Happy Birthday Sally Timms!

Celebrating Sally's birthday with her versions of the Handsome Family's "Sad Milkman" and two John Anderson honky tonk classics! 

Watch Jon Langford perform "Memphis, Egypt" with The Sadies at The Horseshoe

Since it's Jon Langford's birthday, here's our man performing "Memphis, Egypt" with Sally Timms and The Sadies in Toronto. 

Jon Langford's Skull Orchard plays an afternoon show at the Horseshoe Oct 27. Get tickets here.

Here's Sally Timms & Jon Langford on a Brooklyn rooftop

Sally & Jon are joined by Jean Cook and Martin Billheimer for a frolicsome version of The Mekons "Hard To Be Human Again" 

Watch The Mekons at The Hideout in Chicago

Steve Goulding jumped on the mic to lead the sing-a-long on Gang Of Four's Armalite Rifle at The Mekons show on July 12th.  

The Mekons' debut The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen is being reissued

The Mekons' 1979 debut is out June 21st on Superior Viaduct. Jon Langford plays The Horseshoe May 23. 

After two singles for Fast Product, Leeds art-punk collective The Mekons signed with Virgin Records in 1979. The band would have to borrow gear from their mates Gang Of Four to record their major label debut. In classic Mekons style, the album's back cover featured a photo of Gang Of Four instead of themselves.

As Simon Reynolds writes, "The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen got a mixed reception at the time. Listening to it now, though, the first LP sounds more of a piece with the band's early punk singles. What's striking is the commonality of sound across the three key Leeds groups of that moment (Gang Of Four, Delta 5 and The Mekons). There are textural affinities in terms of scrawny abrasiveness and a general departure from rock 'n' roll norms of singing and emoting."

With boundless energy, The Mekons net a dozen barbed takes on pop culture, art and politics. "What Are We Going To Do Tonight" stands out as a razor-sharp critique of leisure, while "Beetroot" drowns apathy in angular riffs and catchy, unmelodic chants. Check out "What Are We Going To Do Tonight" and The Mekons' Peel Session from 1979 below.

Clad in one of the most striking record covers of its era, The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen is now available in the US for the first time. Liner notes by Simon Reynolds.




The Mekons – The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen
Like Spoons No More
Join Us In The Countryside
Rosanne
Trevira Trousers
After 6
What Are We Going To Do Tonight
What
Watch The Film
Beetroot
I Saw You Dance
Lonely And Wet
Dan Dare

TURF: The Mekons @ Fort York, Sunday

The Mekons' new Existentialism book & CD is out now. Here's Fear & Beer (Hymn for Brexit).

TURF Sunday line-up

Doors @ 1PM

EAST STAGE
8:40 – 10:00 Death Cab For Cutie
5:50 – 7:10 Matthew Good
3:10 – 4:20 The New Pornographers
1:15 – 2:00 The Belle Game

WEST STAGE
7:20 – 8:30 Jimmy Eat World
4:30 – 5:40 The Hold Steady
2:10 – 3:00 Marlon Williams

BATTLE OF YORK STAGE
7:10 – 8:40 Rheostatics
4:30 – 5:40 Corb Lund
2:10 – 3:10 Sun K

REBELLION STAGE
8:30 – 10:00 The Mekons
7:15 – 8:00 Adam Baldwin
5:45 – 6:45 Wild Child
4:30 – 5:15 Julia Jacklin

The Waco Brothers @ The Horseshoe, May 13

Jon Langford and his Waco crew will be presenting songs from Going Down In History at the Horseshoe on Friday.