Monolith Cocktail Blog

THE INIMITABLE BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA DELIVERS HIS VERDICT ON A NEW HAUL OF RELEASES FROM THE LAST MONTH – all releases available now unless stated otherwise

___/SINGLES\___

Daiistar ‘Parallel’
(Fuzz Club)

Daiistar is sadly pronounced as DayStar and not Dai Star, as how good would that be to have a psychedelic Welsh Elvis to come and lead us Pied Piper style to the dangers of rock ‘n’ roll. But what we have instead is a rather fetching journey back to the halcyon days of the early 90s, with baggy beats and The Darkside type guitar riffs [hands up those who remember the Darkside?]. In fact, watching this video made me think of Sunday evenings and Snuff TV.

Once again a fine track that fills me with a sense of nostalgia from those good eggs at Fuzz Club Records. I do not hold a grudge, but they turned down the chance to release The Bordellos ‘Bring Me The Head Of Justin Beiber’ single: I bet it keeps them awake at night.

Axis: Sova ‘I’m A Ghost’
(Drag City)

I like this single because it reminds me of The Cars. The funny thing about that, being I am not actually much of a Cars fan. So why do I like this? Maybe because it has a drum solo of sorts, which you do not hear much these days; not that I am a fan of drum solos or drums even, but I still find it appealing in this short foray into the American new wave sound of the early eighties.

Twin Coast ‘Wake Up Older (We Will)’

Twin Coast, a young noise/shoegaze band from Chicago, has just offered up this two-track download single. And very good it is too, all melody and feedback and performed with a joyous abandon that I also enjoyed and found very heartwarming. And which took me back when I was young and had an abandon that was joyous. In fact it took me back to the days when I used to enjoy a bit of shoegaze and would annoy my fellow record shop workmates with my playing of Smashing Orange and Ultra Vivid Scene and the first Mercury Rev album. Yes indeed, fine days. And Twin Coast seems to be a fine band/duo.

Simon Waldram ‘Mary Magdalene (Walton​-​on​-​the​-​Hill)’

A brand new single from Simon Waldram, who is a fine singer-songwriter. Over the years he’s released a number of fine albums, and this, the excellent beautiful ‘Mary Magdelene’, is no different; a lovely psych folk ballad that is worthy of Stephen Duffy in his Lilac Time guise: and there can be no higher compliment believe me. A song and a songwriter to hold close and cherish.

bigflower ‘The Right Way’

There is something cinematic about the widescreen outpourings of bigflower. They are just really suited to be featured on some blockbuster or another, and I am sure in time a director will stumble over the bigflower Bandcamp page and have a field day. ‘The Right Way’ is no different; another excellent dark slice of moody guitar alt rock from Ivor.

A Savage ‘David’s Dead’
(Rough Trade Records)

I really like this single by A Savage. It’s like a lo-fi-ish Brit pop song, with elements of Blur and the old mid nineties shenanigans and suchlike: a song that explores the past both lyrically and musically in a very English way. You can almost hear the rain on the pavement as the music plays, and Mr A Savage sadly bemoan to himself how he misses the days of sitting in the cafe [which is now a vape shop] reading the music weeklies and wondering what the weekend ahead brings. A nostalgic treat.

__/THE ALBUM\__

Snowcrushed ‘Snowcrush’

Snowcrushed’s A Frightened Man debut album was one of my fave albums of 2021; an album of beguiling atmospheric found sounds ambient gems. But on Snowcrush he’s gone on an alternative music journey of post-punk, Goth and Darkwave, and on occasion lo-fi folk – the excellent ‘Cowardice’ sounding like someone has taken Kurt Cobain’s tortured soul and spread it on Johnny Cash’s toast, which he ate before recording the American Recordings series of albums: A truly dark wonderful song.  Although nothing else on the album quite matches up to the brilliance of ‘Cowardice’, which is no slight as not many other tracks I have heard this year matches up to it, the rest of the album is still full of unsettling dark gems.