Retrosonic Podcast Episode 46 "Stupidly Happy" with Special Guest Buddy Ascott

In Episode 46 of Retrosonic Podcast, Steve from Retro Man Blog welcomes The Chords & The Fallen Leaves drummer Buddy Ascott for an update on his recent musical adventures. We cover The 79'ers tour with The Vapors, recent shows with The Fallen Leaves and his production work with Proper. There's also news on his charity bass drum skin which he is getting signed by as many famous drummers as possible to auction for the Roll Out The Barrel water-aid trust. So far there's the signatures of Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Clem Burke of Blondie, Rick Buckler of The Jam, John Maher of Buzzcocks, Mick Avory of The Kinks and many more. We actually interrupt the podcast to capture the very last autograph, that of Terry Chambers of XTC. There's music from The Vapors, The Chords and XTC and then we play and discuss some new superb new releases from Ruts DC, The Price, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Eels, The Len Price 3, The Wedding Present with Louise Wener, Lester Square, Telefis with Jah Wobble, The Jukeez, Goodbye Victory Road and Tiny Flaws. Please click on the highlighted links below for more information on each band and how you can buy their music.

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 46 "Stupidly Happy" with special guest Buddy Ascott

XTC "Bottle From A Rocket"

XTC "Stupidly Happy"

The Len Price 3 "She's Making a Film"

The Vapors "One of My Dreams"

The Chords "One More Minute"

The Price "Between The Lies"

Ruts DC "Something That I Said" (Electracoustic Version)

Telefis (feat. Jah Wobble) "Falun Gong Dancer"

Eels "Steam Engine"

Elvis Costello & The Imposters "My Most Beautiful Mistake"

Newtown Neurotics "Liar Liar"

The Jukeez "Turning You Into"

Tiny Flaws (feat. Bobby Tarlton) "Photogenie"

Goodbye Victory Road "Tomorrow's World"

The Wedding Present (feat. Louise Wener) "We Should Be Together"

Proper "Harlequin"

Lester Square "Zulu" 

Buddy Ascott with Terry Chambers of XTC - photo Retro Man Blog

You can subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast for free at iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and SoundCloud. You can listen to our special Lockdown Lowdown episode with Leigh Heggarty from Ruts DC and The Price here. Our Lockdown Lowdown with Buddy Ascott can be found here and the "Rhythm Method" episode featuring Buddy's favourite drummers is available here. Then there's our first episode together with the original story of the charity bass drum skin in the archive here or direct below. Thanks for listening, check out the Roll Out The Barrel charity here and look out for news on the drum skin auction date! Retrosonic Podcast has a valid on-line music PRS Licence.

 Retrosonic Podcast · Buddy Ascott of The Chords & The Fallen Leaves

Lester Square "Invisible Man" - New Solo LP from former Monochrome Set guitarist

 

Lester Square, the original guitarist with Adam & The Ants and The Monochrome Set is back with another eclectic and thoroughly satisfying solo instrumental album called "Invisible Man" which could well be the soundtrack to an imaginary movie. First track "Who The Gods Destroy" sets the scene of what's to come perfectly. It's packed with buzzing analogue synth and keyboard sounds, tinny drum machines and all topped off by Lester's trademark twanging guitar riffs. I'm reminded of early Wall of Voodoo, who were originally a soundtrack/score composing collective before they added the vocal talents of Stan Ridgway. "Invisible Man's" evocative songs conjure up images of robots, old computer games and vintage Sci-Fi movies complete with spliced dialogue, swooping aircraft and special effects. The mix of styles flows effortlessly throughout the album, there's the pulsing 90's style Techno of "Disco Bizarro" and then we're on more familiar guitar-led territory with the excellent "Trudi French (Slight Return)". The shimmering, glacial wash of oriental synths in "Shinjuku" is reminiscent of Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Neo Geo" album and certainly brings the 24-hour neon-lit Bladerunner atmosphere of Tokyo's pleasure district to life. "Leaf" is a particular favourite and the crunching chords and jazzy guitar-riffing are reminiscent of The Monochrome Set, all underpinned by some nice Arabic percussion. Lester brings things down to Earth with the bumpy crash-landing of "COP26" which is shot through with chilling sound-bites regarding the failure of the powers-that-be to tackle the effects of climate change and suddenly the outer-space of "Invisible Man" seems quite appealing. The mood is lightened by an unexpected bonus track to end with, a version of John Barry's stirring "Zulu" theme however, Lester has subverted the genre and relocated the action from Rorke's Drift to the Wild West with an uptempo Ventures style Spaghetti Western romp. Lester plays all instruments and has written all the tracks except "Zulu" which was composed by John Barry. "Invisible Man" was recorded at Liberal Elite Studios in Islington and will be available in February from Lester's Bandcamp page. You'll be able to hear a track from the album in our forthcoming episode of Retrosonic Podcast so please subscribe at Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts to ensure you don't miss out.

 

Lester with The Monochrome Set at Retro Man Blog Night, The Half Moon Putney - Photo Paul Slattery

"Invisible Man, his 5th solo album, sees Lester move to a more cinematic arena. Employing synthesised sound and sampled aural collage, he reels in the reels, brings Sci-Fi to the Hi-Fi, terror to the turn table, romance to the dance floor... and a re-look at some old favourites. The whole is rounded off with a more serious look at science fact, a reaction to the failure of COP26 as well as a 'live' bonus track! So, expect phasers set to stun and more ear worms than you can shake a stick at. Pop some corn, put the headphones on and settle down to an instrumental blockbuster: from Sulu to Zulu, a Saturday matinee of movie mayhem and mirth with a sobering twist. Schlock & Roll!" 

 

"Lester Square's guitar style influenced The Smiths, the Glasgow and Edinburgh Post Punk scenes, and then their successors, Franz Ferdinand." - Ian Bourne, Gig Soup

"Kind of groovy and danceable, but extremely bookish as well: very clever." - Graham Coxon

The 50 Guitars of Lester Square "Serotonin": New Solo Album from ex-Monochrome Set Guitarist Coming Soon

Lester Square was the original guitarist in Adam and the Ants before co-founding The Monochrome Set with whom he has released eleven studio albums. He has also recorded with The Invisible, Jesus Couldn’t Drum, And The Native Hipsters, Victory Through Sound and Helen McCookerybook. Lester will release a new solo album entitled "Serotonin" in July and this will be the follow up to his excellent debut solo LP "Carcass", which we featured in Retro Man Bog here. It's another intriguing and inventive selection of musical vignettes that cram in a myriad of different sounds and influences. Some of the songs such as "Blake's Dream" - one of three co-written with ex-Smith, Craig Gannon - are like mini-symphonies while others have evocative orchestral arrangements that seem ideal for movie scores. The track "Shaken Not Stirred" as you may imagine could well be a theme tune to a James Bond movie and Lester plays with this filmic element throughout the album. He throws in lots of twangy Surf riffs and the occasional blast of Garage Rock Fuzz as well as Baroque synth sounds sound effects and radio and TV news broadcast excerpts. "Privates on Parade" is driven along by some military snare drumming and a toy town rhythm track that's not unlike what Lawrence from Felt is now doing with Go-Kart Mozart. There's even time for a bit of Sitar on "Prime Time (Cowboys & Indians)" and "Pachelbel's Pistol" features some dreamy female backing vocals and the percussion gives it a Tropicalia feel - all topped off by Lester's familiar exquisite guitar work.

Lester Square photographed at our Retro Man Blog Night in May 2014 by Paul Slattery

"The new Lester Square album "Serotonin" follows up last year's "Carcass" with yet more melodic soundscapes crammed with the kind of earworms and guitar hooks that were his Monochrome Set calling card. Lester is joined by guests such as Craig Gannon (Aztec Camera, The Bluebells, The Smiths) and Andy Vaughan (Victory Through Sound) to produce a toe-tapping, fender bender of an opus, infused with a lush filmic sense of mood and everywhere the plangent sound of the guitar, in all its incarnations. From the space disco of Cassini Godspeed to the raga redux of Prime Time (Cowboys and Indians); from the 'Carry On' square bashing of "Privates on Parade" to the psychedelia of the title track; from the pastoral poignancy of "L'Olivarie" to the 'strum' und drang of "Shaken Not Stirred"; Serotonin is an album of infectious melody but with all the edge and verve you would expect from this mover and shaker of the Indy Sound. So move over, Duane Eddy; sling your hooks, Tommy Garrett; thanks, but no thanks, Hank. With this feel good album, Lester Square is now claiming the aural high ground." - Johnny Besoin

All songs written and performed by Lester Square except "Shaken Not Stirred", "Blake's Dream" and "50 Guitars" which were written and performed by Lester Square and Craig Gannon. Vocals on "Pachelbel’s Pistol" by Jenny Besoin, Sitar intro on "Prime Time (Cowboys and Indians)": Bobby Lightfoot, Guest guitarists on "50 Guitars": Jeremy Wilson, Andy Vaughan, Ian Evans, Jen Denitto, Ciaron Marlow, Andy Bushrod, Brian Nupp, Nate Stiles, Cliff Adams, Mark Ashe and Steve Thompson. The album recorded at Liberal Elite Studios, Islington in 2018 and was mastered by Craig Gannon. "Serotonin" will be released in July and is available to order from the Lester Square Bandcamp site here.

Lester Square "Carcass" - New Solo Album from The ex-Monochrome Set & Adam & The Ants Guitarist

Lester Square photographed by Paul Slattery at our Retro Man Blog Night back in 2014

Lester Square, the original guitarist in Adam & The Ants and co-founder of The Monochrome Set has just released a new solo album entitled "Carcass". The title track features Lester's trademark twanging riffs that will of course be familiar to fans of The Monochrome Set. It's a great opener, like Dick Dale or Link Wray performing the soundtrack to an Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western movie. Another personal highlight is "Time Flies" which is a beautifully pastoral song with vocals from The Chefs' Helen McCookerybook that reminds me of Goldfrapp's "Seventh Tree" album and it wouldn't have been out of place on the soundtrack to "The Wicker Man". Although by the end the peaceful landscape seems to get shattered and polluted by the sound of screaming fighter jets. The rest of the album features a diverse set of evocative and mainly instrumental songs that range from pulsing funky brass to baroque orchestral pieces. There's even some Gaelic Pipe Folk rubbing shoulders with organ driven tracks that touch on The Senior Service or James Taylor Quartet's output. But of course it's Lester's instantly recognisable and inventive, yet still seriously underrated, guitar work that is the star of the show. As well as recording eleven studio albums with The Monochrome Set, Lester has also recorded with The Invisible, Jesus Couldn’t Drum, ...And The Native Hipsters, Victory Through Sound and Helen McCookerybook. The official description of the album goes something like this: "Carcass, is a product of its times; a collection, if you will, of protest instrumentals; sound poems to chart these extraordinary times. Whether imagining the insect winners of a post nuclear winter, or the secrets of the Trump penthouse, these works are in equal measure poignant, sarcastic, angry and hopeful. It has been said that revolution today has no soundtrack in the same way that the anti-Vietnam draft resistance of the sixties did. For what its worth the redress starts here". You can order the CD of "Carcass" from Lester's Bandcamp page here.

Lester will be re-joining The Monochrome Set for two very special gigs at The Lexington in Islington to celebrate 40 years since The Monochrome Set formed. The band will be playing their first two albums "Strange Boutique" and "Love Zombies" in their entirety and a set of favourites, over two nights, Saturday 10th February and Sunday 11th February next year. The gig is being promoted by Bizarro and support on both nights comes from The Would-Be-Goods Two who feature Jessica Griffin and Peter Momtchiloff of the original WBG's playing a stripped down set of songs old and new. You can order tickets in advance from We Got Tickets here. There's no news yet if Lester will be playing any solo gigs to promote the release of "Carcass" but in the meantime here's the title track.

Lester Square photo copyright Paul Slattery. You can see a feature, including more of Paul's excellent photos of our Retro Man Blog Night featuring The Monochrome Set and The Fallen Leaves back in May 2014 at the Retro Man Blog archive here.