Monolith Cocktail Blog

Brain ‘Bordello’ Shea’s Reviews Jamboree

The cult leader of the infamous lo fi gods, The Bordellos, Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea has released countless recordings over the decades with his family band of hapless unfortunates, and is the owner of a most self-deprecating sound-off style blog. His most recent releases include The Bordellos beautifully despondent pains-of-the-heart and mockery of clique “hipsters” ode to Liverpool, the diatribe ‘Boris Johnson Massacre’ and just in the last couple of months, both The King Of No-Fi album, and a collaborative derangement with the Texas miscreant Occult Character, Heart To Heart. He has also released, under the Idiot Blur Fanboy moniker, a stripped down classic album of resignation and Gallagher brothers’ polemics.

Each week we send a mountain of new releases to the self-depreciating maverick to see what sticks. In his own idiosyncratic style and turn-of-phrase, pontificating aloud and reviewing with scrutiny an eclectic deluge of releases, here Brian’s latest batch of recommendations.

Singles.

The Loved Drones ‘Conspiracy Dance’
(Freaksville Records)

Let’s be honest, this is ace. How can it not be; any track that has you swinging from the imaginary chandelier of your mind and juggling rolled up socks in a devil care way, and trust me this song is liable to evoke both actions voluntary or not. Yes this is a fine single one that brings the heyday of post punk back to your listening device; a song that brings both the combined magic of the Jilted John album and the lyrical dexterity of John Cooper Clark but with a swinging sixties beat. I can only stand back and applaud.

See also…

The Loved Drones ‘Good Luck Universe!’ (here)

Pixies ‘Hear Me Out/Mambo Sun’
16^th October 2020

The new pixies single is good. I like it, and to be quite honest that statement surprises me, as I’ve not been a huge fan since their reformation a few years ago. But this has the older elements I loved, but slightly watered down. Saying that, if I heard this on the radio I wouldn’t have guessed it was the Pixies, just another good alt rock American band influenced by the Pixies.

I like the female lead vocals and the twangy guitar. So if I were on jukebox jury I would vote it a hit: but not a patch on their first three albums.

October Surprise ‘Paris 1919/(I Just Can’t See) The Attraction’
(Big Stir Records) 16^th October 2020

What we have here is number 100 in the Big Stir Records digital singles releases: And what a gem it is, the A side being a beautiful folk like sway through John Cale’s ‘Paris 1919’, which has me reaching for my hanky and smudging away the happy tears as memories of my preteen days stuck to the transistor radio being swept away by Renaissance and their Northern Lights come flooding back. This cover of 1919 has the same glow of nostalgic rebirth and hope. The B-side, ‘The Attraction’ is equally as special a lovely male/female duet of love gone wrong; strings softly strummed guitars stroked drums and lost seduction.

Johanna Burnheart  ‘Silence Is Golden’
(Ropeadope Records)

Is experimental Jazz-folk a thing? If not this could well be the first example; a beautiful song that starts all shattered cold sheet frustrations and soundscape Nyman style and shifts into a psych-folk chant of crashing drums, and slowly erupts into a jazz frenzy of Samba vocals and percussion. A song of strange emotion and beauty, part lounge-core jazz part Whicker Man folk: a lovely and bewitching track.

Albums..

Netta Goldhirsch ‘Love Doesn’t Exist’
(Wormhole World) 23^rd October 2020

If soulful Avant-Garde vocal meanderings with the solitude sparse jazz/dance trip hop be bop, cut up into pieces and folded into star shaped moments of post epileptic solitude is your thing than this album could well be for you. Netta Goldhirsch is indeed a fine singer with a very unusual timbre to her voice and the songs, all short, are like sketches of songs; songs that really do not need to be developed any more as if they where they could well lose what is so magical about them and magical they are.

Fans of late period Scott Walker and Yoko in her more tuneful moments and fans of Julie London and especially fans of Ute Lemper’s Punishing Kiss album will all find something to enjoy on this extremely enjoyable unusual album. Aural art at its best. Another winner from Wormhole World records.

Mylittlebrother  ‘Howl’
(Big Stir Records) 30^th October 2020

Mylittlebrother are a band from Cumbria, who for some reason really appeal to me, as their album doesn’t sound like I was expecting. For some reason I was expecting phony American accents and shiny guitars and power pop sensibilities, but instead we are greeted with a very British quirky sounding country tinged album of very subtle well written songs of everyday life more lyrically Jarvis Cocker/Paul Heaton than Don Henly, and musically, 80’s indie guitar pop with some tracks having a country tinge (does anyone remember The Raw Herbs?), and not American sounding at all. So, Howl is an album of very well written mostly guitar-based songs with some lovely melodies especially the lovely ballad ‘The Start’, which you can imagine playing over some rom-com final scene as some badly dressed geek of a man gets the woman in the rain against all odds. An album that could appeal to a large cross section of the public as there really is nothing not to like about it: unless you do not like well written songs of melody and grace.

The Dupont Circles ‘In Search of the Family Gredunza’
(Beautiful Music Records) 30^th September 2020

The combination of the majestic jangle of c86 and Beatle boots is and can be a thing of great beauty, especially when it is performed with the vigour and enthusiasm that the near legendary in some circles cult band The Dupont Circles give it. A debut album that has taken 30 years to arrive and now brought to us by the beautiful in name and beautiful in nature and music Beautiful Music records.

The Dupont Circles love a good melody and a witty lyric and a 60s garage rock guitar riff: the track ‘Tick Tock’ wouldn’t sound out of a place on a Rubbles comp; a rather marvellous adventure of a track as would the psych tinged Joe Meek like following instrumental ‘Sputnik’. My Personal favourite track on this album though is the wonderful Television Personalities like ‘53 Bicycles’ – there is also a cover of the TP’S ‘How I Learned To Love The Bomb’. This album is a joyful romp through the magical world of The Dupont Circles; a world where the guitar and Farisa organ is king and the national anthem alternates between “My Generation” and “I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives”. A rather marvellous land I want to move to immediately.

Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.