Guest Spots Sequel: Hollie Cook

 

Way back in 2018, Hollie Cook was featured in "Guest Spots", a series that I started to compile songs featuring an artist that did not appear on their own albums.  Here we are eight years later with another set from this talented young singer.  

Hollie Cook's most recent album Shy Girl was one of my favorite new releases of 2025. It was followed by Shy Girl In Dub, which is equally wonderful.  She is back on the Mr. Bongo record label (where she started her solo career with her self-titled 2011 album.)

Hollie is in demand as a vocalist, and not just in the world of reggae and dub.  It doesn't hurt that her parents are both professionals in the music world, but her success is entirely the result of her own talent and hard work.  Among the artists from her parents' generation, she has sung with The Slits, Vic Godard, Glen Matlock, Keith Levene, and Jah Wobble.  She recently appeared on Don Letts' first solo album and Mark Stewart's final album.  

I was also really pleased to see her name among the guest vocalists featured on the 2025 album by West Coast soul and reggae band The Night Owls.  Here's hoping that Hollie's career continues to grow, so that we can feature her music here again in the near future!

ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOG: The first volume of Hollie's Cookbook. 

I'm Excited (Again): Autumn's New Releases and Concerts

I've bought several new releases recently. The Figgs' triple album Shady Grove is an outstanding achievement for a band that has been together over 30 years. They are one of the tightest bands I've ever had the pleasure to see.

Tropical Fuck Storm are barnstorming the US in support of their second album, Braindrops. You can buy it from Joyful Noise or at Bandcamp. The new songs are amazing, and the live show literally left me slackjawed. So fucking great.

I will be seeing Redd Kross again soon (touring in support of their excellent new album Beyond The Door) as they open for the Melvins. Melvins' drummer Dale Crover plays with Redd Kross on the new album and on tour, and Redd Kross bassist Jeff McDonald does the same for the Melvins. Is there a better rock rhythm section performing these days?

Hollie Cook has a lovely new single, "Dance In The Sunshine". Iggy Pop has a new album called Free.  Both singers have been featured in this blog's Guest Spots series. Jazz and blues chanteuse Cassandra Wilson has announced a new album, Jupiter Rising, and you can hear two tracks from it on her website. Ms. Wilson will be the subject of a forthcoming Guest Spots set. (I got no kick against modern jazz.)

The Pernice Brothers unexpectedly released a new album called Spread The Feeling, which will be followed by a few live shows in October. In other news for fans of witty and meticulously crafted power pop, The New Pornographers have a new album with the unwieldy title In the Morse Code of Brake Lights out later this month, with East Coast tour dates to follow.

The accomplished Atlanta trio Omni has signed to Sub Pop and will release their third album, Networker, in November. I saw Omni open for Tav Falco a couple years ago, and as they stepped off stage, Mike Watt shook hands enthusiastically with Omni bassist Philip Frobos. Speaking of Watt, he has a new group with Wire bassist Graham Lewis called Fitted, and their album comes out in November.

Atlanta's beloved Magnapop will release their new album The Circle Is Round this month. They just completed a Benelux tour, and I can't wait for their hometown show with Five Eight this month. (Magnapop remains very popular in The Netherlands and Belgium, an example of the "big in Japan" phenomenon).

While we're on the subject of The Netherlands, one of my favorite recent discoveries was the 2018 self-titled album by Rotterdam quartet Lone Wolf. They have completed their second album, Together Alone, to be released in October. Peerless punk pop!

Guest Spots: Hollie Cook

Ari, Tessa, and Hollie

This has been a busy year for Hollie Cook: her third album Vessel Of Love (produced by Youth) was her first to be released in the US (on Merge Records). She has a new single, a version of "Sweet Like Chocolate" (a UK #1 hit for Shanks & Bigfoot in 1998).  Mad Professor's upcoming compilation album Queens Of Ariwa includes another new Hollie track, "Sunshine Holiday".

Hollie is also in demand as a guest vocalist, and she sings on new releases by The Orb, Gentleman's Dub Club, the Rotten Hill Gang, and They Say Jump (the latter featuring Hollie's longtime drummer and deejay Horseman). 

Paulie and Hollie

Hollie Cook's mother is a singer, and her father is apparently also a musician of some sort. She has shared stages with Ari Up and Mick Jones, and both Jah Wobble and Keith Levene guested on Vessel Of Love. 


Hollie and Charles Rowell from the group Crocodiles had a duo called Psychic Dancehall (Fall fan alert!) They recorded versions of "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)" and "Long Lost Lover" (originally by the Love Joys) on their 2011 album Dreamers. 

Hollie has also covered The Whispers' "And The Beat Goes On", the Shangri-Las' "Walking In The Sand", the Classics IV's 1968 hit "Spooky", the Andrews Sisters' oldie "For Me You Are" and the Carpenters' "Superstar".  She contributed a version of "You Know I'm No Good" to an Amy Winehouse tribute album. Hollie shares with Pearl Harbour and Amy Winehouse an appreciation for the girl groups of the 60's. I shared Hollie's version of Rachel Sweet's "It's So Different Here" in my last post.

Hollie Cook has immense talent as a songwriter and performer. Her records evoke the pre-digital days of classic reggae and lovers rock. Her lovely voice recalls the pure and simple charms of singers like Caroll Thompson, Susan Cadogan and Dawn Penn. Hollie prefers to call her own music "tropical pop". I highly recommend all three Hollie Cook albums, and the dub LP produced by Prince Fatty.

Gareth Two: Gareth Liddiard

Fiona Kitschin and Gareth Liddiard during the first TFS American tour.

Tropical Fuck Storm is an Australian group led by Drones singer/guitarist Gareth Liddiard, with guitarist Erica Dunn, Fiona Kitschin (Drones) on bass, and drummer Lauren "Hammer" Hammel. Tropical Fuck Storm's debut album,  A Laughing Death In Meatspace, was released earlier this year in Australia, and will see US release on October 26 on the Joyful Noise label. TFS has returned to the USA in October for a two week tour with Modest Mouse. 

Tropical Fuck Storm also recently released split single with Liars. The b-sides of the first four TFS singles have wonderful non-LP covers of Australian artists (Lost Animal, The Nation Blue, Divinyls, and the Bee Gees). I have become obsessed with the song "Lose The Baby" -- the understated menace of the Lost Animal original as well as the supersized TFS version, with Liddiard and Dunn's guitars and the backing vocals by Dunn and Kitschin.

Here are a half dozen cover songs and the originals that inspired them: Lose The Baby, It's So Different Here (Hollie Cook/Rachel Sweet), Baby Doll (The Duke Spirit/Alex Chilton), You Can't Take Love For Granted (Marti Jones/Graham Parker), Flatlands (Mark Lanegan/Chelsea Wolfe), and Neon Lights (Kevin Kane/Kraftwerk).

Farrago & Longaway from jonderblog on 8tracks Radio.