Wud Records: July 2022 top ten tracks published at SoundCloud
The top ten tracks for July 2022 from Wud Records have been published in a new playlist at SoundCloud.
Tracks are arranged from one to ten according to their popularity. The algorithm we use gives greatest weight to downloads and reposts, then likes and comments (active engagement) over plays (passive engagement).
When somebody reposts a track, that gives it the opportunity to be heard by a potential new fan. This is always a tremendous help for creative souls!
For the first time in a very long time we have combined the stats from both SoundCloud and Bandcamp for the new chart. This is because it will not be long until all our Bandcamp tracks are also published at SoundCloud. There may be a news spoiler in that last sentence…
Radio play and songs published at other platforms are omitted from the statistics. There may be further developments when our music is added to more platforms.
Archive tracks and bonus tracks are also ignored, as are likes and comments from people who clearly didn’t listen to the music. We have ways of knowing these things.
Massive thanks go out to everybody who helped to support all of us during July 2022 by listening to, commenting on and reposting our bands’ tracks on SoundCloud, Bandcamp and other platforms.
All the wonderful fans of our bands who supported us with downloads from Bandcamp are especially appreciated. You genuinely help us keep the fires burning and collectively we thank you for that most graciously. May you be blessed by the gods of rock n roll! :)
We would also like to say a special thank you to all the splendid people on Twitter who have been enjoying and reposting our tracks to their followers. All the support and positive feedback has been incredibly heartwarming for us all. It makes our endeavours here seem worthwhile.
Congratulations to Dark Company! They dominated the July 2022 chart with six of the ten spots available. Four different Dark Company albums all find representation, with two songs each from Signmaker and Rage in Heaven, and one each from Benign Inquisition and Can of Worms.
The new number one this month is Astrologer, from Dark Company‘s first album, Signmaker. Astrologer is a wonderful song with elements of progressive rock and psychedelic jazz folk. It also features the youngest performer ever to feature on a Wud Records recording. Sammi was only 11 years old when she performed some of the flute parts. The rest of the flute and the saxophone was played by Rowena Parsons, and she did a wonderful job.
When Pete wrote the lyrics for Astrologer, he was on holiday in Bexhill-on-Sea with his wife and daughter and sent a postcard to George to let him know of its manifestation. George says he had the idea for the music after hearing a James Bond theme tune.
Returning to the new chart at number two is Crash, also from Dark Company‘s first album, Signmaker. Crash is a high octane esoteric mix of hard rock and jazz funk. It has been likened to Talking Heads, Van Halen, AC/DC, ZZ Top and The Who amongst others.
Crash was originally an Alien Heat song, and Alien Heat used it to open their live shows. Sadly, no recording of the Alien Heat version still exists, as far as we know.
There is also a different work-in-progress version of Crash on Dark Company‘s forthcoming Alien Heat album and a wonderful remix featuring lots of voice samples from an omnibus edition of EastEnders, broadcast on BBC television in late 1991.
Damaged, from the Dark Company album Benign Inquisition, is down one place from five to six. Damaged is a truly beautiful song with a wonderful melody and some of Pete’s finest whimsical and storytelling lyrics. Pete rarely did whimsical. Do have a listen, it’s a real gem.
Like the rest of the Benign Inquisition album, Damaged is still very much work-in-progress.
Recently it had something of an upgrade, with the addition of some wonderful cello from the marvelous Alison Reynolds. Alison has been helping us out with some cello lines recently in between her own projects, which we highly recommend you listen to as well.
To visit Alison’s website, please click here.
Perhaps due to an outbreak of recent radio play, Medicines is on our charts yet again, this time falling from three to seven. Medicines has been our biggest selling song over the years and people still seek it out and enjoy listening to it.
Medicines was popular in Europe rather than in the uk where Dark Company formed. Mainstream radio in the uk didn’t want to play it as the intro was “too long” and the lyrics “too difficult to understand”. They are about a subject other than procreation, the only subject a dumbed down mainstream audience seems capable of understanding, according to the purveyors of mainstream media themselves.
Sacrifice, the opening track on Dark Company‘s Rage in Heaven album, is down six places from two to eight on the new chart. Recently Sacrifice has also enjoyed radio play on a number of stations. This is probably a contributary factor in its resurgent streaming popularity.
Sacrifice is an alluring and curious mix of progressive rock, trance and rap. The genre-bending nature of Sacrifice has helped it appeal to fans from multiple musical subcultures over the years.
Spiritual Remission from the album Can of Worms falls to number ten this month. It is the sixth Dark Company song to chart in July 2022 and features Pete’s wonderfully languid vocals and lyrics that reference literature and legend as well as personal experiences.
Recently Spiritual Remission has been enhanced with new bass and drums and the wonderful melodica playing of Olly Joseph. We are hoping to be able to include Olly’s talents in a few more songs in the future.
You can listen to Olly’s fabulous compositions at his SoundCloud page by clicking here.
Please remember to follow our News service and Twitter for further announcements regarding the forthcoming upgrades to the Can of Worms album.
Flicker enjoyed another good month on the new Wud Records chart, occupying three of the positions. All of the Flicker tracks are from their wonderful 2002 album At Least 1000 Words.
Up one place from number four on last month’s chart is Oily Road Hideaway, a delightful and catchy latin jazz dance. Oily Road Hideaway is the only track from Flicker‘s first album with programmed drums. It also has twin bass guitars playing in unison, with Dave on his Fender and George on the Plank.
Last month’s number one track falls to number four in the new July 2022 chart. Moonpath is a beautiful melodic progressive rock instrumental with impossible hybrid harmonic guitar chords that require tentacles rather than fingers to play.
Moonpath was composed after looking out to sea at Sidmouth beach on the night of a full moon. George plays the guitars using the Ice Maiden, and the bass using the Plank. Dave plays the drums and the djembe.
Moonpath has had a fair bit of radio play recently. It is always a popular SoundCloud tune and is usually not far from the top ten in the months when it doesn’t find representation. We believe the additional airplay has been a contributory factor to its resurgence in popularity, at Bandcamp as well as at SoundCloud.
Back into the top ten, at number nine, comes Farsight by Flicker. This one has been just below the top ten for the past few months and it is no great surprise to see its return. Farsight is a wonderful piece of music, progressive rock or indie jazz perhaps in style, highly melodic and decorated with samples from Captain Kirk’s USS Enterprise, Jonathan Agnew and Maharaj Ji, among others. Farsight was originally an Ug Brothers creation that came about very late in that band’s existance, and didn’t make it to a live show before they folded in 1995.
Flicker‘s second album, HappySad, is under construction and you can listen to it as it stands right now by clicking here. Several more tracks are likely to be released in the coming weeks and months, so please keep an eye and an ear on our News service and Twitter.
Treasure by Mark Drower and the Everyones took the final available position at five. It was recently the 40th Anniversary of the original performance of Everyone at Kings School, during Project Week 1982. Much has already been written about this in the news recently, and the various memories of the occasion by those who were there are also great reading.
In many ways, Mark Drower and the Everyones was the origin of Wud. Mark’s songs are amazing and a true inspiration. We highly recommend you listen to them all! You can do so by clicking here.
None of our other acts made it onto the chart this month.
If you prefer to listen right here at the Wud Records website, you will find that it is the new default music player. You will find it on all non band-specific pages at the site, including our Links collection and homepage.
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