Cyclists dismount! Time for the month’s finest rock anthems, runic doom, and lose-yer-mind electro-funk.
1 ACID ARAB SAYARAT 303
Coming on a bit Oxygene with added 4/4 kick, the Parisian duo continue their hypnotising meetings of North African and Middle Eastern music and house, building up the pulsing tension with beats and saz before finally letting out the abdominal gloop-noise of the 303 and achieving full lift-off. They explain it’s not a “mixing” of styles but a “melting: we just want to be part of it, and contribute to this brilliant and enormous masterpiece that this music is, and has been for thousands of years.” Hear more on the album Musique De France, out now on Crammed Discs. Find it: YouTube
2 THE ROLLING STONES JUST YOUR FOOL
Taken from the Blue & Lonesome LP, recorded in three days with no overdubs, with Eric Clapton, here’s the Stones harking back to the Crawdaddy, because they can. The blues is still strong in them. Find it: YouTube
3 THE UNDERTONES GET OVER YOU (KEVIN SHIELDS REMIX)
What earbursting MBV necromancy has Kevin Shields wrought on pop-punk’s chirpiest snorkel wearers’ 1979 single? Well, he’s taken some echo off Feargal Sharkey’s voice… and the song’s still genius. Find it: YouTube
4 TANGERINE DREAM ;-)
Edgar Froese may be gone, but the version of TD featuring Ulrich Schnauss goes on. Here they interpret themes – written under the influence of ’80s TD – from the Stranger Things TV show, in classic style. A dreamy mix of mysteriousness and conceptual short circuit. Find it: SoundCloud
5 OASIS STAND BY ME (MUSTIQUE DEMO)
An extra from the expanded Be Here Now, this features Noel Gallagher singing, no strings and a drum machine. According to producer Owen Morris, the demos “sound amazing… far better that the actual album” (sic). Find it: YouTube
6 WARDRUNA RAIDO
Doomy drone folk, runic poetry and a complimentary video about riding a horse through northern Norway – which looks amazing; all mist, ancient rocks and braided beards, like a psych-folk Xena: Warrior Princess. Find it: YouTube
7 KATE TEMPEST EUROPE IS LOST
South London’s new generation punk poet/MC crams the themes of Anohni’s entire Hopelessness album into just one track; featuring Esther, a care worker whose 4am anxiety expands to global proportions, soundtracked by Dan Carey’s sympathetic down-tempo backing. Find it: Spotify
MOJO listens to all its music on Roksan equipment “KATE TEMPEST CRAMS ANOHNI’S ENTIRE ALBUM INTO JUST ONE TRACK.”
8 THE FUTURE FUTURE RELIGION
The band that would become The Human League when Phil Oakey joined make disturbing ghost noises for concrete car parks and nuclear power stations, with the kind of synths available in 1977. Chilling. Find it: YouTube
9 DAVID GILMOUR AND BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH COMFORTABLY NUMB
When Gilmour played the Albert Hall on September 28, he was joined by the Sherlock/Doctor Strange/Shere Kahn actor – in remarkably Roger Waters-like form – for The Wall’s cornerstone. Find it: YouTube
10 LUKE BELL WHERE YA BEEN
Lead track from the self-titled LP by former Wyoming ranch hand Bell, whose retro C&W style is heartfelt enough to dispel fears that Nashville’s the new Brooklyn for hipster cowboys. Find it: YouTube
11 YUSUF ALI AND THE REVOLUTIONARIES UGANDA
From ’76, Prince Buster brings a brassy rockers tune – is that a nursery rhyme or some classical piece they’re playing? – with a cool dub version on the flip. Find it: YouTube
12 ANDY BOWN TAROT
The Quo man’s 1970 rock-folky theme to magic-themed kid’s TV adventure series Ace Of Wands. Watch it with the wiggy title sequence for the full teatime/occult impact. Find it: YouTube
13 RATS ON RAFTS/DE KIFT LAST DAY ON DE ZON
Generation-spanning Rotterdam groups team up for a fraughtly skanking – Bad Manners gone goth? – bellyshaker, on the beach, with bullfighting horns and impassioned narration in Dutch. There’s an album as well. Find it: SoundCloud
14 ANGELINA VAGABOND SAINT
A native Isle O’ Wighter who sounds like she could drink, smoke and hoochie coo with the best Depression-era ravers, Angelina’s rich vocal comes with fellow islander Rupert Brown’s lush brass backing that elevates the whole beyond retro. Find it: SoundCloud
15 LAS KELLIES MAKE IT REAL
Buenos Aires trio channel Chastity Belt’s knowing insouciance via reverberant minimalism on a third single from their LP Friends & Lovers (Fire). Dig their ESG grooves and Bilinda Butcher haircuts. Find it: YouTube
16 KILBURN AND THE HIGH ROADS ROUGH KIDS
Ian Dury’s alehouse rockers fondly hymn urchins, yobs and shoplifting in English ted-land, 1975. See also Upminster Kids from the Kilburns’ Handsome LP. Find it: YouTube
17 MARILYN LOVE OR MONEY
Marilyn and Boy George reunite on a sweet reggae tune where Maz spells out his self-assured “live and love yourself” philosophy with a gutsiness that belies 20 years spent – at his own admission – doing crack and smack and watching Alien. Find it: Mistermarilyn.com
18 TOY I’M STILL BELIEVING (CAVERN OF ANTIMATTER REMIX)
Tim Gane’s combo do the business on the south coast indie rockers, stripping away guitars and turning up the home organ before the song heads skywards for a cloudgazing denouement. Find it: YouTube
19 ZAPP MORE BOUNCE TO THE OUNCE (ALBUM VERSION)
The Ohio funk hydra, plugged into the mains, making a sublimely insane racket for nine and a half minutes, like some perfect crime from the future. Find it: YouTube
20 MICHAEL NAU MARALOU
Sweetly off-kilter folk-soul duet between Nau and his wife/ bandmate Whitney McGraw. His reedy, Mark Linkous-like lisp and her rich sweet country voice aren’t a naturally smooth blend but his solo debut’s rinky-dink oddness is key to its appeal. Find it: YouTube