missive 163 - part 1 06-06-2008 Singled Out
Missive 163
For Kelly and Mark
Singled Out ‘revolutions of the 45 kind’
Okay this missive is well delayed due to our snazzy PC - well not the PC really in truth but bloody AOL - I fookin hate you ya bastids. Anyway I’ve said my piece (well in fact I haven’t cos if I didn’t I’d be sat here all friggin month waiting for your feckin programmes to finish slowing my system to a ruddy grind and in to the bargain spectacularly dumping my work you corporate money grabbing bastids). Anyway we managed to nail ourselves a pretty smart piece of kit the other week called a Tape2PC - which as it says on the tin tapes your cassettes straight to PC - whoopee - no rewiring various cassette devices and farting about with petulant cassettes that play through hazes of hiss unless they are played on the exact system you recorded them with. So as you can imagine we’ve been falling in love all over again with old ’Hit the North’, ’Out on Blue Six’ and of course John Peel shows whilst working out how long it would take us to physically transfer all our cassettes on to the hard drive.
As a result this particular missive is one of those great hulking bumper specials mainly to apologise (and punish in equal measures) and will hopefully mark the start of a more regular missive posting - well for at least the next couple of weeks given that we’ve taken a break from working for the man in an attempt to re-assemble our life, pack in smoking and get through a pretty impressive CD mountain. No doubt due to its size this particular missive will be split into several parts and will be followed in hot pursuit by a my space missive special type thing - again this will be bumper bonanza again requiring the splitting into several instalments. Then it’ll be album reviews by the shed load, another missive - early next week with a long planned net label focus hopefully ready to hatch by the end of June. Updates as usual via www.myspace.com/thesundayexperience which likewise will in the coming weeks be getting a revamp as well as giving birth to sister site which will be focussing on the more psych / garage based sounds in record world - more details to follow shortly.
So with all the fawning excuses for apologies out of the way…..the records and things…..
Record wise - blimey we’ve had a bumper crop of releases from our mail box which we will be blitzing in the coming weeks as - so far - we have June off - way hey - with which to play catch up with all the long promised no shows (so far). By far the best looking package of the bunch was literally delivered today - a box containing the latest seasons crop from the eminent Beta Lactam Ring label which included an awesomely packed ultra limited box set from Nurse with Wound which features two CD’s and a hard cover book of artwork by NWW man Steve Stapleton. It really is a beautiful thing to look at, all credit to BLRR for its production because they’ve really out done themselves this time. Also thanks it should be said to Randall at Massive Music for dispatching it to us.
A special mention to Holly and David of the Lovely Eggs (see review somewhere here) who sent us a rather sweet hand written note with dinky hand drawn illustrations and a scrumptious sandwich (honest - we kid you not) - said items will be framed and fondly kept forever - the sandwich I’m happy to report was scoffed - lovely too.
More listening experiences under the heading ’bollocks that’s good’ and all deserving of long overdue reviews - which will be forthcoming in the ensuing week…..
Adam Donen and the Drought ‘as our parents slowly turn to clay’ - we’ve literally just taken possession of this cutie, sadly its not out officially for awhile but well worth keeping an attentive eye out for. This lot used to the Alexandra Quartet who as Adam so eloquently put it in the accompanying hand written note ‘he accidentally disbanded’. Now back with a nine piece in tow this 12 track CD comes housed inside a book of poetry which e must admit looks alone are worthy of the entrance fee alone. Expect fond words shortly.
‘the history of rhythm and blue - part 1 1925 - 1942 (rhythm and blues). What looks like being an excellent aural anthropological series is marked by this opening four disc 97 track set. Packaged with a 32 page booklet with individual commentaries on all the featured artists and competitively priced to weigh in a quid or three more than a regular CD. Volume 1 concentrates on the ‘pre war years’ - this mammoth set celebrates the development of the genre through its origins in spirituals, boogie woogie, ragtime, gospel and swing within a positive legendary who’s who of pioneering artists feature such as Blind Willie Johnson, Skip James, Jimmie Rodgers, Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith, Louie Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Robert Johnson, Count Basie, Washboard Sam and more. Expect a review shortly.
The Telescopes ’infinite sun’ (textile) - the first of three promised releases by Bridget and Stephen for the Paris based imprint, 5 sonic sculptures feature within and continue the freeform improvised odyssey in to abstract micro-verses as previously visited by their limited outing on Trensmat.
More besides….
The Declining Winter ’goodbye Minnesota’
Sennen ’where the light gets in’ (hungry audio)
Awesome colour ’electric aborigines’ (ecstatic peace)
The crystal sun ’landscape’ (12 apostles)
Pale made man ’oh, my treasured things’ (pinch)
Arndales ’dog hobbies’ (ice man)
Marble valley ’wild yarns’ (indikator)
Reading materials -
Doo Wop - the music, times and the era (Cousin Brucie Morrow) - published by Sterling - this is a heavy weight coffee table sized 350 plus page tome tracing the influential 50’s genre that avoids being bogged down in rhetoric and instead happily tunes in for a brief and easily digestible foray into a scene that spawned the Platters, the Falcons, little Anthony and the Imperials, the Bluenotes, the Coasters and the Temptations just to name but six as well as its cross over influence on rock ‘n’ roll and bubblegum pop. Lavishly packaged and bound the book features a guest foreword slot penned by Neil Sedaka whilst also giving a flavour of the times chronicling the fashions, the films, the cars and the news of this most important of musical decades. www.sterlingpublishing.com
The Beatles - then there as music’ - published by Trans Atlantic Press and seemingly commissioned by the Daily Mail, this again is another heavyweight coffee table propping 400 plus page tome chronicles month by month the rise to global domination of the Mop Tops detailing in an easy at a glance format the key note Beatles related news items of the day, packed with page after page of facts and photos culled from the archives - this publication doesn’t really attempt to push the envelope or add anything of revealing worth of use by the most ardent Beatle-phile however more readily should find a market within a more youthful market keen to soak up a spot of Beatles made simple trivia.
Turn on your Mind - four decades of great psychedelic rock (Jim DeRogatis). An essential 600 page publication detailing all you need to know about psychedelia - from the sounds, the shakers and movers of the scene, its heritage, pre history and lasting influence on music today (see ork pop, shoe gaze, trance, drone, space pop, stoner et al) of perhaps the most creative genre in rock / pop. Briefly countering the origins of psychedelic substances and there role DeRogatis avoids the trap of discussing at length the drugs = creativity argument and instead side steps and focus’ on the development, cross pollination and the extending sub species of pops lineage drawn from what is perceived as the psychedelic sound. The tome keys in at various points to releases that DeRogatis considers landmark releases from the innocent first mention on a record of LSD via the Gamblers 1960 chart miss ‘LSD 25’ right through to the Flaming Lips’ ‘Yoshimi battles the pink robots’. For lovers of lists and what’s sure to be the source of many an argument over a pint at the local then tucked to the rear there’s the authors considered ‘30 great psychedelic albums from the 80’s and 90’s’, ‘15 albums to turn your mind in the new millennium’ plus 189 albums you can’t live without with the Beatles ‘Revolver’ happily heading up the list. Full review to follow once we’ve finished reading the blighter. www.halleonard.com
‘Renegade - the lives and tales of Mark E Smith’ (Mark E Smith / Austin Collings). Full review to follow shortly with this publication. Mr Smith it seems doesn’t suffer fools gladly whether that be ex band members a smidgeon of whom are dispatched with indignant contempt or Paul Morley for whom Smithy it appears has a particular intolerance for so much so in fact does his name crop up that we’re surprised he doesn’t get a consolatory credit on the dust cover. A 230 plus page tome of Smith putting the world to rights, in between cruising through the highs and the lows, setting the record kinda straight keen to point out that he is not a control freak - an re-occurring accusation levelled most recently by Ben Pritchard - yet then going on to relive one of his earliest childhood memories in the infamous ’Auntie Nowty’ game he played on his sisters. Those expecting revealing insights into the Fall mindset will be cruelly disappointed but then should you be when after all the Smith real life and social rhetoric so indelibly fluent (albeit in a fragmented and disorganised way) within is borne of the same hand and tongue that blisters the grooves of their records. 216 Amazon customers can’t be wrong. www.pengiun.com
The Fall ‘big new prinz’
‘bill is dead’
Current issue of the Clash magazine - though there is some confusion here as we have two with both issues 26 and 27 flying into our Borders basket in a matter of days. A quick spot of research revealing that the magazine has now gone monthly which kids means there are two stunning cover mount CD’s to die for and a double feast of all the usual Clash staff writer gubbins to contend with. Anyhow in reverse order - cos we are like that - issue 27 is billed as a festival special and has somewhat shrunk in size format wise - why do magazine keep doing that especially the record collector who insist of downsizing every three or four issues (or so it feels like) - if they keep up at the rate they are going at present we‘ll soon need a magnifying glass to read it - the festive special bit we made up sort of. However it does feature a festive spotlight with the theme of the cover mount taking in the joys of the Green Man Festival - more about that in a second or two. This issue has all your usual fashion wear gear tips, reviews and features which on this occasion include spots on Matmos, Mary Wilson, Pigeon Detectives, Scarlett Johansson (alone worth buying for) and Jason Pierce whose ’A&E’ full length incidentally is rather smart - though I guess you already knew that. Album spotlight this time of asking is Talking Heads old nugget ’Speaking in Tongues’ while strapped firmly into the private passion chair and forced to cough up and tell beneath the blazing rays of an interrogating light is Tokyo Police Club’s Greg Alsop. Elsewhere ’twelve things you didn’t know about Paul Weller’ -which given the amount of press coverage he’s had of late might be a tad over ambitious though one of the items reports he’s a Chelsea fan - oh dear. The ones to watch feature include a few singled out favourites namely Johnny Foreigner, Isosceles and This Et Al along with the rated Fleet Foxes, Maple State and the Haunts. As to that CD adorning the cover - a ten track treat featuring the recently unearthed legends of folk Pentangle, Fuck Buttons, Los Campesinos, Black Mountain School Language, Nina Nastasia and Richard Thompson though in our humbled opinion much deserving the entrance fee alone from the sets three best moment - those being ’Run Away’ by the Super Furry Animals, the Yellow Moon Band’s ’Maybach’ and Alela Diane’s ’the Rifle’ - the former a barricade storming anthem gem that if we’re honest sounds like its taken its initial melodic blueprint from the timeless Jimmy Ruffin nugget ’what becomes of the broken hearted’, Yellow Moon Band are of course the chin stroking 70’s styled prog folk droog alter ego of It’s Jo and Danny who to date under this guise have released two frankly essential babes for the eminent Static Caravan imprint, ’Maybach’ we of course loved to bit’s a review of which can be found at missive 145 while last but not least and previously unknown to us, Ms Diane (please no naff crossroads gags thank you) has to date released two platters which have both sadly so far escaped our record deck - however not for long - ‘the rifle’ is a gorgeously lovelorn slice of porch stirred rustics braided with a vocal that lies somewhere between Kat Flint and Patsy Cline. Well worth investigating further we think.
As promised issue 26 - the issue before - should still be available in some shops especially those ones with blue hordings above their doors with the words WH Smith on - which is how we inadvertently managed to have served upon us two copies of this invaluable and easily digestible read. This particular edition has Duffy on the cover and inside and features a rare and teasingly short question and answer interview with the legendary electronic composer Jean Michel Jarre, ’Aladdin Sane’ (the second best Bowie album) gets profiled while the Raveonettes undergo the private passions treatment. In addition there are spots for latest cool kids on the block the Courteeners, Jamie Lidell, Blood Red Shoes, Long Blondes as well as a little featurette on the classic 60’s imprint Immediate. The cover mounted CD comprises of a nifty 15 track gathering of talent with the likes of Radioactive Man, the Draytones, the Indelicates, the Prelude and more all vying for your attention and affection. However after much soul searching - mainly under the bed and in the pan cupboard - we’ve earmarked the following as ones worthy of the entrance fee alone. Son Of Dave who stump up ’old times were good times’ - a bit of a mooching killer of a cut and by our reckoning a prime slice of crooked dusty beat box clattering snaking blues that should appeal to fans of both RL Burnside and Dave Cloud. Singled Out house favourites They came from the Stars I saw them offer up some absorbing albeit fried - a mind expanding cornucopia of frazzled and dislocated funk spliced with kooky John Lurie styled impishness on the addictive ‘the hot inc.’ Next up Sunday Best favourites Christopher D Ashley who incidentally have an album ‘cruel romantics’ kicking about in record world which we feel needs paying closer attention serve up ‘take me’ - a swirling slice of cosmic careering 70’s styled etro electronics that assumes - deliciously - the minimalist nature of ‘metadata’ era John Foxx and splices it with some nifty Kraftwerk dialects. Future Loop Foundation - again another artist previously unknown to us - lilt and lull one and all with the delightful ‘sunshine philosophy’ -a beautifully conceived slice of chill out ambience delicately pierced with motorik rhythms and disembodied ether eloping vocal samples - wonderfully mallowy bliss out gem it is to that recalls all at once Landshipping in tender introspective moods shimmying idly with Toshack Highway, Discordia and J Xaverre. That said best of the set is without doubt ‘’money note‘ by Camille. This youthful French talent already has two full lengths beneath her belt and has been the toast of her native land, this nugget freewheels audaciously between gospel, torch, theatrics, tribal rhythms and liberated funk - frankly it‘ll drive you to distraction - so consider yourself warned. Sadly we can’t comment on Scanners, Kav, Infadels and the Drive by Arguments cuts as - to put it bluntly our CD went ’tits up’ - oh well sure there top tastic tasty things.
Shindig #volume 2 / issue 4 - and yes I know I’ve mentioned this previously - and yes I’m going to mention it again simply because its currently vying with Plan B as our favourite read at the moment. The newly re-activated Shindig is the bollocks, a stepping back psychedelic tropicalia of incisive, instructive and intelligent writing that centres in the main on all things 60’s whether that be garage, psych, beat pop or soul. This issue features an all to rare interview with Andy Partridge who chews the lysergic fat of the day-glo XTC offspring the Dukes of Stratosfear. If that alone wasn’t worth the entrance fee there’s part of the ’San Francisco 1966’ series as well as an illuminating spot on the original power poppers Blue Ash plus a who’s who on the 60’s Bay Area underground scene featuring the Syndicate of Sound, the Golliwogs, the Harbinger Complex and the Spyders while live features take in the recent appearances by the legendary Sonics and the Zombies. Frankly an essential and indispensable reading resource.
Dukes of stratosphere ‘little lighthouse’
Okay - onward to the singles….as said previously this is the first of several parts of one huge missive which will all be posted at daily intervals starting right now….after that we’ll be hitting the albums - the above mentioned releases along with the Owl Service, Robin Saville, Brigadier and Salon Boris should all appear during the course of the next week…though it’ll be Nurse with Wound who will more than likely be first up of the batch. Once this missive is put to bed there will be a my space missive - again probably split over two parts (getting well confusing) while somewhere in the near distant future that promised extended feature on net labels and pod casts should finally see the light of day….phew…
Kevin Drumm ‘Purge’ (Ideal). A label who so far have managed to happily hide their occasional transmissions from our ever observant radar, safe to say now that we have them in our sights you can expect plenty more visitations from this noise loving outlet. This little beauty happens to be the second cassette that’s made its way into our lives in as many weeks - the first being a very strange double tape release from the Absurdist Z A which frankly we are still trying to get our heads around - reviews will follow shortly you can rely on that. As to this particular release - ’purge’ is limited to just 200 copies and features a searing hour long sonic suite that should appeal to lovers of early Merzbow and Hijokaidan. The Illinois born sonic sculpturer relocated in the early 90’s to Chicago where he has since acquired a reputation for being one of the leading exponents in improvised treated guitar techniques, he has over the course of time worked with such luminaries as Jim O’Rourke, Tony Conrad and Mats Gustafsson during that period releasing a formidable body of work that has seen outings via Table of Elements, Smalltown Supersound, Hospital Productions and Actavistic. Recorded in Chicago, ‘Purge’ is a challenging experience - a test of your endurance and tolerance to extreme - we heartily advise the accompanying apparel of sound proofed underground bunker and an insulated tin hat in order to deflect both unwanted door calls from over zealous neighbours complaining of melting earlobes and more importantly for the health well being of you the listener from sheer assault and brain wave frying that will ensue should you take this in via one sitting. A searing snow storm of caustic white noise is what you get that despite its initial shock value and ferocious foray manifesting into shards of skree scorched attrition this beauty actually begins to assume a becalming effect once your senses and ears have adjusted in what can only be describe as some strangely mesmerising lull. Split into several segments each concluding in the same harsh tonality Drumm takes the sonic stabilisers off and pushes the waveforms to their ultimate capability, the result an intensely all consuming spectacle of unrelenting aural aggression that’s not for the feint of heart though for those of a certain loving persuasion for the likes of Atari Teenage Riot et al a monumental exercise in musique concrete sculpturing. www.idealrecordings.com
The Owl Service and Alison O’Donnell ‘fabric of folk’ (static caravan). What can we say - absolutely exquisite. We don’t know what beans the Static Caravan crew eat these days but whatever they are they’re working full tilt. This babe has been sat on the catalogue listing for a fair while now with no sign in sight of it ever appearing. We thought this was destined to be one of those mythical releases that in years to come when the greater listening public had finally caught up with the rest of us and hailed this imprint with the affection it deserves would be the subject of whispers with pained incredulous expressions passing between folk in quietly shaded corners of country pubs. But then we are taking about the Owl Service here, an ensemble built about the indelible and peculiar talent of Steven Collins, whose releases you suspect are recorded and left to cask until mature before being allowed to breath and saturate the lucky few who happen by their often ridiculously limited outings. The bands album ’a garland of song’ - initially an ultra limited 100 only CD via Hobby Horse is due for repress and re-issue on Southern this month and is sure to open the band up to a more wider fan base. This particular release is best described as mutual meeting of minds for it sees Collins and Co hooking up with Alison O’Donnell of the legendary folk rock ensemble Mellow Candle whose sole 1972 full length ’swaddling songs’ has in recent years been re-appraised as a lost classic and assumed a rekindled cult status similar to that shared by the likes of Drake, Dalton and Bunyan. The alum incidentally is shortly to be repackaged, remastered and issued by See for Miles. 2006 saw O’Donnell re-united with former Mellow Candlers Dave Williams and Frank Boylan for the quietly acclaimed ‘mise agus ise’ set. Through a social networking site both O’Donnell and Collins expressed admiration for each others work and soon plans were afoot for a collaboration the result of which culminates in this delectable 5 track EP entitled ‘the fabric of folk’. The musical chemistry between the duo is breathless, observers of Collins earlier releases should not be surprised as to how at ease he is at peeling back the years to apply a timeless craft that sounds for all the world as though its just tripped out of 60’s folk commune, lest we forget that with ‘a garland of song’ he in his own words hoped to touch on the magic and mystery of Fairport Convention’s career defining ‘liege and lief’. Apologies there’s no track listing available here save for the two original cuts ‘the wooden coat’ and ‘the fabric of folk’ (the other three tracks made up of two traditional reworkings and an instrumental interlude which takes the cue for a nimbly worked slice of lazy eyed rustics deftly set to a twinkling music box motif), in fact we’re not even sure when its pencilled for release let alone exactly how many will be kicking about. Safe to say one of the Vans of the year. ‘the wooden coat’ opens the set, a gorgeously consuming cut that disturbing freewheels between the macabre and the enchanting, chilling and disarming this darkly shaded beauty assumes an unerring sense of slow unwinding dread tension, O’Donnell’s butterfly like delivery shimmers and seduces melding mercurially to craft out a hazily intoxicating supernatural brew under which softly bathed washes of delicately drizzled psyche fuse ominously into arabesque mirages soaked in hypnotic gaelic charms. Next up the first of those brace of traditional recalibrations, sorry I’m no good at sourcing these things - is an uptempo and breathlessly breezy affair rich with the air of the idyllic quilted landscapes of Ireland, this lightly toed ditty braided by the delicious dusting of flirtatious fiddles may well strike a familiar resonating chord to those among you much admiring of Mike Oldfield’s ‘crises’ set. Though its on the second traditional reworking and the closing ‘the fabric of folk’ wherein the true beauty of O’Donnell’s vocals comes to the fore as it sweetly skips through scales on the former with carefree folly while on the latter the willowy cast adrift parting shot, a divinely woven portion of piano led shy eyed sophistication is teasingly tailored, a beautiful sweetly bitter love note of a ballad lushly decoded with floral fancies sweetly cradling the twin tracked lily hops of O’Donnell’s entrancing intonations, adorably affecting, genteel and an prime example if ever you needed one of an exquisitely traded artistry illuminating and touching the darkest of depths. An absolute must have release. www.staticcaravan.org
Kong ‘Blood of a Dove’ (Brew). This gnarled slice of implicit badness literally just dropped through our mail box and bugger us if we weren’t hooked the minute it came within earshot. Second release from the Yorkshire based Brew imprint - well third if you don’t happen to count their debut compilation CD entitled ’brew records volume 1’ which we just did - blimey hard work this review type thing - hate to have to read the blighter. Anyhow the compilation features 16 tracks including cuts from Glissando, Immune, Bilge Pump, the Butterfly, Year of the Man and I Concur who incidentally are the subject of the labels debut vinyl release ’lucky jack’ which apparently comes pressed up on limited quantities of smoking wax. Both sadly have so far escaped our affections but we will be nailing them for future turntable terrorism. Not out for a few weeks but well worth harassing your local record emporium retailer for not withstanding the fact that its on limited pressings of coloured 7 inch wax (500 in case you were wondering) is this debut twin set from Kong. A trio no less based in Manchester two of whose members are currently absconding the ranks of Oceansize for a tasty albeit grizzled slice of extra curricula work who have an album lurking at the pressing plant entitled ’snake magnet’ currently awaiting day release, in the meantime both ’blood of a dove’ and its attending flip cut ’a hint of rennit innit’ should give you adequate early warning of what to expect - fans of Gringo records be warned as you‘ll find this jarring juggernaut right up your listening street. The unrepentantly venomous ’blood of a dove’ is a festering beauty grizzled and grazed with wiring riffs that scratch, scowl and howl all the time spiked by shards of intermittent intensity and an overwhelmingly lunge like glaring f**k you attitude, the sounds within blister and curdle amid the fraying flexing of despatched dislocating battle scarred and bruised blues accents themselves buried beneath a gruelling grunge haze, its stark stuff - both brutal and decidedly unrelenting - best described as heyday Seattle (Sub Pop - Nirvana) taking on prime time Chicago (Touch and Go - Jesus Lizard) in a hulking heavyweight bout. That said we’re very much fond of the flip cut ’a hint of rennit innit’ - a disembowelled scarring of primordial derangement that sounds like its been dragged through several swamps and been kicked to within an inch of its existence, a raucous untamed bastard of a cut dispatched with squalling shards of discordance, riddled by spazzed out time signatures and pre packed primed with an unflinching sense of intense damaged disharmony - of course over in our gaff its getting hammered to death and rightly so given the fact that at briefly intermittent spells we hear both the Beastie Boys and PIL trying to wrestle themselves from the goo all the time punishing pulverised by a vindictive Fugazi grind. Frankly anyone with ears and a fondness for bad assed blistered blues boogie should own this. Nuff said. www.brewrecords.net
Eutopia ‘Valentine’ (SL). Available as a download at present, ‘Valentine’ is the debut release from a London based trio of soft rockers Eutopia an ensemble built around the core talents of Alexander, Luca and Dave who are currently receiving admiring glances from the rock community and being groomed as the next ones to watch. Indelibly owing a large debt to the likes of Def Leppard and Whitesnake, ’Valentine’ is a softly smoked step back into the soft metal sounds of the mid 80’s - you know the deal big hair, big attitude and big production, armed with a desire laden silken braid of richly demurring arpeggios and lushly brushed with an easy on the ear melodically astute delivery this slow burning love-note should by rights be hogging the cruise lanes of the drive time radio schedules. www.myspace.com/eutopia77
Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat ‘turning hegel on his head’ (Implied Sound). Bit of a difficult one track down this but well worth the time and effort if you can as it pays surprising dividends. Pressed on seven inch of white wax lovingly housed in a wrap around textured card sleeve and no doubt ridiculously limited in nature, the memorably named Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat is the solo work of Gent based musician Stef Hereen who to date has managed to squeeze out to albums for the leading imprint of all things left field K-RAA-K. Apparently inspired by religious and shamanistic sounds and variously generically located under the varying heads of doom folk and psyche drone, Hereen crafts out mystical melodic mirages sourced - or so it would seem in another long forgotten age ’turn hegel on his head’ initially begins with a deliciously hypnotic looped pastoral groove that to these ears could have stepped straight through a time fracture from medieval times, airy and breezy this bewitching spell all at once lilts and lulls to softly caress and invigorate with its timeless artistry, swelling and falling seductively it slowly builds with measured stature towards some unseen and unknown converging point until without warning the mood suddenly switches to rain down with edge stricken volition to which fans of latter career Quickspace may do well to check out. That said things get much more interesting over on the flip - ‘turned hegel on his head’ is in essence the same track though this time retreated to an ominous requiem like vibe, very much psychedelicised featuring backwards loops, chants, phased drone montages and etched with an overpowering ceremonial like monastic majesty that exudes a darkly vibrant statuesque air about wares making it a rather essential addition to any well ordered record collection. www.impliedsound.com
Metabolismus ‘Snowy Meadow’ (Social Registry). Another label who to date have managed to avoid our ever attentive fond gaze are Brooklyn’s Social Registry who in recent times have provided a safe haven for the likes of Growing, Blood on the Wall and the Sian Alice Group - a copy of whose ’the dusk line’ CD features somewhere amid these very pages though quite frankly we are itching to hear the Jah Division doing a by all accounts uplifting retread of Manchester’s finest opus ’love will tear us apart’ though on this occasion re-branded as ’dub will tear us apart’. First up though the seventh release in the ongoing ’social club’ singles series brings together two delicately drawn cuts of 60’s shimmer pop from Germany’s Metabolismus. Previously unknown to us - hey what’s new - according to the blurb on the Social Registry site this lot have been eking an existence since 1982, disciples opf the traditionalist Kraut forms - Kraftwerk, Can and Neu! though blended sweetly with a drifting folk species, this collective appear arbitrary when it comes to commercialism having seen fit to it in their opening decade of life 33 cassette products and 33 vinyl outings in their second. All of which having heard this tasty twin set we are gagging to have as our own. Limited to just 750 hand numbered copies (our copy in case you’re wondering is 74) ‘snowy meadows’ initially sets out with a delightfully kooky off road zeal, almost sleepy headed, the overlapping / converging harmonies and hallucinogenic melodies create a mellowing haze that ambles along trippily restless in its own enchantment. Within you’ll hear the sound of flutes, mellotrons and didgeridoo’s buoyantly busying themselves locked in some kind of west coat campfire waltz. Appealing to fans of early career works by the likes of the Beachwood Sparks, Summer Hymns and Doleful Lions. ’snowy meadows’ is a dreamlike mirage of soft psychedelic montages braided with willowy wonder, deceptively intoxicating and radiating warmth it sumptuously shimmers softly with a silken mystery more redolently breezy Simon and Garfunkel that gracefully peaks and unfurls into a sun bursting shower towards its close of Left Banke like classicism - I kid you not. ’Somnia’ over on the flip is equally beguiling. Built around a clockwork mechanism this shyly absorbing slice of flirting faraway folk pop beautifully marinates the tender tonalities of the ethereal tendencies of 60’s styled French pop, down tempo lounge like exotica and fuzzy felt woodcraft - delicately disarming this dream weaving mirage twinkles suggestively with spectral amour to have you as though serenaded by Mum duetting with a laid back Stereolab on a haunting cult score overseen by Christopher Komeda. Utterly recommended without reservation or question. www.thesocialregistry.com
Dexter Bentley ‘Killer Kane’ (blang). Another strangely alluring release, another one pressed on 7 inches of white wax, Dexter Bentley we have a good authority feature amid their ranks a certain Joss Cope - brother of stone hugging psychedelic shaman Julian no less. Those expecting such a blood line to extend through the sounds within think again for rather than providing some hitherto unknown gateway into kosmic consciousness via mind warping melodic montages these prairie plodding dudes are more likely to be found grabbing your hand and leading a merry hoe down around the nearest campfire with their country folk flightiness. Led from the fore by one David Bentley this South London based collective co-host Resonance FM’s ‘Hello Goodbye’ slot giving over vital time to live performances by musicians and bands on the cutting edge of the underground scene whilst their debut full length ‘in order alphabetical’ has after the evidence of this dinky twin set managed to find itself hogging the upper reaches of our ever bulging record wants list. ‘Killer Kane’ is a tribute of sorts to the late New York Dolls man Arthur Kane, a lightly skipping ramble of traditionally crafted melodies and coalescing harmonies carved deliciously with a bitter sweetly speckled warmth all the time braided with driving rustically hued cascades that build slowly but surely into a rousing humdinger of a finale whilst devilishly swept and tendered by a sumptuously sucker punching hook line. Frankly irresistible. Flip the disc for the achingly reflective ‘Swansong’ - a more mellowing and blues scratched shanty threaded with noire-ish harmonicas and set divinely by the occasional visitations of some exquisitely graceful mandolin trestles - bit of a winner then. www.blang.co.uk
Mockingbird, wish me luck ‘pictures (too big to fit in a sight)’ (blow up). Named after a collection of poetry by Charles Bukowski this dinky little release is by all accounts selling out fast - so you better get your skates on fast for what could be the soundtrack to summer - if that is we get a summer. Released just ahead of their debut full length ‘days come and go’, Mockingbird, wish me luck’ are an 8 piece ‘pop orchestra’ based in Angelholm, Sweden who by all accounts have been laying to much swooning waste all who’ve so far witnessed them. A few small unassuming releases of limited quantity were made available to their unsuspecting native public which happily caught the ear of the Blow Up crew who quickly rustled together a few papers with legal words on and set forth on a grail type mission to locate the office pen in order to secure the collectives signatures. Already described - and perfectly I have to say - as Jens Lekman fronting Belle and Sebastian - the band have been busy tinkering away in various parents apartments putting flesh to the melodic frames of Daniel and Niklas’ pop vision. The result - a breathlessly softly enchanting carnival of sound that flickers and flirts amorously in the beguiling myriads of demurring perfumed folk pop. ‘pictures (too big to fit in a sight)’ is silkily braided by the arresting passage of flute florets that caress fully channel amid the softly shuffling banks of lilting rustic cascades that tumble and tread delicately to play peek - a - boo like some forest dwelling impish apparitions, the melodies all the time wrapped in a timeless craft bewitching with their magical underbelly of pepper corned woodland crispness and finitely cocooning seduction. A bit of a gem if you ask me. Flip the disc for more willowy wonder in the shape of the twee invested soft centred ‘a note in the margin’ - this up-tempo sun bathed bitter sweetly toned beauty skips and hops daintily twinkling and teasing the senses with its shanty like carousel of briskly despatched acoustic accents that listening wise provides the perfect accompaniment for an afternoon lazing in the shade observing the world at large zipping by in a blur. www.blowuprecords.com
The Prelude ‘moving to the country - never coming back’ (self released). One track advanced teaser marking the imminent arrival of the ensembles debut full length ‘moving to the country - never coming back’. Steadily building themselves a considerable reputation for crafting out rousing bourbon soaked roof lifting country blues growlers, the relocated from Derry to Liverpool six piece have known each other since childhood, call their guitars git-boxes and deftly tap in to a song craft bourn out of after hours tavern tipples and a traditionalist ear for a rollicking and wholesomely good knees up racket. Indelibly rich with a classic Irish folk patronage ‘moving to the country - never coming back’ nods aplenty towards the early career work of the Pogues whilst finding itself dipped generously with punk inspired accents, chest beating sing - a - long lyrics and a hook line so raucously melodic and infectious its may you weep with joy. Ones we suspect worth keeping an expectant eye out for. www.theprelude.co.uk
Figure 5 ‘rock of Gibraltar’ (2up). Bugger me if wee don’t hear elements of Love’s ‘Alone again or’ fading in and out of this slice of up close and personal hi-fi hysteria. This Glasgow based 5 piece have already nailed themselves an ever expectant fan base following their ultra limited ‘nitty gritty’ debut last year - which to much grumbles we missed, ‘rock of Gibraltar’ sees them ratchetting the ante up a few considerable notches and into the process sure to have them getting wider acclaim if of course the pluggers get it right. Clocking in at just over the requisite sub three minute marker is a positive carnival toeing crusading crunch of a cut that sumptuously shoehorns so much infectious high wiring into its decidedly slender frame that it leaves you literally breathless in its wake. A positive riot of colour that worms its way below your skin acting like a itch you can’t scratch - once heard forever hooked. Finger licking hot wiring riffs, strutting strums braided throughout with a rampant head butting velocity, this howling nugget is a deliriously dashing dustbowl of high wiring infectious laden groove metered out with an unstoppably frenzied floorshow of cosack silhouettes and cinematic action inspired spaghetti western styled Mexicana death finales melded with sultry snaking Arabesque montages. Need we say more? www.myspace.com/figure5
The Branded ‘you got the hurt’ (dirty water). Those in desperate need of your required fix of raw rawk ‘n’ roll will do yourselves a mighty favour by hooking up to this shoe shuffling 60’s throwback. These two slabs of authentic sounding garage beat have been hoodwinked under cover straight out of Malmo under the very noses of Bad Afro who we suspect must be kicking themselves for missing these dudes. The trio already have one ultra limited 7 inch firmly tucked up in the record collections of the garage loving cognoescenti in the shape of the 100 only ‘she’s my woman’ via Raven’s End (a copy of which we’re gonna have sleep ness nights over until a copy is safely ensconced into our record collection). ‘you got the hurt’ is culled - we believe - from their debut 12 track full length platter which if we’ve got this right should be available right bout now at all decent record emporiums. A slamming slice of curdling beatnik blues boogie is what’s on offer, indelibly cast with the spectre of the Standells, this lo-fi fuzz fleeced babe shimmies and shakes like a recently unearthed 60’s throwback. That said the real diamond is to be found on the flip side, ‘I can’t stand it’ sounds like a primal variant of the Troggs laced sumptuously with an ass shaking dirty swamp infused growl that’s undercut with smooching beach party braids that to these ears sounds ripe to take centre stage in its own freak beat teen flick. Ridiculously essential. www.dirtywaterrecords.co.uk
