REVIEWS
Words: Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea joined the Monolith Cocktail team in January 2019. The cult leader of the infamous lo fi gods, The Bordellos, 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 project, Roi (with John McCarthy and Dan Shea, of Beauty Stab and Vukovar infamy) debuted this week through Metal Postcard Records.
Each week or so 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.
Redd Kross ‘Beyond The Door’
(Merge Records) 23rd August 2019
I used to work with a lovely gent, in my working in record store days, many years ago who was a huge Redd Kross fan, his name was Chris. I wonder what happened to him? You meet, you form friendships, life happens, and you lose touch and you move on, things change your tastes change and sometimes you hate the things you used to adore.
I wonder what Chris thinks of Redd Kross today? I used to like them in fact. I have a few of their LPs, and this one may be my favorite. Beyond The Door is an LP full of catchy short pop rock songs. In fact, dare I call it power pop, for it has power and it is pop. It has melodies galore. In fact, to quote the title of track five, it is indeed like ‘Ice Cream’ [strange and pleasing]: apart from the strange part it is just pleasing, it certainly is cool and refreshing. I am sure it’s cool enough for Chris to still like. I can imagine if he was stood here today he would, swaying his long blonde locks whilst singing along under his breath and giving it a big thumbs up whilst grinning like the Cheshire cat and that is good enough for me. Wonderfully sweet fun pop music for a wonderfully sweet pop guy.
Darren Hayman – Songs Of High Altitude
(Gare du Nord) 6th September 2019
Darren Hayman is responsible (with his old band Hefner) in recording one of my most listened to LPs, with The Fidelity Wars album: an LP filled with wonderfully written songs, and I was especially fond of his lyrics. This one, Songs Of High Altitude, is actually an LP of beautifully written atmospheric instrumentals, apart from ‘Plea For A Little Railway’, which is a beautifully written song. On the subject of railways this album would make a ideal soundtrack to a long journey; it’s a rest your head and stare out of the window and watch strangers’ lives unfurl in front of your very eyes and admire the passing countryside and townscapes kind of album. The kind of LP everyone needs in there collection. I’ve quickly become fond of this very British sounding instrumental oddity.
‘Trashelizer EP’
5th September 2019
I like the bizarre, as is well known by people who know m, so this is right up my street. This EP reminds me what it may have been like if Syd Barrett had a yearning for amateur dramatics; you could well imagine Andrew Lloyd Webber deciding that it would be a good idea to drop some acid and write some songs for the Velvet Underground. Trashelizer has a certain freshness, and the sort of fun and humour you don’t come across everyday in this reviewing lark.
There is a talent for melody and intelligence I can only sit back and applaud. It is like a young British Magnetic Fields. Lets hope Lascivious Wyrm decides to do his own 69 love songs; I for one would be all ears.
Storm The Palace ‘Delicious Monster’
4th October 2019
Storm The Palace are a 5-piece indie folk baroque band from Edinburgh and this is their second LP. And a mighty fine LP it is to; at times reminding me of Belle and Sebastian other times the beautiful much missed Kirsty MacColl – especially on the beautifully melodic ‘Ancient Goldfish’. But they are much more than that.
They have a sweet melodic dark melancholy beauty wrapped in the hazy shape of reflective oddness that is all of their own. They are blessed with a vocalist with a voice of pure honey simplicity with the ability to wrap you in a cloak of melodic lyrical delightful melodies that caress your lips while the lyrics slyly slap your arse.
An LP with darkness light humour and sadness in equal measure, and an album I think I will be listening to a lot in the coming weeks. Another gem for 2019.
Bathtub Gin Band ‘From The Old Navy Club’
10th August 2019
The Bathtub Gin Band are a duo from my hometown St Helens, and this there debut LP. A mini LP in fact, recorded live in a local studio, just acoustic guitar and drums and fine songwriting; the sound of two talented musicians enjoying themselves; an LP that recalls the sound of the Liverpool bandwagon club of the early noughties; quickly strummed guitar ragtime blues telling tales of drunken nights out and failed romantic adventures, an album to listen to as you are getting ready for a wild night out or after you have staggered in after one.
Beautifully written and crafted with well arranged songs performed with verve and vigor, From The Old Navy Club is another little gem for 2019 and can be downloaded for free from their bandcamp page… so what you waiting for.
Seaside Witch Coven ‘Splutter’
31st August 2019
It’s great to see that Wales are still producing noisy guitar bands with enough pop suss to drench the thing in melody. This is the debut single by the wonderfully named Seaside Witch Coven, a song and a band that has me under their spell, this track sends me spinning back to memories of my youth and enjoying the delights of the Family Cat and bands of that ilk. A stunning little number and a fine debut.
Single Review
Words: Dominic Valvona
Roi ‘Dormouse Records/Straight Outta Southport’
(Metal Postcard Records) 25th August 2019
Though it’s never stopped anyone else, and most music writers’ side hustles include making music and PR, it would still seem incredibly self-promotional for our maverick-in-residence Brian ‘Bordellos’ Shea to review and publicize his own record. So I’m going to do it for him instead.
Dropping singles, albums and miscellaneous detritus like the most candid, cynical of therapy sessions, Brian, as patriarchal cult leader of St. Helens’ most ramshackle miscreant underground heroes The Bordellos, wages a daily battle with the music industry and, well, society in general. He does all this of course shadowed by an extended cast of Shea family members and anyone stoned, deranged or bored enough to have happened across one of the impromptu legendary late night recording sessions. With a gift equally as spot-on and part of the cultural fabric of shitty Britain as Half Man Half Biscuit, Brian and his troupe have found profound wry humour in the darkest of subjects. True outsiders, they’ve forged a career out of misery with a lo fi ascetic that makes The Fall sound as if they’d been produced by Phil Spector.
Of on one of his many tangents, Brian teams up with long-suffering bandmate and offspring Dan (doing grand and promising things with Vukovar and the burgeoning Beauty Stab) and John McCarthy to create his newest project, Roi. The first single from this new turn salvages both a lost Bordellos plaint from the brilliant (one of our albums of the year) 2014 LP Will. I. Am, You’re Really Nothing, and hones a slurged dissonance to a mate’s record shop. The latter of those, ‘Dormouse Records’, is a deranged paean to the vinyl stockist of Brian’s dreams. Memories, inconsequential to some, and rites-of-passages are marked by a litany of favourite records as Brian wistfully rummages through the racks of a less cunty, less surly version of the High Fidelity record store vision. It often sounds like two completely separate tracks/ideas playing simultaneously; the intermittent synthesized rumbles and noise bleeding into the main jangly melodic rhythm of the main song.
Almost as a sort of grudge against Bordellos stalwart Ant, a new version of the 2014 kiss-me-quick, misty-eyed ballad to love in a Mersey seaside town, ‘Straight Outta Southport’ replaces Brian’s sibling’s original parts with those of McCarthy’s. Losing none of its lo fi heart rendering beauty in the process, there’s perhaps a slightly more distorted and forlorn edge on this recreation: Roi covering The Bordellos as it were; truly pop will eat itself.
Even though 6Music, The Guardian, uncut and their ilk talk and feature/pick-up on what the Monolith Cocktail was already raving about months ago, The Bordellos remain a cult, but very influential, missive waiting to happen. They’re too good for us anyway; we don’t deserve them. But some recognition wouldn’t go amiss in the wider press and industry (I make apologies to similar sized-ventures and radio shows that have been championing them like ourselves). Roi is just another example of that unassuming, unaided-thoughts aloud talent.
REVIEWS ROUNDUP
Words: Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea joined the Monolith Cocktail team in January 2019. The cult leader of the infamous lo fi gods, The Bordellos, 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. Each month we end him a deluge of new releases on his virtual desk to see what sticks.
Toxic Chicken ‘Uncomfortable Music’
21st July 2019
I don’t apologise for writing another review of Toxic Chicken, as this is his 3rd LP in as many months, and this like the other two is a work of pure maverick pop genius: and not just because there is a four second track called ‘Brian From The Bordellos’ on it!
This LP has everything that I love about the magic and joy of music. It has humour and a madness that at times reminds me of the great Syd Barrett and the wonderful White Noise Electrical Storm LP. It is eccentric pushed to the extreme. Songs with the subject matter of eating politicians and love songs for cats and for Mother Nature and what is bad about England, but that track only being under two minutes long does not quite manage to list everything.
Uncomfortable Music is certainly an enjoyable and rewarding listening experience, and at times, the subject matter does live up to its title. But this album is a pay-what-you-want to download, so is well worth a listen. Another great album from a great artist: And I mean artist. And the track ‘Little Snail’ is the best dance track I have heard all year.
Snapped Ankles ‘Stunning Luxury’
1st March 2019
The whirring and exciting sounds of post punk circa 2019 coming at you like a extravagant wholemeal piece of chiffon scarred alternative disco meat; the sound of Devo fucking the brains and beats out of the B52s whilst the horny ghost of Mark E Smith watches on making cutting asides whilst stomping on the hopes and dreams of the not yet born love child of David Byrne and Lena Lovich.
This LP is one big extravagance of dark dance and post punk joy, the sort of album to soundtrack your wildest night out ever: sordid clubs, cheap drinks, hanging out with girls and boys who really should know better, the best musical electro porn one could ever hope to gorge oneself on.
Stunning Luxury is dirty, it is funky, it is experimental, it is blistering rock ‘n’ roll. A luxury indeed. One that should be enjoyed by all.
Anton Barbeau ‘Berliner Grotesk’
(Beehive Records / Pink Hedgehog Records) 19th July 2019
There is a dark playful melancholy I love about this LP, not the weeping into your hanky kind, or, the “oh I feel so sorry for myself kind”, but the, “I am middle aged and looking back at my life through the good and bad the happy and bad” kind. There is hope in the future kind, the kind of melancholy that Martin Newell thrives at writing. Even the cover of the Beatles ‘Love Me Do’ is enriched with a sadness the original misses; this version overcomes the familiarity by transforming it into a slightly electro reggae beauty.
But not all is sadness and tears there is also fine pop of the power variety: the sort Jellyfish so excelled at releasing. The Bowie Mott and the Fabs influences of course shine bright bringing a lovely old time Englishness that is so often ignored in modern music of today. This LP is a finely crafted pop album, with enough quirks and twists to make it a very enjoyable listen.
Simon Waldram ‘Into The Blue’
27th July 2019
Simon Waldram made one of my favourite LPs from 2016, the wonderful self released Insolation, an LP that dipped and swayed, taking in JAMC one minute and the next, beautiful swathes of psych folk. This, his new album, Into The Blue, takes off where that album left off, but is a slightly more subdued affair: Songs of darkness, love, depression and hope merge into a quite beautiful collection.
In these days when the acoustic guitar has taken over the electric, sales wise, there is certainly a market for LPs of softly strummed melancholia, and Simon does it far better than most; bringing to mind at times, the beautiful slowcore shimmer of Low (especially on ‘Breaking Waves’), at other times, recalling the magic of the Go Betweens and The Smiths.
The highlight for me though is the beautiful psych folk instrumental ‘Sea Turtles’: a few moments of total bliss.
Into The Blue is a fine LP and with the right backing and a bit of luck could well fight its way to the top of the overcrowded melancholic brigade, and could find favor on many late night radio shows. An album of real beauty and sadness and hope.
Moody Mae ‘Throwing Rocks at John E. Road’
2nd July 2019
Indie pop from Sweden is on the whole a wonderful thing indeed, and this EP/mini LP from Moody Mae keeps within that wonderful remit. Beatles like ‘Martha My Dear’ piano, lovingly could not give a toss female vocals, ba ba bas and lofi psychedelia join forces to force music lovers to nod their heads and grin like grinning idiots. And to think that this was recorded in 2005 and has taken 14 years to see the light of day. I think it may be time for Moody Mae to reform and record a full length waxing. For when a band has the gift of pure pop wonderment it is a shame not to share that wonderment with the less fortunate. A treasure of a release.
Radio Europa ‘Community Is Revolution’
(Wormhole) 19th July 2019
It seems like a weekly event that Wormhole Records release a new underground LP of chilled out darkness. This weeks release is by Radio Europa and is an LP of chilled out darkness with the odd offering of a glimpse of light appearing through the cracks of the drawn heavy curtains called life: The beam of light showing the particles of dust exploding and hovering around the thoughts of insolvent tomorrows and the broken promises of yesterday.
Gentle soft spoken vocals lilt into the wave of dark synth and drum beats that blanket you in the warmth of the cold that whispers sweet nothings whilst grinding a worn down stiletto heel into your vacant soul.
Community Is Revolution is an album to soundtrack these uncertain times; an album to close your eyes and let the music sweep over you and take you to the dark recess of your mind where devils and angels juggle with the happy/sad of your life.
bigflower ‘Night And Day’
13th July 2019
Another week another fine free to download single from bigflower. An explosion of post punk guitars do battle with horns and a bass riff so mighty it would make Jean Jacques Burnel want to call it a day and to take up flower arranging. When oh when are this mighty band going to be picked up by some label. For this is far to a fine a track to slip under the radar yet again. Blogs, djs of the alternative variety should be ramming this down people’s throats instead of some acoustic guitar charlatan whining on about how twee their girlfriend’s vagina is [like they have saw their girlfriend’s vagina! They saw an egg box and let their imagination take hold]
Bigflower are one of the most exciting underground bands around at the moment and we at the Monolith Cocktail will keep ranting on about their majestic take on modern life until the less with-it blogs catch on. Blogs, djs, record labels for God sake get your fingers out.
Why Sun ‘Frugte’
14th June 2019
Softly strummed guitars and deeply crooned vocals kick start this beautiful five track EP of softly strummed guitars and deeply crooned vocals; songs that bring the joys of Galaxie 500 and the Wild Swans oozing into my mind, and lovers of those bands and the many bands of that ilk should enjoy this. So give it a listen especially if you are hung-over or on the verge of doing fuck all.
Our Daily Bread 337: Babybird, Duncan Lloyd, The Martial Arts, Palavas, Paper Hats, Quimper and The Top Boost
July 10, 2019
REVIEWS
Words: Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea joined the Monolith Cocktail team in January 2019. The cult leader of the infamous lo fi gods, The Bordellos, 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. Each month we pile a deluge of new releases on his virtual desk to see what sticks.
Duncan Lloyd ‘Outside Notion’
(Afternoon In Bed Records) 7th June 2019
Duncan Lloyd is of course from Maximo Park, a band I really paid little attention to although my son was rather fond of them in his early teenage years. And so this came as a bit of a surprise as I wasn’t expecting the melancholy shifting breeze of the opening track ‘Historic Elements’, or the dark soft mellowness and beauty of the tracks that followed – bringing both Beck in his Sea Change days and the Beta Band to mind and even Chris Rea on ‘Planetarium’ -, but this shows that the LP is no cut and thrust of indie rock but a more mature and sedate affair; an album of well crafted songs filled with love and tenderness that comes with the passing of summers. There is also a wonderful Nick Drake like instrumental that would not have sounded out of place on Bryter Layter in the track ‘Journey B’.
Duncan is not quite ready for the retirement home yet, though the Neil Young come Dinosaur Jr guitar merriment that explodes on the excellent ‘Young Dreams’, and the lovely male/female duet ‘Outside Notion’ are the two poppiest and most commercial songs on the LP.
Outside Notion is a delight of an album, and one that will hopefully get the attention this well written collection of songs deserves.
The Martial Arts ‘I Used To Be The Martial Arts EP’
(Last Night From Glasgow) 5th July 2019
An EP of pop splendor, four songs of enriched sunshine to melt your ice cream and to ruffle your tail feather, songs that bring back memories of the halcyon days of 70s pop and the indie sounds of the early 80s, songs that would not look or sound out of place on Shang-a-Lang or one of those other beautiful works of TV pop art from the 70s.
What is quite strange about this EP is that the weakest track, ‘New Performance’, is actually the first. I’m not saying that the track is weak – it’s actually a very good pop romp – but that it just shows the strength of the other three tracks, especially the glam of track two, ‘I Used To Be’, which is a wave your tartan scarf in the air wonder.
A must have EP for all lovers of that crazy magical thing called pop.
Palavas ‘Played’
(Wormhole) 5th July 2019
Another fine release from the excellently weird Wormhole Records, a LP they describe as dream folk and a might fine description it is as songs melt and purr and drift through a sea of tranquility, whispered vocals, softly strummed guitars and synth strings evoke images of a better place, a place where God exists, a place where there is not only beauty but a place of sadness, for sadness is not sadness at all without the image of beauty to watch over and to wipe the tears away.
This is a LP to load up onto your listening device and go for a long walk through the countryside, or, along a desolate beach holding hands with the ghost from your yesterdays and finding solace in the dying embers of the sun. This LP is simply heartbreakingly beautiful.
The Top Boost ‘Dreaming EP’
(You Are Cosmos) 24th June 2019
Chiming guitars and harmonies flow into this summer strum of a three-track single that recalls the beauty of the Byrds, Big Star and Teenage Fanclub. If you like your pop with ba ba ba’s this EP is almost certainly for you.
The A side, ‘Dreaming’, has me thinking what it might have sounded like if a young David Cassidy had replaced Gene Clark in the Byrds; a joy filled three minutes of a pop song: a Dream indeed. I can almost feel the sand between my toes and the annoying kid with a Frisbee getting on my tits. But this single is worth it; only a melted ice cream away from being pop perfection.
Armstrong ‘Under Blue Skies’
(Country Mile Records) 12th July 2019
Julian Pitt, aka Armstrong, is one of the finest songwriters to emerge from Wales in recent years; a man who has been blessed with the gift of melody that can be comparable to McCartney, Wilson and Jimmy Webb. Yes, he really is that good.
This is an expanded reissue of his first LP, which was originally released as a limited edition cdr, one that I played constantly. Thankfully it’s getting a much-deserved official re-release from The Beautiful Music label.
Julian has the gift to write melodies that should be gracing the nations radio, songs that explode the myth that pop music is dead. ‘Crazy World’ and ‘Baby You Just Don’t Care’ for example are both upbeat and summery, in a Aztec Camera kind of way, but he comes into his own with a ballad, ‘Sorry About Lately’, a drop dead beaut. The real killer on the LP though is the wonderful ‘The Things That Pass You By’, one of those rare songs that can bring both goosebumps and tears to your eyes, a song most songwriters would sell their soul to have the talent to write, and the thing is this album is filled with them.
I am so happy this great lost LP has finally got the release it deserves; it is no longer lost just simply Great, one of the finest pastoral pop LPs you will ever hear.
Quimper ‘I Am An Italian Souvenir’
27th June 2019
Wonky pop and the flow of a sea dive melody erupt beautifully from this four track instrumental dream of an EP. The kind of thing 4AD might have released in the days when the label meant something, and not just Beggars Banquet in an artier form.
Batman bass beats and 60’s sci fi imagery weave like a speed injected butterfly soundtracking Kraftwerk getting their ends away; a baroque stab at sexual solvency, a master class on how to make music interesting original and fun to listen to. A pay what you want to download, I would advise you download and let it be a part of your summer.
Paper Hats ‘Tearing’
(No Funeral) 21st June 2019
I love small indie labels the are the lifeblood of the music industry, without them the industry would be one big rotting corpse of mediocre wannabees all perfectly in tune and smelling like roses, but beneath the sheen, be boring as hell, and who wants to be in a industry like that? So thank the lord for labels like No Funeral for releasing such fine music as this. Music they describe as math rock but myself being English I have no idea what math rock is. If it is this wonderful angular experimental pop art that The Fall thrived at, I want to spend my middle-aged years submerged in the glorious off kilter whimsy.
This five-track gem of an EP by the Paper Hats is all that I wanted it to be. It is fun, it has discordant guitars, it has mumbley vocals alternating with shouts -anyone out there who remembers John Peel faves Mazey Fade will love this -; it brings up so many memories of my youth when venues let such wonderful disarray perform their outpourings to the kids who soaked up every wonderful discordant note.
This is available on a limited edition cassette. I would advise you to check it out and snap one up as it is a fine release indeed.
Babybird ‘Photosynthesis’
19th July 2019
How pleased was I to see that I’d received the new LP by Stephen Jones, aka Babybird, to review: a man much after my own heart; a man who has been following the same path as myself and my merry band of Bordellos, though obviously with much more critical and commercial success than myself.
What I love about Stephen Jones, aka Babybird, apart from his wonderful songwriting talent and his dark humor and his obvious love of music and its many genres, is that he has so much soul. He has so much love for music in fact that he makes music not just because he may make a decent living from it but because he has no choice, he has to make it like he has to breath to stay alive. He has to create music, create art, he has to experiment with the magic of melody and write such beautiful songs, and Photosynthesis is an LP full of dark beauty and such bloody good songs.
Drum machine beats and synth strings cradle the twisted musings of the anti escapism of real life songs that make you want to get up in the morning just to remind you how shit life is, and this soundtracks it so, so, beautifully: heartbreakingly beautifully.
A small dark masterpiece, a masterclass in songwriting.
Quarterly Revue Playlist 2019: Part Two: Apparat, Cairo Liberation Front, Tinariwen, Sampa The Great, Seba Kaapstad…
June 25, 2019
PLAYLIST
Compiled: Dominic Valvona/Matt Oliver
Art: Gianluigi Marsibilio
From an abundance of sources, via a myriad of social media platforms and messaging services, even accosted when buying a coffee from a barristo-musician, the Quarterly Revue is expanding constantly to accommodate a reasonable spread that best represents the Monolith Cocktail’s raison d’etre.
As you will hear for yourselves, new releases and the best of reissues plucked from the team – me, Dominic Valvona, Matt Oliver, Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea, Andrew C. Kidd and Gianluigi Marsibilio (who also put together the playlist artwork) – rub shoulders in the most eclectic of playlists, with tracks as geographically different to each other as Belem and Palermo.
Digest and discover as you will, but we compile each playlist to run in order so it feels like the best uninterrupted radio show or most surprising of DJ sets.
Our Daily Bread 334: Anthony Reynolds, Bigflower, Dubi Dolczek, Ray Kosmische, Scandinavia and Toxic Chicken
June 17, 2019
REVIEWS
Words: Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
Dubi Dolczek ‘Voyage To The Cat’s Paw Nebula’
(Stolen Body Records) 16th August 2019
Well what’s not to like? Anyone who does not like twangy guitars and Joe Meek meets The Bonzo Doo Dah Dog Band experience of rock n roll should be injected with the space dust of nostalgia and force fed the meanderings of a Larry Parnes managed faded dream failed pop star.
All that glitters is not chrome as this album sparkles with a delight that can only be found in vintage sci-fi comics. Dan Dare discovers that the Clangers were indeed more than cute and cuddly aliens but in fact reverb soaked 50’s bikini clad Theremin wielding mother fuckers who enjoy nothing more than dancing the night away at the local space hop. Who would have thought that soda pop space dust and doo-wop would be just what the doctor ordered in 2019.
Anthony Reynolds ‘A Painter’s Life’
(Rocket Girl) 26th July 2019
I liked both Jack and Jacques so there is no good reason I wouldn’t enjoy the new LP, A Painter’s Life, from Anthony Reynolds – an LP that at times brings to mind Lee Hazlewood and Japan. This LP is influenced by Reynolds growing up in the Cardiff ghetto Splott [his words not mine], and to make the place sound beautiful in which he indeed does, he embellishes it will echoes of Scott Walker: Splott Walker if you like.
Synth pop, cinematic strings and Welsh county collide in a wash of stray beauty and kitchen sink drama on an album that succeeds in capturing the down at heel glamour of South Wales. I spent a number of years living in Pontypool and spent many a day/night in and out of rehearsal rooms in Newport and Cardiff and this record actually brings back images of those wonderful days.
An LP I hope will gain the attention that Jack and Jacques deserved but never really received, A Painter’s Life is both a fine and rewarding one.
Ray Kosmische ‘Anti-Litterbug’
7th January 2019
If lo-fi psych folk is your bag well fill it with this, an LP of Slip Spence OAR like misadventure, tin pot percussion and moaned and whispered vocals, weaved together with a magical effect. Acoustic guitars and whistles journey together to the land of Summerisle via the greyness of the Manchester skyline; a car journey past the terrace houses of the north west, sending out the subliminal sounds of my childhood. An LP, as I am listening, I feel myself becoming a little obsessed with.
The oddness, strangeness and beauty of Anti-Litterbug is a weary, welcoming thing indeed.
Bigflower ‘What You Get’
26th May 2019
Bigflower consistently releases music of the highest quality but has somehow slipped under the radar, and this song his latest of many one off bandcamp single releases, is no different: A five-minute slab of post punk psychosis. It is a wonderful skyscraper of a guitar track, which comes as no surprise when you hear that Bigflower is none other than the latest carnation of Ivor Perry, former guitarist with Manchester indie legends Easterhouse and the man chosen to replace Johnny Marr in The Smiths. How Morrissey could do with this standard of tunesmithery now as he stumbles from bad album to an even worse taste in badges, this track is so fine it could resurrect the deadest of careers.
I insist that you give this bandcamp page a visit. You will not be disappointed: am I ever wrong?!
Scandinavia ‘Premium Economy’
18th April 2019
Power pop is alive and well and living in the hearts of Scandinavia, from the opening track guitar chime of the Ash like title-track to the closing chiming guitar riffage of ‘Pax Americana’. You are treated…yes, treated to melodies galore. Melodies that bring the golden days of power pop back from the late 70’s and the early 80’s. Anyone out there who has swooned to the beauty of The Motors Airport will indeed enjoy Premium Economy. Anyone who has wrapped their ears around Danger Games by the Pinkees will be in ecstasy.
An LP that demands to be played loud whilst the sun is shining; an LP that deserves the sun to be shining. It is a shame Power Pop music is now often ignored and derided. This album proves that music does not have to evoke images of the dark side of the psyche to be worthy of appraisal. Premium Economy is a fine record of pure guitar pop, and for that Scandinavia should be congratulated.
Premium Economy is available on bandcamp but also as a CD, and I would advise anyone out there to splash-out and buy the physical version, as it really should be enjoyed as a piece of power pop art.
Toxic Chicken ‘Wormhole’
(Wormhole) 7th June 2019
I reviewed Toxic Chicken last excellent eccentric LP earlier in the year. His brand new release Wormhole has just appeared as a new release on the label of the same name. Once again an eccentric foray into electronica, not quite as bat crazy as his last release, this has more subtle eccentricity about it.
This is Toxic Chickens pop album if you like, an album to lie back and let the obscure catchy melodies flow over you, my fave being ‘Drinking Coffee With Norwood Grimes’, which I can imagine as the kind of track Joe Meek might have created if he was alive and experimenting in electronica today, a Gameboy frenzy of duet misgivings, a lovely left turn of leftfield precision.
I would certainly recommend this to anyone with a yearning for something slightly different in the field of electronica.
REVIEWS
Words: Brian Bordello
Beef Gordon ‘ABC’
Out Now
The first single taken from Beef Gordon’s upcoming debut LP is a whimsical ditty about the joys of S&M. Sounding not unlike a young Jarvis Cocker performing a song for children’s television, you can imagine Brian Cant doing a lovely off kilter little dance whilst being whipped by Floella Benjamin, whilst Big Ted and Humpty dry hump Jemima, and little Ted looks on in voyeuristic delight through the square window. There really is not enough sex in music these days.
This is a lovely Casio inspired pop romp which makes me look forward to hearing what delights Gordon will conjure up with his long player [ooh err missus!!].
Colossus ‘Ynys Môn’
(CEG Records) Out Now
The sun is out, it’s nearly summer, so what do we need? We need this! A wonderful romp of a summer pop song, the kind of song you used to hear blasting out of your transistor radio in those halcyon days of the radio 1 roadshow, the days when the DJs spoke nonsense but it meant so much more.
The 80s was a great decade for mainstream pop and Colossus has tapped into the whole era’s feel bringing the fun element back into pop: And this is pop; pop is not a dirty word, pop is something that when done well can remove the drudgery of your life for the length of the magical song. So lie back close your eyes and soak up the sunshine that emits from ‘Ynys Môn’.
Graham Domain ‘Love And Sadness EP’
(Metal Postcard Records) 20th May 2019
So here we have the latest release from the wonderful singer songwriter from Manchester, Graham Domain. You may remember, or not, that I reviewed his full length LP earlier in the year, Cold Moon Harmonics. This new release is a six-track mini LP. Mini in size but not in quality, this carries on were Cold Moon Harmonics left off: beautifully written songs of heartache and betrayal the sadness that can be found in existence.
There is something strangely magical about the weirdness of the musical world Graham Domain lives; a throwback to the days of the 80s when Japan and Black skirted around the regions of the hit parade; a soothing charade of yesterdays bedsit clothes and art school glamour songs to lose yourself in; to bathe in the afterglow of a pure sadness; an LP to soundtrack falling in and out of love to and an LP to fall in love with.
Gisli ‘The Skeleton Crew’
24th May 2019
I really like this LP. A fine pop LP in fact; any album that starts with the fizz pop explosion of the Super Furry Animals eating a sherbet dip, like they do on the opener ‘Tidal’, and then goes on to sing of love and romance and its many highs and lows in such a fun filled manner but with the wonderful undercurrent of darkness gets my vote.
At times reminding me of that other fine lyricist E from the Eels with a such a marvelous turn of phrase as “I would not say it is giving up, just a sweet surrender”, from the beautiful ‘Sweet Surrender’. It is rare that you hear such fine offbeat lyrics attached to beautiful melodies. It is becoming something of a dying art. Remember, natural strangeness is a virtue, not put on strangeness, as nobody likes a try hard or a fake but this has a natural pop charm with an eccentric tilt. And anybody who can combine handclaps and fuzz guitar as beautifully as Gisli does on track two, ‘Broken Arm’, should be cherished and treasured as this is a great LP filled with many pop gems.
Playlist: Dominic Valvona/Matt Oliver
I’ll be brief – less chat, more music please – as you want the goods, but the Quarterly Revue is our chance to pick out choice tracks to represent a three month period in the Monolith Cocktail’s output. New releases and the best of reissues plucked from the team – me, Dominic Valvona, Matt Oliver, Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea, Andrew C. Kidd and Gianluigi Marsibilio – rub shoulders in the most eclectic of playlists. The full track list is awesome, global and diverse and can be found below.
Tracklist in full:
Abdesselem Damoussi & Nour Eddine ‘Sabaato Rijal’
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba (Ft. Abdoulaye Diabate) ‘Fanga’
Foals ‘Cafe D’Athens’
Kel Assouf ‘Tenere’
Deep Cut ‘Sharp Tongues’
Royal Trux ‘Suburban Junky Lady’
Ifriqiyya Electrique ‘Mashee Kooka’
39 Clocks ‘Psycho Beat’
The Proper Ornaments ‘Crepuscular Child’
Swazi Gold ‘Free Nelly’
Eerie Wanda ‘Magnetic Woman’
Julia Meijer ‘Fall Into Place’
Mozes And The Firstborn (Ft. PANGEA) ‘Dadcore’
Lite Storm ‘People (Let It Go Now)’
Downstroke & Gee Bag ‘Ooh My My My’
Errol Dunkley ‘Satisfaction’
Old Paradice/Confucius MC/Morriarchi ‘Sunkissed’
Black Flower ‘Future Flora’
Santiago Cordoba ‘Red’
Dexter Story (Ft. Kibrom Birhane) ‘Bila’
Houssam Gania ‘Moulay Lhacham’
Garrett N. ‘Avant’
Sir Robert Orange Peel ‘I’ve Started So I’ll Finish’
Gunter Schickert ‘Wohin’
Defari & Evidence ‘Ackknowledgement’
Eddie Russ ‘The Lope Song’
Oh No & Madlib ‘Big Whips’
CZARFACE & Ghostface ‘Mongolian Beef’
Greencryptoknight ‘Superman’
Choosey & Exile (Ft. Aloe Blacc) ‘Low Low’
Little Albert ‘Gucci Geng’
The KingDem ‘The Conversation (We Ain’t Done Yet)’
Wiki ‘Cheat Code’
Dear Euphoria ‘Push-Pull’
Tim Linghaus ‘Crossing Bornholmer (Reprise, Pt. II)’
Station 17 (Ft. Harald Grosskopf & Eberhard Kranemann) ‘…And Beyond’
Heyme ‘Noisz’
Clovvder ‘Solipsismo’
Ustad Saami ‘God Is’
Louis Jucker ‘Seagazer’
The Telescopes ‘Don’t Place Your Happiness In The Hands Of Another’
Blue House ‘Margate Jukebox’
Tempertwig ‘Apricot’
3 South & Banana ‘Magdalen Eye’
With Hidden Noise ‘The Other Korea’
Beauty Stab ‘O Eden’
Coldharbourstores ‘Something You Do Not Know’
Katie doherty & The Navigators ‘I’ll Go Out’
Mekons ‘How Many Stars?’
Graham Domain ‘Farewell Song’
Reviews: Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
Little Albert ‘Why’
(Metal Postcard) 26th January 2019
I approach this release with a little trepidation for a few reasons; firstly it is an LP of Hip Hop from Hong Kong. something I can honestly say I have not really listened a great deal to, secondly it is released on Metal Postcard Records a label I myself released my solo LP on. But the main reason being the opening track is a cover of ‘Gucci Gang’ by Lil Pump, one of the more annoying tracks from last year. But Little Albert has transformed this track from an irritating piece of rap fluff into a slightly sinister dark chant, all amusement arcade beats and switchblade kisses.
The next two tracks continue with the sinister uneasy vibe, ‘Shadows’ being backed with a machine gun beat and ‘Vege Milkshake’ a slower hypnotic keyboard riff. Track four, ‘Asking Why’, wraps itself in an urgency that builds and builds and slowly starts to irritate in a good way: like the person you love poking you in the chest with a wilting dandelion stem.
‘Compulsive Peeping’ apart from having a great song title is maybe my favorite song on the LP; a much more relaxed and laid back affair if I could understand what the lyrics were it would be the perfect Hip Hop track, sparse and dangerous like all the best Hip Hop tracks are.
‘ADHD’ is probably the most attractive in the musical commercial sense. A song one could hear on the radio any day of the week, that’s if radio stations played Hip Hop from Hong Kong. ‘Asthma’ is all clickbait drum beats and harmony glass smiles, whilst the LP finale is a wonderful piece of experimental Hip Hop psychedelia called ‘Repeating’ and alongside ‘Compulsive Peeping’ is the standout track on, what is, a very enjoyable album.
Living Hour ‘Softer Faces’
(Kanine Records) 1st March 2019
Now then, there are loads of bands at the moment who currently sound like this, Dream pop, Shoegaze, New Psych or whatever you want to call it. I myself do not see this as a bad thing if it is the type of music you want to play or the type of music you enjoy listening to, fill your boots. I on the whole very rarely venture into Dreampoppery but on the whole I really enjoyed this LP. It has a dark sweetness about it like a candy floss Red House Painters. There is a pureness in the vocals: ‘No Past’ is quite a beautiful track and the layers of vocals and the church like organ of the final song ‘Most’ are highlights.
As I have already said there are plenty of bands currently making this kind of dream art but Living Hour do it better than most, so I’d recommend Softer Faces to anyone who enjoys a touch of the ‘ethereal’ in their pop life.
Amanita ‘Sol y Sombra’
(Pharaway Sounds) 14th February 2019
This is a vacuum bag filled with sex, alcohol and happiness that you have smuggled into your mother in laws home and opened when she has decided to go to bed. It is the soundtrack to the end of the working week, the joyfulness that can be found knowing that for the next 48 hours all you have worry about is managing to stay awake and enjoy the ongoing non stop party.
Funk, jazz, salsa and the lost faraway memories of how sex and yearning would have been portrayed inside a cocktail shaker on a cruise ship in a TV movie set in the 60’s/early 70’s. In fact this is he extended cocktail hour that will last as long as this LP.
This is the music Frank Zappa would have insisted to be played whilst his tuxedo was pressed and ironed before wearing and playing the Royal Albert Hall in 1968. It is the sound of a much better life that you will never have…it is pure suntanned sequined joy. If only I could be that unbuttoned shirt on this hairy chest rhapsody I would live and die a happy man.
Lite Storm ‘Warning’
(Out-Sider) 14th February 2019
This reissue was originally released in 1972 but was recorded in 1968 and could not have been recorded any other time. A typical wonderful post psychedelic rock release, all hip shaking mamas, pass me the drugs, and get down and boogie.
At times reminiscent of The Big Brother Holding Company, especially on the out there cover of the standard ‘Scarlet Ribbons’ – I wonder what Jo Stafford would have thought of it? The LP is a must have just for this demented version; it’s a song to base a whole career on, in fact The Coral probably have.
Litestorm it seems eventually gave up music and started a hippy commune and after hearing this LP I am not too surprised. Hopefully they still perform at the commune. If so, what a joyful occasion it must be: simple lyrics calling either for peace, party love and sex, or all of the above, sang by a lead vocalist who reminds me of the great Sky Saxon at his, shall we say, enthusiastic best. I wonder if he wears a headband it sounds like he does.
This is certainly a LP for all fans of late 60s rock n roll or people who just want to own the craziest version of ‘Scarlet Ribbons’ ever recorded.
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea joined the Monolith Cocktail team in January 2019. The cult leader of the infamous lo fi gods, The Bordellos, 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. Each month we pile a deluge of new releases on his virtual desk to see what sticks.
Our Daily Bread 296: Telescopes ‘Exploding Head Syndrome’, Kungens Män ‘Chef’, The Paris Street Rebels ‘I Don’t Want To Die Young’
January 23, 2019
Reviews Collection – Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
The Telescopes ‘Exploding Head Syndrome’
(Tapete Records) 1st February 2019
There is no place like drone, well not at least if you are a member of The Telescopes: Just over thirty minutes of top class dronery, not something I normally spend my Friday evenings listening to but as they say a change is as good as a rest.
I was to be honest not expecting to like this as a lot of people I know who like the Telescopes get on my tits, you know the type, the kind who think The Brian Jonestown Massacre are the second coming. But this is very enjoyable. And I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the Telescopes: I loved the LP they released on Creation, one of the best five albums that much over rated label released.
This is in fact a very fine pop LP, it has melodies, it has textured whispered vocals, it has tunes that remind me of both Syd’s Pink Floyd and The Velvet Underground – if only the last Jesus And Mary Chain LP was as good as this I might have played it more than the one and a half times that I did.
If this LP were a debut album by some young new psychsters they would be being raved about and hailed to the rafters as the second coming, the next new big thing. I hope the same platitudes are heaved onto this wonderful LP by this wonderful band, as it really has taken me by surprise how much I love it and I feel guilty in not expecting to like it. For that The Telescopes I offer my humble apologies you have indeed blown my head. A fine LP.
Kungens Män ‘Chef’
(Riot Season Records) February 15th 2019
Kungens Män hail from Stockholm, Sweden and have been around as a musical unit since 2012 so the press release tells me, which is a very good thing as I had never heard of them before.
This to be honest is not the type of music I normally sit at home and devour but this is in fact very good indeed. An LP of four long improvised instrumental tracks, the first track ‘Fyrkantig Böjelse’ is a fine eleven minute piece of sonic jazz rock – imagine late 60’s Santana, The Velvets and Sonic Youth jamming over the drum beat of Jaki Liebezeit from Can: and yes it is as good as it sounds.
The second track ‘Öppen För Stängda Dörrar’ at just over the eight minute mark, being the shortest track on the LP, takes us on a gentler ride. More synth dominated, I can imagine it being used in one of those wonderful
80’s horror movies, as it has a John Carpenter feel to it, and again is a quite stunning piece of music. ‘Män Med Medel’ follows this; a ten-minute plus track of fuzzed up psych rock, the kind of track you can imagine
soundtracking Julian Cope dressed in leather simulating having sex with the floor to. The final track ‘Eftertanke Blanka Krankheit’ takes us back to the underground, the Velvet Underground, and could well be my favourite of the four; the three guitars intertwine beautifully as the bass and drums keep a hypnotic slow groove of a beat.
All Hawkwind fans need hear this, or even better, own it. So fantastic in fact that if I grew wings and could fly I would have this track playing on my mp3 player as I dive-bombed the less worthy below.
This really is a hell of an album and I would recommend it to all space rock aficionados.
The Paris Street Rebels ‘I Don’t Want To Die Young/ Freakshow’ double A-Side
February 15th 2019
The press release says for fans of the Libertines and the Clash, well I like the Libertines and The Clash and I like the Paris Street Rebels. They may not be the most original soundings of bands – they remind me of the early Manic Street Preachers: even the names are similar.
What I like is that they’re four young men who have taken the glamour of T Rex and injected themselves with the early workings of the Subway Sect and The Clash, picked up their guitars and decided to try and change things through the power of rock n roll. Whether they succeed or not really does not matter, at least they are trying, which is more that can be said of ninety per cent of the current crop of young guitar bands, all they want is to get played on daytime BBC 6 Music and play in front of the middle class festival goers who will stand and wave inflatable fruit and farm animals at them. I of course could be wrong, The Paris Street Rebels might want the same and in fact they certainly could achieve this hell on earth as the songs are commercial enough on I Don’t Want To Die Young – there is even a beautiful Byrds like chiming guitar riff -, but I believe they also have fully functioning brains and are not afraid to use them, which in this day and age is a rarity.
I say ones to watch. And I wish them all the luck in the world.
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea is the patriarchal leader of the mighty St. Helens cult underground favourites The Bordellos. We throw a slew of releases at him each week and see what sticks.
