Fluid 34

Tender Buttons

Tears In The Typing Pool

Pete Josef is not just a singer, songwriter and multi- instrumentalist from the South-West of England. His social conscience and inherent need to create, build, share and protect as well as educate himself about issues regarding the environment, society, politics, race and gender have seen all of these permeate into his musical output in recent years. This has never been more overtly the case than with his brand new single, Utopia.

The song is ultimately about “greenwashing” - the method by which businesses exaggerate their environmental credentials for financial gain, and how this trickles down to consumers. Pete for one is frustrated by how companies, for decades, have made a calculated refusal to engage with the facts about climate change. This is reflected in the song’s lyrical content - “They doping ya, so be wise, be alive. Don’t look up, ya house is on fire.” Lyrics inspired by the film Don’t Look Up and a famous speech by environmental activist Greta Thunberg. The ironic lyricism continues in that it’s “Gonna be the summer, the summer of our lives” reflecting on how people bask in high temperatures without under- standing why these changes are happening, and the danger it poses to our future.

Pete is very aware that he himself could be accused of “greenwashing”, but at the very least hopes that he can be a small part of a growing movement to force change. Artists like Lil Simz, SAULT and Michael Kiwanuka are very much leading the way with that and Pete feels that he has little choice but to add his voice, but at the same time is conscious that his “consciousness” may never be enough.

Musically, the track has a retro and somewhat South American feel. The introduction features Pete playing a vintage 1960s Harmony Bobkat guitar, before he’s joined on suitably haunting vocals by Marie Lister. The song builds around Miguel Andrews’ steady drums as percussion and horns bring more weight to the proceedings. Imagine a politically conscious Curtis Mayfield backed by Khruangbin and you get the idea.
Utopia is taken from Pete Josef’s forthcoming third album, to be released in 2024, recorded in his self-built and self-sustainable studio cabin in his garden. The exchange between studio and live has become a unifying force since the resurrection of his live quartet in 2022. This year will bring choice live shows, featuring the mercurial Eli Jitsuto from Bristol based outfit Snazzback on guitar and longtime collaborators Jihad Darwish on bass and Miguel Andrews on drums.

Pete Josef - Utopia

formentera cave session
https://jupitertuningcenter.bandcamp.com/album/keywax-crush

done it again

Ode To Quetzalcoatl

Morning Sun

If ‘After The Dawn’ was the hors d'oeuvre to Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne’s next chapter, ‘Colours & Light’ serves up a slice of the main course. Heralding the official announcement of Paul’s sophomore album under the same name, the title track further showcases the sonic palette listeners should expect to sample across the forthcoming album.
 
Garnering a deluge of BBC 6 Music plays and a brilliant reception, ‘After The Dawn’ sparked excitement around the prospect of a new LP from Project Gemini. Breaking through the winter gloom, the second single ‘Colours & Light’ further spotlights a refinement in Paul’s sound. Talking of the origins of the track, he states that it wields a “UK folk-rock sound with a breakbeat-like rhythm section, partly inspired by a live version of Pentangle’s ‘Wedding Dress’ from a 1973 TV performance”. A psychedelic trip through time and emotion, hazy hues and wistful horizons.
 
Paul’s reverberating vocal refrains draw you in from the get-go, with the cauldron of folk-flavoured guitar, earthy bass and ethereal organs providing a ritual of resonance. Jack Sharp of Wolf People/Large Plants fame stands front and centre, leaning into that rock-tinged feeling with an expertly constructed, wah-wah fuzzed guitar solo. Creating the breakbeat foundation, Sababa 5 drummer Raz Man and percussionist Paul Elliott from Eleven 76/Call Sender work in unison to conjure up a captivating groove.
 
‘Colours & Light’ gives an alluring insight into what’s to come on this much-anticipated follow-up LP. Moving deftly between light and shade, through folk, psych and hazy funk, whilst being artfully enveloped in Paul’s signature cinematic style.

Project Gemini - Colours & Light

Circles Going Round The Sun

Ilija Rudman Pres. Cock Porn - Theme - taken from Ilija Rudman's 2nd studio Album - True Colours , set to release 02.02.2015 via Is It Balearic Recordings U.K.

2 x 12 Gatefold


D2. Ilija Rudman Pres. Cock Porn - Theme

Blonde Redhead

Girl Boy

Seasons of Your Day

Common Burn

Bavarian Fruit Bread

Lose Me On the Way

Charlotte

Butterfly Mornings

Around My Smile

Modul 47

Taken from the album, Spell #6, released on 2nd November via Tough Love (Europe) and Burger (R.O.W.). The European pressing is available on limited edition green vinyl (500 copies). Pre-order here - http://smarturl.it/PartTimeSpell6 

Follow Part Time
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/parttime623/

Nearing a decade old and with a discography reaching deep into double figures across several different labels (Mexican Summer, Burger, Plastic Response Records) David Loca’s work under the Part Time moniker really shouldn’t require any introduction. Nonetheless, the release of what is officially his sixth album, fittingly titled Spell #6, does signal something of a re-birth and provides a compelling entry point for anyone new to Loca’s prolific output.

Whereas previous albums were notable for a charming lo-fi production, Spell #6 takes Part Time uptown. "I describe this album as 'my studio album', because it was entirely re-recorded at my drummer Walter Byer's studio, unlike most of my past releases being bedroom experimental pop recordings." Loca produced the record himself, impressively appropriating a classic 80s pop sound that recalls some of the more grand productions of that era - think Stephen Street’s expressive production on ‘Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me’, Crowded House and The Church’s widescreen interpolation of Paisley Underground jangle, and there's even traces Gerard McMann’s grandiose ‘Cry Little Sister’. In that sense, the record stands as an outlier in Loca’s catalogue, and in doing so sheds the sometimes limiting trappings of bedroom recording

Though it is Loca’s project, Spell #6 sees him joined by a consistent supporting cast of fellow writers and performers who add a poise and deftness to his vision, most notably Ariel Pink, who makes a guest appearance on lead single, ‘I Can Treat You Better’. 

A lead single for its obvious earworm qualities, it also functions as an ideal snapshot of  the lyrical themes that run through the entire record: romantic gestures and unrequited love, bad decisions on hot nights/hot decisions on bad nights, and unpinning it all, LA. For this is evidently a West Coast record, like a 2018 take on To Live and Die in LA: expansive, grand, and not a little crazy (in love) from the heat.

Fluid 34

sebo