Crow, Moth

One black and one white

One flies by day, one by moonlight

The crow and the moth

Pills 'N' Thrills and Bellyaches by Happy Mondays

The Happy Mondays will be forever associated with a particular year in musical history and it’s not 1990’s Madchester. Rather, it’s 1971 with their iconic cover of Step On by John Kongos as well as numerous other riffs and motifs from that pivotal year. It’s slightly sobering to realise that there is a longer gap between the release of this album and today, than there was between then and the era that Shaun Ryder was gleefully plundering for ideas.

Does it hold up? Well, kind of. The rhythms and dance beats get the job done, Ryder’s nasal Manc drawl is as irritating as ever, but we never did find out what ‘Twisting my melon, man’ meant or what Bez was being paid for, exactly.

Call the cops-tastic!

Lingering, Night Chill

By dawn’s early light

Stumbling to the kitchen

Lingering night chill

Millions Now Living Will Never Die by Tortoise

This is a bit good! It’s described as post-rock, but to my ears it includes elements of krautrock, math rock and minimalism, with echoes of Can, Steve Reich, Roy Budd and Terry Riley. The highlight is the opening track Djed which lasts for an epic 20 minutes and features motorik drumming, spacey bits and glitchy breakdowns. 

 The rest of the tracks are shorter but no less interesting with blissed out guitars, vibraphones and marimbas. I absolutely adored this album and will be listening to the rest of their work as soon as I’ve finished listening to this album again.

 
 

Spring rain

Spring rain slowly falls

Garden thirsty for new growth
Petrichor perfume

461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton

https://album.link/gb/i/1440851328

Not this guy again, surely? He’s a massive racist bellend who openly stole the work of black artists and covered a reggae song in a cod Jamaican accent. I wish he’d just focused on taking heroin instead.

Hazy Moon

Silently waiting
Mist crosses her silver face
Like Buñuel's razor