I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee

You know when you’re listening to a song and, y’know, there’s an unexpected chord or tempo change, or something that throws you a bit off kilter. 

And then there are LP’s that throw up another, perhaps unexpected, direction for the artist – even for an artist known for their eclectism -  maybe some influences that you hadn’t heard before. Then there are LP’s where the LP as a whole is whacko eclectic. 

And then…. there’s Psymon Spine, the band of my guest Brother Michael…

....who take it a step further and shift ground mid-song like it's as natural as making a cup of tea – and, of course, why not…break the mould, paddle against the tide and all that.

Take their ridiculously good new LP, Head Body Connector and let’s take the track AntiMatter Kid whose sounds (and I’m gonna break all my own anti-genre rules here) veer from psychedelic rock, punk rock, indie rock with the most thrilling guitar – it’s The Osees on ketamine (not that I would know what that might be like of course) - into an 80’s Blame it On The Boogie discofest. 

And by the way, it’s absolutely coincidental and serendipitous that the K reference resurfaces a couple of tracks down when Ketamine Hot Tub appears.

Those feelings are what music is all about. In my opinion of course!

It feels to me like Psymon Spine has a personality and identity of its own as distinct from the band members. Maybe that’s too wacky to contemplate. Maybe it does run its own Instagram page. Imagine what that would look like!

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

DRAGG has been releasing music for around 12/13 years now; a brand of sparse, West Coast-y hip hop, tinged with RnB and soul, all the time showing a progressive approach and high degree of emotional intelligence in the subject matter and how to connect with his audience. 

His story is remarkable, not least because he lost his sight early in his life…but he has navigated the many obstacles he has faced with persistence and resilience, wearing his heart on his sleeve as the saying goes. He’s made some really telling statements on some of the real challenges of being an artist in 2024. And he’s done it in front of camera as well for the hellscape that is social media, which always gives me a feeling of awe! His latest 8 track album, Mixed Feelings, came out in April 2024 and it is another sonic progression and features a rich bunch of collaborators – for no particular reason, I’m just gonna mention Fernando Perez’s delicious -I think Spanish - guitar on the album’s wonderful closer Blue Dreams which ends with “If you love something, let it go….but what if it doesn’t come back?”

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

So, do I? 

Well, in a lot of ways, yes. 

Music, art, poetry and dance remain the number one threats to the establishment and the elite. 

But sadly, in my opinion, the music establishment is just as big a threat to music and artists. 

I’m not talking about the entirely fucked capitalist model – although no, fuck that, actually I am when I heard that UMG are proposing to make a performance related payout to their CEO Lucian Grainge of £119million – capitalism is at the very core of everything that is evil in the world – but I’m also talking more overtly about some of the less talked about things like genres (and yes, I know, I myself talk about genre a lot). 

Putting a band in a genre has been happening forever and we could talk about it being a lazy way for the industry to market music – which it is – but I think there are much more malignant effects of using genre as a way to compartmentalise playlists and market big label artists. 

With categorisation comes all sorts of social constructs – and sometimes the subtle ones are the most harmful - that are essentially used as an anti-freedom power tool to keep people in their lanes – I’m thinking ways to dress, subjects to speak about, instruments to play, and the worst of all….who they deem allowable to actually play the music. 

For example, whatever you think musically of Beyonce’s album Cowboy Carter, it seems clear to me that the gatekeeping that, back in the day, excluded black musicians from a ‘genre’ that they created ,still exists – and there ain’t anything subtle about that, it’s rooted in racism. 

I don’t remember Kid Rock for being subjected to any such gatekeeping when he went “country”.


Lizzie No has written, sung, played on and produced three world class records, her latest being Halfsies which fucks off those genres and is just a fabulous piece of work.

She's also an activist - the subjects above are close to her heart -  and fabulous human.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

My first experience of censorship in music came with the battle between the Dead Kennedys and Tipper Gore’s PMRC (remember the “Parental Advisory Explicit Content” stickers?) which culminated in the obscenity trial in 1985/6 over the artwork for DK’s record Frankenchrist. I don’t know if anyone remembers but the board members of the PMRC were a bunch of white power brokers funded by Coors Beer, who also just happened to be big supporters of….. Ronald Reagan. 

The elite keeping the lid on challengers to their power. Some things never change do they?

Anyway, forward 25/6 years or so to Moscow and 4 of the founding members of the art collective Pussy Riot perform their inspired Punk Prayer inside the Cathedral of Christ The Saviour. 

It’s still one of the best and most effective pieces of protest performance art that I’ve seen, although at great personal cost as 3 out of the 4 performers were arrested and convicted. 

Separation of church and state, censorship, state violence, state control, repression of equality, denial of intersectionality….and still the elite, the despots and the sycophants fear art and artists more than anyone since feudalism, capitalism and all that good stuff began. 

Diana Burkot is a founding member of Pussy Riot, a multi disciplinary musician and a committed activist. Her music project away from Pussy Riot is called Rosemary Loves A Blackberry and it is a glorious kaleidoscope of performance art that brings together diverse instruments, beats, imagery and lyrics that open your mind to eclectic and experimental interpretations and is at home with any industrial die hards, synth lovers or lovers of the darker, magical sounds from the other side…..

It's a huge honour to have her on the show.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

If I were to create a mixtape (it’d have to be an old school cassette cos that’s probably the last time I made one!) for Amanda and her music life, it’d probably open with The Undertones’ Family Entertainment with the classic line “Got To…Keep it In the Family”.
 
I mention family not so much to talk endlessly about the quite rare band structure of her band, Bad Mary – in her words “a band family and family band” - but to segué clumsily into some of the questions that I have for myself about where friendships and family relationships fit into today’s lifestyle such as….
 
Do we make friends the same way as we used to do?
We have the largest number of generations alive at the same time – do we bridge these generations?
Do we make enough time for them?
Do we have friends for life?
Do we appreciate friends and family?
How do they impact our wellbeing?
What role do virtual friendships play?


This is a very beautiful conversation with Amanda and I'm grateful for her openly talking about some difficult subjects.  Make a brew, hit the sofa and enjoy!

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

You know when you hear a song or a collection of songs that literally make you shiver? Songs that could make you cry at how effortlessly beautiful they are. 

Another thing that interests me is the neuroscience of how some pieces of music can transport me to a time, a place, an older version of me, a perhaps as yet unseen version of me, how they can seem like my constant companion that’s seen my life, the very depths of me, the heights of me, how I can go back to them and they’re still my friend, never my enemy, still those companions of unwavering devotion, years down the line. 

Well, Saint Saviour (Becky Jones) is doing all of this again with her brand new album which is called Sunseeker, building on In The Seams and Tomorrow Again – two masterpieces in my book. For one thing, it’s got horns and anything that’s got horns in it is good in my book. More than that, it’s got her signature chord progressions and harmonies that just tie me up in knots. So good.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

His wonderful band, Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards - like the bastard prodigy of Joe Jackson, Electric Light Orchestra, Trail of Dead and The Vines -  have a new album out called Rapture Waltz and it’s a belter. I love how it draws on these apparently disparate influences to produce music that is as good as it is individual and defies categorisation - the scourge of how society has wired us to think.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

 Ok, soapbox over!

SkyDxddy has just released their latest single called Why Do I Stay? And it’s quite different sonically to their previous work. What’s not different though, is the importance and value of the message - that every experience and every impact is at once unique and relatable to many of us and that each story deserves to be told and heard – I believe that’s what humanity should be about. 

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

We live in a culture of immediacy and entitlement, brought upon us, in part at least, by the emergence of new technologies of the last 20 years that were supposed to democratise society, to disrupt the big corporates, but have laid themselves bare as the same old monolithic structures where the power bases and wealth are maintained and society is left with long lasting effects which are not always positive. The impact on how we consume the Arts, and specifically music, is such that that immediacy means our attention spans are so short, that singles, playlists are the corporate darlings. 

But….and call me an old fart if you want….listening to an album from beginning to end gives you so much more if you can spend 40 minutes to think about the way the tracks are laid out, why they are in that 1-10 order, what the artist is saying which can often be soul baringly raw, what the music makes you feel, what the words make you feel, how do they relate to your life, the entire story. 

Maybe it’s because I’m of an age now, but I mean, my god, how rich is that???!! 

The latest record from Sukie Smith is called The Glass Dress and a Ringing Bell and it’s a road trip storybook of Exploration, Experimentation, Resistance, Transformation and Liberation, written and delivered exquisitely.

Every experience and backstory is unique and deserves to be told and heard - that’s humanity. 

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

Listening to the music of Belle Chen brings me some mixed emotions – firstly, incredible love and admiration for the creativity and innovation of her thinking and the beauty and talent in executing this thinking through her composition and playing, yet still leaving room for the listener’s own interpretation. The second, and I fight hard against this one, is some regret that my own musical education was more constrained and I couldn’t – or didn’t want to - find a similar path where music and sound can be used so fluidly and experimentally, where they are such a vital and inspirational conduit for connection, whether that be with nature, our environment, our relationships or ourselves.

Belle’s latest studio album, Ravel In the Forest, is a powerful voyage through the natural world that lets you visualise and recapture the word “awesome” in its purest sense. For me, it’s a storybook that immerses you in the beauty of life.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste