Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Similar to what the others have said, I was very much into him in the early 2000s, along with that whole crop of downer indie/alt. country/slowcore stuff like Smog, Red House Painters, Low, Papa M, Jim O’Rourke, Wilco, Loose Fur, Codeine, Appendix Out, Songs: Ohia, Cat Power etc, but I lost track of his output after “Superwolf” in 2005.

I saw him live at the end of that year, supporting Current 93 in Italy- he didn’t play a single song that I recognised…I’m guessing it was stuff that ended up on “The Letting Go”? Whatever the case, it didn’t inspire me to pick up said record when it did emerge, though I recall being slightly tempted to check out the covers effort he did with Tortoise at the very least!

But yeah, I still pull the CDs out every few years to wallow in the miserablist nostalgia! “I See a Darkness” was always a particular fave and “Arise Therefore” is spectacularly depressing!

Cheers for the recommendations! I have heard quite a few of those artists but not all ....

Cheers for the recommendations! I have heard quite a few of those artists but not all ....

The self-titled Amalgamated Sons of Rest EP is a brief but pleasant listen if you haven’t already heard it. They were a one-off ‘supergroup’ of Oldham, Jason Molina (Songs: Ohia etc) and Ali Roberts (Appendix Out) and the EP was recorded circa-9/11 so it’s understandably sombre and muted…so yeah, business as usual, basically!

One of my favourites in the mid-late 90's, early 2000s. Reached a pinnacle of sorts with Joya & I See A Darkness.
I started dropping out of his output with Ease Down The Road. Just got bored and started looking for stuff more "fun" in general, same with Smog / Bill Callahan. Funnily enough, I got diagnosed with severe depression in 2001, and in recovering started getting more enjoyment from the Strokes, Libertines, Times New Viking, Young Knives, Nectarine No. 9, Rakes 1st, US Weird Punk/Psych, etc, stuff I felt could stand up to the Undertones, Teardrops, Jam, Vic Godard, Orange Juice, Fire Engines, Rezillos, Associates, of the punk/post-punk era. More psychologically positive for me anyhow.
Disorder or Apocalyspe, No are undoubtedly fantastic songs, but I'd rather listen to Janie Jones or Sonic Reducer than wallow in misery these days.
(Still hang onto Syd, Roky and Skip though!)
I'd rather listen to Silver Jews from that mopey stuff anyway, at least they've got kick-ass songs like Punks In The Beerlight & Trains Across The Sea.*


Talking about USA weird punk, Julian was so right about San Francisco Water Cooler in his Address Druidion's back in the day.
Check out this fantastic EP from 2011 still available on Bandcamp for 5 bucks.:
https://sfwc.bandcamp.com/album/kool-shoes-ep

*Cat's Blues does Rock, almost forgot that one.