missive 161 part 1
14-04-2008
Singled Out
Missive 161

For Kelly and Mark

Singled Out - revolutions of a 45 kind.

Okay as per usual apologies for the delay on this - frankly we just haven’t been at the races of late - this wonderful English weather is playing havoc with our inner charge - rare sightings of a round yellow thing in the sky have momentarily had us skipping gleefully into the garden with armfuls of CD’s hoping the radiating warmth will inspire and cure us of our writers block. Alas the minute we get out there replete with smokes (yep we haven’t given up yet - we blame over anxious worrying of not seeing a summer), coffee, writing pad, pen and cd player the clouds rush over and the heavens open. In fact we’ve even had snow, frost and gale force winds and yes we realise it is April - hence the old saying that involves something to do with ’showers’ but frankly this is tasking le piss. So there you have it the full hands up reason as to why this is late and those over promised albums reviews haven’t been forthcoming. But then again it could be because we are bone idle lazy fops - but then you knew that already.

Okay as promised previously a very, very brief missive - there will be - if all goes accordingly - two more by the close of next weekend - missive 162 will be a my space type special with missive 163 the usual procession of new and er old singles given that we’ve unearthed a wad of records that must have gotten lost somehow in the great singled out CD mountain. Future missives have been earmarked for a long promised feature on the growing populace of free to download internet only labels.

Album wise - current loves -

Salon Boris’ second full length ‘vsegda bobik’ which since arriving in our gaff today has had us whooping it big time - you can check out one the lead cuts right now in the shape of the wantonly sultry Front 242 meets SPK ‘I need you’ via http://www.myspace.com/salonborisuk though that said it’s ‘beautiful’ that appears to be charging our battery.

Elika ‘trying got us nowhere’ via fiercely indie - debut from New York duo Evangelia and Brian - lushly peppered fuzz drawn dream pop.

Also much loved….

Avenging Force ‘s/t’ (sea)
The black bloc ‘s/t’
South ‘you are here’ (gene pool)
Dead elephant ‘lowest shared descent’ (robot radio)
Mohan ski ‘hot dog Chihuahua’ (ugly nephew)
Absent without leave ‘postcards from nowhere’ (distant noise)
even ‘even’ (rubber)

Reading wise we‘ve just taken delivery of two publications chartering the history, magic and relevance of two of America‘s most celebrated magazine casualties Bomp and Creem -

Published by Ammo - ‘Bomp! - saving the world one record at a time’ is a true labour of love that’s been at the planning stage more years than the magazine as actually in circulation. Co edited by founder Greg Shaw’s widow Suzy along with BOMP staff writer Mick Farren - this tome has had the blessing of everyone with both Greil Marcus and Jann Wenner fully onboard for the trip and penning essays. This 300 page annual acts as a historical scrapbook with extracts culled from all 21 editions of the psych / garage / beatnik loving journal and includes perhaps the publications main selling point - as if you needed any prodding - the aborted, unfinished and unpublished issue 22 gathered here and fully reproduced in its entirety. Yowzah.

Another of America’s cornerstone journals sadly lost in action during the great pop depression that was the late 80’s was Creem. For 19 years this institution piss took its way into rock folklore daring to diss the institutions and rock relics that its more conservative rival Rolling Stone held in high regard. Rooted with an unfailing admiration of the Stooges, the MC5’s and Detroit late 60’s period, Creem wasn’t so much counter culture but rather more lazing in the back of the record shop, dissing the new arrivals, feet up having a fag and throwing stones at the establishment. This annual sized tome captures the spirit, the mirth, the lunacy and the lovability of America’s real rock voice cobbling together a wealth of scrapbook styled reproductions from the dusty archive. Published by Collins.

Future publications on our radar……

‘Thelonius Monk : his story, his songs, his times’ is pencilled for November publication via Free Press.

‘the Elvis Encyclopaedia’ due in October via Charles Duckworth and Co is expected to be an exhaustive 400 page one stop resource for Elvis obsessive.

‘Morrissey - the pageant of his bleeding heart’ via Continuum due October - Gavin Hopps explores the world of Morrissey from the early days of the Smiths right to the present - examining and critically assessing lyrics, ideologies and the contradictions of the Moz man.

‘Memphis blues’ via Routledge - this appears to be an import and a pricey one at that - due in September - sadly no further info as yet - can anyone help with a reference site for Routledge?

‘let’s wreck - psycho Billy flashbacks from the 80’s and beyond’ via Storm screen - seemingly light weight publication listed as a meagre 96 page tome from the author who penned ‘encyclopaedia of psycho Billy and trash’ (again does anyone have a listing o the latter mentioned?)

‘blues empress in black Chattanooga - Bessie Smith and the emerging urban south’ via University of Illinois - again another pricey tome due in September an authored by Michelle Scott who focuses her attentions of the gospel blues icon Bessie Smith - by the sounds of the tag lines a book that will admirably sit alongside that very excellent Michael Gray tome from last year about Blind Willie McTell.

‘a pure drop - the life of Jeff Buckley’ through omnibus press the same outlet that brought noteworthy tomes about Sonic Youth and Ian Curtis in recent times. Its been ten years since his tragic passing on the eve of preparations for the recording of ’Grace’ - across 300 pages Jeff Apter collates and draws together the thoughts, memories and tributes of friends, colleagues and family and gets to the heart of the troubled artist.

‘john lennon ’ the definitive biography’ - published by harper collins - an exhaustive 450 page dissection of the Beatle man’s life by Phillip Norman - again due September and indeed marks of plethora of Beatles related publications due in the coming months - that’ll include -

‘john, paul, george and ringo - the definitive illustrated chronicle of the Beatles 1960 - 1970 - rare photographs, collectible ephemera and day by day timeline’ - an import published by Sterling

June sees the publication of ‘Sgt Pepper and the Beatles - it was forty years ago today’ - extremely expensive dissertation covers aspects related to musicology, ethnomusicology, sociology, literature and psychology attaching to the most famous concept album of all time. Published by Ashgate.


Magazine wise -

The Word #63 - features a rare interview with the Fall’s Mark E Smith just ahead of next months publication of his semi ghost written autobiography ‘renegade : the lives and tales of Mark E Smith’ and the release of a spanking new Fall full length - ‘imperial wax solvent’, elsewhere there’s an equally rare chat with Marvel comics supreme Stan Lee while Mark Ellen chews the fat with Roger Waters. The best and worst regular spotlights British TV programmes, there’s also bits ‘n’ bobs on Mike Leigh and Pete Frame and a spot on the best that alternative online radio has to offer. Cover mounted CD features selected prime cuts from the likes of the Black Keys, Chris Difford (his album sleeve for ‘the last temptation of chris’ seeing him sporting a Hancock neat parody), Flogging Molly, Devotchka and much more.



Pan B #31 - e suspect there’s a much later issue kicking about, this one has the Breeders on the cover and inside wherein you’ll find spots on Health, the Young Knives and the much in demand Crystal Castles and Be you own Pet.

Wire #291 - still one of the best and most well written journals around - Carl Craig goes head to head with the Invisible Jukebox, Kompakt founder Wolfgang Voigt chats about Cologne Techno elsewhere its your usual raggle taggle feast of fun in applying your lexicographic skills in trying to translate what they mean while picking up ac few handy words and phrases to casually drop into conversations at the local drinking well.

To the records……at long last - a bumper crop - and boy we’ve only just scratched the tip of CD hill……

The Scratch ‘Critical Mass’ (Ponyland). Last appearing in these very pages via their awesome 10 inch ’X-Ray Eyes’ (Missive 35) the follow up of course to their storming Buzzcock-ian debut ’I relax to spiral scratch’ (missive 26 in case you‘re taking notes) though we are slightly miffed and grumbling aplenty at missing out on their full length ’night bus or milk train’ and the ‘numbers’ single that they managed o squeeze out between then and now - alas though its not for us to shout the odds - the barstids. That said disagreeable muttering aside what better way to re-acquaint ourselves with St Albans finest foursome than with two spanking slabs of the - to be filed under the dogs bollocks - part of the listening section Still excavating the refined retro sounds of the 70’s ‘Critical Mass’ is a searing slice of bad boogie all at once excitable, energetic and effervescent, laced with more hooks than a butchers walk in freezer this blistering babe swaggers, swoons and will no doubt shag your girlfriend when you back is turned such is its smouldering high impact uber coolness. Dashed with a pristine power driven pop chassis replete with licks lifted from the arse pocket of Ronson (that’ll be Mick as opposed to Mark) ‘Critical Mass’ is so blatantly out of step with current trads and trends that’s it disturbingly refreshing like some coming together fusion of New York’s Ambulance LTD and the Crimea, the Scratch are literally in a different time zone and pissing through the fence over the oncoming competition. Hell we haven’t even mentioned the oh so ‘Suffragette City’ era Bowie references. A killer thing. Flip cut ‘dear maniac’ is even better, no fat or fillers here these kids are literally shitting transistor trouncing tunes by the hundred weight. Featuring crookedly skewif codas doused in odd art pop / new wave nuances sourced from vintage moments found on late 70’s era TOTP re-runs - think Devoto meets Pirroni but with the impish mindset of Stewart Copeland’s Klark Klent alter ego all converging to eke out a disorienting but devilishly dishy slice of awkward sonic sea sickness that possesses about its wares subtle Bolan-esque shimmies before erupting into a frenzied but mightily admirable anxiety riddled attrition lashed finale. Absolutely feckin’ essential. Joint single of the missive. www.myspace.com/thescratch

The Ladybug Transistor ‘always on the telephone’ (fortuna pop). more turntable treats from those loveable rogues of pristine pop over at Fortuna Pop. ‘always on the telephone’ is the first single to be culled from the 6th full length ‘can’t wait another day’ from Brooklyn’s finest the Ladybug Transistor. A smouldering slice of softly refined and demurring cool as you like shimmering uber psyche pop, ’always on the telephone’ is delicately threaded by bewitching braids of 60’s drenched crystalline turned chiming (think early career Shadows meets the Mistreated) reverbs tinged with faintly flavoured countrified motifs culminating in the kind of slow burning classiness much reminiscent of mid career Go Betweens as though their DNA had been suffused with that o the House of Love’s. As if that wasn’t enough to get the heart a skipping there’s a ridiculously inspired sax solo from the Roy Nathanson from the Jazz Passengers which we have to admit is worthy alone of risking crossing over a busy street for - while guitar duties come courtesy of a guest spot from the much loved Clientele’s Alasdair MacLean - prepare for arresting aural accoutrements - nuff said - buy on sight. www.fortunapop.com

Monostation ’halftonal’ (smallfish). Unless we’ve had a skiving off period or indeed have been rushing to complete this particular missive off in which case as per usual a few last minute nips and tucks have been applied then this should be the first of three featured releases from the dainty but deceptively delectable Smallfish imprint. As per usual these releases come pressed up on ridiculously limited quantities of 3 inch Cdr’s and sell out faster than you can say ’can I have that spiffing new dinky disc by Monostation please’ - last times appearance for Smallfish was marked by their 100 only edition of the ’Greyscale’ EP (which even we missed) so consider yourselves well and truly warned. Monostation are a UK based duo - Umbrellafella and Action Jackson - clearly not the names they were born with - who over the course of time - a decade to be precise - have been issuing releases like there was a run on the global CD pressing stocks - outings for limited switch, digitalbiotape, highpoint lowlife and of course Smallfish have all served to cement their reputation in the field of hypnotically inducing cinematic soundscapes. ’halftonal’ is a deeply mesmerising 14 minute trance / drone suite, appealing in the main to fans of Stars of the Lid and Windy and Carl. Monostation carve out a strangely alluring landscape, like a distant last gasp binary transmission from a dying civilisation its initial bass drone sounding uncannily like a stoned and chilled out take on Perry Como’s ‘catch a falling star’ (I kid you not), ‘Halftonal’ is best appreciated with the volume racked up late at night in the still of the dark otherwise there’s a fair chance you’ll miss out on savouring the microcosmic montages at play within. Wrapped deliciously amid slow tides of elegant yet frail oceans of panoramic drone swathes and braided with glazed washes of white noise static pierced by ether echoes this cutie pays nods to the early career work of Echoboy, the serenading shimmers belying a lilting classically grasped symphonic sereneness, the miniscule textures building in stature assuming an artistry in aural atmospheres instead of swarming and overloading your senses with a host of effects and climatic changes the melodies instead slowly terra form to feed, flirt and flesh out in looping ecstasy to plateau out at 8 minutes to coalesce dreamily into a brief but beautiful psychotropic feast. Gorgeous but then I suspect you already gathered that for yourself. www.smallfish.co.uk

You can check more wares from the duo via their page at http://www.myspace.com/monostationuk where you can delight in the wonders of their ongoing Alchemy series we suggest while you’re there you check out the as yet unreleased ’gold remix’.

Dempsey and the DC9’s ‘8 days’ (Mahuta). Guess this’ll be featured in full in these pages on a future missive given that the sleeve and press release arrived today minus the disc. On the upside it looks nice and for those who really can’t wait to hear what Dempsey has been up to since parting ways with Kieran Hebden and putting together a new backing band in the shape of the DC9’s may well be in for a small treat by retuning to http://www.myspace.com/dempseyuk where you’ll be able to hear the lead cut ‘8 days of rain’ as well as a rather smoking slice of countrified shimmer psyche pop ‘endless summer’. Till next time then. www.mahuta.net

Glen Hansard / Marketa Irglova ‘falling slowly’ (anti). The extra curricula work of Frames man Glen Hansard found here moonlighting with the extraordinarily talented Czech Republic pianist / vocalist Marketa Irglova. Initially the duo where approached to write a score for a planned film by Jan Hřebejk entitled ‘beauty in trouble’ the tracks that entailed found themselves coming to fruition on ‘the swell season’ project (named after a novel by Josef Škvorecký). Now to found featuring on both that Hansard and Irglova collaborative set ‘the swell season’ as well as on the Frames 6th full length ’the cost’ - ’falling slowly’ is culled from the film ‘once’ - incidentally the directorial debut of Frames ex-bassist John Carney - and has since taken up a life of its own having since been the beneficiary of an Oscar award. Assuming a shyly timid and measured acoustically drawn frailty this unerring beauty is clipped by aching pangs deliciously cast in rustically hued noire-ish swirls that suggestively tingle and tempt amid the rising swells of romantically flirting string arrangements that once in full euphoric flight endow the whole spectacle with a gracious grandeur and a breathlessly beautified wide screen that strangely lilts with all the appeal of Dickensian penned festive season and given that it is snowing out side seems more than readily equipped to be savoured at a tender moment. Equally emotionally sapping is the fragile flip cut ’lies’ - again taken from the pairs ’the swell season’ set this humbling beauty of unworldly pop is peppered longingly with the kind of quietly enigmatic presence and classically daubed sensibility that was once the aural playground of Queen in Mercury’s more sensitive moments though here equipped with a restrained Van Dyke Parks knowingness. This unassuming cute thing ebbs and flows delicately, initially braided by halos of softly limbered keys and snow tipped toeing strings, the formula as applied on ‘falling slowly’ is the same the slow measured application and twinning of layered textures coalescing in stature and resonance only this time evoking a hitherto more crushed and wounded landscape culminating in a tearfully spun slow burning beauty hat literally undoes you from the inside out. www.anti.com

Below is a video clip from the film of Hansard and Irglova performing ’falling slowly’….



Mock Orange ‘Song in D’ (Tigertrap). We’ll start by saying this is very unreal and guaranteed to get under the skins of the more clued up sections of the underground cognoscenti once word of it gets out about. ’Song in D’ is culled from the Indiana quartet’s forthcoming debut full length release for Tigertrap due in the summer entitled ’Captain Love’. The band have been wowing the stateside and far east underground for nigh on a decade now having to date posted three quietly acclaimed indie pop albums. ’Song in D’ is ridiculously infectious and catchy - part skewed and without doubt lovingly lazy it sounds like a mashed kaleidoscopic throwback to the much missed Elephant 6 Collective back catalogue as seen through the eyes of Pavement. Agreed it sounds in the initial stages like a weird and wired freak show circus trooping into town festooning the street lights with softly psychadelised bunting a bit like the Polyphonic Spree on strange tabs but wearing dead cool t-shirts, the melodies haplessly tagged together with gaffa tape and so deliriously laid back you fear that at any second now they’ll either fall apart or else stop still through their own innate lethargy. All at once effervescent and florescent this crookedly served slice of radiantly twisted lolloping candy pop reaches the parts that others fear to tread. Essential in our book. Flip the disc for ’til the morning’ - more flawed and fractured genius in the offing, this street wise 70’s cultivated hoe down replete with skewif time signatures the likes of which haven’t been heard here since both the Truman Waters ’spasm smash’ and Mercury Rev’s ’yerself is steam’ vacated the hi-fi all those years ago whilst proudly littering itself subtly with much fondness for the Faces which for regular readers of these mulled over musings will no doubt affirm is mighty dandy by us. www.tigertrap.co.uk

Kalliopi ‘around the world’ (self released). Arriving highly praised and mooting high expectancy, Greek born London based songstress Kalliopi’s debut three track release is described in the attending press release as the sound of ‘Goldfrapp ..if she took a heavier rock direction’. On closer inspection we’d have a tendency to agree especially where the opening cut ’around the world’ is concerned, with its lazy eyed growl strut lifted straight from the Pretenders ’message of love’ and its Bangles gone bad nattiness this babe purrs seductively dispatching sly grooved licks like no ones business while arming itself with such an infectiously high grade pop sensibility that aside being a must for ransacking the radio airwaves did have us recalling a certain youthful Kim Wilde fronting up the Go Go’s. That said the picks of the set are without doubt the two accompanying cuts. Sounding like its fallen from the vaults and recently unearthed by the dudes responsible for those Pebbles / Nuggets type gem gatherings the bollock dropping shade wearing ’Summer is over’ is a stunning - and I mean stunning - cover of the lost Dusty Springfield nugget. Replete with a smoking soft psyche shimmers at the opening that nod to Siouxsie’s ill fated pairing with Moz for ‘interlude’ this sun hugging honeycombed beauty manages to shoehorn a whole host of uber cool dialects from West Coast lilts to surf routines to hip shaking spanking slices of pristinely honed psyche pop that at times has you swearing that the Seeds are on board extrapolating the essence of the Shadow’s ’Apache’ for greater things - all the time Kalliopi’s vocals cut sexy shapes with such absorbing indignant casualness that had us rooting out Lulu’s ‘to sir with love’ - all said and done bang this on at the local indie crowd haunt and the blighter will annihilate the competition. The gorgeously oblique and seductively hypnotic ‘fire and sea’ wraps up the set and perhaps more than any other track here provides sterling evidence of a special talent at the grooming stage, tapping into the myriad pools of femme folk greats from the 70’s - Denny, Christie, Harwood, Kristina et al, Kalliopi weaves a disturbingly disarming slice of delectable enchantment that courts with snaking Eastern mantras dusted, scratched and scarred by noire like accents sourced from the early 90’s Bristol indie scene all built around a crunching clockwork dynamic hat to these ears sounds at times as though its underlying inspired motif as drawn from Sydney Carter’s ’lord of the dance’ and with that the joint single of the missive. www.kalliopi.eu.com

And for those of you to young to know and for those older enough to know a spot of classic Dusty…originally it was gonna be the killer ‘I just don’t know what to do with myself’ which frankly still spanks the White Stripes version out of sight - but then we heard this forgotten cutie…



And since we mentioned Lulu and because it’s a corking tune……



Olympian Fall ‘Long, long time’ (self release). The minute we put this on and heard the initial introductory 10 seconds - we knew instinctively that something special was brewing here. Currently unsigned though judging by the innate class that bleeds from the grooves here that won‘t stay the case for very much longer. Olympian Fall are a London based quartet who excel at tapping straight into the long established rock pantheon of the cooler foot soldiers of the early 70’s - Buffalo Springfield, Dylan, the Band and to a lesser extent the Eagles, their sounds are so indelibly epic in stature, haunting, ethereal, measured and equipped with a knowingness more becoming of a group of musical veterans that they literally blow you away. ‘long, long time‘ is mark my words - a stunning debut release - rich, elegant, brooding yet invigorating, sounding like its fallen through a wormhole from a legendary Isle of Wight festival straight into the cold harsh light of modern day to these ears it sounds like prime time era Charlatans grooving to free love inspiring spiritual flower power nuggets. Nuff said just buy the bugger. Flip the disc for two mixes of ’take this ride’ the original of which albeit in its demo stage you can hear by redirecting to their page at http://www.myspace.com/olympianfall - for now though the smoking ‘Baxter Dury’ mix featured here offers a glimpse at the mercurial song crafting mindset at work here - a raw and dusty folk blues troubadour that slyly snakes delicately amid a scarred conscience pricking mantra that taps directly into the revolutionary ideologies of the late 60’s whilst paying nods along the way to Jeff Buckley. ’the wild style mix’ sweetens the bitter pill slightly by dropping it into a slowly orbiting electronic lunar landscape clipped by shuffling beats, dub-tronic textures and breezy yet alluringly spellbinding eastern dialects - quite frankly do you need further persuasion somehow I think not. Deputy single of the missive.

MPD ‘Fruits of the Forest’ (self release). Yes sir indeed - we stumbled across this cutie whilst searching out another release which we’ve momentarily haplessly lost - we suspect we’ve had this for a fair while so many apologies to all concerned. MPD is the alter ego of a certain Lancashire born singer songwriter Michael Davis - and before you all start getting the heebie-jeebies at the mere mention of the dreaded singer songwriter tag - think again. Three cuts feature here that given the eye, ear and deft hand of a decent producer acting as a sound board and a choreographer could in time develop, hone and smooth out what is essentially a raw and green talent with oodles of potential. The set opens with the encroaching acoustics of ’electrical’ - clipped by a shadowy noire-ish aspect and braided hauntingly with a penetrating dour dialect that’s subtly heralded by the merest alliance of sweetly cured string arrangements and key motifs, Davis’ vocal all the time deep, rich and wearisome with life’s baggage sounds not unlike a ’murder ballads’ era Nick Cave - the mood is ostensibly bleak. But then just over a minute in the clouds suddenly part and the whole nature of the track transforms, the strings suddenly lilting and arcs gloriously endowing the track with something approaching the more frail and measured moments found on Porcupine Tree’s ’stupid dream’. Admittedly the weakest cut here the hollowed ’the first time’ does at least for all its shortcomings manage to tap into the twinned polar worlds of both the Verve and Cathal Coughlan which as you can imagine is no easy feat yet it’s the parting cut ‘refrain’ which proves to be the EP’s defining centrepiece. Its initial entrance marked by the spectral display of star lit shimmering chimes soon gives way to something more enduring, reverential and church like and though we wouldn’t dare use the description spiritual given the application of the 60’s styled keys - there’s no refuting that there are certainly brief moments in the chord changes that tap directly back to Syd Barrett a la ‘vegetable man’. File under low burning epic in waiting. Further listening treats via http://www.myspace.com/mpdmusicuk where we recommend you check out the Chris Isaacs like ‘sitting by the wall’.

Guildean Gang ‘Swirls’ (self released). Another spanking debut release this time from Bedford based quartet Guildean Gang. At just 5 minutes 17 seconds in total length whatever the combined threat of these two nuggets might lack in distance they more than make up for in raw unrefined agitation and up close and personal in your face attitude. Not even the best track here - lead out cut the dislocated nostalgia laced ‘swirls’ is a get in fast catch them unawares stun attack mass of incessantly nagging and jarring jumping on the spot riffs threaded through by some devilishly wired and despondent vocals corkscrewed by a tight as a gnat’s end piece dynamic. Need we say more?
Hats off though to the flip cut ’pat attack’ by far the best thing here. A spankingly wilful terrace taunting press ganging supercharged bastard of a cut that sounds like a leery after hours square up stumbling unsteadily through the carnage of a frenetic backdrop of gnarled and potent sharply twisting angular eye pokes and some ridiculously neat and infectious Mersey delta sourced shanty like skiffle beat pop - so alarmingly catchy it ought to come repacked with jabs. Ultra limited 7” issue plus all the usual formats - we suggest you get you pre-order in before they all appear at extortionate prices on e*a*. www.myspace.com/gildeangang

Flykiller ‘Shine Out Shine Out’ (Flykiller). Grumbles aside we appear to have missed this lots ‘experiments in violent light’ set from which this floor throbbing buzz sawing electro grooved babe is culled. A twin set collective gathering the talents of Pati Yang and Stephen Hilton who it seems delight in nothing more than decanting delirious dance floor decimating grinds grafted from the fusion of 90’s house dialects and mid 80’s euro disko accents. This slice of uber cool strobe lit floor pumping beauty comes replete with four mixes with the lead out cut playing home to a sizzlingly mooching sweat laced dirty grind strapped to a hypnotic high voltage grizzled electro funk matrix that shocks the nervous system into seizures. Add to that some delicious twanging New Order styled Hook-esque low end bass underpins and cement over it Yang’s vocals which alarmingly shift through the gears at rapid rate initially purring cautiously to sound like a half cousin to Lene Lovich the next a vamped up seductive diva whilst not forgetting the baying howls and barks towards the end the likes of which haven’t been heard around these parts since Curve’s immortal and darkly horny ‘10 little girls’ sizzled slyly on the hi-fi. The ‘original mix’ is a more stripped and psyched out white hot affair while if we didn’t know any better we’d have said that throughout out the heady psychedelics of the psychotropic wraps applied to the ‘novelist remix’ that someone in the studio was playing a spot of table tennis. All said and done it’s the 9 minute re-calibration applied by the ‘Edison’ remix that gets our vote by a short head - with its insistent head expanding locomotive beats, blissed out chill factored trance states, lysergic loops and alluring amour armoury don’t be to surprised if this quietly deceptive club floor titan steals the decks during the up and coming festival season. www.flykkiller.com

The video goes like this…..



The Kabeedies ‘lovers ought to’ (Cherryade). Fast becoming one of our favourite imprints, the small but well formed audio control centre of Didsbury’s Cherryade have this unerring knack of knocking out neatly smile happy frustrating slabs of fun-core revolutions on 45 that we’re of the mind that they are illegally operating some form of illegal battery farm packed with prime portions of punked up pristine pop pretties. Release number 16 from their crookedly wayward coup comes courtesy of Norwich’s the Kabeedies. Another debut release no less - and again - dare we utter the words - another spanker of a release. The Kabeedies are three boys one girl who on the evidence of this tenacious triple set we suspect are having way too much fun to be taking things seriously and considering career paths, mortgages and gardening. Assuming a skewed calypso vibe ‘lovers ought to’ is a defiantly knee knocking slice of loveliness albeit slightly skewif and just a tad on the precious side that to these ears sounds like a bent out of shape tag team made up of members of Bow Wow Wow, X Ray Spex and the Bodysnatchers, all at once irregular, dislocated and undoubtedly exuberant this spiked over excited cutie barely tips the sub two minute ticker tape not before rushing into your ear space ransacking your head while re-arranging your fringe with its needle noodle riffs and frenetic beat pop skanking. ‘mythical beast’ toes the party line the initial riff a wacked out and speeded up take of the opening coda from the New York Dolls ‘personality crisis’ though here sounding like Status Quo at the wrong speed, more rampantly fried pre shrunk wonky pop that’s been thrown in to the washing machine on the hot setting and let loose for a 100 second abruptly barking spell of skittish tuneage that even Popular Workshop would glare enviously at. ‘come on’ wraps up the set with an inspired slab of daft as a brush terrace taunting tittle tattle - think Toy Dolls meets a bad attitude Altered Images with the Angelic Upstarts at the mixing desk. Frankly - a must. www.cherryademusic.co.uk

Future Cherryade releases in the can are rumoured to be a Gresham Flyers beauty looming large on the horizon.

Dirt Jake Replicas ‘Part 1’ (self released). Took just once listen to find us hooked. Admittedly when we did first hear it the band it recalled to our thoughts where the Virgin Passages - well at least an early career incarnation of Fire’s latest admired of the press. Burt then add to that the deliciously brooding and raw talent of the soon to be massive Her Name is Calla and regular observers of these pages will no doubt affirm that this has all the trappings of something very special indeed. Dirt Jake Replicas are a stateside five piece, ’part 1’ their debut release rattles and chills, dusty and arid, scarred by a ghostly noire induced wind you’d be forgiven for thinking that within its grooves and hauntingly oblique mantras that there was something broken and twisted. Though scratch a little deeper and there you’ll find a simmering intensity lush with withdrawn passion, and while the sounds might appear bleak, scarred, bruised and set in the shadows hurtfully licking their wounds there’s an unravelling tension and drama unfolding slowly but surely - measured, elegant all the time drawing you close with its all consuming post folk dialects, the snaking melancholia of the boy / girl vocals gathering storm like assuming stature and dark poise referencing latter career Quickspace and more notably Godspeed until wilting against the strain the levee breaks and a turbulent crescendo of a finale erupts and subsides. Tormented stuff. www.dirtjakereplicas.com

And now for something tasty from Shoosh this is the video to accompany ‘pestilence’ culled from their ‘Orpheum circuit’ full length….we’ll have to try and get ourselves some of this because this cut is wonderfully willowy in texture, pre-packed with warping haziness much reminiscent of the Animal Collective in their most surreal mindsets as though finding themselves aboard a magic florescent coloured boat sailing through the abstract dream woven landscapes of the Beatles ‘magical mystery tour‘ collages - all at once in touching distance and yet so far away in short an absolute gem of lilting off balanced folk psychedelics….anyway enough of that….the video….



And Craig of Shoosh piped this absolutely exquisite slice of enchantment from……

Engine 7 ‘temper tantrum’ (Herb). Now this is what they refer to in the old country as the dogs bollocks. The work of a certain Alan McNeill, to date he’s released one acclaimed full length in the shape of ’hope street’ with second due to hit the streets shortly entitled ’me, but perfect’. this damn fine download only twin set isn’t due out for a week or two though we don’t mind saying this is going to set the cat amongst the proverbially pigeons once the underground cognoscenti hook up to it. The upbeat and club floor trouncing ’temper tantrum’ is a bit of a beast, the ominously impending cosmic widescreen swathed interludes from its initial opening give way to a pulse racing and rampant stratospheric dream coat of trance tripping montages and strobe lit lunatic swirls all courted by an irresistible and unavoidably infectious thrust that finds its roots schooled in the 80’s commodore and 90’s house / techno scenes very much - it has to be said - appealing like a wet dream for those much admiring of Apollo 440 and Sven Vath. ‘sunrise catatonia’ features on the flip and in our humbled opinion the best of the brace, lifted from the aforementioned forthcoming full length - this snoozing chilled gem sounds like some divinely dinky DNA fusing of ‘At Bracken’ era FortDax and early career Earlies, a lilting snow globe carnival of playful lull(aby)tronics scratched and chipped by the rustling pitter-patter of restlessly inebriated shuffling beats and sugar dipped in an affectionate wrapping of fuzzy felt amour that makes you inwardly glow and tingle. Get your PC mouse pointing in the general direction of http://www.myspace.com/engineseven and you can here a positive smorgasbord of loveliness though we suggest you immerse yourself on first arrival into the luxuriant international jet set ambi-funk sumptuousness of ‘Stella we’re sorry’. Engine7 also features on the inaugural release from a new imprint by the name Phantom Channel with ‘a few remaining moments’ - the debut outing a compilation entitled ‘part 1’ collects together an array of bubbling under talent from the realms of the IDM, drone and electronica sound cultures. Featuring a total of 9 cutting edge works the set plays host to the aural adventures of the likes of Adam Trainer, Mosca, El Heath and Weird Fields who incidentally were responsible for putting together that superb Shoosh video (see above). The album is free to download via their site at http://www.myspace.com/phantomchanneluk - expect fond words shortly.

Further listening -

More Herb goodies can be listened and loved via their page at http://www.myspace.com/herbrecordings where not only can you get to here the aforementioned ’temper tantrum’ by Engine7 but also sample the aural designs of the likes of Skytree, King Bastard, the much fancied Rubens, Solipsism (who I think we may have mentioned in passing previously) and our favourite - from what we’ve heard - ’electronic Therapy’ by Shamanic Technology.

Swimmer One ‘the balance company’ (biphonic). You know how these things happen on the odd occasion, receive album, play album, love album and stupidly forget to review album. Much to our deep embarrassment there were a fair few such occasions last year that we must admit to having to put our hand up and say sorry about - though if we were to trim the endless list of offences three albums were in our opinion and recollection woefully missed by yours truly despite nearly being worn to death through overplay. - Genaro’s self titled debut full length for Benbecula, Crimea’s ’secrets of the witching hour’ and swimmer one’s debut ’regional variations’. First found needling their way into our consciousness with their delicately understated ‘we just make music for ourselves’ way back in 2003 (see missive 14) the Scottish duo Andrew and Hamish have continually dazzled and demurred with their brand of stand off-ish edge electronica albeit the release being restricted to rare occasional hi-fi sightings. ‘regional variations’ took an age in gestation, the wait though is rewarded by the onset of a quietly alluring affair, a bleak and bruised slow burning epic that meticulously worked its way beneath the skin with each repeated listen culminating in the albums most crushing moment ‘a petrol pump in the cradle of Christianity’. Both ‘the balance company’ and its accompanying flip cut ‘the dark ages’ are culled from that set, both in their own way revealing the uniquely contrasting melodic matrix adeptly weaved by Swimmer One and so contrasting to the point that you could well easily label the sides ‘light’ and ’dark’. ’the balance company’ - obviously the light side - is one of the most upbeat cuts from the ‘regional variations‘ set - a glorious whirling ball of strangely affectionate austere and clinically sterile futurist chill that prods and pushes with alarming authority amid a dispassionate and numbed carnival of clockwork electronics all decorated and braided with an almost insistent and automated glee. Assuming a cooled sophistication as though classic era Kraftwerk had collaborated with a pre ‘party fears’ Associates and yet traversing the same minimalist outer pop horizons commonly associated with the likes of Birdpen and Talk, Swimmer One apply all the techniques and craftsmanship requisite of a pop gem though lance and apply them to an icy and disconnected landscape, of course its clever in a pre ’Blue Monday’ New Order type of way, power pop for androids anyone? What ‘the balance company’ lacks in warmth ’the dark ages’ more than makes up for in mood. Fragile and frail this damaged beauty is a quietly affecting gem, an epitaph to Mother Earth perhaps (we’re not sure - how we hate these lyrical meaning games), dutifully dusted in a delicious snow globed haze of tenderly tip toeing and lilting cantering Brontean key motifs initially introduced by the sound of an alarm clock that find themselves applied delicately with a glacial crispness that defrosts slowly but sumptuously in waltzing florets to unfurl into tear stained passages of hollowed ache that silkily arc and finger their way through your emotional defences all the time flirting subtly with Bowie’s ’Buddha of Suburbia’. Sheer deceptive class.
http://www.myspace.com/swimmerone or www.swimmerone.co.uk

And the video for ‘the balance company’ goes a little something like this…..



Unusual & Electric Vs. Jay Stoner ‘split’ (zirkus). We don’t mind admitting that this little beauty has been the caused of much booty shaking tomfoolery since it arrived at our gaff earlier today. An absolute floor mashing monster that sees Unusual & Electric go head to head with Jay Stoner for a spot of stonking split release turntable tastiness. Each found here performing some seriously radical overhauls on each others sacrificed offerings. Unusual & Electric tangle themselves up with Stoner’s ’stand on up’ for a superbly laid back tumble back into the early 70’s - all spangles on the sweet counter, double deckers on the telly, flock wallpaper in the parlour, ford Consuls on the road and bubbling hot tarmac on the street kookiness, this mind melting slice of retro fondness is a crafted brassed out funk struck calypso styled ’hustle’ hybrid ready packed with sun tan lotion and cheese cloth tops that packs under its humongous hood a deliriously delectable goofy Go Team meets Sesame Street kind of sizzling sassiness - will do dance floor damage in the coming weeks. Not to be outdone Jay Stoner is let loose on U&E’s ’Mr Palatino’ and applies to the floor pumping palette some of his own neat and nifty moves to cook up a stunning funk some dub rustled recipe that culls together the elemental grooves of Grandmaster Flash and smokes them into a chilled and subtly amorous stew of Thompson Twins, Kid Creole and Studio 54 svelte-ness - irresistible stuff. www.unusualandelectric.com

Crimes of the Future ‘Screen Villains’ (Zap System). Okay we could be wrong - after all we usually are - but if I didn’t know better the lead vocals on this debut twin set which happen to belong to a certain Sally Moriarty sound like a ringer for Brand Violet’s ex lead lady Sally Ann Marsh. Are they one and the same we wonder. Any how as previously advertised a debut release for this London based quartet via the imprint that brought you Die! Die! Die! ‘Screen Villains’ is a curious beat beast that despite its threats never appears to shift gear rather more preferring to mooch awkwardly amid a distractive collage of fractured and twisted softly cured psyche tinged angular motifs all the time waiting, prowling and feeling its way around like a boxer weighing up his opposition momentarily dispatching the odd cautionary jab. Decoded with part ‘Crocodiles’ era Bunnymen nuances there’s an almost 50’s styled torch dialect threaded with an undercurrent of fragmented sassiness and a sense of angulated bubblegum as though the Regents ‘7 teen’ had been transplanted with the essence of ’stop your sobbing’ era Pretenders and sugar dipped into the kooky world of the Shaggs which frankly isn’t something you want to sniff at. ‘Secret Blue’ sees the band getting their sh*t together for a primed slice of early career Blondie that is before the advent of disco beats and stadium friendly anthems, Sally’s vocals purring coiled amid a shadowy backdrop of deliciously serviced 50’s styled twang attacks and John Barry meets Henry Mancini esque b-movie needlework much reminiscent it has to be said of a more reclined Man…or Astro Man shimmying up to Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. In short well smart. www.myspace.com/crimesofthefuture

And just in case a few of you forgot how god the Brand Violet’s were here’s an oldie but goodie dredged from the vaults…..and possibly their finest moment ‘alien hive theme’…



d_rradio ’a life alive’ (static caravan). Ultra limited 7 inch lathe cut type thing from Newcastle’s premier binary funk dudes d_rradio who’ve recently been found ransacking our hi-fi with their rather exceptional self titled full length via the distraction imprint of which we’ll say here and now all good homes deserve. This two track oddity and I say oddity with a degree of deserved plausibility is strictly limited to just 100 copies (each replete with a unique mini art print - ours in case you‘re wondering is oriental flavoured) and judging by the speed that most of these Static lathes go is sure to sell fast and become a feature of the online auction sites fairly soon. Both cuts ’a life alive’ and ’blow up’ in their original states both feature on the aforementioned new album though here are reliably passed over to RandomNumber and YLID for two starkly contrasting recalibrations. As per usual with these lathe releases the actual play pleasure is a little - shall we say - hit and miss - groove sticks, jumps and pops - alas once the gremlins are ironed out then what you have is another must have outing from the Static sonic shed. Random Number (or as he’s better known to kith ‘n’ kin Leeds based electro whiz kid Matthew Robson) gets meticulously to work with ’a life alive’ and recalibrates the original template and relocates it to a strangely eerie minimalist micro universe from out of whose confines it sits emitting pulse like dislocated binary love noted communications aligned to broken fragments of a vintage sepia dipped noire frosted and scratched starry eyed symphony. From what we managed to salvage of the accompanying flipside, left in the capable hands of YLID ’blow out’ is tweaked, trimmed, tinkered and touched up and packed off into the outside world to fend for itself. And fend for itself it does - and admirably so - given that Brixton based Richard Lyon (who is YLID) applies to the original a sparsely enigmatic and ethereal sheen to the proceedings with vocals no less. A wonderfully willowy dreamy eyed orchestrated cortege is the end result, this dimpled and dainty lunatic lullaby sweetly arrests with its lilting part mournfully reflective glow speckled temptingly by the breezy peppering of pastoral florets - a bit like a frosty Broadcast chilling out in a twinkle set ‘strawberry fields’ landscape. Dare you resist we ask? www.staticcaravan.org

The Hazey Janes ‘New York’ (roseangle). Culled from their forthcoming second full length ‘hands around the city’ the highly regarded Scottish combo Hazey Janes return to the fray following the growing acclaim lavished on their debut ‘hotel radio’ set. Granted at 2.17 in length ’New York’ mightn’t be the longest record currently doing the rounds trying to win your affection but then boy does it pack a punch in its short and brief appearance. Blessed with an audaciously addictive pop sensibility, this buzz sawing effervescent paint balling beauty is trimly packed to bursting with the sun kissed hooks and harmonies aplenty all succulently laced with the type of radiating euphoric warmth and devilishly tasty drilled drive pop chassis that suggests its been baked, brewed and bathed beneath an alluring west coast glow - obviously recommended. www.thehazyjanes.co.uk