Missive 121 - part 1
07-05-2007
Singled Out
Missive 121

For Kelly and Mark

‘Put the needle on the record’

As per usual we’ll quickly dispense with the obligatory promises just to say a hearty bumper Singled Out this time out (split over at least two maybe three quick fire postings) given the fact that every time we thought we’d wrapped the blighter up and put it to bed - then along came another corking single or three to have us bouncing frantically around out bijou and over crowded record shed we fondly call our listening space. Anyhow its done, its dusted and ready for consumption.

http://www.myspace.com/hektorinyourface - electro candy pop punk from France - rip ‘dans at gueule’ and think Devo meets Plastic Bertrand or the trippy dippy teasingly sexy ‘le big bang’

http://www.myspace.com/chrome2007 - dream pop dup from Wilmington, California - ‘escape’ is your standard kraut booge yet for our money best check out their most laid back and intimate moments of bliss fuelled chill pop especially the curvaceous nocturnal nugget ‘so far’

http://www.myspace.com/oddmodern - another Californian duo who when they’re not doing sun glazed space pop likened to early Stereolab ‘rach enroll’ or kookily wonky surreal seaside pop ‘Caspian Sea Sick’ can be found wooing all and sundry with the lilting lunar groove of ‘mister blume’

http://www.myspace.com/tabloiduk - don’t be to surprised if by the year end this lot start appearing on those obligatory ’ones to watch for’ lists from the more respected elements of the music community - intelligent, inspired and frankly impossible to categorize - noire scratched music hall timelessness that recalls at various points early space and ooberman - ’take a seat’ with its sea shanty promenade haziness even nods sidewards to Kate Bush’s ’Army Dreamers’ while ’remember’ is a hauntingly eerie ballad as though early career black heart procession had been drafted in to re-score the trippy scenes from Disney’s ’Alice in Wonderland’.

http://www.myspace.com/emmepacker - intimate pastoral pop that touches, teases and transfixes you to the spot - best thing we’ve heard since those Emma Rugg and Halflight debuts - previews available from her current ’joy the machine’ full length though we heartily recommend the captivating ’run, run, run’ be your first port of call.

http://www.myspace.com/dirtykudos - rip the 60’s styled stoner blues of the shades wearing hazily grooved ’party at the unit’ or the psyched out head tripping wig flipper ’smoke break’

http://www.myspace.com/digitonal - providing one of the best cuts on the recent Brittle Behaviour compilation via Cactus Island, Digitonal craft alluring symphonic ambient pop - rip their latest demo ’another world’

To the records……………………………

Switches ‘Lay down the law’ (Atlantic). Follow up to their much loved here ‘Drama Queen’ release from a month or two ago (see missive 112). Southend’s finest return to the fray with a quite frankly stonking 5 track set spread across a CD and 2 7” formats. As previously ’Lay down the law’ is culled from the bands forthcoming debut full length ’Heart tuned to D.E.A.D.’, a tightly packed vacuum sealed strutting boogie of some measure is what’s on offer, this baby buzz saws with a floor grinding groove that combines head throbbing hypnotics, sassy see sawing wiry angulated riffs and the kind of club land savvy as to suggest it’s the illicit love child of a drunken one fumble between the Sister Sisters and Wildbunch while all the time blessed with a vocal so cool its arrived at the recording session with its own shades and leathers. ’Testify’ over on the flip struts and swaggers with the beast of them a potent glam garage fusion with trace elements of power popping bubblegum pop - think Zappa meets Sweet with the ‘Dolls doing backing vocals. That said fast forward directly to ’Eye need 2 no’ and ’Cut my hair’ the sets best cuts by far. The former an exquisite sherbet laced slice of love drunk doo wop sh’ bop as though the 4 Seasons or the Coaters were trying out for the ’Pet Sounds’ sessions. In marked contrast ’Cut my Hair’ just hurts deeply, probably the most romantically doomed records you’ll ever hear period. A bitter sweet shyly toned uber pop symphony laced with impeccable harmonies and serving as a master class in 60’s styled darkly lovelorn pop - think of the Walker Brothers vast vibrant sound pared down to an aching spectral shimmer. Blimey deputy single of the missive methinks. www.atlanticrecords.co.uk

Fall Out Boy ‘thnks fr th mmrs’ (Mercury). Second track culled from their platinum award attaining ‘Infinity on High’ full length. Fall out Boy’s Pete Wentz was by all accounts subjected to the unwanted amorous affections of Bill the chimp (okay his name probably wasn’t Bill but we can’t just say chimp it - well frankly smacks of being impersonal). So Bill the chimp fancies a bit of how’s your father with Pete FOB whilst filming the video to accompany this here single - what happened next nobody knows well certainly not Popworld PULP - from where the story originated - those of you puzzled as to what Popworld PULP is - well it’s a new weekly magazine - a bit like Hello of the indie world. Anyhow the Fall out Boy record. Okay ‘Thnks fr th mmrs’ for stupid people like me is text speak for ‘thanks for the memories’ and not as we were first led to believe some kind of sarcastic gratitude to the NHS genetically engineered super bug. It’s your usual slice of safe soft rock honed perfectly for day time radio ingestion, the most dangerous it gets is when you take the darn thing out of its case. That said what you get are soaring stadium destined lighter waving euro styled emo soul pop from the highest top shelf that’s steeped in all manner of saccharine lined 70’s MOR / AOR accents that are braided upon a bed of sweeping strings and swathes of keys that for reasons best known to themselves instill an urge to play air guitar while making ridiculous devil horn gestures - in truth sounds like Todd Rundgren shimmying up to a super strength steroid taking Supertramp. U paz yor mone u takz yor choice - we shudder. www.mercurymusicgroup.com

Falling out of Cars ‘Gallery’ EP (self released). Admittedly we’ve had this for ages, at least since around Xmas or thereabouts whereupon it was played, loved and then lost until now that is when a crack reconnaissance mission to find another long lost CD (Lily Green’s in case you were wondering) ended up reclaiming not only this little nugget but much to our embarrassment several other gems which (and names at this point have been withheld in order to stem the tide of abuse) - alas the search for Ms Green’s absolutely perfect CD goes on regardless. Falling out of Cars feature in their ranks a certain Ash who for those who keep tabs on these things was once a member of Inch Blue who are now called Storm Society and apart from Stuart are made up of a totally different personnel - confusing - I’ll say - incidentally they have a single out which we’ll no doubt hear once their label gets their proverbial finger out of their crack. Anyhow where were we - ah yes - Falling out of Cars. Tasty stuff this demo type thing is - no titles though a peak on their my space site leads us to believe track 3 is called ’Glass’ and track 2 ‘do you come away‘. Falling out of Cars craft resplendent collages of effects laden fluorescent cosmic groove that’s sumptuously immersed in shimmering showers of fuzzy felt dream pop. Track 1 is a sub three minute blissed out sonic sculpture that basks in slow burning swirls of feedback drenched ether haze softly treated to the tender sheen slices of softened psychedelic that lies somewhere between the out there glacial orbits of Workhouse and Coastal. ‘Do you come away’ is your archetypical shoe gaze groove much loved by those Club AC30 dudes more rock orientated on this occasion framed with layers of buzzing feedback and fazed echoed vocals that’s more Ride than MBV in stature. Best of the set though is the aforementioned ’Glass’ - sounding not unlike (in terms of production quality) the cathedral-esque sound that braided much of the late 80’s 4AD back catalogue this magnificently chiming carnival of shade wearing psyche pop takes its cue from ’Script’ era Chameleons and has it re-sprayed as were in a silken 60’s lysergic hue by the Green Pyjamas who sugar coat the proceedings in a vibrant kaleidoscopic west coast pastiche. Damn it’s good. Check the bands my space site and hook up to the best thing they’ve committed to tape to date the ethereal ‘Loveless’ era MBV meets late 60’s John Barry ‘outlet’. Stunning. www.myspace.com/fallingoutofcarsuk

The re-recorded ’Gallery’ set featuring the current line up will get its official release in July while the bands next live slot will be at the Brixton Windmill on the 20th May 207 with Sailplanes (who we haven’t heard yet) and Time Space Repeat (who we have - and frankly they are f*cking awesome).

Soft Hearted Scientists ‘Light years to nothing’ (My Kung Fu). Second single culled from the Welsh trios soon to be released second full length ‘Take time to wonder in a whirling world’ sees the Soft Hearted Scientists return with another sumptuous slice of ethereally epic baroque folk pop. ’Light years to nothing’ is an enchanting voyage, a rich myriad of magic and wonderment, sensuous cosmic folk tweaked and tenderly touched by softening swirls of breezy psychedelia, a kaleidoscopic cruise speeding space car journey if you like delicately drip dried with toppings of florescent glazed textures and accompanied by a side serving of honeycombed harmonies that has you imagining Jeff Wayne lost in the lysergic maze of Freed Unit’s inner mind while all the time interspersed with the pastoral brush strokes of Brian Jones-esque codas. Flip side features your (now) obligatory no words no singing version of the same cut which last time we looked was still known as an instrumental though here treated to an added quotient of floral speckles. Bloody brilliant in other words. www.my-kung-fu.com

CSS ’Lets make love and listen to Death from Above’ (Sub Pop). As instantaneous as a shot in the arm and more direct than a smack in the face from a cricket bat, Brazil’s finest exports since moustaches (hang on are you sure about this?) are back to sex up the crap out of your dull dank charmless record collection with this throbbing horny as f*ck babe. Story goes that vocalist Lovefoxxx wrote this little ditty in honour of Death from Above 1979 who she loved, admired and secretly hoped would get in touch. As a result said duo split (you know there‘s just no helping some folk). Anyhow ’Lets make love and listen to death from above’ (incidentally minus the 1979 tag which had it been included wouldn’t have fitted properly especially since the tightly squeezed death from above sounds like ‘lets make love debove’ of course we joke maybe there is an extended mix in the offing - darn we’ve opened up a can o’ worms now). Anyway back on track - ’Lets make love and listen to death from above’ is a rampant must have mash up of Tom Tom Club’s ’Wordy Rappinghood’ with Lipps Inc supplying kooky keys buried upon a backdrop of a suitably psychelicised ’The Hustle’ with the audible trace essence of Cerrone’s ’Supernature’. Liberally decorate with late 70’s Studio 54 glitter ball surroundings whose passion radiators are
set to sweltering thread it with some deliciously fat ’n’ meaty funky bass grooves nicked from Chic and leave it to Cobra Killer to do their dirtiest designs. Flipside features the hot blooded trouser department arranging original mix which you can find on their world dominating self titled debut full length. Cold showers all around methinks. Deputy single of the missive. www.subpop.com

Mise en Scene ‘Neo - Ylo’ (Boltfish). The welcome return to these pages for IDM experimentalist Shay Nassi - better known to the more acute pulse fingered electronic community as Mise en Scene. Extremely limited we are advised, this 5 track 3 inch CD follows hot on the heels of his split appearance on the very excellent split Tandem series (via the same label) where he was found pitting his wits against DOOQ. In many ways ‘neo-ylo’ provides for a sharply contrasting sonic suite as was earlier indicated and provided for on the aforementioned ‘Tandem’ set by serving up what can only be described as five slices of (far) left field abstract futuro funk shot through with manipulated creaks and whirrs that appear to awkwardly body pop in mechanical ether. The minimalist ’d:great’ stutters and punctuates precariously amid twinkling streams of excitable binary chatter briefly braided by sparsely crafted lilting lunar-esque suite, android ambience cued distantly from Herbie Hancock’s ’Rock It’ albeit that is having been placed in a biscuit tin and shaken to death. Title track ’neo-ylo’ is a bleak re-drill in some respects of ’d:great’, treated to brief dislocated bursts of break beats it plays host to a curious bent out of shape jazz vibe hats achingly decorated in hurting cosmic swirls as though it was the last may day transmission of a civilisation long since dead, forgotten and undiscovered. ’prepare:archive’ is by far the best cut here a rampantly buzzing head trip of sorts that aside tapping cleverly in the world of Wagon Christ as though on speed, craftily centres upon Raymond Scott’s pre electronic period and up dates his mid 30’s jazz styled erratic ‘Powerhouse’ period although admittedly with shades of Glass and Stockhausen in the mix. The set is beautifully book ended by the lulling and crystalline ‘fog:water’ and ‘water’ who both serve as shimmering reprises carved in chambers of ice - spectral lullabies for Huey and Duey if you like. Absolutely recommended. www.boltfish.co.uk

Rebbeca ‘what you will get’ (Raleigh Street). Last time we had the pleasure of any Rebecca gear doing its stuff on our hi-fi was with their stunning ‘Halfway in love’ debut for Fat Northerner (a label who sadly seem to have passed us by of late) which featured the near perfect ’the thousandth man’ which even now needs to be heard to be believed. Now ensconced onto a new label Liverpool’s worst kept secret return to the fray with the blistering ’what you will get’. This little cutie s a corking slice of darkly wrapt storm chasing panoramic harrowing pop that fuses the surface tension and pensive psychosis of Radio heads ’OK Computer’ and mainlines to its core matrix cloud parting stratospheric sonic sirens that recall the bleak but beautifully bleached barren sheen of ’October’ era Edge. Replete with vocals that surf perilously over rippling tides of simmering tension and frustration that converge with the slow to unfurl mood swinging tempestuous backdrops into a show stopping white hot face off that literally sucks you dry the like of which not heard around these parts since the much missed Mansun. Stunning in a word. www.rebecca.info

The Hussy’s ‘We expected’ (Weekender). Cutely honed to near perfection prickly pristine pop. Glaswegian combo the Hussy’s get out their paint set to colour your world in spangled shades of pastel with their frankly stunning debut release ‘We expected’. Brazenly boppy this little feisty gem packs into its bijou 3 minute 21 second existence all the key ingredients needed for a spot of playfully snotty nosed transistor trouncing tastiness : husky vocals, sing-a-long lyrics, sugar coated harmonies whipped straight from pop’s prayer book, hooks so irrefutably happy they sound like they’ve been force fed high grade Prozac and an alarmingly affecting playground naivety that recalls a more savvy and less fey streetwise Altered Images. Struts and swoons with the best of them this little gem is a perfected marriage of scream teen 50’s bubblegum, 60’s girl beat and prime sliced pop from the topper most table of indie land - think Sleeper at the top of their game shimmying up to the Ronettes with Shonen Knife supplying the disposable riffs. Flip over for the equally tasty ‘Please don’t call me at home’ - drenched in kooky keys this candy laced slice of beat popping tongue in cheek loveliness encounters every teens worst nightmare - embarrassing parents. Gregariously goofy this honey sounds for all the world like its just stepped straight out f a vintage heavy duty plastic moulded valve powered wireless and with that utterly deserving of the joint Single of the Missive. www.myspace.com/thehussys

Strange Mutant Virus ‘Is it Bardot’ (self released). Strange Mutant Virus - killer name eh, if I was in a band it’s the kind of name I’d wanna be called second only to The Great Rabid Dog Scratching Bollocks Episode which last time we looked was still available though now having copyrighted it we can command a hefty percentage for usage - what’s that you say a pint of the black stuff and a packet of fags - ooh you drive a hard bargain - go on then done. Where were we I’ve got myself in a muddle somehow and somewhere - ah yes Strange Mutant Virus - betcha thinking its all hard hat wearing grind core and that the band members are tattoo adorned hooligans. Well the press release which accompanies this 4 track cutie cites them as a quartet whose influences range from Stravinsky, Hendrix, Davies (as in Miles - who else) and the Sex Pistols and who utilise various ’compositional techniques’ (honest that’s what it says) as used by the Pixies, Radiohead, Nirvana and the Beatles - so that‘ll be guitar type things with singing then. If truth be known it wasn’t encouraging. Disc in player - we feared the worst. Alas we are happy to report otherwise, Strange Mutant Virus excel in delivering brief but memorable slices of driving jangle pop the type of which was at one time in the not so distant past the remit of doey eyed indie labels such as Sarah, Bus Stop and Summershine which to this day carries forth in style and in spirit via the very excellent Matinee and Elefant imprints. These four well heeled neat nuggets of sun shiny beat pop pay nods in the main to (the could have been the new Undertones though these days are known as Crumb) Hey Paulette (especially on the bitter sweet ‘all grown up on TV‘ which is slyly swept with subtle traces of the very wonderful Free Design), Another Sunny Day, the Chesterfields and if memory serves me right (I’ve checked everywhere on this here ‘net but I swear I have a demo tape from the late 80’s by them -) the chrysanthemums. ’Is it Bardot’ the lead out track has a engaging pub rock accent that recalls Dr Feelgood and Brinsley Schwarz sharing studio space with ‘Before Hollywood’ era Go Betweens while lovers of crunching power pop and fond memories of the Long Ryders may be well advised to fast forward straight to the radio friendly ‘Are you receiving me’. All said and done best of the set is typically the closing cut, given a more polished production and being invested with a cortege of sweeping strings ’the way you talk about it’ could yet be something of a curtain closing finale, as it stands it’s your skeletal styled low key Oasis doing bruising Beatles-esque ballads. www.strangemutantvirus.com

Zaintetica ‘Formulation’ EP (Smallfish). First of three top draw releases from those rascals at Smallfish who you may remember put out that limited little gem by the workaholic Cheju a few weeks back. Zainetica is the alter ego is a certain Mark Streatfield who over the course of the last few years has released a plethora of releases via much respected labels such as Boltfish, Bubblewrap, Filament, October Man and En:Peg and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A graphic designer by day and when not concocting and crafting interweaving slices of techno fuelled electronica managing to split his spare time running the rednetic imprint which provides a safe haven not only for his Zainetica output but is also at various times a stopping off point for like minded souls such as Cheju (again), Mint, Joseph Auer (see later), Indigo Kennedy, hybernation and sunosis among others. The ‘formulation’ EP features three luxuriantly commissioned slices of dub hybrid electronica, lead cut ‘isolation’ with its bleakly futuristic visions inspired in the main by 80’s cult sci-fi films ‘Terminator’, ‘Night of the Comet’ and ‘They Live’ (yes sadly young people I’ve sat through all these - call it a penance) is a glacial lunatic overture replete with chattering beats as though a memorial to a void less frosted promenade basking beneath a dying alien sun or else a galactic cruise controlled remodelling of the original classically conceived chassis that housed Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans Europe Express’, snow tipped cyborg dub with subtle side servings of twinkling star kissed futuro funk that we suspect wouldn’t look amiss sitting beside that equally essential recent ‘aeiou’ outing for Slipstream. Mind altering terra forming house / dub / drone / electronica is the order of the day for ‘formulation’ beset with lashings of nocturnal down tempo vibes that to these ears recall early career Biosphere as though in a head to head sound clash with Depth Charge. ‘deflector’ wraps up the set, sun scorched smooze drenched lounge like loveliness - classy to say the least and reminiscent it has to be said of a loosened up Wagon Christ cutting shapes on the coolest club floors though word of warning its best enjoyed and played away from kitchen appliances - you don’t want the blighters getting any ideas now do we? Oh yea ultra limited and pressed on a rather tasty 3” CD type thing. www.smallfish.co.uk

Joseph Auer ‘monochromatic sunlight’ (smallfish). Second of the promised three outings in this particular missive for the esteemed Smallfish imprint. Co founder of the rednetic imprint with Zainetica (see previously) and these days a resident of Tokyo, Auer is another musician with an enviable body of work to his name via the usual suspects - Boltfish, October Man and Laced Milk. ‘monochromatic sunlight’ again limited and pressed on 3 inches of CD is a deliciously saucy 4 part suite of nocturnal amour laced friskiness that should you so desire will magically loosen the clothing of your particular object of desire. Combining calmed ambient cerebral states (meditation if you like) with hi art coffee table down tempo vibes subtly imported via the late 80’s Detroit scene, Auer taps cleverly into the past to source elements of 808 State, early Orbital and early 90’s FSOL to craft amorphous cosmic pirouettes the best of which ‘sunshine fades’ with its succulent dream states ebbs and flows with delightfully funky flourettes that sizzle and tease you into submission. That said the astral planning ‘evening tones’ which sees out the set strays from the fold somewhat for a spot of trippy out of body sumptuousness that superbly blends mind altering dissolving funk motifs with brief visitations to Jean Michel Jarre’s ‘Magnetic Fields Pt 1’ - inspired stuff and with that not a lot more you can say except buy the bloody thing for God’s sake. www.smallfish.co.uk

12 Stone Toddler ‘Twang’ (Amazon). Okay I could bore you with all the domestics as to how, why, where and when the inspiringly named 12 Stone Toddler came to be but quite frankly the music makes it such an irrelevant side issue that in all honest I can’t be bothered - ha ha. That told you. So while you’re busy picking yourself off the floor following your feinting attack at our new found directness then be prepared to be flattened again by this hulking honey. Apparently this lot have been trailing a blaze in their Brighton hometown for a fair number of years now described in passing by their PR people (hey notice how we didn’t lose this press sheet - mainly for the fact that we super glued it to our forehead which was a bit silly given that the only way we can read it is to look in the bathroom where of course the buggers now backwards - such is life) Tom Waits and Primus meet Zappa, Mr Bungle and Prince with Mancini and Morricone supplying background delights or words to that effect. ‘Twang’ arrives here in three different versions - the edit, the full and the without vocal mix which to you and me is an instrumental type thing. Strangely infectious it has to be said, vaudeville razzmatazz laced with a subtle dirty rock buzz groove the type of which much loved by everyone from T-Rex to INXS albeit as though they’ve just discovered that their mojo bag has been nicked and whisked away into some surreal and warped Blues Brothers meets Rocky Horror Show in eerily shadowed Tim Burton dreamscape. Add into that vital shots of a ridiculously maddening duck walking riff and a melody that initially kicks off sounding like something that only mooches about after sun down that’s been treated to a kooky intro swiped straight from the Addams Family. And lest we forget the vocals - trick or treating wired preacher man come ring master showman of a Victorian freak show. All in all a crafty soul - funk - rock hybrid. www.amazonrecords.co.uk

Left with Pictures ‘Bows and Arrows’ (As Yet). You know how it is with these things, there we are all done and dusted and ready to hail the Hussy’s debut as the Single of the Missive and along comes a late arrival to spoil the cork popping ceremonies. Life huh. This delightful twin set had literally just plopped itself on our door mat marking itself aside by the sheer tastiness of the packaging - well okay a CD, a photo, a well heeled biog done to look like a paper styled theatre program all lovingly housed blue paper bag the kind of which cards are sold to you in - okay no big deal but then we are simple in our tastes and disturbingly easy to please. Left with Pictures are a classically trained trio who admit to attempting to recreate the colour, beauty and textures of Debussy and Ravel on a shoestring budget - it is admittedly something which they are close to achieving. Two prior releases under their belts in the ’Rustic’ EP and ’Making Chalk’ (both of which I’m sad to say we here missed) and an appearance on a cover mount compilation put out by Meat Magazine which we will do our best to track down
now that this inspired gem has bewitched us. ‘Bows and Arrows’ is simply enchanting and utterly beguiling, it transcends the normal parameters of pop providing a pretty picture box of ever evolving melodic landscapes. Part referencing both the lush tonalities of Van Dyke Parks and Stereo lab via ‘Cybele’s Reverie’ this sweetly souring honey offers a fascinating insight into the trio’s vividly magical world of intelligently choreographed pocket symphonies. Puzzling and enchanting in equal measures this slice of longingly romanticised nimble folk is softly caressed by playfully fluffy Viennese ballroom accents and a subtle baroque beauty that at times recalls Momus, swept seductively by an undercurrent of delicate string washes that sound as though they’ve been hoodwinked straight from Nyman’s ‘Draughtsman’s Contract’ sessions whilst all the time cast within a mercurial melodic myriad of timeless classicism rarely heard venturing onto a pop record since the hallowed days of Left Banke with a healthy side serving of Oddfellows Casino. The more earthbound ‘Piece of me?’ features on the flip side, built upon a bed of crookedly bitter sweet shanty like melodies this has the harmonies taking centre stage and strangely enough recalls elements of early Flaming Lips and Gorky’s as it builds in stature while never having to venture past cruise control as it with slight of hand deliciously disarms your defences. Joint single of the Missive - nothing less nothing more. www.leftwithpictures.com

Rod Thomas ‘Your love is a tease’ (North and South). Same label that brought us the mighty Kaputt debut ‘Dishes’ towards the tale end of last year and which even now all these months on still sends shocks up our spine (and which at this point we’ll make a rare exception at dedicating to the gorgeous looking young lady on the early morning 33 bus to Twickenham). Where were we. Ah yes Rod Thomas, last seen gracing these very pages (as recently as Missive 109) with the utterly wonderful ‘Good Coat’. In fact that previous outing only hinted at the possibility, several months down the line the potential, has been realised. ‘Your love is a tease’ reveals an unnerving growth in maturity and packs a precise richly luxurious pop sensibility that blossoms colourfully into swirls of sensual song craft and radiates with an inescapable sense of overt optimism that’s rarely seen or heard these days among the current of singer songwriters. The melodic kernel of ‘your love is tease’ owes much to the lovelorn precision pop of the Kane Gang, Paddy McAloon, Lotus Eaters and Paul Weller in his more love noted exchanges as part of Style Council (read ’Long hot summer’ and ’you’re the best thing’). Sophisticated soul pop that tantalises, breathlessly cast upon a crisp summer breeze and equally perfectly primed listening gear for hand holding doey eyed lovers or just those simply dreaming about being in love. As though you’d imagine impossible to follow the flip cut ’Until something fits’ does just that and actually betters the lead by some fair margin. Tenderly recoiling, this little gem is replete with gentle flurries of spring hued acoustics deliciously flanked by a flirty flute accompaniment, this shy eyed nugget will ring a crushing chord to all those who ever regretted not being a tad more bashful and indisposed to their disabling shy nature. Perfect in a word. Head over to www.yourloveisatease.com for a chance to see the video that accompanies ‘your love is a tease’ which features a Russian doll and a fish (don’t ask). www.northandsouthmusic.com

Let’s Wrestle ‘Song for Abba tribute record’ (Marquis Cha Cha). Them dudes over at Marquis Cha Cha just keep banging out the goodies, over the last few months they’ve wooed our hi-fi with a brace of 7’s featuring the near perfect pub punk of the Bromheads Jacket, something rather stupendous from Tiger Force and a killer debut from the mysterious Electric Spoon. Well now you can add to that bulging list the name Let’s Wrestle a North London based trio who serve up their debut three track outing ’Song for Abba tribute record’ - or not as is the case. We do admit to being rather smitten by this release and much fond of Let’s Wrestle’s touching happy miserable effect to which they cast upon their song craft which principally recalls the melodic juxtaposition of early Smiths releases wherein Marr‘s optimistic opines markedly contrasted with Morrissey‘s dashed demeanour no more better evidenced than on ‘Heaven knows I‘m miserable now‘. In some strange way the three cuts found here are more like a Mancunian tribute record to New Order, the Smiths and the Fall rather than Abba if truth be known (and no - before you ask - I haven’t missed the tongue in cheek point of it all) as though conceived by an early carer Pavement. Twisted, bent out of shape and not so much angular but rather more deliberately obtuse is how Let’s Wrestle operate, had Peel been around it would be a sure fire certainty that this lot would have been invited into the hallowed house band hall of fame, their sound is familiar dipping at will into elements of art rock, post punk and slacker core yet its displaced and fractured as though they’ve been deliberately reading the pop manual upside down and backwards. ’Song for Abba tribute record’ opens the set -thick with Pixies meets the Wedding Present motifs and bulging with ’Movement’ era Peter Hook bass underpins that’s scored superbly with the parting retake of Marr’s run out guitar lament from ’please, please, please let me get what I want’ . Spiked and fraught with barbed humour this little gem makes for an acutely curmudgeon mix ’n’ match spectacle of acrid ’I can’t be arsed’ pop that’s not so much unloved as not wanting to be loved. ’Quazar Blues’ is likewise beset with a scarring fuck you attitude though this time treated to lashings spite. ’I want to be in Husker Du’ recalls in passing the Teen Anthems whilst simultaneously recanting a who’s who list of all the more cooler outfits from the last twenty or so years of indie pop. Older readers of course may well scamper away to dig out those much forgotten nuggets by the oft overlooked Pooh Sticks. Of course it’s all essential. www.marquischacha.co.uk

(they came from the stars) I saw them ’it’s time’ (thisisnotanexit). A brief mention for this little cutie which arrived on our doorstep looking for a loving home with a hi-fi. This is the preceding single to the current ’the unstoppable kite’ release which originally saw the light of day at the tail end of last year and turned up at our gaff following our little grumble in the last missive (where we cast a fond critical eye on the aforementioned ’the unstoppable kite’) about being somewhat sad that it had managed to pass us by the first time of asking. Is this making sense - thought not. ’It’s time’ is your spangly sherbet type slice of kaleidoscopic pop which lies somewhere the twin orbits that divide the Busy Signals and the more pop orientated and less frazzled elements of the Animal Collective back catalogue. Nibbles at the riff from Gary Numan’s ’Cars’ and wires into a mind melting collage of lysergic loops that three minutes flower briefly into a mutant funk hybrid which you can find in all its extended resplendent glory on the accompanying ’Gay Masters Discomix’ of the same track Elsewhere the same cut get a further reworking with the ’An Optimo Espacio Remix’ which stretches the original into a rather tasty mind expanding odyssey of sorts that at various refuelling points takes on board elements of dub, studio 4, bulging cosmic groves and Kraftwerk no less. Tucked in the middle of it all expect to be treated to ‘(are you searching for?) The Mother lode’ a jazz funk ethnic fusion that to these ears sounds like Ian Dury’s Blockheads being let off the leash for a spot of Aboriginal / Egyptian styled crossover. Very classy indeed. Expect an album or two shortly. www.thisisnotanexit.net

The People’s Revolutionary Choir ‘the breeze that blows’ (Weekender). Previously featured in these very pages a fair while back but as is typical of these things can we find the review or the CD in question - can we bugger as like. You might be happy to hear (or not as the case may be) that the People’s Revolutionary Choir are not in fact some bible swapping cultist religion with some highly amusing concept about how we came to be - which may or may not include beings from other galaxies, people called Bernie or spoons - and yet which all invariably cost vast amounts of money and are aimed at the rich and famous. Oops we appear to have fallen wayside of the track somewhat - where were we - ah yes the People’s Revolutionary Choir - great name eh? Those waiting patiently for the return from deep outer musical space of a certain Sonic Boom may do well to check this out - like immediately. The UK’s premier psychedelicists stump up the wig flipping and anthemia ’the breeze that blows’ - a colossal full on brooding bastard of raw, primed and liberating heaven bound stoned gospel psyche. This smoking babe is a chilled far out and flying epic in the making that splices the spirit of the late 60’s acid troubadours with the gritted blues and r’n’b classicists of the 50’s and bathes the mix with a soul sapping procession of hazy Hammonds and lazily strummed guitars that converge into a scarring slice of blissed out redemption blues that if we didn’t know better we’d say was the work of mid career of Spiritualized being hotwired to an at the height of their powers Verve. Spliffs are optional though highly recommended just so you can sample first hand the full on mind expanding beauty of it all. ’Lost and found’ features over on the flip - more laid moments spent staring at the sun and configuring strange mind montages with the clouds in the sky and another daunting slab of shimmering psychotronic soul blues that frankly sounds like classic Dylan in dusty shades in the role of a bluesed out preacher man with lashings of harmonica for company which is always a certified winner in our gaff as regular readers will have duly noted. Think we deserve a whole full length of the same lads - what do you think. Further sonic explorations can be found on the essential double disc ‘psychedelica’ set put out by Northern Star where the blighters do the business in fine style with ‘Elevate’. www.myspace.com/weekenderrecords

The Mojo Fins ‘Pinata Face’ (Amazon). Would you be at all surprised if we shared with you the small but crucial fact that somehow we’ve managed to separate and lose the accompanying press release to this little honey of a release. Well we have so there surprise or no surprise - one minute it was there the next somewhere but obviously not here. What we do know about the Mojo Fins is that they are a Brighton based quartet whose debut release ‘Pinata Face’ could simply be described with one word - sublime. Not since Pellumair’s debut ‘Iris’ from a few years ago has a record entered our listening space and touched us so. Trembling shy eyed rustic pop carved from nakedly bare acoustics (like a rounded full blooded sensual take on John Fahey) that cascade and tumble warming flurries of aching enchantment that softly carry hope laden love notes through the vividly colourful landscaped air. Frosted glockenspiel melodies play peek a boo as the moods steadily build in stature to slowly unfurl braided seductively with the passage of pining stratospheric shimmers of feedback that converge to a crushing soul sapping finale that’ll leave you breathless, vanquished and begging for more. Flip over for the equally tantalising ‘between stations’ - with its sugar glazed delay effected riffs and its crunching loud / quiet dynamic at its mid point, this gem comes across like a mid way point tying together a chilled star crossed variant of U2 and a laid back Durutti inspired South. So hurting you’ll wanna throw your arms the hi-fi to re-assure it as it slyly works away at undoing your defences from the inside out. www.amazonrecords.co.uk

See you shortly.
Mark
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