdban Records in 2015, which spawned the release of Bram Weijters’ Crazy Men’s debut album ‘Here They Come’ in 2019.

 Continuing their obsession with premium experimental jazz-rock, ‘The Return’ (released 27th August via Sdban Ultra) takes further inspiration from the period with 14 reworking’s of compositions from artists including Philip Catherine, Placebo, Palle Mikelborg ensemble, Bob Porter, Cos and Koen de Bruyne. But this is no lazy rehash, copy or rip-off. Pyschedelic, free-spirited and infectiously groovy, ‘The Return’ perfectly captures the inspiring crossover energy that seemed to prevail in the Belgian jazz scene of the 70s.

To celebrate the official album announcement, Bram Weijters’ Crazy Men are pleased to share ‘Planes’ (released today), the first single take from the new album released at the end of August. “While the song ‘Planes’ is based on Placebo’s 1972 live performance, this ‘Planes (intro)’ is based on the studio version of the piece ‘Planes’ from Placebo’s album ‘Ball of Eyes’ (1971). We converted the original intro from that studio version to a short moody trumpet feature, somewhat with a nod to Miles Davis’ ‘Sketches of Spain’. The reason for this, as you can hear in the sample used for the intro, is that composer Marc Moulin was president of the Belgian Miles Davis fan club as well.”

And while we’re here let us fil lthis gap between to pieces of visual whatever with some words that break them up and make the page far easier to digest…Flow is important don’t you think? This Bram Weijters’ Crazy Men certainly flows, I’ll save it for the review…

5: Tony Riparetti – Yes, it does sound like a classic 80’s film soundreack, but then again, that’s what it is, a film soundrack that is, very much from 1997 though, tick tock, it even has a touch of the In the Air Tonight drum break, with Something Wicked This Way Comes – actually this is brillaint and variety is the spice of life. Let it flow now, this is a film soundtrack, that second track is a piece of 80’s pop rock goodness, and is that third track a classic power ballad? This is excellent actually, I love this kind of thing, Days of Thunder theme tine good, must find out about the film now…

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It goes it goes it goes like this…

“Known best for his work scoring the majority of Albert Pyun’s films, Tony Riparetti has always blended elements of new wave synth and guitars, and soaring drums into his compositions for a signature sound integral to Pyun’s style. Deathbomb Arc is very excited to present the score to ‘Crazy Six’ (1997) to the world for the first time ever – on both vinyl and digital formats. The sound sets the tone for this extremely 90s slice of action, bathed in dream-like, melodramatic eroticism.

The first 50 copies of the vinyl edition includes a bonus CD of Riparetti’s score to the Albert Pyun film ‘The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper’ (2014).

About the film: The Eastern Bloc has fallen and Communism is dead. In its place has come new opportunity’s – but not without a deadly price. Powerful Mafia families have emerged from the anarchy to compete for the lucrative underground weapons and technology trade. Lowlife drug addict Billie aka Crazy Six (Lowe) and Arabic-French gangster Mao (Mario Van Peebles) are the leaders of two rivalling mob families, who agree to form an uneasy alliance in order to overthrow drug lord Raul (Ice-T). However, when Mao double crosses him, Crazy Six finds himself on the run from the Mafia, with a US federal agent (Reynolds) as his only ally”

Shall we stretch to six?

6: Prune Deer – a sixth, well why not, here’s a slice or two of rather relaxing Prune Deer playing in some trees…

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And while we’re here, back in the last century and Club Dog and Better Days and,,,