Tales from the Attic
Volume LXII
Revolutions of a 45 and 33 kind…..
More forgotten missives and mentions from earlier in the year for releases long gone
This edition features…..
Sonnymoon, adam leonard, mamuthones, topos locos, false heads, cush, william d drake, alasdair roberts and the crying lions, astronauts, white fence, cantaloupe, holy, cinerama, we the oceanographers, oiseaux tempete, sans parents, the wreaths, calidonian county, nordic giants, the hare and the moon and kentin jivek, edward ka-spel, igores tamborista, wildhart, camp claude, hyperslob and the goat meat explosion, skogen, holy see, girlpool, the bordellos, kramies, finders keepers podcast, palace of swords, lovely eggs, luka state, jacco gardner, madoka, assembled minds, extradition order, zita swoon group, snails, white noise sound, garden of elks, jonnie common, can can heads, mark harris and john 3:16, paper jets, muse, hanging stars, sonny and the sunsets, stick in the wheel, team morale, doldrums, die wilde jagd
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….
<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.
As ever thanks ever so much for tuning in……incidentally we love records……
Take care,
Mark
x
the sunday experience 