Damian O'Neill "Más o Menos" Remix E.P. featuring Remixes by The Limiñanas and Kevin Sharkey

"Más o Menos", the superb opening track to Undertones guitarist Damian O'Neill's critically acclaimed new instrumental album "An Crann, has been given the remix treatment in a new E.P.  out now on Dimple Discs Records. First of all, the fuzzed-up French band The Limiñanas' remix concentrates mainly on "Más o Menos" immediately memorable bass riff, which I always thought was reminiscent of Dave Richmond's iconic bass sound on Serge Gainsbourg's classic concept album "Histoire de Melody Nelson". Indeed, Lionel Limiñana has added new Serge and Jane Birkin style male-female spoken word verses in French that are really evocative of "Melody Nelson". He has then married this influence to the hypnotic Krautrock beats so favoured by The Limiñanas to create an atmospheric and highly evocative version. I'm extremely honoured to have been involved in some small way in getting Damian hooked up with The Limiñanas and to hear the end result of two of my favourite Artists working together, almost bought a tear to the eye! I knew Damian was, like me, a big fan of The Limiñanas and by coincidence, last year they were including a cover version of "Teenage Kicks" in their set-list. I must admit my first bit of meddling was to try and get Damian on stage with the band at the Scala in London's Kings Cross to join in with The Undertones classic but he politely declined. However, I did introduce them after the gig and then came Damian's idea of a possible remix, so he later asked to be put in touch as he could feel The Limiñanas might be able to draw something special out of "Más o Menos" and indeed they have. There's a feature on The Limiñanas' Scala Kings Cross show at the Retro Man Blog archive here.

Damian with Marie and Lionel Limiñana - Photo Retro Man Blog

Here's the video to The Limiñanas remix of "Más o Menos" which suits the theme of Lionel's narrative concerning a girl searching for the grave of Andrew Weatherall...enjoy!

Next  up, the excellent Kevin Sharkey remix draws out the Spaghetti Western influence throughout "Más o Menos", with its haunting whistling, tolling bells and thunderous timpani shot through with a stinging fuzz guitar chord. Sharkey has then married this cinematic sound to more traditional remix elements such as scratching, spiralling synth motifs and rhythmic bongo drums and the original backing vocals are much more prominent. Its like taking Ennio Moriconne's "Man With a Harmonica" to the dance floor. Both versions are superb examples of how a song can be twisted into two very different, but equally imaginative and effective takes on the original, which is also included on the E.P. for good measure. At present unfortunately, there are no physical formats available but you can buy the download from the Dimple Disc Records Bandcamp page here. For more information on all of Damian's solo projects and collaborations please check out his official web-site here.

Damian & Dimple Discs boss Brian O'Neill - photo by Retro Man Blog

For our Retrosonic Podcast special episode recorded at the "An Crann" album launch party and Q&A with Damian and journalist Ann Scanlon, please subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iTunes or you can listen/download direct from our SoundCloud site below. You'll also find our other thoroughly entertaining episodes with Damian along with the That Petrol Emotion/Everlasting Yeah special available in the archive.

Retrosonic Podcast · Damian O'Neill Live Q&A from The Social with Ann Scanlon

David Arnoff "Shot In The Dark" Book Resurrection Party at The Dublin Castle, Camden, Sunday March 19th 2023

Here are some photos from a thoroughly entertaining afternoon at the legendary music venue and pub The Dublin Castle in Camden, a suitably Rock 'n' Roll setting for the re-launch (or resurrection...) party to celebrate the new edition of "Shot In The Dark - The Collected Photography of David Arnoff" which is out now on Red Planet Books. David was there to sign copies and chat about his work, and there was a selection of iconic shots taken from the book on display, including superb photos of The Gun Club, Ramones, The Damned, Blondie, The Fuzztones, Thee Hypnotics, Television, The Cramps and many more. There was a DJ providing an excellent soundtrack to the book with loads of great CBGB's era-Punk Rock and classic tracks by some of David's many photographic subjects. I spotted some familiar faces in the crowd too, including members of Jim Jones All Stars, The Phobics, The Priscillas, The Charity Case and Gaye (Advert) Black among others. The new edition of "Shot In The Dark", which includes 16 extra images and a deluxe slipcase, is available to buy from Red Planet Books here. For more information on David and his photography, please check out his Instagram page here or his official web-site here.

All photos copyright Retro Man Blog, 2023