Our Daily Bread 620: John Howard, SWIFTUMZ, MAbH…
June 21, 2024
BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA’S REVIEW SECOND REVIEWS ROUNDUP OF MAY – INSTANT REACTIONS.
UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE ALL RELEASES CAN BE PURCHASED RIGHT NOW
SCHØØL ‘N.S.M.L.Y.D’
(Géographie)
Baggy drumbeats from the late eighties and shoegaze guitars, are we watching Snub TV? No it seems that the past is once again the present in this ever-evolving circle of not evolving at all. N.S.M.L.Y.D is actually a pretty catchy little number with a nagging keyboard riff that elevates it from the good to the quite good stakes. If this was the late eighties/early 90s it would have a good chance to making the bottom end of the top 40 and a fleeting appearance on the Chart Show.
John Howard ‘Currently/ I am Not Gone’
5th July 2024
The new single from John Howard is a beautiful thing. Two songs that take you back to the days when songwriters used to write simple melodic songs that would appear magically on the radio and brighten your day. The days when you could pick up the song you heard on the radio from your local record shop, or the record department from one of the bigger stores like Boots or Woolworths, on 7-inch vinyl; and you would not have to sell your grandma’s China to be able to afford it. Ah those where the days we of a certain age remember with a tear in our eye. And why am I babbling on about memories from old you may ask, and not writing beautiful prose about the new John Howard single? Well I am, because that is the beauty and magic John has, the power to weave with his music. He has the bewitchery to take one back on a melancholic magic carpet ride to the days of record store dust and memories of old friends and lovers and celebrate the bittersweet beauty of still being alive and finding wonder in the simple everyday things we in younger years would not have noticed. Hopefully people of all ages will find the simple pleasure and wonder in these two rather touching ballads.
Yea-Ming and The Rumours ‘I Can’t Have It All’
(Dandy Boy Records)
For some reason I thought I had already reviewed this fine album, but I have not; it must be the latter stages of middle age setting in. Either way this album by Yea-Ming and The Rumours [not to be confused with Graham Parker and The Rumours] is quite a lovely steeped-in-summer indie pop album with beautifully constructed pop songs all lushly strummed acoustics and some quite lovely twangy guitar lead lines. Lovers of the Gentle Waves and bands of that ilk will indeed find this album extremely appealing: as do I.
Neutrals ‘New Town Dream’
This is splendid stuff, an album of supreme guitar jangle, of well written and catchy songs about life in a small town that at times musically reminds me of early Wedding Present and The Pastels with such wonderfully British lyrics; although I wonder when “Travel Agents Window’s” was written as he mentions buying a bag of chips for 50p, when was the last time you managed to buy a bag of chips for 50p? Maybe life in this small town isn’t as bad as the Neutrals think. I do love this album though. I love the romance of everyday life songs, like little mini Kitchen sink dramas filmed in grainy black and white. This is quite a gem of an album.
SWIFTUMZ ‘Simply The Best’
(Empty Cellar) 14th June 2024
I recently had the misfortune to hear the new Jesus and Mary Chain album; an album that lacked their normal magic: in fact it was quite dull. It was missing what this album has in troves, which is sparkling guitar pop songs, songs that jangle and chime with a wild abandon and ballads that are sincere and quite beautiful, like ‘Second Take’, a Sparklehorse like treasure of a track, or the Alex Chilton like ‘For Bucher’.
Simply The Best is a prime example of the magic that can be achieved when making Bedroom Pop. It has a warmth and invention, which when done well cannot not be matched for heart and soul, and SWIFTUMZ does it very well indeedy.
MAbH (Mortuus Auris & the Black Hand) ‘Wolves, Windows And Curtains’
(Cruel Nature Records) 28th June 2024
From your mother’s cunt to the coffin is an experience we all have. An experience filled with laughter, tears, love and heartbreak; of times of pure and utter despair to times of great happiness. And if we are lucky, the good will outweigh the bad.
In times when we are living, or at least surviving, through the bad, the good times can seem like they have never happened: just a brief dream someone else has told you about. It’s like they have never happened to you, and sometimes the happy memories just drive the nail into your skull, into your heart kicking you between the legs, telling you, taunting you just how shit life is at this time. We have all been there: if you haven’t, then you have never experienced life in its all so tragically naked beauty. MAbH has experienced this, and through this dark work of spoken word tonal poems lets you into the black precipice he currently resides.
Score ‘Temporary Arrangement’
(Cruel Nature Records) 28th June 2024
This is an enjoyable instrumental romp through the sounds of a distance past. Instrumental tracks that bring to mind the drunken early mornings of watching Ceefax and job finder, awaiting for the oncoming treat of sleep or to the soundtrack to some straight to video bad movie. This fine album captures all that is magical from the instrumental glory that is a cheap Casio keyboard, guitar, bass and a fertile imagination.
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