Author Archives: Phil

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Three this week from shouty Seattle supergroup Childbirth and their debut cassette “It’s A Girl” and we belatedly come to the unavoidable but disturbing conclusion that Chas and Dave have made a good record. “As for me, all that I know is that I know nothing” in the words of Mickey Mouse’s dog.

When Big Joan Sets Up 14th February – Childbirth by Phil Cope on Mixcloud

Aldubb meets Uly E Neuens – “Ode An Die Freude” (V/A LP – “Audioart Presents Op’Ra Dub Style”) (One Drop)
Nausea – “Falsely Accused” – (LP – “Condemned To The System”) (Willowtip)
Duane Eddy and Dan Dugmore – “Mansion On The Hill” (V/A LP “The Big E – A Salute To Steel Guitarist Buddy Emmons”) (Music Producers Inst.)
Mille and Andrea – “Stage 2″ (12”) (Daphne)
The Men – “Different Days” (Download Single) (Sacred Bones)
The Clique – “Superman” (7″) (White Whale)
Bonnie Prince Billy – “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” (Download Single) (Drag City)
Death Comet Crew – “Drag Racing” (LP – “Ghost Among The Crew”) (Diagonal)
Childbirth – “I Only Fucked You As A Joke” (LP – “It’s A Girl”) (Help Yourself)
Childbirth – “How Do Girls Even Do It?” (LP – “It’s A Girl”) (Help Yourself)
Childbirth – “Will You Be My Mom?” (LP – “It’s A Girl”) (Help Yourself)
Teksteppa – “China White” (12″) (Cymbalism)
Tinariwen – “Tamadrit In Sahara” (LP – “Emmaar”) (Wedge)
John Lee Hooker – “Union Station Blues” (LP – “House Of Blues”) (Pye International)
Chas and Dave – “San Fransisco Bay Blues” (LP – “That’s What Happens”) (Warners)
Asher Senator – “Mayhem” (V/A LP – “March of The Gremlins”) (Jahtari)
Can Can Heads – Alive With Fiery Breath (LP – “Butter Life”) (Karkia Mistika)
Bas Mooy – “Son Of Sins” (EP – “Rage,Remedy and The Lash”) (Mord)

When Big Joan Sets Up 7th Feb – A Pattern of Righteousness

Funny thing a guitar innit?.Basically, a lump of wood with a hole and six strings stretched across it and yet over the past 90 years or so it’s been the pivot around which popular music revolves. I could list a couple of thousand people here who have taken said lump of wood and it’s electrically enhanced cousin and harnessed it’s intricacies in a myriad of approaches ranging from scholarly application to blatant disregard into epiphanies of sound that have the power to thrill and horrify successive generations. And it continues to do so, indeed as you are reading this,somewhere across the face of the world, a spotty herbert is making a noise using one of these devices that will likely as not, make you bounce up and down with joy sometime in the future.

Anyway, all this rumination is here because this week’s When Big Joan Sets Up featured five live tracks recorded last December in New York by Daniel Bachman the latest in a line of unassuming six string sorcerers to pick up the same instrument as our fathers and our fathers’ fathers (and our fathers’ fathers’ fathers.Yes alright Reg, don’t labour the point) and wrestle joyful flurries of magic out of it. He spends fucking ages tuning it up though.

When Big Joan Sets Up 7th February – Daniel Bachman live by Phil Cope on Mixcloud

The Courtneys – “Lost Boys” (Download Single) (Burger)
Disrupt – “Break Out” (EP – “Dub Matrix With Stereo Sound”) (Jahtari)
Prurient – “Doors Closed In Secrecy” (7″) (Handmade Birds)
Muffler – “Start Line” (V/A LP – “We Are 18”) (Hospital)
Swan Arcade – “The Battle of Sowerby Bridge” (LP – “Swan Arcade”) (Trailer)
Daniel Bachman – “Intro/Little Lady Blues” (Live Recording from http://www.nyctaper.com)
Daniel Bachman – “Orange County Serenade” (Live Recording from http://www.nyctaper.com)
Daniel Bachman – “And Now I Was Born To Die” (Live Recording from http://www.nyctaper.com)
Daniel Bachman – “Pig Iron” (Live Recording from http://www.nyctaper.com)
Daniel Bachman – “Blenheim/We Would Be Building” (Live Recording from http://www.nyctaper.com)
Strictly Sound Productions feat. Jah Screechy – “Think Me Did Gone” (7″) (Cubiculo)
Mark C – “Mindwarp” (Download single) (Kode 5)

When Big Joan Sets Up 31st January – Four Dollars For A Glass Of Water

This week, in John Peel 1972 style, just over a third of the programme was given over to one side of Madlib’s new cut and scratch masterpiece “Rock Konducta Vol 1” plus returning hero Lydia Loveless has a new LP.

When Big Joan Sets Up 31st January – Madlib by Phil Cope on Mixcloud

Paul Cronin – “Start The Rave” (EP – “We Are Visionaries From The Moon”) (San Fransisco Nights)
Girl Band – “Lawman” (7″) (Any Other City)
Little Anthony and The Imperials – “Two People In The World” (V/A LP “Starry Eyed Serenaders”) (Fantastic Voyage)
Simon Scott – “Für Betty” (V/A LP – “Ambient 2014”) (Kompakt)
Lydia Loveless – “Everything’s Gone” (LP – “Somewhere Else”) (Bloodshot)
Happy Diving – “Complacent” (EP – “Happy Diving”) (Father/Daughter)
Headland – “Halftide” (LP – “Sound/Track”) (Headland)
Ward 21 feat. Marcy Chinn and Deewun – “Mic Magician” (LP – “Still Disturbed”) (Germanica)
Madlib – “Rock Konducta Vol.1 LP – Side A” (Madlib Invazion)
London Electricity – “Snow Angels” (V/A LP – “We Are 18”) (Hospital)

When Big Joan Sets Up 24th January – Poemcore Rules!

This week three tracks from the debut LP by NYC post-hardcore lovelies Big Ups and Japanese Poemcore makes it’s BCB debut. And you’ll never guess what that Niles Niels has been up to..

When Big Joan Sets Up 24th January – Big Ups by Phil Cope on Mixcloud

Pirato Ketchup – “That’s Right” (V/A LP – “North Sea Surf Radio’s Best of 2013”) (Bandcamp)
Bramma – “Dancehall Burial” (V/A LP – “Road Pest Riddim”) (Black Sheep)
Young Fathers – “Mmmh Mmmh” (LP – “Dead”) (Anticon)
Big Ups – “Justice” (LP – “Eighteen Hours of Static”) (Tough Love/Dead Labour)
Dick Gaughan – “World Turned Upside Down” (LP – “Handful of Earth”) (Topic)
Les Cousins Dangereux – “CDX 96” (LP – “CDX”) (Suite 309)
Housewives – “Poppy” (Cassette – “Housewives”) (Faux Discs)
Midnite – “Lion Out of Zion” (LP – “Lion Out of Zion”) (Afrikan Roots Lab)
Big Ups – “Wool” (LP – “Eighteen Hours of Static”) (Tough Love/Dead Labour)
Lee Bannon – “Resorectah” (LP – “Alternate/Endings”) (Ninja Tune)
Otis Smith – “You’re So Good Looking” (V/A LP – “Rhythm and Bluesin’ on the Bayou: Rompin’ and Stompin'”) (Ace)
Warpaint – “Keep It Healthy” (LP – “Warpaint”) (Rough Trade)
Chainsaw Squid – “Niles Niels Steals Teal Tiles and Chickens” (Download EP – “Chainsaw Squid/LxDxT Split”) (Bandcamp)
Skullhand Jr. – “Belongings of the Current” (V/A Download LP – “GESPAK #7”) (Bandcamp)
DJ Monster Apart – “The Point of View of the Dog” (V/A Download LP – “GESPAK #7”) (Bandcamp)
Loretta Lynn – “Take Your Gun and Go,John” (V/A LP – “Divided and United:The Songs Of The Civil War”) (Ato)
Logos – “Surface Area” (LP – “Cold Mission”) (Keysound)
Big Ups – “Fine Line” (LP – “Eighteen Hours of Static”) (Tough Love/Dead Labour)
Cleric – “Delivery” (12″) (Coincidence)

When Big Joan Sets Up 17th January- Best Actress in a Leading Role

Our third week in our shiny new Friday night home and all pretences of good behaviour have been abandoned and Big Joan is using all the milk and putting it’s fags out in the bog. Three from the complex but rewarding new LP from Actress this week, but we start with a bit of banjo action..

www.mixcloud.com/philcope796/when-big-joan-sets-up-17th-january-actress

Lee Sexton – “Fox Chase” (V/A LP – “Classic Banjo From Smithsonian Folkways”) (Smithsonian Folkways)
WSicko – “Unknown Destiny” (V/A LP “Themeless 6”) (breakcore.nl)
September Girls – “Another Love Song” (LP – “Cursing The Sea”) (Fortuna Pop)
Actress – “Street Corps.” (LP – “Ghettoville”) (Werk Discs/Ninja Tune)
Alpha Steppa feat Lee Perry – “Open The Door” (EP – “Alpha Steppa Meets Joe Ariwa feat Lee “Scratch” Perry”) (Steppas)
Doom – “Prey For Our Souls” (LP – “Corrupt Fucking System”) (Black Cloud)
Blank Banshee – “Anxiety Online!” (Download LP – “Blank Banshee 1”) (Bandcamp)
Siouxie and The Banshees – “Placebo Effect” (LP – “Join Hands”) (Polydor)
Actress – “Corner” (LP – “Ghettoville”) (Werk Discs/Ninja Tune)
Graz – “Jungle Mastiff” (Selecta Fuzz Mix) (Download LP – “Reformat”) (Bandcamp)
Kevin Morby – “Miles,Miles,Miles” (LP -“Harlem River”) (Woodsist)
Miles Davis – “Move” (LP – “Birth Of The Cool”) (Capitol)
Will Miles – “Target Practice” (V/A EP – “Savage”) (Machinist)
Leo Welch – “Somebody Touched Me” (LP – “Sabougla Voices”) (Fat Possum)
Actress – “Gaze” (LP – “Ghettoville”) (Werk Discs/Ninja Tune)
Supa John – “Love Dem Bad” (Download single) (Dirty Dubster Digital)

When Big Joan Sets Up 10th January -“And In A Change To Some Listings…”

Our old friend Captain Cock-Up came calling last Friday night as the intended edition of When Big Joan was wiped from the airwaves and replaced by one from 3 weeks ago . Should you want to listen to the version that should have gone out at 10pm on the 10th Jan, it’s up on Mixcloud here

http://www.mixcloud.com/philcope796/when-big-joan-sets-up-10th-january-2014/

Personally, I suspect deliberate sabotage by One Direction fans…

When Big Joan Sets Up 10th January – “The Greatest Radio Programme Ever Made”

…according to PC Keith Wallace. Three tracks from the superlative new Mogwai LP “Rave Tapes” plus a host of other delights. Get it listened to, you plebs.

Doshy – “Hijacked” (7″) (Saturate!)
Internal Rot – “Fish Arse” (Download EP -“Upcoming Releases for 2014”) (Bandcamp)
The Notwist – “Steppin’ In” (LP -“Close To The Glass”) (City Slang)
John Mayall with Eric Clapton – “Steppin’ Out” (LP – “Bluesbreakers”) (Decca)
Mogwai – “Simon Ferocious” (LP – “Rave Tapes”) (Rock Action)
Forward Strategy Group – “Rundoled” (V/A EP – “Perctrax v. Polegroup”) (Perctrax)
Mane – “Older” (7″) (Cut-Rate)
Phil Everly – “Snowflake Bombadier” (LP – “Star Spangled Springer”) (RCA)
Drumsound and Bassline Smith – “Serious Business” (Download EP – “..present Tech 100”) (Technique)
Myat Lay – “Miss Whisky” (V/A 4CD Box Set – “Longing For The Past – The 78rpm Story in South-East Asia”) (Dust To Digital)
Mogwai – “Replenish” (LP – “Rave Tapes”) (Rock Action)
The Mighty Patch – “Skank The Ruler” (V/A Download LP – “Lost In Dub #1”) (Reservoir Dub)
Steven Malkmus and The Jicks – “The Janitor Revealed” (LP – “Wigout At Jagbags”) (Domino)
Gary Lucas – “Charlie Brown” (LP – “Cinefantastique”) (Northern Spy)
Team Doyobi – “Tube Dispenser” (Download EP – “Digital Music Volume 2”) (Skam)
Mogwai – “Hexon Bogon” (LP – “Rave Tapes”) (Rock Action)
Bing Crosby with Lenny Hayton’s Orchestra – “Brother,Can You Spare A Dime?” (V/A LP – “Brother Can You Spare A Dime? – American Song During The Great Depression”) (New World)

When Big Joan Sets Up 3rd Jan – Guitar Frenzy 2 – Back by absolutely no popular demand.

New Year,new timeslot. Big Joan’s assault on Friday nights kicked off with the return of Guitar Frenzy a solid 26 minute block of rabid strumming and twanging from a plethora of bands who you wouldn’t want to live next door to.

Breeze and Recon – “Testify” (Download) (Futureworld)
The Fall – “Touchy Pad” (EP – “The Remainderer”) (Cherry Red)
Dre Island – “Uptown Down” (V/A LP – “Militancy Riddim”) (Overstand)
Neil Young – “Expecting To Fly” (LP – “Live At The Cellar Door”) (Reprise)
Basic Soul Unit – “Innershell” (EP – “Lab.Our”) (White Label)

Guitar Frenzy 2

Gas Rag – “War Pervert” (EP – “Demoes”) (Self Released)
Nightmare Boyzz – “Don’t Wanna Feel Alright” (LP – “Nightmare Boyzz”) (Slovenly)
The Pink Noise – “Bad Trip” (LP – “Greedy Heart”) (Skrot Up)
Slim Customers – “Living In Paradise” (LP – “Sharks Killing Kids”) (Self Released)
The Little Richards – “J-Bone” (7″) (Self Released)
Yi – “Got A Stone” (7″ – “Punk Memories”) (Self Released)
Buck Biloxi and The Fucks – “I’m A Disaster” (split 7″ s/w Legendary Wings) (Pelican Pow Wow)
Brat Farrar – “New Kind of Kick” (V/A EP – “Cramped”) (Kizmiaz)
Manatees – “Under The Gun” (EP – “Out For Booze”) (Pelican Pow Wow)
Catholic Spit – “Sick Sick Sex” (LP – “A Pact With The Devil”) (Bad Touch)
Pleasure Leftists – “Elephant Men” (12″) (Derranged)

Elephant Man and Teetimus – “Which One Badda?” (7″) (Tizzy Music)
Ballboy – “The National Trust” (EP – “Merry Christmas To The Drunks,Merry Christmas To The Lovers”) (Bandcamp)
Maztec – “M-Theory” (EP -“M-Theory”) (Renegade Hardware)

When Big Joan Sets Up 26th December – Hale and Beefhearty

The undoubted jewel in the festive entertainment crown, this week’s wingding brought you The Magic Band recorded live in London and climaxed with Rufus Hound doing the pasadoble whilst turning into Peter Capaldi

The Wind-Up Birds – “Working Christmas Day” (download single) (Bandcamp)
Cliff Richard and The Shadows – “We Say Yeah” (LP – “The Young Ones OST”) (Columbia)
Midifister – “Kill Me If You Love Me” (download LP – “Genocide 2.0”) (Aleph 9)
Ballboy – “Merry Christmas To The Drunks,Merry Christmas To The Lovers” (download EP – “Merry Christmas To The Drunks,Merry Christmas To The Lovers”) (Bandcamp)
The Magic Band – “My Human Gets Me Blues” (LP”…Plays The Music of Captain Beefheart – Live in London 2013″)(Proper)
The Magic Band – “Low Yo Yo Stuff” (LP”…Plays The Music of Captain Beefheart – Live in London 2013″) (Proper)
The Magic Band – “Diddy Wah Diddy” (LP”…Plays The Music of Captain Beefheart – Live in London 2013″) (Proper)
The Magic Band – “Golden Birdies” (LP”…Plays The Music of Captain Beefheart – Live in London 2013″) (Proper)
DJ Rashad – “Rollin” (EP – “Rollin'”) (Hyperdub)
Girl One and The Greaseguns – “(Here Come The) Catastrophe Machines” (7″) (Squirrel)
The Fall – “Say Mama/Race With The Devil” (EP – “The Remainderer”) (Cherry Red)
The Magic Band – “Steal Softly Through Snow” (LP”…Plays The Music of Captain Beefheart – Live in London 2013″) (Proper)
The Magic Band – “Click Clack” (LP”…Plays The Music of Captain Beefheart – Live in London 2013″) (Proper)
The Magic Band – “The Floppy Boot Stomp” (LP”…Plays The Music of Captain Beefheart – Live in London 2013″) (Proper)
Tingle In The Netherlands – “Astronaut Love Triangle” (LP- “Why Can’t You Write Something Nice For A Change”) (Nerve Echo)

When Big Joan Sets Up – Top 10 LP’s and tracks of 2013

Well, everyone else is doing it..

To the casual observer, 2013 gave us much to be pessimistic about musically. Excitement was predictably hard to find amid the drab conservatism of the Later Live/6 Music/Uncut magazine pseudo alternative media. Adding to this the Barlowisation (noun:1.The arrangement of established musical forms in such a way as to suck every last drop of joy out of them leaving them all sounding like a house band at a Young Conservatives ball. 2.The description of the previous as “real talent”) of pop music and the efforts of the form over content worshipping vinyl revivalists (NB. You are not music fans. You are those kids from “Swap Shop” with the tank tops and nascent personality disorders who had 160 Smurfs and you can so fuck right off) to reduce music to the level of owning artefacts and it could be argued that this year was as dull as a Saturday afternoon in Homebase.

But digging a little deeper, there were cheap and dirty thrills to be had. Below is a list of things that came out in 2013 (and one that came out in late 2012 – bite me, pedants!) that made the soul soar with the righteous fever that comes from exposure to creativity,transgression and sheer don’tgiveashittedness.

Everyone on this list from 17-54 is a hero and I herby award you all imaginary medals in the war against mediocrity.

Special mentions go to LP list toppers Tingle In The Netherlands whose gleeful rudery and spot on electropop sounded like a neon -lit “Confessions” film directed by Luis Buñuel with Gary Numan in the Robin Asquith role and made me go all funny when I listened to it – and along the way raised the phrase “Shagging The Milkman” to the level of high art, and to the two tunes which crown the tracks list (try as I might I couldn’t pick a favourite) from the joyful to listen to but tedious to type Girl One and The Greaseguns whose “(Here Come The) Catastrophe Machines” is a life affirming fuzz dusted arseshaking romp of a tune that were it to take corporeal form would be out looking for Robbie Williams with a bag of stink bombs and an evil grin. In any other year it would have been number one hands down if it wasn’t for the fact that Footwork produced the all time classic that it’s threatened to for the past 4 years in DJ Rashad’s “Rollin” – which takes lines from Jagged Edge’s fairly unremarkable R&B (the modern rubbish kind not the old good kind) slopfest “Walked Outta Heaven” and twists them into a roiling stew of regret,self doubt and doomed optimism that summed up the feeling of a one in a lifetime love sundered by base desire and betrayal – and then it asks you if you’ve got any E’s – really.

You can find all these tunes on Youtube and you can,should you desire,hear me playing some (most) of them on BCB this Friday 20th December at 10pm and Wednesday 25th December at midnight.Happy Christmas and don’t let the Smurf collectors grind you down.

LP’s of the year

1.Tingle In The Netherlands – “Why Can’t You Write Something Nice For A Change?” (Nerve Echo)
2. The Fall – “Re-Mit” (Cherry Red)
3. Young Echo – “Nexus” (RAMP Recordings)
4. Dean Blunt – “The Redeemer” (Hippos In Tanks)
5. Luciano – “The Qabala Man” (AL.TA.FA.AN)
6. Melt Banana – “Fetch” (A-Zap)
7. Grandmaster Gareth – “Magical Sound Shower” (GM Sounds)
8. Body/Head – “Coming Apart” (Matador)
9. Neko Case – “The Worse Things Get,The Harder I Fight,The Harder I Fight,The More I Love You” (Anti)
10. Denis Callaci and Simon Joyner – “New Secrets” (Shrimper)

Tracks of the year

1= Girl One and the Greaseguns – “(Here Come The) Catastrophe Machines” (7″) (Squirrel)
1= DJ Rashad – “Rollin'” (EP – “Rollin’) (Hyperdub)
3 The Fall – “Sir William Wray” (7″) (Cherry Red)
3. Royal Headache – “Stand and Stare” (7″) (Matador)
4. Walls – “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” (12″) (Ecstatic)
5. Wolf Alice – “Fluffy” (7″) (Chess Club)
6. Good Throb – “Bag” (S/T EP) (SuperFi)
7. Kabaka Pyramid – “Liberal Opposer” (download EP “Rough Road – Green Lion Crew”) (Soul of the Lion)
8. Jackal – “Power Move” (no label – soundcloud)
9. Vampire Weekend – “Diane Young” (download) (XL)
10.Macka B – “Black Security” (7″) (Ariwa Japan)