IN ROTATION: Our most played albums in January 2020

TOM BOATMAN’S JANUARY IN ROTATION LIST

It might seem strange to say at the start of February, but already I feel like 2021 is going to be here before we know it. So one month into the year and I’m fighting the continual battle to stop myself buying so much vinyl. In terms of what’s wending its way over to me, nothing has me more excited than the new TODAY IS THE DAY album, which I’ve got another two or three weeks to wait for. But in the meantime, here’s the music I’ve been occupying myself most with…

Kirk Windstein – Dream In Motion

Rather than knocking me out on first impact, this album has been a real slow burner for me. Creeping over me, like the dank moss of a ruined temple, these mournful, understated, dark, Hard Rock tracks keep growing on me with every listen. Having only had a few days to digest them before my review last month I was cautious in my praise. I suspect though that time is only going to increase my appreciation of this music. You won’t find the immense, lung crushing riffs of prime CROWBAR on this release, instead Kirk showcases some of the most poignant, beautiful songwriting he’s ever released, without losing the authentic, emotional weight that he’s been channelling into his music for decades.

Jaz Coleman (conducting the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra) – Magna Invocatio: A Gnostic Mass For Choir And Orchestra Inspired By The Sublime

Speaking of trying not to spend all my money on vinyl, I made it through the whole pre-release period, before folding and ordering this a day or two after the release date. As some of you will know, Jaz Coleman is not only the frontman for KILLING JOKE, but an internationally renowned, Classical conductor. With this in mind, these Classical reworkings of KILLING JOKE songs from as far back as “Brighter Than A Thousand Suns” to the most recent “Pylon” is anything but a novelty record; some of the band’s most emotionally affecting songs like “Absent Friends”, “The Raven King” and “Adorations” really are sublime in orchestral form (not to mention the wonderful version of “You’ll Never Get To Me”, which makes a whole lot more sense to me here than it did in its original form on their self-titled 2003 album). I would have loved to hear something from the under-appreciated “Outside The Gate” given such lush, orchestral treatment too, but I’m probably in the minority on that count. This music poses a serious threat to the huge wall of emotional suppression I’ve been constructing around myself for the past twenty five years.

Mireplaner – Diapiric

Thank the heavens someone had the good sense to re-release the debut from Mireplaner last month. I just can’t get enough of this ominous, otherworldly, expansive, brooding Sludge Metal. With a definite feel of NEUROSIS here, in the best possible way, listening to this music I could be discovering a new world underwater and experiencing that split second where I wonder whether I can breathe down here or I need to hold my breath forever.

Today Is The Day – Kiss The Pig

Well I’ve got to warm myself up for the new album, right? If you’ve never tried to get into Today is the Day, this might not be the best starting point, but then again every album the band releases is some kind of sharp turn from the last; you could be alienated or delighted by any of them. Here Steve Austin and co. put together probably the ugliest, most abrasive, least melodic set of “songs” and sound of any Today is the Day record. High pitched screaming, cacophonous, helter-skelter drumming and a guitar tone like a lawnmower fighting a jet engine; it took me a long time to find a way in, but there’s something about the relentless, auditory sandpapering of these tracks that really hits the spot when my ears are demanding something really misanthropically torturous. Punish yourself, you’re worth it.

Killing Joke – Outside The Gate
E.G. Records – June 27th, 1988

Speaking of albums not usually held up as the best examples of a band’s greatness…

Yes I know people say it was really meant to be a Jaz Coleman solo record, but the record label wanted the cache of the Killing Joke name behind it; yes I know drummer Big Paul got forced out mid-way through; yes I know that bassist Raven reportedly wanted nothing to do with it; and yes, there’s that bit where Jaz raps on “Stay One Jump Ahead”, but to all you naysayers who insist this is the nadir of the band’s career, I say poo to you! As outrageous as it might seem to say it, I think this album has aged better than “Night Time”. Even at their most washed in 80s synths and production techniques, and only really comprising half of the band, Killing Joke cannot help but be perversely inspired. Mystical references I’ll probably never understand, a fascination with numerology years before Tool made it hip, laughing at madness; this is not the 80s of girls in bikinis on yachts and Duran Duran. I’d never say this is their best work, but it deserves a lot more appreciation than it gets.

Tom Boatman