Archiv – Singled Out – Missive 26 …..

Archive posted originally posted on the losing today sie …… November 2003 …..

Missive 26
26-11-2003
Part 2.

A day late, apologies but it was out of my hands as we had a server problem. So with that cleared up, welcome kindly folk to the second instalment of Singled Out 25. Just a recap for those in confused states. This time round we’ve been under siege here at the losing today record shed with a multitude of singles and stuff popping through the post, in readiness for the annual, and now infamous festive bumper mail Singled Out we decided to clear the decks and bring you the biggest Missive so far, in fact so big that it was weighing in shyly at just below a mighty 13,000 words. So thinking you wouldn’t want to be hit in one huge lump and also having consideration for our server, poor thing probably would have had heart failure, we took it upon ourselves to deliver this in three neatly tidied instalments, the first posted on Monday 24th, the second here now and the third tomorrow 27th.

Okay just a few domestics before we shift along to the singles:

The web site should hopefully have our ‘end of the year’ poll installed somewhere about it if not at this minute then in a few days or so. We spent hours thinking of ideas to amuse and involve you, the audience, and in the 11th hour hit upon this real neat idea, which frankly we feel could really catch on big time with our competitors, so er…just keep an eye out, alternatively if can’t be bothered waiting you can email me at mark@losingtoday.com with the message heading ‘ALL I WANT FOR XMAS IS….’ listing your favourite singles and albums of the year, make it a top three, then your tips for 2004 and stuff like that, multiple voting and bribes are actively encouraged, so get to it.

Furthermore as you’ll notice on the site we’ve got a features section for interviews, now I’ll admit I’ve been lax on this so far due to time constraints, however for new upcoming bands I’m prepared to give you 10 random questions, some serious some not so, I’d also need a biog and a discography if there are releases around, just general info like photos, you know the drill. Also if you could send a sample of music, whether on vinyl, CD, tape or web links at the usual email address and I’ll endeavour to get something on there about you. Can’t say fairer than that can I?

If your in a band, a manager of a band, a label etc….I’m also looking for MP3’s for the site, if you could either send me a CD-R or a web link to the MP3 I’ll give the track a listen and incorporate a review on a future Singled Out. Those of you who may have already done this at some at some point in time, please contact me again at mark@losingtoday.com as for one, my outlook had been playing up quite recently and secondly I may have inadvertently over looked it, so either way apologies.

Magazine update, basically just to re-iterate what I’ve been telling people who’ve asked. The magazine is currently clearing it’s way through the red tape, the light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to glow brightly, the re-launch should be a month or three away. Those wishing to have their music included on the near legendary cover mounted CD please contact either myself or Andrea andrea@losingtday.com .
As to advertisements please contact Fabrizio at fabrizio at losingtoday dot com and those wishing to submit for possible inclusion in future issues then please get in touch with your Losing Today contact. I’d also like to take this opportunity on behalf of the contributors in thanking you for your patience and in keeping the faith.

I think that’s about it until tomorrow, to the singles then….

Girlinky ‘Hai wakarimashita! (Dedear). Oh and what can we say about Girlinky other than clever bastards, all four of them. Girlinky are one of indie pop’s anomalies, too trashy for twee, too twee for trash, can we settle on twee-trash then. Coming from the same side of the street as bands like Zea and to a certain extent Philadelphia’s zap pop duo Winterbrief, Girlinky share an undying love for games, electronics and simplified hand holding pop, and these obvious delights are borne out in their attrition based schizoid melodies. ‘Hai Wakarimashita!’ is a real dinky tune that’s been put to the chainsaw, those familiar with the warped pop of Fonda 500 will swoon by this, jutting angular chords wayward electronics, sort of reminds you of the Ramones being serviced by manic casios. ‘I dare you too make me happy’ starts out all early morning Radio 2, had to re-check it wasn’t Dean Friedman or latter day Yes for a second, then it fizzles and pops into a rather bristling gem of a song, still sounds like latter day Yes though. ‘Swimmingly’ is definitely the pick of the three, frenzied pop packaged with deliciously frenetic chorus lines, quick driving scatter fire dynamics and feel good harmonies, proves you just can’t keep a feisty ditty down. If your still not convinced, it’s pressed on lovely blue vinyl. http://www.girlinky.com

Sunburned Hand of the Man ‘Hoof Man’ (Riot Season). Another release to have you searching furiously through all those record racks is this limited brown coloured vinyl 7 inch from Boston’s favourite wicker basket making free folk collective Sunburned Hand of Man. ‘Hoof Trip’ is in total contrast to their recent ‘The trickle down theory of Lord knows what’ album, which frankly after hours of counselling we’ve only recently come from behind the sofa because of. ‘Hoof Trip’ invites you to sample some more weird and uneasy sounds to upset the psyche as SHOTM go all percussive on us, loads of disconnected tribal like drumming, tambourines and triangles flock wearily amid eerie organ drones and the odd flute, a very art rock feel but not something you ‘d ask a loved one to dance to, unless of course you had a few nifty unorthodox moves. Reference wise imagine a very early belligerent P.I.L. locked in a room with Henry Cow and Muslim Gauze. Flip over for ‘Plague Pipe’ which is slightly more together though nonetheless equally sinister, glossed with a claustrophobic vibe, again the reference points to Muslim Gauze are apparent, fractured Eastern textures are buried beneath a torrent of disjointed elements, vaguely Chris Cutler at times, that said the last 30 seconds it all kicks into some semblage of conformity with a gripping krautrock workout.

The Happy Couple ‘The Four Seasons’ EP (Felicite). Those among you with more tender predilections and an aching for all things Sarah and Bus Stop will no doubt swoon in unison with a loved one to the four trembling twee cuties on this limited release. Oozing faraway 60’s summery seasoned vibes, The Happy Couple are a DJ / pop duo, Janehoney and Tom Sparkletone who delight in creating sounds that joyfully point towards Boycrazy, early Belle and Sebastian and Free Design, a dainty, fragile mix of honeycombed paisley boy meets girl Francophile pop. ‘The Four Seasons’ offers up four cuts, each one representing a season, starting with ‘Treason’ (autumn), which deals with the flighty nature of love. ‘All the Time’ (winter) is a much better alternative, and for some unknown reason had me recalling the Anthony Newley film ‘Sweet November’, skipping heart-quickening melodies tastefully bathed in subtle orchestrations and quite possibly the best track here. On the flip you get the sexy and sassy ‘Boyfriend of the Week’ (spring) while the gorgeous ‘summer’ ‘French Cinema Summer Love’ is tastily treated to a dreamy collage of spiralling flutes and fluffily multi tracked vocals, a very laid back variant of Stereolab I’d have to say. http://www.felicite.de

Ambulance LTD ‘Primitive’ (TVT). Wooah, now this baby really does creep up on you and gets working just below your skin. There’s something about ‘Primitive’ that’s sleazy, grinding and yes primal, vaguely a half cousin of that classic ‘Fever’ track, brimming with suggestive intent, it snakes sensually until your helplessly intoxicated by its hunting hypnosis. Cold shower please. ‘Heavy Lifting’ over on the flip side is as contrasting as you could ever wish two tracks to be. Almost a mini shoe gaze opera for all the kids with fringes to bob and weave in unison, fragmented elements of MBV, Quickspace and Sonic Youth flicker brightly as it were in a guitar laden hill race, reaching the summit to sit, relax and draw breathe while the cascading dream like Bowie meets Mott signatures play along to the run out groove. Quite fetching. Beautiful. http://www.tvtrecords.com

The Golden Virgins ‘Renaissance kid’ (Rex). Hailing from the North East of England, Sunderland to be precise, home of J Xaverre and missive favourites the Futureheads, who it seems this lot have ties with, this cute two track affair is the bands second single. ‘Renaissance Kid’ is a full throttled heavy duty high octane fuzzing monster of a mother, imagine the 70’s children combo the Double Deckers decked in their glam booties slinging on guitars set for stun, oops yeah that’s Supergrass isn’t it, well you get the picture, like er Supergrass but hot wired with the Ramones and T-Rex directing the production knobs while being recorded in a pre-fab shed. Superb fun. Flip over for ‘Shadows of your love’ which starts off like the Animals ‘House of the Rising Sun’, doom laden odes to a lost love all done to the sound of eerily rolling guitar chords, and if I not mistaken a nifty break for a theremin or melodian moment, can never remember which, could be neither, in fact quite likely so, look whatever it is it sounds great. Buy now or forever be branded. http://www.thegoldenvirgins.com

The Boggs ‘The Ark’ (City Rockers). Another band with the ‘the’ prefix to their name and another ensemble who’ve managed to slip our radar and release a pair of albums, and that people is where the criticism starts and stops as this is a truly strangely awkward release, and the kind of thing we here in the record shed really go for. Three tracks that reliably let down a thread as to what this band are all about, it’s moonshine rock done in the shadows created by the dying embers of a campfire, this is morosely affecting stuff, take the opener ‘The Ark’ by Jiminy it’s Black Heart Procession after a session on the old fire water swapping dark parables and getting deeply sentimental, rickety doesn’t come into it, this just creeks under its own weight of aching hollowness. ‘Quiet’ mooches about in similar fashion this time lifted or should that be burdened by fulsome brass arrangements, amid all that the sounds of scratching chord changes and the overwhelming sense of dramatic foreboding looming large as life around the darkened corner, imagine a nightmarish collaboration between Morricone and godspeed. ‘Low light hour’ just kicks ass, a battle of the banjos at five paces, exuberant good ol’ yeehaa fun. A winner whichever way you paint it up. http://www.cityrockers.net

The Greenhornes ‘Loving in the Sun’ (Sweet Nothing). Another top-drawer release from the groovy shades ‘n’ attitude label, Sweet Nothing. This time up Ohio’s the Greenhornes, not heard on these decks since their barnstorming release for Italy records yonks ago, yet making up for it in fine style with two cuts of sublime 60’s garage beat. ‘Loving in the Sun’ has the Greenhornes perfectly falling somewhere between the Seeds, the Spencer Davis Group and the Troggs and primed aplenty with coolly dripped vintage wig flipping fun. Flip side features a lip smacking cover of Dutch 60’s underground ensemble Cuby and the Blizzards ‘Your body not your soul’, this time bearing down with a heavier blues edge, kind of like imagining a very youthful Stones stirring up a hornet’s nest of a mean groove.

The Hunches ‘Lisa Told Me’ (Sweet Nothing). Same label, the Hunches smart with the baddest of attitudes. Gloriously festering trash r ‘n’ b of the highest order, guaranteed to put out glass and scare the crap out of small wildlife at 50 paces, imagine classic Velvets frugging with a seriously screwed up Heartbreakers with the remnants left to be buzzsawed to oblivion, collected, packaged and served up as ‘Lisa Told Me’. Now that’s ‘vicious’. ‘Radiation’ on the flip is even less repentant, totally fucked up mashed scuzz with electrics that sound as though there on their last legs, a deranged diamond of a release.

The Dirtbombs ‘MotorCity Baby’ (Sweet Nothing). Third and last Sweet Nothing releases for this missive, and when all is said and done the best of the pack, Detroit’s finest the Dirtbombs. Bucking the trend of everything coming outta Detroit of late, the ‘Bombs kick in with some seriously gritty glam rock that has the spirit of the ‘electric warrior’ roaming amidst its toxic grooves, laid back sleaze thrilled glossed up vibes saunter casually, imagine Glitter’s ‘Rock ‘n’ roll’ driving head on to T-Rex’s ‘Get it on’. Flip over for a detonated cover of an obscure track from the early 80’s by a trio called One the Juggler. ’I feel good’ is so loose it’s almost coming apart at the seams, the ‘Bombs cut a mean take on new wave power pop, elements of classic Pere Ubu and Wire join forces to mix it up big time with a poppified Pixies. Essential.

The Mooney Suzuki ‘Hey Joe’ (Cass). And talking of Detroit, Motor City’s premier label who brought us Blanche reviewed here two missives ago now take on the might of the Mooney Suzuki. Two barnstorming covers of 60’s classics is what you get. First up ‘Hey Joe’ made famous by Hendrix and reclaimed back to the Leaves, the Suzuki kids give it a complete lean and mean detox workout, drenched with retro keyboards the initially sombre rendition soon flips its wig to get down and dirty in fine style. Flip over and you get Love’s ‘7 and 7 is’ equally reclaimed after having been dragged backwards through several bushes on the way passing Link Wray, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and latter era Johnny Thunder, so much fun. http://www.cassrecords.com

Kings have long Arms ‘Rock ‘n’ roll is dead’ (Twins of Evil). Now I’m kind of hacked off with this release, because I swear I’ve reviewed this before in another time and place, obviously duh you might say, yet I’ve searched the record shed and can’t find the single. Okay this features something to do with I Monster, it’s from Sheffield a place not known for going through radical renascences, only joking, famous for steel, and stainless too, oh yeah and Pulp, and some band called the Human League. Well I never, seems Mr Oakey erstwhile leader of said group is featured on this. Great stuff, the kind of thing that Add N to X do but with the added charm of oh er missus nudge nudge wink wink seaside innuendo, knoworimean, the end of music as we know and the groove we shall all move to as we stomp all over its rotten corpse, blimey getting a mite carried away there. We’ve probably said great things of it in a previous review and frankly they still apply, if you love very early Sisters and we mean very early Sisters, Fat Truckers and a whole host of other when robots ruled the world droid rock then you’ll love this. On the flip you get the same track fed through the remix machine. Buy. http://www.kingshavelongarms.co.uk

The Broken Family Band / Knife in the Water ‘Split’ (Glitterhouse). Well you how on the odd occasion we like to treat you, mind you only when you deserve it because too many treats can be bad for you. Found lost and lonely at the local Rough Trade shop was this little split cutey. The Broken Family Band need no introduction here getting as they did the rare to be cherished single of the missive several weeks back with the truly loveable ‘At the back off the Chapel’ single. This time around they serve up two equally endearing cuts of English country tinged melodrama. Opening with the magnificent ‘Mitcham’s Corner’ edgy stuff that lazily moves from almost idle nonchalance to bristling anthemic euphoria in the twinkling of an eye, replete with a stalking percussion this embittered beauty flexes its melodic tentacles lovingly teasing one minute and throttling the next, inside twisted elements of early Suede, Bowie and even Syd, quite bloody stunning if you ask me. ‘This is a drinking establishment’ a drinking and a thank you song no less, really does have that feel of early Hefner but without the sting of heartbreak creeping about it, either way a treat. I don’t know too much about Texan ensemble Knife in the Water but on the evidence of the dainty ‘A lesson’ safe to say further investigation is the order of the day. Beautifully lilting drafty Americana, ‘A lesson’ is gently serviced by a delicate brass accompaniment that timidly toots from afar, yet it’s the tingling decoration of an almost tightly reigned guitar that really fluffs this up magnificently leaving you at the edge of your sit as it’s chords tug gently at the heart strings. Impossible to resist so why try? http://www.glitterhouserecords.co.uk

Chikinki ‘Assassinator 13’ (Island). Fair to say that Bristol based Chikinki are one of those bands that you either wouldn’t touch with a very large stick or else love them to bits, no middle ground here. ‘Assassinator 13’ admittedly has been prodded severely at the losing today record shed by the biggest stick we could find and then lovingly soothed afterwards. A taster for their second album ‘Take me out’ due very early next year, ‘Assassinator 13’ is a multi faceted genre hopping schizophrenic baby, wayward don’t even come into it, lolloping analogue electronics inject all manner of goofing menace as to make Barry 7 and Co wince, armed with jutting guitars and the kind of discordant delivery as to make you swear it’s the melodies melting within and not you that causing your mind to go wandering. Right classy stuff. http://www.chikinki.co.uk

The Keys ‘Love your Sons and Daughters’ (Too Pure). Almost single of the missive by the sheer fact that this lot are so unrepentantly tuneful in a 60’s stylee that for once has nothing to do with garage / Detroit. Formerly Murry the Hump, (a few of whose early singles we know are skulking in the losing today record shed), though we won’t hold that against them, well not much anyway. ‘Love your sons and daughters’ is indelibly touched by the spangled haze of mid 60’s, living off the ‘high’s’ of the prevalent scenic drug culture, cleverly merged with the latter decades apocalyptic ‘coming down’ back to reality vibe, marshalled by an off centre psychedelic groove fleshed out by backward loops and an insistent hypnotic droning guitar riff. For all we know it could have tripped across the time barrier back into present day straight after a night at the UFO club. Undeniably cool. Even more delicious is the flip track, ‘As good as glue’, imagine the Beach Boys playing in a nightmarish toy factory created by Dali, full of all manner of unsettling effects and drop outs, amid the psyched confusion the delicate strain of a loving summer ditty wafts in and outs like a winding breeze. The spirit of the Beatles obviously haunts Abbey Road as ‘Echinacea’ will attest, playful perky pop wearing mop tops. http://www.toopure.com

Eastern Lane ‘Feed your Addiction’ (Rough Trade). Apparently this lot already have an album under their belts, which I dare say I’ll be seeking out on my next visit to the local record emporium. I’d have to be honest and say I wasn’t overtly smittened by this 7 incher until of course I flipped it over. ‘Bedful of Leaves’ is a fucking mess, and I don’t mean that disparagingly, it’s just all over the place, its akin to holding a firecracker then lighting it to see what it would be like having it blow up in your face. As to reference points imagine a late night jamming session with the Beatles, and a particularly wired Beefheart and a strangely lucid Zappa in attendance with Kramer orchestrating the studio disaster waiting to happen, unmerciful. ‘Feed your Addiction’ is pretty feisty youthful power pop that neatly dispenses twisting hooks like there going out of fashion, though not in the same league as the flip track. http://www.roughtraderecords.com

The Scratch ‘I relax to Spiral Scratch’ (Ponyland). Another record that’s nearly be worn out through constant play is this smarting debut from The Scratch for whom everyday would be locked into 1977 is they had their own way. A homage to the Buzzcocks stupendous debut ‘Spiral Scratch’ as done by Magazine, okay a bit unfair but you get a sense of where this lot are coming from, all gritty retro fun, rumbling bass lines and set to stun three chord shocks, impossible to stay still to for any given period, a razor sharp gem of a release. Flip the disc for the stripped down holler of the frenzied mutant garage punk / disco groove of ‘Trigger finger’ which recalls the New York Dolls / Black Halos sleaze and lays it all to dust with a serious boot shaking foundation, call it a scuzzier bad assed half cousin to Radio 4 / Lomax, essential in case you needed telling. http://www.ponylandrecords.co.uk

The Killers ‘Mr Brightside’ (Lizard King). From the label that brought us Donderevo who we reviewed last time out, this time it’s the turn off Las Vegas based quartet The Killers. Pressed on white vinyl again this is probably one of those limited jobbies, the Killers seem to be furrowing a similar path to the likes of the Faint, neatly fusing electronics and guitars. ‘Mr Brightside’ I’ll admit has been played until its nearly worn through and yet I still can’t fathom what it reminds me of, and its annoying the hell out of me. Anyway, energetic future pop packed with razor sharp angular chords, imagine a grittier version of the Chameleons being put to task doing fizzing new wave pop gems for a living. Flip side is where the real meat is, ‘Smile like you mean it’ can be easily described as classic Psychedelic Furs jamming with early A Flock of Seagulls, sauntering ethereal backdrops are pressed by jagged riffs clipped with a soaring heart stopping drop dead gorgeous chorus, and all liberally coated with assassin like hooks that aloofly seek out targets to lock onto, impeccable.

The Dirty ‘Cinnamon’ (Dirty Water). Ah the sound of those early Mudhoney b-sides are obviously ringing loud in some London suburb if this record is anything to go by. Debut release for both band and label, the label from the same guys who run the Dirty Water club, the band a trio based in London who appear to have majored at the school of garage rock and along with fellow graduates the Rocks appear to be squaring up as the new things of London town. Okay the Dirty will get lumped into the garage punk bracket and will kick ass and spit with the best of them, there’s no doubt about it, ‘Cinnamon’ declares its intentions fair and square with the kind of sound that matches the bands name, tripped with a seriously sleazy edge and delivered with the kind of sparse primal shock treatment groove that’ll give James Johnston a seizure when he hears it, Kyrill’s vocals recalling Mudhoney’s Mark Arm, you know the type of thing, gargling with razor blades and JD. Flip over for the wired on pro-plus antics of ‘Black Sugar’, frenetic and frankly disturbed stuff, ending with the twanging snake groove of the blistering blues bliss out of ‘B-Movie Dance’. And you thought the devil had all the good gear, think again. http://www.dirtywaterclub.com

The Stands ‘I need you’ (Echo). Ha! And as if to prove that my spiritual hometown now has more musicians than pigeons then along comes another band in the long line of excellent Scouse tunesmiths currently generating massive interest. The Stands have the dubious honour of being the favourite band of a certain Noel Gallagher, and for once we have to agree with old ‘Supersonic’ that it’s a good call. The Stands sound comes from the more rootsy perspective, sharing common traits with the Basement and the Hokum Clones. ‘I need you’ is the Byrds doing a Bob Dylan version of the early Beatles, and really that’s all you need to know. But if you are asking for a spot of gentle arm twisting we could say that this is a gem of countrified pop, a melodic thoroughbred, that its slept rough in Penny Lane on countless nights lost it’s heart in Nashville and drank itself sober in Matthew Street, oh yeah and paid it’s dues to the LA’s. Flip over for the awesome ‘I will journey home’, wooah spiritual cowboys, hold that thought, initially sounding like something that the ‘Memphis Flash’ would have turned on to after he found himself in ’68 had he hitched up to the ‘Painted Wagon’ two years later, the Stands set their melodic stall for all to swoon, soft, sophisticated, contemplative, one of the best songs ever to have been found hiding in the shades of b-side obscurity since, strangely enough, ‘Acquiesce’ Mr Gallagher. http://www.echo.co.uk

And sticking with Liverpool bands for a second, singled out favourites the Zutons have made available a free download track entitled ‘Haunts Me’ via their website http://www.thezutons.co.uk, word is the band will be releasing their next single sometime in January and then plans are afoot for debut album later in the year.

La Motta ‘Love California’ (Boss Tuneage). Award for best looking single goes to this rocking cutie from La Motta. Pressed on red / white vinyl, done like that hard to find White Stripes / Sub Pop release, a real treat on the eye it has to be said. The music, well, without doubt the best thing that Boss Tuneage have put out in a long while. La Motta feature ex Asexuals lead vocalist Sean Friesen who’s ‘Bondage’ is tastily reworked with a gritty power pop edge on the flip yet it’s the lead cut ‘Love California’ that ransacks the Hi-FI to great effect. Featuring Joey Santiago of the Pixies as a guest guitarist, its a seriously sunny side up take on the West Coast pop sound, imagine if the Thrills had grown up to the sounds of the Knack, Replacements, dB’s and Husker Du instead of mid 70’s era Beach Boys. Resplendent with killer hooks, feel good harmonies and the kind of muscular zig zagging groove that’s hard to resist, man you can feel that California sun glowing warmly from the grooves. ‘Opposites’ a new cut found lurking on the flip features the guesting vocals of Jo Alexis and is more of the same toe tapping in your face pop punk. However get the CD version and you get the added fun of two extra tracks, the nitro fixated surfing menace of ‘Rad, rad world’ hotwired fun in the spirit of Man or Astro Man. If that wasn’t enough a particularly rousing cover of the Soundtrack of our Lives ‘Safety Operation’ which has the Motta trio sounding like a more incendric Velvet Crush, should satiate the most hungered appetites and while we are still here they throw in the video for ‘Love California’, spoiling us or what?

And talking of Boss Tuneage, an excellent, and thoroughly recommended cheapo double CD sampler compilation:

Various ‘Boss Tuneage Sampler 4’ (Boss Tuneage). A mother of compilation, 56 tracks from 56 bands, literally something for everyone here and pretty much covering the entire Boss Tuneage catalogue with no stones left unturned. Two and half hours of head shaking, boot stomping party madness covering all the hardcore bases worth knowing about and even including ‘Love California’ by La Motta on CD1. Amongst the mayhem an unreleased cut from Rise an a clutch of advance previews of forthcoming outings from Exit Condition, Skeeter, Brock Pytel and the barnstorming debut from Australia’s Something with Numbers which opens the sampler in a truly spirited fashion. Also found lurking is ex Mega City 4 main man Wiz’s new band Ipanema with the power pop killer ‘Skull’. Cherry picking a few of the highlights, the twisted Knack riffing of the Kick Joneses ‘Hate List’ with its tormenting pop groove will happily mess with your head while the charmingly named Snot Rockets retread at speed the footsteps of the Police’s Stewart Copeland alter ego Klark Kent on the bouncing ‘I hate punk rock girls’. Shortcut to Newark who had us all leaping around the losing today record shed cut in with their brand of deliciously worked new wave rock on the irresistible ‘Souvenir. All systems go make Green Day look positively pedestrian, and serve up the whiplash ‘Running Blind.’ Brock Pytel mix it up with electronics and the sounds of the dB’s, ‘Science Fiction’ their forthcoming single promises to be a hum dinger when it eventually appears, this version is a rough cut, ‘Stranger from Within’ the best track from the recently found Doughboys demo recordings from 1987 is included in all it’s naked glory. CD2 opens to the flag waving resilience of the very excellent Travis Cut here represented by the friction based exuberance of ‘MQ’ spinning vaguely in the tail smoke of the much missed Leatherface, The Stand GT cut a velocity driven thrust on the chugging ‘On Vacuuming’ and come out sounding like Velvet Crush on steroids. Elsewhere the unruly Despistado create the kind of agitated angular punk pop that has more in common with a studio brawl between Gang of Four and Wire than the usual hardcore pack while the tongue in cheek sounds of Ken Ardley Playboys with their John Cooper Clarke-isms sound as though they’ve set up their gear in Steptoe and Son’s back yard for a skiffle-punk roustabout on Airfix Lancaster Budgerigar’, very Half Man Half Biscuit. Outdoing the Snot Rockets for most alarming band name are the crooked Anal Beard, ‘Ugly’ is a nightmarish acid effect Butthole Surfers, wayward, destructive and very wired or should that be weird. Terminus with the optimistically sounding ‘Dance with the Dead’ kick up the local grave yard head stones for a spot of latter day Damned theatrics that’s been put through the blender with Sisters of Mercy while Asexuals ‘So Alone’ had me happily recalling the youth teen angst of classic mark one Generation X. All in all a must have double collection for the price of a CD single, now that can’t be bad can it? http://www.bosstuneage.com

Okay that’s about it then for part 2 of this elongated Singled Out supplement. Back again tomorrow same time, same place for the third and final part with that awesome single by the Earlies amongst the pickings. Bet you can’t wait.

Till then happy hunting and take care of yourself,

Mark
X

Paul Weller

First it was the Boomtown Rats (quite excellent as it happens), now Paul Weller, I guess you’re all thinking, ‘has he had a bang to the head’. Well on another day, I might have had a tendency to agree with you and since all signs indicate that my cancerous friend has hopped a bus and moved into my brain then you would be forgiven to thinking a plot had been lost somewhere behind us. But then this comes with a ghost box seal of approval. Due to land January end ‘In another Room’ finds Mr Weller laying down his trusted six string to tinker with all manner of warp making wonders and geeky gadgets to create a becoming palette of strange sounds. Four tracks feature within on this limited issue EP, its all very disorientating stuff, opening title particularly cooked with an sepia silvered eerie, dislocated, disconnected and crookedly assembled, a bit like fractured memories half pulled deep from the psyche. Likewise, ‘submerge’ while a bit more together in terms of flow and presentation is filleted with a chamber cortege that’s haunted by past reflections all blessed with a nostalgic faraway glow much reminiscent of the Caretaker. Greeted with the sound of bird song, the genteel of ‘Embarkation’ is abruptly detuned and scabbed by momentary blasts of impacting discordance leaving parting shot ‘rejoice’ to merrily heigh-ho to the end credits dimpled in a lolloping serenade of rustic reveries and woozy Superimposers styled idyllic the type of which, that wouldn’t look to out of place on a slow boat to Monsterism Island.

Archiv – Singled Out – Missive 25 …..

Archive posting originally published on the losing today site ….. November 2003 …..

Missive 25
24-11-2003
“Little Johnny snuggled down for an evening of televisual feasting, all week he’d been looking forward to catching the latest ‘Pop Idol’ to delight in the musical bliss of plastic pop sung and preformed by teens hopefuls looking to jump on the fast spinning roller-coaster ride that was youth culture. Johnny gripped the arms of the chair ready to boo and hiss at the naughty nasty men assembled on the panel with their scripted put downs and sly sarcasm. Suddenly in a flash of light and a plume of smoke appeared the bad man, under his arm he carried a mojo bag fit to burst with records by people whose names Johnny couldn’t pronounce let alone admit hearing of. Bad man smelt of liquor, his leathers creaked, his fingers coated with nicotine brown decay, his winkle pickers curling at the toes, (which for a second made Johnny stifle a giggle) arched forward and grunted:

‘Johnny my boy, want to hear some crazy sounds, sounds that’ll make you make you ache, sounds that’ll make you shake, sounds that’ll flip your wig, some sounds that your gonna dig, well set aside and set y’self up while I grace the wheels of steel with these’.

Johnny looked on in horror, the sounds were strange, they were different, somehow not sounds, but a noise, the intoxicating vapours of the vinyl rushed to Johnny’s head and soon he was swaying, he was loved up, he needed more……

Okay so what three things can we deduce from this passage?

1. Don’t sniff vinyl, play it.
2. When people appear in a puff off smoke in your living room check your tobacco, coffee and whatever other meaningless substances you have lying around.
3. Most importantly, so you do read everything I write…just checking.

To further complicate matters, the amount of singles we’ve had at the record shed this time around has meant that I’m having to split up this particular Singled Out into three parts other wise we would have been submitting it for an award for tolerance and perseverance. So the deal is that after the first part, Singled Out 25, of which you see here, the second part Singled Out 26 will be live on Tuesday 25th and the third and last instalment Singled Out 27 up and running on Thursday 27th.

Served with a side salad: 24th November 2003
Cheque please: 17th December 2003 (or thereabouts).

Barely 300 odd hours, 17 minutes and fourteen seconds since we last dumped a heap of singles reviews on you, and so what, you deserve it, well closer to the truth we’ve been doing a spot of spring cleaning in the record shed and thought it was high time to let off the big guns (no pun intended). It wasn’t meant to be like this but consider these particular 3 pronged ramblings the pre Xmas Bumper Missive which for those of you who take note of these things is the biggest Singled Out ever and I should know, my fingers are down to the bone. There may or as the case maybe, may not be another write up after these three segments until the now infamous Festive bundle drops by in er ooh shall we say a coupla days before Chrimbo?! Though I wouldn’t rule out the appearance of a shortened get together between now and then.

Current listening favourites in the old shed, in case you were wondering, well to be perfectly honest we’ve gone all retro these last couple of days a CD of old Beefheart out-takes has had us all pining for the mad as a hatter sounds of the Magic Band, so much so that we ensconced to the local record emporium to snatch a copy of ‘Trout Mask Replica’, our heads my friends will never be the same. Also thoroughly recommended are five, yep ‘5’ (well 4 re-mastered re-issues and one compilation of rare cuts) of Mott the Hoople goodies, all the gear from the early days, well the first 4 albums to be precise prior to a certain Mr Bowie re-discovering them for us. Each CD comes with additional tracks and a detailed biography and recollections from Dale Griffin, all courtesy of our friends at Angel Air, top bloody stuff. Lastly bringing things up to present day, though still with a retro glaze, a belting demo CD of the Somatics second album, which on early listening sounds better than their debut album which we reviewed fairly recently to rapturous delight. And yes it’s been coming for a helluva long time, the shed has finally caught the Elvis bug, hell you can call the man what you like but them Sun releases are never far from our Hi-Fi, and any way ‘Hound Dog’ possesses the BEST guitar break ever, no arguing now, when Scotty comes in at 1.23 and just let’s rip, everything else since has been a pretender. Discuss. Very, very lastly a new single by a band called the Earlies, whom you may or may not have heard of, more of them in Singled Out 26 though….

And to give you fair warning, us lot at Losing Today have finally succumbed to the Festive end of year approaching nonsense and will be shortly posting up on the web site a little voting poll for you to select your favourite things of the year, more about that on Thursday in the final part of this Singled Out trilogy.

You’ll also notice that we’ve jigged around with the credits to make sure paying attention, yes and I do mean you at the back, come on no slouching….so without further ado…

Dedicated: to all the bands featured here within, all gems the lot of you.

Buffseeds ‘Sparkle Me’ (Fantastic Plastic). Couldn’t think of any better way to start than with this simply delicious two-track release from the Buffseeds. Taken from their debut long player ‘Picture This’ an album I regrettably missed, ‘Sparkle Me’ is one of those rare tracks that mixes melancholia with euphoric expectation, a tempestuous song of hope for the helpless centred around the almost feminine sounding vocals Kieran Scragg, vocals that softly lull and tingle, and yet for all their easing grace sting and tremble with all the hopelessness of a crushed soul, sympathetically pampered by the loving caress of sophisticated tip toeing melodies that arc and shimmer as they carry along the rushing mood swings within. ‘Space Tourist’ holds back on the wide screened dramatics though don’t read that to mean that it isn’t anything less than emotionally arresting, apparently written about Canadian millionaire Dennis Tito who became the first passenger in space in 2001. ‘Space Tourist’ is a dreamily fragile to touch, a nimble undulating guitar underpins Scragg’s hurt, one minute gently pastoral the next soaring with smouldering intent, in short, overall a particularly touching and tortured release. Now for that album…. http://www.fantasticplastic.co.uk

22-20’s ‘Devil in Me’ (Heavenly). Okay if your fast off the blocks you might find this one track seven inch promo taster for Lincolnshire’s finest debut album ‘05/03’ kicking around in the racks of your local record emporium. Good wholesome butt kicking garage swamp blues cooked at just right temperature with the added aromatics of the Soledad Brothers riffing for kicks with early Gallon Drunk, yep really is that good, godammit daddio those boys sure can rumble. A corker unless I’m very much mistaken. Failing tracking this down the aforementioned limited mini-album holds its own weighing in with 6 tasty cuts and an inspired cover of ‘King Bee’.

Daniel Johnston ‘Fish’ (Sketch). And it’s always joy to have the sounds of Mr Johnston filtering from the record shed Hi-Fi especially when it lifts two of the best moments of his last album ‘Fear Yourself’, I’m sure you’ll agree there’s no need to paint Mr Johnston up with fanciful adjectives, if you don’t know of him yet, well frankly your record collections a crock of cack. ‘Fish’ has a hook line that’ll drive you to distraction, more woes of love as Johnston’s vocals play catch up with the melodies themselves underpinned by a delicious snaking Pixies groove yet it’s the flip that had us all bouncing around the room like demented adolescents. ‘Living it for the moment’ is a precious pop moment make no mistake, nicking an opening guitar sequence that could have easily been laid down by Chris Stein of Blondie, Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkus tries his best to control the wayward genius by beefing up the composition with a cavalry of raging violins and all manner of in your face dynamics, yet you can’t help admire Johnston’s out of sync vocals that make you suspect he’s singing the wrong track. Best bit though is the guitar break mid way through, stunning.

Plastic Heroes ‘The Boy’ (Dust). The first of two releases from the newly formed Dust Records. First up and pressed on clear vinyl is the debut release from Plastic Heroes who dish up a side order of grinding toe tapping driving angular psych pop ‘The Boy’. With a vocal that sounds like a seriously out of it Robyn Hitchcock with a Billy Idol growl, the two tracks here have all the distinct markings and charismatic fervour of early Soft Boys, blessed with a hypnotic hook that just bounces around the head playing pinball and whipped with a lip curling aloofness to pose aside to. Things get decidedly strange on the flip side with ‘Every Day’, well okay I’ll give you the bad news first, imagine having the kind of throbbing jingle jangle dynamic that glossed up Kim Wilde’s ‘Kids in America’ yet this time with the added attraction of sounding like it’s being sung by the Furs’ Richard Butler with the Human League’s girls pulled in from a heavy nights drinking session to fluff it up last minute with a spot of cheerleader style backing while in the studio both Bis and Fonda 500 are busy ransacking the recording with some oddly worked electronics . The good news is, you’ll find it pretty damn smart blasting out of the speakers full whack and no doubt fall head over heels in love with it.

Raising the Fawn ‘By the warmth of your flame’ (Sonic Unyon). I’ve probably said this so many times that it has become boring, but never being one to stray from making a point no matter how blue in the face I get in making it, the great privilege I get in writing up these musings is the volume of excellent records I get to hear. Raising the Fawn are a perfect case in point and feature among their ranks members of Broken Social Scene. What’s scary is that in the bands estimation there’s an album lurking in the can that’s better than the five cuts on show on this tasty CD. The album entitled ‘The North Sea’ was recorded while the band were a quartet, one day in a freak Banshees like culling they became a duo, the album was canned until such a time when the band would feel confident performing it live. In the meanwhile a new drummer was broken in, hence the material that figures here. In many ways listening to this EP as a whole I was reminded of Sackville and Set Fire to Flames, there’s a kind of delicate nakedness that’s apparent on all the compositions especially on the last track, the vocal / banjo ‘Country Home’, Crossingham’s singing almost reduced to a fragile pleading. From the creaky welcoming of the aptly titled ‘Intro’, Raising the Fawn set out the table of expectation, filtering through the sounds of the old country there’s some tasteful unravelling of drama fuelled emotions in the style of godspeed running amok on this 5 track EP, borne out within the simmering confines of the magnificent ‘Into ashes white’ which all at once sounds like a haunting ornamental backdrop for a Sergio Leone epic Western duel, amid all the sweeping variants of moods deployed, the distant echoes of Neil Young’s ‘Eldorado’ drip through. ‘The Common Cold’ eases on the drama and busies itself weaving some deliciously orchestrated post rock pop that has the mark of Archer Prewitt about it, while the equally lengthy ‘The Chicago world expo’ perhaps the EP’s best track, flits passionately touching base with early Eagles / CSN&Y; and wrestling between brooding elegance and raging carefreeness. Quite smart if you ask me. http://www.sonicunyon.com

Three Litre ‘G.O.D.D.E.S.S.’ (Velocity). Ha, Ha, Ha we were warned, there’s handclaps, the chorus is spelt out like that 70’s hit ‘D.I.V.O.R.C.E.’ oh and they recently supported the Darkness and their website proclaim themselves a testament to rock ‘n’ roll and Kylie’s sweet ass, God this was looking like being hard work. Now I’ll admit things were not looking good for this three tracker as it cued itself up on the CD player, but in their defence Three Litre probably aren’t asking you to take them to seriously, and lets face it there are bands aplenty around at the moment who seem to have an unreal believe in their own self importance. That said Three Litre, worryingly, are the kind of band your older folks are gonna take to, pretty inoffensive guitar power pop that’s possesses just enough edge to be of interest to those not fully signed up to the full shilling grit and grind bands. Call it safe, safe enough to get on the daytime chart show to cause a cursory distraction from all the horrid teen pop being force fed out of every communicable orifice, and maybe that’s a shame because despite it’s pop baggage it has a 50’s bubblegum feel to it, kinda like the Rezillos finding themselves locked in the same studio as Rocky Sharpe and the Replays and Eddie Cochran. ‘A girl from the industry’ starts out like Bowie’s ‘Ziggy’ before strolling daydreaming like in a fluffy love sick novel, quite harmlessly sweet. Ending with ‘I can do anything I want (because you love me)’ which is more like it, tangy West Coast summer pop in the mould of Chris Stamey, throw in the Split Enz, Jags and Distractions and you get a tastily snappy hip swinging new wave ditty, nuff said. http://www.velocityrecordings.com

Sigliosi ‘Planting the servos’ (Supermedic). Now there is a fair amount of grovelling to be had from yours truly as I’ve loved this so much I forgot to review it, resurfacing to the top of the listening pile recently after a bout of misplacement, we decided one more spin for posterity. Sigliosi are a Minneapolis four piece who behind the veneer of arguably some of the most intricately balanced melodic threads, arm themselves with an artillery of fulsome sounding distracted sonic symphonies. Edgy, sporadic and fragmented are the key phrases in describing Sigliosi’s mesmerising take on their home spun Fugazi / Pixies / Quickspace fusion, where the schools of nouveau kraut rock and math rock converge. Seven tracks make up this finitely balanced CD, each one a building block, and each individually possessing a unique personality. ‘Mobile home deep in the heavens of murgatroid’ is perhaps the collections best cut, awkwardly pensive and forever evolving, achieving the same chilling dynamic of Fontanelle, bubbling chords stutter half dazed from the frozen shadows into daylight, crafting elements of progressive rock, it without warning shifts from idling slowness to quickening urgency at the drop off an hat and even has time to accommodate a spot of surrealist bluegrass fore good measure. ‘Servos’ opens to the positively charming ‘Picture of the artist painting the sunset’ featuring all manner of creeping and crawling noodle led chords bristling at odds with the belligerent sounding carnival swirls of a keyboard display that collected together give the appearance of being out of tune and eerily disjointed and in doing so make for a strangely alluring chemistry. Melodies taper into the ether and just when you think that everything’s on the point of collapse Sigliosi seize the varying reigns impeccably. Elsewhere the fragmented unfocused jazz core of ‘Swashbucklers in the Modern World’ plays the attract / repel dynamic perfectly and ending with the starry eyed dreamer ‘Over your shoulder…and off the mountain’, blimey I think there’s tears in my eyes. Future releases should see a split 7” with Grickle Grass on Moss and a debut album for Supermedic. http://www.twigstricycle.supermedic.org

Belasco ’15 seconds’ (Main Spring). Three tracks clearly achieving what all good music should do i.e. make you transfixed by their sounds and so afraid to leave the room for fear of missing something, and at the end when all done leave you begging for more. Make no bones about it this is a mighty debut from this London based trio, Belasco have the same muscular loud / quiet dynamic and attention to gripping melodies as 50Hz and share the same ease of ability to weave and tug passionately at the heart strings as found on Radiohead’s earlier releases. Sounds that are massive not just in terms of decibels but in what they pack as an emotional punch. ’15 Seconds’ the opening cut is blessed with the kind of dropped dead gorgeous hooks that creep up and just when you least expect it clout you around the head, growing from something so feint it equips itself quickly with a hypnotic glare before spluttering to life with devastating effect, imagine a really passionately fucked up early Suede coming apart at the seams. ‘Plague’ mooches around hollowly, desperately hurting, the tension building slowly in the distance getting closer and closer by the second yet never managing to arrive, but it’s the last track ‘Boy on a bus’ that gets my vote. Looped radio conversations in the background give this an edgy urgent gloss, the guitars impatiently hostile and jabbing, the hooks reeling you in gently and then subjecting you to sharing the pain of it’s stinging sores while a crunching backdrop festers away underneath, tempestuous stuff indeed. Essential.

Gold Cash Gold ‘Vultures’ (Times Beach). Another cracking debut release, sleek, mean, moody and damn sexy, Apparently this lot are named after a Detroit pawnshop and already have a debut long player ‘Paradise Pawned Volume 1’ kicking up a fuss amongst the Stateside in crowd, yes Gold Cash Gold do hail from Detroit, and before you all start moaning, this is the full shilling, classic unblemished unadulterated throw back rock ‘n’ roll very much in the mood of vintage AC / DC without the hair and all the metal nonsense but with a built in stripped down MC5 blues edge to it with a grooving Sly Stone found kicking around at the rear of the mix. Primed with licks like vice like grips ‘Vultures’ is a mother of a tune, direct and totally addictive. Flip the disc for the equally tasty and all together contrasting ‘Diamond Mind’ where Gold Cash Gold are found taking Motown soul on holiday to sample the lysergic sunshine haze of the 60’s West Coast pop and get high on the blessed out fumes while borrowing elements of Genesis’ ‘Abacab’. Who said the best thing to come outta Detroit since the Model T? The essential purchase if you want to avoid peerage mockery and neighbourhood stoning.

Brand Violet ‘Alien Hive Theme’ (Riverside). Just where are all the belting records coming from? Now I have to admit being a sucker for twanging guitars, but hey let’s get a little sexist for a second and say that, come on lads, lets be honest our favourite twang / surf isn’t the sexiest genre around, don’t know about you but bearded blokes with pot bellies dressed up in comedy Halloween masks pretending to be wrestlers from the fourth dimension doesn’t really do it for me. Enter Brand Violet, who buck the trend big time, and whose lead singer Sally Anne Marsh, on the evidence of the video included on the CD, could make it cool again to have wall posters, decked out like a vampish Avenger, she purrs and looks all sweetness and light, but you know deep down that she can drop kick with the best of them. Music wise imagine Man or Astro Man / Link Wray being crossed with the best bits of Transvision Vamp, a spot of the 50’s obsessed early B-52’s, some pop friendly Blondie, the Munsters and a library load of Sci –Fi b movies and that as they say is ‘Alien Hive Theme’, beehives, lasers, bug eyed space nasties and a melody that ducks, dives, swerves, swaggers to literally turn you to a gibbering heap. Proving their no fluke when it comes to high grade nitro pop, ‘Retrovision Coma USA’ kicks in with a goonish Herman and Lilly Munster numb skuller spooky Hammond and besets it with a maddening riff that even the Cramps would spill blood for, and let’s face it that don’t happen to often. Without doubt the sexiest release of the missive. http://www.riversiderecords.com

Milkwood ‘Nearly Really’ (Demo). A really nifty three-track demo it has to be said from Bracknell based Milkwood. Describing their sound as a cross pigmentation of Dido / Radiohead, well most bands operating in the same melodic territories as Milkwood probably would in order to grab the attention and yet would do so without justification. However, Milkwood may have a point and a glowing body of work to back up the argument because Milkwood really can play happily on the heartstrings, but it’s the sophisticated gloss they arm their sounds with that make their stings so lasting and memorable. Easily the standout track is haunting cinematic elegance of the frost tipped ‘Acid Rain’, resplendent in the same timeless stature as elements of Goldfrapp’s ‘Felt Mountain’, chilling dynamics busied along by trip hop beats and emotional rushes soon ascend into a glorious blossoming of soft caresses marshalled along by the intensely racked vocals of Myfanwy Prosynetski. Quickly followed by the enigmatic ‘Windows Weeds’, pensive it possesses the same kind of rain swept stormy grandeur as has befitted Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, while the professional arrangements on the opening track ‘If you like’ with it’s stuttering rhythms, nimble beats and hypnotic atmospherics had me recalling one of Liverpool’s forgotten greats, Ex Post Facto. An excellent release for sure. http://www.milkwood.biz

Surferosa ‘Neon Commando’ (Versity). With a debut album in the can, the infectious electro rock pop of Supernova hits Britain with this debut having already laid to waste a feverish native Norway. Fronted by Mariann who throughout the course of the four tracks manages to pick the bones out of Bjork, Kim Wilde, Nena and a girly version of Siouxsie. Opening with the very 80’s sounding ‘Neon Commando’, disturbing if only for the ‘Europe’ ‘the Final Countdown’ style synthesisers and male backing vocals, what could have been horribly pete tong is rescued by sonic stutter assault of a razor sharp guitar zig zagging menacingly, but then even that can’t help mask the memory of a torrid period in pop. ‘Disco Love’ has you thinking could this really be the same band, a needling funky groove paces predatorily against the suave new romantic-esque atmospheric backdrop, almost having a feel of a very youthful Duran Duran though being zapped by Bis, and listen closely near the end for a tasty morsel of slinky Studio 54 disco riffing. ‘Trashpop’ admittedly had me bouncing around the room, there’s something alluring in it’s schizoid power punk disco pop, kinda like Nena’s ’99 Red Balloons’ on speed with Ms Wilde doing her best Lunachicks imitations, fast, frenzied and fun, but then isn’t that what pop’s meant to be about? Ending with the best cut of the lot, ‘Powerstation’ graced with an agitated pensively prodding melody that explodes into a wide screened anthemic rock out. Quite smart if you forget the title track. http://www.surferosa.no

Okay I think that’s pretty much it until tomorrow evening when Singled Out 26 will be beating loudly at your web browser.

As usual the end credits, thanks to all the people, labels, pr etc…who’ve made these ramblings possible, you have my eternal gratitude.

Bands, labels wishing to submit materials for review please drop me a line at mark@losingtoday.com

Till tomorrow, have fun with the record hunting and take care of yourselves,

Mark
X

Archiv – Singled Out – Missive 24 ….

Archive posting originally published on the losing today site ….. November 2003 ….

Missive 24
08-11-2003
Single Out 25

Dedicated to: the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

Fried crisp and succulently: 6th November 2003
Ready for afters: 19th November 2003

Apologies for the slight delay on this, hope it hasn’t spoilt your fun, but we did have legitimate reasons asides having so much fun with the releases. It’s been birthday week and yours truly has been suffering with the annual cold and sniffles with only a bottle of JD and the new Mummies retrospective from those cool dudes from Estrus for company. But enough I hear you scream….Asides that we did manage one or two nights out, the best being an excellent short set from London based Inch Blue who you may recall we ran the ruler over last missive, a blistering show it had to be said. Along for the excitement was Aug Stone again whom you may remember for his excellent CD ‘A taste of Rock Stone’ which we had the pleasure of reviewing a while back, and who is decamped in London for a month or three and who has promised that his latest recordings have a certain Jesus and Mary Chain edge to them, can’t wait.

More tales from the dusted recesses of the losing today record shed, honing in fast on the vinyl singled out missive only a few days ago, now it’s the CD’s getting their own back, and my oh my what a tasty lot they are.

Come on in to the welcoming arms of the record shed, kick off your shoes, relax and get comfy and shriek in terror, be amazed, get awestruck and nervously twitch at the grooving shaking your boots sounds that have been setting the shed alight, essential releases for those ridiculed record collections in need of a spot of cool class.

Nay without further ado,

MJB ‘Hey Forty’ (Semplerlofi). And it’s been a while since we heard anything from New York based musician MJB known better to his family and friends as Mike Bowman. Those with longish memories may remember this publications review of his delightfully strange ‘Feed’ full length from 2001. After a two year absence from the Hi-Fi and up pops two releases at once, it has to be said an excellent album entitled ‘Bad Faith’ a review of which will be forthcoming shortly, and this engaging two track CD-R containing two cuts from the aforementioned full length. So what’s been happening then? Well it seems that this time around we find Mr Bowman in reflective moods, gone is all the weird gadgetry that figured on ‘Feed’ and in its place some good old-fashioned wholesome lo-fi guitar fun. Mike addresses the age-old issue of mid life crisis, it’s not quite Loudon Wainwright, but could easily been seen as so if the big guy had started taking an interest in Sebadoh, which MJB seems to have done yet with a twist it has to be said, almost bordering on anthemic as he waves a resolute middle finger to the passing years, the slick MOR vibes crucially taking on a befuddled 60’s air, classy stuff. ‘Fake Rock’, we wondered whether to laugh or cry and ended up doing both. A simplistic acoustic guitar rolls away smoothly lost in it’s own happy haze with Mr Bowman repetitively repeating the title over head, its raw and its sparse and did we say early Daniel Johnston and even earlier Eugene Chadbourne / Jad Fair, well then take note. Oh yeah and unreservedly essential. http://www.semperlofi.com

Hoboken ‘Vainglorious’ (Royal Jelly). Second single from this Glasgow based quartet following on from their ‘Hotel Lisboa’ debut that had us all raving only a handful of missives back. Featuring in their ranks selected members of Metrovavan (who I recall fondly recall reviewing their debut single ‘The Lost Notes’ on the much missed Liquefaction records), Looper and the Reindeer Section, ‘Vainglorious’ perfectly cuts to the chase as it, with an obvious sense of tongue in cheek, moves into the realms of James Bond mixing expansive egotistical sophistication with wide-screen electronic backdrops, putting it simply imagine the 60’s cabaret ready tuxedoed crooning of Matt Munro or Anthony Newley being part of the Pet Shop Boys. My personal fave is the haunting sweetness of ‘Rocky and Me’. In the mixing pot subtle pitches of the Clash’s ‘Straight to the Hell’ and elements of McLarens ‘Madam Butterfly’ jostle and spiral in twinkling fluffy like formations pining seductively. Calling it a day with the ‘Batteries remix’ of the title track that’s armed with a seriously meaty bass groove that’ll have even the most ardent wall flowers doing robotic manoeuvres at a dance floor near you. A scary thought don’t you think. Shall we say essential then? http://www.royaljellyrecords.com

Plastic Mastery ‘Sverige’ EP (555). Allow me a fair degree of wallowing in my own indulged way for having this rather snappy four-track affair bounding about on the old Hi-Fi player. Plastic Mastery figured fairly regularly in the early days of Singled Out for their excellent releases on Happy happy birthday to me and Earworm. Based in Florida, this vibrant six piece whip everything from West Coast Pop to good old Americana into their audio soup, elements of Moviola, Neutral Milk Hotel and the Field Mice are all flavoured and served with a sometime child like sheen with a nullifying pop decay at its core. Kicking off with ‘I fell in love on the way to a funeral’ a riotous carnival of aching pop sprayed with dashings of triumphant brass arrangements and kooky keyboards. ’As far as I’m concerned’ kicks in with a curiously jumbled vibe, shards of angular pop bruise themselves against a raining array of congested rhythms, real neat. After a pretty noisy jolt at the beginning ‘Wait for me tonight’ arms itself with some dutiful sympathetic strings that cast a wintry hue to the proceedings to this tear jerking lip trembler that does little to prepare for the final frenetic favoured cut of the four. ‘Song against life’ is a truly manic affair that at times reminds me of Quickspace in losing it mode, racing riffs backed onto to threatening grooves combine to muster up a mayhem infected crescendo. Very kool stuff. http://www.rawbw.com/~aelison/555

Autodrone ’06-14-03’ (Demo). For those amongst you who like your sounds packed with roaring droned scapes that fester with white hot intensity then this stunning 5 track self released EP by New York quintet Autodrone will happily fill that thirsting record collection that has long since missed MBV and whose only point now in life is to wait for those crucial release dates of new Sonic Youth product. You sense that Autodrone truly come into their own when captured live, their sounds clip the scales of sonic meltdown, steadily building in a simmering trade off between pensive backdrops and rumbling agitation part shoe gaze dream pop scored with doom post punk / gothic vibes. ‘Traffic’ opens the set, Susana Melendez’s vocals sounding like a particularly sultry Chrissie Hynde against the spine of longing frosted chords that murmur amid shimmering atmospherics before ascending in intensity to a tortured storm fuelled climax, those familiar with Space Team Elektra will be duly awarded and rightly so. ‘The Heat is on’ is my particular fave cut if only for the darkening imagery it wrestles with, the melodies appearing confused, dense, darting erratically and seemingly unfocused colliding to rise wave like with a vicious kick back sting in the tail, sort of imagine Dead Can Dance being routed by pre pop era Boo Radleys. ‘The Good Times’ ably utilises the old rough / smooth dynamic with awkward ease, smouldering atmospherics are found lovingly soaring heaven wise creating a truly dream like back drop which at intervals is carved up by some restless regimental drumming and angular stutter fire textures, quite tasty if you ask me. Last up, ‘Sure fire way to burn’ you’d imagine is the bands centrepiece live-wise, all brooding and tense and like a child, subject to storming mood shifts with the least amount of notice, crushing stuff. Recommended as if you hadn’t already cottoned on. http://www.autodrone.com

Jackie ‘Rob’ (GSINC). So many great records around these days, and trio Jackie are no exception to the rule. Jackie’s greatest crimes it has to be said is that their toons are so damn poppy, furthermore so poppy and packed with happy-happy vibes that we here could easily move out of the Losing Today record shed and take up a career as stalkers, only kidding lads I’ve just seen the press photos. Even when they’re singing sad laments you can’t help bouncing around the room in an energetic glow, but then that could be the medication. This 3-track single has admittedly been doing a fair bit of damage on the sound system of late and possessing not one but three melodies that during silent lulls I’ve found myself whistling away to. Described by the band as ‘cyber mod’, Jackie play to a cutely vibrant melodic framework that really does set them aside from so many bands operating in the same genre i.e. boys with guitars and fringes. So what do you get you might curiously ask, three sharply focused, direct heart bound pop supplements all cut with subtle razor sharp riffs, in particular the lead track ‘Rob’ which is injected with a hook line that’ll make you weep with joy, kinda Carnaby Street meets West Coast and shaded with everything from the Beatles, Boo Radleys, the Knack, The Who, Mayflies and the Raspberries and many more besides, if this don’t strike a chord you must be dead. ‘Switch’ is one of those tracks that you just know Martin Carr and Norman Blake would kill for as it compromises the rampaging core of the Pixies c.’ Doolittle’ and bedevils it with a soaring pop facelift. Going all autumnal on ‘Straight’ which paces restlessly culminating to an anthemic sounding knockout blow chorus. Essential. Consider yourself well and truly warned. http://www.gsinc.co.uk

Left Hand ‘Black box recorder’ (Demo / Album Sampler). Another band much loved in the losing today record shed are Left Hand and the prospect of a third album lurking in ether has had the floor boards shaking with joy. There’s regrettably a sad after taste to the last track on this sampler as ‘He dream of tape machine’ features one of the last projects to feature Stereolab’s Mary Hansen who sadly died last year. Left Hand you’ll be glad to hear have lost none of that menace and sense of resolute austerity that was firmly apparent on their two previous long players. If anything the tracks here reveal a growing maturity and sharpened focus, nevertheless they are still the same old lovable bunch of awkward bastards who produce sounds that bestride any defined genre. Kicking off with the densely laboured ‘Black Box Recorder’ locked on with weighted searing riffs and a cruelly bludgeoning bass groove that threatens to lay waste to everything in it’s path and tripped at the closing stages by some duly frantic Terry Edwards-esque brass playing. ‘A short ride in a fast machine’ follows in similar suit, white-hot angulated post punk chords tensely primed on self-destruct fester with a manic math rock air. However the EP’s best cuts are left till the end. ‘Furniture’ starts of with a haunting air, lolloping around like some kind of lysergic ghoul at a carnival from a Bradbury book where a fried Barrett can be seen taking midnight rides with Garlic presiding over the amusements with a subtle psychotic psychedelic edge in the mix. At intervals the macabre touches are ripped up as the guitars charge up to create a vicious wall of sound with what sounds like a pained Brett Anderson taking up the charge all leading merrily to the roasting run out were a cut lip is served up with a magnificent krautrock finale. As always with Left Hand it’s left to the centrepiece score to pick up the pieces so admirably done on this occasion by ‘He dream of tape machine’. A gently strummed acoustic guitar furrows through an atmospheric backdrop, that soon loosens up into a jagged collision of out of control punked up dynamics and whisping whirring space rock sounds and impeccably armed with a gruelling hypnotic krautrock vibe, imagine Porcupine Tree c. ‘On the Sunday side of life’ mixing it up with prime time Quickspace, head drilling stuff indeed. For more info contact craig@cargouk-demon.co.uk

AKO ‘Tomorrow night’s regret’ (Trash City). Woooah, after a night on the pop watching bands it’s safe to say that the first thing you need on the old HI-Fi the morning after the night before are AKO, unless of course you love the experience of having your head shredded. Sobering as it is, this fiercesome four track EP from the Bristol based hardcore quartet AKO is bursting to the seems with locked down chugging riffs and the kind of vocals that we haven’t heard round these parts since the days of Slayer yet all played out with an underlying melodic core rather than a lets just make a loud noise ethic. All menacing stuff, with delicate hints of very early Iron Maiden floating in the mix and an vague Americanisation on ‘Never wanted this’, best cut of the lot is the head shattering wasteland of ‘Tread Easy’ an unrelentless and bombastic fusion of scorching riffs, demonic vocals and floor shaking dynamics and a vice like grip that you’ll have difficulty shrugging off. http://www.ako-music.com

Donderevo ‘Jackie, What are you looking for?’ (Lizard King). And I do own up about really loving this so much so that the CD-R is near worn out. ‘Jackie, What are looking for?’ is a taster for the bands second album ‘Good Science, Friendly Gods’ due early next year and what a priceless piece of guitar pop it is. Brimming with sexual lust and anticipation, ‘Jackie’ is glossily produced indie pop straight outta the top drawer, replete with anxious sounding pulsing riffs that sting, buzz and fizz over a glorious synth backdrop and neatly served up with a memorable retro chorus hook to boot. Can you honestly ask for more? Thought not. Check out the bands own site at http://www.donderevo.com for a chance to download the bands first EP gratis, dripping stuff it indeed is. http://www.lizardkingrecords.com

The K Word ‘The K Word’ EP (Liquilab). Firstly can I just apologise to both the label and band, having received this rather pointed 4 track CD a few months ago, the blighter was not so enamoured with its new surroundings and decided to pack up its bits and set up home elsewhere. Fear not good people this is something that only occasionally happens from time to time, we have now installed tracking methods to stop any future offences and slavering dogs will be unleashed on those who take the threat likely. To add to the woes I lost the press release, so I’m winging this, business as usual then. The K Word work with such angular precision as would have given Pythagoras heartburn and a massive headache, at times hostile and others gentle and wandering in a noodling way, reference points, well elements of Fugazi, Slint and Five Style can all be found wallowing to a greater / lesser degree in amongst the grooves. The instrumental ‘Mystic Cowboy’ with it’s spiked zig-zagging arrangements and dislocated rhythms is my personal preferred cut of the four with its tormenting but steady step by step summit to its fraught raging finale, very Billy Mahonie, chime like chords are sliced and bruised by the serrated dynamics and its curious dreamlike mechanics midway through. ‘Market Eight’ is massively charged, densely doom laden agitated chords dart erratically with menacing overbearance, the melodies seemingly hanging precariously by the frailest of threads all jostling for inconsistency. ‘Bleep Bleep’ which rounds off the set has its roots firmly planted in the art rock / punk camp, sounding almost like an impromptu jamming session, it fits and starts with a freeform dynamic that ranges from sprightly atmospheric funkyness to abandoned head shrinking menace. http://www.liquilab.com

Sixty Mile Smile ’13 days’ EP (Shizo). Another CD that’s been spiking our ear lobes of late is this blisteringly tasty 6 track debut EP from Essex based Sixty Smile Band. If your particular bag is power punk pop melodies served up at 100 mph then this may well be up your street. Okay admittedly it whiffs of Green Day slightly but then add into that chemical mix elements of early Senseless Things, Snuff, classic Mega City 4 and a tad amount of Stiff Little Fingers and you have a pretty explosive concoction that’s as bruising as it is barnstorming. At the centre of the melodic maelstrom is vocalist Paul James who sounds like the illicit offspring of a chance meeting between Jake Burns and Black Halos Billy Hopeless. As for the rest it’s a meaty mix of three chords and a big bag of anthemic tunes that make up Sixty Mile Smile’s template, and boy do those tunes resonate, purely addictive stuff especially the crunching ‘Last Time’ which wraps itself in g-force proportions, spiked hooks and rampaging dynamics, irresistible. Elsewhere the effervescent ‘Nothing’ will have you bouncing around the Hi-Fi along with everything else that isn’t nailed down, while the vicious hooks of ‘Broken Glass’ will just wind you in and club your head into submission. All in all unrelenting brazen fun. http://www.sixtymilesmile.co.uk

Ship’s a Going Down ‘May she marry a ghost and bear him a kitten’ (Vacuous Pop). As with the previous band Sixty Mile Smile, trio Ship’s a Going Down hail from Essex and that my friends is were the similarities end. Ship’s a Going Down’s take on punk is more thoroughly intricate and detailed, mixing their sound with the kind of edgy post rock signatures that would have the Chicago brigade wincing with envy and playing with a expertly focused gusto that would have you believe they were players with years experience under their collective belts as opposed to literally just being out of school uniform. Reminiscent of the kind of stuff Touch and Go was infamous for putting out a few years ago, especially bands like Storm and Stress, Ship’s a Going Down serve up a neat selection of stripped down lean and mean ditties to get the pulse rising, no fat here or over indulgence as is the usual criticism of music circumventing this particular genre, instead six tracks clocking in at just past 10 minutes in total length. Opening to the sound of melting violins and an inquisitively prodding roaming guitar, it’s easy to be lulled into believing that this is going to be one of those wistful dreamy releases until that is the tits goes spectacularly upwards with the choking sounds of the fractured ‘Some hostage you turned out to be’ which sits up menacingly holding fort somewhere between Shellac and Jesus Lizard. ‘The giants of universal park’ decants in a spot of noodling hostility yet its on ‘Cripples Counting’ that the band show their wilful hand, starting out like a film noir Chandler-esque spy soundtrack any notion of an easy ride is soon obliterated by the in house scrap between anxious jabbing guitars and unruly burdensome bludgeon like underpinning. ’91 ton cocksmoking ghosts’ continues in further agitated candour, free wheeling dislocated riffs lock horns to produce a shard ridden shake down for the gently mellowed closer ‘love American style’ to idly pick up the pieces. Awesome stuff. http://www.vacuouspop.com

The Rock of Travolta ‘Everything’s opened up’ (Idle). I was about to say a beautifully tranquil release until the emphasis changed radically on the opening track ‘Everything’s opened up’. The delicate spring like hue that greats the opening as the pastoral sheen of pianos and softening strings work their hypnotic magic is graceful to say the least, then the roving guitars and rumbling bass join in on the act to give the proceedings a gentle prod along to dramatic effect. To say that the Rock of Travolta have nailed down the fine art of mixing melodic rock pop with cinematic gloss is pretty much an understatement, each of the four tracks on offer here are dutifully equipped with bristling gem like status, yet even the sultriness of ‘Everything’s opened up’ pails into insignificance when set against the epic ‘It was like fireworks’. At over six minutes in length this toxic teaser manages to weave stately 70’s styled progressive rock signatures and fluffy space fabrics alongside vengeful sonic structures that hammer down with woeful charm to create a truly majestic overture of wide-screen proportions. As brief as it is ‘The Holy Cow’ veers delicately into pastures more commonly furrowed by Fort Dax and Mum, while ‘Oxygen Assisted’ at times imagines Dick Dale and Man or Astro Man casting duelling riffs in an attempt to being rejigged for the silver screen and opening up into a razored shakedown of furiously rampant symphonic guitars. Essential stuff. http://www.idlerecords.co.uk

Well that’s it for another two weeks, maybe less if I get shot of this cold. As usual thanks to all those who’ve made this indulgent musing possible, no names no pack drill you know who you are. Thanks also to all those who’ve taken time to read all this, hopefully you’ve found a few releases to change your life.

Next time out I’ll be checking out the following batch of goodies: Raising the Fawn, Three Litre, the Greenhornes, the Hunches, King have long arms featuring Phil Oakey, the Mooney Suzuki, Eastern Lane, the Dirtbombs, the Boggs, Sunburned Hand of Man, the Scratch, Chikinki, Ambulance LTD, Broken Family Band / Knife in the Water, the Golden Virgins, the Keys, the Stands, the Happy Couple, Daniel Johnston, the Killers, the Dirty, 22-20s, Buffseeds, Analog, Mundane Music, a four tracker that looks like shaping up as a late contender for single of the year by the Earlies and presumably a whole host of other goodies now that the mail is back to normal.

I’m off now to sample the greatness of the Bunnymen and to wallow in snot and flem.

With that thanks for being there, always appreciated. See you in 14.

Take care of yourselves and happy hunting,

Mark
x.

Archiv – Singled Out -Missive 23 ….

Archive posted originally published on the losing today site …. November 2003 ….

Missive 23
01-11-2003
Singled Out 23

Dedicated to: Kelly and Mark

Blood, sweat and tears by 29th October 2003
Yesterday’s men by 3rd November 2003

Another fun packed, razor sharp, speaker busting rant from the dusty candlelit boxed workspace that is the Losing Today record shed. More great reasons to wilfully part with your cash in search of dangerous ditties, terrifying tunes all pressed on wonderful wax.

Keep the eyes peeled as there’ll be another Singled Out missive arriving sooner than you can say ‘that boy sure knows how to treat us’.

Instead of the usual preamble I’m just going to kick into to this straight away, so without further ado:

Homescience ‘June (July version)’ (Track and Field). Well we just had to start this particular missive with this little cutie, in all honesty I thought they’d packed up their collective belongings and loaded the wagon to disappear out of town never to be seen again. Think of the mix of joy and horror we felt in finding that not only are they still around but that they’ve released the odd album and single here and there and are duly waiting to unleash the ‘Jungling’ longplayer onto an unsuspecting nation any day soon. ‘June’ sees that they lost none of their impish charm in serving up memorable skewed pop of the highest order that there is to be had around today. Starting out with a dippy introduction, ‘June’ is dictated by a seriously dizzying laid back groove that’ll flutter in your head for days or your money back, pierced occasionally by angular riffs and harmonies straight out of Sesame Street, majestic stuff. As always my favourite is found grazing idly on the flip side. ‘The actors retirement home’ goes all crookedly West Coast while suffering the after effects of sun stroke while sitting out on the porch playing their ramshackle mix of wayward pop and campfire folk sing-a-long after an overdose of Of Montreal record listening and several shots of bourbon, stunningly warped with shades of subtle psych and a frazzled needling guitar for company, delirious stuff. On any other given week a cert for the much-disused single of the missive award methinks. http://www.trackandfield.org.uk

Groop ‘The mumbo jumbo disco show’ (Ace of Discs). Simply stunning stuff, third single from hippy chic duo Jocasta and Moonus who masquerade as Groop. ‘The mumbo jumbo disco show’ cross pollinates an assortment of genres from kraut rock to space rock with everything in between, sensually groovy with a latent grasp of mind bending techniques, try thinking Stereolab circa ‘Transient random noise bursts with announcements’ being remixed, retread and re-fitted by Emperor Penguin c. ‘Mysterious Pony’, shockingly additive, psychedelic disco at its very best. ‘Brainwashed’ on the flip side is more regimentally focused and recalls the electro menace of early Add N to X releases but tripped with a seriously snaking bass line groove. Wicked stuff. http://www.aceofdiscs.com

Two Lane Blacktop ‘The Rat’ (In Fidelity). Part of the singles series being run by this newly launched Australian label. Two Lane Blacktop hail from New Zealand and have a lead singer who sounds like the product of a laboratory experiment between Ziggy era Bowie and the DK’s Jello Biafra gone wrong. Recently asked by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to support them, (do you think that’s wise lads), ‘The Rat’ throws everything from the Stooges, Heartbreakers, Nomads and the Spiders into the mix to produce an unholy but deeply satisfying raucous racket of the highest order, garage punk never sounded so volatile, powered up razor sharp riffs viciously carve up a veritable diet of teenage angst and brutalised carnage. ‘Hellhound’ on the flip shakes it’s ass in fine style and sounds like an early incarnation of the Cramps with a rocket up their backside doing MC5 covers for the fun of it. Limited to 500 pressings and well worth tracking down, like now!

The Devastations ‘Leone’ (In Fidelity). Same label, same singles club series but different band. The excellently named The Devastations are just that, really. With an album already under their belt (another good reason to go record shopping) this trio have risen from the ashes of Luxedo to combine a sound that the labels website simplistically describes as Serge Gainsbourgh meets Johnny Cash, and we for once can’t argue as ‘Leone’ is exactly that. A killer of a track and one of those rare gems that alerts all the comparisons to the likes of Bad Seeds, Hazlewood, Orsen Family, Black Heart Procession and the Tindersticks. Unfolding into a widescreen drama, the gravely vocals of Conrad Standish perfectly stalk the melodies like some deranged killer on a storm lashed night, while the arrangements are tense, sophisticated and all consuming, imagine the desperation of Orbison’s finest being shrouded with Cave era ‘Murder Ballads’ and then some more, broken hearts never sounded so brutal. Awesome. Flip the disc for the equally tormenting ‘Lena’, less dramatic than its partner but still clutching tightly to those heart strings as the band lazily rumble with a countrified tinge and packed to the brim with intense melodic punctuations that leave the listener almost hanging in anticipation. Again limited to 500 copies. Single of the missive and deservedly so.

The Bakelite Age ‘Silverback’ (In Fidelity). Bringing up the rear of the singles series and by no means lacking punches are The Bakelite Age. The Bakelite Age are obviously a band who know a thing or two about melodies because ‘Silverback’ effortlessly eases its way through some stinging new wave tuneage with a guitar riff that to these ears has us recalling the essence of a more roughened Flaming Groovies c. ‘Shake some action’ at work with traces of Dr Feelgood in the vapour trail that’s left, smart stuff indeed. ‘I=LC’ on flip sounds slightly warped on my copy and if it isn’t well done because it adds to the spectacle a kind of warped variant on the Monkees frugging out with the Beatles while being put through the blender by the Vaselines. More please and fast at it. http://www.infidelity.com.au

Spacemen 3 ‘Walking with Jesus’ (Earworm Gold Series). One of the most influential bands of the last twenty years. Discuss. There’s no doubt that the spectre of Spacemen 3 has loomed large over each of the participating players in their subsequent works, of that there is no doubt, like Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine it’s the furrows into sonic hysteria during the 80’s that alerts the purists. This release gets the award for the best looking single this missive, long mooted and forever arriving since the early days of Earworm and due to one reason or another only surfacing now a year after the label officially folded. Pressed on tasty orange / black splattered vinyl housed in a die cut card sleeve and as usual extremely limited, it features three out-takes including an acoustic re-reading of ‘Walking with Jesus’ taken from the ‘Perfect Prescription’ sessions. Quite possibly the Spacemen at their most casual and needless to say focused, ‘Walking with Jesus’ is a massive accomplishment, even in this acoustic setting it just oozes the kind of coolness that even the Jesus and Mary Chain couldn’t live with at the height of their powers. Stumbling out of what seems like a haze of narcotic bliss, ‘Jesus’ twinkles with hints of Simon and Garfunkel, the Velvets and the Stones c. ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ all mellowing out in the chemical melting pot. The sonic spiritualism of ‘Take me to the other side’ over on the flip combines fragmented elements of Motown and Motor City Detroit, coolly trancing delay guitars rumble to unwind into a snaking blessed out groove. Last up, and by no means least another pretty nifty demo version of ‘Walking with Jesus’, now hands up who’s being spoilt. If you love this it might also be worth the effort and time tracking down ‘Forged Prescriptions’ on Space Age, a lip smacking double CD’s worth of demo, out-takes and unreleased versions of the ‘Perfect Prescription’ sessions.

The Sights ‘Be like normal’ (Sweet Nothing). Another gold star release for the impeccable Sweet Nothing label. The Sights are a trio who’ve been around since 1998 and to date have released a clutch of singles and one album. Based in Detroit, this lot without doubt have the 60’ garage sound nailed to the floor and are pretty adept at glossing it with a grooving melodic sheen as opposed to the sleazy edge that their contempories seem to favour. ‘Be like normal’ has had us all shaking our thang around the Hi-Fi much to the distress of the neighbours, bruising drop dead hooks that most of the celebrated A listers would sell their souls for, referencing the Velvets as in Crush in a bar brawl with the Knack. Flip over for some Hammond drenched treatment to the old Tommy Dorsey number ‘I’m going to live the life I sing about in my song’. Awesome stuff as the Sights deliver it with the kind of swaggering lip curling aloofness that’d make Baby Woodrose kick up their heels in delight. Damned classy if you ask me.

Unbroken ‘Absentee Debate’ (Three One G). Re-issue time for this San Diego based punk outfit. Pressed on clear vinyl, Unbroken play the kind of 100mph freebase punk that I’m rather partial to, crude, caustic and undeniably explosive. ‘Absentee Debate’ has them charging down the freeway all guns blazing in the time honoured tradition of Mayhem and Minor Threat, and having scared the neighbourhood settle down for a spot of menacing grind core ala Slayer. Flip over for the lay to waste antics of ‘Crushed on you’, a head-bursting array of dense grooves and unforgiving dynamics. Play at maximum volume and just watch the surroundings reduce to rubble in seconds flat. Can cause ruptures.

Languis ‘If we ever make it back’ (Zeal). And we don’t get to review to many Belgium based labels here, which if Zeal are anything to go by, will be rectified post haste. Part of their electronic series and finding Argentinean duo Languis aimlessly charming the back legs of a small herd of horses. This duo have been operating in the electronic arena since the early 90’s having several albums under their belt and have been known to trip the boards with such luminaries as Mouse on Mars and Kid 606. This delightful 7 inch released, pressed on white vinyl and limited to 500 copies. ‘If we ever make it back’ has Languis enchanting us with their delicate melodic montage that builds around a shimmering lullaby like base and sees them joyfully tinkering with all manner of softened pop textures, squelches and dreamy clicks and blips to create a lulling hypnotic web that slowly unfurls and builds in stature, imagine the Grace Period blissing out with Boards of Canada. ‘If we never make it back’ is more of the same only in reverse, well that’s how it seems for the best part, quite wonderful.

Lacklustre ‘27/11/99’ (Zeal). Lacklustre is Finnish musician Esa Ruoho who is known for his swooning ambient collages for labels such as Ricos and Merck labels. Again a limited 500 pressing on white vinyl and the fifth instalment of Zeal electronic series, Lacklustre serves up two curios of down tempo mellowness. ‘27/11/99’ plays with an odd smooth / rough core, frosted melodies tip toe dreamily in almost quizzical states playing hide and seek with roughened scratch like clicks, all suspended temptingly over bubbling beats. ‘19/10/00’ over on the flip craftily fuses bristling beats and grinding grooves across floating synths that dip between nimble spacey themes of early Broadcast and Plone but aligned with the detached dippyness of Plaid. Quite cute all said and done.

Sonna ‘Make Shift’ (Zeal). And rounding up our introduction to Zeal records comes this delightful release from Sonna. Again limited and pressed on coloured vinyl, this release features two collaborative tracks of sorts. Being admirers of both Sybarite and Lilienthal, Sonna explored the possibilities of collaborating with these reclusive souls. Laying down the bare minimum of a composition using guitars, drones and samples, Sonna completed two recording and sent one to Sybarite and the other to Lilienthal for them to add their own unique creative chemistries to the mix. The end results are two sides of mesmerising melodies. ‘Make Shift’ features Sybarite, an engaging collision that has looped guitar threads sprinkled and fused by spacey textures, gentle clicks and electronic murmurings. ‘Carousel’ on the flip featuring Lilienthal follows in a similar pattern yet adopts a more flowery pastoral and dare I say it passive approach scratched softly by the merest of fizzing electronics. An essential purchase it has to be said. http://www.zealrecords.com

Blanche ‘Who’s to say’ (Cass). Another label we’ll be casting a watchful eye over in the future is Detroit based Cass records. This awesome 7 inch comes in a left side opening sleeve, (hey I’m left handed so that’s fine by me) in doing so pays honour to the much missed Aussie label Giant Claw whom I personally remember well especially for the Raymen and 5678’s releases. And so to Blanche, a Detroit quintet centred around husband / wife Dan and Tracee Miller. Every so often a record comes along that just literally causes you to fill up with a mixture of sad happiness, they don’t come very often but when they do they are usually worth their weight in gold. Blanche’s debut is the case in point. Leaving aside the obvious populist appeal in that it features Brendan Benson on backing vocals and some bloke called Jack White on guitar, ‘Who’s to say’ is one of those records that has classic stamped all over it. Both haunting and enchanting, harnessed by a wandering daydream feel, hazily countrified, the sound of Nashville, pedal steel and violins seductively flirting beside a roaring campfire, in other words stunning. Things get even better on the flip as ‘Superstition’ imagines the Munsters riding into town to kick Lee Van Cleef’s backside while Henry Mancini serves up the score and the Flaming Stars do the playing, borrowing slightly from the Bad Seeds ‘Mercy Seat’ riff wise and investing itself with darkened country vibes armed with a barrel load of twanging guitars licks. A near perfect debut. http://www.cassrecords.com

The Obsession ‘Wise Blood’ EP (Soviet Union). A brutal four track EP from Manchester based The Obsession, one of those releases where its no so apparent where their influences lie, obviously there’s the scuzzy Stooges spectre looming ominously, but it’s their crooked appreciation of punk / rock ‘n’ roll that sets them aside from the pack. On ‘Vicious Circle’ the closing track there are times when you’d swear your listening to severely wired Joy Division, festering and spitting its miserablist fury, destructive stuff. ‘Burning a curve’ opens the EP in fine style, liberally borrowing the groove from Joy Divisions ‘Transmission’ and neatly giving it a thorough road test as it restlessly rumbles menacingly from grinding passiveness to a high-octane snarl. ‘Exit wounds’ opens to the sound of feedback and quick fire drums alerting you immediately that your about to be steam rollered amid some thrash based carnage yet instead your slammed into a frenzied dislocated groove that’s all at once smasmodic and volatile with a defined post punk austerity, reference point imagine the Futureheads on a course of shock treatment. Barely time to draw composure before the razor sharp shudder of ‘Take a stand’ bounces in with its searing MC5 undercarriage. Limited to 500 copies and if there was any justice in the world, selling fast. http://www.sovietunion.co.uk

The Futureheads ‘A to B’ (679). And so to Sunderland’s finest The Futureheads, much favoured in these missives and regular visitors since their storming ‘Nul Book Standard’ debut last year had us all doey eyed and full of nostalgic spirit with their proto – energised new wave / post punk flavoured toons. ‘A to B’ is the quartets debut release for their new label 679 Recordings and acts as a trailer for their impending full length due early next year. This one track single can be downloaded gratis for a limited period from their website http://www.thefutureheads.com along with all the cover art work gubbins and a chance to check out their video. In addition you can also click on our newly installed external stream section to find out just why this lot have had the losing today record shed shaking its stuff. Coming from the same uncompromised direction as the Playwrights, the Futureheads conjure with all manner of angular twists and turns that fence erratically with smarting grooves and fragmented jigsaw like white funk, try imagining the edgy histrionics of classic ‘Do it’ era Adam and the Ants being tentatively tweaked by the attrition of ‘White music’ era XTC. Does it for us, irresistible but then aren’t they always.

Primal Scream ‘Some velvet morning’ (Colombia). You know there are certain records out there that are just perfect as they are, the kind of records that should never be touched or fiddled with, the kind of records that when you mention in casual conversation that you’ve heard a cover of are met with a sharp intake of breathe and that kind of look that that speaks volumes saying ‘they oughtn’t have done that’. Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewoods version of ‘Some velvet morning’ is one of them records. That said the Scream do serve it a modicum of justice and a heap load of respect, they must have known they’d never better the original, but as far as marks for effort go, it’s 11 out of 10. Produced by Kevin Shields and featuring Kate Moss on lead vocal duties, this version updates the cut from last years ‘Evil Heat’ long player considerably. Employing a frisky zigzagging motorik electronic under score ‘Some velvet morning’ is teasingly touched up with a sensually spaced out wide-screened psyched out sophisticating shimmering trance like gloss that just oozes sex, Moss as you’d rightly expect, demurely whispers seductively throughout like a sex kitten out on the prowl. Can we still call records horny? Pwoaaah.

The Rain Band ‘Art of mass destruction’ (Fierce Panda). Another Manchester ensemble worth clocking are the Rain Band, with a host of singles and an album (which I’m now itching to hear) under their collective belt their sound veers awkwardly from willowy Doves like appeal to vaporizing frustration. Cast with a subtle doom laden core it’s instantly apparent that this lot are troubled souls carrying their tainted melancholia with ill ease. Opening the EP with ‘Fist of Fury’ which at it’s initially intro sounds like a crushing mutation of the Higsons ‘I don’t want to live with the monkeys’ and Heaven 17’s ‘Let me go’ before evaporating into a brooding statement of affairs which swings ominously amid throbbing atmospheric chord loops that seems to wander in the stratosphere waiting to swoop in for the kill, all the while the tense undercurrent of pulsing anxieties groove restlessly below. ‘Eighth House’ is rooted to the spot by a seriously menacing bass line that sounds like Peter Hook guesting on a Fall session while elsewhere the melodies candidly needle away under the skin. ‘Lies’ rocks between docile 80’s slickness and blistering agitation, festering into sonic over drive at every available opportunity. Ending with the best cut of the set the tormented ‘Thick as Thieves’ wavers with a groove that sounds as though it’s pissed, sharpened riffs dig deep with a chorus that sounds like all the instruments have arrived together by accident, imagine Mansun tackling Depeche Mode ‘See You’. Damn smart stuff.

And so to the last offering for this particular missive,

Inch Blue ‘Three songs about Dreams, Lovers and the Sea’ (Orca). Firstly I’ll admit to saying that I know absolutely nothing about this lot other than that they are a trio based in South London, (an area which of late seems to be becoming a melting pot of diversified talents) and that this new three track CD release is the bands second recorded outing. Okay I’ll level, I mislaid the press release, tapped into the website and was greeted by three moody looking faces, one of whom had the look of a hundred a day chain smoking mass murderer who was on medication and, had prior to the photo session quit cigarettes and dispensed of the services of the national health service, blimey this looked like becoming hard work. Not so as it happens. ‘Three songs’ opens with ‘This Aquarian’s dream’ based on a deep-set bass groove that throbs defiantly deflecting a storm of sharpened riffs that recalls very early outings by those much missing action Mancunians The Chameleons c. ‘Script of a bridge’, truly raging stuff. ‘Faith in a pointless thing’ wallows in it’s own misery, still hooking into that early 80’s vibe, the sound is one of impenetrable magnificence, brooding atmospherics paired with ascending / descending dynamics give this cut a heart breaking air of futility, think of classic era And also the Trees, nuff said. Closing with the best track ‘Stars and Secrets’ which initially starts out solemnly with a wintry feeling that recalls the anxious downcast nature of the second coming of Merseymania in the early 80’s when it was all overcoats, berets and sullen scowls, Teardrop Explodes ‘Wilder’ the Bunnymen’s darker dealings employed on the shadowy corners of ‘Porcupine’ and elements of Wah’s ‘Nah poo the art of bluff’ all fizzle inside the frozen wastelands of Inch Blue’s epic indulgence in morose musings rarely departing from that focal point other than to bolster itself with impatiently stinging chords that skirt and dart anxiously with all the sheen of early Edge. Essential. http://www.inchblue.co.uk

As per usual thanks and gratitude to all those that have made this possible, too many to mention but you know who you are, thanks also for reading these idle musings, may you find that elusive record that changes your life, or at the very least your week.

As always please feel free to send your comments, rants and threats, all are welcomed (as you see I don’t get out often) via mark@losingtoday.com , offers of marriage, blank cheques and box loads of records always carefully considered.

See you in about three days for the CD round up where those unwilling contestants under the microscope will be, (sharp draw of breath): Jackie, Left Hand, The Rock of Travolta, The K Word (honest), Raising the Fawn, Ship’s a going down, Donderevo, Sixty Mile Smile, Autodrone, Hoboken, Plastic Mastery, Ako, MJB and Analog plus the usual last minute contenders that may likely pop up between now and then.

Anyhow, take care of yourselves and as always have fun with the record hunting,

See you in about 3 days for the CD round up.

Mark
xx

Archiv – Singled Out – Missive 22 ….

Archive posting originally published on the losing today site …… October 2003 ……

Missive 22
17-10-2003
Singled Out

Missive 22

Dedicated to: My father John.

Weighted inversely proportionate to mass and space on: 19th October 2003
Kaput, gone, bitten the dust by: 31st October 2003.

How these missives fly round these days, I feel like the proverbial mouse on the wheel without the choice cheese cuts or as though I’ve been dropped into the lead role of Groundhog Day only with better music (discuss) and without Andie MacDowell to wake up too. Winters approaching fast and the dark nights are ushering in, meanwhile we’re busy building the loft bonfire with an assortment of pop idol related paraphernalia in readiness for Guy Fawkes night and making Doc Fox masks to scare away the kids of the diocese on Halloween.

So what’s been happening in the record attic of late, sad to say nothing, the loft has been gripped with ‘Kill Bill’ fever, donning our replica dayglo ‘Game of Death’ track suits much to the neighbours amusement, at least we’ve been able to ride the Losing Today bike around at night without lights, mind you planes flying a 20,000 feet have been alerted.

Your socially starved scribe was persuaded on pain of death to visit the jubilations of Rough Trade’s 25th Birthday bash where upon we were regaled by the sounds of the very wonderful Fiery Furnaces and a superb set from Joel of the Hidden Cameras accompanied by a string quartet, though I have to admit that the sound was marred by that man Butler as in Bernard, as in McAlmont and Butler, as in Suede etc..etc…nice to see him keeping his hand in, shame it wasn’t in his pocket, only joking Bern. Also in attendance were the Libertines, who appeared more pissed than the majority of the crowd, rock ‘n’ roll, apparently now done with one chord. Among the liggers allegedly were Don Letts, Mick Jones and Morrisey, the latter I’m wildly suspicious about, photos anyone?

Word from across the pond also has it that Ms Love has fallen foul of the law again and could face a jail sentence. Now I’m not in the habit of condoning drugs, but Ms Love obviously has issues that she needs help with, maybe it is a craving for attention whatever, yet the fact remains that she is a mother and on her day one of the best female front women around, do you really need to do all this Courtney? Get back to what your best at, proving the critics wrong and ripping it up on record.

Current thrills on the hi-fi has to be a pretty daunting album by a Massachusetts band called, wait for it, Sunburned Hand of the Man. ‘The Trickle – Down Theory of Lord Knows What’ is an unusual exercise in off the wall shadowy folk, imagine Rock ’n’ Roll on a spiritual trip to Tibet to partake in a spot of psychedelic divinity, limited to 1000 copies, recommended for all who like their sounds a bit more cerebrally stretching and strange. And while we are talking must have albums check out the seriously warped pop antics of the Unicorns on Alien 8 and ‘Criminals and Sinners’ by Charlie Parr, believe me and seriously special release featuring some of the best purist country / folk / blues we’ve heard in many a while.

Enough. Boy have we got some fine and dandy, rootin tootin, spangling, sparkling slabs of wax this time

Meadow House ‘The Hermit’ (Jonathon Whiskey). I know absolutely nothing about this tasty three tracker release other than to warn the Syd Floydists among you that you might want to snap up one of these fairly sharpishly. Limited to 101 numbered clear vinyl lathe cut pressings, which for those that don’t know, means they jump joyously all over the hi-fi depending on how sober your stylus is. Grumbles aside this really is one of those odd little releases that cries for a loving well-ordered record collection. ‘The Hermit’ reveals that Meadow House have been spending an unfeasible amount of time with the ‘Barrett’ album on continuous play, macabre, creepy and fractured and overwhelmingly goofy sounding fried psyche, warped clockwork rhythms arch menacingly against a curious array of toy melodies and some of the most deadpan vocals your ever likely to clap ears to. The excellently named ‘Leper in a tumble dryer’ is straight out of the Half Man Half Biscuit / The Fall book of weird song titles, and sets about getting to grips with a classic meaty dub vibe but can’t resist a moment of comedic mischief making it result in Clint Eastwood and General Saint and the Clash c. ‘Guns of Brixton’ in a custard pie fight with Neil’s version of ‘Hole in my Shoe’. ‘Ending with ‘Doug’s piss up’ as the title suggests, confused, say no more.

Fotomoto / The Workhouse ‘Split’ (Jonathon Whiskey). If previous Workhouse related releases are anything to go by then this is another record that’ll sell out fast yet that’s not to say that Fotomoto are anything like the poor relatives here. A Ukrainian trio who apparently have been catching the attention of a certain Mr John Peel and already have a self released full length to their name that I’ll have to track down. ‘Le sport, la musique’ is a bit of a strange one, utterly endearing yet spectral and hitherto frail sounding. To these ears it has warming Latin touches of Ana D’s ‘Satelite 99’ from a few years back, mainly due to the vocalist Olya Volodina yet spliced with some rudimentary swirling electronics that cast a wintry eye, very, very tasty stuff. Flip over for ‘Nancy’ by the Workhouse, which incidentally does not appear on their currently available debut album ‘The end of the pier’. ‘Nancy’ sees the atmospheric quartet in much more distantly reclusive moods, opening to the sound of a zig-zagging lone guitar, the layered textures begin to grow in density as the duelling chords trickle in longing formations culminating in the glacial backlash of a rapturous drone collage that elegantly sweeps all aside and bathing the whole thing in a blissful spectral haze of dreaming feedback ala early Moose / Chapterhouse. Simply beautiful. For both releases contact phil@normansrecords.com

The Land Of Nod / P.A.T.E. ‘Split’ (Ochre). The first two releases in the latest Ochre mail order subscription series, which over the coming months should see the release of seven 7” vinyl gems, all pressed on coloured wax and housed in a tasty looking generic die cut card sleeve. First instalment of the series pressed on blue vinyl features the key protagonists remixing each other. P.A.T.E. or Pop Art Tradition Experiment to give them their full title hail from Japan and set about giving Land of Nod’s ‘Eddy’ that originally appeared on the album ‘Inducing the sleep sphere’ a total makeover with startling results. P.A.T.E. give it the works though keeping in tact the original drone textures that still waver menacingly throughout underneath, they bring to it an earthiness with the use of docile pastoral chords that midway through take on an ominous nightmarish twist which soon evaporates to weaving spacey textures and 60’s folkisms, very strange. Ochre space cadets The Land of Nod for their part serve up some of their own brand of sonic surgery on P.A.T.E.’s ‘Shinkai Crusin #2’, refitting it with the strains of their own ‘Eddy’ and an tense macabre brushing and sinister carnival dynamics that suggest you oughtn’t stray to far from the light switch. Excellent stuff.

Neil and Iraiza ‘This is not a love song’ (Ochre). The second release in the series is pressed on green wax and is by Japanese duo Hiroshisa Horie and Gakuji Matsuda who go under the name Neil and Iraiza and have been delighting their native country with a few well-aimed releases on the Escalator label. This is their first release outside Japan and what a tempting gem it is. Both tracks featured on the single are taken from their current album ‘New School’. ‘This is not a love song’ sadly isn’t a cover of the old PIL hit from yesteryear but rather a jaunty childlike concoction that scatters about with a tender pop sheen inside nuzzling a sublime 60’s Francophile grace wrapped around the same kind of heart warming affection that made those old Bus Stop and Sarah releases such an adorable treat. Adorable stuff. ‘Oracle Noises’ on the flip side is very short and sweet and acts in total contrast yet nonetheless just as alluring, whirling electronics trip in all manner of fizzing lustre, delicately hypnotic with it’s repetitive groove and Spacemen 3 in the palace of the Wizard of Oz kind of vibe. Future confirmed appearances on the series from Will Sergeant, Longstone, Charles Atlas and Acid Mothers. For both releases contact ochre@talbot.force9.co.uk

Gonga ‘Strato-fortress’ (Invada). Another record that I’m happy to announce I know absolutely nothing about though was half expecting some kind of theme play on Gong, geddit Gong / Gonga (why I bother I’ll never know). Limited to 300 hand numbered copies and pressed on clear vinyl, apparently this lot are billed as doom rockers though why is beyond me on the evidence of the whipping up a minor frenzy lead track ‘Strato-fortress’ which does have traits of a young ‘Bleach’ era Nirvana dicking about with the Deep Purple back catalogue and getting strung up with the effects pedals and a dense swamp like vibe, good rocking fun though. Things get slightly more disconcerting on the instrumental ‘Untitled #1’ on the flip side, if Gong’s music was for sound tracking various states of tripping then time to reach for all the contents of the bathroom cabinet, speed, hash, acid even laxatives the whole lot as the Gonga boys get to replicating the sound of my electric sander being possessed by the horned one, very uneasy stuff remember all the grind core things from years ago and how we all laughed and partied when it disappeared over the horizon, well seems like Gonga have gone and dug it up and now it’s looking for blood. Nasty but essential, why of course. http://www.gonga.co.uk

Puffin Boy ‘Short // Cut’ (Foolproof projects). More electronic hysteria from singled out favourites Puffin Boy. Wiggling starkly sparse synthesisers mooch in a stuttered groove to waltz over vocals provided by Domestic 4’s Kerry Davies to provide a really neat dislocated symphony that moulds a shrill early 80’s texture as though Cabaret Voltaire are messing with Devo’s head while strutting their stuff on an android version of Studio 54, very wired and very up for it. Devilish stuff on the flipside as ‘Off // Set’ moves the goalposts several pitches down the road and marginalizes the mood with a spacey comedic feel that almost recalls the loopy theme from ‘Get Shorty’. Wigged out beats erratically jostle menacingly without a care in the world against a dippy electronic canvas that midway through appears to lose the plot and has a seizure wherein blind lunacy it runs riot to racing to the post with the chasing irregular percussion in quick attendance. Dizzy stuff. For those of a more resolute disposition check out the website for some exclusive mp3’s from the warping viewpoint of Puffin Boy and label mates Braer Rabbit at http://www.poolproofprojects.co.uk

Astropop 3 ‘Anything’ (Planting Seeds). Been a while since we had the pleasure of Astropop 3 on the old CD player, and so we get way laid by this delightful two tracker, which turns out to be a four-track affair with two hidden tracks nuzzling in the background. ‘Anything’ takes a more considered tact rather than the effervescent twinkling pop sound that they courted with on ‘Lost in a Dream’. Drifting thoughtful melodies are the order of the day on ‘Anything’, heart-breaking pop that’s impeccably fragile worrying itself in the chill of an autumnal haze, imagine Clock Strikes 13 on steroids. ‘Never seen the Sun’ clocks up the ante several notches, a driving hook laden pop assault that fizzes and pops all over the place for reference points imagine the Teenage Fanclub Club getting to grips with the Vaselines back catalogue. The additional tracks feature the memorable rousing rocker ‘Forget tomorrow’ which sounds as though it’s been committed straight to tape live in the studio, all floor shaking grinding chords and possessing a real meaty Lemonheads vibe that exquisitely bleeds straight into some uncharacteristically explosive heaviness on the fourth and untitled instrumental which tails off the set, stunning stuff.

Sunday Smoke Kit ‘I love the rain’ (Planting Seeds). Another band who it seems have been missing in action for a considerable while. Last heard on our hi fi with the superb ‘Passing shooting stars’ EP from a year or two ago. Five more slabs of stately spring morning tears in the eyes trembling pop, starting out with the shyly sweet lush acoustics of ‘I love the rain’, a resolutely heartbreaking ode that seems to mooch around looking for emotions to snare. ‘Down’ cautiously deals with the trials and tribulations of life aligned to a tasty artillery of cascading pastoral chords, idly cute and distantly dreamy. The last trio of tracks are all live cuts recorded way back in 2001, more innocent wide-eyed loveliness to lose yourself in featuring the tumbling coolness of ‘The hardest things are often the simplest to unwind’ and the gorgeously hazy lazy Jesus Mary Chain-esque ‘Western Skies’. Can’t go wrong really can you? http://www.plantingseedsrecords.com

d_rradio ‘Dust and Guitars’ (Static Caravan). More reasons to go wild with the bunting as the eclectic stable of those Static chemists flings open its doors for two more sides of spiffing waxed gems. This time the honoured spotlight falls on d_rradio who for those with long memories may recall debuted on the ever-wonderful Awkward Silence recordings reviewed in these very pages within missive 20. ‘Dust and Guitars’ quickly develops into a magnificently wide screened sounding epic that saunters across to the meeting point where the heaven bound symphonies of stately Morricone emblems and ‘Moments in Love’ era Art of Noise fluffiness converge, all serenaded joyously by prodding blips and pinball springs, totally loveable. Flip over for the mood evoking fog bound allure of ‘Radiowaves’, paving a crooked path that only Black Heart Procession without the creaking accompaniment know the directions to and resurfacing it with a stuttered jazz enamel, spooky. Ending with an all to brief spot of refinement the Erik Satie-esque ‘The most real’ and you have another chalk mark up on the Static blackboard of peerless releases.

The Beans ‘Sun is Shining’ (Northern Ambition). More madness from Manchester and a heap load of summer shine fun to gently ignite those approaching autumnal nights. Limited to 300 copies and as perfect a reason as any to have you scampering down to the local record emporium to pester the owner because this’ll fly out when word gets out. I have to admit to have been caught of guard by this sprightly four tracker, tunes that are so out of step with everything you’d consider current, the Beans you suspect have their radios permanently tuned to the 70’s, diligently crafted pop motifs that really are inspired by the more acknowledged MOR musicians past and present, its like imagining what might have happened had Dexy’s swallowed the quirky English pill as opposed to the celtic soul tablet or the Style Council had have swapped their boaters for tweeds and very much continues a trend already set alight by the Carousels. Quietly effervescent stuff, ‘Sun is Shining’ does give off the whiff of Right Said Fred, but its done with such upper most cool that you just have to stand back and admire the audacity. ‘Me and your mother’ mixes spring freshened brass arrangements with laid back melodies that have been idling, one thinks, too long under the shade of an overhanging tree on the riverside listening to McCartney. ‘Save the Cake’ dallies with barbershop harmonies and shimmers with a distinct edge of early Commodores and, dare I say it, Wet Wet Wet. Favourite of the lot though is the loopy off centre parting shot ‘Fishes’, which almost comes across like a giggling Rutles parody of the Beatles, fusing without a care in the world grooves with glimpses of ‘I am the Walrus’, essential as if you needed reminding. http://www.northernambition.com

The Broken Family Band ‘At the back of the Chapel’ (Snowstorm). Snowstorm are another label that seem to have their fingers in the cherry picking tree with a roster that boasts the awesome Candidate and Wolf amongst its clientele, add to that list The Broken Family Band. Stands to reason doesn’t it that any band having a B-side with a title like ‘You broke my fucking heart’ was always going to get a mention come hell or high water. Coming from a perspective that recalls in parts early Hefner and more importantly the much-missed Orson Family and the Violent Femmes, ransacking the precious Nashville sound and propping it up with enough misery to keep a team of councillors trained in dealing with trauma in full time jobs for years to come and several pharmacies blitzed with orders for valium yet investing a cruel loathing to its cause that sounds like Will Oldham with a serious chip on his shoulder. Flipping over to the lead track, ‘At the back of the Chapel’ which just ducks and dives, swerves and swaggers with such amazing elasticity as to have you swooning feverishly, drop dead infectious hooks and a melody that’ll haunt you long after the stylus takes up its resting place. Single of the missive unless I’m very much mistaken, which I ain’t. http://www.snowstormrecords.com

John Stammers ‘Ivy and Dennis’ (Garden Sticks). Another Mancunian from what I can gather, though information is a bit sketchy, in fact non-existent would be closer to the truth. Both the debut for the artist and the label and a pretty nifty ding dang doodly do of a disc it is. Limited to just 500 pressings and if this don’t sell out in record time then there just ain’t any justice in the world cause these three tender tracks are the frailest and most haunting compositions that the singled out attic has had the pleasure of hearing in many a long time. ‘Ivy and Dennis’ almost breathlessly canters with an unassuming eerie grace, stripped down lo-fi acoustics very much in the mode of early Twisted Nerve releases but evoking the heart aching elegance of the lonely resonance captured time and time again by those endearing gems put out by the Fence collective. ‘Baggis and Neeps’ on the flip is almost briefly throwaway, wrestling with a slow down rumba rhythm and possessing the same kind of Continental twee charm that many of the Siesta releases so adorably languish in. ‘She thinks she knows’ with its rustic charm and ambling pace has an early morning sharpened spring time dew feel to, tranquil and longing yet dogged by a production that makes it so alarmingly fragile that you scared to breath in its company for fear of breaking its subdued spell. Available from http://www.gardensticks.co.uk

Annalise / Gunmoll ‘Split’ (Boss Tuneage). Winning the award for best looking coloured vinyl by several streets for it’s eye catching orange splatter on clear vinyl. Equally smart are the toons inside. Two tracks each as these pop fuelled hardcore heavyweights go head to head. Annalise kick off their brace with the energetic ‘Look at you. Superhero’ that re-jigs about with a loose riff based around Stiff Little Fingers ‘Listen’ and in the process speeds the whole thing up into a seriously catchy hook laden melodic pop that recalls early Snuff grooving with a more sedated Leatherface with Wizz from Mega City 4 overseeing the mix. ’16 bottles empty’ is my personal favourite, cheekily employing terrace style harmonies and razor sharp serrated electrics that are sure to have you bopping around the music system to your hearts content, very early Alarm which is always a good thing round these here parts. Talking of Stiff Little Fingers, flip over to Gunmoll and you’ll find that in their ranks they have a singer who sounds a dead ringer for Jake Burns. Gunmoll’s approach is all the more grittier than Annalise’s melodic threads, although saying that ‘In my place’ is a sly one that shifts with a daunting slow / fast dynamic that makes it alarmingly contagious. ‘Fantasy’ is packed brimming with chugging riffs and riotous menace, needless to say one of those tracks that begs to have the volume cranked full on for maximum damage. http://www.bosstuneage.com

Various ‘Anatomy of a …. (Extra Ball / Jealous Butcher / Vinyl Warning / Johnny Cat). Time to get wasted and to nail down the loose furniture for this ripping four track joint release by four bands and four labels currently terrorising Portland, Or. The Triggers serve up the raucous ‘Trigger Finger’, a furious barn stormer that is made all the more remarkable by a lead vocal who sounds like a hybrid early Siouxsie mixed up with prime Debbie Harry and Beki Bondage howling sadistically over a searing three chord noise bleeder. ‘Razor Eyes’ by The Hunches is the best cut here by far, sounding so raw, dirty and packed with enough primal hooks to give the Hives a collective coronary and have them running in the opposite direction fearing for their sanity. Good rocking punk fun as The Hunches take several leaves from Generation X’s ‘Perfect Hits’ demo tapes and melt onto wax a hybrid Heartbreakers / Dolls groove. The Electric Eye offer up the speed thrilled ‘Jim Shooter’ that recalls the Ruts and Sham 69 in their youth in a back alley razor blade duel with Joe Strummer holding the leathers and administering the occasional well connected kick. Captain Vs. Crew stray towards a definite wired and wayward Fall veneer on their ‘Cut the Pocket’, unrelenting and almost anthemic sounding which manages to do the near impossible by steering itself from moments of melodic lucidity to organised chaos in the blink of an eye, very smart indeed. http://www.jealousbutcher.com , http://www.vinylwarning.com

X-Ray ‘Issue 9’. Definitely the cosiest 128 page A5 music magazine currently strutting it stuff down the local paper stands. This issue features the shy guys and gals of Belle and Sebastian and Muse’s Matt Bellamy under the spotlight, while the Human League are subjected to the Rock ‘n’ roll heretics obligatory critical eye. Cover mounted CD could be one of the best so far, exclusive session versions by the Cooper Temple Clause and Jet and a host of showcasing cuts from the likes of the very excellent Franz Ferdinand (must get that album), The Bandits, Ambulance LTD and M83 among others.

Anthony Atkinson ‘Mental Notes Aplenty’ (Heliotone). This release just missed the cut on the last missive by a whisker and a bit. Debut release for the newly formed Heliotone label which is borne from the ashes of the much-missed Emmas House Recordings. This release as with forthcoming discs (which we are advised will feature Kimonophonic and Mundane Music ) is limited to just 50 lathe cut 8 inch clear poly carbonate records via mail order only, strictly on a first come first served basis, so consider yourselves warned in advance. Release number one is taken up by the modest sounds of former Mabels man Anthony Atkinson who offers up three well crafted vignettes pulled from his debut album ‘Come home for Autumn’ currently available on Australia’s Candle records. Atkinson’s greatest ability is the way he is able to formulate tempered musings of everyday life about the intimate things that make us tick on the inside and arms them with non obtrusive melodies that empathise with rather than depreciate the moods of the unfolding story lines within. The breezy ‘Half an hour in the afternoon’ sees sweetly flowing melodies and softening strings vexing themselves to the aching lyrical settings while the run out track ‘Summer’s Out’ could melt the iciest peak with it’s emotion sapping dynamics. Yet its on the moving lead track ‘Mental Notes Aplenty’ where Atkinson comes into his own. Reminiscent of a thoughtful sounding Kevin Tihista crooning out with Rufus Wainwright, Atkinson seamlessly bridges countrified gentleness with a pulsing pop backbone and executes with tear forming aplomb and a toe tapping brass drenched exit. Quite sweet indeed. http://www.onoffonoff.org/heliotone

Crazyface ‘Free Coke’ (Bearos). A band propped on the edge of greatness if this CD single is anything to go by. Crazyface are a quintet hailing from Birmingham with a bag of tunes, hooks and a firm understanding of the chemistry of power pop even if their delivery is an scathingly erratic display that takes more turns and twists than a factory of corkscrews. ‘Free Coke’ is an adrenalin packed arse kicker of a track that begins by moonlighting with a crooked riff re-reading of the strutting psycho trans-sexual ‘Timewarp’ from Rocky Horror Show before soaring with brazened wild abandon and shredding up a path of pop attrition that’ll cause your ears to smart and your feet to tap wildly and a sonic assault that just never lets up. ‘Good cop, bad cop’ is excellent if only for the vocals of Simon Pearce that wander with an urgent hush one minute to possessed malevolence the next across the razor sharp melodies beneath. Ending with ‘No place like home’ the best track here, plays with a cute rough / smooth dynamic, stalking riffs stutter and spit against Pearce’s theatrical incisions smoothing out in curvaceous style to support Lucy Moxon’s additional vocals, try imagining the Somatics jamming with Quickspace. Excellent stuff. http://www.bearos.co.uk

Elliott Smith ‘Pretty (ugly before)’ (Suicide Squeeze). After a long hiatus Elliott Smith returns with his first recorded fruits since ‘Figure 8’. ‘’Pretty (ugly before)’ is both simplistic and beautiful revealing that Mr Elliott has lost none of that creative charm in weaving lasting melodies. ‘Pretty (ugly before)’ cleverly fuses together subtle drifting paisley pop sounds with the essence of Gilbert O’Sullivan, deceivingly sedate as the melodies dreamily amble nonchalantly. Better still is the flip side ‘A distorted reality is now a necessity to be free’ which is almost drowned in a seriously lo-fi production, slightly eerie with a spangly psyche edge that manages to court with a neatly suggestive ‘Strawberry Fields’ texture and some sunny Byrds-esque moments, quite cute if you ask me. http://www.suicidesqueeze.net

Blackcube ‘Breve’ (Genepool). Debut release for this North London based quintet who thankfully still know a thing or so two about the art of trail blazing sounds amid a scene that seems insistent that the mere donning of a leather jacket, a ragged barnet and the ability to play 15 songs with the same two chords is the new rock ‘n’ roll, my arse. Blackcube mightn’t appear to be the full shilling given reports of their off stage activities but then what’s the point of youth when you can’t piss people off. Music wise it’s a different take, three tracks here that pack the kind of incendiary only found in an arms factory, admittedly on ‘Breve’, in my view for what it’s worth the weakest cut here, they still prove that even when the all the cylinders aren’t firing they can still roast the backside of any souls foolish enough to have a go. Yet it’s on the two flip tracks that things go mental big time. ‘SuicIdol’ is a fully loaded high voltage head charger that displays an electrifying union of rampant rocking out and vicious metal licks served at velocity and bled with enough attrition as to have sparks flying furiously. Ending it all with crushing ‘Beauty b4 me’, primed and armed with hooks galore and a resolute fuck you attitude, how touching. http://www.genepoolrecords.com

The Vacation ‘They were the sons’ (Fierce Panda). Another band who you feel don’t suffer fools gladly or for that matter take prisoners are Hollywood based quartet The Vacation. Side stepping the main track for a second, things kick off with the up for it raucous friction pop of ‘Make up your mind’, one of those kinda tracks that you’d imagine a lot of guitar bands go to bed dreaming about making, tightly wound and left to tic-toc like a pocket bomb, a bastardised concoction of 3 parts gritty MC5, 1 part Cramps, 1 part spiked Heartbreakers, stupefying and as addictive as hell and packing into three minutes more vicious riffs, hooks, sleaze and raucous good fun as the whole of the current New York scene can ever hope to muster. ‘White noise’ the lead track takes its cue from the Breeders ‘Cannonball’ and imbues it with a sense of menace and Foo Fighter style grinding dynamics. ‘Liquid Lunch’ should excite all those who prefer their sounds akin to having their skulls drilled, all wired fun as the Vacation set about to nail your ears to the stereo. Starting out fairly moderately it soon festers up in true demonic fashion, crooked twists and stutter fire riffs that sounds to these ears like the Pixies and Mudhoney punching the hell out of each other in a studio brawl with Nirvana stoking the flames in the control room. Can it really get any better? http://www.fiercepanda.co.uk

Repairman ‘Here we are now’ EP (Long Lost Brothers). Another band causing a constant buzz on the CD player of late are duo Repairman currently to be seen out and about supporting Athlete around the UK. This EP features three more sumptuous cuts following on from their gorgeous ‘Orange Room’ EP from earlier this year. Opening with the title track ‘Here we are now’ a curiously jiggy fusion of laptop electronics and rambling folk, I’d be tempted to say folk-tronic but there’s something more textured happening here, little flashes where very distant elements of the Beatles drift in and out and the seemingly restless shifts in the arrangements and the celebratory hymnal quality all around, oh yeah and the cute tumbling country vibes. Flip side features the even more complex sounding ‘Georges Empire’ that’s fired on a sublimely hollowed twist of melancholic musings and happy go lucky melodies, if it’s clues your after try to imagine Radiohead being tutored and given a make over by XTC c. ‘English Settlement’, believe you me that good. ‘Poor’ rounds up the pack splendidly in intimate fashion at the initial outset before getting groovily dippy, yet why oh why do I keep singing ‘Fe Fi Fo Fum’, strange that. Essential purchase of course.

That’s it for this missive, back before Halloween with a box load of goodies that will feature the latest from Primal Scream featuring Kate Moss doing the old Lee and Nancy classic ‘Some Velvet Morning’; a storming release from Autodrone; a Left Hand album sampler featuring the last recorded work of Mary Hansen; Homescience; the long awaited Spacemen 3 release on Earworm; some tasty releases on the Zeal and Hi-Fidelity labels, Blanche featuring Jack White and a mid life crisis goodie from MJB oh yeah and whatever else turns up in the next 10 days.

As always eternal gratitude for those who’ve made this possible, labels, artists, PR’s and distributors too many to name but you know who you are, not forgetting a big thanks for reading these musings, hopefully among this little lot you’ll find something that’ll change your life or at the very least make your record collection the envy of the neighbourhood.

Good hunting and see you all before the 31st, take care of yourselves and remember ‘a record is for life not for the moment’.

Mark xx

Archiv – Singled Out – Missive 21 …..

Archive posting originally published on the losing today site ….. September 2003 ……

Missive 21
27-09-2003
Singled Out

Missive 21.

Refreshingly crisp to touch 26th September 2003
Limp, flat and old hat by 11th October 2003.

Dedicated to: Mr Johnny Cash (R.I.P.)

Music as we know is tempered by fashions, cultural diversities, social surroundings, political ruminations, it’s special because it soothes, woos, sometimes provokes reactions hostile and agreeable. A short piece of music tenderly delivered can convey and sum up a mood that a thousand words would never come near to defining. Songs help us to pinpoint and instantly recall periods of our life, good and bad, it can remind us of lost loves and special moments, it never leaves us. Sound is the first thing that the majority of us experience at birth, it’s our first connection to existence, even in the womb familiar sounds engage in us a calming effect. Music likewise is an expression, if it is taken to it’s basest root its a tool utilised to reaching out to communicate and connect with kindred souls. The development of music has in the last fifty years made major leaps, from the early traits of the blues, doo wop, swing, jazz and classical and many more besides acting as foundation blocks, music as we now know it today has extended the basic principles and cross pollinated, taking elements of one identifiable genre and merging it to another to create a third and so on. At times a song is borne for a reason, a unique story unfolds at its core which isn’t immediately apparent, at times we need people to explain to us exactly what we are listening to, and why it’s important that we should listen and more importantly care. Last month, rock journalism lost one of it’s leading commentators, a person of authoritive stature, academic and thoroughly readable (note his enjoyable historical critique ‘Revolution in my Head’ the only work dissecting each and every Beatles song you’ll ever need to read), not of the rent a quote brigade, but a considered and thoughtful critic and above all, a passionate spirit when it came to music. Ian MacDonald RIP.

Before we immerse ourselves in the box of untold goodies that is Singled Out, just a quick thanks to the Victory Garden crew who along with Glass Shrimp treated us all to a spiffing night out for the labels 5th birthday bash up in North London. Some great live sets including the mighty Southall Riot who really are shaping up to be the ‘Floyd in a head on collision with the Ramones with GBV at the scene of the accident picking up the pieces’ band of the noughties. However though they paraded before our eyes a glorious set the night was stolen by the vicious head sledging of Trencher. A blistering set that coined all manner of references to medical mayhem wrapped up in a skull splitting noise of attrition based hard core punk that ventured everything from Nepalm Death, ENT, early Slayer and Carcass. A must see event should they ever come to a town near you.

At the same gig we did happen to pick up an extremely limited to 50 edition of the new Dreams of Tall Buildings cassette ‘Truth = Beauty’. Packaged in what can only be described as looking like a soap on rope as it covered in some kind of waxing, which we initially thought was marzipan, beautiful to look at and well worth trying to get hold of if your into oddities. As for the cassette itself, we haven’t a clue what it’s like, and more to the point whether there’s a cassette there at all. Needless to say we be tracking down the Victory Garden kids for an un-waxed version to play. Standard copies are available by contacting Erika@victorygardenrecords.co.uk

And while we are on the subject of birthday’s, advance wishes to the very excellent Mojo magazine who next month reach the ripe old age of 10 years old, a truly well researched and written magazine which seemingly grows from strength to strength with each passing issue.

Okay with much more ado this time’s Singled Out and cause I’m feeling fragile what better place to start than:

Dive Dive ‘Good Show’ (Idle Records). Ah Oxford, home of the dreaming spires, pictures-esque settings, the melancholic musings of Thom Yorke and the riotous power punk target range of Dive Dive. Debut release time for both, these attentive souls and spanking new label Idle Records. Elements of Dive Dive used to be Dustball in another time and place, the cheeky imps who slipped the nets with a few well-chosen cuts for the Shifty Disco label a few years back. Nice to see they haven’t lost any of that attrition-based charm, ‘Good show’ howls in defiance in all the right places, a prime piece of bursting effervescent power pop that’s sure to prick the ears and have you bouncing around the room air guitaring to your hearts content. Flip over for the fiery ‘Swedish Song’ where the DD’s go all MC4 wrestling with Snuff in fine style. ‘Punish the evil merchant’ relies on stuttered rhythms and by far the favoured track here, a superb slow burner that just festers up when you least expect it recalling the more melodic side of ‘Nowhere Fast’ era Chron Gen. By way of a little taster go to http://www.idlerecords.co.uk/downloads.htm to sample two downloadable morsels ‘Rockability’ and ‘If the crash doesn’t get you’ gratis. You know it makes sense.

Hoboken ‘Hotel Lisboa’ (Royal Jelly). A crafty one this, again the debut release for both band and label. Certainly one of those kinda records that when heard will catch many a listener on the hop as this Glasgow quartet cleverly twist stately love lorn arrangements carved from the same soft centred standards that used to be a staple diet of late 60’s pop and inject into them some deliciously courting electronics with a Tony Bennett / Frankie Valli style vocal over the top. Flip to the more textured cut ‘Safe’ which sees Hoboken tripping crooked left field astral planes with classic anthemic era Pet Shop Boys and the kooky smaltzing of Sparks, fragile, pared down and engaging. Favoured cut as usual is the throwaway PLM remix of the title track tucked away on the CD version, where the original is stretched to breaking point to deliver a delicately balanced tingling array of bubbly space like glacial driftings. Very sweet indeed. For a tasting of their next single ‘Vinglorious’ clink on the link http://www.backroom.clara.co.uk/hoboken/downloads.html

The Stills ‘Rememberese’ (679 Recordings). Another debut release this time all the way from New York via Montreal, ‘Still in love song’ appears to have scarpered off with the bass line from P.I.L.’s ‘This is not a love song’ and gave it a twangy upgrade that gives this single a real infectious buzz. ‘Still in love song’ is one of those classic bedsit songs that ‘s carved from the Morrisey / Marr happy but sad repetoire of tortured often unrequited emotions that are part and parcel of teen angst. Melody wise The Stills take their cue from the early 80’s overcoat brigade, stalking guitar chords flourish with stinging intent to lay their mark on this compelling mood ridden pop rocker. ‘Killer Bees’ found skulking on the flip edges it for me, a racing fusion of pensively hollowed atmospherics and angularly poised new wave woven from a maddening swell of ringing guitars and speeding train like dynamics and a frenzied throbbing bass line that marinates the Cure’s ‘Killing an Arab’ and ‘A Forest’. Stupendous stuff. http://www.679recordings.com

Various ‘Fat Northerner Records Sampler Volume 2’ (Fat Northerner). A neat little four track sampler showcasing the wares currently on offer on the Manchester scene. Not a duff track in sight I’m glad to say. Opening with the Pioneers whose ‘Slow Down’ I’ve been whistling incessantly since first hearing it and believe you me one of those records that once inside your head is nigh on impossible to evict. I dare you to get throughout the duration of ‘Slow Down’ without feeling the urge to either spring into tearful joy or start jigging around the room, a record that literally rains on Starsailors parade big time, massively anthemic sounding but with a slow burning resonance that has a similar tripping euphoric sting as Athlete with subtle traces of Suede’s ‘Animal Nitrate’ thrown in for good measure. Based around hanging arrangements this pops with classic pop reverence and drifting melancholia, could the Pioneers be the first indie boy band? Slims kick in with their white hot angular zig zag treatments on ‘Eyeball Man’, Foo Fighters style melodic velocity is shredded to pieces by some wildly vicious attention grabbing pyrotechnic guitar playing that pinpoints the middle ground between grunge and freebasing metal. Earl are three girls and one boy and do a neat line in electronic indie pop, recalling a crisper variant on Elastica / Klang, their see saw feel synthesised backdrops are fingered and prodded by chugging dense mechanics that weeds out an incessant groove to mess with your head. Blue Avenger round up the set with the tasty ‘Do the right thing’, more grooving electronics with a firm dance feel to it all that subtly cavort with the same sophisticated sharpness and hypnotic bliss as a fired up version of Seal. Don’t say you weren’t warned. Contact http://www.fatnortherner.com

Razorlight ‘Rock ‘n’ roll lies’ (Vertigo). Featuring an ex member of the Libertines, ‘Rock ‘n’ roll lies’ strays away from the usual thrashing racket in your face formula and instead prefers to creep up behind you as it neatly goes for a considered approach. Pitched with a decadent 70’s feel that’s more Jonathan Richman than Television, and on closer inspection betrays a sense of early ‘Transformer’ era Lou Reed boogying on down with the Strokes, just wait for the colliding guitars at the riotous finale. ‘In the City’ on flip takes a second to kick in as the chords charge up moving distractingly from a stroll to a race midway through until it literally melt s the wax on the turntable. In essence though not sound recalling Stiff Little Fingers ‘Johnny Was’, spirited ain’t the word for it, crucial stuff, feisty bastards.
http://www.razorlight.co.uk

The Koreans ‘Machine Code’ (Drowned in Sound). It’s owning up time for yours truly. I’ve had this little nipper skulking around the parish for a fair while, in truth it got lost under the CD mountain and was only located with the aid of air and rescue sniffer dogs after having been heard played on a radio show hosted by Alan ‘Creation’ McGee. Discordant razor pop that does everything a song shouldn’t, but then that’s the magic of ‘Machine Code’, initially starting out like a sparse Casio driven variant of ‘Computer Love’ it soon flares into an unholy rebellious anthemic rocker before sneaking quietly to replay the process, a really neat schizoid song with one of the most maddening grooves you’ll hear this side of Christmas. ‘Slow Motion’ is delightfully dizzying, basing itself around the same kind of endless hypnotic loop as the Cure ‘Lullaby’ all graced with ample dollops of lazy and edgy atmospherics. http://www.drownedinsound.com

King Creosote / Pip Dylan ‘Split’ (For Us). Another exquisite release to add to the burgeoning For Us roster. This time a near perfect gem from the Fence collective and features old favourites to these missives King Creosote this time found teamed up with fellow label mates Pip Dylan and the backing vocal duties of James Yorkston. ‘Lavender Moon’ offers up timeless enchantment and forlorn melancholia, its frail delivery is only exceeded by it endearing aesthetics, combining a heavyhearted longing with a mercurial elegance and long lost arrangements. ‘Love your present’ on the flip side is the kind of tune that you could imagine the late Roy Orbison would have had fun with, an almost lullaby dynamic affectionately wraps this nimble composition with a finite sense of loss. Gripping stuff. Limited as per usual to 500 pressings.

Gravenhurst ‘The Diver’ (For Us). By far the standout track from the recent ‘Flashlight Seasons’ on Sink and Stove. ‘The Diver’ sees Nick Talbot AKA Gravenhurst magically dreaming up irresistible charms that court with rustic enchantment, both haunting and elegiac this has all the invigorating sharpness of a spring morning and all the beauty of an exotic sunset, to be filed alongside Tex La Home. In addition to this little beauty two further cuts, the previously unreleased ‘Flashlight Seasons’ utilises a melancholic sound scape for its backdrop punctuated by an occasional lonesome strum while the lovelorn ‘Damage II’ will mess with your emotions until their at the point of breaking to pieces, cruel but lovable all the same. As with most For Us releases limited to a miserly 500 copies and selling like hot cakes on a winter’s day I shouldn’t wonder. forus@roughtrade.com

The Futureheads ‘First Day’ (Fantastic). More stars of previous missives the Futureheads who if it’s to be believed have recently signed up to 679 Recordings home of Polyphonic Spree and the Stills. Pressed on clear wax and with production duties by ex Gang of 4 Andy Gill, who is also charged with doing the knob twiddling for the forthcoming album, ‘First Day’ is like wow, and continues the bands obsession with the slightly more left off centre fashions of late 70’s punk / new wave scenes, this time they magnificently capture a neat slice of hip swerving pre bandages and pantomime Adam and the Ants c. ‘Car trouble’ for their pains. Infectious and buzzing fit to burst, total fun. The flip side offers up the manically exuberant ‘Balsch’ that again pits Do It era Ant-ish antics with ‘Science Friction’ era XTC, not bad eh? ‘Piece of Crap’ though it may seem slightly throwaway this sort of stuff that some of us actually bought into in the good old days of pre Thatcherite Britain now it’s all doom, gloom and the Darkness and to think we laughed at the Angelic Upstarts. As for ‘Piece of Crap’ think of the Klark Kent (the ex-Police man not the capened fool with the dodgy side part) doing Wire. A must. http://www.thefutureheads.com or http://www.fantasticplastic.co.uk

Nick Cave ‘Rock of Gibraltar’ (Mute). Oh it’s seems like eons since we had some classic Nick Cave spinning on the hi-fi and sadly this reluctant release doesn’t fill the gap. The family man, an ordered existence, critical acceptance and the onset of middle age don’t really make for great inspiration unless of course you like the thought of happily churning out rose scented buds with the merest of effort but then that’s not what we’ve come to accept of Mr Cave. In a nutshell there’s no edge anymore, the anger, the rage and the appeal of non conformism has been replaced by the grind of 9 to 5 business hours and it unhappily reflects vividly here. Pressed on heavy-duty vinyl and housed in a company die cut card sleeve, ‘Rock of Gibraltar’ is taken from Mr Cave’s recent album ‘Nocturama’, amid it’s delicate spirals of a frail flair and it’s timid sounding betrayed love ode with flickering strings ebbing and flowing in the distance and a see saw arrangement that has you believing your on a boat out at sea, you cannot switch off the feeling that there’s a tiredness here, a going through the motions. On the flip side ‘Nocturama’ slightly better, traces of Cave’s infatuation with melancholic ballads is all to present but still that same off handed listlessness is still there as plain as the nose on his face. http://www.mute.com

Wire Issue 236. As ever an invaluable read and authoritative guide to the sub genres that other magazines tend to casually avoid. This issue includes interviews and features with Peaches and Miles Davis and a write up that sets about trying to draw up a list of 50 of the Great Lost Recordings, one of those write up’s that’s bound to cause division in he local drinking hole. Glued to the front cover you’ll find a handy double CD featuring 30 tracks from artists as disparate as Animal Collective, David Sylvian, UI, Laibach, Four Tet, Alias, Jah Wobble and much more besides to help you wile away those long dark nights.

The Lazarus Effect ‘Easily Led’ E.P. (Self Released). Now I’m not to certain whether this 5 track CD is more generally available for consumer consumption but if you like standing on the that raw protest rock side of the fence and are left wondering where did all those sounds go then this release will ably plug the gap and I’m sure the band will appreciate a well worded email. Formally known as Lynam who in their brief career released the long deleted self financed ‘Disappointed’ EP. Relocation to London and one name change later quickly brings us up to date. In passing often compared to New Model Army which I think maybe stretching things a tad yet you can see the thought process because Sheffield based Lazarus Effect do have that ‘fight the good fight’ fire in their belly derived from a Celtic folk feel, passionately energetic anthem rock that to these ears belies traces of the primal rebel rock of very early Alarm c ‘Unsafe Building’. Opening with the call to arms briskness of ‘Someone always comes’ with its rumbling bass and grating guitars that sound like the battle cry of the rescuing cavalry coming over the hill. The there’s the impassioned brace of ‘Hypocrite’ with its impenetrable regimental wall of sound. ‘Brian’ is my personal favourite here, as the band encompass a fuller and more melodically attentive stance skirting vaguely with NMA’s ‘Green and Grey’ with the use of languid atmospherics. Capping it all off with the stadium beckoning ‘Heart to Feet’ which cleverly creates an epic style gloss with its sedate / explosive arrangements and has all the trappings of those magnificently moving tuneage that Mr Wylie so ably kicks out with nonchalant ease. A sterling release, essential of course. http://www.thelazaruseffect.co.uk or email info@thelazaruseffect.co.uk

Various Artists ‘Bush, 1945’ (Rokit). And if you should be lucky enough to track down the current issue of the excellent ‘Robots and Electronic Brains’ issue 12 then you’ll be rewarded for you troubles with a damn fine CD that takes a look at the odds and sods currently available on 5 featured labels: Antenna, Bearos, Miniature, Minimism and Victory Garden (again – are we on commission?). The Antenna label offers up six slabs that include a spoken word prose delivery of The Dust Collectors that rides over doom laden drone backdrops, very Ivor Cutler with a menacing desolate sprinkling of Stylus. Favourites to these pages Dreams of Tall Buildings crash in with the oh so brief ‘Home-an afterthought’ a wilful slice of energetic noise fuelled shock treatment. Los Planetos Del Agua contribute one of the best cuts anywhere here with the longing ‘A positive habit’ as they furrow the drama ridden path treaded by Godspeed and other Constellation friends, all the while chilling brass arrangements gift it with a melancholic air. Bearos kick in with four crucial cuts the best of which is by Super A as ‘Secret Circle’ drags you by the tails and goes on an all out guitar pop assault. Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure of the Miniature label but certainly worth enquiring if you like your electronic pop a bit more wired. Travelogue have a distinctly sparse sound that burrows into your head and sounds like a cleverer version of Vince Clarke’s Yazoo fronted by a solemn Damon Albarn whereas to even up things Lodus’ ‘A lemon for a soul’ sounds like early Clarke inspired Depeche Mode rewiring Kraftwerk’s circuit boxes, not forgetting two cuts from Swodesque whose ’Don’t Go’ appears to use the sample of a younger offspring singing the KC and Sunshine hit of yesteryear. Again I know nothing about the Minimism label suffice to say that these jiggling quintet of tracks serve as an ample introduction. Robokid cleverly wraps subtle techno edges to jostling electronics on ‘Jack/01’ while Namke endorses the use of densely disturbing drone atmospherics that are torn by friction-based clicks, yet my personal favourite are the eerie interplays of Rosenbaum. Last label and certainly not least, Victory Garden, home of the erratic psyche pop of Southall Riot who figure three times, twice with Ansuz Lunasa and once in their own right on the wonderful ‘Throwing Popcorn’. The very glorious Hot Chip rear their collective heads on the screwed Sometimes all I need’, but it’s the terrifying blood lust of Trencher’s ‘Erotica of Flies’ that wins the vote, death metal meets hardcore obliteration, very Nepalm Death. Contact robots and electronic brains at http://www.come.to/robots

Le Neon ‘S.P.A.C.E.’ (Fierce Panda). I’m love this, there’s nothing better than starting the day with a spot of carnage. Riotous fun from one of the best labels on the underground, the esteemed Fierce Panda. How they unearth these bands is any one’s guess maybe they have a ready-made laboratory tucked beneath the office. New kids on the block Le Neon apparently already have a mini album kicking around out there that’ll have to be tracked down post haste if this single is anything to go by. Quite simply a rampant discordant mess o’ blues that’s sure to melt the hi-fi especially the toxic flipside ‘Britannia’ which treats us to a manic display of uncontrolled volleys of jagged guitar pyrotechnics and the mental larynx exercises of a clearly disturbed singer with issues. Lead track ‘S.P.A.C.E.’ which from the title and lettering format suggests it could be a wincing disco dirge is thankfully so far removed that you feel if ever they met in a darkened alley one of them would emerge with it’s legs ripped off and it’s teeth pulled without anaesthesia. A very early Rotten-esque vocal charms this brief but scorching debut, angular melodies with a clearly focused punk / new wave attitude rasp and claw vaguely reminding this listener of the much missed Alternative T.V. And if you are still sitting on the fence undecided, limited to 1000 pressings on transparent yellow vinyl. Cool or what? You play nice now. http://www.fiercepanda.co.uk

The Fades ‘Life Support’ (Genepool). And the hit tunes just keep coming. More flippantly irregular coolness and lovesick blues this time from the Fades with this muscularly schizoid follow up to their ‘You Say’ debut earlier this year. Housed in a sleeve that depicts a hapless vehicle of a car crash it neatly sums up what ‘Life Support’ is all about, except that their car of choice is a ringer as they set about welding together reggae rhythms to the kind of urgent blistering pop punk that shreds eardrums and has toes tapping and betrays a crafted classic Ruts feel to it. Raucous and damn fun with it. ‘Blade’ over the other side is a rampant festering collision of white-hot dynamics and a caustic wall of sound howls served up in less than two minutes. Does it get any neater? Thought not. http://www.genepoolrecords.com

Kid 606 / Timeblind ‘Split’ (Tigerbeat). Easily the most prolific terroriser currently found rampaging on the laptop / electronic scene is Kid 606, ‘Cream’ sees him slightly chilled yet still neatly wired enough that he screws up the sound system with awkwardly demented blips and bleeps that jitter all over the place amid hip hop madness and the potent drill ‘n’ bass / noise mutations scratching over discordant beats. Insane stuff. Timeblind on the other hand is one of the key exponents of programmed electronica and has over the last few years developed his genre-less sounds to great degree. ‘Doubt’ has him delving into an array of stuttered beats that flurry furiously with sampled hip hop elements. Very curious stuff. http://www.tigerbeat6.com

The Superimposers ‘Would it be impossible’ (Little League). Yum, Yum. Haven’t a clue what, who or how about the Superimposers, safe to say that ‘Lovely sky boat’ is one of those sumptuously dreamy records that every well-ordered vinyl collection should have. Down tempo exotica with a subtly derived jazz spine, trippy with a Lemon Jelly appeal accompanied by the Penguin Café Orchestra mooching around in the background and fleshed out with a surrealist coating of childlike babble and whirly electronics. ‘Would it be impossible’ plants you in the middle of a Walt Disney fairytale that mutates into a drifting psyche daydream that playfully courts with laid back rustic summer hued moods and lounge like textures. Perfect. http://www.wonderfulsound.com

Earsugar ‘So far, alright’ (Earsugar). Very much in a similar vein to the Superimposers are Earsugar create in their words not mine ‘weird melodic dream pop’ and quite frankly on the evidence of this delightful two track release pressed on dark blue vinyl, who am I to argue? Played on a variety of speeds depending on how good you want the aural trip to be ‘So far, alright’ sees Earsugar found making delicate sand castles on the same milky cosmic beaches as Sterling Roswell’s Ubik project, ghosting synthesised vocals wash in and out atop a persistent chord sequence while the harp like shimmering and floating melodies lightly brush a mouth watering icy glaze to the whole proceedings. Flipping over for the equally engaging twin sibling ‘Sleep tight’ where Earsugar get to house the nimble textures of Boards of Canada in an enchanted nursery. Very sweet stuff indeed and limited to 500 numbered copies. http://www.earsugar.com

Fonda 500 / ZEA ‘Split’ (Truck / Transformed Dreams). Scary but compelling stuff as Holland’s favourite deranged duo mix it up with Britain’s kookiest pop absurdists. Fonda 500 are another ensemble who seem to have been away from the hi-fi for what seems like an age. Here they contribute ‘Digital Space pop’ armed with lunar hats and visors you too can get to be Robbie the Robot as the devilish Fonda crew take us to deep space to play chicken with the meteors armed with a ditty that vaguely sounds to these ears like a perfect dose of Quickspace, nowt wrong with that, toy town electronics cruise mischievously keeping in the incessant vocodor nagging at bay. Zea have already had us wowing with their second album and handful of prime cut psychotic electronic pop singles earlier this year, ‘We buried indie rock years ago’ dispels any notion that they are running out of steam, a stupendous friction based rocker replete with all the crooked dead ends you’ve come to love and expect and the perfect antithesis of Sebadoh’s ‘Gimme indie rock’ and cut from a dinky Bis vs Sarah records cloth. http://www.truckrecords.com or http://www.transformeddreams.com

Glass Candy Bicicleta Emocional’ (Troubleman Unlimited). I might be sticking my neck out here, but if there’s only one release you can manage to track down then make it this one, you won’t be disappointed, well not with the A side that’s for sure as to be honest this is a release that might have been best served as a one sided oddity. After a slew of now deleted singles Portland based Glass Candy up the ante several notches with their sleazy subtle re-modelling of ‘Heart of Glass’ among other things on the decadent sounding ‘Bicicleta Emocional’. Starting out with a riff straight from the opening of Johnny Thunders ‘Get off the phone’, Glass Candy drag you onto the glitzy floorshow for a curious fusion of electronics, guitars and subtle disco beats that incorporates everything from flippant T-Rex hooks, death cabaret nuances and dislocated mutant studio 54 / new wave cross overs, totally infectious stuff. Flip the disc and you get the bands thoroughly uninspiring cover of Roxy Music’s ‘Re-make / Re-model’ on which GC accompanied by lame Pistols riffs and a lack lustre third rate Siouxsie impression go about obliterating one of Ferry and Co’s finest moments, shame really. http://www.troublemanunlimited.com

Mystery Girls ‘Circles in the Sand’ (In the Red). Wisconsin based quintet who can certainly bang out a racket with the best of them and who by all accounts have a collective age five years younger than Mick Jagger, only joking, though this little treasure does hint that someone in the ranks of the Mystery Girl has parents with a tasty record collection which has been plundered cleverly, all for research purposes you understand. ‘Circles in the Sand’ is a good wholesome slab of beaten up garage rock that imagines the Nomads tearing up the tarmac with MC5 hot on their tails, authentic 60’s sounds with a riff that gentle checks out the Monkees ‘(I’m not your) Steppin’ Stone’ and rumbles and shakes just where you want it too. Flip to the twisted rocking blues of ‘That’s what I said’ that sounds like a seriously wired classic Stones incarnation on some quality narcotics. Good rocking fun for all the family. http://www.intheredrecords.com

The Dirty Switches ‘That’s right’ (Butcher’s Hook). Just when you thought it was safe to come from behind the sofa and the Dirty Switches drop three rampaging cuts of garage punk to road test your hi-fi’s amplifiers. ‘That’s right’ is spanking two minute dash of loud, shambolic, fuzzed up dirty fun straight out of London via a time loop to the original 60’s Detroit riot rock sound. Flip the disc for two more priceless cuts of no nonsense festering blues, ‘Know what to do’ replete with white hot riffs, hand claps wipes the floor with the current kids on the block The Vines et al while ‘Sexo’ lunges feet first into territories similarly being laid to waste by Sweatmaster. An awesome release and limited to 600 copies. Contact info@cargouk.demon.co.uk

ENON / Blood Thirsty Lovers ‘Split’ (Shingle Street). Release number 5 from the label that used to be Liquefaction records and what a tasty pairing it is. ENON jettison the weirdness for a second and go for a surrealist trip along pictures-esque pastoral settings on a blossoming summer’s day, sit beneath the shade of a oak tree and drop a few tabs and return home to bring us this happy little charmer, ‘Because of You’. Ex members of Braniac and Blonde Redhead combine to deliver a crafted piece of fleeting psyche pop oddness that’s cut from the finest Barrett cloth. Over the other side the Blood Thirsty Lovers featuring David Shoules of Those Bastard Souls and Grifters fame, prove not to be outdone with the gorgeous pristinely tuned bristling folk pop of ‘2000 light years’, classically charged 70’s style MOR which kind of imagines ELP doing West Coast covers with the Raspberries. Really tasty stuff indeed. Available via shinglestreet@hotmail.com

Kiosk ‘One day I’m going to go stratospheric on you and, chances are, you’ll thank me for it’ (The Hearse Foundation). Winner of the longest song title this missive by a country mile and a half and a record that’s frankly been worn out by over playing in the last week or so. This two track debut from London based duo Kiosk just kicks like mule, heavily twanging swollen grooves that weave swamp like with a vicious classic early Gallon Drunk nonchalant pedigree blister darkly in sharp contrast the poppified coating of the almost girlie like vocal delivery of Krissie. Sharp stuff. Over the flip things are little more laid back, the breathless vocals soaring over the top of gently undulating melodies create a lazy summery haze that always threatens to boil over but teasingly maintains a graceful canter. Contact info@thehearsefoundation.com

Empress ‘Tea for Two’ (Misplaced Music). Delicately frail 4 track offering from Empress that oozes tear stained lullabies and deep melancholia like it was going out of fashion. ‘Tea for Two’ has the same kind of icy fragility that’s more associated with the likes of Mum, clockwork toy electronics recalling early Plone quietly unfurl growing in stature from a whisper to a murmur all the time Nicola Hodkinson’s softening vocals caressing the surface. ‘Tutto Solo’ is both haunting and tragic sounding so much so that you’ll find it difficult to resist giving it a re-assuring cuddle. Rustic chords and a listless piano with the merest of clicks and shuffles flutter elegantly catching cold in the winters gaze. So sparsely arranged is ‘People do worse’ that you’ll literally be heart breaking on the spot, shyly beautiful but painfully sorrowful as the near still melodies almost pick at your emotions. Concluding with ‘Drink the town dry’ that courts with child like melodies lovingly lost in their own beguiling magic, it’s enough to make a grown man weep and I should know. All in all think of a docile Broadcast being remixed by Boards of Canada and Low in the background fooling with the resulting tapes. http://www.misplacedmusic.co.uk

Stephen Fretwell ‘Something’s got to give’ EP (Tape). A release that if I’m totally honest floored me when I first heard it, and a record that you feel both the Fence and Twisted Nerve labels must be kicking themselves for missing. Just ahead of his second ‘Lines’ due any day now, Mr Fretwell offers up three tranquil yet frail acoustic musings that will have any self-respecting soul weeping like a child. Three near naked arrangement of such finite beauty make this an admirable debut, sensitive, languid and charmingly carefree especially the bristling ‘When forever’ which radiates subtle traces of Dylan, Cat Stevens and Loudon Wainwright III while on ‘Something’s got to give’ Fretwell enlists the spirit of George Harrison, classically enriched melodies with a soft 70’s Radio 2 appeal that veer close in essence to the Commodores ‘Easy’ lazily play with Fretwell’s subtle comic vocal delivery as his delivers his ultimatum to an un-named loved one, simply delicious stuff. Favourite of the lot though is James Yorkston like ‘Honey’, both a timid and melancholically breezy love-lorn piece of perfection, trembling acoustics draped with an off centre beauty dig deep holes in the emotions even if it does have a ring of ‘Polly put the kettle on’ to it. An excellent top drawer debut. http://www.stephenfretwell.com

Miss Black America / Cultural Ice Age ‘Split’ (Repeat Records / Love Music Hate Racism). Another split single treat, this time by the looks of things in aid of the anti-fascism cause, and for that reason alone getting my thumbs up straight away. Pressed on lemonade yellow vinyl with hand made sleeves and strictly limited to 500 pressings, this slab of wax sees former missive stars Miss Black America going head to head with Cultural Ice Age. Miss Black America hail all the way from Bury St Edmunds and play the kind of melodic punk that made Mega City 4 / The Pleasureheads and the Senseless Things such an ever present on the old hi-fi all those years back. After some rigorous line up changes and last minute substitutions ‘Drowned by Numbers’ really does kick in with an infectious appeal setting them aside from the usual hardcore merchants sharing the same circuit, really smart stuff. Flip the disc for Cultural Ice Age who combine a more friction based sound on ‘Reclusive Coma’
Which originally appeared on the ‘Survival of the Richest’ sampler, and solidify it with a gruellingly impenetrable fuzz fuelled loud quiet dynamic. Available at http://www.repeatfanzine.co.uk or http://www.lmhr.org.uk

Vector Lovers ‘Punk and Droid’ (Iwari). Can’t be bad getting featured in three of the last four missives, but then you just can’t hold a good tune down, in fact four good tunes as is the case on this smartish 12 inch release, pressed up on heavy duty vinyl for all you good folks. Again strictly limited this time to just 300 pressings and available only via the internet. This four tracker sees Mr Wheeler moving aside from the sugar coated glacial soundscapes and into more textured horizons. Opening with the sleazy get down and do ya thang groove of ‘Punk and Droid’, which at the start cleverly adapts the bass line to Queen’s ‘Another one bites the dust’ before tripping into an assemblage of elemental space wanderings pitched against intoxicating discofied beats with meaty funk hooks set up a dance floor showdown that sees Rick James and Sylvester on one side pitted in battle against Herbie Hancock and Kraftwerk. ‘Electrosuite’ is slightly darker initially, still courting with a funk vibe and horny vocoders, it’s the futuristic sound track for an illicit bar, where under the sweating strobe lights and burning smell of overheated circuits machines groove. Sex music for Cybermen if you like. Neatly tucked on the flip, two more slices of hypnotic electronics starting with the spacey ’Yamanote Sunset’ replete with skipping beats and tingling scapes, yet it’s ‘Nightwalking your memory’ which reveals itself as the EP’s best cut. Encompassing everything that was so enchanting with 70’s synthesiser music as a child, Wheeler temptingly arranges a thoughtfully layered luxuriant simplistic symphony that acts as a distant relative to ‘Onsen’. Snoozing chilled out moods are playfully disturbed tip toeing keys as waltzing electrified fanfares flutter softly in the allure of the glowing soundscapes. Contact http://www.iwari.com

Animal Collective / David Grubbs ‘Split’ (Fat Cat). And it really has been a long time since we were last hanging out the bunting to celebrate the new split series 12 inch from the ever dependable Fat Cat label, in fact last time out must have been Fennesz’s pairing with Main, blimey that must have been about 18 months ago. 16th release for this series of aural interplays sees ex Gastr Del Sol / Squirrel Bait man David Grubbs occupying one side with two compositions while Avey Tare of Animal Collective fame house warms the flip with three slices of wayward pop. David Grubbs set begins with a delicately hopping 10 minute piano piece entitled ‘The World brushed aside’, formed from the multi tracking of 6 pianos it imparts a wonderful dulling effect on the senses, galloping key rhythms restlessly jostle for centre stage leading to a tempestuously exhaustive collision at the finale. ‘Theme from the ‘Horizontal Technicolour’’ is an edited version of a composition written for and used to accompany Angela Bulloch’s art installation in September 2002. A haunting pulse like tapestry of sparse sound scapes recording on a Korg and treated to copious amounts of distortion and wah wah tampering to give it an eerie and frosted texture. Avery Tare plunders back to the fizzing psyche pop coda ventured on Animal Collective’s debut long player ‘Spirit they’re gone / Spirit they’ve vanished’ on this trio of home recorded oddities, none more so better exemplified that ‘Crumbling Land’ where wavering child like samples invest a honey combed Oriental centre over which twisted lullaby-esque melodies scantly scratch, nightmarish stuff. ‘Misused Barber’ is considerably darker from a tonal perspective, distorted clicks eerie course over disembodied vocals while impatient whirling electronics connect at the rampaging chaotic conclusion. Culminating the set with a tormenting 13-minute epic of sorts, the ‘Abyss Song (Abby’s Song)’ is a slow unfolding collage of tension building humming drone dynamics that rewards the viewer with oddly scattered ghost like chuckling vocals, the distant sounds of children playing and an eerie gloss to equate with Laurie Anderson, very disorientating indeed. http://www.fat-cat.co.uk

Lastly while putting the finishing touches to this particular missive the sad news was breaking of the death of Robert Palmer from a heart attack. Palmer had just completed recording a TV special in London and had gone to Paris with his partner Mary Ambrose for a short break, where he subsequently died. Palmer’s career had spanned four decades, acknowledged for operating within the multi genre fringes of popular music that included R’n’B, soul, jazz and soft rock. His first major success was with Vinegar Joe with Elkie Brooks who he had first met in Dada. After a succession of well received albums Palmer decided to go solo in 1974 releasing ‘Sneakin Sally through the Alley’. His career saw him collaborate with a number of artists notably Gary Numan, UB40 and Duran Duran, the latter in the dance grooved alter ego Power Station. Scoring a stateside chart topper in the mid 80’s with ‘Addicted to Love’ accompanied by the heavily rotated MTV video that launched a thousand copycats he seemed to have consolidated his career with a series of successful chart hits. In recent years Palmer had been noticeably quiet from the music scene in the late 90’s. A much missed artist of that there’s no doubt. Our condolences go out to his family and friends on this sad occasion. Robert Palmer (1949 – 2003) R.I.P.

That pretty much raps it up for this missive, next time barring plague, death and ex girlfriends it’ll be a shorter Singled Out which should be with you in about a fortnight. Of the releases that’ll be covered, a spanking debutante from the folks that brought you Emma’s House which alas came to late to be included this time, for now though go to http://www.onoffonoff.org/heliotone for more information. In addition the first few releases of the esteemed Ochre labels new 7×7 series, and what corkers they are, who knows I might even dip into the long promised overhaul of MP3 tracks that are thoroughly deserving of your listening, if that is time allows.

All that leaves me to say is thank you for taking the time out to read this, thank you to all the labels and artists for their help and words, you know who you are. As always emails are appreciated whether it be to criticise, threaten or simply say hello.

Take care of yourselves and see you in 14 days,

Mark
X

Ingredients: Several dashes of garage punk, a flavouring of exotica pop, three quarts sublime melodies and an essence of wide-eyed longing breeze. May cause drowsiness and in extreme cases headaches, in such cases switch off all appliances for a short while and repeat dosage with volume turned to maximum. During the preparation of Singled Out no animals or vegetable fats where used.

Archiv – Singled Out – Missive 20 ….

Archive posting originally published on the losing today site ….. August 2003 ……

Missive 20
31-08-2003
Singled Out

Missive 20

Defrost and ready to eat by Saturday 30th August 2003
That was nice, more please on 21st September 2003.

Hey ho and welcome space cadets to the occasional rummage through the dusty counter tray marked ‘tasty records, care to try, if you dare?’

Bumper packed missive this time, and boy do we mean bumper, in fact were so confident and proud of the delicacies laid out on our late summer harvest table made of wicker that you’ll not only be rushing to smash open your own carefully stashed piggy bank but will roam the neighbourhood looking for other likely loose change packed jam jars in order to acquire a fair deal of these aural goodies.

For those who’ve asking about the magazine, it is, I’m reliably informed now scheduled for December, there will be some neat surprises for the relaunch issue which I can’t say owt about as yet, but safe to say it’ll hopefully have made your wait and welcomed patience all worthwhile.

Without further ado, the singled out which on this occasion features releases by (sharp intake of breathe)…..

The Playwrights, The Bandits, Ian Page and the Affair, Woodchuck, Manual, The Fiery Furnaces, Airport Girl, J Xaverre, Fort Lauderdale, Rocket Science, Wintergreen, The All American Rejects, Police and Thieves, The Fabs, Medicine, The Zutons, Skill 7 Stamina 12, The Microphones, MGF, Supergrass, Klang, Relaxed Muscle, Thermals, The Fremen, Will Oldham, The Workhouse, Maps and Diagrams, Souvaris and the Marcia Blaine School for Girls and more besides…..

Can’t think of a better way to start than with this little cutie…..

The Workhouse / Souvaris ‘Split’ (Awkward Silence. Last seen treading the boards with their sterling release for the Great Pop Supplement label earlier this year and currently featuring on the inaugural compilation release for Slow Noire records, this seems like a pretty prolific period for the incredibly underrated quartet the Workhouse. ‘John Noakes’ is a teaser for the bands imminent debut album and if this is anything to go by it’ll be meltdown time for the hi-fi. ‘John Noakes’ will literally blow the blues from any sunken heart, a chiming collision of atmospheric textures that configure to breathe a passionate frenzy of exuberant pop into the void. Starting out slowly with measured delicacy it soon rages into a vibrant wall of stratospheric beauty before returning to serenity recalling those magical Chameleons b-sides to replay the cycle. Simply stunning. Flip over for the equally impressive Souvaris. Pitching their tent in a nearby field, Souvaris’ ‘To behave like a guard dog and fit into a matchbox’ plots a similar trajectory but with more pensive refrain, complicated corkscrewing chords converge to create darting patterns that weave a tempting web of atmospheric sheen that culminates in a momentary thrashing crescendo of impromptu ferocity that near blew us right off the seat of our listening stool, before pulsing serenely into the ether. Limited to 500 pressings. Very tasty indeed.

The Marcia Blaine School for Girls / d_rradio ‘Split’ (Awkward Silence). Not content to treat us with one mighty damn fine release those bods at Awkward Silence HQ kick in with another ‘every good home deserves a copy’ pumping action thrilled double feature. Heading up this particular release are former missive stars The Marcia Blaine School for Girls last time let loose on Static Caravan. ‘Kamara debagging’ ups the ante considerably as the three Blaine kids go immeasurably eerily trippy on us, hypnotic waves of drone textures are propelled along by grooving beats themselves torn and scratched by the decidedly unsettling ticks and clicks, yet all the time beneath the wayward confusion a seriously funked out vibe is threatening to shake the bones to pieces of the participating listener, like superb. Not to be outshone d_rradio (short for death row radio) go all sensual and shy on us for their debut venture. ‘Some other time’ is restlessly dreamy, exotic sounding melodies tearfully romance and reach out to fill the head with calm. Ethereal electronic symphonies waltz suggestively around coiling chords enhanced by the brief interruption from celestial intermissions to present a truly heartbreaking signature of some magnitude. Expect future outings on Static Caravan. Limited to 500 pressings. http://www.awkwardsilencerecordings.com

Little Robot Voice / Naked Casino ‘Split’ (Static Caravan). Continuing their singles series of top drawer face offs all strictly limited to 500 pressings and all housed in generic paper sleeves are the boys from the Static labs serving up another ‘you’d be a fool to pass on this’ release. No information sadly on any of these two ensembles but I suppose it’s a case of the music doing the talking. Little Robot Voice offers up ‘Construction and learning is structure’ and from what I can gather is their debut release and a perky devil it is. Skipping warmth filled pastoral clockwork electronica jostles idly with tempting acoustic vibrancy, gathering stature layer by layer until the haunting drones of the wisping unearthly backdrops come into focus to envelop the senses with their enchanted celestial conversation. Flip over for something altogether more fluffy and divisive. Naked Casino serenade us with two magical moments of marshmallowy ambience. The spooky and sinewy ‘Last Transaction’ comes across sounding like a fleeting moment that’s been lifted straight from within the grooves of one of Pimmons more distracted compositions and stretched to incorporate the addition of lashings of colourful face lifting, very alienated sounding yet melodically sweet though enterprisingly chilly. ‘Patter of Feet’ is more cut and thrust and harnesses a tasty hypnotic acoustic loop into its cause and a sampled cut that sounds either like the orgasmic pants not visited on ‘pop’ vinyl since Jane Birkin on ‘Je t’aime’ or someone in the death throes of hypothermia, quite endearing stuff indeed.

Manual ‘Isares’ (Static Caravan). As with Tiny Little Robot, Manual serve up some wonderfully serene acoustic touches that belie a sense of earthly warmth. Four tracks in all and each endearingly edible, fluffy and positively disarming. ‘A familiar place’ opens things dreamily, coming across like a miniature Vengelis. Stately fanfares zip away from the motoring clockwork melodies below like tiny fluttering sparks from a Catherine wheel: upbeat and poppy but still possessing a sense of the mystique that gathers in momentum towards the euphoric assembly awaiting at the close with the visitation of celestial choirs. ‘Stealing through’ suggests you sit back and suck on it’s languorous textures, an exotic sounding lone guitar locks into a hypnotic groove and works it’s mesmeric magic very much in the same vein as 90 degrees South and the Land of Nod. ‘Wake’ is massive and magnificent, cathedral-esque soundscapes and procession like rhythms and coloured by ghostly vocals, invigoratingly sensual and upliftingly grand. ‘Horizon’ closes the set and will without doubt have you fighting back the tears, it’s initial entrance ushering in the secular drone of icy remoteness. The wave like formations of drone layers sounding like a symphony of extra terrestrial space transmissions sending out communicative messages in to the void. Blissful. http://www.staticcaravan.org

Maps and Diagrams / Hard Sleeper ‘ Split’ (Static Caravan). Information aplenty here alas no titles as my copies a white label. Maps and Diagrams are no strangers here having charmed us with their full length release for Pause 2 and recently hogging the head phones with their current long player for Expanding. Now in true John Peel fashion we’ve played this at a variety of speeds, all sounding great particularly at 45rpm where Tim Diagram gets all chemical on us. However played at the right speed track one unfolds into a real tasty slice of hypnotic lullaby like melody friendly electronica with android funk engineering shimmying about in the engine room, kinda reminiscent of those test card soundtracks at 3 in the morning. Track 2 dallies with ISAN, sleepy toy melodies are awoken by the clicking and whirring of the purring robot cat with congestion nuzzling in the corner of the nursery, tempting stuff. Flipping the disc for Hard Sleeper who is Dublin based musician / designer Peter Maybury who has previously had releases on Sub Rosa and Émigré with more to follow on Fallt. Again no titles here on offer, track 1 is an unusual combination of modernist technologies Vs old school classicism, stray segments of a tenderly played piano filter through the stagnant haze of pulse like drones and C3P0 like squiggles. Track 2 is a little less alienated, but only just. Oddly broken piano segments waver hauntingly beneath determined clockwork beats while ‘Taxi Driver’ like soundtrack touches breeze in ominously to chill the blood, ultimately creating a deranged, detached and discordant assembly of spine tingling back drops. http://www.staticcaravan.org

Grandaddy ‘El Caminos in the West’ (V2). From the great to the truly divine. Somewhere along the way I must have missed the last Grandaddy album, Sumday, ‘El Caminos in the West’ is the second single to be lifted or should that be floated from the Californian ensembles third album, I say floated because I can’t recall the blokes in beards sounding so breezily upbeat. Nicking bits of Simon and Garfunkels ‘Mrs Robinson’ which is strange because this has a taste of the Lemonheads about it, ‘El Caminos’ sees the lads packing up their guitars and bits and bobs and setting up their musical camp next door to the Thrills, where the days are packed with endless sunshine, catchy riffs and everyone loves everyone else, just check out the fun time video for all the proof required, see the links beneath, no saying we don’t treat you now. On the reverse you get a live session version of their previous single Now it’s on’ sounding like Neil Young in much happier climes with a summery pop focus. New track ‘Derek Spears’ rounds up the set in fine style with some shyly feint storytelling underpinned by the merest of crooked melodic additions. Irresistible stuff.
EL CAMINOS IN THE WEST – MTV VERSION
56k video
http://v2music.com/windows/grandaddy/video/vvr5023663-01mtv_56.asx
100k video
http://v2music.com/windows/grandaddy/video/vvr5023663-01mtv_100.asx
300k video
http://v2music.com/windows/grandaddy/video/vvr5023663-01mtv_300.asx
EL CAMINOS IN THE WEST – MUCH MUSIC VERSION
56k video
http://v2music.com/windows/grandaddy/video/vvr5023663-01much_56.asx
100k video
http://v2music.com/windows/grandaddy/video/vvr5023663-01much_100.asx
300k video
http://v2music.com/windows/grandaddy/video/vvr5023663-01much_300.asx
EL CAMINOS IN THE WEST – DISNEY/CHILDREN SUITABLE VERSION
Windows
56k video
http://v2music.com/windows/grandaddy/video/vvr5023663-01nicdis_56.asx
100k video
http://v2music.com/windows/grandaddy/video/vvr5023663-01nicdis_100.asx
300k video
http://v2music.com/windows/grandaddy/video/vvr5023663-01nicdis_300.asx

Thermals ‘ No culture Icons’ (Sub Pop). One of the great disappointments in doing these little write ups is that I never have the fortune to come across all the releases put out by Sub Pop who it seems in the last three or four years have gone through a remarkable renascence phase, saying that when they are uncovered and found they are always an untold treat to be cherished. Latest ‘nuke’ kids on the block are Portland, Oregon’s The Thermals, a kick around side project, (with the emphasis on kick around kids), featuring various members of Like Splitting and All girl summer fun band (reviewed last missive). Boy can this lot summon up a fair old racket, when we say lo-fi we mean lo fi, fuzzy friction based gems all four of them. Punked up indie never sounded so refreshing, taking their cue from Sebadoh, The Thermals scorch their way through a charged quartet of power driven distortion racked melody fuelled carnage, the ear splitting precision of the title track lays waste to the hi-fi yet it’s the cherry picked ‘Capture with a magnet’ on the flip side that wins the vote hands down, sounding not unlike a roughened fucked up version of Placebo trapped inside an old transistor radio. Really we are not worthy. Loveable stuff. http://www.subpop.com

Machine Gun Fellatio ‘Impossible Love E.P.’ (Double Think). I have to admit being drawn to this release by the sleeve, outrageous as it is picturing a cute bunny rabbit getting intimate with a hen (not that I encourage or take satisfaction in such artwork, however it does kinda come across as slightly off putting where your left thinking that the record within is either going to be a real stinker or a work of art, or at least a collectors item once the powers that be remove the offending item from harm’s way), then there’s the band’s name, Machine Gun Fellatio and if you flip the sleeve over the opening of this extended play release is titled ‘Mutha Fukka on a motorcycle’. Now maybe it’s just me, but this lot appear to have no regard for winning new friends, which is a shame because this is a mighty damn fine release, albeit odd if you take account of the bizarrely weird ‘Free and Easy’ that closes the release. Opening with the amazingly schizoid ‘Mutha fukka on a motorcycle’ which strangely utilises all manner of genre hopping guises from the down tempo cool jazz funk machinations sometimes found creeping the borders of those tasty little Touch Tones releases to the more twisted visions currently tripping out of the XL Recordings stable via the Avalanches et al. What this track neatly does is to spring a new spin on the rock / dance fusion debate, big band sounds slam awkwardly against mutilated early Motown vibes and a vocal that sounds like ‘Action Packed’ Ronnie Dawson taking the Jackson 5 to task, so unfeasibly groovy you’ll be floored. ‘100 Fresh Disciples’ continues in the vein of awkward beats pop splintering elements old skool elements of Art of Noise and refitting the works with a sleazy snaking edge that’d make Add N to X as proud as punch. Flip over for my personal fave the frisky ‘Not afraid of romance’, late night sensual smouldering coated with exotic brass arrangements and a wicked funky underpinning. And just in case you thought the bus housing all the oddball electronica you’d ever care for stopped at Cornelius and Lemon Jelly then think again, ‘Free and Easy’ courts with warped variants, crooked riffs and off centre down tempo coolness that wavers atop Kate Bush / Bjork vocals soaked in helium, the stuff of lunacy. A stunning, albeit, wayward debutante. http://www.doublethink.tv

The Fiery Furnaces ‘Crystal Clear’ (Rough Trade). Latest signings on Rough Trade are the brother and sister combo The Fiery Furnaces who hail from New York. ‘Crystal Clear’ acts as a teaser for the bands impending debut long player entitled ‘Gallowbird’s Bark’ and showcases their warped off centre approach to song writing. ‘Crystal Clear’ is a power packed broad side shot of disjointed new wave-isms, Eleanor’s vocal sounding not unlike a nicotine abused Debbie Harry while the melodies consisting of swirling keyboards and stinging flanged guitars jostle with each other for supremacy. My personal fave is the madcap shenanigans found within the monumental ‘Cousin Chris’, where the abstract, absurd and psychedelic all fuse awkwardly, taking their cue from the Pretty Things ‘Defecting grey’ while incorporating elements of the mop tops hallucogenic opus ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ that neatly filter in and out, add to that some tastefully tripping sitars and enough changes in direction as to give you whiplash. Likewise the epic sounding ‘Smelling cigarettes’ courts with unusually awkward time signatures and has that quaint charm of being a self contained rock opera all of it’s own. Just in case you’re wavering, pressed on clear vinyl. Here’s looking forward to the album. http://www.roughtraderecords.co.uk

The Zutons ‘Creepin and a crawlin’ (Deltasonic). Fast becoming one of our favourite labels, Deltasonic records serve up the return release from the wonderful Zutons. Following their highly sought after ‘Devil’s Deal’ debut from last year. Again produced by Ian Broudie ‘Creepin an a crawlin’ draws you in with it’s spellbinding off centre manner, more in common with the Hokum Clones (featured last missive) than fellow label mates the Coral. Oddball screwed rhythms with their curious sea shanty vibe marry themselves to warping out of step harmonies giving the whole spectacle a tripping pop edge. Not as immediately accessible as their label mates the Basement or the Coral yet that’s not to detract from the fact that this lot are a real special brew. ‘Creepin and a crawlin’ is exactly that, a wicked potion of hypnotic melodies and ominous harmonies that belie an almost sinister turn and unusual quirky charm. Flip over for the preferred cut ‘Bumblin ramblin’ that vaguely recalls the more introspective and off beat touches of Ray Davies’ Kinks, sparsely spooky and wilfully brilliant. http://www.deltasonic.co.uk

The Bandits ‘2 step rock’ (B-Unique). More scousers just where their coming from is anyone’s guess, though Liverpool presumably would be as good as any place to start. Dare you to keep still throughout the entirety of this, now there’s an impossible task, even if you do nail your limbs to the floor. The Bandits ‘Two step rock’ is pure unadulterated wigged out pop straight from the heart of the city that made pop music, and sees them upping the ante with considerable intent on their fellow scouse mates the Coral. A charged up fusion of swinging retro soul beat pop that checks out elements of Motor City / Motown and Carnaby street cool. A hit presumably, you have been warned. Log on to the label site at http://www.b-unique.com for a chance to get hold of a free CD sampler featuring the Bandits, the Sun, Leaves and much more for gratis.

Fort Lauderdale ‘Rock n Roll’ (Memphis Industries). Not the old Gary Glitter stomper but nevertheless still ploughing similar territories with their sonically charged glam rockisms. Fort Lauderdale change tact slightly and go all moody and leather trousered in a Primal Scream sort of way c. ‘Give out, but don’t give up’ as they dig in deep with the T-Rex hooks all laced up and booted with a breathtaking snaking lead doing the business. Smoking. ‘Quasimodo’ brings a sense of familiarity to the proceedings, breezily brief it has to be said, but in it’s passing it pervades a delicately warming Morricone spaghetti western feel to the proceedings. That said the prime cut is the menacing ‘Psalm’, irregular and spine chilling tinkering of the ivories married to a sense of abstract eeriness give this a towering Stockhausian texture, that’s best listened to in the cold light of day with all the lights on from behind the settee.

Fort Lauderdale ‘The Chilling place’ (Memphis Industries). Taken from their forthcoming album ‘Pretty Monster’ and billed as it’s centrepiece and who are we to argue as ‘The Chilling Place’ really is a piece of adventurous rag taggle classically scored drama albeit warped. Cleverly arranged and enlisting the vocal talents of Nathaniel Blonde, ‘The Chilling Place’ proves itself as a slick soundtrack for disorientated states of mind or maybe better still a psychedelic cheese and wine party, a drunken fusion of clipped and confused melodies, where bombastic brass arrangements run with unruly glee alongside cartoonish backdrops, grandiose strings and all cut up by the most unreal early 70’s style snazzed up Brian May after a night on some wicked magic mushrooms solo guitar. A stupefying classic in waiting. ‘She’s in bloom’ on the flip side is just woahhhh. Has to be heard with raybans and black polo necks as this is the nearest to being the Velvets without being the Velvets, so authentically retro you’ll swear it strutted straight out of the Warhol Factory. I feel I should in some way be ashamed to owning up about never hearing or knowing about Bruce Haak’s ‘Incantation’ but here it is as rendered by the Lauderdale duo. Spectacularly goofed up, it’s like imagining Kraftwerk at their peak being bundled into a room with only classic children’s TV from the 70’s for company and a very sedated Tom Waits skulking in the shadows after ingesting a bag of happy pills. Seriously loopy.

J Xaverre ‘Saturday’ (Memphis Industries). With the long awaited debut long player ‘These acid stars’ about to be released, as fine a time as any to give the record buying public a renewed reminder of one of pop’s true lost classics of recent years. ‘Saturday’ was originally reviewed in these very pages ooh ages ago, when it came as lead track for the celebrated Moshi Moshi release ‘Bingo Wings’ EP. If memory serves me right it was for it’s trouble even duly awarded the extremely rare Single of the Missive, what made it more remarkable was that it was so far removed from Mr Gofton AKA J Xaverre and Johnny X’s former life as sticksman for Kenicke. It appears that since their demise, Mr X retreated back to his home town in Sunderland to get a few hours in listening to all classic pop he could lay his hands on that could help translate the sounds that buzzed in his head. But let’s get honest here when the drifting sounds are this good accolades such as single of the week are merely side issues, what counts is whether a song can stand the test of time and evoke the same prickly sensations 2 years on and several more listens along the way as it did the first time heard. ‘Saturday’ does just that and in abundance, it still sends shivers down the back of the neck, words are arbitrary this is simply perfection to a tee, a gorgeously woven lazy late summer record. To prove that he’s not lost any of that melodic touch this release includes two new tracks that further give evidence that a creative mind is ticking away and has not only been tinkering with pop’s chemistry set but has hood winked the damn thing a relocated to his front room in Sunderland. ‘Strange Thing’ cruising in with pretty much the same breathless ideology as Toshack Heighway’s debut long player from a while back, exuding the same longing space folk electronic feel while ‘Making the most of a beautiful day’ envisages campfire cowboys taking a two week sabbatical in some far flung picturesque hideaway beach in the sun, very much all grass skirts and beards ‘n’ pipes. Get the limited twelve inch version for 2 exclusive mixes of ‘Saturday’ by Blue States and Manitoba. Bargain or what? http://www.memphis-industries.com

The Fremen ‘Twisted Up’ (Thin Line). Absolutely no information to be had about this lot except that their a five piece from Chorlton, Lancs. ‘Twisted Up’ is the ensembles debut release and a spanking affair it is, all delayed guitars, Hammonds and authentic 60’s beat pop madness, lying somewhere between the Hives and the Mystreated and hey that can’t be bad. A rampant toe tapping feast of psyche / beat pop of the highest order. ‘Buckshot’ on the flip is a dirtier bar-room spat affair, imagine a young Noddy Holder hooking up with the local garage combo sweating and kicking ass night after night under white hot lights doing fuzzed up blues ditties, excellent stuff and well worth the entrance fee alone.

The Fabs ‘Surfer Girl’ (Over 18’s). For those with a hankering for early B-52’s circa the original version of ‘Rock Lobster’ and Go Go’s will do well to make it your mission this week to track this smart little two tracker down. The Fabs is in fact just one lady, an 18 year old half Italian half Brazilian who appears to play everything on the tracks. Not quite the kinda surf toon we’re so used to here with not a hint of twanging guitar on the horizon, instead a repetitively stinging lead jabs at the ear while the curiously warming Shaggs in beach fight with Shonen Knife mentality does it’s business elsewhere all over the disc. ‘Sunrise’ on the flip get my vote with it’s grooving West Coast twee appeal, very Elekibass and adorably amateurish, buy and be forever smittened. http://www.over18s.co.uk

Wintergreen ‘The Magic Road’ (Squirrel). Simply wonderful stuff, limited to 500 hand numbered copies and all pressed on transparent orange vinyl, and once word gets out about this lot (because it’s only a matter of time) sure to feature at some point in the future on ebay for ridiculous amounts. Wintergreen hail from Reading, UK are a five piece and ‘The Magic Road’ is their debut three tracker. Lovers of Track and Field, Sarah, Belle and Sebastian and other such like are going to lap this up big time. Rushing pop that charismatically engages toy electronics, melodicas and strumming guitars into it’s manifesto for twee pop domination, a band who’ve been reared listening to Belle and Sebs ‘Tigermilk’ and whatever Another Sunny Day singles they could get their hands on. ‘The Magic Road’ adopts a visible krautrock backdrop but nullifies its intensity with some seriously summery sounding tomfoolery sort of like early Quickspace having their work checked by the Trembling Blue Stars before being let loose in the shops. Works for me anyway. Marvellous stuff. Flipping the disc for the rather fetching cinematic hymnal folk of ‘Cmg’ sounding like it was scored for some touchingly heart prodding Kapra / Disney collaborative feel good motion picture, dizzyingly dreamy. ‘Stray paperclip’ brings things to a sombre conclusion, edgy and discordant uneven melodies grate each other to the extent that you’ll seriously suspect the band are all working off different pages and quite possibly different tunes. http://www.iwantwintergreen.com

Airport Girl ‘Do you dream in colour’ EP (Fortuna Pop). Just when you thought it was safe to put away the hankies more tragi-pop this time from the loveable old hands of Missives gone by Airport Girl. Four slices of scintillating pop all contrasting in melodic perspective to reveal a band unfurling their song writing credentials. Kicking off with the stinging string section of the lead track, ‘Do you dream in colour’, which delivers an ample quotient of divine heart trembling pop, twisted with a regretful edge and courting with the same emotive classicism as more often mined by Cinerama, sophisticated and breathless stuff. ‘When you fail’ rifles through the same sunny pastures as the Boo Radley’s classic ‘Wake Up’ with it’s uplifting trumpet fanfares, yet distinctly marries it with a wintery perspective with the addition of some elegantly placed violin arrangements ala L’Augmentation and places the whole mixture atop a pop thrilled C-86 strum coda. ‘Easier to smile’ prides itself with some magical acoustic pop albeit crooked recalls the feel good hooks of early Housemartins. All delightfully wrapped up by the emotively draining ‘Been waiting’ which canters vaguely between a feint Dylan-esque glow and tear spilling rusticness. Excellent in the least. http://www.fortunapop.com

The Playwrights ‘The National Missing Person’ (Sink and Stove). A quick return for this lot given that they featured in the last missive, and what a return with one of the best cuts from their recent long playing debut ‘Good beneath the radar’. Sweet, moving and tender. Sorry if that sounds a tad bit lame and maybe derogatory, but that I’m afraid sums up this track. It’s one of those rarified treats when you are simply left reaching for words. Too dour to be considered elegiac, yet too intrinsically enchanting to be considered melancholic, The Playwrights deal a schizophrenic card in that they admirably merge the opposing emotions of happy and sad side by side in doing so recalling the essence of the classic Smiths track ‘Heaven knows I’m miserable now’, glockenspiels, melodicas and guitars dreamily courts with one another while Aaron Dewey’s vocals drift conscience pricking overhead. ‘Lies of the suburbs’ on the flip is again taken from the album, harmonicas and jagged angular chords all within the same 3 minute time line, can things really get any better, imagine Wire crossed with the Nightingales. Neat or what? New boy ‘Trellick Tower’ is a frisky multi faceted cutey, wintry cornets howl amid the blaze of Marr-ish lost in the groove guitars while faintly wisping Francophile touches edge for centre stage from the rear. Bringing up the rear is the ‘Knowledge of Bugs’ remix of the title track, injecting a whole new face lift, re-fit, dash of paint and throwing several kitchen sinks into the bargain and ending up sounding nothing like the original but rather like Plone in a bell hurling fight with Broadcast amid a sandstorm. Essential obviously. http://www.sinkandstoveco.uk

Medicine ‘I smile to my eyes’ (Wall of Sound). Recently heard being described as the ‘electronic Crosby Stills and Nash’ on the eminent Radio 3 show Mixing It, Medicine have been plying their cure for all musical potion on and off since 1992. Now slimmed to a duo featuring founder Brad Laner and Shannon Lee, daughter of martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Still ploughing familiar routes from old, the musical union of West Coast pop with krautrock underpinning, ‘I smile to my eyes’ is a cutely delivered slab of intoxicating electro- drone- dance- psyche pop that just grows in intensity with each passing listen, a curiously retro based yet futuristically sounding grooviness makes this an endearing treat, resistance is useless. If the A side proves a little to saccharine for the palette then the oddball antics of ‘The day my baby gave me a surprise’ will probably hit the untouched buttons, distorted psyche pop that distantly recalls Jesus and Mary Chain fuzzing out with the Ramones accompanied by Spector’s feline wall of sound adding the bubblegum harmonies. A neat trick to pull all said and done. http://www.wallofsound.net

Relaxed Muscle ‘Billy Jack’ (Rough Trade). Another repeat offender to these missives, the second single from Relaxed Muscle. Now my memory might be playing tricks but this may be the band with Jarvis Cocker amid their ranks, but then maybe not. ‘Billy Jack’ really does have a T-Rex ( c. ‘Get it on’) Vs Suicide (c. ‘Frankie Teardrops’) vibe crawling all over it with its muted electro rockabilly feel, the naked primitive sound adding to all the fun that’s sure to have you shaking your stuff menacingly on the Hammer Horror dance floor. Flip the disc for ‘Sexualized’ which takes several leaves from the Fat Truckers book, gritty horror glam rock with an eye on sleaze presentation, hot and horny but didn’t Sigue Sigue Sputnik do all the fishnets and scaring the youngsters in the neighbourhood routine eons ago, good fun all the same. Consider yourself warned. http://www.roughtraderecords.co.uk

Klang ‘Love’ (For Us). Featuring Donna Matthews ex Elastica, boy must she hate that, fear not because on the evidence of ‘Love’ those ghosts should be well and truly put to bed. A fierce some debut it has to be said as Klang set about infusing their brand of minimalist post punk rock with the first three Fall albums for company and adopt a twist that checks out what the early Altered Images in all their Siouxsie influenced glory would have sounded like if Ms Grogan had been the head school bully instead of the cutesy girl down the street. Things get better and more Fall apparent on the flip with the starkly awkward primitive sounds of ‘Nothing’ as it slithers menacingly across the grooves, fragmented and off centre lolloping chords consort to create an edgy and uncomfortable slab of skeletal alienation. Smart stuff. All neatly packaged in a wrap around sleeve and limited to 1000 copies.
http://www.roughtraderecords.co.uk

Skills 7 Stamina 12 / Zebra Zebra ‘EP’ (Junior Aspirin). Hot on the heels of Radio 4 et al and bearing down fast are the puzzlingly named four piece Skills 7 Stamina 12. Again another debut release worthy of a loving home as our unlikely heroes serve up some tastefully fused white funked up math rock. ‘3rd disco from home’ hails back to the halcyon days when the mighty Fire Engines could be heard breezily emanating from distant transistors in all the cool bedrooms, add a dash of smartly worked A Certain Ratio and slab of intricately worked rhythmic structures and you’ve got a hip swinging winner. ‘Made new friends’ on the other hand is a lot more agitated, laboured angular mechanics rub coarsely against the complicated noodle maze of jazz signatures. Zebra Zebra on the flip strangely appear to be the same band. ‘Spirit of the Age’ starts out sounding like some down tempo treat before quickly festering up to a crunching attrition based work out before settling back to serenity only to repeat the formula again, a kind of tricky summer light spin on a normally restrictive math rock based backdrop, a hidden gem of sorts. http://www.junioraspirin.com

X Ray Issue 7. Would you credit it I’ve mislaid the actual magazine in the deluge of stuff kicking about the place, not to mind I’m sure it’s great as usual. However I have been able to lay my hands on the accompanying cover mounted CD which features the usual party serving tunes from today that we all dearly love and drool over. This particular CD features among others Amateur Night in the Big Top with their DAF influenced ice pop, the rock – elektro – billy of Pink Grease, an exclusive live cut of the awesome ‘Idioteque’ by everyone’s favourite sulks Radiohead, the high octane Caesars, the futuro electronic perfectionists Ladytron, the rumbling atmospherics of the supercharged Kinski and rare session treats including the raucous blues from the soon to be massive Black Keys, too cool for their own good Grandaddy and last but not least the wildly off centre Zutons.

X-ray Issue 8. Featuring words and stuff from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tim Burgess, The Rapture, Jason Pierce, Krautrock explained in a nutshell and an all you need ever know but where afraid to ask spotlight on the Wichita label. Cover mounted CD features a herd of today’s youth with the spotty complexions and questionable dress sense, among the choice cuts on show exclusive session tracks from the Inspiral Carpet who return to rejoin pop’s chain gang with ‘Come back tomorrow’ which to these ears sounds suspiciously close to Elton John’s ‘Step into Christmas’. No such luck for Rocket Science who admirably tear it up in Hammond fuelled style with the monstrous ‘Being followed’, while the Star Spangles prove their worth and give evidence that they’ve mastered the intricacies of three chords with the feisty ‘I live for speed’. Among the other delights the hotly tipped Decemberists and the spiralling sonic pop dreamscapes of the Bowie / Suede would be’s Bent. A must.

Copperpress Issue 16. Another magazine worthy of seeking out parting pennies for is the informative A5 sized Copperpress. Featuring interviews with missive heroes Giddy Motors and Soft Boys which let’s face it, is worth the cover price alone this well written periodical placates every yearning soul in love with indie and fringe music and everything in between. As if to spoil us further it includes a cover mounted CD featuring twenty-two artists we’ve never heard of and all of them positive, however as these things go cherry picking the highpoints the magnificently statuesque Tulipomania, the unsettling avante jazz courtesy of Erik Hinds, the no nonsense new wave razor grooves of Viza Noir, the ad hoc goonish rock of the Fall-esque Sicbay and not forgetting the bizarrely nightmarish crooked psyche out flavouring by Nigel. Available from Borders.

Police and Thieves ‘Intnodisco’ (Ripper). I have to admit that this is a really smart debut release by London based quartet Police and Thieves who 26 years on are admirably still upholding the spirit of 1977 or should that be 1979 / 80, because on the evidence of the lead track ‘Intnodisco’ one suspects that ‘Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables’ by the Dead Kennedy’s has been a chief inspiring force in their lives, and as far as albums go a mighty fine call in my book. Okay it’s your basic three chord D.I.Y. punk rock but blimey do they do it well, scorching chords and frenzied terrace chants towards the finale, jeez this could pass for early Damned don’t you know. ‘Under 24 hour surveillance’ on the flip is a little more considered, stripping the Biafra vocals this has a vague left field Magazine feel to it that soon perks up to being a riotous mother of a track and is sure to have you pogoing to your hearts content.

Rocket Science ‘Heavy traffic’ (Modular). Okay I know this was out eons ago and all you hippy trippy kids out there have bought into it and probably moved on yet I’ll admit that this is my first introduction to Rocket Science, good aren’t they? With a name like that you’d imagine some ethereal space rock twiddling atmospheric, not that I’m not disappointed, no siree. ‘Heavy traffic’ is drenched in lashings of 60’s styled Hammonds and fizzing guitars as they turn it on in true garage rock style, pumping hot sweaty fun, imagine if the classic Animals line up falling through a time loop and being transported to the current Scandinavian beat punk scene and let out after being locked in the dark with a crate of bourbon and cigarettes for entertainment. ‘Going away’ on the flip is even more wired by comparison as the Rocket kids deliver up some incendiary laced hip swinging fun, and you thought the Hives were the dogs bollocks, perhaps time to think again. http://www.modularpeople.com

The All American Rejects ‘Swing Swing’ (Dreamworks / Doghouse). And do we love this, yes we do despite it’s sugary taste. Always a sucker for hook filled pop, and this charming two track affair certainly delivers it’s plentiful share. The All American Rejects I believe hail from Oklahoma and have a debut album doing the circuit currently, something I’ll have to track down based on this showing. Pressed on marmalade orange vinyl ‘Sing Sing’ is packed so full with meaty hooks and grooving bass lines as to have you bouncing joyfully off the walls with tears in your eyes pure summer fun madness, as catchy as f***, can heartbreak really sound so wonderful? However I do quite prefer the flip cut, ‘Too far gone’, more heart ache I’m afraid but this time a little more darker and a intimately more thoughtful affair with a sense of finality thrown in for good measure. http://www.theall-americanrejects.com

Mijim / Conversational English ‘Split’ (Melange). A real strange one this and I suspect one for the Tigerbeat 6 brigade among you. Absolutely no information on either of these artists. Mijim offer two cuts, kicking off with the quietly absorbing brief flurry of spooky drones amid ‘Fluctuating Planes’, so brief in fact that if you blink it’s gone. ‘This is the dance’ is clearly anything but then that, I suppose, depends on how good / bad your dancing is. Clipped dynamics mean that this would be disco king of the drone electronics hardly ever gets to pass further than the starting blocks, crafty stuff all the same.
Conversational English appear a little more animated in comparison albeit uncompromisingly goofy and dare I say it, wickedly deranged, it’s all impish gremlins let loose in the space station stuff. ‘Dobay boda’ taunts with strangely processed calypso / reggae vibes that flirt uneasily with nightmarish sinisteism, add a little period of unwavering scratches and clicks that’ll guarantee you’ll be checking to ensure the stylus hasn’t stuck before eagerly exiting at the other end like a curiously tricky detached and speeded version of Muslim Gauze. ‘Fadein Fadeout’ incorporates ad hoc, twisted drum ‘n’ bass electro rhythms whose flow is constantly muted by the shuffling stutter like dynamics that gloss over this glitched groover. http://www.av-nasu.tv/melange

Supergrass ‘Rush hour Soul’ (Parlophone). Pressed on fluorescent green vinyl as if you needed any further prodding, Supergrass continue to weave their mercurial kaleidoscopic wigged out brand of grooving pop, proving beyond doubt that they are today’s version of a very fried Monkees. ‘Rush hour soul’ is pretty much Supergrass by numbers, dropped out dreaming chorus’, to die for catchy riffs and freak beat pop harmonies all neatly assembled in a sub three minute glow of tripping fun. ‘Everytime’ on the reverse side is real mixed bag affair, acoustically driven but with smouldering orchestral arrangements that dip in and out and at times threaten to close the distance on Stereolab, while elsewhere offering proof that someone in the Supergrass camp has been sneaking copies of Gary Moore’s back catalogue into the studio for an illicit listen. Top stuff. http://www.supergrass.com

Will Oldham ‘We all, us three, will ride’ (Isota). One of those rare moments when words simply fail. Mr Oldham piles on the agony, ‘We all, us three, will ride’ is so alarmingly sad sounding that it holds the heart a prisoner slowly piercing it into resigned submission. ‘We all’ moves achingly with tragic solemnity, aided on vocals by the shadowing harmonies of Sarah Devincentis, the unobtrusive arrangements beneath move paying their respects as if part of a funeral march. Tormented stuff. In stark comparison the flip side is the positively upbeat-ish ‘Barcelona’. Not as you might suspect the same ‘Barcelona’ as sang by the late Freddie Mercury, but an tune befitting the billing old country as Oldham retells the dream of our erstwhile unknown hero, there are times when this just sparks into action as the whole 7 piece ensemble accompanying Mr Oldham join in for impromptu spells of rousing sing song, strangely reminding this listener of the tongue in cheek moments from ‘Paint your Wagon’. As per usual strictly limited and dare I say welcome addition for any well ordered record collection. http://www.isotarecords.com

Ian Page and the Affair ‘Prove It’ (Detour). Blimey a blast from the past. Mr Page for those unaware was responsible for writing one of the all time Mod revival anthems of the late 70’s / early 80’s with the storming call to arms ‘Time for Action’. Even me, a punk at the time, had to quietly marvel at its stomping grandeur daring not to say to fellow leathered rockers for fear of being ostracised and sent to Coventry, wherein I’d have happily grooved to the Specials. The intervening passing years haven’t mellowed the magic as Page peels back time to serve up three barnstorming belters. Now back in the studio with fellow Affair mate Dave Winthorp, Page deliciously serves up three stonking floor fillers that include a seriously in your face jaw dropping re-reading of the Spencer Davis 60’s classic ‘I’m a man’. ‘Prove it’ sounds like it’s the work of Elvis’ late 60’s Vegas backing band, Page’s soulful vocals duck and dive amid the full on stax big sound treatment that spills out enough twists to give Chubby Checker a coronary. On the CD version you get the additional cut ‘Wasted Words’ which if you can forgive it, has a brass section that veers at times a little too close to Right Said Fred’s ‘Deeply Dippy’, that aside a rumbustuous knee popping and hip swinging mover awaits all craftily submerged in a haze of hook laden melodies and effervescent feel good vibes. A classic return. Limited to 500 vinyl pressings. http://www.detour-records.co.uk

Woodchuck ‘Polish Quarter’ (Demo). Okay a while back you might remember me raving about this lot’s previous single ‘Crash Positions’ a curiously addictive single that left trace elements of the Smiths and REM within the grooves. Now Woodchuck return to the fold this time with a 4 track CD demo which though admittedly not as immediate as the aforementioned single but it still belies that ability to wrap your emotions around it’s little finger and squeeze you dry. A more gentle perspective awaits this time around, proving a mature song writing dynamic at work. The great thing about Woodchuck is that they appear to be a band totally removed from any kind of scene, which is refreshing to say the least, in fact it’s something off a test to even attempt to pigeon hole them, not that you’d really want to. Within the four tracks liberated on this CD troubled tales of heartbreak, bitterness and alienation are tenderly decoded and cleverly caressed with the sweet drifting sounds of elegant 70’s style Americana. ‘The Champagne Years’ which gracefully closes the collection has that soothing AOR vibe that lulled a pre punk generation society whose musical choice was either bloated guitar solos or dull disco and who had to look to across the big pond for solace in legends like Bread and the Eagles. A sad lament that’s best advised to be listened to with a box of hankies in tow, drop dead gorgeous arrangements see both evening glow melodies fizzing with warming harmonies to heart surrendering elegance. Opening cut the captivating ‘Polish Quarter’ is the nearest the band get to rising from their apparent cool slumber, hanging chords and stinging electrics pitches this echoing somewhere between ‘Automatic for the People’ and ‘Déjà vu’ by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. ‘Any human heart’ the favoured track sees Amy taking the vocal stand giving the swirling dusty country effects a real Suzanne Vega edge, simply awesome. http://www.teamwoodchuck.com

The Microphones ‘Antlers / Lanterns’ (K). A record to charm the birds out of the trees, literally. It’s quite an appealing spectacle to consider how much Mr Elvrum has come along in terms of mature song writing. ‘Antlers / Lanterns’ offers up perhaps his most accessible release to date, two sides of contrasting moods and textures. ‘Lanterns’ is prettily steeped in an uneven patchwork of crooked arrangements peppered by moments of fractured beauty that only achieve a brief spurt of cohesion but in doing so give a heartening glimpse of what could be as opposed to what might have been. ‘Antlers’ on the other side in essence tenderly tweaks with Minnie Ripperton’s ‘Loving you’, disturbingly fragile, haunting and endearing all at once, what it looses in it’s feint production it more than makes up in it’s charismatic charm.

On that cheerful note it’s so long for three weeks, when we’ll return with another bumper bag of vinyl goodies to get you all hot and bothered including releases from among other things the Dirty Switches, Stephen Fretwell, Enon, Mystery Girls, Silvertone, the Lazurus Effect, the K Word and a corking Fonda 500 / Zea split plus a whole lot more besides.

Just leaves me to say the thank you’s to all the people who have some how had input to this write you know who you are.

No animals or fat products were used in the production of Singled Out, any abnormal side effects are of your own making.

Take care y’selves,

Mark
X

iceblink

Continuing apace with their unblemished release roster, Moon Glyph open their account with an alluring full length by Iceblink titled ‘carpet cocoon’. The handiwork of Minneapolis resident Lynn Avery, this limited press cassette, 150 all told, is intricately assembled by, what the press release describes as a love for ‘.. .mixtapes, oddities and crate digging blogs’. For now, ‘Dialoghi’ has been sneaked out to entice the passing patrons, not that any enticing is warranted, for this charmer is sumptuously slow rolled in a sassy cosmopolitan chic whose dreamily light Latino lilt and suave jazz ghosting had us much minded of the sorely missed Le Mans.

https://moonglyph.bandcamp.com/album/carpet-cocoon

Archiv – Singled Out – Missive 19 …..

Archive posting originally published on losing today .. August 2003 …..

Missive 19
16-08-2003
Singled Out
Missive 19

Dedicated to: Mark and Kelly and Sam Phillips.

Kick off: 16th August 2003
Full time: 21st August 2003.

This missive features releases by: Frantic V, The Brothers with Different Mothers, Playwrights, Turbonegro, Skywave, Closer, Hokum Clones, Adem, Dark side of the Autobahn, RFTC, Boyracer, All girl summer fun band, The Tall Boy, The Love Letter Band and the Vector Lovers.

Welcome fellow travelers, beatniks, hippies, punks, mods, purists, noise nicks, space cadets, and electro kids to the latest trawl through the dusted record box at the back off the local music emporium. It’s been a fair few weeks since our last intermission, in that time we’ve been baking under the red-hot sun and impossible humidity in our shoe box sized confines we laughingly call the Singled Out HQ. As usual this Missive is somewhat late, mainly due to the PC having a breakdown in the heaving heatwave we’ve been subjected to and the fact that child 2 was teaching dad how to build a Beyblade in three seconds flat and bringing pops up to speed with all things Spiderman and Xmen. As a result of the delay expect a bumper sized missive very short backing bumper to bumper with this one.

To those with an interest in these things the long running saga of the magazine re-launch is reaching a healthy though long overdue conclusion and is tentavily tipped for December, news will of course follow when I get it, safe to say there will be a few neat surprises to whet the old appetite.

With nowt else to report better get on with the disc spinning and what better way to start than with some wig-tastic 60’s beaty pop….

The Frantic V ‘Good lovin’ (Loser). Latest from Greece’s own premier Garage Punksters the Frantic V,who it seems having been treading the boards for a fair few years now. ‘Good lovin’ is smartly kitted out with tasty farfisas and 60’s replicated sounds that makes think that these dudes have literally just awoken from a coma while the last thirty years of music development has happily rushed by. Terrifically primitive sounding, like the Nomads without the velocity or a more upbeat Mistreated an irresistibly toe tapping splice of classic sub two minute beat pop. Crazy man, crazy. Flip the disc for some more wig flipping madness, in all honesty the preferred side, as the Frantic boys set about faithfully re-working the lost classic ‘Hang Up’ originally by the Wailers, one of the most overlooked of all early U.S. garage bands. Sinister, sleazy and damn irresistible, draped in dragging fuzz guitars for maximum authenticity, toxic stuff indeed. http://www.geocities.com/franticv

The Brothers with Different Mothers ‘Super magic garden’ (Great Pop Supplement). Okay a couple of things about this label and release. It’s been a fair while since we had anything by the Great Pop Supplement passing our way, but it really has to be said, music aside this is the most lavishly packaged release I’ve had the fortune to see all year, the sleeve alone is printed up on A3 sized card paper all neatly folded to incorporate various little inserts and pressed in a strictly limited run of only 111 copies. The label is run by ex Earworm head honcho, Dom Martin and is intended to deliver upon a select slavering consumer some of the most potent pop nuggets currently circulating on the underground. The Brothers with different mothers serve up two slabs for the labels 5th release, pressed on lemonade yellow vinyl, as if you needed further prompting, and have been causing something of a stir on the live circuit in North West England. ‘Super magic garden’ is where I guess they cultivate all forms of lysergic additives to consume in their frivolous pastimes with the naughty Elves while laughing at the Troll people because let’s face it, to make a record like this you would have to be either seriously caked and on a different planet or have one foot in, with completed admission forms, for an extended stay at an institution for special people with big problems. Bonkers, bonkers, bonkers. ‘Secret magic garden’ starts out sounding not to dissimilar to the opening of Blur’s ‘Out of time’ before spinning towards what could easily be a three way battle between the Pretty Things, Supergrass and a seriously wayward Cardiacs all locked in the same broom cupboard with the Banana Splits for company. ‘Golden Meadow’ on the flip is a much more sober alternative, laid back countrified acoustics that recall the flavour of the Go Team’s debut single a few years back yet spliced with the drifting pop appeal of the Summer Hymns. A winner. http://www.thegreatpopsupplement.com

The Playwrights ‘Television in other cities / The ME decade’ (Sink and Stove). Now we’ve been grooving long into the night to this lots debut album ‘Good beneath the radar’. The Playwrights might have arrived just in the nick of time to rescue the current early 80’s post punk revival by bringing to the party an astute level of intelligent and crafted song writing that sets up camp where Wire’s ‘154’ and Gang of 4’s ‘Entertainment’ hurried off in search of greener pastures. The Playwrights sabotage their sound with angular templates, making disconnection an art form so much so that it sounds totally connected if you get the drift. What at first seems harsh and wayward soon gets into the head and starts to rattle around, believe me you’ll soon find yourself happily humming ‘The ME decade’ with it’s distracted elegance, wooing strings sections impart a feeling of heartbreaking loss, courted by some deft autumnal brass arrangements all converge to endow on this a most tranquil albeit haunting finesse.
‘Television in other cities’ presents a poppy focus on the normally abstract elements of math rock, repetitively ascending and descending riffs cast their hooks and wind you in with spellbinding ease, a sharp and twisted gem. ‘Do you miss the war?’ what seems like a dreamy instrumental on closer inspection is gritted by some wayward manoeuvres and some feisty intensity that would not look out of place on Left Hand’s ‘Minus 8’ album while the boy lucas wraps up the set with he curious re-reading of ‘Television in other cities’ etching to it subtle friction based pastiches cast over irregular grooves, very austere indeed. An ensemble worthy of keeping a beady on in the future. http://www.sinkandstove.co.uk

Turbonegro ‘Locked Down’ (Burning Heart). Not for those with delicate palettes, time to nail down all the fixtures and fittings and lock up the daughters as Turbonegro crank up the controls and roll out the big artillery. This is the replete with big bollocks end of the Garage punk spectrum, where as low as you can go sleaze nuzzles up with metallic intent, ‘Locked Up’ is sure to give the sound system it’s much needed road test as they whip out a volatile cocktail, Scandinavia’s Turbonegro offer up what their peers persistently promise to but never deliver, power surging mania of hard drinking, hard living frantic pyrotechnics. Imagine a speed laced version of Alice Cooper’s ‘Under my wheels’ given a serious retread and rogering and you don’t even come close to the full thrill. Essential.

Skywave ‘Don’t say slow’ (Amendment). Not content with thrilling us recently with their scorched spire symphonies on their album ‘Interference’ for Best Kept Secret, Skywave kick back into a bleached out haze of feedback with three to die for tracks on this smartly speckled grey vinyl seven inch. Opening with the riotous rocking antics of ‘Don’t say slow’, Skywave crank up the volume and the urgency to immerse themselves in an unearthly crashing cacophony of friction based pop that dips between ‘Tortoiseshell’ era Boo Radleys and ‘You made me realise’ era My Bloody Valentine. ‘Took the sun’ glorifies in cavernous fizz pop, it’s all sunglasses and turtle necks time as the Skywave boys gracefully pilot the sonic psyche spacecraft, imagine the Reid brothers ‘Psychocandy’ scoring the House of Love’s ‘Christine’. Found hiding on the flip, the best cut of the bunch ‘Forever you’. A sort of change in direction as the boys get it on in grooving sleaze mode the feint memories of pre ‘Pornography’ Cure creating edgy ghost like patterns. Top notch stuff.

Closer ‘Clever’ (Adorno). New to me, Closer are a Scottish based three piece with aspirations and a big bag of tunes to suggest that these hanker the American life, ‘Clever’ is a damn catchy rock pop racket which may or may not have you whistling bits of ‘Centrefold’ by the J Geils Band, if you can stomach that then this chirpy toe tapping number will have you bopping mentally every time your within the faintest earshot. Far superior is the ripping flip side, speed laced punk pop comes racing out of the speakers as Closer neatly have you envisaging the impossible union of Paddy McAloon fronting Mega City 4 with Ned’s Atomic Dustbin looking on in jealousy, controlled brashness with heart breaking loveliness. Very tasty and on green vinyl to boot. http://www.adornorecords.com

The Hokum Clones ‘Breakin from a Jailhouse Blues’ (For Us). Beatle-land appears to be undergoing a continued renascence as far as music is concerned what with the various cool sounds sheltering under the Deltasonic label and such like, bands like the Coral, the Zuton’s and the Moonies to name but three are making the London press land sit up and think. Add to that list the curious out of time and out of step melodies of duo the Hokum Clones, believe you me before the year’s out this lot will be rattling out of every wised up radio show and taking over your life. Limited to just 500 pressings ‘Breakin from a jailhouse blues’ and ‘You ain’t foolin me’ sound like dusted discoveries of a bygone age, an exhaustive hybrid of ragtime and bluegrass, ‘Jailhouse’ in particular dutifully mixes together vague George Formby nuances with early Lonnie Donegan skiffle era classicism. Similarly, ‘Foolin’ is equally step back in time like, almost pitching from the same base as Sun era Carl Perkins and a young Johnny Cash with their leaving train blues sound, all spliced with the tastiest hillbilly harmonica you’ll hear this side of the Missouri delta plate. Quite damn brilliant. Consider yourself told. http://www.roughtrade.com

Adem ‘Everything you need’ (For Us). Staying with the For Us label, the simply impressively heart warming debut release from Adem. Gorgeous stuff featuring the solo outing for ex Fridge man who goes all doe eyed acoustics on us, ‘’Everything you need’ is all skipping chords that lull gracefully and enchant, creating charming wistful etches, replete with wintry faraway harmonicas, all in all it just can’t fail to win your heart. Flip over and the textures alter slightly. ‘Statued’ is cut from the same tearful cloth that the Fence collective so admirable sooth us with, and here we are talking Lone Pigeon, James Yorkston and King Creosote while not forgetting the heart aching echoes of Will Oldham. ‘Statued’ is an understated gem of a track, all serene, mellow, delicate and alarmingly beautiful. http://www.roughtrade.com

Dark side of the Autobahn (Mordant Music). Real strange one this, a very attractive and limited picture disc release with the only point of reference given as ‘Dark Side of the Autobahn’ (as in ‘Dark side of the Moon’ and ‘Autobahn’) so I’m not entirely sure whether that’s the ensembles name or record title or both, irrelevant really when you consider the very irregular and unsettling music within. More curiously not sounding like the Floyd in any way shape or form but reminiscent of ‘Autobahn’ if only for the hypnotic repetition. Drone electronics invaded by varying samples so difficult to pick out, although ‘Sound of Silence’ got caught in the net, all served up in a manner that you could easily be forgiven for checking the record every now and then to ensure the stylus hasn’t stuck. Reference point wise it veers strangely towards early Suicide, but it’s metered out in such an abstract way, it’s like early Add N to X in a very out there mood tinkering with a box of cast off sounds that the Radiophonic workshop couldn’t quite fit on Dr Who. Flip over and to these ears it seems like the same track in reverse. Disconcerting stuff indeed.

Rocket from the Crypt ‘On the prowl’ (Sympathy for the Record Industry). Ding dang doodly doo, rocking good fun from San Diego’s finest, housed in a tasty looking 60’s style sci-fi comic book sleeve and assigned the much sought after 666 catalogue number. Tricky dudes those SFTRC guys, my disc comes miss pressed so adding to all the fun. ‘Come on’ in truth is classic RFTC by numbers played with blindfolds on, stomping stuff with razor sharp chords, heavy duty riffs doing the business up front and a meaty underpinning doing the defensive duties, hell, did you expect anything less. ‘On the prowl’ incorporates the brass section and speed duals with them on the road to oblivion. Best double-header they’ve done since their last release. Obviously. http://www.sympathyrecords.com

Various ‘The way things change’ Volume 4 (Red Square). Those with elephant like memories might remember me raving about the first three volumes of this series several missives back. Now though nice people at Red Square have gone a treated us with not one, not two but three further volumes. Same as previously, seven inches of coloured wax each featuring 6 tracks from across the globe and all ridiculously limited as in very strictly. Volume 4 in case you are wondering is pressed up on green vinyl. Opening with the sweet bubblegum pop of Second Story Man. ‘Darlin always once’ sounds like a female version of the Beach Boys messing with the hair of the Stylistics, gorgeous harmonies collide with wide eyed melodic innocence, a sugar coated gem of a track, you just want to cuddle it to bits. More wavering lo-fi excellence this time courtesy of The Love Letter Band, ‘I’ll fall in love’ has all manner of odd accompaniments added to the delicate mix that initially appear not to make sense yet after a few plays do. Does that make sense? Thought not. Sweet stuff. More crafted waywardness follows in quick procession this time from Six Cents and Natalie. ‘Christine, North Dakota’ bounces around on an incredulously skipping drum sequence that kind of rushes the whole song along with geeky sounding casio’s, I shouldn’t like it but I do. We don’t get to hear nearly enough of the Snow Fairies, ‘A different kind of bad’ kind of clues us up as to what we are missing, crisp delicacies of sun soaked saccharine shiny pop plucked straight from the top shelf, alarmingly gorgeous stuff. The Casino Ashtrays open their offering with a spot of fairytale ‘Pinoccio’dreaminess before wooing us with their gentle childlike frolicking with their arrestable ‘The last time I felt like dying’. Finishing with the highly underrated Lucksmiths, who like the Snow Fairies seem to be one of those who can’t do wrong in the eyes of an enchanted few and offer one of life’s great mysteries as to why they aren’t bigger. ‘Welcome Home’ is a short and sweet skipping burst of curvaceous pop which now seems to be a trademark that they so ably master time and time again. Delicious stuff.

Various ‘The way things change’ Volume 5 (Red Square). Pressed tastily on dark blue vinyl Volume 5 opens to the chunky wigged out bass of Origami’s ‘She’s got the Rhythm’, and do you know I think they may be right. Fractured post punk Slits style minimalism that recalls the days when all Altered Images demure pixie Clare Grogan wanted to be was Siouxsie Sioux, quite cute stuff. Tempting as usual and in sultry mood is ‘It’s a long way to go to lose more than small change’ by the very wonderful Boyracer summery melodies court coolly with lightly sprinkled tuneage from the lushest valley’s of tweedom. Dennis Driscoll, new to me, offers up ‘Katiusha’ which sounds vaguely reminiscent of the Wedding Present spin off ensemble, The Ukranians, smartly tripping with a kind of timeless folk feel to make the legs go weak at knees. Flip over for the untamed and bizarre chirps from Architecture in Helsinki, gently acoustics shyly toy with all manner of kindergarten electronica on the delicious ‘Imaginary Ordinary’. The charmingly titled ‘Fuck a genre’ by Cex deepens itself in all manner of guitar trickery to distract from the hypnotically repetitive groove it magically swims in. Last up for this particular volume are Sleepy Township. ‘Singing Doll’ kicks off sounding like Squeeze but soon quickly transforms into a speeded up version of Mary Hopkins ‘Those were the days’, but hey who cares when it sounds this addictive.

Various ‘The way things change’ Volume 6 (Red Square). This time pressed on alluring looking maroon coloured vinyl, six more sweet tasting morsels of bitter sweet pop. Opening with the quite serene trappings of Putney Swope, ‘A sad goodbye’ is an all too brief, heartbreaking slice of sunshine lo-fi tearfulness. Possum Moods canter in with some smartly executed electric driven toe tapping feisty-ness with their cut ‘Slip Stream’ but it’s The Tall Boy who win the argument hands down on this particular side with their slackened twang fuzz on ‘Harley Davidson’, which curiously recalls ‘Ca plane pour moi’ by Plastic Bertrand after having being dragged through a swamp. Top stuff. Flip le disc to be met by the lollipop rock of the perfectly named the All Girl Summer Fun Band who could easily be the make up and lets be friends aftermath of a catfight between the Ronettes and Shonen Knife. The Escargo-go’s, great name by the way, serve up some deliciously crooked West Coast melodies on ‘Fountain of Youth’, breezy, delicate and bloody infectious. Ending this particular volume on a high note come tripping Rocketship. ‘I wanna be your guy’ is all softly dreaming pop, spacey textures and tingling droney signatures, enough to melt the heart. Enchanting and superb. I think by that I mean I love it. Contact jenturrell@hotmail.com

Vector Lovers ‘Electrobotik Disco’ (Iwari). Scarcely a month after featuring in the last missive with his Static Caravan split with Alkin Engineering and up pops Martin Wheeler AKA Vector Lovers this time on his own. An impeccable release it has to be said, ‘Electrobotik Disco’ is as the title suggests, a mechanoid dance anthem that incorporates the sleazy futuristic Studio 54 vibe that Add N to X and Ladytron have plugged into, yet fuelling it with elements of Numan’s ‘Replicas’ landscapes, Kraftwerk’s automaton frostiness and ‘Rockit’ era Herbie Hancock, annoyingly groovy and thankfully impossible to moon walk too, not that I’ve tried mind you. ‘Girl and Robot’ follows where ‘Onsen’ (featured on the aforementioned split) left off, and perfectly captures all you’d reasonably imagine from an electronic based tune. Again common in spirit to Fortdax’s ‘At Bracken’ the frosted lullabies envisaging enchanted faraway Kingdoms, partly 70’s retro synth scores coming to terms with a Kraftwerk sound high on battery acid and full of that tingling thing called love. An enigmatic release and as sexily smouldering as electronics can get. ‘Girl and Robot’ along with the two Static Caravan cuts can also be found on the seriously recommended limited debut album which can be purchased at Vector Lovers website http://www.iwari.com

Okay that’s pretty much it, after all the previous promises I was late again as usual, this will be addressed next time when we should be back with you in little over a week with some wonderful toons from Static Caravan including Manual and the Maps and Diagrams; former Secret Affair leader Ian Paige; an awesome Woodchuck 4 track demo; Will Oldham, The Loves, The Microphones and if you are really good the Creatures and a stunning potential single of the year from the Free Association.

Till then thanks for taking the time and take care of yourselves.

Mark
X

mark@losingtoday.com