When I had the long Bowie obituary thread ten years ago today, it was done as a not-quite-obituary; more of an examination of Bowie’s presence in my timeline, and it was in any case before I adopted the trait of including all of the artist’s music in the Record Cell as a tiled image. So with that in mind, here’s the Bowie collection visual.
-30-
Yow! I had to admit that I was aware of Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble; the new combo put together by Don Was featuring Jazz players from his hometown of Detroit. Full disclosure: I am a Was (Not Was) collector manfully tracking down all of those often foreign-only 12″ singles for every lovely mix [with commensurately high postage costs]. And I do it because it’s all potent art! Some of the best 12″ mixes I’ve ever heard were radical re-recorded 12″ mixes by the group. And hopefully, before I die, I will assemble it into a boxed set of god! [memo to self: get crackin‘]
It’s a bitter chapter in my musical story that I missed seeing Was (Not Was) on the two times that they touched down in Central Florida. The first was a gig at J.J. Whispers when I couldn’t scare up anyone to go with me. The second was when the group were definitely slumming in the Club MTV Dance Party package tour a year later, along with acts like Paula Abdul and Milli Vanilli! Though looking back, Sweetpea Atkinson would have still been worth it!
I was also aware that Don Was had been making these new moves in the last year. Don has been the President of Blue Note Records since 2011! He’s now Mr. Go-To for the world of Jazz. Having him put together a new band drawing from the talent pool in his home town makes all of the sense in the world. Last September they released their debut album with the highly cogent title, “Groove In The Face Of Adversity.” Surely, words for our times?
A little later last year I was following the next Big Ears Festival and saw, to my great chagrin, that Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble were on the roster and that was as close as they were getting. Don’t get me wrong, I love Big Ears Festival and have had amazing, powerful experiences there, pre-pandemic. But that was when four day passes were under $500. And let me just state for the record that Harold Budd all weekend long – with his final public performances, was more than worth it. But when adding lodging, the money just wasn’t there this year following huge household renovation projects. Not even a single day pass. Even to see Don Was! Now if Sweetpea were still alive…we would be talking tickets.
So I had put it out of my head until last week when my loved one and I were discussing our upcoming trip to Akron to visit family next week. She asked if I had looked into any concert to go to while up there. This, after scoring big-time with ABC★★★ two years ago. I had not, but it didn’t take me more than five minutes to strike paydirt. Don Was And The Pan-Detroit Ensemble were in Cleveland at Beachland Ballroom the night we arrived! This changed everything.
Within 15 minutes, I had my ticket and was looking into the new band. The ticket price was a mere $42 and change – surely rock bottom for nine people onstage! They looked and sounded fantastic! A Jazz-Funk hydra capable of of going anywhere they want to. I saw that keyboard player Louis Resto and sax player Dave McMurray were holdovers from Was (Not Was) as well as the Orquestra Was project! Setlists online revealed that the band were not adverse to dipping into the Was (Not Was) canon from time to time. And I also saw that it looked like last year’s tour would have them playing the “Blues For Allah” album by The Grateful Dead on its 50th anniversary. [Editor’s Note: Don Was has been in the band The Wolf Brothers along with Bob Weir playing a largely Grateful Dead setlist]
Now I’m immune to the “pleasures” of The Grateful Dead. They are surely the most boring Rock band I’ve ever heard, but if Don Was serves up any Deadhead jams this year, I will be there happily. This large ensemble are capable, and I expect them to transform any covers that creep into their set with the Jazz DNA they share. I am pleased to see that they have a conga player in their lineup and woman as the lead singer. Congas are, in fact, the secret weapon of the very best dance music I’ve ever heard live. So I’m expecting great things next week!
Yesterday I called up my local emporium to special order a copy of “Groove In the Face Of Adversity” on the silver disc, and the helpful person on the phone revealed that they had already re-ordered stock that would be in the store for pickup today. I told him that I love it when they psychically anticipate my musical needs! So as of tomorrow, I will be grooving in the face of adversity myself!
As for anyone else, your chance begins tonight! With two sets in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Here are those dates!
DON WAS & THE PAN DETROIT ENSEMBLE | US TOUR 2026
I see some great venues on the itinerary here and had I not been arriving in Cleveland the morning of the show, I probably would have figured a trip to The Ramkat or maybe Variety Playhouse at some point in my near future. But this tour was a new addition. Last year when I last visited the Don Was website this year’s tour had not been announced yet, and I was out of luck. Join us in about a fortnight for the full skinny on the event.
-30-
[…continued from last post]
EPS OF THE YEAR
There is always a joy in EPs beyond their modest length of playback. As the late 70s and the calcification of radio in the US brought the EPs to this shore as a practical means to get new bands into the hands of teens, I will always have a fondness for the form. They are [usually] separate from 12″ singles by the fact that none of the songs will be different versions of the A-side. Technically, an EP lacks A-sides! A 12″ single may have five songs – a perfect EP length, but you are likely to have most of the songs be variants on a single tune in that case. Hence the distinction that separates the formats in my mind.
This year had a good bounty of material with all of them being rather strong. But the top slot just had to go to Deena Shoshkes of The Cucumbers and her three track EP “This Is The Time.” The politics of the now figure in many of these selections, but Deena has realized that the most political challenge possible in these times is to call for love, in all of its forms. Love is a radical affront to that which seeks to destroy us. Her three songs each fill my heart with joy and the sound of her voice is very comforting in these dark times.
Thalie Némésis and Larsovitch come from a European perspective and theirs is a far spikier take on the fascism which is already lapping at our ankles. Sorry We Weren’t Here Before Gave us a debut EP with some lovely guitar-based Post-Punk with excellent vocals to put it across. Sparks have rounded up off-cuts that didn’t quite fit the fabric of their “Mad!” album and have made their first EP as a result. They could have reissued the “Mad!” album with bonus tracks a year later, but giving these songs a discrete home of their own is a wiser policy. And keeps “Mad!” from losing focus with overbloat.
Aberdare’s Head Noise gave us a succinct three tracker with a re-jigged cover of a DEVO cover! Very meta! With a B-side and a live track is might have been a 12″ single [from 1980] but I argue that it’s in the EP mode; hence its appearance on the list. The EP tossed us a few tasty crumbs [streusel, perhaps?] as we await the next full opus from Head Noise.
Old timers Ultravox didn’t really have new material but they managed to give their masters to Blank + Jones to finally give us a great remix of “Love’s Great Adventure” and rounded out an EP worth of alternative versions of familiar material. Only the “All Stood Still” 12″ remix failed to convince.
And finally, I saw Cult Of Venus live and enjoyed their performance enough to have bought their DL only EP afterward and I must review it one day soon. It’s very interesting, albeit with a few reservations I would enumerate at that time.
REISSUES OF THE YEAR
The big news in reissues this year was defined by an absence! This was the year where I did not put down three figures to buy the 2025 Ultravox ultrabox. Sure, sure. I love ’em and could totally justify the hundreds of dollars I threw into having big boxes of “Vienna,” “Rage In Eden,” “Quartet,” and especially “Lament.” When the decision was made to turn the greatest hits album “The Collection” into a box, I had to get off the bus. Leaving the EP of “Love’s Great Adventure” [see above] as my sole investment into this phase.
The one reissue that sits atop this list is the one that I was the happiest to see this year. “Life’s A Grand…” by Henry Badowoski.An album I wanted ever since it was released, but hadn’t gotten for one reason or another. It was a pure delight to finally hear it! I had been plotting to but the LP and make my own CD-R for many years and as usual, was very happy that it didn’t have to come to that.
The More Sin – Box Of Sin Vol. 2 is a collection that I’m still soaking up. It’s five curated discs of underground Gay Disco highlights that take the totality of that scene; which interrelated so tightly to the Post-Punk scene in the 80s that at least two of the discs fall completely into that box. As any clubbers knew, you paid attention in the 80s to what was happening musically on the gay dancefloor! There was enormous cross pollination going on in the vibrant period covered here.
PPM heavy hitters Simple Minds and Propaganda had SDE Blu-Rays with multiple mixes/streams in surround and 2.0 alternate mixes. As I never have the time to listen in 5.1 I frankly bought these to make CD-Rs of the alternate 2.0 versions here for convenient playing. I need to review these, ideally, but I don’t know when that might happen. It’s very rewarding having Bob Clearmountain/Steven Wilson/Steve Lillywhite mixes of “Sparkle In The Rain” on a single disc in 2.0/5.1! I was surprised at how much I liked the Clearmountain mix!
The Metamorph wasn’t always that! He had roots as Logan 5 with his early work dating back almost 30 years. His penchant for Science Fiction themes with kitsch samples almost marks his music here as adjacent to the geeky Surf Rock of Man Or ASTROman; albeit from a Synthpop perspective. Or perhaps a more apt comparison would be Bill Nelson’s Orchestra Arcana projects? This well-curated trawl through his history will take you back to the heady days before rampant CGI made Science Fiction dishwater dull.
I had missed the earlier 2002 CD-R issue of The Illuminauti; one of Barry Andrews projects undertaken when Shriekback were on low simmer on the proverbial back burner. It’s a very different prospect with some interesting players we like contributing. I need to get this reviewed but it arrived during a busy year.
And finally Pulp had a curated CD of odds and ends courtesy of MOJO magazine that gave us, among other delights, the original Jarvis sung demo for the great “Sliding Through Life On Charm” track written for Marianne Faithfull.
As usual, my goal in 2026 is to buy less and enjoy what I have more, but I’ve already bought DLs and and getting ready for my first CD purchase tomorrow. The subject of which will be our next post. Until then, “keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!”
-30-
![jan linton fluid japan goodnight mr. ginger [last dreaming]](https://postpunkmonk.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/jan-linton-fluid-japan-goodnight-mrgingerdl.jpg)
[…continued from last post]
SINGLES OF THE YEAR
There were a lot of singles this year. You’ve got to love them. I know I do! Even if they are mostly immaterial now. The joy of a single is that they are still an impulse buy for me. Priced from a dollar to maybe three at most, they are never a budget drain and when I see one I need to have, there’s no hesitation on my part. Boom! Yummy! On Bandcamp, I even get to pay more than the usually low-balled asking price. Good music deserves my financial support and if I’m buying one or two singles per week two at most, two to three dollars is as good as one.
The Bandcamp environment is also nice because once you buy from an artist, [and I always join the mailing lists] you get updates when there’s new music. I tend to follow bands I like to the best of my ability. So there’s a lot of Fluid Japan in these singles. They released nine singles this year! That’s about an album worth of material. And their collaborative ethic knows no boundaries! Two thirds of their singles are teamups; vibrant ones, with bands that I either already follow or are otherwise completely new to me.
The big one this year was the joining of Steven Jones with Fluid Japan for the highly compelling “Truth” single. With two great tastes that taste great together, it’s vibe and poise was immaculate and breathtaking. Fortunately, there’s more in the works with an EP mooted down the road when time allows for it all to be polished for offering. Working and sleeping can be overrated sometimes!
My second favorite single was the pre-release by Blow Monkeys that was so damned funky that I stopped the preview about 15 seconds in and just bought the thing! Even though it would be redundant after buying the album! And then the album came without an email from Blow Monkeys central so I still need to remind myself to buy a copy already as I was ! After I find out how to do that. The album dropped at the end of August. A bad time for me in terms of attention span and finances this year as I was traveling all over the place and seeing friends and concerts aplenty.
There were two covers in my top 10 singles this year. But they were so gratifying to hear. In the case of Jan Linton and Fluid Japan, they had the audacity to tackle the Sakamoto/Sylvian classic “Forbidden Colours” and make it their own. A special shout-out to Jan Linton for thinking it was a great idea to work himself into the piano version of the song that Fluid Japan released a year earlier…he was right! And the re-jigging by Fluid Japan after his performances were added took the song to the top.
Then Stefan Netschio + A State of Flux looked at the Ultravox classic “Dislocation” and felt the same way. Not everyone could get away with such a conceit and the vocal phrasing of Mr. Netschio, and the bombastic synths of A State Of Flux coupled with the abstract guitar of Pete [Kill Shelter] Burns went way off the road from the familiar FoxxVox classic. Huzzah! It was one of those promo tracks that arrived at the in box that were so great I went to Bandcamp and bought the single any way! Yes, this really happens.
Men Without Hats are still at the forefront of my mind after seeing them live in 2024 and loving it to pieces. When I heard they had a new single I was on it like white on rice. That it had the loaded title of “I ♥ The 80s” meant that there were numerous snares for the band to sidestep in order to convey that conceit successfully…then they just did it! And in a way to bring a big smile to me face.
Literally the least likely thing I was expecting in 2025 was the news of an unfinished Gary Numan track from the almighty “Telekon” album sessions [one of my absolute favorites by him] dusted off and sent out into the world 45 years later. Wow! It’s a real temporal anomaly but I’ll take them when they are this great!
There are always new Goth artists popping out of the woodwork and when they are as great as Arial Maniki and the Black Halos all I can say is “gimme more!” Ariel with Eve Red and Jan Black make music with gusto and flavor to the max. And Ariel’s superb baritone vocals make me want to hear more. The two singles this year were just lovely and I’m ready for more.
Speaking of Goth bands with great vocals full of feeling, we certainly enjoyed new singles from Autumn and Les Longs Adieux. That they have each guitarists to match the voices is only justice. The bands reached my ears first in 2024 and I’m game to keep up with their further exploits.
Fluid Japan released great singles that weren’t collaborations and the vibe of “Rise And Shine” hit me like a ton of bricks. I want to hear that sound extrapolated into a full album…now! While “[Sometimes I Feel] I Just Can’t Carry On” was a deceptively calm and poised treatment of some really dark themes. For those frissons of thematic and stylistic dissonance that just thrill me.
Meanwhile their collaboration with Rainsurfer was more a case of icing on the cake! Rainsurfer certainly brought prime goods to the table and all Fluid Japan had to do was to polish that gem a little with their usual good taste. Their collaboration with Jan Linton felt like more a case of each artist contributing on more equal terms. At least that’s what it seemed like. And I could say the same about intelligentsia as well.
A new Heaven 17 single dropped out of the sky this summer and I had long given up on that ship making it back to port. And it was powered by the most adroit drum programming I can remember hearing in a dog’s age.
Chopper Franklin kept relatively quiet this year save for a taster of his next Spaghetti Western/Dub project with “The Hexed.” The “Spaghetti Western Dub Vol. 1” album from last year was tied for my number one album! So I’m eager to hear more in that vein from the talented Mr. Franklin and his vocalist, Mather Louth.
New to me bands like Black Boiler and Midniter and Scenius kept the magic flowing this year with great singles. Each of these bands were examples of how Synthpop managed to diversify its approach over the decades as bands were all plowing their own furrows of music quite different from one another.
Ductape had a pair of great singles this year. Actually, they had four, but the later two dropped while I was on travel during the fall season, so I missed them completely! Figures On A Beach joined Sunshine Blind in reissuing unreleased single material from decades earlier [just like Gary Numan, come to think of it…] that managed to captivate my ears as orphaned singles got released instead of orphaned albums. And I reviewed the new Sunshine Blind single “Scarred But Fearless,” but as it dropped the day before yet another trip, I completely forgot to buy it…until right now! Meaning that it missed getting in this years roundup of purchases. Whooops!
While I thrilled to Lene Lovich live [twice!], I also soaked up some of her digital only tracks and releases. She duetted with her drummer/backing vocalist Morgan King on his single “Retrospective 2025” and I still need to review this melancholy slice of dignified adult pop given a sprinkling of Lovich magic.
Finally, old favorites Simple Minds and Roxy Music released a remixed track as a standalone singles. Roxy gave us a post-modern re-edit 12″ of “Love Is the Drug” that would cause no hardliners any apoplexy as it was bereft of any anachronistic hi-jinx. With Simple Minds, they released a slightly remixed version of their 2025 single “Your Name In Lights.” I would have liked to have heard something a little more daring, but it was still a fine [if slight] modern Pop song from the band. I’m always happy to hear something other than stadium ready from them!
Next: …Forward…Into The Past!
[…continued from last post]
2025 BUYING STATS
Total titles purchased: 154 [↓18% 2024]
Total expenditures: $966.65 [↓21% 2024]
Average cost: $6.30/title [↑1% 2024]
Expenditures were down this year by over 20%. Good, but not great. I always like to shave the costs down and see just how little I need to have musical enjoyment. But it’s challenging in the current market. The ancient Monastic ways of buying music inexpensively in the used aftermarket, months, or years later is no longer valid for contemporary releases. Items are pressed in such limited quantities now that if you sneeze you will miss the release you might want at the lowest cost it is likely to have.
The used record market has responded to the still current LP bubble by purging any old single formats [7/10/12 inch] to who knows where to make room for all of the lucrative LP rei$$sue$ in their limited floor space. So right there, 90% of any records I want to buy are off the table. When I look at the stats for this year, the fact that I only got five 12″ singles [my favorite records in the world] gives me a sad feeling.
The CD numbers are nearly halved this year! I won’t kid myself that buying albums in the format I vastly prefer won’t only get more difficult as I get age. The gatekeepers of society have spoken. The plebes get to stream their culture. Renting it is all they want to encourage. Any material goods are kept aside for the elite. Judging by the prices new LPs are going for. It’s still possible to buy some for under $30 [and I appreciate the efforts, to the bands and labels who do this] but those are marginal albums that only old cranks like me would care about. The upside was that the ratio of CDs entering vs. leaving the record cell this years was 1:8! Not bad but I was to see that second number even higher, if I can. Enough of my yakkin’, let’s boogie!
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
I think that this may be the highest number of albums released in the same calendar year as I’ve been making these lists! I generally buy things later on, and many stunning albums have missed by year-end lists due to me hearing them in later years. It is true that over half of these are promo so thanks to the bands and marketing agents that send these out in my direction. The number one this year was a freak upset. When the Vamberator album was released early last year I was confident at the time that it would hold the top spot. It was creative, vibrant, thoughtful, and unique. All traits redolent of the finest that one can find in music. And then the Nostalgia Deathstar album happened several months later. It was all of that and one thing more.
It was angry.
It seethed with intelligent and indignant fury at exactly the targets that one needs to be aiming for in the sad times we currently inhabit. While being formed of music that blended vibes of Cabaret Voltaire and Nitzer Ebb in a “yes, please” manner that could only please this Monk. That said, the Vamberator album was still a dazzler. An assured and accomplished number two that has the vitality to last for years.
Pulp managed to reform and record a new album that put mere nostalgia [we’ve got death stars for that now…] in their rear view mirror as they rose to the challenge of writing a new album almost a quarter century on from their last effort. That they wrote and recorded it faster than they ever had was probably to their benefit; allowing them to not overthink their songs. I cannot believe that the great single “Spike Island” barely scraped the UK top 100! Surely a sign of the end times?
I’d missed the last two Claudia Brücken albums owing to their relative scarcity in the US market. I was unable to pre-order them on release due to their timing with our finances. This was not a problem with “Night Mirror” and I was rewarded with an album that stood apart from the [also excellent] more typical music that she had made with xPropaganda. “Night Mirror” was an album of subtler pleasures and was filled with songs which reflect the person she is 40 years on from “A Secret Wish.” It was an album that rewarded repeat listening and grew in power as it did.
Bob Gaulke has made in “(S)words,” an album that with the aid of his players, has couched his always respectable songs in their most compelling setting yet. His economy and brevity of form, coupled with the playing and arrangements, meant that this was one of those albums that I preferred to listen to on repeat.
Simple Minds are no stranger to my listening as they are a top group for me. One might think that they have too many live albums, and I might be inclined to agree. This album was preceded by a live album But then I put this one on and following the opening “Waterfront,” the band serve up an ever strengthening flow of music from their “5×5” era that makes my jaw drop further with ever-more drawn out murmured expletives to self from “Sons + Fascination” until the climactic “This Fear Of Gods.” Everything I ever loved about Simple Minds was concentrated in this half hour to the highest degree that I’ve ever heard from the band live. The album made me feel so good that I didn’t even begrudge the appearance of a handful of songs [you know the ones] that I never need to hear again. And they have released three live albums [all good to great] in the last six years! Obviously I’m still not burned out on this band.
Shriekback are still forging their eccentric path forward and they have been a constant presence in my Record Cell for 42 years now with an admirable range in material that saw a wide variety of members contributing and they have shown a general disdain for formula even as the Shriekethos is apparent at the drop of a laser on any of their efforts. “Monument” also had some cogent songwriting reactions to the modern problems facing us all. As we can always count on from Shriekback.
Sparks are always on the Monastic playlist and okay, so 2006’s “(Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country” is shockingly relevant twenty years later! I would argue that Sparks have been continually relevant for the last 30+ years as their “mature phase” should make them the envy of all Rock. Their Art Pop chops are legendary and as they enter their 9th decade they exist as inspirations to us all. And they can still emit eccentric earworms that always bear their unique imprint.
State of Bass is the label of Martin James who possesses both a fine mind as well as superb taste. In addition to his own music under the Nostalgia Deathstar and Mothloop brands, his label’s curation of the Generation Blitz series was an impeccable overview of the current state of synthesizer-based leftfield Pop music happening worldwide today. The fourth volume had two of my favorites figuring in the mix: Jan Linton as well as Fluid Japan, but the whole of the program is like a “Sandinista!” of Synthpop. Two and a half hours of superb listening.
I loved the inventive and eclectic dive into the world of Post-Punk sounds that Avfall brought to the timely “Weltschmerz.” Listening to this album was almost like listening to a tightly curated compilation as the band were hesitant to repeat themselves on the program. And it was also music of the Zeitgeist. I was not hearing much of it twenty years ago in spite of my desires, but the current situation has proven much harder to ignore.
I am very chagrined to see my number 11 album this year was something I wrote about in advance but failed to actually review! Mea Culpa! Worse, I had followed the pre-release singles by The Twistettes avidly and loved their highly spirited duo sound. And they’re Scots for crying out loud! Suffice to say that “Red Door Open” had an impact like a building collapsing on top of me while listening. I need to order many things now from Last Night In Glasgow, the amazing Scot label that released this.
Bob Gaulke figured again with his companion album to “(S)words” called “(detail).” This was the calmer, more meditative complement to the other, more extroverted album. Featuring Hans Croon as well as Barry Andrews and Martyn Barker of Shriekback and the Brazilian rhythm section of Paola LePetit and Gil Olivera.
We didn’t get a full album from Les Longs Adieux this year, but their other project with a real rhythm section known as Anna Never released the crunchier “Serpi In Seno” album with a strong Rock orientation and more of those full-bodied vocals [gimme more] of Federica Garenna. I’ve been enjoying their output since catching notice of them with the brilliant “Vertigo” album of 2024 and they are not interested in repeating themselves. Always a great look.
John Foxx’s album this year was more of his acoustic piano work following in the footsteps of his late friend Harold Budd, who is commemorated on the cover. I’ve barely gotten a listen to this one since my loved one has the CD in rotation. But I’m always happy to hear Foxx’s output, even without synthesizers.
I really loved the concert I saw of Automatic and I bought their new CD “Is It Now?” at their merch tablejust three days after release. Good thing too, as it’s now sold out on Bandcamp! This was highly intelligent, coolvibe Post-Punk from the trio that even feature Kevin Haskins daughter on drums. It’s got a 1982 Factory/ZE vibe and dammit, in spite of reviewing the show I wasn’t able to review the album as it came during a particularly busy period of concerts and travel. I must get back to that one day! You all deserve that much.
I gave Automatic the edge slightly, but I also responded to the more visceral and club-oriented set from their pals Sextile. You need both approaches in your musical diet! This time the band had a Nitzer Ebb like energy to their approach. Their friend Izzy Glaudini from Automatic helped to co-write a couple of songs and guested on vocals for “Hospital.” Yes, it’s another album I intended to review but instead became part of the paving on the Road To Hell.
Scenius were a band that I caught wind of from the last Generation Blitz volume and didn’t have to wait too long before their next project on their own was issued. My Francophilia got frissons from the vocals [largely in English, it must be said] from vocalist Fabrice Nau while the warm synthpop of Stephen Whitfield washed over us like a splash of sunlight. Clean, airy, and emotional.
Next: …Shorter Formats A-Go-Go!
The year 2025 has been a weird one. We knew going into it that the US had picked a President who promised to be a “dictator from day one” and then had the temerity to NOT lie for possibly the first time ever! And that colors everything. Personally, my wife and I have spent a boatload of effort in renovating our kitchen and bathroom at the same time, beginning with the research phase that lasted from April to July. With work actually starting in October and still continuing; at least for the bathroom. It was a lot of money and even more time invested but the results were transformative.
THE CULL OF THE WILD
A big musical transformation was when I finally acted on the desire to divest myself of at least a thousand CDs that I did not have room for storing. Making finding anything I wanted to listen to physically impossible as most of the rack space was blocked by other stuff. Even now, I have a large box of several hundred CDs that had been [laboriously and with great difficulty] pulled over the last 18 months that I am waiting to put back on the racks where they belong. Meanwhile, I managed to sell 389 CDs; mostly at fire sale prices in my Discogs store. I wanted it to be a faster process than it has been but I usually sell 4-5 CDs a week except for one buyer buying 135 discs in two huge batches! You had better believe they got some big discounts on already inexpensive goods.
This year the plan is to move the rest by whatever drastic means necessary. Then we need to move to the records and thin that herd as well! My record racks for those are also at capacity and I’d like some room to grow. Fortunately [or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it] this was the year where downloads reached parity with physical goods! Only a quarter century after the iPod is The Monk finally swimming in DLs. This was down to two factors.
One – 80% of promo is down to DL form. It just makes sense. I get promo crossing my desk, and this is a good thing. Some of my favorite music I would have had no clue about if not submitted for review. Fortunately, there are PR agents who form bonds with writers and can curate the promo that won’t waste anyone’s time. Until I started really writing about music, I didn’t appreciate what a good PR agent brings to the equation. Sometime I get files, other times I just get emails with Bandcamp links and then I check out the goods and if I like it, I buy it immediately. Other times I get promo codes sent to me and the music I deem so great that I end up buying it anyway – because I feel I have to support some work financially! Occasionally in physical form if that’s an option. And then there are the albums so great I end up buying multiple physical copies to give to my friends as gifts!
The second factor is a practical one. There is a lot of music I want to hear now that is DL only. And I’m lucky, because it might have just streamed. For years I dragged my feet on DLs because I didn’t find it convenient to listen to files on a device and I didn’t have a cell phone. But in 2020 I bought a cheap used iPhone since I was planning a trip to the UK and I needed a handheld computer to get around. That ultimately didn’t happen thanks to Covid-19 yet the personal device was still in my hands. I maneuvered to a carrier who gave me the service I wanted at a price I liked and we’ve had a device ever since. One that now has the Bandcamp app on it so that any DL music I buy from the two platforms I use is accessible on that device at any time. Bypassing the tedium of moving files from the computer to the phone and vice versa. Or building [shudder…] playlists! Plus, if I do put the files on the phone, I can listen to music to review it during my lunch hour at my desktop where I’ve not had a CD drive for six years now.
NOT MEMOREX®
This year saw the number of concerts I attended explode in the second half of the year. Last year there were eight concerts attended. This year there were ten, but all in the July-November period. Sometimes three in a week. In different states! And two of the shows I went to I had little to no previous knowledge of the acts in question. Which is something I need to do more often. Especially, since I really enjoyed three of the four acts on those bills. And more than anything it was the caliber of the shows I saw that will stick with me for a good long time. I was able to cross five bucket list acts off of my long list this year and I can say that for three of them I never held the slimmest hope that I would ever see in concert.
I will go to my grave disbelieving that I saw Peter Godwin on stage. I’ve always been an avid fan of his stylish approach from 1982 onward, but 2025 was the year he joined the Lost 80s Live retro tour that had been approaching him for a while and ended up playing all over North America for what was the first extended tour he’s ever mounted over here. It was challenging to undertake, but ultimately he found the experience to be more than rewarding for the effort spent. What more can we ask for?
I was sure that I’d missed out on DEVO after my one real chance to see the crucial band in 1988 when I callously blew it off as a case of the band being irrelevant. I eventually got smarter, and time’s passage mocks me daily on the subject of their relevance, but the other opportunities just didn’t seem to manifest. I thought seeing Mark Mothersbaugh giving a panel discussion at a local college might be as good as it got for me. But then the band linked up with their fellow New Wave icons, and former labelmates The B-52’s at the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary concert and they though they should at least do a small tour together – finally, now that The B’s are retired from long tours. The twelve big dates were certainly value for money.
Color me thrilled, but then someone delivered a coup de grace by suggesting that Lene Lovich be the opening act! So I also got to see Lene Lovich perform and even better, she mounted a larger tour around the dates with The B-52’s and DEVO! So I went to Florida to catch a full, glorious set by the artist I first think of when I think of New Wave. Yes, DEVO are second. Her former lead guitarist Jude Rawlins now lives in America and he assembled a great band that did the songs proud. That I saw her in Florida with so many friends in attendance was icing on the cake. The experience was the balm that soothed the existential pains that the year lobbed in our faces continually and without pity.
And I finally saw Liverpool’s finest, the wonderful China Crisis also at the same concert where I saw Peter Godwin. In fact, Godwin made effective use of China Crisis’ keyboard player for his set! And the final concert of disbelief was the reformation of Pulp with a great new album made that saw them actually coming to the Southeast where I live for the first time in 32 years, so I pounced. And got to experience the living presence of some of the best songs ever written.
I’m also aware that most of the acts I saw were up to a generation older than I am, and I’m no greenhorn! I am approaching retirement age even though that’s not bloody likely! If the rest of us of us can age as gracefully as Lene Lovich, or the members of DEVO and Sparks, then it really would be a “Beautiful World!” For the gift of their song I am immensely grateful.
And oh yeah, I finally saw Judas Priest!
Next: The Stats…And Lists!
Jan Linton + Fluid Japan: Forbidden Colours – HK/US – DL [2025]
Last winter we enjoyed the crystalline beauty of Fluid Japan’s cover of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,” where Fluid Japan, working with a piano recording by Reiko Minimikawa, crafted three different mixes of the beautiful instrumental. Along with complementary instrumental material of their own to make a good EP. But it remained an instrumental. The soundtrack version of the theme to the film “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.” There was also the single version of the song, with a vocal by frequent Sakamoto collaborator David Sylvian, known as “Forbidden Colours.”
Another year later, and frequent collaborator Jan Linton has added his vocal as well as further instrumental touches, to the song to give us an excellent vocal version of what must have been a daunting prospect; a cover of “Forbidden Colours.” First Linton added his vocal to the solo piano “Tokyo mix” from last year. Adding string synths and synthetic koto percussion to fill things out a little. Then the ball bounced back to Fluid Japan where Todd Lewis added synth atmospheres to the intro, produced the final mix, and then handed it off to Walt Wistrand for mastering. What do we get?
The stillness and perfection of the intro felt like watching slow motion footage of diamonds tumbling onto velvet. Effulgent glints of light momentarily blinding us while we were unable to look away. Linton’s string synths carried us aloft with the song as if on a warm updraft. Then his vocal made its presence felt as he occupied a similar range to Sylvian here, but his voice is quite different to Sylvian’s. His sensitive crooning actually recalls that of Thomas Leer to my ear.
It’s heartbreakingly beautiful and the conceit of adding the instrumental of this version [quite different to any of the mixes on the 2024 EP] as the B-side is not in the least self-indulgent. Indeed, this single beckons to be played on a loop, which is how I always experience it thus far. All of the versions that Fluid Japan have released of this can be rolled into a playlist that can begin to meet our need for beauty and delicacy. As we can hear below.
It dropped on Christmas Eve as a last minute Christmas present to us all. It’s yours for a mere $1.50 yet worth so much more, so top it up! It’s available at both the Fluid Japan and Jan Linton Bandcamp stores, so if you buy from one, don’t forget to investigate the other! Both artists complement each other extremely well and if you enjoy one, I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying the other! There’s a reason why they collaborate so often. DJ hit those buttons! We’ll see you next year. Same Monk-Time…Same Monk-Channel!
BUY FROM JAN LINTON | $1.50
BUY FROM FLUID JAPAN | $1.50
-30-
Post-Punk Monk 