Tales from the Attic
Volume LIV
Revolutions of a 45 and 33 kind….
Odd sods and odds n’ sods
So here’s a lost Tales fdrom the Attic, well I say lost, mislaid, forgotten, it’s kind of languished on our hard drive gathering word count in a piecemeal fashion, dating back to the earlier days of the year it also has a few rogue Christmas treats from last year as well as a handful of Record Store Day sightings. It’s a bit jumbled, a bit nonsensical, the links are probably broken with the reviews a little skewed, we’d like to say it’s a lonesome sore thumb but we suspect there’s a least another two or five similar forgotten pen drawings winging their way to these pages later this week.
Among the lost and the forgotten, the following…..
White fence, astronaut, barringtone, go team, sonnymoon, adam leonard, mamuthones, false heads, cush, rob clarke and the brown bears, spectres, mark and the clouds, past tense, tir na nog, grande roses, [owt kri], john 3:16, holy see, william d drake, garbage, nuria graham, l’augmentation, victories at sea, slows down, lucid dream, honey pot, crystal jacqueline, schnauser, laura j martin, blk tag, allegra lusini, the garden, axa sova,trementina, cold cold heart, white noise sound, in violet, cranium pie, uthanks, vision fortune,wildhart, grrl pal, deux furieuses, c duncan, hyperslob and the goat meat explosion, sam prekop, stillsuit, map 71, be my friend in exile, cinerama, luka state, womans hour, we the oceanographers, holy see, finders keepers radio, oiseaux tempete, sans parents, die wilde jagd, jacco gardner, camp claude, muse, flying vinyl, cantaloupe, the wreaths, calidonian county, nordic giants, alex monk and the book of shadows, edward ka-spel, igores tamborista, skogen, girlpool, the bordellos, kramies, holy, madoka, rob bravery, stick in the wheel, palace of swords, team morale, doldrums, sonny and the sunsets, hanging stars, assembled minds, extradition order, zita swoon group, snails, garden of elk, jonnie common, can can heads, mark harris, paper jets, sufjan stevens.
You’ll have to pardon us for a few days while we get to grips familiarising ourselves with new laptop woes before we get to fondly losing ourselves in the eclectic sound worlds of William D Drake whose new full length ‘revere reach’ for Onomatopoeia has been causing many a flutter and a skipping of the occasional heart beat around these here parts since looming large into our ear space. possessed of a rich luxuriant tapestry, Drake’s artistry is one of a musical author born some 200 years too late, the former Cardiacs man carves a curiously oddball aural academy whose mischief and melodic magicalia strides triumphantly and purposefully through the vivid green musical gardens of Viv Stanshall and Robert Wyatt whilst delicately obscuring his foot prints in swash buckling reveries, see sawing shanties and pastoral posies. it is,I must admit, a most becoming experience. for now though the albums greeting call ‘distant buzzing’ has been raising a curious eye brow and pricking the ear as a strangely bizarre courtship sprays your listening experience to the sound of musical freak circus’ arriving in town trading yarns of gusto and derring do to a bracing backdrop of storm lashed brass braced peculiar folk recitals.
here’s the video to that record store day release that never was pairing together Spectres and Lorelle Meets the Obsolete with each covering the others track all pressed on 7 inches of white wax. this is the release whose pressing delays prompted joint statements from Sonic Cathedral and Howling Owl querying the spirit of Record Store Day and the need for Bruce Springsteen vinyls and Belinda Carlisle picture discs. it seems that in the wake of rants and comments a whole hornets nest has been poked with record buying pundits, labels, bands and shops alike either agreeing or disagreeing in equal measure. to further the exasperation of all parties concerned and to poke a little fun at the event, the single will be released in a limited edition of just 366 copies, each released in quantities of one on a daily basis with promises to have them (aside being available at gigs and selected shops) trning up in the strangest of places – a website will give hints as to their locations via recordstoredayisdying.com
and talking of record store day here’s something quite tasty from those Garbage types. ‘chemicals’ features a guest appearance by Silversun Pickups’ Brian Aubert and sees the ensemble digging back to find their younger selves, not quite as menacing as ‘Vow’ or as beautified and longing as ‘milk’ but still undeniably slipstreaming between the two polar points fraught anf frantic whilst deliciously dipped in shadow lined seduction laced in wanton desire and kissed with their trademark cool cute aloofness. available on RSD15 where it’ll appear pressed up on 10 inches of florescent orange vinyl via their own stunvolume imprint.
and just to prove that its not all re-issue grimness this RSD15 here’s a damn dandy treat from the much loved go team found here adorned with guest vocals from Julie Margat. available on neon yellow vinyl all cut to 7 inch wax platters ‘ye ye yamaha’ is your revved up full throttle two wheel spinning bubblegrooving beauty all candy coated in the kind of sumptuous power popped verve of a sun fried Shonen Knife cutting dashing two step hip wiggles amid musical wurlitzers over buzz sawed sugar blasts seasoned in lost 70’s summers. https://soundcloud.com/memphisindustries/the-go-team-ye-ye-yamaha-1
must admit i’m all in favour of press releases that leave you intrigued. i say intrigued, i should say that say nothing, reveal little, put the decision firmly on your side of the table and ask you to provide the answer. case in point Nuria Graham, who we suspect you may not have heard of yet but soon will should her ‘bird eyes’ set for El Segell Del Primavera get the deserved word of mouth and media coverage. we’ve onbly got a download of the album for now – indeed a carefully tweaked missive has been dispatched for full surround sound hard copy enjoyment. we’ll wait and see. back to the press releasse though, firmly pointed in the fact that it hints at no references, one of those rare occasions where we are obliged to concede and agree for there’s no doubting that Ms Graham is possessed of an intuitive pop savvy for this set blends an intimately touching fusion of seductive soul with a lilting noir framing married to a vocal that sits somewhere on an axis with the inquisitive shyness of Harriet Wheeler of the Sunday’s at one end and the forlorn demur of Hope Sandoval at the other. An album its best to say to be experienced in quietly thoughtful moments teased away from the stresses and complications of day to day life and an unassuming gem bookended exquisitely by the parting ‘you fall asleep so easily’ and the greeting ‘prelude’ – both just adorable, the former housed in a milky cosmicalia demurringly drizzled in sultry sophisticat auras and crystal tipped in swirls of after lights out arrest, not unlike Musetta if truth be told whilst the latter yearning dreamily over sunsetting opines traced with fragile introspection and lushly adrift as were upon drifting tides of mellowing Durutti Column like murmurs.
I think I may well have gone on record previously stating that one release we were eagerly looking forward to was a much deserved retrospective of the much missed and (criminally) largely forgotten L’Augmentation. Emerging from a particularly fertile Birmingham scene in the late 90’s that saw the likes of Magnetophone, Avrocar, Pram, Plone and Broadcast cut their musical teeth, the sound of ’L’Augmentation crucially drew the dots between the space bachelor pad vintage of Stereolab and the noir shadow plays of Keenan and Co (none more is this the case than on the beguiled lunar lilted ‘Rich’ – the best thing committed to wax by the band – with its peculiarly affectionate pop savvy and demurred baroque sub layering), adoring of Gainsbourg and Dutronc their 60’s dappled Francophile fashioning earned them the support of John Peel (‘Soleil’ would feature in that years Festive 50) and courted the attention of both the formative and newly established Pickled Egg and Kooky Disc imprints. Several keynote 7’s and a long out of print album (mistakenly referred to as ‘Pigalle’) announced their passage upon indie immortality before the band called it a day (sightings since have seen members appear as the Bee Men and Betty and the ID – the latter of whom crop up later). Out via the esteemed Reverb Worship imprint ‘L’Augmentation’ seeks to redress the balance and bring back the band’s sound and creative relevance / influence into deserved common musical parlance by gathering together that elusive debut full length along with the aforementioned 6 single sides, their one and only Peel session from November 1999, a rare cut from the St Dunstan Experiment compilation and a previously unreleased version of ‘rich’ pulled from an appearance on BBC’s day time magazine show Pebble Mill. Lush with glockenspiels, accordions and swirling keys ‘L’Augmentation’ blends a delightfully out of step cocktail of pastoral winter-scapes speckled in lounge montages and 60’s beat cool, kookily kaleidoscopic at times waltzing carnival mirages spiral and freefall amid lost soundtracks for Gauloises tooting private eye noir films sadly never scripted or visited upon to a cinema (for vital clues and evidence see both ‘Accident scene’ and ‘the switchboard operator’ – the former arrestingly tripping into the shadowy backwaters of John Barry / Barry Gray / Roy Budd environs with the latter hiccupping and stuttering amid fairground flurries and the insistent flight of flute florets), the moods teeter between the cheery (the irresistible sun dewed lightness and perkiness of the regal-esque woozily waltzing ‘Soleil’ which aside revealing a sprightly psych sub text would have been hailed something of a freak beat happening had it attached to its hide the autograph of Gane / Sadier) and abandoned melancholy whilst the musicality is vibrant and vivid in its (for the most) wordless prose. Here amid these 18 cuts you’ll be serenaded to the slightly wiring and playfully quirky Mancini obsessed ‘Lunar Eclipse 1961’ – the Peel session version being the preferred version here whilst likewise Van Cleef’s re-tweaking of ‘Cartoon Strip’ is one of many listening port of calls though of the three available versions on show the Peel version takes some beating being looser and decidedly more funky and free than it studio compatriot. Elsewhere both ‘Glacial’ here possessed of a thoughtful beauty and poise and ‘D is for Dum Dum’ with its reflective phrasing both emerge from a melodic place that once attached to the work of both Astley and Gamley. Recommended without question or quarrel.
Future reverb worship happenings should see the emergence of a new the hare and the moon album plus something tasty from palace of swords…. www.reverbworship.com
Plenty of activity happening over at Static Caravan HQ with the news of imminent outings from Woodbine and Ivy band and Stick in the Wheel to arrive not to mention a very limited cassette only release from Art of the Memory Palace. In addition it seems the label may well be turning into a more eclectic collectors haven with the label seemingly concentrating its operations to releasing limited lathe cut outings – no doubt following the gone in the blink of an eye appearance and disappearance of that recent Peter Philipson gem – planned appearances by the diagrams and us and them are mooted. For now a brace of essentials…..
Available as a download only and serving as a herald announcing an imminent and dare we say eagerly awaited debut full length due to dock earth orbit Spring time, ‘Up’ provides the next trajectory curve in Victories at Sea’s already formidable aural arsenal. Cruise controlled upon a killer floor throbbing locked grooving grind once upon a time the secret weapon of a certain White Rose Movement this pulse racing slice of uber cool comes welded upon the acutely chic pop symmetry of a youthfully vibrant Duran Duran dark twin dispersing in its flight path a glacially glazed sonic strobe pulsar of seductive ear candy vapour trailing haloes.
If this doesn’t get you curling up near to the hi-fi and purring then frankly there’s no hope for you, limited to just 300 spotty coloured wax 7’s ‘hudson’s whistle’ is the first known sighting of nu sonic intermissions from galactic groovers Free School, a beguiling slab of Balearic cosmicalia succulently set in seductive pools of mind drifting mosaics that sensuously hint at a demurred dream team fusion of Air and Space types cutting lovelorn shapes beneath a lunar lightshow sound tracked from assembled ‘Technique’ prime sliced off cuts from an overtly super chilled and loved up New Order. www.staticcaravan.org
Mentioned earlier here’s the video to that spiffing Victories at Sea single – out now as a download from your friendly neighbourhood record making dudes Static Caravan…..
Absolutely stunning and near responsible for us being floored and left rooted to the spot in a bizarre dropped jaw that can’t be scooped off the floor occurrence. Debut EP from Slows Down (AKA Alexander Hawthorne) may well take some beating in the hogging the hi-fi stakes – those crucial Static Caravan releases included. A multi-instrumentalist who sights his reference markers Godspeed, Swans, Spiritualized, Radiohead and 60’s flavoured pop and middle eastern classical sounds, Hawthorne may well have – courtesy of the cut ‘the way down leering’ – crafted something of nugget in the making, all at once bombastic, grand and expansive, upon first hearing your imagining the brooding swagger of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds translating anew lost heart heavy scores of the Walker Brothers albeit set upon an arid dry desert wilderness re-enacting Spaghetti Western dramas, the next a full blooded demurring dead headed epic scalped and sculptured by the well -heeled drama laden hand of Morricone and haunted by the spectres of Meek, Love, grails and Leyton. A truly monumental listening experience dimpled in celestial apparitions and poised in a brutalist passion genuflecting as though harnessing to waltz with the very turbulent mood swings of nature’s many faces and something which ought by rights to appeal to those much admiring of Paul Roland. https://soundcloud.com/slowsdown/the-way-down-leering
More exceptional ear gear this time from Italian duo Allegra Lusini, again something rather special that ought to appeal to both those admiring of their sounds a little more dream dipped and venturing into environs normally occupied by Fever Ray for this is the captivating dream version of their cut ‘hear me when I say’. All at once both beguiling and enchanting this buzz sawing slice of glacial maximalist lunar pop comes clipped in an arresting frosted elegance that’s poised and measured and set to cause much swooning and adoration to all who fall beneath its spectral spell, and that voice, don’t get me started – utterly unreal….
https://soundcloud.com/allegra-lusini/hear-me-when-i-say-dream-version
video….
Recently outed via the critically cool luv luv luv imprint just before the silly season happened upon us here’s a spot of dandy Dadaist groove from twins the Garden. Utilising bass and drums, there’s a finger poking blank generation sparseness that shocks through ‘surprise’ that finds it blistered upon a cold war monochromatic chill as it sits poised and no doubt waving the finger from some sonic intersection where the worlds of Devo and Cabaret Voltaire collide and while a youthful Horrors are instantly called to mind upon initial listening, the minimalist post punkoid agit gouging and overall sense of playful detachment may well have many a more acutely tuned listener reaching for their prized well-worn copies of Adam and the Ants ‘dirk wears white sox’……the duo are set to step out as support for Warpaint this coming March time.
Time to don your tin hats for some seriously wayward and wigged out freak pop courtesy of Axis:Sova whose second full length ‘early surf’ is due to mess with heads this coming March time when it emerges from the confines of the God? records secret sonic lab. Alas just one small flavouring from that set with which to whet your appetite comes courtesy of a serving of ‘fractal ancestry’ which I’m compelled to comment upon may well be the freakiest and most schizophrenic cut we’ve heard this new year so far for this bad boogying babe changes its sonic skin with each passing verse, one minute scratching away amid rabidly mutant Ronson riffs, the next gruff glam discordance to freebasing on freakville beatnik trips and garnering the kind of anything can happen creative cauldron that normally comes prime packed upon the potent grooves of a platter bearing the name thee oh sees branded upon its arse end. That said deep dirty psych blues is the name of the game, so raw and potent in the hands of Axis:Sova it makes your ears happily bleed with joy crafting as it does a wig flipping hypno groove that to these ears sounds like a far out at the edge of their sanity stoned out Revolutionary Corps of Teenage Jesus. https://soundcloud.com/sovaloha/fractal-ancestry/s-naLUy
Judging by the excerpt / teaser there’s something of a slab of shoegaze tastiness coming this way shortly via a collaborative mind merge between imprints Ear to Ear of the UK and Gerpfast Kolektif of Indonesia. A gathering of worldwide talent all drifting below the radar called to a compilation summit meeting entitled ‘revolution – the shoegaze revival’ – a colossal 30 track melting pot that sees contributions from as far and wide as Pakistan to Peru all here to colour your listening appreciation in swirls of dream dipped hazes, among the roll call some familiar names are snuggled between the grooves – ummagma, lights that change and rev rev rev though on a quick earful of the teaser below we suggest that Chile’s trementina may take some shifting in the affection stakes with their beguiled MBV afterburns, we will of course be re-visiting this for a closer listen soon for now though bliss grooves await aplenty…..
We almost missed this what with all the traffic coming through our inbox of late – not enough hours in the day I hear you cry and not enough ears to listen to everything we say. This however is simply beautiful, understated and oozed in hope and romance. Going by the name ‘Megan’ it’s by Cold Cold Heart who cite in their press release a fondness for Grails whose ability to all at once be simultaneously majestic, moving and monumental is indelibly crafted and inscribed on this slow burning beauty. ‘Megan’ manages to recall two of our favourite bands from yesteryear – namely Shady Bard and the Workhouse – with the formers lightness and adept ability to freeze frame a moment and colour its moods upon a delicate sonic canvas and the latter’s unnerving knack of lighting the blue touch paper to graft something truly expansive and euphoric from a stand still point unmistakably gracing these grooves. Sweetly melancholic and delicately detailed in rolling pastorals, ‘Megan’ smoulders and softly burns with passion, cellos and violas court, curl and caress with sighing opines to arc around the drifting riff meanders and succulent key braids and just when you think all is lost with the lovelorn and forlorn entreaties seemingly spent and in the throes of withdrawal, emerging through the fading haze at the 2.35 mark a sea change and a newly acquired second wind comes to pass, a more determined resolve where all the attending parts gather as one for a final arresting rush. Utterly destroying. An album is currently in the hatching stages, one dares to say if this is a herald as to what is coming then when it emerges it will prove to be an emotional tour de force. Alas for now no sound links but rest assured we are working on them.
Incoming via the ever adored rocket girl imprint soon will see the return to this cosmic quarter of White Noise Sound with ‘like a pyramid on fire’ the second full length from these shade adorned dudes. For now though and sent ahead on a scouting trip timed to coincide with an appearance at the Convergence Festival where they’ll be sharing the billing with label mates and like-minded sonic explorers Eat Lights Become Lights, ‘Heavy Echo’ looks set to turn heads and dive headlong in to your affections emerging from the shimmer toned recesses of the Spacemen 3 spectrum seductively honeyed and awash cased in a pure psych pop pulsar that vapour trails the soft alluring opining glow of a classic era MBV – alas no links just yet – the video accompanying the press release is set to private but we are working on it, I should also say at this point that ‘All you need’ – incidentally track 3 on the album – which we’ve been treated to a sneak preview of will blow you away with its dream dripped lunar pop prowess sounding to these ears like some star crossed meeting point where OMD and Slipstream can be found sharing notes and words of fondness.
must admit we’ve no information on this dude which is a bit of a shame but it’s a killer re-telling of Goat’s ‘run to your mother’ by in violet who it seems have taken the original and then fed it some potent mind wiring hallucinogens and then sent it happily on something of a seriously woozy head trip along the way applying some Add N to X styled panoramic detailing and relocating the whole thing on what can only be described as an epic journey into the dark side of the mind, best served with the volume nobs cranked up in order to maximise the realities corroding experience to the full. https://soundcloud.com/invioletmusic/goat-run-to-your-mamma-in-violet-mix
Just when you thought it was safe to emerge from your hiding place, your listening space cackles and crackles to the sound of incoming transmissions from distant star formations, you vaguely remember the code sign, you shake your head in disbelief, can it really be, what after all these years with only the fear and fading hope of the silence to accompany you. You pull up a little closer and listen more intently, it is you conclude, after all these years from the farthest reaches of the cosmos from whence you feared they were lost for ever, they are returning. Oh hell I can’t keep up with the pretence and this wordy nonsense – so we’ll cut to the chase. Fruits de Mer’s first spring flowerings come in the guise of a jaw dropping double disc set from everyone’s favourite beard stroking beatnik loons Cranium Pie. Entitled ‘machanisms 2’ the release – as ever – will be a limited affair pressed up on 2 heavy duty slabs of colour wax, we’ve just taken delivery of an excerpts promo which will be getting a fair amount of attention in the coming days and which should feature in words of undying fondness next missive out. For now though ‘the lost song’ has been posted by those de mer dudes as a teaser, a realities leaving adventure into the sleepy folds of the sub conscious where synapses toot merrily on mind morphing bong pipes to pass through parallel doors of perception into wonky subterranean worlds where sonic serenades smoke out your head space and where dissolving melodic mosaics are cultured and kneaded into part hauntological lounge tastings and woozy progtastic mellow headed jazz funked freaky fruit cakes. Out there and bliss kissed barminess.
Future Fruits happenings – those members purchasing the Cranium Pie will also be treated to an additional CD (‘friends of the fish’ 2) of gems featuring a wealth of covers and woozy weirdness from the likes of the Magic Mushroom Band, the Green Telescope, the Blue Giant Zeta Puppies (who incidentally ought by right be appearing later this missives), Schizo Fun Addict, the Telephones, the Mystery Crystals and many many more spread across 75 minutes of groove space…… http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/friendscd2.html
This just stings, second single pre-empting the forthcoming release of the new Unthanks full length ‘mount the air’ due next month. Much like the previous taster (the edited version of the title track – released before Christmas) ‘flutter’ comes shrouded within an alluring chamber folk noir casing, this time more fragile, frail, vulnerable and emotionally wide open, achingly tender this ghost like beauty is nonetheless spirited with a spellbinding classically tutored aura that’s softly bruised and dimpled in reflective melancholia the type of which was the one time trademark prestige of a youthful 4AD, guaranteed to leave you head bowed and jaw agape.
Second single to be pulled from their forthcoming debut set for ATP entitled ‘country music’, the welcome return to these pages of Vision Fortune with ‘back crawl II’ finds these oft compared to the Liars dudes navigating the type of out there environs more commonly frequented by Battles. A colossus in terms of the way its manages to swarm and spam your senses amid an overload of melodic messaging, ‘back crawl II’ courts with the strange – though nevertheless disarming – effect of being simultaneously threatening yet therapeutic and chaotic yet calming as it grapples amid critical meltdowns and degrading mutant dubtronics to craft a grizzled and impenetrable wall of sound. Best thing we’ve heard of its ilk since that killer debut from Automat for bureau b last year. https://soundcloud.com/alltomorrowsparties/back-crawl-ii-1
Literally hammering down on all our buttons at once the much admired Lucid Dream are shortly to break cover with the impending release of a new self-titled full length via holy are you with a special vinyl title coming courtesy of the ever cool great pop supplement imprint. From that set serving as a taster of what’s in store emerges the head kicking ‘cold killer’ – this babe veers ever so teasingly into the darkening psychotropic voids of Insect Guide at their most volatile and potent and arrives awash in a pulse racing urgency rippled in marauding motoriks, shimmering reverbs and sky rocketing strobe sirens not to mentioned coming ripped in the kind of fringe parting shade adorned uber cool that just leaves you sighing in admiration. https://soundcloud.com/the_lucid_dream/2-cold-killer-the-lucid-dream
Now here’s us rightly expecting something a little dreamy and ethereal given that the last release from the Gaphals stable was that quite divine slice of adorable symphonia from Wildhart. Mind you it’s our fault in that had we bothered to read the press release before pressing play we’d have been alerted to several key note clues such as the littering of descriptions such as ‘metal heads’, ‘hardcore’ and ‘stone giants’ which had we been forearmed in the knowledge of may well have prepared us for the gruff grizzled intensity that near blew us off our listening perch the moment this beast cackled into life. Taken from last years ‘modern age mausoleum’ set this is ‘hollow bearer’ by Swedish collective Siberian – a killer slab of bleakly boiled and gnarled n’ grizzled apocalyptic groove which one suspects may well have been raised on the edges of one of hell’s infamous circles, brutalised fury at its most unforgiving all gouged in suffocating despair and damn fine with it.
I really must apologise to all those who we’ve seemingly let down of late with the delays in reviews and such, you know who you are, and surely but surely we will get around to putting matters right. That said I’m especially embarrassed that so far those long promised reviews of Wizards Tell Lies, the Unseen and the Holy See are yet to see the light of day, I hope you guys haven’t been holding your breath and believe you me it goes without saying that I’m mortified by the thus far omissions. Not that it’s any consolation but by way of an olive branch here’s a nifty little slice of retro groove from the latter mentioned Holy See. Taken from their ‘Osiris’ soundtrack (a cult 60’s TV show aired in a parallel time line)’the love infinity’ is a kooky slice lounge lilted kitsch the type of which one suspects that those dudes over at Trunk records may well appreciably nod approvingly whilst shaking their pants to, a wigged out slice of shimmering wooziness that initially sounds as though its bagged a ride on the tail feathers of the Stones ‘2000 light years’ before going all out there to cook up tripping mosaics of fried farfisas funkiness the likes of which expand heads and sound in truth not unlike some wigged out Barry Gray happening for Anderson’s ‘UFO’ as reheated by a freaky Ozric gathering. https://soundcloud.com/villa-9-1/the-love-infinity-by-the-holy-see
This is the newly pressed video to accompany the [owt kri] cut ‘conformations’ prized from last years acclaimed ‘the new seed’ which you can hear in all its undiluted majesty (well two teaser tracks as it happens) over at https://alrealonmusique.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-seed-alrn041 – directed by fellow Alrealon Musique traveller and head honcho John 3:16, ‘Confrontations’ sees [owt kri] shifting into sparser and starker environs to adopt a somewhat harsher trajectory rippled with fracturing riff squalls which to these ears tunes directly to reference the one time sounds emanating from New Zealand in the late 80’s namely via the scenes main protagonists Bruce Russell and Roy Montgomery.
John 3:16 appears again this time reconstructing BLK TAG’s ‘mona / harm / mona’ – this one coming prized from a collection out via tracer entitled ‘my God, it’s full of stairs’ which features a gathering of like-minded souls invited along to re-wire and stamp their own persona on the aforementioned BT track – among the assembled group Chester Hawkins, PAS Musique, Rothko, the sly and unseen, making matchsticks out of castles and many more besides including the aforementioned John 3:16 whose retelling is graced upon a panoramic canvas of demurred dreaminess wherein dissipating riff coils dissolve, diffuse and disperse into woozy sea ripples of reflective and forlorn ambi-hypno-groove, most affecting stuff and very much traversing territories on one side occupied by yellow6 and manual whilst on the other la Bradford and stars of the lid. https://soundcloud.com/john316john/blk-tag-mona-harm-mona-john-316-reconstruction
pulled from their forthcoming ‘built on schemes’ full length due shortly via gaphals, this is the latest single from Grande Roses entitled ‘spread the ashes (and love)’ – in short a sub four minute stratospheric beauty that freewheels ever so adeptly into classic era Chameleons air space arriving as it does primed and locked down with a pulse racing urgency replete with huge hulking riffs and sonorous at the edge vocals all colliding and dispersing like sparks from a Catherine wheel emitting sprays of feel good euphoria. Need I say more? https://soundcloud.com/gaphals/grande-roses-spread-the-ashes-and-love
Originally appearing on her second critically acclaimed Static Caravan full length ‘dazzle days’ from about a year or so ago, this is the quite enchanting Laura J Martin performing ‘red flag’ on the set of the Jeff Young penned play ‘bright phoenix’ in which she recently appeared performing in at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre. ‘Red Flag’ of course proved to be one of many highlights from Ms Martin’s kooky ‘dazzle’ set, – a strangely alluring and wonky wood crafted spell charm shimmered in archaic folk fancies and willowy wind instrument incantations, in short like imagining a revitalised Ms Bush reconnecting with her youthful self and finding herself lost in the peculiar floral worlds of Linda Perhacs. The video incidentally was shot by Ewan Jones Morris.
And so we are back with Fruits de Mer (and Mega Dodo as it happens) for an unexpected treat that greeted our return from 9 to 5 boredom for the eagle eyed among you may have noticed and indeed already nabbed tickets for a celebratory all dayer over at the legendary Half Moon in Putney this coming May bank holiday (incidentally called ‘Games for May’ – now without resorting to google wasn’t that a famous Floyd festival or some other such) which hosted by both labels incorporates a happening whereupon attendees will be wowed by stage appearances by Tir na Nog, Schnauser, the Past Tense, Mark and the Clouds and Crystal Jacqueline and the Honey Pot. Not only will there be live performances and wigged out deejay sets but for your hard earned dosh you get a limited 7 five track seven inch features the aforementioned bands, a brimming to bursting goodie bag featuring a CD featuring a previously unreleased album by PIPE who these days masquerade as the Past Tense, a poster, a game (‘crabs and dodos’) and a stash of CD’s from both labels extended family and friends. And so it with thanks to Keith because we have a CD of that mentioned 7 inch – and a bit of a killer it is to featuring upon its grooves four previously unreleased gems three of which have been recorded specially for this limited release. First up Tir na Nog who fresh from their stunning 7 inch appearance on the label early last year kick off the celebrations with a track culled from their ‘live at Sirius’ CD. ‘Time is like a promise’ is an alluring pastoral posy tendered and tempted in soft psych undulates that whisper prettified poetry, in truth not a million miles from fellow label mates Soft Hearted Scientists all cast upon a rarefied vintage that reveals an ear for the lost, the timeless and the romantic. Now we here are of the thinking that had Peel and Waters still been alive (along with Viv) that around about now they’d be holed up in a Maida Vale snug having merrily imbibed on several red wines and a selection of strangely curious sounding beers – purely for medicinal purposes you understand – and upon hearing Schnauser’s ridiculously eccentric freak psych master class ‘henry and his magic horse’ where now impishly guffawing and concocting up a spot of televisual surrealism much like ‘gurney slade’ but with Mr Stanshall in the lead role doing his best Cat Weazel meets Gummidge meets Dumbledore with this as his theme tune. Absolute barking and the point at which the Cardiacs and the Pretty Things collide and all sense of normality goes out of the window. ‘Vision from another world’ – the chosen poison brought to the waxen grooves by the Past Tense is a muscular no nonsense strutting psych out blighter of some biff, bang, pow measure that amid its riff riddled scowls and kaleidoscopic keys kicks, buzzes and pouts like a prime time Inspiral Carpets in some kind of face off with Julian Cope. As ever you can always rely Crystal Jacqueline and the Honey Pot to both enchant and weave their mysterious psych spell craft and so ‘three Sisters of Silence’ proves no exception sounding so late vintage late 60’s you’d think it had peeled itself of a Hapsash and the Coloured Coat poster, in short the love children of Jefferson Airplane. Mark and the Clouds round up the set with something a little different from their usual comfort zone for ‘any part of town’ – think Love meets Byrds part II meets ‘paint your wagon’ – a husky mountain blues rambler free spirited journeying the road replete with moonshine mosaics, prairie opines and oodles of lolloping motifs, quite homely if you ask me.
Those with an eye for these things may well note with interest the inclusion of catalogue numbers 61 to 64 on the fruits de mer web site – four albums with an estimated turntable action around late May curiously titled ‘sideways’, ‘sidesteps’, ‘sidetracks’ and ‘sideshows’ which look like another Strange Fish type of venture with them all being listed separately and collectively indicating a box type thing. Alas no details just yet. http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/discography.html
Moving picture type for thing for that killer Hyperslob and the Goat Meat Explosion track ‘Little Claus’ – demonic, deranged, dangerous and undeniably essential ear gear…… sounds to freak out your headspace over at https://hyperslob.bandcamp.com/
Must admit to being somewhat adoring of this little gem, first fruits from a forthcoming Sam Prekop set entitled ‘republic’, this is the mellowing ‘weather vane’ – utilising modular synth rhythms, this murmuring honey oscillates along cosmic drift-spaces from a frosted starting point to thaw, blossom and radiate whilst veering into orbit to shower your listening space with a lunar love noted chill down Balearic bouquet before passing by and setting off on its lonesome passage into the endless voids, wonderfully understated and assured in short. Out via thrill jockey end of February.
Double header between Blue Tapes and x-ray records finds Brighton’s Map 71 and Oakland’s Stillsuit sharing tape space on a frankly must have limited cassette release. Last time out serving up something decidedly ominous and dare we say eclectically special in the guise of a rare appearance by Father Murphy the latest outing from the imprint that alerted all to the creative tour de force Katie Gately now concentrates the hearts and mind with a spot of ‘abstract punk’ which per the press release describes Stillsuit loosely as treble punksters blooded in the art of crafting needle taught jabs of frenetic 2 minute shocks who apparently where asked if they fancied doing a longer song – like a prog one – to which they walked away, cobbled about returning when done with the 11 minute agit pop sortie ‘16’. Decidedly edgy ‘16’ seesaws precariously upon an axis that on one side sits no wave while t’other looms angular art pop at its most impish, spiked by spidery riffage Stillsuit have taken the hammer to the prog rock nudge and with a wilful disregard to structured verse / chorus / verse dynamics instead appearing happily to wallow in discordance, disharmony and derangement all the time dragging you by the hair roots to collide with the acute corners and preponderance of sonic cul de sacs, it really is most effecting and should you need a reference point then try imagining a gnawing nag nag nag mantra battered into existence by a serious freak Slits in a face-off with an acute un-playful Shaggs. Map 71 need no introduction in these pages, gracing the Foolproof Projects imprint on the odd occasion, the duo feature workaholic multi band member Andy Pyne (see Kellar, west hill blast quartet, the black neck of the common loon…..) and poet Lisa Jayne. One album and a limited single already under their colle ctive belt and both utterly adored around these here parts, ‘laced’ finds them in darker brooding moods, this is bleak stuff, raw and open wounded, sparse – edgy – detached – there are elements of Pink Military grimly souring the grooves, Lisa Jayne’s spoken word narration icily coiling around Pyne’s minimalist percussive clangs and chants with a choking disquiet that in the deep recesses of my mind eye (and ear) had us with a want to seek out our copy of ‘I was dora suarez’
Short sharp shock treated second helping from agit gouged duo Deux Furieuses courtesy of the scalding ‘party of shaitaan’ finds the queens of disharmonious disquiet precariously seesawing amid angular art pop scratched mathian motifs. Riddled with wiring dynamics, summersaulting sonics and stutter stop rhythms this teeth bearing beauty zigzags with furious delight disavowing any notion or intent to conform to the tiresome standard bearing pretty pop cuddliness instead preferring to light the blue touch paper and ratchet up the panic attacking quotient several notches to heart failure – frankly folks that does it for us. https://soundcloud.com/deuxfurieuses/the-party-of-shaitaan-1
Latest to the fat cat fold, C Duncan is about to follow deserved acclaim in the light of his debuting ‘for’ outing with a new single next month entitled ‘say’. Just when you thought he’d have trouble topping his last recorded feat the blighter turns volte face in terms of style, texture and effect to draw upon something truly transfixing and affecting. Without wishing to put too finer point on matters, a sublime way to spend 4 minutes of your life, a moment spent that you will not regret when you come to shuffle up to the great pearly gates reflecting where the hell did the time go. This syncopating treasure shimmies and swoons held aloft drifting dreamily upon south sea undercurrents while sweetly hazeled in the most mesmerising of hymnal hues all tripped off by a teasingly tasty off set funky underpin. https://soundcloud.com/mrduncan/say-1/s-Hkdil
I’m going to start by using the not so unusual tried and tested step of mentioning the flip side of this next one first. The latest single from Americana bluegrass hillbilly scousers Rob Clarke with the Brown Bears. Rob Clarke as you know or at least ought to know sometimes frequents with 60’s beat grooved messiahs the Wooltones though of late appears to have taken to moonlighting swapping winkle pickers and skinny three pieces for dusty cowboy boots and all manner of ranch hand get ups. ‘Another country song’ sighs sorrowfully amid a congregation of weeping and wailing pedal steels all bruisingly opining as though led from the fore by a broken and dispirited Willie Nelson aided and abetted by a similarly crushed Billy Swan. Of course the lead cut over the A side is no slouch in the affection stakes for ‘blaze of fire’ comes despatched in a rich mid west vintage that’s distilled and smoked in a delightfully lolloping prairie blue lilt. There’s an album idly dozing away rocking on the porch entitled ’10 country greats and one other’ which we suggest you seek out at your earliest convenience. https://robclarkewiththebrownbears.bandcamp.com/album/blaze-of-fire-another-country-song-single
We’d be hard pushed to understand why you wouldn’t find yourselves falling head over heels in adoration of this, so alluring, so cute, so insidiously catchy and most of all so pop that we’ve half a mind to end our secret embargo on chart bothering sounds in having a sly little listen of daytime radio if this is a sampling to judge by. Apparently the third instalment in a promised year-long song a month marathon from duo Grrlpal entitled ‘dare’ – this babe comes primed in the kind of retro wired old school ear candy sun beaming life affirming effervescence that imagines a loved up and playful Go Team playing hopscotch whilst back dropped to an infectiously feel good nursery rhyme motif all dimpled in kookily cute and sumptuous dubtronic electronic swathes – adorable stuff that ought to by rights come bottled and sold at chemists as a blue beating pick me up tonic. https://soundcloud.com/grrl-pal/dare
Been a while since we featured anything remotely drone-y – fear not there’s plenty of stuff from the artetetra and old bicycle records looming large on the horizon – yet for now we eyed this with much admiring interest, entitled ‘control heartbeat delete’ this is be my friend in exile of whom alas we have no information. What we do know is that there’s an album ‘creator, you destroy me’ currently doing the rounds via already dead tapes which we suggest you grab an earful of not least if your chosen listening loves settle upon the kind of sounds ghosted in a stilled immersive aural experience that haunt like the disquieting aftermath of some bleak apocalyptic happening for this is strangely majesty yet macabrely harrowing and tearfully graceful.
And there we were just a review or two ago mentioning the Go ! Team and what do you know, up the blighters pop with the title track from their forthcoming Memphis industries set ‘the scene between’ – ridiculously joyous, this honey literally radiates feel good effervescence from the very pores of its being ,chirpy in only a way that a youthful Jackson 5 could ever be whilst all spring heeled in summer blossoms and chirped in an infectious rush of happiness it’s hard to avoid being gathered up by its oncoming ecstatic euphoria and piping pretty Polyphonic peppiness, not so sure about the gowns though chaps are we hinting at a Demis Roussos fashion wear revival upon this season’s catwalk.
Inventive, infectious and irresistibly kooky, we suspect an irregular head is at work within Sonnymoon. Forthcoming album ‘the courage of present times’ due to land sometime March way may well prove after several hours in its company to be the strangest and most rewarding set you’ll might well hear all year. Defying easy categorization Sonnymoon appear adept at spinning several musical plates all at once whilst in the blink of eye having the impish knack of suddenly breaking to either reverse, turn a sharp left or right to abruptly change direction. Teaser track ‘pop music’ pretty much encapsulates all you fear and desire, in three minutes they take you by the hand aboard a musical hall of mirrors where sounds are disfigured, exaggerated and odd shopped next to each other, hints of a young Laurie Anderson ghost in and out though based on crookedness alone those of you much admiring of the wiring sounds once upon a time heading out of Frank Wobbly and Sons and bigger brother Wobblyhead will adore and rightly so. https://soundcloud.com/sonnymoonmusic/pop-music
Sixth instalment of Adam Leonard’s 8 part Octopus set has just landed, like those gone before a treasure trove of rare cuts sourced from long out of print releases, vaults or abandoned projects left forgotten and thought on lost tape reels – alas no liner notes on this particularly outing (though there is at the close a gem in the guise of a collaboration with the Owl Service and Nancy Wallace entitled ‘Willy O’Winsbury’) which incidentally is available for free for a month, though we did eye the rather elegant and delicately eerie ‘Zeroed in onto the Swede’. This mellowing nugget with its trademark nods to Robyn Hitchcock is possessed of the crystalline frail and fragile chord work of a certain Vini Reilly and Jonny Marr, though scratch a little deeper beneath the murmuring pastoral mosaics and you’ll hear the detached detailing of something that ought to prick and purr the earlobes of those familiar with a youthful Gnac. Somewhere else the haunting ‘death love’ chills and freezes you rooted to the spot amid macabre mirages and the disquieting tip toe of creeping riffs to have us imagining an after-hours gathering of Lupen Crook, Genesis P. Orridge and Edward Ka-Spel performing a murder ballad séance. http://adamleonard.bandcamp.com/album/octopus-part-6
Mentioned this in passing a little while back, teaser tasting from Italo psychedelicists Mamuthones pulled from the latest Rocket Recordings release ‘collisions – volume 4’ – a split that finds them sharing wax space with evil blizzard. This is ‘I’ve gotta be’ – a hulking mind melting slab of funky hypno groove the likes of which had us dragging out our prized copy of Element’s criminally under loved ‘sour blaster’ set for Creeping Bent a decade or so ago and wiring it up alongside a swirly psych pre trance Shamen and rounding matters off the mix with a huge side serving of mutant Talking Heads motifs as re-imagined by Battles for good measure and then setting the sonic spin dryer to fast wash setting.
Those label members purchasing the March releases put out by Fruits de Mer – indeed yes that killer Cranium Pie set will find tucked into their parcel a bonus CD entitled ‘strange fruit and veg’ a teaser video for which the imprint has just unveiled for your discerning delight. A psychedelic fantasia gathering together 75 minutes of way out tripping sounds with which to frazzle your fringe and warp your shades to, a psychotropic summit meeting featuring 18 fried alchemists bringing forth to the 60’s shimmying table a mix of covers and newly penned nuggets – among the roll call a cast of usual suspects including Schizo Fun Addict, vostok, the crawlin hex, Trojan horse, crystal Jacqueline and the honey pot and the blue giant zeta puppies – the latter two of whom will be featuring again here if not later this missive then centre stage next missive out. For now a smattering of samples though we suggest your expand your head space to the Cream-esque cool of Topos Locos’ cover of ‘what’s happening at the psychiatrist’
Gruff grizzled fuzz buzz from False Heads, ‘wrap up’ comes untimely ripped from a forthcoming EP entitled ‘wear and tear’ shortly to be found venturing out via hi4head records and succinctly showcases the bands slow / fast, loud / quiet song craft to perfection to find this bad slab of boogie splicing rarefied generic sub- cultures extrapolated from the likes of John Spencer Blues Explosion and Mudhoney not to mention the kind of growling stoner blues that once upon a time appeared to frequent the bulging catalogue of the Brew imprint, all said though this smarting slice of bludgeoned brooding cool veers ever so craftily into ‘dirty’ era Sonic Youth sound space namely nibbling around the schizo coda of ‘sugar kane’. https://soundcloud.com/falseheads/wrap-up/s-TB0Dl
Definitely mainlining heavily on the wow factor and sure to have you pressing hard on the repeat button this is ‘droids’ culled from a forthcoming set entitled ‘transcendental heatwave’ by husband and wife duo the Cush. All at once slinky, seductive and kissed with psychotronic electro pulse waves shimmying upon locked grooving beats, ‘droids’ comes blissfully sighed upon a glam pouted riff strut all succulently purred amid mind weaving seas of cosmicalia and astral opines whilst emitting the kind of radiant off centred cool that imagines a chilled and ethereal Bolan cutting kaleidoscopic studio shapes with a laid back and spaced out Dandy Warhols. https://soundcloud.com/the-cush-1/droids
been a fair old while since we heard anything from the onomatopoeia imprint by our reckoning last looming with pop platters aplenty courtesy of William D Drake and the occasional mind expanding listening experience that is / was they came from the stars I saw them. Latest arrivals to this occasionally seen imprint are Barringtone whose double header ‘feverhead’ / ‘foxes and brimstone’ proves something of a slow to burn infectious sortie whilst simultaneously found waywardly chartering the outer spheres of surreal pop and that just the flip. For the lead out cut ‘feverhead’ imagine a fleet footed buzz bombed sonic scatter brain rippled in kooky pop kudos navigating the kind of aural alchemy you rightly expect to be hatched had an accidental studio double booking occurred with they might be giants, a very young Mercury Rev and the buggles all squabbling for personal space and once sorting out their differences colluding to cobble together a nifty slice of retro grooved hyper driving motorik magicalia ripped straight from a muscular New Musik songbook. As to the flip – the favoured track of the two if forced to choose for ‘foxes and brimstone’ is a skedaddled slab of wiring art bopped soft psych eccentricity that flitters lightly amid tempting power psych pop flavourings warped by angular rhythms and spruced in crystalline west coast motifs which reference wise needle hop between a pop minded Cardiacs and an ‘SF Sorrow’ era Pretty Things – damn fine by us.
White fence ‘anger! Who keeps you under’ out via drag city only download only mentioned many moons ago here https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/white-fence-2/
Likewise Astronauts ‘in my direction’ out now download only via the ever cool lo recordings – mentioned here – https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/astronauts-5/
Now I won’t deny that there hasn’t been glum faces and the occasional gnashing of teeth upon finding that we’ve somehow missed the boat with this lots previous two releases – namely ‘splish’ / ‘wet dog’ and their debuting ‘teapot’ EP, but we are a forgiving bunch and so adoring of the collectives third outing which in truth has soothed the ire at our momentary eye off the ball moment. A debut full length due in March entitled ‘Zoetrope’ via the hello thor imprint, Cantaloupe feature ex members of the one time highly admired around these here parts Souvaris, these days leaving their post rockian roots behind they venture a more lunar trajectory crafting kraut cruised delicacies peppered in folk noir cosmicalia as new single ‘labour and love’ so ably provides evidence of, for this sweetly serene teaser comes dimpled in love noted distress calls from as were abandoned astral outposts arrested in the kind of subtle retro piping recently found smouldering the grooves of outings by Tokolosh though here flavoured and fluent in the tongue of a bruised and forlorn Laetitia Sadier.
Okay our laptop appears to be having something of a tizzy at the moment refusing to play ball, so while we go off and find Mr Hammer, Mr Screwdriver and Mr Pliers for a quiet word here’s the Wreaths who we mentioned ages ago with a killer Gordon Lightfoot cover culled from that forthcoming ‘side effects’ set on Fruits de Mer – just in case you missed our ranting about this first time of asking its somewhere here – https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/wreaths-4/ – fear not there’ll be more Wreaths before the days out……. https://soundcloud.com/wreaths/wreaths-sundown-gordon
As much a fault as ours than anything else, we’ve somewhat missed a trick of late in so far as reporting in on the happenings of the moon glyph imprint to which after several sharp words and the odd slap of the hand we’ve hopefully resolved. Good job really because latest outing to come freshly pressed from this most eclectic label is a bit of a peach and features the third and final release from Brooklyn based Calidonia County who for those – like us – previously unaware of these things is the ambient nom du plume of Ian Ferguson who via ‘the ghosted years’ has crafted a most serenely beautiful eleven part suite. Comprised of genteel overtures, these softly rippling demurring flotillas of shimmering orbs mesmerise and murmur to despatch frozen moment dream states that twinkle, surrender and relocate the would be listener to quietly arrested environs far removed from the maddening hustle and bustle of modern day life. Here you’ll encounter the glacial star kissed hush like apparition that is ‘the batteries in God’s hands’ while somewhere else ‘bioluminescence’ with its sleepy headed demeanour and seafaring drift-scapes could easily be taken as a modernist re-reading of Ronald Binge’s ‘sailing by’. The elegiac and silently stately ‘Ancient ruins’ with its celestial vapour trails cosy toes delicately along the vast panoramic whispers of fellow ambient alchemist Wil Bolton, those preferring their sounds somewhat bruised and lullaby-esque might do well to seek out the forlorn beauty ‘giardiniera’ which if anything ought to prick the ears of those much admiring of landshipping. All said the best moment comes at the close with the advent of ‘ghost, wine and dusk’ which to these well-worn ears sounds like some distant carnival positioned on a distant lunar outpost emitting love notes into the cosmic void. http://moonglyph.com/releases/mg76
And so as promised we are back with wreaths who’ve been going through something of creative dash of late what with several releases lined up along with a stone cold superb reappraisal of Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘sundown’ looking set to occupy one of the prized sides of fruits de mer’s forthcoming 4 disc ‘side effects’ set (see elsewhere for sound links). Before all that though they’ve a 7 inch for byrdhouse which all things being well ought to be doing its stuff around about now and pulls together both ‘supermoon’ and ‘fumblin dice’ (links and previous mentions – linked below) along with an EP entitled ‘Mr Fang’ which I must admit we had access issues with when it was first prepped to review way back last November. Safe to say the gremlins have been ironed out to which we’ve been most grateful not least for the fact that this 18 minute (possibly four track set – they don’t make it easy for scribes) sonic cyclone has been creating swirly shapes in our headspace since veering into earshot with (what we think is titled)’dog dreams’ leading the charge emerging from the cosmic drift space cutting acutely mind woven kaleidoscopic shapes all pressed upon a jaw dropping uber cool shade adorning locked groove riff strut irrefutably paying homage to one Kevin Shields. ‘traced and hazed’ purrs upon a more dream popped trajectory replete with bliss kissed whispers and ether graced harmonic hushes as though a super chilled and reclining dead leaf echo hyperglider. Admittedly our favoured moment comes with the appearance of ‘carolina’ arriving amid swirls of lunar lilts and the kind of softly graceful laid back after burn that the Church appear at ease doing these days with their eyes closed. ‘you will never forget my love’ brings the set to a close to flirt with the kind of psych white out muscularity more accustomed to the grooves of platters bearing the name thee oh sees upon them. In short – pure class.
Previous mention for ‘supermoon’ at https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/wreaths-3/
Sound cloud links – for the ‘supermoon’ flip cut at https://soundcloud.com/wreaths/it-doesnt-stay-great-1
Mentioned this lot several months ago whereupon their ‘through a lens darkly’ had us insanely wowed and frantically scribbling down references to its widescreen grandeur and majestic poise, in short an emotional colossus that drew the dots between a youthful Sigur Ros and Sakamoto. Recently signed to kscope the brighton based Nordic Giants are now readying themselves for the release of their debuting full length ‘a séance of dark delusions’ which is due to break hearts and cause – we suspect – much fainting in record emporium aisles when released early April. For those impatient imps among you, the band / label have sanctioned the previewing of ‘rapture’ as a teaser. Featuring a guest vocal by Beth Cannon this adoring gem does exactly what it says on the tin that translates simply into a sub four minute joyously intoxicating feel good firework show, more so a celestial happening emitting a vibrantly radiant head rush of euphoria, utterly devastating and seismically beautiful – frankly need I say more. https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/186154611&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true
I fear I may have dropped the ball with this one as I’m sure we’ve had a download variant of it for a week or three still languishing awaiting due care, love and attention. Available I think I’m right in saying via the esteemed Reverb Worship whose forthcoming roster has some rich picking from Alex Monk and the Book of Shadows, this is the disquieting ‘the haunted cabaret’ – a mysterious supernatural dream trip crafted by the coupling of the Hare and the Moon and Kentin Jivek from which the intensely harrowing and spell crafted beauty that is ‘the liquorist’ has been culled by way of a teaser tasting. With doubt an exemplary slice of horror-phonia daubed in a sweet macabre whose vintage traverses through the years rhyming archaic folk tongues and gothic tapestries and smothering them in the shadow traced chill of an at sleep nightmare landscape. Both ghostly and eerie this Brit horror bouquet should appeal first hand to those much admiring of platters emanating from the Beta Lactam Ring imprint most notably those scored by Edward Ka-Spel as well as freebasing on the sweet dread beauty brought to bear by soundtracks possessed of the hand craft of Goblin and Andrzej Korzynski. https://soundcloud.com/thehareandthemoon/the-liquorist
And so there were we mentioning Edward Ka-Spel and Beta Lactam Ring and up looms into our listening space the great man himself. Admittedly another download file we’ve had for a while and another that’s been shall we say – a little non forthcoming in revealing its wares. So while we try to resolve such issues we’ve managed at least to sneak a little earful of ‘night terrors’ from his latest ‘the Victoria dimension’ set for BLR records which, unless our lobes do deceive, finds our psychedelic alchemist channelling elements of Barrett and Psychic TV and subsuming them in a creepily eerie lullaby séance which creaks, yawns and chills with sinister unease. http://www.blrrecords.com/prod/2319/the_victoria_dimension.html#.VMViiP7kf3T
Those with fairly long memories might recall us mentioning Igores Tamborista not once but twice early last year courtesy of a handful of cuts via the kalma imprint the best of which being the club floor drilling Balearic beauty ‘last party’. This time of asking ‘selling soul’ finds him in more contemplative and tender moods, brief but utterly disarming and beautiful this two minute apparition comes teasingly trimmed in intimacy revealing a soft sided delicacy dimpled in elegiac key trickles and pastoral florets which call us old romantics may well appeal to the frail fragile nature of those hauschka admirers among you. https://soundcloud.com/fantasista2016/tamborista-selling-soul
Here’s a rather tasty video to accompany that frankly spiffing Wildhart track ‘stuck in a second’ via the of late becoming hugely essential gaphals imprint that we mentioned a little before Christmas time – fear not if you forgot (and how could you) we’ve posted the review link for ease below….in short sublime.
https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/wildhart/
We are loving these delinquent dudes, newly peeled video for ‘pink meet’ – a review of which you’ll find aerosol’d somewhere here in big fookin dayglo letters attached to a government health warning screaming ‘wake up and stop dieting on TV talent trash and get your lugs around this’ – seriously the most insanely damaged sub two minute searing and scary schizoid poke you in the eye kick up the backside slab of psychotic punk-a-rama since the Ramones invented the three chord and certainly the damnedest tasty thing to fall into our laps since someone cobbled together Vomitface, frenzied Dead Kennedy’s being mullered by a young and unruly Babes in Toyland – will leave scorch burns on your turntable and if you are really good give you a top-tastic puke green spikey hairdo….
https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/hyperslob-and-the-goat-meat-explosion/
We actually caught this at the close of yesterday’s freak zone show hosted by Stuart Maconie, a most curiously odd delight by Skogen – an edit in fact culled from their latest long playing set ‘despairs had governed me to long’ to which I’d be eternally grateful to anyone giving me information as to who is putting it out and how do I get a copy. Awash in bowed chamber folk melodica there’s an almost quietly affecting reverence attaching as the hushed twilight trimmed aural apertures form, rise and fall away with a sleepy headed demeanour as though the yawning greeting of daybreak rustling beneath the dew frosted undergrowth of a petrified woodland, the atmospherics stilled stir in eerie watchfulness all at once patient and poised. Very strange indeed.
Is this not just the most gorgeous thing you’ve heard all day, the way its languid lazy eyed lilt draws you close wrapping you in its seductive entrancement, its Velveteen brush strokes softly smouldering to longing formations that delicately shimmer to the summer skinned purr of 60’s tonalities that imagine a surrendering throwing muses swapping tips and notes with a demurring strawberry switchblade with clock strikes 13 cosily chilling in the studio corner, it’s called ‘chinatown’ and its by girlpool and its out next month via Wichita and comes backed by a cover of radiator hospital’s ‘cut your bangs’. Do you detect a sense that they are spoiling us.
After a somewhat pained and enforced sabbatical what better way to re-engage our ear lugs to the sounds of the cool that something courtesy of the much admired the bordellos. First of several planned releases this year, a split with Schizo Fun Addict is rumoured to be in touching distance as is a proposed set entitled ‘all pizzas and fairytales’ for the newly augmented prinse music imprint. The bordellos of course scarcely need introductions around these here parts, impish sore thumbs tapping directly into the savage underbelly of lo-fi’s wasteland wherein elements of angular art pop coil their spidery want upon lost arcane psych motifs whilst stealing peeks from discarded notebooks scribbled upon by the hand of a disenfranchised Mark E Smith, in short apart from Wizards Tell Lies had we a house band around here decorating these musings these dudes would be on speed dial. ‘Art Whore’ EP gathers together a quartet of cuts that missed the final edit for last year’s much enthused and hopelessly celebrated ‘ronco revival sound’ album, grizzled stuff bleakly chastened in a late 70’s Northern England post punk spirit. Here you’ll be swooned to the coolly slacker road grind of the lazy eyed ‘move sideways’ – a punch drunk beauty under whose microlite fractures the sounds of summer are desperately trying hard to blossom only to be beaten down by the thickets of fuzz, confusion and acutely razored anti pop motifs, think upon it as an after hours studio soiree committed to tape by a youthful pavement in a face off with an equally teeth cutting mercury rev. ‘Art Whore’ finds the Bordellos on familiar safe footing shimmying and swaggering to a spikey hip grinding three chord Fall-esque throb. Elsewhere grooved upon a black sun breeziness ‘in two’ is kissed with the kind of slo-mo Velveteen mantra that these days finds itself so exquisitely navigated by Cheval Sombre and gets to reveal itself as something that had it the seal of approval of a sonic cathedral branding upon its hide you’d be scuttling out to buy it by the sack load. Best of the set, though by a whisker, is the parting shot ‘emote remote emotion’ – a warping dark psych carnival that to these ears sounds as though it fallen from a recently discovered tape recording (of course left out in the sun) of an unaired Peel show featuring aborted / imagined preview tracks from ‘Hex Education hour’. Quite frankly essential – but I’m gathering you already figured that for yourselves – incidentally available as a free download. https://bordellos.bandcamp.com/album/art-whore-ep
Think they is spoiling us now, fresh from fond words spun in the glow of their ‘Art Whore’ EP, Brian Bordello sent over a sneak peak of a cut that’ll feature on their forthcoming prinse music release ‘pizza and fairytales’ – and damn fine it be floppy fringed brethren, entitled ‘Billy Fury’ – (the greatest rocker of all time. Discuss though do not dissent – I do vaguely recall mama relating stories of mischief and japes by the Fury one as a mere child and was oft cajoled to bop around the parlour to the sounds of the man – but that’s for another time). This track I’m gathering may well prove to be one of the albums jaw dropping moments that we’ve typically come to love, adore and expect with each passing Bordellos full length, one of those delicately weaved shots of mercurial minimalism set upon a deceptively statuesque sonic plinth that radiates a hushed sighing coolness. Alas no sound cloud type links with which to regale – guess you’ll have to buy the blighter which in truth is no bad thing.
There’s so much to cover, some killer stuff has been filtering through our in box this last month since we went off radar – one thing that immediately hit us like an oncoming wall was this little darling. New single from Kramies finds the author of some of the finest and most sublime ethereal sonic hymnals to come our way in recent times shimmying up to forge a new old acquaintances with Grandaddy man Jason Lytle here taking up production duties. Available as a free download ‘the fate that never favoured us’ is to simply put it – breathless. A delicately spun cosmic carnival teased upon the same unseen fragile structures that hold stars in the night sky, this demurring honey deceptively arrests all the time transmitting its lunar love noted opines across the celestial voids as though the result of some star crossed love in embarked upon by Sterling Roswell and a certain J Xaverre. Bliss. https://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/the-fate-that-never-favored-us
I’m sure we’ve just received download links for the forthcoming Holy album ‘Stabs’ via PNKSLM which should we be mistaken and we haven’t then rest assured there will be glum faces, gnashing of teeth and rudely written missives of a complaining kind despatched forthwith. For now second single ‘lights’ is your time travelling flowers adorned kaleidoscopic woozy wander back to the mid 60’s replete with swirling west coast washes and dreamy acid dripped mirages all sumptuously served upon a mind weaving platter of fringe arranging psychedelic happenings as once upon a time gouged to wax grooves by those heads Clock Strikes 13 albeit here augmented superbly by some nifty ‘defecting grey’ esque Pretty Things sonic thuggery at the close. Does it for us. https://soundcloud.com/pnkslm/holy-lights/s-eySAb
Must admit that we nicked this off the la bel netlabel facebook page and quite smitten we’ve been since it arrived in earshot, by Japanese musician Madoka ‘explore’ comes prized from a limited CD release entitled ‘take a walk’ – festooned in pastoral flotillas and shimmered by a playful syncopation whose twinkling interweaving melodies murmured with such delicate daintiness that they had us recalling some curious meeting of sonic minds between the Resource Centre and pretty much anything with a rustic yearn emanating from the Autumn Ferment and Static Caravan labels, add to that mix the Spring time lolloping canter of Vernon Elliott and the sense of overwhelming serene beauty abound all dimpled upon a chirping sea breezed mosaic. Must hear more. https://soundcloud.com/mdksn/explore
seamless link time, well almost – barely just mentioned Resource Centre nee John Hanson who was one half as was of Magnetophone, well what do you know, up pops Assembled Minds the celebrated moniker under which his erstwhile sound partner Matt Saunders hides and who has a second album looming somewhere on a very near visible horizon entitled ‘creaking haze’ from which has been pulled as a sneak preview the cut ‘summoning of the rave’. Near perfection as you’d come to expect from this former 4AD alchemist, with its footings and heart firmly located in the past its visionary eye and headspace surveys keenly undiscovered future worlds to fuse an absorbing warmth hued carnivalesque experience tripped to a terraforming cocktail of ambient, trance and trip hop tongues all coalesced into a radiant beacon of feel good euphoria which to these ears sounds like delirious fanfares of lunar oceans emitted from alien sea shells. https://soundcloud.com/assembledminds/8-summoning-of-the-rave?in=assembledminds%2Fsets%2Fcreaking-haze-lp
imminent sonic salvos from fruits de mer readying themselves for a by all accounts mammoth four album soiree entitled ‘side effects’ – details leaked here – http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/sideeffects.html
been such a long time since we had occasion to shimmy around the listening room to the sounds of extradition order, if memory serves me right they were a much hailed turntable treat from their distant days on I blame the parents records – a much imprint it should be said. These days signed to the equally admired Jezus Factory stable the band are set to release their third full length in the guise of ‘kennedy’ and come packing a sound so big, brash and brutal its liable to give the occasional bruising side kick just for the listening. From that set looms ‘Bobby’ a deceptively swaggering bad boy that pulses with dark friction all the time aligned to a hip grinding devious funk undercut that when gathered together purr with the kind of slow brooding mercurial artistry that had us on several occasions of a mind to re-hook up with our prized the seal cub clubbing club platters of yesteryear whilst imagining them mainlining on blissed out Suicide trance tones with the ever so subtle undertow of a youthful Bunnymen coursing between the grooves.
Nicked this from a posting on the Jezus Factory facebook page, isn’t this just the damn sexiest funky bug around in record world at the moment, so contagious and devilishly catchy and kooky it ought to comes with a health warning, it’s from Zita Swoon Group and its called ‘dada for spring radio’ – a kind of mind morphing head on between Kraftwerk in their ‘pocket calculator’ phase and a youthful Yello both caught arm locking and taking to the floors of a classic era Studio 54 and getting all jiggy wiggy. Ridiculously infectious.
Forthcoming on the celebrated great pop supplement imprint where it’ll arrive no doubt packaged eye catchingly on limited numbers of 7 inch wax, the second single from Bristol based Snails has been the cause of much raised eyebrows, approving nods and the more often than not sound of audible coos. Utterly smitten by this I don’t mind saying for sitting somewhere between a ‘tigermilk’ era Belle and Sebastian and a youthful Tindersticks emerges ‘talking to Anthony’ – a distracting and decidedly out of step gem that weaves its way catching you on your blind side whereupon its autumnal flavourings set up camp to sweetly arrest with their bountiful floral harvest of surrendering string sighs and lolloping rambles in a way rarely heard done with such sublime sleight of hand since the days of Hey Paulette were found peppering the playlists of late 80’s Peel broadcasts. Over on the flip don’t be fooled by its title for ‘winter hearts’ is a sweetly irresistible spring hued 60’s trimmed soft psych folk folly brimming with Bacharach-ian sunbursts and purring aplenty of L’Augmentation accents all piped with hip kissing shimmies and feel good effervescence – quite frankly we want a copy. http://snails.bandcamp.com/album/our-second-7
mentioned this un wee back when we was much younger……false heads new thing – woozy visuals a go….
We’ve got sound links for another release mentioned a wee while back – this one from white noise sound heading out of rocket girl at speed…..
Mentioned these dudes way back last year when we stumbled upon ‘yoop’ doing sizeable damage on the fat cat demo player, now signed with the song, by toad imprint, garden of elks are stepping up to the plate to lay waste to your listening calm with a debuting length platter early next month from off which comes ripped the quarrelling tones of ‘SWAP’- a hotwiring 195 second call to arms that stumbles, shambles and gallops gung ho amid a tautly tight seizure shredding persona that ripples, rips and ruptures like some bastard offspring of the Violent Femmes and into the bargain ratcheting up the intensity in a scarcely blinked eye from a near standing still jangling casualness to frantic frustration panic attrition white out. https://soundcloud.com/songbytoad/garden-of-elks-swap-1
And video….
http://ahref= <p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/119233504“>Garden of Elks – SWAP</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/songbytoad“>Song, by Toad</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com“>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Same label and something I’m ashamed to put my hands up to in saying we took our eyes of the ball and missed this one, this un comes pulled from a set called ‘tripped in amber’ by Jonnie Common entitled ‘binary 202’ which as the title somewhat hints is something of a subtle Balearic blip core treat which principally ought to have those of you much immersed in the 90’s sounds of future sound of London, biosphere and the mid career work of sven vath raising appreciable eye brows. If I’m honest it’d be easier to leave it just there but I’m compelled to add that this blighter appeals acutely due to its ability to fuse so many reference markers, dipping into the generic DNA’s as though a pic n’ mix selection, we could mention its cosmicalic playfulness a la Craig Padilla, its deceptive house dub trance tones – hello Astralasia or its ridiculously funky idents with melodics pedro and output message chiefly being called to mind – whatever the case we could recommend no better way to spend 7 minutes of your day tuned out of life’s stresses and relocated to more sophisticated lights dimmed bliss kissed and chill toned climes. https://soundcloud.com/songbytoad/jonnie-common-binary-202
fast becoming one of our favourite listening pastimes, impish noise niking no wavers the Can Can Heads have in recent times engaged our headspace in some of the finest skewed and schizoid angular non pop we’ve had occasion to bop our wee socks off whilst readying and fortifying the battlements and foundations of the Sunday experience sonic shed between releases flying out of the foolproof projects sound house. Latest EP ‘ruining the classics’ out via silber records finds them irreverently turning their gaze towards the heady world of pop to batter into submission four of its number. Amid this short sharp dose of skronked out stoner skree you’ll find such legendary aural totems from the likes of Michael Jackson and Survivor re-wired to a smoked out and stoned haze of fuzz gorged discordance ‘eye of the tigris’ particularly coming in for some lancing amid a 38 second rush of head butting carnage, alas review plays are limited on streaming so we scarcely got to the parting cut ‘looshe (out the Jams)’ before everything went dark and silent – the blighters. https://cancanheads.bandcamp.com/album/can-can-heads-is-ruining-the-classics
like the passing of some celestial event as though emerging from an eclipse, this is a sly little teaser of a track ‘victory over the sun’ pulled from a forthcoming set pairing together the talents of Mark Harris and John 3:16 via alrealon shortly. Measured and majestic this spacious soft star lit spectacle is traced to an alluring and quietly spellbinding panoramic countenance, its opining lunar ambient dronal tides shimmered in silvery showers that gather in density and definition until finding the fortitude and wherewithal to break cover and emerge from the stellar shadows to reveal itself in a momentary radiant sunburst before fading back into the dark voids. https://soundcloud.com/john316john/mark-harris-john-316-victory-over-the-sun
staying with John 3:16 and freshly peeled from his working canvas not to say very much shifting from his trademark monolithic comfort zone this is ‘the pale horse’ – a sunny sided sortie dipped in a becoming sun fading breezy south seas flavouring throughout which the subtle hints of aural portraits issued forth by a very youthful John Fahey come surfacing to mind.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=451006401722723
flame hot new waving power surging soul pop from Jersey courtesy of the Paper Jets. Culled from a forthcoming EP release for the FDR imprint entitled ‘almost nine’ this is lead out track ‘Elizabeth distressed’ – a sub three minute time hop back to the late 70’s punching out the same kind of blistered ear candy pure pop swagger that the likes of the knack, the motors and the dB’s kicked out with furious frequency back in the day when some of us where so much younger whilst simultaneously hooking you in with a ridiculously infectious chorus line and the kind of acutely drilled three chord assault that’ll leave you jaw dropped in affection. https://soundcloud.com/thepaperjets/elizabethdistressed
quick note from Dom Great Pop Supplement / Deep Distance letting us know that a package of goodies is currently making a trek heading straight for our turntable, among the goodies the aforementioned Snails 7 inch along with a platters from Mike and Cara Gangloff and a hotly tipped debut nugget by the Hanging Stars entitled ‘golden vanity’. Compared in passing to the late great Gram Parsons and Gene Clark, this kaleidoscopically swirled slice of soft psyched pastoral pop oozes with the same kind of out of time vintage as the much adored Tokolosh whose singles you ought to recall via Static Caravan had cause to have heads turning and nodding in appreciable fashion here at the Sunday Experience sound shed, that said what awaits here is a sumptuous sub three minute head trip hypno grooved in Cosmic Americana laced and lilted in mind expanding flotillas of lysergic riffola all dinked in a woozy astral travelling campfire spiritualism.
okay yes it is strange, partly quirky, partly impish, it doesn’t follow the usual verse / chorus / verse pop coda (though arguably it does – it’s just couched in a way that doesn’t first appear familiar as it weaves between spoken words slacker kookiness and daydream beach pop mirages), indeed you could add that its awkward to that list. But do you know what – we just can’t leave the blighter alone and since arriving in our listening space its craftily laid little hatchlings which cause – nay demand – that we revisit it again and again with the aid of the repeat button. ‘happy carrot health food store’ is taken from the imminent ‘talent night at the Ashram’ full length for polyvinyl by Sonny and the Sunsets, amid this seven minute opus Sonny Smith and Co weave a slow burning psychedelic dream coat dipped in mind expanding opiates, aside the dissipating mosaics the hallucinogenic departure at the 5 minute point alone is enough to have most heads tripping wildly, elsewhere elements of the fuzzy swirls and that same pickled pure pop persona that occasioned the early outings by the Elephant 6 Collective are all irrefutably present with the likes of Mangum, Doss and Hart readily called to mind along with some nifty references to Moviola’s lost gem ‘durable dream’ being hot washed into the bargain.
By all accounts sold out at source at Static Caravan, this particular release has been a while in the production, much love, care and attention has been garnered upon it, it be the latest from folk collective Stick in the Wheel who headed up by Nicola Kearney and Ian Carter have thus far have been greeted and feted as a upcoming keynote act to keep eyes and ears peeled for. Not your pretty happy clappy dancing around the maypole folk pop, Stick in the Wheel are more likely to concentrate their thoughts on the more morbid and forgotten ill themed aspects of such arcane rituals, neither will you find follies to engage in moments of carefree lazing under the tree shade daisy chain making. Rather more their brand of folk is rooted in the traditionalist art of storytelling, much like your Fairport’s, Watersons’ or your Mellow Candle’s before them their headspace is closely attuned to the very soil, the very foundations and the very toil of nature’s labours which before you all start misreading for grim and dour is instead forthright, direct and without fear of pulling punches in their socio political lyricism. As ever strictly limited to just 300 copies, these 7’s come housed in white foil embossed recycled card sleeves, the band have even pressed up (becoming a now trademark event) 15 special edition sets featuring a medieval lead token via their band camp page. As to the actual release – two tracks feature within – ‘Common Ground’ mourns the encroachment and the slow decline of common land in the face of commercial sprawl. Upon a bedding of hypnotically looping rustics, Kearney bitterly scowls in disbelieving frustration her clarion call to the sleeping masses to the kind of sonic lost tongue that admirers of both Lupen Crook and New Model Army might do well to tune into. Over on the flip ‘Hasp’ tells the tale of a working horse from its perspective, bleak and agonising, between the Fahey punctuations, the Gaelic flurries and the slowly unravelled minimalist opines a sense of thankless servitude and dispiritingly mournful monotony without end. Brutally essential and best filed alongside your treasured Rails releases.
Really has been a long time since we had the pleasure of something via the bad panda imprint so you can well imagine the minute this appeared on our eye line it was snaffled up immediately on to the player to do whatever damage it deemed fit. Available as a free download (9/3) duo Team Morale are set to release ‘Ubuntu’ followed in swift pursuit early April by an new EP entitled ‘Satori’. Softly seductive ‘Ubuntu’ is one of those slyly shy cuts that reveals something a little different with each passing listen, starts darkly but soon unfurls radiating its lights lowered svelte chill dripped flavouring whilst tracing a subtle tropicalia tasting fused in a down tempo classicism all of which ought to prove perfect listening for those of you whose listening axis wanes between the neighbourhood and no ceremony.
We’re as pleased as punch to have taken delivery of the latest Palace of Swords set, must admit we’ve been looking forward to this since Peter Lyon got in touch alerting us to its imminent arrival. Limited to just 100 copies – ours is # 100 / 100 in case you were taking notes – this set – incidentally out via reverb worship – comprises of a two track white vinyl 7 inch along with an additional CD featuring the wax tracks plus three additional cut and an extended mix of the vinyl flip side most of which we’ve covered in previous despatches except for the sets two main attractions and all featuring a host of guest remix edits by the likes of future disguises, snide rhythms, joe foster, midwich youth club and the hare and the moon. Within what you get is a silver age astral ride, Joe Foster’s ‘echoes from a distant star’ opens proceedings emerging as a trance toned slice of retro minimalism, a pulsing lunar lullaby crafted out of the same rarefied substances that fix the very stars in the night sky, a distant cosmic platform pirouetting in the deep voids emitting mesmeric mosaics as though a watchful lovelorn lighthouse seeking to make contact with visiting galactic travellers. ‘ringstone round’ finds the Hare and the Moon applying their bewitching folkalia to more star bound climes and into the bargain concocting a deeply captivating slice of mind morphing musicalia where ghostly echoes of ritual flower dances are subsumed into a hypnotic grooving that’s delicately carved in a stately pulsar like panoramic procession. First of all apologies to Midwich Youth Club who recently sent over downloads for a new album which will be getting some deserved attention and no doubt love very soon, for now though their take on ‘we are the new hyperboreans’ is something of a deceptively bonged out beauty that coils elements of tangerine dream into the multi-faceted mainframe of a shroom dazed Orb. Equally admired in the turntable tastiness stakes Snide Rhythms apply all manner of sonic boom styled Dadaism to ‘Aesthete cured’ to emerge from the dark side of the dream machine sounding somewhat like an abstractly playful and minimalist quando quango which leaves the woozy kosmiche happenings of the future disguises retelling of ‘live at the Aberdeen Witch Trials 1597’ to send you packing off to sleepville pricked by a sense of unease courtesy of a retro sci-fi shimmered ghostly fantasia – acquire on sight – need I say more.
Still one of the sexiest things on planet pop right now – first we gave you the review, then the sound cloud link and now the video – next time of asking we might just send the band around in person – from white noise sound – shortly to be sharing the convergence bill with Weatherall and eat lights become lights….
Totally besotted by the latest sonic work book heading out of the Doldrums sound factory, just ahead of a new Sub Pop set ‘Air Conditioned Nightmare’ due to arrest early April, ‘loops’ has been sent out on early reconnaissance to work the club floors and playfully ruffle your fringes. Perfect for those just wanting to lose and detach themselves from a painful split, framed upon fading Balearic sunsets drifting underneath the safe cloak of nights darkness and sumptuously wired into pulsing Moroder styled motifs, there’s a frenetic radiant busyness at play here whereupon an old school 70’s vintage collide with demurring lilts of a post techno / rave come down over which the soulful purr of down tempo dialects and a lights lowered sophistication oozes seductively beneath with an off-setting crushing memories rewinding ache. https://soundcloud.com/subpop/doldrums-loops
One time a regular feature around these parts the Lovely Eggs could scarcely squeak for finding mentions aplenty in missives long since forgotten and why not, adored for their insidious impish awkwardness and their want for exacting dislocated and disfigured sub three minute aural paint bombs that oft enacted an acutely teasing bite, the duo ushered in moments of devilishly insane fun to a pop world so often disturbed by a follow the leader safeness and the stale dull drabness of an overbearing music machine. And then the blighters went from our eye line and out of earshot, to pursue riches and fame we hoped and thought. And so after a long break from these musings they return, with them the promise of a new album ‘this is our nowhere’ and an even newer single ‘magic onion’. Out via the flower of phong imprint (be honest do labels get any cooler?) where it’ll arrive on limited quantities of green onion splatter vinyl with the addition of a Casey Raymond hand produced booklet, ‘magic onion’ is essentially the Fall in some shroom blurred kaleidoscopic Carroll-esque wonderland redecorated by those surrealist Boosh dudes found craftily re-trimming lost Pebbles happenings from some secret psychedelic swirled shed located on the outer edges of reality – freakishly fried stuff.
Fancy some radiant feel good effervescence, then pull up close, got a little Cinerama that ought to work a treat. Prized from a forthcoming full length ‘Valentina’ – yep to the eagle eyed among you the self-same album as done by the Wedding Present a few years back although here swooned in brass arrangements and tattooed with a suave soulful throb. Apparently it was always in the Gedge master plan to record multiple versions of the album with the intention of utilising different interpretative styles, where it not for time, resource and the sheer complexity of the undertaking both versions would have, in a perfect world, appeared simultaneously each vying for listening appreciation. And so it was decided to hold off – until now that is. ‘back a bit….stop’ is your vibrant full on toe tapping to toasting first tasting of what to expect, a stax-o-phonic juggernaut souped up in the kind of sophisticated suited and booted Vegas cabaret a la Jones and Christie and Mod-esque beat cool razzmatazz occasioned once upon a time by the Style Council and Dexy’s – a gem in short. https://soundcloud.com/cinerama-3/04-back-a-bit-stop-1
Is it just me or does the lead cut from the latest platter by the Luka State possess more than a passing nod to the much missed 90’s beat pop combo the High which before you all start thinking to the contrary is no bad thing at all for ‘the believer’ is graced with the same freewheeling softly countrified breeziness that befitted the work of the aforementioned ensemble. Add to the mix a summery seasoning of lazy eyed rambling riffola and a stirring feel good vibe speckled in Bluetones styled motifs and you have yourself something perfected for transistor happenings. Over on the flip a cover of the Beatles ‘tomorrow never knows’ which in the bands own words they wanted to ‘re-imagine as a bad trip’ which if anything here appears lighter and more radiant than the original with the added quotient of being powered upon by super charged psyched out pulsars. A mini album is set to hit the stands sometime mid-year. https://soundcloud.com/thelukastate/the-luka-state-the-believer
this bright young things will shortly be appearing on Record Store Day where it’ll emerge as part of a limited to 500 only three track 12 inch simultaneously marking the third anniversary of the best fit recordings appearance and their first venture into RSD action. Initially appearing on last year’s debuting ‘conversations’ set, Woman’s Hour’s version of Springsteen’s ‘dancing in the dark’ turned heads aplenty and has since been a centre staple of their live set. Draped in spectral grace this softly sparse re-trimming tenderly tugs beneath the defences all the time drawing you close with its hushed enchantment, where the original was charged in a bracing passion this version instead upends matters emerging shy eyed from it secretive shadowy haloing to yearn and demur surrounded amid an eloquent ice dripped minimalist craft. https://soundcloud.com/womanshourband/dancing-in-the-dark/s-bzoTk
i’m suspecting that we are going to have a lot of fun with this lots forthcoming debut set, if that is, the preview video and this their recently released debut single are anything to judge by. We, the oceanographers are duo Joey Edwards of take the money and run fame and heritage centre man Conal McIntyre (with Sean Bradley drafted in for live appearances) who towards the tail end of last year emerged from their studio hidey hole pretty much fully formed and brandishing beneath their collective arm a limited single release entitled ‘a single by we, the oceanographers’ from which upon whose grooves two cuts featured. ‘same old story’ takes lead pride of place, a strange and curious charmer that grows on repeat listens, shimmered in a deft lightness most would probably call rustic electronica – sparsely wired minimalist electronics whirr and veer with a lackadaisical and faraway head in the clouds dreaminess like lazy eyed pulsars upon a coda – which if I’m honest – slyly nibbles loosely around that of Springsteen’s ‘dancing in the dark’ – yet which reference wise slyly wires itself upon a melodic axis where at one end sits a youthful Swimmer One whilst at the other lurk both Birdpen and Tex La Homa. On the flip you’ll find ‘the ocean’ – in truth our preferred cut given its honeycombed in a demurring 50’s vintage both meek and mellow and yet crushed with a hurting vulnerability that’s shimmered in opining sea faring dissolves. https://soundcloud.com/we-the-oceanographers/sets/a-single-by-we-the-oceanographers
here’s a taster album preview video – we suggest you pay particular interest to the parting west coast folly and track 2 which rears up like a subdued superimposers – sounds fine and dandy to us…..
They must hate us, in truth we’ve been sitting on various the holy see and the unseen grooves for a while now, they will I guarantee be getting the wordy love and affection they so richly deserve along with various wizards tell lies releases which for reasons I don’t want to get in protracted debates for now about we’ve somewhat taken our eye off and dropped the ball. That said it seems the long mooted 60’s inspired ‘osiris’ soundtrack is set to emerge on the adored cineploit imprint very shortly, a release which should you be one of those number taken by lost sonic ITC signatures by the likes of Gray, Mancini and Astley would do well to seek out and make your own not least because this set comes carved and caressed in the kind of vintage these days being tapped by the finders keepers and trunk crowd – see Andrzej Korzynski. For now though some wig flipping kaleidoscopic grooving in the shape of ‘party at the electric freak out’ which I’m sure we’ve had cause to mention previously, comes shimmered in 60’s seasoned sitar swirls and head expanding hallucinogenic Hammond happenings which all collide to give this beat grooved babe and fried funky bug bitten grind. https://soundcloud.com/holysee69
And there we were mentioning finders keepers in passing, seems this cult vault digging imprint have gathered themselves together into a countryside bolthole to serenade the airwaves with rare grooves with edition 2 of the finders keepers radio show being a 2 hour French special with guests aplenty including Laetitia Sadier along with all the usual musings, chat and freak sounds among which selected choice cut has to x-ray pop’s ‘pamela’ – fill your boots here. https://soundcloud.com/finderskeepersrecords/finders-keepers-radio-show-episode-two
Those among you with a keen eye and an even keener ear for these things may well recall us falling over ourselves in deep admiration sometimes a year or more ago at the appearance on our sound set of oiseaux-tempete. Now with a new album passing its final touches and ready to emerge from the workbench via sub rosa entitled ‘utopiya?’ featuring appearances by the ex’s G W Sok and clarinet player Gareth Davis, the first fruits of which are aired by way of a new single ‘utopiya / on living’. Mournfully dipped within a stirring atmospheric framing, this bruised titan resonates with a forlorn fatalism that’s tearfully crushed in the kind of bleak beauty that once upon a time graced and gripped those early godspeed platters, add to mix the fading majesty of the Grails found here as though wounded and waiting for some apocryphal hand of fate to fall and you have yourself something of a quietly epic and grimly realised counting the days down epitaph. https://soundcloud.com/oiseaux-tempete/utopiya-on-living-feat-gw-sok
fancy some effervescent sunburnt pop, then look no further than the latest platter from the purveyors of pristine power pop Sans Parents. ‘loose people’ is swooned in the same kind of bubble grooving bliss pop that once upon a time was found heading its way out of long adored yesteryear cult imprints such as summershine and bus stop by the truck load whilst simultaneously having the kind of radio buzzing immediacy that recalls the shimmer toned infectious rush of the velvet crush and the mayflies and then having the verve and wherewithal to shoehorn it all into 150 seconds of feel good radiance. https://soundcloud.com/sans-parents/loose-people-1
Must admit we really do love these album trailers – their boldness, their sense of drama and portent. Emerging from the bureau b sound shed any day soon a killer set by die wilde jagd entitled ‘rauhnachte’. For the uninitiated – like me for instance die wilde jagd – or the wild hunt to those whose German is a little ropey and somewhat lacking – are a duo comprising of members of noblesse oblige (Philipp) and unit 4 / karl bartos (Beck). We’ve gotten ourselves a quick earful of the sound cloud snippets we’ve gratefully been sent and can tell that while tracks like ‘wah wah wallenstein’ lurk between the groove lines then wigs are in for some fond flipping with this baby sounding like a darkly set Front 242 meeting Tank and Embryo head on in some Moroder like on Eastern retreat whilst elsewhere our distant memories of DAF, Space, SPK and Cabaret Voltaire are all brought in to vivid recall.
Album trailer goes like this……
No sooner do we put one bona fide nugget to bed and along pops another. New thing from Dutch psyche alchemist Jacco Gardner ‘find yourself’ comes tripping off the grooves of a forthcoming May slated platter for full time hobby entitled ‘hypnophobia’. Sounding as though it’s ripped its way out of the kaleidoscopic smoke of a nuggets compilation this potently pure pirouetting slice of psych pop comes smoked in a hypnotic haze of chiming arabesques and the bonged bliss kissed vibe of flashback rewinds of melting summers where elements of Syd Barrett, Paul Roland and the Dukes of the Stratosphear collide to weave a hallucinogenic dreamcoat. For added effect – and for those who care about these things – the video features not one but two classic Ford Capri’s – gets our vote motors alone.
This is quite something else, hailing from Paris and caressed in uber cool chic ‘blow’ is Camp Claude’s debuting UK visitation and arrives upon these shores coolly purred in the kind of seductive ice carved pop prowess we’ve scarcely heard bettered since the early days of Salon Boris and the Rubicks, was it is the austere pout and the overall glacial casualness that had us fixed to the spot jaw agape, the haloing swathes of celestial chorus’ that greet its take off that soon coalesce as it sheds its skin re-forged anew in an impacting and demurred seductive buzz bombing minimalist hybrid atop of which Diane Sagnier wanes, weaves and coos with a carefree distance that sits somewhere between Nico and Bardot. An EP ‘Hurricanes’ is deserving of immediate attention and love.
Even the most casual visitor to these pages couldn’t have helped notice that over the years of cobbling these missives together that Muse have never really figured or fared to any great extent, I’d go as far as to qualify that by saying we’ve never mentioned Muse period. Why you might well ask – though I’m suspecting you don’t really care for the answer – but I’m still going to tell you. It’s not that we don’t like them, it’s more the case that my listening habits have been tuned to another frequency, if truth be told I wouldn’t be able to recognise a Muse if it parked its arse in front of me wearing a big f*** off t-shirt with the words emblazoned ‘I’m a Muse song’ and then proceeded to beat me to within an inch of my life. Sure enough I’ve taken passing glances at reviews and stuff and I’ve been struck by reports of them being deemed space operetta psych prog talisman, elsewhere akin to the second coming and if rumours are to be believed in certain journals had extra-terrestrials been observing matters from afar then they’d have surmised that everything from world peace and a cure for athlete’s foot was possible through the merest earshot of one of their sonic canons. And so we’ve survived in spite of our ignorance, the world still turns I’m happy to say – by and large – and no I don’t feel as though there’s a gaping hole in my life in need of some Muse. Why I ramble so is simply because we’ve just received an email from their press folk. Word abound of an album, ‘Drones’ be its name, there’s even a preview track that’s surfaced and wiggled its way through a security fencing that’d make most totalitarian countries seem positively carefree and welcoming to outsiders with grinning open arms – the track goes by the name ‘psycho’ – a full on stripped back bare to the basics growler. Now if you’ve bothered to check out the comments attached to the video you’ll note that this cut has split the ranks and while it would be the easiest thing in the world to attach ourselves to the grudging bandwagon, truth is we actually like what we hear. Agreed its two minutes too long (this I hasten to add coming from someone who has patiently sat through 20 minute Nicaraguan nose flute solos and found something positive to love), but this sludge grinning schizoid juggernaut veers down hulking behind it a grinding heavy blues motif grizzled upon a flame hot locked groove which owes more to primal scream and comes speared upon a nagging industrial throb replete with a road cruising beatnik swagger that pretty much appears to ape the kind of eargear that populated headphone spaces when the grunge bomb imploded and the party moved swiftly to money making and MTV which only leaves me to say so that’s what they sound like – cue complaints and death threats no doubt.
A curio that we pulled from twitter, a newly forged imprint flying vinyl who offer a monthly service wherein for a no qualms and no minimum term subscription fee they send you at monthly intervals a box packed with exclusive platters from specially selected indie bands to suit your tastes. The sets also include various inserts such as gig tickets, hand signed merchandise from the featured bands and all manner of gear set to keep your vinyl loving enthusiast swooned. First boxes are due for shipping in June – more details as we get them. http://flyingvinyl.co.uk/
We here aren’t given over to press release hyperbole, the more they insist we’ll love it and that the track in question is something sitting at the top of our chosen musical street, then the more our sceptical radar starts to nag insisting we take a sharp left turn at the next intersection. Occasionally though there are the seldom salvos who praise their protégées, but do it such that intrigue gets the better of us and whence once heard we are left feeling they’ve somewhat underplayed their hand. Case in point – Rob Bravery – whose latest aural adventure ‘me, myself and the scurvy knave’ follows hot on the heels of his well received debut ‘knock out ginger’ (alas missed around these here parts). Masterful and elegant, whispered in a mercurial classicism and drilled in a song craft seemingly lost its quietly hushed elegance drawing you near as the pastoral keys pirouette, pivot and push towards a wind sweeping beautified crescendo. Between all this the imagery framed in adoring enchantment chimes softly to the free flowing seductive operama of the magic theatre / ooberman. https://soundcloud.com/robbravery/me-myself-and-the-scurvy-knave-1
There was a time, many moons ago mind, when Asthmatic Kitty used to send CD’s aplenty. And then they stopped. And with that we kind of lost touch with all things Sufjan Stevens, no particular reason, there were other things to listen to and anyway occasional sightings by way of press reports had us concluding his star was in the ascendency and well – Asthmatic Kitty where probably sending their wares to far bigger titles than our seldom seen, hardly heard of somewhat quietly admired journal. And so it was by the power of Twitter that we noted with an interested raised eyebrow a posting declaring a new Sufjan teaser track with video to boot. From a soon to be released full length ‘Carrie and Lowell’ this is the bruised ‘should have known better’ and finds Mr Stevens in reflective and somewhat mournful moods, both haunting and strikingly beautiful and elegant, its traced upon memories of his late mother, his abandonment and his regrets, the melodies longingly swerve with a tumbling pastoral gracefulness haloed in ghostly sepia tweaked chorals to shimmer between bleak sparsely couched despair and radiating rushes of hope which I’ll warn you now will have you teetering between tearful and cheered mood swings. Utterly humbling.
As ever thanks for tuning in, more to come in the arriving days, by the way we love records, over and out.
Take care,
Mark
x
the sunday experience 