Where were we? Asked that the time before last time, enough of that and on with the music and the going off and things (and how good was it) and what we said last time or last week or last year, you’ve read all this already, never mind the damn editorial, cut to the chase and never mind the biscuits or the dogfish, just jump down past this bit, who needs an editorial? Jump past and let the actual music do the actual walking and the actual talking. Exact same thing again, another five (or so) slices of musical things that have passed our way recently and however you like to slice it and of course it was the price of apples and here comes the intro, Don’t be flippant she said, how could it ever be flippant? I can’t remember why she said that now, in one ear, out the other, “Gawd, is Organ still going?”

Five? There’s something rather compelling about five. Cross-pollination? Five more? Is there another way? A better way? A cure for pulling flying rabbits out of the clouds? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever a reason? What do reasons make? Five more? Snake oil? Everything must go and same as last time (and the time before that) five, and no, we never do and the proof of the pudding is in that proof reading. When we started this thing, oh never mind, it doesn’t matter why we started this damn thing and like we asked last time, does anyone bother reading the editorial? Does anyone ever actually look down the rabbit hole or is it all just method acting? We do really try to listen to everything that comes in, we do it so you don’t have to, we are very (very) very very picky about what we actually post on these fractured pages or about what gets played on the radio or indeed what we hang in a gallery. Cut to the chase, never mind the editorial, there’s loads of music further down the page, well five or so pieces of music that have come our way in the last few days and cut cut slash and cut it, who needs an editorial or words or worms in general? What’s Wordsworth? Just facts and links and sounds then. Here you go, play the music, grab your five, eat your greens, go eat some art, go eat some fresh music and don’t forget whatever it was we said last time…

Here we go again, five slices of music that have recently come our way, in no particular order, starting somewhere out there in New York City this time or are the Luttenbachers concidered a Chicago band now?

1: The Flying Luttenbachers – This just in via an ever shouty Weasel Walter “Yeah, suprise, this is not the new Flying Luttenbachers album (that comes this summer), but, this thing is landing soon – limited to 100 digipak CDRS in physical form btw”. The actual new Luttenbachers album, Losing the War Inside Our Heads arrives this Summer 2024, in the meantime, this raw and raucous EP hits the streets running as a limited to 100 copies release. As is almost always the case, Bandcamp is your place…

“Spectral Warrior Mythos 2” is the first serious documentation of the transition from the 2017 reincarnation of The Flying Luttenbachers as a New York City based unit to a Chicago band after Weasel Walter relocated in 2021. It wasn’t an easy transition, but then again, this project was never about taking the easy way out. (And, yes, WW switched from drums to guitar years ago.) A call rang out for new superheroes and veteran drummer Charlier Werber (he of units like Lovely Little Girls and Guzzlemug) heeded the call, lending his fastidious dexterity to the music. The band went through a series of bass players (including two alumni!) before landing on wildman jazz/metal shredder Luke Polipnick (of Abhorrent Expanse as well as modeling a wide array of other musical bags and hats). The trio hunkered down, playing sporadic gigs and honing the arrangements presented here. After years of service to this infernal hoard, Charlie is moving on and succeeding the drum throne to James Paul Nadien, who will debut with the Luttenbachers on the upcoming tour with Melt-Banana (dates on the Bandcamp page). Spectral Warrior Mythos 2 is a powerful display of Walter/Polipnick/Werber on fire, live in the studio, with no overdubs. The band knows these labyrinthine structures inside and out, and they pounce like panthers on and around the grid with the destruktiv zeal which is The Flying Luttenbachers landmark”.

We do love those Luttenbachers, whoever is in the band, we always have loved them since they first landed in the Organ office without any warning back in the last century. Previous Organ coverage

2: John Cale – Shark-Shark from the upcoming album POPtical Illusion out 14th June 2024 on Double Six / Domino – more here in terms of where you get your mits on it should you require. Sounding pretty damn good to me, dare I say sounding as good as ever?

3: Paddan and a track (and a rather fine video) from Icelandic duo Paddan’s (members of Sugarcubes, KUKL) new EP, a track from their s/t EP out on Lovitt Records…

Paddan, the dynamic Icelandic duo captivating audiences with their unique sound, will release their debut EP, Fluid Time, on Friday, May 10 via Lovitt Records. The EP arrives after the release of acclaimed pre-release singles “Splash” and “Bug.”

Paddan are also releasing a band-created video for their single “Splash”.  Reflecting on the inspiration behind “Splash,” Sigtryggur Baldursson, one-half of Paddan, shares, “‘Splash’ is a track that quickly had a clear line of direction. It is built on a groove that reflects our influences from the electric funk jazz of the early 70s, which we both spent hours listening to in our early teens in Kópavogur. ‘Splash’ became an ode to those times, and we were fortunate to have our friend Eirikur Orri bring his trumpet to the recording session, resulting in a memorable performance.”

Paddan’s Sigtryggur Baldursson and Birgir Mogensen are lifelong friends from Kópavogur, Iceland, who started as mates on the local football team, then graduated to making music together as teenagers, and even later as young men doing time in the experimental punk collective KUKL, from 1983 – 1986. KUKL was populated by survivors of the post-punk scene in Iceland in the early 80s, which is well documented in the film Rock in Reykjavik from 1982. The band was released by the Crass collective in London and featured members, apart from Birgir and Sigtryggur, like Guðlaugur Óttarsson, Einar Melax, Björk and Einar Örn, some of whom would become better known later in outfits like the Sugarcubes and their respective solo work and other collaborations. Sigtryggur has a long career in music, having worked with among others, Emiliana Torrini, Howie B, Les Negresses Vertes, Tomas R. Einarsson, Petur Ben, KK, Kaktus Einarsson, and many many others. He also produces an award-winning documentary music show for RUV called Hljómskálinn.

Birgir Mogensen is a classically trained classical guitarist and bass player who has worked through the years with artists ranging from KUKL to Killing Joke to Spilafifl and Inferno5.
 
Birgir and Sigtryggur formed Paddan during the 2010s, and are now preparing to release their EP Fluid Time, which has been inspired by their perception of time and space. Birgir Mogensen says, “As a duo, we trusted our musical  intuition and were guided by allowing the first idea to remain unchanged during the recording process”

Recorded, produced, and arranged by the pair, Sigtryggur and Birgir play basses and drums along with various other instruments. All recordings are played on live instruments except a modular synth which is programmed in the background of two tracks  The duo is joined by the great harmonica and lap steel player Gaukur Davidsson on “Vaguely” and “Bug,” and trumpet player Eirikur Orri Ólafsson on “Splash,” not to mention the mixing expertise of Vaccines bassist Arni Hjörvar Árnason on “Bug,” “Splash,” and “Kokka,” and sound-mixer Albert Finnbogason on “Vaguely.”

Fluid Time will be released on May10th by Washington D.C.-based label Lovitt Records, who first met Sigtryggur at the annual Iceland Airwaves festival and bonded over a mutual love of music regardless of genre or decade.

4: Bed Maker – They are are Jeff Barsky, Amanda MacKaye, Arthur Noll & Vin Novara, they say that “separately, we have done a lot and now, together, we are doing this”. They are indeed doing this thing over in Washington D.C, this being their band and this excellent track being a fine first taste of the new album due out at the end of May, it does all the talking. Once again Bandcamp (rather than Space) is the place…

5: Fältsånger, so we’re told, have quite a history, indeed quite a history with us here at Organ, they’ve evolved out of a band called Frog, a band that some might remember from way back there. Here’s their Linktree and latest rather refreshing release. “Blending guitar-infused electronica with snatches of beauty before setting it adrift in a sea of psychedelic improvisation”. Their latest album came out in late 2023…. As always Bandcamp will offer you more

5: Dermabrasion – Let’s have another one, John Cale doesn’t really need out support does he. Toronto death rockers Dermabrasion released their debut full-length Pain Behaviour earlier this year via Hand Drawn Dracula. Today they are sharing a new video for album standout track Grim Sister and also announce a run of Irish tour dates in Dublin on May 22nd, Cork on May 24th and Belfast on may 31st.

“The driving beat and electronic post-punk of Grim Sister lines up somewhere between the intensity of Alien Sex Fiend and the bravado of Motorhead. The raw vocal energy builds with the intensity of the band’s pounding drums and delivers a distinct and commanding sound. The track can flow next to Ministry’s Halloween, Boy Harsher’s Pain, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult’s After the Flesh or any mixtape built for underground dance clubbing after midnight”. So reads the press release. Did Motorhead have bravado? Do Dermabrasion have more? I guess we could head over to Bandcamp yet again and check out the album, here’s the one track, you know if you want to go find out more or not, we’ll try and find some time to explore it in a bit, there is never the time…

And while we’re here, in memory of the last of the legends that were and always will be the MC5, in memory of Dennis ‘Machine Gun’ Thompson. It never gets any more that rock ‘n roll than peak MC5 in full flow

I mean come on, does it get any better?

On we go….