Billy Nomates

Cultural eye openers are a classy way to kick off so here goes, in Spain there is the concept of the La Cuesta De Enero (In Galicia, where I live, this would be A Costa Do Xaneiro), which we’ll interpret as Uphill January or The January Slope. In other words, January is a struggle, a pain, a nuisance, a total coñazo. With the January’s Slope behind us now, this week’s blog is taking on the feel of February’s Tumble and Splat. Whimsy and tragedy combine to give this one a scattergun vibe. For a true Gallego flavour let´s say the wild boars have toiled up January’s hill, and now Grandad and his shotgun have popped up to dish out step one of the chorizo-fication process.

First of all, a tribute to SOPHIE, whose track was the subject of the blog two weeks ago, and who died in a tragic accident last Saturday. I’ve seen a lot of online tributes since then, including some from people who, like me, had only recently become fans. It‘s clear that her creative career has been cut short, which is a loss for music fans. A much greater loss, of course, for those close to her, including the folk at the Glasgow label, Numbers, who had obviously devoted much time and effort to nailing the release of their BIPP remix, another step forward for SOPHIE, which has now taken on unwanted weight as her last release. It must be devastating to lose such a proud moment, on top of the loss of a friend and collaborator. My sympathy goes out to them.

To today’s track, let´s start with a quick word about nostalgia. It was supposed to be a true foe of this blog, where I hoped to actively resist the temptation to only ever think about Depth Charge, En Vogue or the Age Of Chance. So I was mildly infuriated when this week’s track insisted on having a phone box in the opening scene of the video. This is 2021, and thank god, by the way, that Covid waited for the digital age before it struck, the thought of those spittly handsets in their incubation booths is giving me the flaming adjabs. The track is Billy Nomates’ Heels and it seems as if the video’s awkward aesthetic has been deployed as a way to disguise the song’s fundamental pop power. The hook, I do not do heels, when the carpet ain’t right, is supported by a synth howl warning us - Hit Coming Through! Under it all, there’s stern drum machine and deep synth rumble, foregoing glitz in favour of purpose. Plus there’s the lyric I refuse to die looking like that, bringing this week’s score to Choices 1, Mortality 1. Maybe the phone box scene was just Heels trying to get through to a lost Kim Wilde version of itself, one which was number 1 for three hypothetical weeks in 1984. It’s that good.

Now, a quick doff of a tiny station master’s hat to Blue & Grey, a British Rail-themed album by Ciclismo. It´s impossible to imagine a project being aimed more up my alley, or siding perhaps. First, because I live and Spain and ride a bike (¡Ciclismo!), but also because I have railways running punctually through my genes. Not real railways though, model ones. My dad is retired now but he used to be a formidable property and transport magnate, as long as you include cardboard property and transport for HO/OO or N gauge plastic travellers. Despite the retirement, his name has a certain miniaturised caché in train circles from Enfield to Needham Market. Musically, Blue & Grey does a good job too, taking passengers on a semi-chilled journey where the propulsive vies with the pastoral. We can file it under Ambient House.

February’s final first week duty is to doff another hat, one of those young people’s ones, to Olivia Rodrigo for the track, Drivers License. Just like Heels, Driving Licences are a tangentially transport-related thing, which serve nicely as an entry point for lyrics, with heartbreak centre stage in this case. I heard the track quite a lot before I realised how huge it is. The YouTube video already has 18 million views, which I calculate to be roughly 1.5 times more than all my previous blog tracks put together, including Beyoncé (or 18 times more if we exclude Beyoncé, which we don´t). Even videos speculating about the real life heartbreak that fuels the song’s lyrics get 246 thousand views. That never happened to other singer (I mean Kim Wilde). Ignoring all this side fluff, the song is great, with a neat blend of anger and pain, like a more mature, more practical Back To The Old House.

Next week, the battle against nostalgia resumes. Phone boxes, BR, and stuff off Hatful is Hollow are all cancelled. Kim Wilde remains welcome, not as a mascot like this week, but on condition she does something new and thrilling.

THIS WEEK

Billy Nomates – Heels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPQW8GIVgB4

37,486 views since 25th Jan Weekly Average Views – 26,184

LAST WEEK

Tindersticks – Man Alone (Can´t Stop The Fadin´)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uQ7CDO4_GA

Weekly Average Views – 11,607 Blog Week Views – 8,553

EXTRAS – January´s leftovers

Ciclismo - Last Class 302 Out of Chalkwell (Happiness on the Misery Line?)

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU3_jkAT6yI

Olivia Rodrigo – Drivers License