Monolith Cocktail Blog

BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA’S REVIEW SECOND REVIEWS ROUNDUP OF MAY – INSTANT REACTIONS.

_____UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE, ALL RELEASES CAN BE PURCHASED RIGHT NOW

___/THE SINGLES\___

Bloom De Wilde ‘Ride With The Fishes’

Bloom De Wilde is back with this lovely taster single “Ride With The Fishes”, taken from her forthcoming album, which is due out later in the year. “Ride with The Fishes” is a jaunty pop gem that has a faint jazzy charm that will seduce and then abandon you only to then return without warning many times during the day and night, and each time will seduce you and then abandon you each time, once more leaving you in the height of tenterhooks awaiting the magical all too brief tuneful seduction.

Schizo Fun Addict ‘Elevation Versus Sabotage’

As any regular reader of my Monolith Cocktail new releases round ups will already know, I adore Schizo Fun Addict: a band that never disappoints and one I would hold up in comparison to any of the greats from the musical past.

They have a rare quality, a soulful heavenly innocence and belief in the healing power of music that really cannot be faked. And with this, their brand new single, they once again do not disappoint.

The A-side “Elevation Versus Sabotage” is a sublime jumble of post-punk guitar jangle – imagine The Byrds replacing Gene Clark and David Crosby with the girls from The B52’s and stumbling upon Delia Derbyshire high on E and trying to invent Acid-house. And the B –side, which really should be Double A-Side, is equally bewitching. “Coming To You” is a blissful reawakening of hope, melancholy and peace that once again draws you into what was all to briefly special from the Manchester music scene of the late 80’s before it became Madchester – if only the second Stone Roses album was as beautiful as this.

Johnny Halifax Invocation ‘Thank You’

This is rather wonderful in all its stompin glory. There is something quite Jimi Hendrix Experience-like about it. It both rocks and rolls in equal measure, and is darn sexy (darn sexy is a much underused review phrase). Have I tripped (in the falling sense) and banged my head and gone back to the splendour of 1968, I wonder… Darn Sexy.

___/THE ALBUMS-EPS\___

Eamon The Destroyer ‘Alternate Piranhas EP’
(Bearsuit Records) 31^st May 2024

If entertaining electro psychedelica is your apple tree then this bunch of grapes is just what you want to enlighten your garden of delight. Imagine Dr Frankenstein as a mad music creator instead of the twisted misguided do gooder with a god complex, this EP could well be his creation, with parts taken from various musical genres and stitched together to make this a monster of a release.

Psych, indie, electro, folk, rock and shoegaze are all dabbled and twisted with, creating tracks with a healthy dose of originality and darkness and fortitude, with a underlying healthy dose of anger. Alternate Piranhas is a fine EP.

Little Miss Echo ‘S-T’
7^th June 2024

Little Miss Echo are no fools. They have decided to self release their self-titled debut at the beginning of the summer, as this wonderful pop album is the perfect summer album. And so those in the know will be able to soundtrack their summer with this album of supreme popitude.

The late sixties and early 70s Beach Boys and Jellyfish collide with Stereolab and Saint Etienne and Air to create an album of wonky pure pop bliss. This is music you want playing from your car radio as you drive around town, or to soundtrack your night out. This is music with beauty and melody, written with great style and songwriting ability. It really needs and deserves to reach a large audience.

Al Hotchkiss ‘The Best & Bratwurst Of W​.​A. Hotchkiss – Volume None’
(Howling Moon Records)

Is Al Hotchkiss the Scottish Billy Childish, a man who over the last twenty years or so released music constantly under various guises. Here we have a fourteen-track compilation of some of those songs and guises: and an excellent compilation it is too. Psychedelic 60s influenced Garage rock mingles with blues and country influenced songs of wonder.

Al really deserves to be better known and is crying out to be discovered by a wider audience. It’s quite a mystery why he has not as he is head and shoulders above 99 percent of the artists who release music influenced by 60s rock ‘n’ roll and Garage Psych.

This album is a must have for all Garage rock enthusiasts, and really Al Hotchkiss should have a copy of Shindig magazine dedicated to the great man and his music.

Michal Gutman ‘Never Coming Home’
(Cruel Nature Records)

“Never Coming Home” is a darkly beautiful album; an album of twisted musical discovery, with songs worthy to fall from the lips and the pen of the great Dory Previn; songs that pull you into a strange and beguiling solitude place, where you only have memories and fears and regrets for company. Musically stark and bewitching like an unused broken fairground ride: a bass guitar has never sounded so much like the faded remnants of an old lover’s final kiss. “Never Coming Home” is quite simply stunning.

Pork Tapeworm ‘Taenia Solium EP’

This EP is made up of seven songs in less than six minutes and really does not give you chance to get bored. Six minutes of spiky guitar punk rock with short and sweet melodies. Imagine early Nirvana with the post punk artiness of Elastic. A really enjoyable listen.

Lightheaded ‘Combustible Gems’
(Slumberland)

“Combustible Gems” by the Lightheaded actually lives up to its name, as the album is indeed full of gems. Whether they are combustible or not is open to question – has anyone ever tried setting fire to twee indie-pop songs? I know lots of people who would love to, but me, well I’m rather fond of the jangly guitar and odes of love gone both wrong or right, and the Lightheaded have perfected the magic of the jangly guitar cheap keyboard and tuneful melody down to the tee (or should that be twee). This is an album for all those aficionados of C86 to lap up enjoy and add to their collection.

Hungrytown ‘Circus For Sale’
(Big Stir Records) 21^st June 2024

This is the fourth album from Hungrytown, but the first I have had the pleasure of hearing, and indeed it is a pleasure as psych folk with more than a hint of baroque pop is right up my street. There is a beauty and calmness to it that one can lose themself in and ignore and forget briefly the day-to-day turmoil that surrounds them. Vocalist Rebbecca Hall is blessed with a magically sweet innocent voice that floats and weaves its way through the musical sea of melodious tranquility that wraps itself around the listener: pure bliss.

Pre-Order Here.