Ed Dowie - Robot Joy Army

These virtual mini-bots that hang out patrolling our online blather must have such a laugh categorising things. Mine, for, example has a box marked Female Singers Who Inspire Occasional Bursts of Great Passion. Its where it keeps Tracie! and Katy Perry. Except it doesn´t lump them like that, because it´s in touch with all its virtual mini-workmates so it knows all the differences between KP and Tracie! One of them had a show on Essex radio for a start and the other supports West Ham.

Unlike those algorythmic busybodies, we don´t get the befits of agglomerated info, and now covid is exacerbating of modern life´s bubbliness, my chances of communicating with people who approve of brexit, or Bojo or Florence & the Machine have always been slim but these days I don´t bump into people or overhear them, so that slimness has gone anorexic. Not overhearing people in Essex has been a killer blow, as it was always such a pure source of refreshingly (or shockingly) disagreeble opinions. With a dose of sweet nostalgia I look back on the time I turned to a guy in the street in Maldon and asked him where I could buy a Guardian, only to realise he was manning a BNP stand. As Mandela would have said – Awks, or what?

Lodged here in my bubble, I find myself doomed to endlessly turn over the question, who is Ed Dowie? Tracking my Whatsapps I see a solid seam of enthusiasm, but always from the same person. And those stalwart music types on FB people have never mentioned him. Maybe this makes him a cult hero. And what about the music? I can´t even think of a genre. It´s definitely not folk, he´s a singer songwriter but that kind of makes me queasy. Maybe it´s the British equivalent of Americana – actually that´s not helping the queasiness. While I had him on Spotify, I noticed it was also suggesting Cate Le Bon. These mini-bots are helpful little shits, he is a bit like LeBon, but with his melodies more subdued along with the witchiness. I mean that sometimes I listen to LeBon and feel like she watches The Wicker Man twice a month, whereas Dowie probably hasn´t seen it for about 6 years. A reliable source, Mr Simon Oliver, tells me that he is great live, boasting banks of pedals to rival Thurston Moore, and intersong banter that “outlols Geoff Barrow.” His merchandising stand appears to be rife with kitsch tat.

Shall we get to Robot Joy Army now? What it´s about ? etc. Frankly, I have no idea but America comes up and maybe modern bubblebots too, or just modern humans. Lanyards are associated with paranoia and US election day with standing by. I should maybe stick to the mood – it´s strident, gripping and deep. As deep as the Dowie catalogue, which I´m going to categorise as essential stuff.

Sorry, I´ve been slow – I could have just posted this snippet of Dowie´s forthcoming album´s review by Pete Paphides “The Obvious I would sound unutterably pretty even as an instrumental album. But once you factor in a voice whose purity has elicited comparisons to Robert Wyatt, Mark Hollis and Dean Wareham, the effect is something akin to hearing a ghost transmitting from a machine of its own making.”

THIS WEEK

Ed Dowie – Robot Joy Army

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snf0g-Jjzn0

453 views since 3rd November Weekly Average Views – 1,586

LAST WEEK

Loraine James – Don´t You See it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_oonJva4ls

Weekly Average Views – 103 Blog Week Views – 69

EXTRAS

Ed Dowie – Yungpawel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOk0-6YR1Ds

Ed Dowie – May For A Dead Queen