missive 173 part 2 14-10-2008 http://www.myspace.com/detoxcuteandthebeautyjunkies - coming across like a sweetly tingling saccharine rash Detox Cute and the Beauty Junkies are London based duo Paisley Playdoh (clearly not her real name) and Charlie Darling (the jury are still out on this one), together they craft cutely affectionate seductive pop treats that they like to call e-pop - that’ll be English pop as opposed to j-pop which is Japanese - are you keeping up at the back? Obvious pop romantics yearning for a time when radio airwaves where awash with catchy melodies sung by brightly turned out clean living young people free from vices, shame and n’er do well deeds who for all the world looked as though they’d stepped out of a catalogue. Of course we slightly exaggerate, but only slightly because this pair of cheeky imps appear to join the invisible dots between Dollar and St Etienne / Dubstar and without wishing to sully the effect with such trite comparisons there is an air of a 70’s Eurovision styled euro pop mentality at work here especially on the polished and streamlined ‘hold me’ - a slice of glittering unblemished starry eyed innocence if ever we heard one. The Dubstar comparisons appear again on the ridiculously catchy ’pop trash’ though this as though somewhere along the line they manage to hitch a lift with Helen Love - extra marks for the ’please Sir’ samples by the way while ‘sex and drugs and Juliet‘ provides for a nifty slice of shimmering up-tempo candy pop as though some day-glo studio car crash between transvision vamp and the darling buds had occured. Though its ’Alarm bells bw Silent Night’ that proves to be the main feature here, a gorgeously drifting pop gem lushly swathed in corteges of lilting strings symphonies and hopelessly crushed with the forlornly bruised lulling introspective bliss drenched delivery of Paisley (you sure that’s her real name?) - fans of early career China Crisis and the Lover Speaks will swoon.
http://www.myspace.com/plugddd - indeed just what the good doctor ordered, now if we had a radio show of our own we’d be fleecing the airwaves with exactly this kind of stuff - hell the blighters would never be off the ruddy turntable. A debut single is looming large on the horizon via parlour records (see below) of which clips of both sides are showcased here - and judging by the racket they make we suspect there’ll be no sleep in our gaff until we’ve nabbed a copy or two of said wax disc as our own. Information is scant about the duo - Sian and Georgie (we don‘t know who plays the drums / sings and who takes care of the bass duties) - in fact there is no information though its quite obvious that there’s a certain amount of fondness for Joy Division at the core of what is essentially some well heeled austere and angular groove. ’fresh pleasures’ is very much a post punk flashback, the blankly dumbed down agitated and chilled textures sounding not unlike something crackling through the static interference of a John Peel show c.79 / 80 between the acutely sparse primitive no wave dialects elements of the Native Hipsters, Delta 5, the Slits and the Passage appear with dislocated delight though its too teasingly brief to fully appraise - a later day perhaps. Likewise with its flip ’nonchalant love’ which on this brief taster sounds like a well heeled slab of primal early career Creatures.
The a side goes a lot like this…..
http://www.myspace.com/parlourrecords - we could and would have - if needed - sworn that we’d come across parlour records previously - alas it appears not. Three releases to date - the third being the imminent Plug debut - see above - with a fourth currently at the pressing plant which when cut, packaged and stickered should see the New York’s Ill Ease shimmying their way into your affections (we suggest you check out their rather audiously slinky ’here comes trouble’ via their site at www.myspace.com/illease). As to the labels initial brace of releases - all pressed on limited quantities of ten inch wax - release number 2 came courtesy of project : Komakino who it seems delight in crafting out star hugging celestial shimmers of atmospherically charged post punk exuberance whose dot joining exercises sublimely link elements of late 70’s Factory records to the Chameleons / Artery right through to the Stained Glass Heroes and Heroes of Switzerland - frankly we need to hear more. Release number one came via Norwich based Le Tetsuo - who arguably are perhaps one of the most deranged ensembles around at the moment, the sounds fractured and dislocated erupt with antagonised friction whilst see-sawing menacingly between chaos and collapse - not quite as goofed and f*cked as Chicks on Speed but certainly pissing in the same discordant wig flipped pool - think Yummy Fur lamping the hell out of Johnny Foreigner and then some more. Think we need these records and pronto…..
http://www.myspace.com/allthemouthparts - quartet hailing from the base camp of rock ‘n’ roll world that is Tunbridge Wells - wasn’t that the same town that spawned the Anti Nowhere League, All the Mouth Parts can these days be found strutting their stuff via the acutely enviable Unlabel imprint for whom their currently laying down the finishing touches of their (we understand) debut release ‘in the shadows’. Four cuts showcased here provide evidence indeed that this lot aren’t slouches in the crafting of edgy grunge math, ‘these eyes’ pretty much the sore thumb of the set veers into territories more the prevail of ‘good beneath the radar’ era the Playwrights and the much missed oblique overtures of South East London’s Left Hand whilst simultaneously having a curious knack of mooching around ominously like some flashback from the mid 90’s Touch ’n’ Go catalogue and here we are thinking Storm and Stress. From therein the melodies blister beautifully with a dulling radiance that suggests elements of a blissed out Nirvana shimmying up to Soundgarden with the slow burn fringe flipping ‘do me again’ coming across a lot more fractured in intent, dislocated in design and ravaged by a sense of something fraying at the edges as though QoTSA where buggering about beneath the control desk impishly warping the mix and applying some simmering arid dry snake-winds of their own in order to accentuate the almost comatose and trippy effect etched at its core. Best of the set though is the brooding ‘death defying man’ - a seriously out there slice of fuzzing blankness, a bit like the Ministry played at the wrong speed or perhaps a screwed up Codeine, the textures coldly despondent and acutely riddled amid the maddening looping throb of some killer chop chop riffola a la Killing Joke. Damn fine if you ask me.
http://www.myspace.com/psychedelicpussycatclubnr2 - the alter ego of Norwegian based musician of Daniel and Bjorn Arne who either together or individually (it gets confusing reading the blog entries) have recently released a two part full length entitled ‘on the other side of the other side’ though they may well have different sub titles upon release (we told you this wasn’t going to be easy) which we understand is available a free download on request with their debut full length possibly called ‘later’ available for free at http://www11.nrk.no/urort/Artist/PPC2/default.aspx
Whatever the titles and the formats are they are small potatoes and minor details that can be cleared up later (no doubt via a bemused and slightly annoyed email from the band) - what is of importance here are the sounds within. In short wide screen ambient gemstones, for those of you who prefer your sounds transcendental, spacey and very much as though plucked from the heavens then you are going to think a shed load of buses with Christmases onboard has just pulled up at your door. Six tracks feature here perhaps best described as tenderly demurring orbs of statuesque grandeur, what you get are hollowing heralds of glacially ambient apertures that sound for all the world as though they’ve been woven and sculptured from the stuff that stars are made from in some snow globed paradise. Magnificently cavernous in design these ethereal tides ebb and flow with a deeply affecting allure. The dapples of primordial psyche folk florets and the snake charming mirages of ’whale gods’ - (and yes it does sound at time like the echoes of whale songs) and the casting of the eerie auras of droning primal growls that book end ‘demon voices’ between which is delicately bathed with a mellowing afterglow by way of its gently plucked cascading rustics usher in a finite and free flowing accompaniment to the crystalline swathes of panoramic symphonics metered throughout. That said we suggest you hook up to ’the Ancient Ones’ - as you’d rightly imagine of a track calling itself such the mood is one of serene reverence lushly replete with radiant wells of celestial harmonics and that kind of feeling of being at one with yourself either that or we’ve rudely keeled over in the meantime woken up in the after life (though I’m not saying which side of the fence we’re on) and put on a scratched copy of something by Vangelis resulting in the stylus sticking - hell it is then…only joking. Dare say you’ll be hearing more in due course.
http://www.myspace.com/welandedonthemoon - recently found all a swooning here when this lots ‘these little walls’ fell into our lap and straight into our affections - bite sized nuggets of crunching candy pop is the order of the day for these heaven watching starry eyed dudes - ‘the night was open’ still shimmering and silkily jet streaming in the vapour trails of the March Violets ‘turn to the sky’ while ‘re your letter’ blisters sublimely though we are still much beguiled and humbled by the delicately demurring and forlornly crushed ’happy accidents’.
http://www.myspace.com/lostintymefanzine - damn smart this my space I mean without it how the hell would we have known that we’d been missing out on the Lost in Tyme fanzine. Now up to issue #4 this Greek based publication deals in all things with a psyche / garage / surf bent, current issue includes interviews with Holly Golightly, Stolen Minks, the Dolly Rocker Movement and more besides while also including a whopping 25 track CD compilation that includes tracks from some of the coolest bands operating on the below the radar scene - a taster list of what’s included being - Cynics, Rising Storm, Royal Hangmen, Mean Things, Dorktones and Gitanes to name just a handful of the goodies lying in wait. We’ll do our best to nail a copy or two for a full review in a future missive.
Of course the Lost in Tyme fanzine is put out by the same dudes who run Lost in Tyme records…..
http://www.myspace.com/lostintymerecords - sadly no sound clips here but I think we get the picture when they mention farfisa’s and vox’s as being their bag, there’s been a handful of releases so far - an album by the Mean Streets and the Way Outs who incidentally go something like this….
http://www.myspace.com/wayoutsfuzz - 5 dudes hailing from Belgium and apart from whose band logo is a neat play on the Monkees do a neat line is vintage styled beat pop that’s obviously be borne of wiling the nights away grooving to the classic sounds of the Standells and the Seeds, hell these shade wearing cool things sound like throwbacks from the mid 60’s feverishly decorating your turntable with lysergic flashbacks - we suggest to tune your wigs into ‘going all the way’ which unless our ears do deceive sounds like a face off between the Misunderstood and Love.
Bruce Springsteen / Suicide / Beat the Devil ’dream baby dream’ (blast first petite). If you want one of these we suggest you get off your arses fast because word has it that Cargo are fast selling out of this ultra limited 10 inch. The first in a year long series of monthly releases put out by Blast First Petite to celebrate Alan Vega’s 60th birthday (and not his 70th - or is it - as reported in some press releases - hang on born in ‘48 - yep 60) who kick started their celebrations with the release of that awesome limited edition live Suicide box set a month or two ago. ‘dream baby dream’ was in fact the record that got me into Suicide in the first place, duly noting a favourite records list submitted by - as was then - Generation X’s Billy Idol, this cutie sat atop the list and I knew I had to have it. For months I trekked various records shops trying to squirrel the blighter and once found it took up a month long residence on the hi-fi much to my mother’s puzzlement. Years later I would stumble across a stash of demos and low and behold among the prizes - mainly Island releases dating 78 -80 - there sat two more pristine big A label promo copies of this scarce 7 inch. A few decades on - Suicide’s most accessible cut to date has found itself creeping ever so slightly into the Boss’ live set, this particular version culled from his 2005 ’Dust Devils’ shows is strictly limited to just 4,000 copies and boy does the big fella do it justice, despite its minimalist treatment Springsteen imparts his typically trademark intensity and turns it into a celebratory prayer of grand lump forming in the throat measure - hell if your not touched by its optimistic sentiment and sense of hope in the face of mounting adversity then you ain’t got a soul. By far the most intimate and touching reading by Springsteen since that killer ‘the ghost of Tom Joad’ set. Flags for waving - optional. Flip the disc for a spot of rareness wherein some rummaging around in the vaults has turned up a rarely heard recording of Suicide performing ’dream baby dream’ on an NBC Midnight Special as specially invited guests of that week’s host band the Cars, what marks ’Dream Baby Dream’ aside from the rest of the Suicide catalogue is that it pure pop gold, Rev’s soft psyche electro whirrs in the back ground reminiscent of the Silver Apples underscored by a delicately fragile and incessant minimalist mutant disco beat atop of which Vega’s remarkably controlled delivery - yep its free of the growls and shrieks of their more primitive rock-a-billy roots - adding a sugar glazed cast to the proceedings, no sinister motifs or darkly woven manifestations here just pristine hypnotic candy pop mantras. A bit of a gem even if I say so myself. Last and by no means least Beat the Devil stump up their treatment of ’Mr Ray’. No longer around these days the New York combo headed up by Shipa Ray serve up a rampantly ad hoc though wickedly soulful recalibration - with its white hot wig flipping fractured time signatures and unruly schizoid accents there are times when you’d swear that the ensuing vibrantly smoking stew was the work of an early career Talking Heads in a face off with Captain Beefheart with the Contortions somewhere around in the mix applying their off radar trademark impishness. An absolute must have release. www.blastfirstpetite.com
The Horrors / Suicide / Nic Void ‘Shadazz’ (blast first petite). Second in this year long monthly release series (see above for more details) celebrating the milestone birthday of Suicide’s Alan Vega sees the appearance of this frankly stunning 3 track 10 inch featuring the Horrors and Kaito front women Nikki Colk under her new pseudo Nic Void. Limited to just 3,000 copies and as before with the Bruce Springsteen cover sure to sell out in a flash, originally appearing on Suicide’s second Ric Ocasek produced full length, this release sees the Horrors setting their sights of Rev and Vega’s ’Shadazz’ to stunning effect. Those previously attuned to the Horrors previous fixation for all thing garage retro be prepared for a delightful surprise because this babe sees London’s finest and skinniest tearing up their own rule book to pay homage to the New York duo and in to the bargain committing to wax perhaps their finest moment to date. Hot, sweaty, dark and deliriously seductive, the Horrors reframe ’Shadazz’ and take it to a different place, packed with drip effect atmospherics, this shadow mooching babe cuts itself a sublime pedigree in primitive tension as it manifests with reptilian glee welded to a hybrid dub-tronic vibe borrowed from Wagon Christ and loosely bound in a smoking 50’s styled torch like hue that suggests some kind of studio face off between a seriously blissed out Doors crossing swords with an early career Bryan Gregory Cramps with Gallon Drunk doing the business at the mixing desk. Flip the disc for a previously unreleased slab of Suicide captured doing their stuff in 1984 at the Irving Plaza in New York for a particularly punishing rendition of ’Radiation’ - ingrained with a proto glacial electro sheen much akin to Joy Division and late 70’s era Cabaret Voltaire this slice of Dadaist mutant dub is superbly glazed with a grizzled fractured post punk funk groove - bloody awesome stuff. Bringing up the rear another surprise offering it has to be said this time from Kaito’s Nikki Colk who under her Nic Void guise stumps up ’Rocket USA’. Those of you expecting the trademark fractured and frenetic shrieks think again, coming across like a test-tube creation culling together elements of Laurie Anderson, Nina Hagen and Nico, Nikki Void takes the temperature down to blood chilling levels on this bleak tranced out slice of austere electroid minimalism - monochrome and monotone left in her hands ’Rocket USA’ assumes an eerie blankness devoid of emotion almost inhumanly mechanic in detail, stunningly sparse and much reminiscent of the Normal’s ’Warm Launderette’ - goes without saying its an essential purchase. www.blastfirstpetite.com
A few Suicide vids….
First up ‘Mr Ray’…
And next ’Dream Baby Dream’…
Future instalments we are promised will feature tributes from Lydia Lunch, Primal Scream, Peaches, Sun O))), Spiritualized and more…..
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Alison O’Donnell with Head South by Weaving ‘day is gone’ (fruits de mer). It’s not everyday we get cd packages through our mail box accompanied by press releases inscribed thus ‘please review these or we’ll give you crabs’. Being that we are enormous shell fish lovers we waited for said Hermits to arrive. Alas a week passed and no sign of our favourite crustacean. We were miffed and chomping at the bit ready to fire off a written complaint. But then being simplistic and innocent we scant realised that the crabs in question were not of the bug eyed claw variety but - as someone casually pointed out - something of a more hygiene bent. Shocked at the revelation said CD was immediately placed in a controlled quarantine environment and left to stew for a week only to miraculous unfurl and reveal itself as a rather tasty two track offering featuring the combined talents of Mellow Candle’s Alison O’Donnell and Head South by Weaving which is essentially the one man alter ego of Kilter guitarist Graeme Lockett. Hot on the heels of her recently released and very much recommended collaboration with the Owl Service, O’Donnell trains her sights on the work of two of the 60’s most revered fallen idols - Nick Drake and Nico - as part of Fruit de Mer‘s ongoing covers series. Pressed on limited quantities of coloured wax of the seven inch variety within which you’ll find enclosed a signed insert with sleeve artwork provided by Aritomo who you may - or may not if your so inclined - recall us fondly commenting on that damn fine 7 inch he did for Bracken a while back (Bracken of course loosely being Fruits de Mer’s sister label - for a review reference see missive 143) while prized between the grooves a brace of remarkable re-appraisals whose intention it seems is to have you all a swoon lie quietly in wait. There’s something criminally complete about each and every part of Nick Drake’s work, the deft cast of shy eyed bitter sweetness and naked naivety seduced by the faintness of the lushly treated pastoral aspects that suggests those attempting to apply their own individual stamp in terms of covers are fighting a cause that’s lost before its begun. ’day is done’ originally appearing on Drake’s debut full length ’five leaves left’ is a case in point - refined, elegant and unassumingly exquisite, it is one of the less celebrated compositions in Nick’s canon though nevertheless untouchable. That said left in the hands of O’Donnell and Lockett a sense of measured mesmerising mystery is coaxed to the fore, the texture applied is one that is more spectral than the original, Drake’s mellow pastoral touch is replaced by a caressing ghostly hue woven from the subtle dash of softly shimmering and hauntingly hushed psyche intonations. Flip the disc for the superior ‘frozen warnings’ - originally recorded at the tale end of the 60’s it serves as one of the often overlooked jewels in the Nico canon, O’Donnell captures perfectly the fragile almost chilling monochrome appeal of the original and frames it within a darkly hollowing ethereal soft psyche folk mantra like bewitchment that’s both statuesque in deliverance and enchantingly epic in appearance. Indescribably essential. www.brackenrecords.com
Stay ‘rainy day mushroom pillow’ (fruits de mer). Some labels eh - not content with serving up one assured gem seems the Fruits de Mer workshop have been burning the candle both ends so to speak because no sooner do we dispatch with much fondness one release then along comes another in quick succession. The phrase London buses springs to mind. Stay hail from Spain - to be more precise Barcelona in case you were desperate for the information. This lot number four in the ranks and to date have released a handful of home grown 60’s styled singles that we’d like to assume have been eagerly snapped up by the sunglasses adorned in crowd. Again limited in quantity and pressed up on coloured wax replete with fetching inserts this decidedly tasty slab of groove features three covers of certified nuggets from the celebrated kaleidoscopic pens of Strawberry Alarm Clock, Rolling Stones and Graham Nash. Opening with Strawberry’s ‘rainy day mushroom pillow’ Stay embark on a lazy eyed head trip. Deliciously festooned with swirling Hammonds this little cutie apply with sugar glazed brush strokes is endowed with a mallowy aura that’s sumptuously laced with trip wiring hallucinogens and lavishly decorated in mind vaporising dream coats of arabesque mirages that sound for all the world like they’ve stepped straight into the cold bright light of a late 60’s morning sun from an evenings festivities at the UFO club. Next up a spectral and overtly mellower take on the Stones star glazed ’2,000 light years from home’ which I‘ll admit has recently been found looming on our player courtesy of Beyond the Wizards Sleeves re-drill of it which had spending the best part of a day during the summer trying to weed out our Stones copy mainly due to the fact that we’d forgotten how bloody good the cut was, left to the Sway lads a loose drifting gem appears in view that strangely sounds not unlike a seriously chilled out Charlatans shimmying up to a ’Planecrash’ era Inspiral Carpets. Best of the set is their recalibration of Graham Nash’s immortal ’Chicago’ - a stunningly drifting country tinged power driven cutie superbly dashed and haloed with some moments of sublimely smoked passages of freewheeling drive time AOR that had us recalling some of the finer moments from his old sparring partner Neil Young’s back catalogue as though being recast by an in form early career Teenage Fanclub. Utterly recommended listening. www.brackenrecords.com
The video for ’rainy day mushroom pillow’ goes a lot like this…..
Uh Oh’s ‘cheat cheater’ (NRONE). More NRONE ear gear for your discerning lugs amid what seems like a positive hive of activity at present from Norwich’s finest imprint given we’ve recently been treated to gem from Tin Man and Aeroplane with a further tasty teaser coming from the Kabeedies once that is we can lay our hands on it in all the chaos in the singled out record shed. Anyhow to the Uh Oh’s - hopefully we’ve got this right when we say that this lot where once the Pistolas in a different life - though you‘ll have to take our word for it cos we’ve somehow - annoyingly I might add - managed to lose the attending press release. Anyhow there’s three of them - 2 boys one girl and ‘cheat cheater’ is their debut sortie into pop’s multi coloured cross textured cosmos and it’s a bit of babe even if I do say so myself. Obviously veering in close proximity to their fellow label mates Violet Violet, the venom lashed ‘cheat cheater’ seethes with impatient agitation a scalding broadside of discovered infidelity that finds itself welded fast to a frankly acutely spiked manically jarring angular underpin whose controlled caustic assaults appear for all the world to be literally trying to poke their way into your psyche, through all this Naomi consumed with betrayal and vengeful scorn unleashes her wrath with such unhinged scalping precision that you’d suspect getting on the wrong side of her would be a akin to turning up an the local accident and emergency requesting surgeons to whip off your crown jewels. Again as is always the case the killer bit of the twin set is over on the flip, ‘your body and CH’ is a blistered kick in the eye, creepily seductive and darkly woven with a sweaty claustrophobic hot ’n’ horny mindset, this sparse and loosely punishing mutant white funk flexed slab of schizoid blistered blues mooches and prowls with a feline prowess as though a youthful PJ Harvey where shimmying up to Katastrophy Wife - well worth sticking around just to hear the freebasing helter skelter free for all carnage crunching finale.
And wouldn’t you know it - with the application of some serious rooting around the gaff we’ve managed to unearth not only the spanking new disc from the Kabeedies but another little gem from the NRONE which somehow initially escaped our attentive affections by the Lost Levels…..
The Kabeedies ‘ten animals I slam in a net’ EP (NRONE). Okay this cutie is out and about in record land right now pressed up on fetching slabs of red wax. Of course there should be no need of introductions given that their debut release ‘lovers ought to’ (see missive 161) for the ever perfect Cherryade imprint had us all in a spin. Now apparently signed up to Fierce Panda’s Cool for Cats off shoot and ready to go nuclear for now though squeezed into their busy work roster comes this spanking three track morsel. Three tracks with a total duration of just over 5 minutes mightn’t sound like a good return but then these cute devils you suspect don’t believe in sticking around and padding out their wares by over emphasising the grooves - just say what you’ve got to say play what you’ve got to play job done seems to be their creed and hell I wish their where more like them I mean who needs stone cold 9 minute solos and frankly endless and pointless extended mixes whose only purpose it seems is to soundtrack me acquiring facial hair and an ever decreasing will to live. Ah the joys of a lonely record reviewer. Where were we - ah yes the Kebeedies. ‘palindromes’ sounds as though its escaped an early 80’s Peel record box, wickedly off the wall dislocated and fried time signatures who appear to have a curiously insidious ability to plug directly into your nervous system and have your feet a tapping wildly to the frenetic floorshow of crookedly skittish white funk art pop - criminally catchy though we suspect they slyly wile away the evenings listening to old Popticians tunes. Barely pausing for breath and up pops the audaciously cute ’king Canute’ - more impish lo-fi loveliness that shares a similar pop art doodled canvas as those loveable rascals the Lovely Eggs for what is a galloping and wonkily dinky dimpled spot of sprightly low calorie fizzy party pop leaving the brief but fluffy acoustic ’coaster game’ to round up the set and weave its lilting Hefner like softness into the ether. Sweet. www.nrone.co.uk
The Lost Levels ’never the first’ (NRONE). How we managed to miss this the first time around literally beggars belief, the more in tune among you have probably already bought, played it to near destruction and secretly made jottings noting it as one of your favourite releases of the year so far - and who would blame you. As melodically astute a release that NRONE have released to date, the Lost Levels are a Norwich based quartet who arguably have an enviable knack of finding pristine cuts of pop down the backs of sofas, behind the fridge and up in the loft, this is the sound of the West Coast relocated to East Anglia. Three tracks feature within all indelibly crafted with a inscrutable pop sensibility and yet woven with a mercurial artistry that suggests a record collection fondly poured over and informed by a near distant golden era. So what have we got ’magnificent’ - sorry just couldn’t resist we’ve been overdosing of late on the Clash so forgive us for that impromptu bout of straying. The Lost Levels dole out sumptuous slices of sun soaked honey combed nuggets of invigorating softly toned west coast pop, from the opening rush of the impish ’never the first’ - a bracingly kooky kaleidoscopic beat pop treat that takes its cue seemingly from Cockney Rebels ’Mr Soft’ albeit as though the laddish element of ’Parklife’ era Blur had spray painted it with dapples and daubs of the Small Faces to the tear stained dream pop crests of the wounded and unrequited tingle of ’pop song 2’ the Lost Levels acquit themselves admirably in their ability to field contagious cherry stones of pop. That said its the parting ’shuffle’ that steals the show a gorgeously cute sugar dipped shy eyed tinker bell caressed by warmly radiating mid 70’s AOR harmonies and a goofily flighty melodic framing tenderly recalling the crisply calibrated pop confection of Van Dyke Parks, Ashley Park, Ben Folds 5 and Brighton’s Brigadier. Irresistible stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/v68publishing - okay this is the publishing arm of the Orchestra Pit Collective who are responsible to putting out and indeed promoting damn fine tasty sounds around London town, you may well recall us featuring one of the labels current releases - that superb ’three blind mice’ single from Terry Edwards and the Scapegoats, well in addition to that there’s a spot of tastiness from Country Dad to come - once that is we manage to root the single out from the humungous CD pile and something from the legendary Ted Milton under his more recognisable musical guise Blurt which sadly our copy persisted in playing the Terry Edwards tracks -which is no bad thing though slightly annoying when you’re looking to hear Blurt ditties, management have been notified and the rare miss-press CD has been safely stored in the pension fund vault for safe keeping. Oh and we almost forgot to mention this is the same label responsible for that excellent Naim Amour 10 inch.
http://www.myspace.com/thedirtyhearts - an Austin, Texas based quartet headed up by Frankie Medina and Calida who apparently came about by sheer accident when the former was drafted in to produce the latter. Two albums under their collective belts in the shape of their self titled debut from 2006 and the recently released ’pigs’ which on hearing these cuts we’ve an inkling we need to get in our gaff sooner rather than later.
And that’s your lot until the end of the week wherein we’ll be back with stuff from Muleskinner Jones, Mississippi Witch, the Subliminal Girls, Rod Thomas, loads of NRONE gear and plenty more besides….
As usual thanks to all those who have made these ramblings possible and thanks to you for reading it. As always email mark@losingtoday.om while updates are via www.myspace.com/thesundayexperience
