Albums
Updated 3rd September 2011
THE SENSIBLE, BUT POMPOUS REVIEW
THE GREAT DIVIDE "TERRA FIRMA" (Zube Records)
RELEASED? 31st October.
SOUNDS LIKE? Arch and arty pop that sits, apparently content, in the shadows of it's intellectual pretensions and minor chords. It's a delicious confection of the pose, the pout and the melancholic, but like cake, there's no nourishment and let "Dacha" be your case in point, all 10cc on the left bank, a climax of ennui, which is a treat in itself, but nothing without something from the gut.
IS IT ANY GOOD? It really should be, don't you think?
WHERE IS IT? www.thegreatdivide.co.uk
THE 'WE JUST SHIT OURSELVES' REVIEW
PSYCHOSTICK "SPACE VAMPIRES VS ZOMBIE DINOSAURS IN 3D" (Rock Ridge Music)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? Genius. Total, unadulterated, undiluted, stone cold, fucking genius. Strong claim, I understand that, but Psychostick
undermine the whole rawk schtick by ripping the tits off, by being hellishly, but flippantly good at it. It sounds like they're cute n clever people who are masters of a genre that they can't help loving, but find it impossible to respect. So, it's unsafe to say that Psychostick are the feral, ill-mannered children of 2NU, masters, fans and piss-takers of rawk. Buy this, enjoy this, there won't be another one, not even from Psychostick.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yeah, but which way do you want it? Psychostick can outplay any, and I can write 'any' in bigger type if it helps, serious rawk outfit known to man, woman or undecided and they're also brimming and rimming with razor sharp piss takes and I would like to take every member of Psychostick and stick each one of them into a wank band like U2, or Coldplay, or, R.E.M or Metallica and that would make the world a better place, make the Psychostick follow up moot and annoy the fuck out of Chris Martin, Bono, Mick and Stipe.
WHERE IS IT? http://psychostick.com
THE SOUND OF CLEANING GLASS
JOINTPOP "THE LONGEST KISS GOODNIGHT" (Anarchy On The Ave)
RELEASED? 3rd October.
SOUNDS LIKE? I suspect that Jointpop are less genuine, pure or 'real' than their pr or die hard fans might like to believe, but they smack bottom, mix and mangle the funk, the rawk n the pop and that's good enough for me. The 'sounds like' question is queasily answered by saying that Jointpop sound like Glasvegas channeling Nick Lowe.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes, we don't go a bundle on Glasvegas, but Nick Lowe is boss.
WHERE IS IT? www.jointpop.com
IMPRACTICAL MAGIC
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND "THIS DAY IS A GOOD ENOUGH DAY" (Crocfingers)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? Wry. Romance as realism, real life as real life. Joy in the moment, however ridiculous. This is the important stuff. Before we get to the 'sounds like Ivor Cutler running naked and delighted from a riff-gunning Ballboy' kind of crap that I do so well. The press release notes that the lyrics are 'brutal', I disagree. This is an entirely affectionate affair, but an entirely hopeful and honest one. There's no shame in the vomit and there's nothing of macho posture in the boozing and there's no real despair. Yes, they stay in, but they do go to town. The soul mates for Prince Edward Island are Pulp and Ivor Cutler, the bar buddies are Davey Henderson and Paul Vickers and the influences for sound are Ballboy, Vic Goddard and any number of dodgy bars and whatever connections you can make between your record collection and the woozily muscular folk-punk-fuzz of Prince Edward Island.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes it bloody well is.
WHERE IS IT? www.crocfingers.co.uk
I PRESSED A KNIFE AGAINST HIS
CHEST...
MEG BAIRD "SEASONS
ON EARTH" (WICHITA
RECORDINGS)
RELEASED? 26th
September.
SOUNDS LIKE? A quiet
and effortless blend of the
scratchy beard n scratchier
jumper sound that the
English call folk and the
pedal steel glide that the
Americans call country. The opener, "Babyon" being a fair example, it's almost like Olivia Newton John was a proper artist, no, really, "Babyon" kicks the lyrical shit from "Country Roads", but there's a feel, a time, a tide and emotion conjured, no? Let's move on, to a cover, "Beatles And The Stones", a House Of Love original, is transformed into a wintry stumble across Bronte strewn moors, similar and likewise, Marc Almond's "Friends" is robbed of the original intimacy, but given a control and delicacy that makes it an entirely different song, probably a Meg Baird song. The killer cut is the last, "Song For Next Summer", a subdued, but softly sparking lament that recalls the non-existent Joni Mitchell who came from Norway.
IS IT ANY GOOD? If you bundled up all the hate we have for artists who do 'melancholy', 'nuance' and 'understatement', you'd be squashed very flat indeed. If you bundled up all the love, respect and listening time we have for Meg Baird, you'd have the biggest bundle in the world.
WHERE IS IT? www.megbaird.com
I THINK I MIGHT BE JESUS, YEAH!
THE POCKET GODS "WEIRD SHIT, THE LIFE & TIMES OF A POCKET GOD" (NUB COUNTRY RECORDS)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? Top line,
top notch, smart arse, too
good to be a simple party
band, but too real and
probably too old to retain any
notion of 'making it', but
Pocket Gods persist in
holding the ugly mirror up to
the industry they won't or
aren't allowed to play with.
The sad and solid fact is that
if something like "Jombal
Party" was touted by an all
girl, Japanese three piece,
then Time Out would be
running free taxis to the
Brixton shut out gig, or if
"Wanking For Christmas"
was fronted by Roy Wood,
we'd all be tossing a different
present under the tree.
IS IT ANY GOOD? If humour, resignation, defiance and mastery of several musical genres count for anything, yes.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/thepocketgods
Yeah, she looks the sort, eh?
Yeah, she really does look the sort.
