Singles
Updated 11th November 2011
ARCHIVE:
GENERATE ME LIMPLY
SONNY "ILLUMINANT"
(MINIMAL-ESCENT MUSIC)
RELEASED? 21st November.
SOUNDS LIKE? It's depressing.
Not the artiste, Sonny, fair play,
is shimmering away, innocently
derivative and has probably never
heard an old Cockney Rebel
album in his life, but when it finds
it's feet, 'Shine Like Silver' totters
hesitantly towards a pan-sticked
Steve Harley with it's eyes and it's arms wide. It's probably the swirling and the vocal affectations and it's probably the best of the four tracks on this ep and it's still a kind of Night Nurse on a disc and I skip n flip through 'Dew Bright Earth' and 'Everything Was Golden' and 'Wonder Of Snow' and I finally understand, there's no journey, no narrative, no progression, no edge, it's all drift and suddenly, nothing happens.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Music for a hospice near you.
WHERE IS IT? www.sonnyminimal.com
SONNY "ILLUMINANT"
(MINIMAL-ESCENT MUSIC)
RELEASED? 21st November.
SOUNDS LIKE? It's depressing.
Not the artiste, Sonny, fair play,
is shimmering away, innocently
derivative and has probably never
heard an old Cockney Rebel
album in his life, but when it finds
it's feet, 'Shine Like Silver' totters
hesitantly towards a pan-sticked
Steve Harley with it's eyes and it's arms wide. It's probably the swirling and the vocal affectations and it's probably the best of the four tracks on this ep and it's still a kind of Night Nurse on a disc and I skip n flip through 'Dew Bright Earth' and 'Everything Was Golden' and 'Wonder Of Snow' and I finally understand, there's no journey, no narrative, no progression, no edge, it's all drift and suddenly, nothing happens.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Music for a hospice near you.
WHERE IS IT? www.sonnyminimal.com
Ouch!
TOBIAS ISN'T A ROCK N ROLL NAME
LOVE AMONG THE MANNEQUINS "RADICAL IMAGES" (FUNCTION RECORDS)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? This should not be here. It's an album, albeit an album with no fucking tracklist and a bunch of people who seem to think that shouting, feedback and flirting with a Byronic-math rock fusion is a neat idea.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes, they're quite right. Foppishness, feedback and lazy sonic violence are exactly where it's at. Maybe it's a poncy, southern take on the abrasive Leeds cock-a-snooking pio-sneered by I Like Trains and maybe not, but I only do singles and the three tracks I'm talking about are nicely nasty and deploy neatly defined and impressively controlled feedback. Track 3 is my favourite, all Blur machine-gunning the well heeled hippies on the glamping ground. A proper album review will be along in due course, until then, click the link and all that.
WHERE IS IT? http://loveamongthemannequins.tumblr.com/
LOVE AMONG THE MANNEQUINS "RADICAL IMAGES" (FUNCTION RECORDS)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? This should not be here. It's an album, albeit an album with no fucking tracklist and a bunch of people who seem to think that shouting, feedback and flirting with a Byronic-math rock fusion is a neat idea.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes, they're quite right. Foppishness, feedback and lazy sonic violence are exactly where it's at. Maybe it's a poncy, southern take on the abrasive Leeds cock-a-snooking pio-sneered by I Like Trains and maybe not, but I only do singles and the three tracks I'm talking about are nicely nasty and deploy neatly defined and impressively controlled feedback. Track 3 is my favourite, all Blur machine-gunning the well heeled hippies on the glamping ground. A proper album review will be along in due course, until then, click the link and all that.
WHERE IS IT? http://loveamongthemannequins.tumblr.com/
I'd quite like to kill us, as well
Are you my mummy?
LIKE A CARDIE IN THE WIND
OUR PEOPLE VERSUS YOURS "LIGHTS" EP (i-TUNES / AMAZON)
RELEASED? 21st November.
SOUNDS LIKE? Padding. Think of your all time, favourite, best, play at my funeral song. Got it? Okay, now listen to it. No, really listen to it, because there is the great mass of the track that gives traction to all the hooks, riffs, fills and mistakes that make that track your all time favourite track. Right, now you know what I mean when I say that, for mod-metal, Our People Versus Yours are the guys who are playing the bits between those fills, mistakes etc.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Technical competence, plus no imagination equals average.
WHERE IS IT? www.facebook.com/ourpeopleversusyours
OUR PEOPLE VERSUS YOURS "LIGHTS" EP (i-TUNES / AMAZON)
RELEASED? 21st November.
SOUNDS LIKE? Padding. Think of your all time, favourite, best, play at my funeral song. Got it? Okay, now listen to it. No, really listen to it, because there is the great mass of the track that gives traction to all the hooks, riffs, fills and mistakes that make that track your all time favourite track. Right, now you know what I mean when I say that, for mod-metal, Our People Versus Yours are the guys who are playing the bits between those fills, mistakes etc.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Technical competence, plus no imagination equals average.
WHERE IS IT? www.facebook.com/ourpeopleversusyours
POP BASTARDS IN CONSISTENCY SHOCKER
MY TINY ROBOTS "GUILD OF DEFIANTS" (WOODTHIEF RECORDS)
RELEASED? 14th November.
SOUNDS LIKE? Deliberate
and languidly brilliant fizz n
fuzz pop rock that's sharp
enough to cut itself a new
haircut with one one hand,
while rollerskating underwater,
under fucking water. Listen
closely, I don't scare easy, I
am, after all, married, but I
was more than a little nervous
about spinning this one.
The previous My Tiny Robots
release was the superlative
pop of
'Rock Bossa Nova Fourbeat'
and it was long odds that
they'd get within touching
distance of that, eh? Eh?
Helpfully, 'Guild Of Defiants' is
exactly the same in it's cold
sherbet, face slapping, refreshment, but entirely different because it's a step sideways. Slower pace, less frantic, but using the time and space to replace elegantly blunt trauma with sly stabbing.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Very. We don't support bands, we review records, but My Tiny Robots are rocking that boat.
WHERE IS IT? www.mytinyrobots.com
MY TINY ROBOTS "GUILD OF DEFIANTS" (WOODTHIEF RECORDS)
RELEASED? 14th November.
SOUNDS LIKE? Deliberate
and languidly brilliant fizz n
fuzz pop rock that's sharp
enough to cut itself a new
haircut with one one hand,
while rollerskating underwater,
under fucking water. Listen
closely, I don't scare easy, I
am, after all, married, but I
was more than a little nervous
about spinning this one.
The previous My Tiny Robots
release was the superlative
pop of
'Rock Bossa Nova Fourbeat'
and it was long odds that
they'd get within touching
distance of that, eh? Eh?
Helpfully, 'Guild Of Defiants' is
exactly the same in it's cold
sherbet, face slapping, refreshment, but entirely different because it's a step sideways. Slower pace, less frantic, but using the time and space to replace elegantly blunt trauma with sly stabbing.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Very. We don't support bands, we review records, but My Tiny Robots are rocking that boat.
WHERE IS IT? www.mytinyrobots.com
It's a new
My Tiny
Robots
single!
My Tiny
Robots
single!
'JAZZ' AND 'GOOD IN SAME SENTENCE!
DJANAN TURAN "ARTIGO" (NATURAL RHYTHM RECORDINGS)
RELEASED? 14th November.
SOUNDS LIKE? Sly, arch, capricious, carelessly, effortlessly excellent and, on the opener, 'Goldfish', at least, being a delicious confection of Bjork and They Might Be Giants. This is, so far, arty, arch and fun, a rare combination. Title track, 'Artigo' chops through flutes in a shower of silver percussion and sub-Santana guitaring that delivers a restrained Bjork to the very doors of jazz era Steely Dan, still good, though. Favourite is 'Bonus', the cut loose, electro smash n mash between 'Macarena' and Bollywood, the brass is sub-fucking-lime and the rest is not far behind, beautiful stuff.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes, very good, life, love and liberty made sound, embrace it, them, us,
WHERE IS IT? www.djananturan.co.uk
DJANAN TURAN "ARTIGO" (NATURAL RHYTHM RECORDINGS)
RELEASED? 14th November.
SOUNDS LIKE? Sly, arch, capricious, carelessly, effortlessly excellent and, on the opener, 'Goldfish', at least, being a delicious confection of Bjork and They Might Be Giants. This is, so far, arty, arch and fun, a rare combination. Title track, 'Artigo' chops through flutes in a shower of silver percussion and sub-Santana guitaring that delivers a restrained Bjork to the very doors of jazz era Steely Dan, still good, though. Favourite is 'Bonus', the cut loose, electro smash n mash between 'Macarena' and Bollywood, the brass is sub-fucking-lime and the rest is not far behind, beautiful stuff.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes, very good, life, love and liberty made sound, embrace it, them, us,
WHERE IS IT? www.djananturan.co.uk
IT'S LIKE CREAM, WITHOUT GOD OR
GINGER
CINEMA RED AND BLUE
"BUTTERBEAN CRYPT" EP
(FORTUNA POP!)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? An indie
supergroup, because that's
what Cinema Red And Blue
are. A fusion of Comet Gain
and Crystal Stilts and as
much as you'd love to hate
the record, because it's an
indulgent (vinyl only, 500
copies only) in- joke, it is a lazily excellent thing. The casual crossfire of fret and keyboard on "Gentle, Wanderin' Ways" is an edgy delight that's as tight and as a dodgy as a politician's lips. I'll have to skip "As Pure As The Freshly Driven Snow" because the click, jangle and whoosh of "Memory Grave" has exhumed Brian Jones just in time to join hands with an early REM for a rapid stumble around a black flamed campfire with Dr Phibes.
IS IT ANY GOOD? I like Kylie Minogue and I like Sisters Of Mercy and they have done good stuff, so have Cinema Red And Blue. You can't (inverted snobbery applies) buy it, so steal it, it's brilliant and it's a fucking bargain.
WHERE IS IT? www.fortunapop
GINGER
CINEMA RED AND BLUE
"BUTTERBEAN CRYPT" EP
(FORTUNA POP!)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? An indie
supergroup, because that's
what Cinema Red And Blue
are. A fusion of Comet Gain
and Crystal Stilts and as
much as you'd love to hate
the record, because it's an
indulgent (vinyl only, 500
copies only) in- joke, it is a lazily excellent thing. The casual crossfire of fret and keyboard on "Gentle, Wanderin' Ways" is an edgy delight that's as tight and as a dodgy as a politician's lips. I'll have to skip "As Pure As The Freshly Driven Snow" because the click, jangle and whoosh of "Memory Grave" has exhumed Brian Jones just in time to join hands with an early REM for a rapid stumble around a black flamed campfire with Dr Phibes.
IS IT ANY GOOD? I like Kylie Minogue and I like Sisters Of Mercy and they have done good stuff, so have Cinema Red And Blue. You can't (inverted snobbery applies) buy it, so steal it, it's brilliant and it's a fucking bargain.
WHERE IS IT? www.fortunapop
So, you gonna be in my
supergroup?
supergroup?
FILLING UP THE BIN BAGS
SHEEPY "PREDATOR" EP (BLANG RECORDS)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? The man has
a voice tailored by superior
beings to slick fit hurry, scurry
indie pop & punky quirk. I am
listening to the title track while
deforming this opinion and the
opinion is this; Jilted John
fights Pete Shelley. Not much
of a fight, but enough to send
two bits of data flying from the
ring... Luke 'Sheepy' Jones is
a slick n witty bedsit
troubadour, but you can guess
why his nine album back
catalogue has been recorded, alone, in his bedroom. This makes 'My Friends' either poignant or delusional, but seeing as it's Marc Almond drifting in to mediate between Jilted and Shelley, it makes perfect sense. Don't stop to think about it, I'm right and that's it and that's how, I suspect, those nine albums were created.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Who knows, all I can tell you is that "Don't Know Much" is, despite being a snuffling, under produced demo, both a brilliant and a certain to be missed pop classic. If he has one of these on each of his nine albums, he's got a killer set in waiting.
WHERE IS IT? www.blang.co.uk
SHEEPY "PREDATOR" EP (BLANG RECORDS)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? The man has
a voice tailored by superior
beings to slick fit hurry, scurry
indie pop & punky quirk. I am
listening to the title track while
deforming this opinion and the
opinion is this; Jilted John
fights Pete Shelley. Not much
of a fight, but enough to send
two bits of data flying from the
ring... Luke 'Sheepy' Jones is
a slick n witty bedsit
troubadour, but you can guess
why his nine album back
catalogue has been recorded, alone, in his bedroom. This makes 'My Friends' either poignant or delusional, but seeing as it's Marc Almond drifting in to mediate between Jilted and Shelley, it makes perfect sense. Don't stop to think about it, I'm right and that's it and that's how, I suspect, those nine albums were created.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Who knows, all I can tell you is that "Don't Know Much" is, despite being a snuffling, under produced demo, both a brilliant and a certain to be missed pop classic. If he has one of these on each of his nine albums, he's got a killer set in waiting.
WHERE IS IT? www.blang.co.uk
TRUST DIES Pt749: He's not in his bedroom or alone
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING?
THEE SPIVS "T.V SCREEN" (DAMAGED GOODS)
RELEASED? 14th November
SOUNDS LIKE? Medway mafia
punking out some fine stuff. They can
talk about East London as much as
they like, but Thee Spivs are olde
Sweeny episode sprawl, dropped
haitches, hopeless aggression, rage
without focus, but eloquent
complaints abound. A stick of rock
with 'Underdog' printed through it. A
proper review would end there, pat,
neat and meaningless, but Thee Spivs
put the work in, so have this... Thee
Spivs have some affectations, but
they also have some observations worth hearing in tracks worth jumping about to and that combination is attractive and puts some of their stuff on my playlist.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes.
WHERE IS IT? www.theespivs.com
THEE SPIVS "T.V SCREEN" (DAMAGED GOODS)
RELEASED? 14th November
SOUNDS LIKE? Medway mafia
punking out some fine stuff. They can
talk about East London as much as
they like, but Thee Spivs are olde
Sweeny episode sprawl, dropped
haitches, hopeless aggression, rage
without focus, but eloquent
complaints abound. A stick of rock
with 'Underdog' printed through it. A
proper review would end there, pat,
neat and meaningless, but Thee Spivs
put the work in, so have this... Thee
Spivs have some affectations, but
they also have some observations worth hearing in tracks worth jumping about to and that combination is attractive and puts some of their stuff on my playlist.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes.
WHERE IS IT? www.theespivs.com
MEMO: Next time, don't ask David Walliams...
POP, POP, POP!
THE PIPETTES "BOO SHUFFLE" (FORTUNA POP!)
RELEASED? 28th November.
SOUNDS LIKE? Super cute and super catchy pop that manages to blend a knowingly punky sneer with a bleeding, heart on sleeve love for the genre they're aping and raping and loving so much it's a thing of beauty more than concern.
IS IT ANY GOOD? The Pipettes are, someone has to say it, a clear million miles better at this than the ancients they worship. It seems like heresy, but maybe we don't need The Ronettes anymore?
WHERE IS IT? http://thepipettes.org/
THE PIPETTES "BOO SHUFFLE" (FORTUNA POP!)
RELEASED? 28th November.
SOUNDS LIKE? Super cute and super catchy pop that manages to blend a knowingly punky sneer with a bleeding, heart on sleeve love for the genre they're aping and raping and loving so much it's a thing of beauty more than concern.
IS IT ANY GOOD? The Pipettes are, someone has to say it, a clear million miles better at this than the ancients they worship. It seems like heresy, but maybe we don't need The Ronettes anymore?
WHERE IS IT? http://thepipettes.org/
MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE BEACH
ET TU BRUCE "STARS
FALL" (WORLDWIDE
RECORDS)
RELEASED? 1st
December.
SOUNDS LIKE? Sweet,
sweet, late sixties
jangle, the harmonies
coil and curl around and
through each other and
'Stars Fall' is the kind of
lovely, engaging,
airbrushed, slightly snaggy n jaggy Californian pop that pleases everyone. I can admire the way that the bongo line is given a clear run through the mix towards the end and I'm pleased as punch with the image that this track conjures for me; a middle aged Archies reunion jamming with a beach band, for laughs, but doing it well. I don't get a sniff of the 'folk' that the press release majors on, but the harmony work is fine and that's kind of it for this one.
IS IT ANY GOOD? It's fine, but you get the feeling that they've got better shots in the locker.
WHERE IS IT? www.facebook.com/ettubruce
ET TU BRUCE "STARS
FALL" (WORLDWIDE
RECORDS)
RELEASED? 1st
December.
SOUNDS LIKE? Sweet,
sweet, late sixties
jangle, the harmonies
coil and curl around and
through each other and
'Stars Fall' is the kind of
lovely, engaging,
airbrushed, slightly snaggy n jaggy Californian pop that pleases everyone. I can admire the way that the bongo line is given a clear run through the mix towards the end and I'm pleased as punch with the image that this track conjures for me; a middle aged Archies reunion jamming with a beach band, for laughs, but doing it well. I don't get a sniff of the 'folk' that the press release majors on, but the harmony work is fine and that's kind of it for this one.
IS IT ANY GOOD? It's fine, but you get the feeling that they've got better shots in the locker.
WHERE IS IT? www.facebook.com/ettubruce
TINTIN AND THE HORRIBLE BEER
OVERWEIGHT "CHAPTER 11 " (i-TUNES / AMAZON etc)
RELEASED? 5th December.
SOUNDS LIKE? Jolly ska. Bless them, they do try and fuck it up with
all manner of unpleasant Americanisms, but the spirit of 'Special Brew' and their natural, Belgium bonhomie shines through, nowhere more so than the left bounce, right bounce of 'Guantanamo'. It's easy to like Overweight, they do good ska, they lace and brace it with cheesy pop rock and they whack it out with some attitude and style.
IS IT ANY GOOD? I would be happy to spend the night in a bar they're playing and would put money in a jukebox to hear them.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/overweight music
OVERWEIGHT "CHAPTER 11 " (i-TUNES / AMAZON etc)
RELEASED? 5th December.
SOUNDS LIKE? Jolly ska. Bless them, they do try and fuck it up with
all manner of unpleasant Americanisms, but the spirit of 'Special Brew' and their natural, Belgium bonhomie shines through, nowhere more so than the left bounce, right bounce of 'Guantanamo'. It's easy to like Overweight, they do good ska, they lace and brace it with cheesy pop rock and they whack it out with some attitude and style.
IS IT ANY GOOD? I would be happy to spend the night in a bar they're playing and would put money in a jukebox to hear them.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/overweight music
And stay the fuck outta Riverdale!
