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Thank you @applemusic for giving me the opportunity to be in a room with two people I admire very much Last week I got to sit down and chat with @mosesboydexodus about music and alll of that and record a cover with @hakbaker all can be seen and heard over at @applemusic #applemusicforblackhistorymonth

A post shared by Celeste (@celeste) on Oct 3, 2020 at 6:51am PDT

The session was organised by Apple Music, in celebration of Black History Month. Over the course of October, the platform will be promoting Black British musicians both new and established. We can expect to see exclusive playlists, interviews and performances as part of this worthwhile series.

The recordings of Little Runaway and Both Sides of the Moon were seamless and powerful. It was especially nice to see Celeste preform her first ever single, given the amount of success she has achieved since its release. In contrast to the two down-beat soulful songs, her and Baker’s cover of Rudy, A Message To You was a buoyant track, filled with the joy of collaboration. At the end of the recording you can hear the pair laughing in the background.

After the second chorus, Baker diverts from the original to deliver his own verse. He sings: ‘In a London town, where the smiles wore upside down// Such abundant frowns, everywhere I look and turn around// In a town like London, Babylon run around with a truncheon.’

The original version of the song was recorded in 1967 by rocksteady musician Dandy Livingstone. Later in 1979, The Specials covered it. Livingstone song was originally about social unrest amongst the Jamaican community in England, an address to the so called ‘rude-boys’ ska fans of the time to keep calm and stay out of trouble.

In the 70’s, The Specials cover was a commentary on the disaffection and rioting that took place during the Winter of Discontent. By this time, the white community had appropriated the ‘rude-boy’ aesthetic of sharp suits and trilby hats; particularly within the punk subculture.

A key figure in this was Jerry Dammers (The Specials frontman), who set up 2 Tone Records in ’79 in a bid to dismantle racial tensions using music. The idea was to do so through multi-racial ska-revivalist bands such as The Specials, The Selector and The Beat.

Today, Celeste and Baker’s version takes on a new meaning. Baker’s verse about ‘Babylon [running] around with a truncheon’ is a reference to racial violence within the police force, that is all too often targeted at innocent young black men. The importance of this message, especially in light of George Floyd’s murder and the recent re-examination of cases such as Stephen Lawrence’s, is paramount.

Things won’t magically go back to ‘normal’ of course; pubs will reopen offering only indoor table service, and establishment owners will be asked to keep a record of customer details in aid of contact tracing. But one musician who we can thank for keeping us sane during the thirteen weeks since we last popped out for a pint is IDLES frontman Joe Talbot, whose online virtual talk show Balley TV has been offering the homely comfort of your local directly to your computer screen.

《《《 Balley TV 》》》

Free therapy? Virtual pub? Watch and you won’t learn a thing. All are welcome. Let’s hide in plain sight. Love.

Subscribe & set a reminder to watch at https://t.co/7cS8A8I0zT pic.twitter.com/8sswEKcBdT

— BalleyTV (@BalleyTV) May 28, 2020

Named after Talbot’s own label Balley Records, the show followed up May’s pilot with its second edition last Friday, featuring appearances from IDLES crew member Adam Greenwood, Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry, and indie songwriter Hak Baker. As with the first episode (in which Talbot was joined by his bandmate Adam Devonshire in chatting to The Streets’ Mike Skinner and Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova), the guests’ video displays were propped up onto the faces of two gargantuan cuddly toys in a whimsical take on the post-COVID hang out that only a net-era punk host could pull off. Greenwood was hitched onto the face of a deeply unsettling manikin but frankly the less talked about the better. Watch the episode here:

Adding to the high calibre of musicians involved thus far, Talbot has made public the dates and guests for four more juicy interviews we can look forward to every other Friday (the full list is detailed below). All this coincides with the run-up to IDLES’ hotly anticipated third album Ultra Mono, which is set for release on the 25th of September via Partisan Records. You can preorder the album through IDLES’ website here, as well as buy tickets for a series of livestream gigs the band are doing to celebrate the release.

Balley TV Ep. 3 w/ Arlo Parks & Billy Bragg – Friday the 3rd of July

Balley TV Ep. 4 w/ Kate Tempest & Kenny Beats – Friday the 17th of July

Balley TV Ep. 5 w/ Ishmael Butler & Sharon Van Etten – Friday the 31st of July

Balley TV Ep. 6 w/ Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam), Jehnny Beth (Savages) & Fern Ford (The Big Moon) – Friday the 14th of August