missive 123
18-06-2007
Singled Out
Missive 123

For Kelly and Mark.

Singled Out - as cute as a round shiny button but with added sarcasm.

Admit it you never expected to see this missive so fast did you - you all thought - ‘quick fire missive’ - yea that’ll be the last we see of him for another month. Such faith.

Anyhow dispensing with the usual groaning and muttering that accompanies these missives - like you really read them - eh? So it’s a quick fumble in the sack of pop….oh er……

Okay last time out - which all things being right and according to plan - was earlier today - we put you on alert to some corking releases from Filthy Little Angels that were shortly to made freely available via this old internet type thing, this spate of generosity being brought on by the small detail that the label has been recently picked up for special attention by a certain Radio 1 DJ - Huw Stephens and to mark the event those Filthy Little Angel people will be making available on a daily basis (from the 18th June for 5 days) an EP / release from their back catalogue. Run on a shoe string budget this tiny label with a massive heart and an impeccable ear for spotting the next crucial thing has risen to the fore in our affections in recent weeks with a plethora of top drawer releases which are frankly coming at us so thick and fast we can’t keep apace.

And staying loosely with Filthy Little Angels many thanks to those little cherubs - Midge and Vivian better known as ShiSho who made our day earlier this week by sending us a rather sweet email which aside thanking us for reviewing their recent split single with Hyperbubble then went on to give us diary like account of what they’d been up to all day - of course you can tune into their regularly updated pod casts by going to www.shisho.info - extra helping of jellies ‘n’ cream and lashings of fizzy pop are highly recommended - can’t wait to hear their promised cover of New Order’s ‘True Faith’ via a compilation being culled together by Nineteen Eighty Seven Records.

First up with the downloads will be -

The Leatherettes ‘Johnny Thunders’ EP. We must get our act together and get around to writing up the promised review for their stunning split album release with Dirtblonde but hell we are having so much fun getting down and dirty with it that we’ve forgotten the real purpose as to why it was sent to us in the first place. This EP features four slices of caustic DIY gnarled shade wearing, hip hugging fuzz pop from Dundee’s premier dislocated duo Becca and Johnny - minimalist primal scuzzy boogie for all is what you get for the asking. ‘Johnny Thunders’ the opener sounds not unlike an over excited Fay Fife doing her best Debbie ‘X Offender’ Harry impersonation while fronting the Ramones, the frayed and stripped to the bone production though not as bargain basement as the Mummies yet not far off adds to the edge. The dirtily fraught ‘Born bad’ with its slinky side winding riffs and pouting fuck you demeanour is a bearing down vibrant slice of gritty fuzzed out and mutated three chord candy pop that sounds to these ears as though it was fathered by early career Suicide. ‘Mickey and Minnie’ provides for a spot of saccharine laced stutter boogie, furiously feisty and the best thing here - a kind of ASBO waving half cousin of Toni Basil’s ‘Mickey’ fronting off, happy slapping and whipping the Shangri-La’s to drag them kicking and screaming through a hedge backwards. Last and by no means least - ‘Betty Danger’ pick pockets the Steve Jones trademarked Pistols power chords and has it firing the under the hood cylinders of a dragster demolition derby entrant - imagine early career Mono Men and Ministry collaborating to cut their chops on Eddy Cochran’s ‘Something else’ - well cool. Available to download 18th June.

Captain Polaroid ‘Pro Action Replay’ EP. Available to download the following evening which all things being right should be Tuesday 19th June is a rather tasty six track EP from Birmingham’s very finest - which just in case you didn’t know or no one thought to tell you is Captain Polaroid. Of course he’s no stranger to these pages following his appearance on that rather essential Christmas compilation put out by Cherryade records entitled ‘A very Cherry Christmas’ upon which of his contribution - ‘Until boxing day’ we made various comparisons to Wire. Indeed he’s been often compared in passing to Bright Eyes which we happily concur with though that said we do feel that across this curiously assembled release featuring six slices of lo-fi frailly shy bitter sweet motifs that the reference markers are plainly nodding in the general direction of artists such as Hovercraft, Another Sunny Day and most obvious of all - the Pooh Sticks no more than on ‘Songs in bad movies’ with its wistfully bitter bent out of shape and twisted caustically sweetly soured melodically astute and numbing Sarah / Bus Stop records mindset. The good Captain points his viewfinder to highlight the frailties of human nature and what its like to live through it - hurt, shoulder shrugging resignation and doomed love (just check out the blunt ‘the city was built around you’) are just some of the topics caught by his acoustic lens. The set opens with ‘Better works of fiction’ upon which we were immediately taken back reminiscing the much missed McCarthy (now Stereolab in a later life), stranger still then that we hear reference in a pop song to the Bible which, if I’m not very mistaken the last time we can immediately recall hearing such was on a little agit ditty by the name of ‘Should the bible be banned’ recorded by none other than - McCarthy - how strange - bloody good all the same. Tastier still the title track ‘Pro Action Replay’ even managers to sound like an acoustic guitar wielding dispirited Wreckless Eric fused as were with a disenchanted Stiff era Nick Lowe mindset while the lolloping ‘Familiar Routines’ takes the crusade to the streets and could be considered something of a lo-fi epic - just add in some sweeping strings and a fulsome full blooded production and this babe would knock you bandy and cross eyed into the middle of next week. Or me personally best of the set comes in the shape of the parting ‘Jigsaw of Planet Earth’ - morosely touching, happily hum drum and decoded deliciously with an affecting defences stripping intimacy - bleak never sounded so becoming and beautiful.

Colt .45’s ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ EP. Available to download for free on Wednesday 20th June is a rather smart three track release from Durham based quartet Colt .45’s. In fairness it’d be true to say that the Colt .45’s are a band who you could happily make a career out of hating just for the way they can rustle up memorable tunes at the bat of an eyelid. They are a contradiction of sorts - one minute they are freezing the peckers of you with their bleakly scarred electroid minimalism a la Cabaret Voltaire and the Normal, the next getting punked up and hostile ‘n’ in your face while elsewhere leaving you rooted and numbed with sheens of divine, ethereal and glacial grandeur. Don’t believe us - then check out these three cuts each as individual and unique as the other providing evidence indeed of this combos multi faceted persona. Rooted with a monochrome minimalist touch, the Colt .45’s eke out sparse fuzzed up electro punk as evidenced perfectly on ‘Crack can kill you’ which incidentally opens the proceedings, featuring bleached vocals, wonky keys and dislocated jittering beats it takes Zea’s splintered persona and wires into its heart the essence of Elemental and 70 Gwen Party only to splice into their collective DNA strains of post punk electro minimalism. ‘Heart’s still beating’ is a collision of rampant beats and melodic structures so fiercely frantic and unstable you fear they’ll collapse any second soon, buckled and brazen this buzz sawing baby recalls elements of the Ejected, Expelled and Hagar the Womb. All said and done though best moment by far arrives with the bleakly beautiful ‘Stockholm Syndrome which in all honesty has to be heard to be believed, detached glacial textures applied with deft touch purloined straight from the dark heart of minimalist electro pop, principally taking its cue from the stark ‘A prayer for the unborn’ by Gary Numan this gem is aloofly exquisite is deliciously brought to bear with a spectrally charged atmospheric wide screen delivery that pays passing nods to the likes of B-Movie, Modern Eon and Ex Post Facto while tripping a line towards divine perfection following the hallowed steps as it does of The Passions ’I’m in love with a German film star’ and Bang Bang Machine’s ’Geek Love’ - perfect then I’m sure you’ll agree.

The Star Fighter Pilot ‘The fall / broken equipment’. Served up on Thursday 21st June is this three track offering from the Star Fighter Pilot who is better known to his parents and friends alike as Manchester musician Martin Bryant. Combining a strangely alluring chemistry of tingling electro pop the type of which that simply floors you with all the trickery of a slight of hand magic trick with a curious slacker-esque though sometimes chemically enhanced lysergic experience, Bryant has slowly garnered an ever growing fan base with each passing release and all important compilation appearance - a split with the Colt .45’s (see previously) is next on the agenda slated for August release. ’Product’ the last cut featured here could easily be the work of proto super group the Fly (see Elefant records) - a super charged buzz sawing kraut disco nugget spliced through with clock work styled chiming keys and a pulse racing club floor terrorising zeal that feet and hips alike frankly can’t be still throughout - think Kraftwerk tousled and tinkered by mid 70’s era Giorgio Moroder with Chic’s Rodgers and Edwards applying silken Studio 54 touches to the final mix. There’s something of the Thomas Dolby’s about the lead out cut ’The Fall’ which I’ll say here and now is no bad thing especially given its want for stepping up through the gear just when you least expect it however its on ’Broken Equipment’ where all the kudos are kept on this release. Falling somewhere between Birdpen and Swimmer One they say fore warned is to be fore armed and you’d do well to bear that in mind when approaching this cutie because being unprepared and unprotected could leave you numbed and awash with anxiety. Cute as it is with its softly flexed electro washes, ’Broken Equipment’ cuts you to the quick resplendent in hazes of bitter sweet kaleidoscopic candy pop - bit like a threadbare and abandoned New Order with serious personal issues - get to its conclusion without fighting the urge to weep like a child and your a better man than me - more please and quick about it though easy on the heartache.

And finally for the Filthy Little Angels free downloads …..

Black Kites ’All wrong’ EP. Perhaps the best of the five and unless I’m seriously mistaken or else cocked up the calendar front this should be available on Friday 22nd June. In a word this EP is stunning. Black Kites are a LA based quartet who to date have had one acclaimed EP release firmly tucked under their collective guitar straps which I can tell you now that we are mightily miffed at ourselves for missing. Featuring three slices of swirling skin peeling sun bathed shoe gazed grandeur bled through with softly shimmering sheens of summer glazed psyche pop, Black Kites masterfully navigate the finite nuances of the once derided but of late reinvigorated scene often compared in passing to Slowdive, which arguably I can understand though admittedly they do lack the gossamer affected ethereal and divine somnambulance of Readings finest preferring instead to sound like the Psychedelic Furs (especially brought to bear by Alan Petherick’s Richard Butler vocal double take) as though instead of being in awe of all things Bowie have instead cultivated their craft via the vinyl output of the Velvets and wired in a toned down and streamlined appraisal of Ride’s first three landmark EP’s along with a smidgeon of the heart heavy, hand holding, wide eyed sweetly innocent vocabulary of the late 80’s twee scene with touches of latter career Jesus and Mary Chain. None more so is this exemplified than on ’Sadie’ - the refined majesty of it all lending itself to the spectral grace and soft psyche amour as crafted by House of Love’s Terry Bickers. Elsewhere the opening salvo - ’All wrong’ cuts deep with astral planing swathes of kick back, one minute serenely daydream exacted out by overlapping boy / girl vocals, intertwining keys and curvaceous sky piercing riff cascades alternating to bouts of crunching turbulence and locked down sheens of frustrated tension Best of the three in our humble opinion is ’Glass Parade’. Driving stellar pop that shifts through the gears with unerring grace to leave exhaust trails in its wake, decorated with 60’s motifs, laced longingly with loops of honey dipped glacial cascades that sound like they were hoodwinked from Will Sergeant’s back pocket during the Bunny men’s ’Flowers’ sessions, dreamscapes of beckoning romance containing tiny pockets of euphoric eruptions - all said and done possibly the coolest thing we’ve had on our turntable in a fair old while and very much calling to mind that lost in action gem from yester year ’Nothing of you’ by the much missed Corn Dollies - think I’m going to cry at the joy of it all.

All these releases can be downloaded on the specified days by logging on at www.filthylittleangels.com - once experienced your listening habits will never quite be the same. To save on any Filthy Little Angels OD’ing we’ll save the Singles Club releases until next time out….well we don’t want you getting too much of a good thing all at once - it’s bad for you.

The Voices ‘I’ll always be within you when there’s no one left inside’ (My Kung Fu). The words ‘dogs’ and ‘bollocks’ spring to mind. First single (and second best track in our much humbled opinion) to be culled from the Cardiff based trios second full length ‘the sound of young America’. Comprises of a sweetly serene layered celestial cacophony made up from lush jet streamed sheens of feedback and silken shade wearing uber soft psyche pop. Astral planing montages and euphoric hazes entwine elegantly casting effervescent stones into the pools of star lit milky voids - think My Bloody Valentine tenderly coaxed and anchored earthbound by the gliding pop glaze of Slow dive - to be filed under ethereal shimmering fuzz pop. CD release features the radio edit and the no holds barred full on sub 8 minute version. Flip over for the expansive ‘’I see dark times ahead’ - a brooding slow to burn cosmic overture that tailgates a kraut induced variance of the Spacemen 3’s keynote space blues to endow it with a coolly dispatched 60’s styled lysergic key tread. A looser and grittier side to the Voices persona, this 10 minute cutie is awash with a fixed hypnotic locked down looping groove which manages to never veer from its pre ordained trajectory pausing only briefly at 5.30 for a spot of squalling distorted feedback. For fans of Land of Nod methinks. Gemlike - www.my-kung-fu.com

Magic Eight Ball ‘A Peacock’s Tale’ (self released). it’s a strange and unnerving prospect when an accompanying press release - written in this instance by the band themselves - professes musical influences as thus - the Manics, Queen and Cheap Tricks. I’m sure you’ll agree such a collection of talent laid down as reference markers has never appeared in print before in the same sentence at least. But then press releases are strange things - more often than not a blatant act of self promotion (of course) - you can always gage the current bands in vogue as their always casually referred to even if it’s a given thing on hearing the music inside that the band have obviously never see a record by them let alone actually heard them. But the Manics, Queen and Cheap Tricks - I ask you. I’ve always had issues about the Manics- a love / hate relationship you might say where I love to hate them. I can see the attraction but then feel their most cutting edge work laid abandoned and forgotten the minute Richey walked out to oblivion. Queen - share with people like Presley something absolute and incomparable - they exist in their own self contained universe while Cheap Tricks appear to have long ago mastered the art of crafting music relevant to past, present and future sub generic species. All three share a common thread - their ability to mainline directly into the masses conscience via their safe easy listening persona. And so to Magic Eight Ball and young trio based in Windsor. ’A peacock’s tale’ their debut release features four exquisitely crafted shots of sublime 70’s styled MOR / FM. Its inspiring in the main for the way it slaps in the face of any notion of fashionable bandwagon jumping conventions whilst given the band members ages (all in their early 20’s) its hard yet its to be admired at how they have acquired the high level of adept intricacy to be able to pull of such a feat without being sealed in some sort of bubble and fed on old tapes of transatlantic radio shows from the mid 70’s while dieting on record collections provided for by parents and older relatives alike. In terms of content, style and delivery I’d have to say this was the most exquisite release we’d had the pleasure of hearing since gems of gold dust from the Panda Gang (who seem to have gone quiet of late) lit up our hi-fi. The set opens with ’Baby, is it so?’ a smoking gun of becoming talent and potential, in its five minute duration it manages to shoe horn honey combed harmonies imported direct from the West Coast that have been spliced through with chilled lines of laid back drifting soul the type of which that gives you a warming fuzzy tingling sensation at your core, reclining easy on the ear svelte pop featuring a rather smart Brian May styled solo and in vocalist Baz Francis a front man equally happy at turning his hand to warming soul deliveries (the like of which you’d have to go way back into the mists of the early 70’s for comparison) as he is taking the melodies by the scruff and rocking out. ’Never need new genes’ - perhaps if truth be told - the best thing here - possesses a slow to burn subtle power pop core blended with a delicious 50’s styled bubblegum pop wrap that to these ears sounds like a particularly saccharine sweet Paul McCartney taking time out from Wings and the post Beatles fall out and going on a vacation to the Canvey Islands to act as a faceless svengali and to oversee a pub rock super group of sorts cultivating soothing gems of pristine pop in a style befitting the hey day of the Bay City Rollers as though shot through with the mercurial mid 70’s mindset of ’Darlin’ era Beach Boys all the time swept along in currents of idly charmed bliss laden laid back motifs that even the Raspberries would blush in admiration at. The lazy eyed honey tipped ’Down by the River’ takes a ramble through the backwaters of the Thrills domain - perfect for reclining in the shade of a tree hiding from a bearing down summer sun and idly spending the afternoon watching the clouds float by. The milky romantic ’L.N.E. (for the Love of Three Girls)’ which I assume is dedicated to said members other halves wraps up the set. A piano led instrumental imagines a young Alan Price poking around in the fractured mindset of a chemically befuddled Brian Wilson reconstructing partially completed lovelorn suites aided by Randy Newman on hand to apply his trademark smoothness to the raw materials within. Gorgeous really. www.myspace.com/ilovemagiceightball

Carbon / Silicon ’(Good morning here’s the….News’ (Carbon /Silicon). Think I’m right in saying that this is the official debut release (following a wealth of freely downloadable records) from Carbon / Silicon - a super group of sorts featuring the combined talents of the Clash’s Mick Jones and Tony James formerly of Sigue Sigue Sputnik and beat pop punk combo and this scribes first musical love - Generation X. Carbon / Silicon have over the course of the last year or so been treading the boards at local London night spots delivering the odd ripping set or two while showing up the youth (youth, youth - sorry couldn’t resist) of today into the bargain. As it stands ’News’ albeit bereft of the keynote trademark samples could easily fit on Big Audio Dynamite’s debut full length and Jones purists wouldn’t bat an eyelid, a utopian battle cry of sorts - if only - especially the weather aspect and the crushing, the voting, the overall optimism of the nation and the grinding rise of consumerism - all set to a bulging drum machine rhythm - of course its your typically slap dash, casually thrown down type tuneage which these veterans could you’d imagine knock out in minutes flat but hey beats most stuff out there without barely breaking sweat. That said the flip is where its at - the f*ck you ‘I loved you’ possesses perhaps the laziest slice of snaking riff man ship you’ll hear in a fair while set to what sounds Chic’s ‘I want your love’ as strange as it might first appear it works a treat nuff said. www.carbonsiliconinc.com

Black Lips ’Cold Hands’ (Vice). Set across two seven inch singles and no doubt a CD and various other formats all with exclusive flip sides we assume (well our pair of 7‘s do anyway). Absolutely no information about the Black Lips which is a tad shameful (though we do swear we’ve heard the name and no doubt played, reviewed and loved to bits their previous releases - but can we put our hands to any - can we bugger as like) as ’Cold Hands’ is a rather tasty slice of Wall of Voodoo meets Violent Femmes cutting their chops on a shed load of ‘Nuggets’ and ‘Pebbles’ compilations at the train terminal point just around the corner from the infamously fabled cross roads where would be blues pioneers exchange their soul for a spanking mojo bag. Add in several dashes of primal dust trodden rock ’n’ roll sourced directly from its infancy and set it to the rolling motion of a stateside cross state venturing express train - essential or what. Flip side features the flowered up paisley styled 60’s pop nugget ’My struggle’ which to these ears sounds like its stepped straight off the magic bus while the flip over the second 7 inch stumps up a rather nifty live version of the psychedelicised ’Hippie Hippie Hoorah’ the original studio take of which you can find on their recent full length ’Los Valientos del Mundo Nuevo’ - get your asses over to the Vice Records website and grab your for gratis a live take of the Love meets the Seeds ‘Not a problem’. www.myspace.com/theblacklips

Grace ’Slowly’ (Charisma). No doubt this has been out for ages, raced up the charts, captured the hearts of the nation and sold absolute shed loads in the process - in fact you - yes you - probably have a poster of them up on your wall with a matching badge and t-shirt set. Obviously we are not with it - never pretends to be - and never will - though this did catch our eye in the pound bucket at the legendary Probe records in Liverpool - well if truth be told it was mainly for the fact that it was housed on a rather cute picture disc - and well we don’t mind saying we are suckers for picture discs - obviously aside the visual beauty the record sounds better unless of course it happens to be the Lambrettas ’D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-dance’ which apart from being woeful - looked crap. Anyway were we - ah yes Grace. Apparently a taster or should we say was a taster for their forthcoming full length entitled ‘Detours’ (that’s probably been out, sold out and now deleted from the catalogue) - we’ll check in the quid bin next time in Probe and let you know. Are you still with us - because here’s the good bit were we review it - well I say review it - just a few words that one can find in a dictionary - string them together - make a sentence - that type of thing. Charisma - home of Genesis which one review happened to mention in passing as though it were a badge of honour to be proud of - well if I’d known that I’d have run a mile. Produced by Steve Osbourne - better known for his work with Elbow and the Doves which to be honest Grace neatly file alongside to a certain degree, ‘Slowly’ is braided beautifully with cantering swells of cruise controlled lightly flickering riff motifs sweetly punctuated with Brontean piano solos and laden with pockets of simmering passion, admittedly it fails to poke you in the eye and have you crying out loud in a peak of eureka like discovery ‘f*ck me killer tune’ but hey this is the age of plodding pedestrian pop - that said it is rather contagious even if it does sound like the Cutting Crew shimmying up to Suede. Flip side features - as the sticker informs me - an exclusive b-side (?) entitled ‘Person I am’ - a more introspective and inward looking take on the Grace persona and passable mainly for its ebbing and flowing daydream like guitar flurries. www.gracemusic.co.uk

Stateless ‘Exit’ (iK7). And we don’t mind admitting that we have grown rather fond of this little cutie since we rescued it from the record racks on a recent record buying jaunt. Our copy happens to be housed in a strictly limited defaced - ha ha - sorry autographed sleeve which if you get off your backsides sharpish you should be able to nail one to call your own as there are 200 kicking about the place. Stateless are a Leeds based quintet who on ‘Exit’ meld an array of sumptuous tripping beats and ethereal somewhere else svelte like wide screen down tempo blissfulness of the kind that Tim Lee’s celebrated Touch Tones would simply kill for. As perfect a release as you’ll hear for a fair while, ‘Exit’ is an unworldly gem of cool seduction that mixes suave sophisticated soul accents with gossamer affected tenderly cured electro dreamscapes and braids them with samples, scratches, breathless corteges of sublime after dark amour and in singer Chris James someone possessing a vocal hybrid that draws its cross diluted DNA from both Seal and David McAlmont - best filled alongside Memphis Industries Broadway Project. Equally endearing is the flipside for the darkly toned and hurting ‘Hurricane’ - oozing desire as though its going fast out of fashion it takes its cue from the early 90’s Bristol scene notably like a numbed Massive Attack bruised and scarred upon the crushed touch of Portishead - its elegance and sheer sense of class though knows no bounds. More please. www.statelessonline.co.uk

Plastic Toys ’Let me feel the love’ (Hill Valley). You can call and accuse of us most things (and people do believe you me and not all nice I can tell you - in fact some words casually flung in our direction have us digging out the dictionary and blushing in embarrassment at their meaning and quite frankly some are physically impossible) - however never let it be said that we ever forget a corking slice beastly boogie. Plastic Toys first caught our attention way back in September 2004 (see Missive 46). Formerly Karmic Jera in another life, a band who were at one time championed for greater things by none other than the esteemed rock publication Kerrang and sadly disbanded amid scenes of acrimony leaving one full length idly gathering dust in a major label vault. Produced by Andy Gray (better known for his work with Gary Numan - and frankly the best thing to happen to the alien one since ‘Telekon’) ‘Let me feel the love’ oozes more sex, sleaze and sassiness than a basement bar in a 70’s era Soho. Desirably decadent and dirty with it, this fuzzed out grinding funk laden horny mother salaciously struts, swaggers and pouts like a cat walk Queen, packed to the hilt with wah wahs and housed in an buzz sawing electro clash meets industrial face off this dirty little mother slinkily files itself alongside those equally super charged slabs of sleazy sexual tension crafted out by the White Rose Movement. Flip side features ‘Superfreak’ sadly not the x - rated funked up floor trasher by the late Rick James but a super charged hot ‘n’ horny blood rushing roller coaster hip grinding bastard of some measure which we still maintain sounds like classic Jesus Jones running on empty and at the edge of their tether. Recommended without question. www.plastictoys.co.uk

Okay that’s it for it for a day or two - next time out those promised Smallfish releases, that corking Purest Spiritual Pig releases, a killer thing from the Telescopes, some goodies from Fitzrovian Phonographic and no doubt shed loads of other top essential tunes with which to annoy the neighbours and be the envy of the local cool set (as if).

Updates as and when they’re ready via www.myspace.com/thesundayexperience, email and stuff via mark@losingtoday.com while the physical address is 105 shaldon drive, morden, surrey, sm4 4bq, uk - oh yeah happy birthday Cap’n Becki - you didn’t think we’d forget did you …..

Take care of yourselves….

Mark
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