BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA’S REVIEWS ROUNDUP – INSTANT REACTIONS.
Unless stated otherwise, all releases are available to purchase now
Aiden Baker & Stefan Christoff ‘Januar’
ALBUM (Cruel Nature Records) 25th October 2024
Januar is a five-part suite of heartfelt improvised musical interplay, a heart play if one likes; an album of minimalistic experimental ambience; a conversation between piano and guitar electronic tonal seduction. Importantly Januar was recorded live in the studio, so capturing the emotion and power of Baker & Christoff‘s performance.
The five tracks weave a becoming slow dance of meditation lulling one into a dreamlike state and letting the waves of pure bliss wash over you leaving you mesmerised and in awe of the fragility and beauty of the music. Januar is an artful bewitching delight of improvised brilliance.
Bell Monks ‘Watching The Snow Fall’
ALBUM (Wayside & Woodland) 1st November 2024
Is slowcore-indie-hipster-post-jazz a musical genre? If not, it doesn’t matter as that is how I am describing this rather beautiful album of, well…slowcore-indie-hipster-post-jazz. What does slowcore-indie-hipster-post-jazz sound like? Well, it sounds like the Bell Monks. Okay, imagine The Cure and Low and the Postal Service and Red House Painters having a cravat wearing competition, or party even, and sipping on a sherry in dimmed lights and recording whilst their wives and kids are sleep. Yes, it is all hushed tones, hushed deep vocals and general blue moods.
How could it not be beautiful, it’s called “Watching The Snow Fall” after all. And is indeed an album to close the curtains to and lock yourself away from the cold and the outside pressures of life.
Broken Candles ‘Falling Asleep In The Sky’
ALBUM (Cruel Nature Records) 25th October 2024
I wonder, does the ghost of Elliott Smith roam this land taking hold of the imaginations and musings of the wandering minstrel, the heartbroken troubadour, as I feel he certainly means a great deal to the life of Broken Candles as this album contains ten songs of supreme sadness steeped in a melancholy prose that Elliott Smith would be proud of.
I’m not saying that Broken Candles is a Smith copyist, just that he walks the same winding path of sadness and hope. Both have beautiful voices and the gift of writing sublime melodies.
“Falling Asleep In The Sky” is an album of pure stillness and beauty.
Cosmopaark ‘Backyard’
EP (Howlin’ Banana Records)
The Backyard EP is five tracks of extremely easy on the ear catchy indie pop/shoegaze, and of course nothing that one has never heard before, but there is nothing wrong with that. Cosmopaark do this shoegaze business with enough enthusiasm and aplomb that lovers of this kind of soundtrack to looking at your shoes business will no doubt lap it up and enjoy it so much that they’ll be heading down to Clarkes to get themselves a new pair of sandals to stare at whilst listening.
Ex Norwegian And Friends ‘Sing Wistle Tunes’
ALBUM
Sing Wistle Tunes is a tribute to the late John Entwistle, of course former bassist with The Who. And this is an album of his songs written by the great man, performed by the wonderful Ex Norwegian and friends.
I must say I’m not a huge Who fan. I loved them from 1965 up until Tommy (1968) and then I found them a bit hit and miss [never really got on with Roger Daltrey and his vocal histrionics]. So, I’m not a man who is too precious about the band and their musical output. But saying that, I find this an enjoyable romp through songs I’m not overly familiar with, taking in melody filled tracks of psych-tinged power pop and alt rock. Highlights there are many, and I must point out one of them is the quite wonderful drumming on all the Ex Norwegian tracks [somebody buy that drummer a drink]. John Howard performs with almost Beach Boys like beauty the song “What Are We Doing Here”, which is all harmonic 70s like filled grace, and “When I Was A Boy”, where Ex Norwegian is joined by Fernando Perdomo, which is a self-celebratory delight of psych pop wonder. There are many gems on this album, and I’d recommend it to you if you love The Who, or don’t really care, as it’s an album of fine pop.
High Wasted Genes ‘Skatepark’
SINGLE
I like this single. I like the 80s like synth power chords and the beguiling nostalgia of the lyrics; it paints a picture of the happier trouble-free times of your youth, hanging out with your friends in the sunshine and trying to unpeel the apple of your eye. A song steeped in heartfelt pop wisdom.
The Junipers ‘Imaginary Friends’
ALBUM
The Junipers…now then, if I’m not mistaken my band The Bordellos once appeared on a compilation album alongside these lovely lads. The Future Is Bright The Future Is Cloudy or vice versa. Anyway, a fine compilation from many years ago. But I digress once again.
What we have here is the fourth album from the group, and what a cracking little pop gem it is. An album of pure pop, the kind Macca and Gilbert O Sullivan used to make in the early seventies, with a touch of pure 60s pop harmony magic that The Zombies would no doubt write home to their mothers about, and playful psych undertones that yearns for the day when London used to swing and Russ Sainty used to loiter outside the Bag O Nails with that bunch of dandies The First Impression. Imaginary Friends is a wonderful album filled with quite wonderful songs. And is really made for your record collection.
The Loved Drones ‘Live at Atelier Rock HUY’
ALBUM
Welcome to the live sonic space rock world of the quite wonderful Loved Drones, a band that takes psych, post-punk and space rock to new and cosmically dizzy heights.
Recorded live in Belgium this year it’s a perfect introduction to anyone who has not yet had the pleasure to lay ears on the band.
The album kicks off with the quite excellent “Dirt & Leaves”, which is all Fall like lead guitar riffs, sonic ambiance and Julian Cope like 2 car garage like rock ‘n’ roll [I told you they were good].
The Loved Drones have a power and an all-round likability and uniqueness that all the great bands have. They are a band who plough their own furrow through live casting off tangent animal shapes at the sun, raising two fingers to the lack of talent and originality that currently is forced upon us by the mainstream radio and press. The Loved Drones are quite wonderful.
“The Hindenburg Omen” is a instrumental that a blockbuster film should be made just so it can be included on the soundtrack, and “Human’s Can’t Compete” once again is brimming with a Cope-like magnificence. These eight live tracks show what a great band we have in our mists and really should be heard and appreciated by all us music lovers who love mind bending space hopping cosmic musical delights.
Occult Character ‘Swifties’
EP (Metal Postcard Records)
There is a darkness about this EP that I find quite enlightening. Four very short tracks that capture the slight unhinged mess of the times we find ourselves in. I have written about Occult Character many times over the years and the more I hear, the darker and twisted his music seems to become.
He is a modern-day musical folk anti-hero: part Woody Guthrie part Walmart Eminem. He is a one off, and he captures the mood of America; not always in what he is saying, but how he is saying it, and with the atmosphere that surrounds his music.
Occult Character is a very important musical artist and one day he will be discovered, receiving the acclaim he richly deserves. He may not always be easy to listen to but is always fascinating.
Pound Land ‘Live At New River Studios/ Worried’
ALBUM (Cruel Nature Records) 25th October 2024
This new album by Pound Land is a double whammy of an affair. The first side recorded live, captures the band without guitar but with a rather fetching squelching punk rock synth suppling the health out of the watching masses.
Pound Land are of course a punk and post punk rock outfit of political magnitude. A band that captures the atmosphere of living in this divided land we call the United Kingdom and make a hell of a fine racket while capturing the atmosphere as the live side of this cassette magically proves. The second side is taken up by the thirty-one-minute track, “Worried”, which is a fine sonic journey of sadness, horror and experimental splendour that takes in dub, punk, and electro soundscapes; a dream of a nightmare track that really needs to be heard by all.
Salem Trials ‘Big Bad King’
SINGLE
The Salem Trials are back with a fuzzed distorted post-punk slice of punk rock. Yes, two tracks of pure unadulterated alternative pop frenzy with melodies bathed in menace and slightly gone off honey. Yes a honey larynx explosion of pure spite and delight, in that order.
The Smashing Times ‘Mrs. Ladyships And The Cleanerhouse Boys’
TRACK
I really like this track. Imagine if you will the early Go Betweens deciding to go all 60s: just pre psychedelic pop. It’s all 12-string guitar chime but played by someone who is slightly down on life, a melancholic haze of happy memories and flat beer. If this song was a girlfriend, it would be a keeper. But I bet your mum would not approve, but your dad would.
Juanita Stein ‘Mother Natures Scorn’
SINGLE (Agricultural Audio)
What I really like about this little beauty of a song is the stripped backline of it. No drums, no bass, just electric guitar and beautiful harmony, it gives the song room to breathe and to draw you into the soundscape fragility, and to bask in the fading sun quality of the song. A lovely little thing indeed.
The Striped Bananas ‘Flowers In The Air’
SINGLE – 25th October 2025
“Flowers In The Air” is a bit of a gem, all sixties Hammond organ prose and garage flower beat, the sound of Neil Young Jamming with the Strawberry Alarm clock in the hope of making the perfect single to spread the message of free love and discotheque flashback ecstasy.
Swansea Sound ‘Toxic Energy’
SINGLE (Skep Wax (UK), Formosa Punk (Germany) and Sm. Craft Advisory (US))
“Toxic Energy” is an imagined duet between the late great Terry Hall and the ‘I have no idea what his time keeping is like but there is nothing great about him apart from what a great nasty piece of work he is’ Elon Musk.
And a fine single it is too. A song full of vim and vigour and annoying urgency and indeed energy, and the energy is indeed toxic as I am currently doing laps around the living room trying to lasso Reilly the cat. I’m sure “Toxic Energy” will be lighting up the alternative airwaves over the next few weeks. It should come with a health warning.
BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA’S REVIEW SECOND REVIEWS ROUNDUP OF MAY – INSTANT REACTIONS.
Credit: Eleanor Petry
Chinese American Bear ‘Yummy Yummy Yummy’
SINGLE
There is something quite psychotically wonderful about this throwaway piece of indie pop fluff, a charming jangly little song about the joys of eating noodle soup. And why on earth not find pleasure in the simple small things, and the bigger problems in life do not seem so bad.
Silas J Dirge ‘Swan Songs’
ALBUM
I normally give music that’s described in the press release in the release as Americana a miss, like I do music that is described as Shoegaze or if Joy Division is mentioned as an influence. Not that I don’t like all three. I just normally don’t like the artist that is normally described as such by the unimaginative PR company.
But there is always an exception to the rule, and this is it. Swan Songs is rather fine in a dark rootsy way: I can imagine Silas J Dirge wearing a train driver’s hat and chewing a matchstick in the side of his mouth and calling ladies ma’am; I can picture him sat in a field next to a blazing fire singing songs to whoever will listen, and singing songs of darkness and lost love with a profound knowledge of both. I like Silas J Dirge and his deep knowledge of the darkness of life.
Ex Norwegian ‘Sketch (Extra Sketch Edition)’
ALBUM
This is the life. The sun is shining and I’m listening to the reissued second album from the quite excellent poptastic Ex Norwegian, a band that takes the beauty of melody and twists it into sublime songs of love and loss; a band that at times reminds me of the wonderful and underrated Jellyfish who share those two things with Ex Norwegian, who are also wonderful and underrated.
Yes indeed, any fans of alt guitar pop/power pop and have not yet indulged in the magic of Ex Norwegian should do so. They will love the Big Star like “Sky Diving”, and the quirky acoustic sexiness of “Your Elastic Over Me”, which is quite beautifully eccentric. And that is what puts them a notch above 99 per cent of the other bands, as they take their influences and mould them into the image of Ex Norwegian: a little like The Beatles did so well.
Fast Execution ‘Menses Music’
EP (DandyBoy Records)
What we have here is simply a six track EP/mini LP of straight ahead alternative guitar Riot Girl punk rock ala Hole circa “Live Through This”. And if you like Hole, or a slightly scuzzier Best Coast, you will indeed enjoy this. For there is nothing not to like and plenty to enjoy, for Fast Execution are very good at what they do.
Hohnen Ford ‘I Wish I Had A God’
EP (Young Poet)
“I Wish I Had A God” is a rather beautiful thing, a wonderfully written jazzy pop piano ballad that is filled with a breezy melancholy – something you do not come across everyday. And what I love most about this track is that Hohnen Ford has a beautiful voice and does not at all feel the need to over sing the beauty, letting the melody and sadness seep from the speakers and cover you in a blanket of love.
Neil Gardner ‘Said The Blackbird’
ALBUM (Half A Cow Records)
As you, the normal readers of my roundups, know, I really only write about new music and give reissues a miss. But there is always an exception to the rule and “Said The Blackbird” by Neil Gardner is such an exception, as it was barely released in the first place. It was originally released in 1972 on the small Tasmanian record label Spectangle and there were only 50 copies pressed: so hardly a major release.
So this is the first reissue and is a rather fetching psych/folk album; an album that captures the mood and times of the late 60’s early 70’s beautifully. Neil Gardner is a talented songwriter and guitarist, and it’s really quite a surprise that he is not better known, and at times reminds me of the wonderful and equally ignored Liverpool late 60’s folk singer Mike Hart who released the excellent Mike Hart Bleeds on John Peels Dandelion Records label in the late 60’s. They both have a rather beautiful way of writing beautiful songs that combine a real-life melancholy and sadness with a touch of dark humour.
I am sure the second time round “Said The Blackbird” will garner the success and plaudits it deserved on first time of release. Better late than never…so they say.
Tony Jay ‘Knife Is But A Dream’
ALBUM (Galaxy Train (Japan), Paisley Shirt Records)
Knife Is But A Dream is a beautiful album of sonic escapades and lo-fi balladry, a mixture of ambient instrumentals and the JAMC with a hangover feeling of the sentimental and melancholy, and expressing their feelings into a lo-fi recording device. Another example how beautiful and rewarding for the heart and soul it can be to make and listen to music recorded in a home setting. An album to close one eyes to and drift off to a more relaxing and safe heavenly moment.
Martial Arts ‘Friends For Fools’
SINGLE
This is quite a catchy little number, a bit of a toe tapper. That’s what they used to say back in the days of good old pop music. Back in the days when milkmen used to whistle a merry old tune, in fact, the days when they had milkmen. This is a song full of nostalgia. A song performed by a band who probably know a great deal about pop music. A band whose eyes will probably turn moist when “Up The Junction” magically appears on the radio. Martial Arts are a band that mine the same pop gold as “Mozart Go-Kart” and “Novelty Island” and that is certainly not a bad thing.
Kayla Silverman ‘Heaven Can Wait’
SINGLE
A lovely little pop song catchy that is slightly saucy. A song that I can imagine appealing to the part of your musical sensibility that lets you enjoy the pop suss of Taylor Swift. I’m sure that I’m not the target audience of young Kayla Silverman, but this ageing buffoon was young once and I’m sure had hormones and testosterone racing around his now depilated body, and can still appreciate a good melody and the magic of a radio and young person’s exuberance.
The Soundcarriers ‘Already Over’
SINGLE (Phosphonic)
The sweet 60’s jazzy beatnik cool swagger of the Soundcarriers is once again with us. The sound of Matt Helm loading his pistol whilst casting glances at his mini skirt clad partner. Yes, the sound and the fantasy romance of the hip swinging 60’s is alive and well and flourishing on the grooves of “Already Over”.
Our Daily Bread 602: Eamon The Destroyer, Ex-Norwegian, St James Infirmary, K. Board & The Skreens…
November 24, 2023
THE INIMITABLE BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA DELIVERS HIS VERDICT ON A NEW HAUL OF RELEASES FROM THE LAST MONTH (all of which are available now, unless stated otherwise)
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Oopsie Daisies ‘Weird Topangas’
(Metal Postcard Records)
The Oopsie Daises are back with another slice of charming pop, replacing their normal Field Mice jangle with two equally charming synth pop ditties, both recalling the 80s synth boom with a charm and freshness that, in fact, gives a new meaning to the saying, “fresh as a Daisy”, as “fresh as an Oopsie Daises” will now sprout forth from the old English caricature of tweed jackets with leather elbow patches and a whiff of tea made with tea leaves (not bags), and a season of it being forever Autumn (not the 70s hit from War Of The Worlds). I might add, this is a double-sided beauty that really should grace a 7-inch vinyl single and be bought from Woolworths with your pocket money on a Saturday after a hellish week of school. Yes, a single to make and break a schoolboy’s heart. But sadly those days are over and all we have left is an occasional burst of the magic of pop to make both us feel both young and old, and will bring a slight smile to your face and a tear to your eye.
K. Board & The Skreens ‘Gorillino’
(Metal Postcard Records)
A wonderful pop song, not just tuneful, experimental and funky, but also very catchy indeed; a song I would expect to be drifting from BBC6 music if BBC6 music actually did what it was put on air to do, which is play experimental cutting edge alternative pop. But saying that, nowadays you are more likely hear the Small Faces than a new and upcoming band: I will not hold my breath. But anyway, it is a fine track filled with adventure and charm.
No Drama ‘No Drama EP’
(Hidden Bay Records)
This Debut EP by French indie band No Drama, called No Drama, is actually not just full of drama but also melodies and pure guitar surge (Surge Gainsbourg maybe). Actually it’s more Wedding Present on “Exit”. It has some rather excellent lyrics too. And it’s quite nice also to hear a French bands’ point of view on Brexit, as we Brits on the whole can now agree what a huge mistake it was; and it would also be a huge mistake not to partake in this rather excellent five-track beauty of indie guitar joy. One of my fave eps of the year perhaps.
___/ALBUMS\___
St James Infirmary ‘Abandoned’
(Cruel Nature Records)
I love this album. It’s an album full of beautifully written indie, country, folk songs: so what on earth is their not to love? An album that brings to mind Dylan, The Weather Prophets, Hefner and Lee Hazelwood – especially on the rather splendid ‘Old Fashion Arms’; I am always a sucker for male/female duets as all the regular readers will know. And this one is a humdinger of a song, one worthy of Lee and Nancy.
It is nice to see and to hear that humour and heartache can still go hand-in-hand in this day of throwaway pop frippery, and Abandoned is an album to pop in your cassette player (if you are lucky enough to be one of the 35 purchasers to purchase it) and admire the wit and wisdom wrapped in country-ish melodies.
Look To The North ‘A Shadow Homeland’
(Cruel Nature Records)
The challenge of melancholia is laid down by the formation of grey clowns that gather over the blink of the child from yesterdays eye escapade, the subtle indifference from the bus driver, whether you catch the bus or miss the bus he really does not give a damn, to him it’s just another missed opportunity, another possible night of near passion from the lady in the bar who drinks too much but dreams even more, and dreams very rarely come true, but the drink can deaden the pain, takes off the edges, leaving a hazy smothered blanket of maybe one days. Music by Look To The North is very much like that. It is the soundtrack of everyday sadness and life in all its Technicolor greyness; a drone of a shallow puddle of rain inviting droplets of shared hopes and wishes; a glisten of the magic that occurs in everybody’s existence even if only very occasionally, and very occasionally sometimes can be enough.
Shplang ‘Thank You, Valued Customer’
(Big Stir Records) 1st December 2023
If I owned a jeep, or even in fact if I owned a jeep and could actually drive – no point in owning a jeep if you cannot drive the yellow bastard; yes I imagine the jeep to be yellow, why? I do not know. Anyway I digress – yes it is going to be one of those reviews when I go off in tangents, and really if you do not want to read one of those reviews I would stop reading now and go and buy Mojo and read about how good the new Bob Dylan album is, or how Paul and Ringo took a heartfelt Lennon demo and made it sound average.
If I had a yellow jeep and lived in a place where the sun shone and the streets were bustling with life, not a place that is grey and cold and the streets are paved with last night’s excesses, and the boarded shop doorways inhabited by the homeless, and the only gainful employment is being unemployed, in which this is where I do actually live: and actually, I’m making it sound better than it really is. But living in a sun drenched dreamlike state where yellow jeeps are plentiful, this is the kind of album I would have being played in aforementioned jeep; an album of wah-wah guitars and catchy choruses and the occasional beautiful baroque ballad – “Everyone Can Change” is like the Zombies covering a Wings track from the mid seventies or visa versa; anyway it is bloody beautiful. This is an album one can escape to whether you drive a yellow jeep or have a smack-head as a next-door neighbour; an album of wilful adventure and escape and one I am grateful exists at this point in time.
Eamon The Destroyer ‘We’ll Be Piranhas’
(Bearsuit Records)
The new album by Eamon The Destroyer is once again a trip through a strange old life; a life that involves espionage on a Man From Uncle scale, with 60s spy themes galore performed with a wit and wisdom only matched by the beauty and musical genre hopping extravagance not seen since John Peel dropped his record collection down three flights of stairs only to land at the feet of a 70s Tom O Conner who said, “I’ll name that tune in two”.
Yes indeed, a madness of electronica, psychedelia, dance and pop; at times sounding like an inspired Momus after indulging in sharing magic mushroom soup with Cornelius and Ivor Cutler. Yes, there is magic in these tracks that one can lie back and completely lose themselves in: a journey of selfless discovery.
Ex-Norwegian ‘Sooo Extra’
(Think Like A Key)
Sooo Extra is the 14th album from Ex Norwegian and like all the other Ex Norwegian albums I have heard it is a rather excellent affair full of pop hooks and has a lovely undercurrent of darkness, a bittersweet taste of songwriting savvy you really do not come across everyday: sadly.
They take in old new wave, power pop and alt rock and weave a mighty spell of spell weaver-y that has not been woven since that lost great album The Return Of The Rentals by the equally great Rentals. There is no justice in the music world, but if there were this would be album of the week on WFMU and the like. But as we know we can’t trust the radio. But dear readers trust your own instincts and gave this mighty diamond of a record a listen.
CSE Art Project ‘I Played This Cassette Till It Broke’
(Metal Postcard Records)
I am writing this review on the anniversary of John Peel’s death, which is quite apt as I Played This Cassette Till It Broke is a tribute to the influential DJ, one who has not, and in this day and age, will never be replaced.
It has a splendid moody guitar bass and drums instrumental with a sample running throughout of John Peel running down a Festive 50, which again is very apt as the song is released on Metal Postcard Records which is run by Sean Hocking who is also a DJ on Dandelion Radio, which is the station that was started in John Peel’s memory and the station that was officially handed the mantle of carrying on the Festive 50: so see how it all falls together.
The cult leader of the mighty Bordellos rages, swoons and…over a haul of new and recent singles and albums for the Monolith Cocktail
___SINGLES___
Angharad ‘Postpartum’
(Libertino Records)
Oh my lord I love this. I love listening to angry and pissed off Welsh women: maybe that’s why I have been married to one for 30 years. Typing that line has now made me wonder, ‘is my wife pissed off because she has been married to me for thirty years’…surely not, for I am a catch. But I digress. ‘Postpartum’ is a wonderful surge of aggression, an outpouring of pure primal scream emotion but with tinges of dark humour and real life. Art core PJ Harvey with a touch of John Cale at his finest. A beast of a track.
Nora Kelly Band ‘Roswell’
(Mint Records)
The Nora Kelly Band single ‘Roswell’ sweeps us up and gently wraps us in a candyfloss haze of country magic, with a song that aims for the stars and goes far beyond, gently rocking us to a place of seduction and dreams; a gentle place that erupts in a fountain of space cadet wonder and magic. A love song full of quirks and deep yearning. A love song that can make the heart flutter and your eyes water. A special talent indeed. From a forthcoming album Rodeo Clown; an album I will be adding to my collection no doubt.
Lauren Bousfield feat. Ada Rook ‘Hazer’
(Orange Milk Records)
The sound of smart phone pop eating itself, ever wondered what it sounds like? Well give this a listen.
M. Ward Feat. Scott McMicken ‘New Kerrang’
I saw the title and was overcome with a wave of nostalgia with memories of my then 14-year-old daughter texting me asking me every Tuesday if could I pick up the new copy of Kerrang Magazine. But “New Kerrang” is not actually about my then 14-year-old daughter texting me at work (which let’s be honest is not surprising), but it is a rather nifty little pop song that does take me back, but back to the days of late 60s Kinks when they offered flower like gems of pop perfection plastered in irony and heart pulling tugs of pure melancholy and nostalgia, and “New Kerrang” is blessed with the same magic.
Katie Von Schleicher (Ft. Lady Lamb) ‘Elixir’
(Sipsman)
I really like this single, it has a lovely slinkiness about it; a well-written guitar pop song filled with humour and intelligence and a laidback bewitching melody. And I also love the electric guitar, which has a touch of the Marc Bolan’s about it, which believe me is always a feather in the cap, or in this case a feathered boa around the neck. A lovely gem of a song.
Sedona ‘Domino’
I do love pop pop pop music (oh dear an attack of the M’s) and Sedona is indeed all “pop pop pop music”, in the good old fashioned 80s Madonna, Jane Wiedlin (of Rush Hour fame) was a great single way. Yes, Sedona has all it takes to succeed in this cutthroat business. She has all the qualities: the looks, the voice, the song, and has a carefree soulful pop sound that a lot of modern smart phone pop fails at. Sedona is one to watch trust me: have I been wrong before…well, yes many times. But this one is a banker.
Ex Norwegian ‘Real Bad Bunny’
A new single from Ex Norwegian is a wonderful thing in the way great pop music is a wonderful thing, because the new single by Ex Norwegian is great new pop music; the kind of song the radio should be playing on sunny days, and “Real Bad Bunny” really burrows into your head (see what I did there). Great melody, great lyrics, great attitude, just great wonderful pop music, and it’s not even the highlight of the three tracks on this EP. That is track three, “Talk Dirty”, which is all Pete Townsend 60s power chords and late seventies power pop/new wave arrogance and attitude. A wonderful release.
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John Dowler’s Vanity Project ‘Jukebox Amnesia’
(Half A Cow Records)
This is a fun listen, an EP of four covers by the John Dowlers Vanity Project; all four being very fine and wonderful songs, so you would have to be pretty untalented indeed not to make a EP of pure pop frenzy and fun out of them. It kicks off with a masterful version of The Masters Apprentice “War Or Hands Of Time” – I do like a bit of freakbeat it must be said – followed up with a version of the much covered but always fun to listen to “Psychotic Reaction”, which is a bit of a good idea, and then to the garage soul of Them‘s “Could You Would You”, and to finish with a bit of Jethro Tull; adding a bit of prog to the proceedings: well why not. A Vanity project that is indeed fun to listen to (for a change).
The Chives ‘S-T’
(Metal Postcard Records)
If shambolic rock ‘n’ roll is your thing, here is the album for you. A sublime car crash of The Rolling Stones, The Strokes and the great-lost American band 20TH Century Princess all wrapped in a not so neat parcel, but with melodies galore and not giving a damn attitude. It even has probably the third finest version of ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ you are ever likely to hear: For those who care the two better versions are the Carol King Demo version, followed by the Monkees classic, and not that far behind it this gem of a version. Rock ‘n’ roll is supposed to be fun slightly dangerous and sexy and The Chives debut ticks all the boxes; the box being filled full of post-punk speed fuelled frogs.
REVIEWS ROUNDUP/Brian Bordello
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 King Of No-Fi album, a collaborative derangement with the Texas miscreant Occult Character, Heart To Heart, and a series of double-A side singles (released so far, ‘Shattered Pop Kiss/Sky Writing’, ‘Daisy Master Race/Cultural Euthanasia’, ‘Be My Maybe/David Bowie’ and All Psychiatrists Are Bastards / Will I Ever Be A Man). He has also released, under the Idiot Blur Fanboy moniker, a stripped-down classic album of resignation and Gallagher brothers’ polemics.
Each month we supply him with a mixed bag of new and upcoming releases to see what sticks.
Singles/EPs.
Iron Maiden ‘Stratego’
There is something quite comforting in that Iron Maiden are still releasing music, and that there is still a market for old fashioned Metal as you very rarely see metal fans wandering around the towns in their leather jackets and ripped denim with the name of their favourite band lovingly scrawled somewhere on the jacket, or the latest single by Wasp or Twisted Sister hogging the video jukebox in your local boozer. Yes, this single brings those days of myself and my indie loving friends cursing that The Smiths did not make videos, so would sit pint of cider in hand, our teenage years being soundtracked by ‘Bring Your daughter To The Slaughter’. This single brings all those wonderful days spinning back, so I would class this song a huge success; a song that will appeal to the old and maybe young metalheads out there.
Santa Sprees ‘Run Wild When I’m Gone’
I love the Santa Sprees. I think they are one of the handful of bands I consider to be equal to my own band The Bordellos (as being one of the best bands currently making music today). A little like how Brian Wilson was influenced by the music of the Beatles pushing him on to greater heights, I feel the same way about the music of the Santa Sprees and the genius songwriter that is Anthony Dolphin. This, the opening single from the forthcoming new album, is a track of pure beauty and is quite simply one of the finest tracks I have heard this year. There is a lump in the throat tear in the eye sadness about ‘Run Wild When I’m Gone’ that is really quite bewitching. It is a rare thing, a song that carries a somber grace that both Nick Cave and Tom Waits would sell their soul to have written.
Ex Norwegian ‘Thot Patrol’
13th August 2021
I love this single. The new release by the wonderful Ex Norwegian has an unusual air of darkness and fine elegance and eloquence and cleverness that most bands can only dream about. It has a quality that gets under your skin after a few listens and makes it its home; a song for the late summer months and one that promises great things for the album.
Birthday Cake ‘Methods Of Madness’
6th August 2021
On the whole I’m getting a little bored with straight ahead guitar music. It might be my age, in my mid 50s, and heard it all before, but I like this. It has melody and fine lyrics and is well written, and there is nothing not to like, with echoes of The Smiths and even Orange Juice, and the second track has a wonderful woozy feel to it, which is nice. In fact the whole EP has a lovely warm comfort to it which one can wrap around themselves and soak in the pure indie guitar magic Birthday Cake perform so well.
Albums…
Flowertown ‘Time Trials’
(Paisley Shirt Records) 20th August 2021
If I’m not mistaken I’ve reviewed Flowertown before, saying how much I enjoyed the lo-finess and the boy/girl vocal interaction. And once again, I will repeat, I enjoy Flowertown’s lo-finess and the male/female vocal interaction. I also mentioned that Flowertown are almost bloody perfect and this album is not going to change my opinion as Flowertown have this softly strummed Velvets/JAMC/Mazzy Star lark down to a fine tee, and Time Trials is a fine album filled with songs that lovers of the three aforementioned bands will indeed cherish and hold close to their beautiful lo-fi filled hearts.
The Legless Crabs ‘Reno’
(Metal Postcard Records) 23rd August 2021
The slabbed-out farce of human existence is hauled over the coals of a tortured soul. Indie guitar mutterings caught on the hop by the sound of a band with vision and cunning, vile style and cut out feedback drones, haunts the summer breeze that flows through the empty unblocked narrow escape of an ex-lover’s phony, pleased to make your acquaintance, smile. The Legless Crabs are back with their own brand of guitar menace. Reno is an album of sublime alternative guitar originality: the Mary Chain and Sonic Youth dipped in the Shaggs vagina juice. This album dips and swerves with sex, humour, and originality. Reno is an album of lo-fi like musical love; it is an album that pinpoints genius. It’s a sleeveless shirt in a shop full of winter coats. It is the coolest thing. It has the most Fall like instrumental ever recorded not by the Fall, and that is called ‘Trinidad weed Boom’, and the track is even better than the title. So how cool is that.
This is an album hipsters wished existed and now does. So if there is any justice in the world Reno will be toping the indie world top ten. This album is worth listening to whilst looking lovingly at your Beach Boys box set or wanking over the thought of the forthcoming Let It Be 5 disc set, for Reno is far more important, as it is new music and contains all the rock ‘n’ roll spirit of Adventure that both aforementioned bands had in spades.
Speed Of Sound ‘Museum Of Tomorrow’
(Big Stir Records) 17th September 2021
A new album released by Big Stir Records is always a welcome thing, as this always guarantee melodies fine guitars riffs and well-written songs. And this album from Manchester’s The Speed Of Sound is no different; apart from the usual power pop goodness has been replaced by a more chaotic post punk psych-tinged folk cauldron calamity of la la choruses and pure pop. Pure pop that has been bottled shaken and opened with great gusto at an all-night party covering the party poppers in a thick sweetly tasting potion of seduction, melancholy and want. Museum Of Tomorrow to my mind alongside the excellent Armoires album is my favourite release on Big Stir Records, and saying every month I am praising a release or two from Big Stir records shows how enjoyable this album is. Lovers of Kirsty MacColl and John Peel favourites Melys, and the touched by the hand of genius, The World Of Twist, will adore this album as much as I do. Is this I wonder the sound of Big Stir moving to the next level? An excellent release; an excellent album.
Salem Trials ‘Something Beginning With’
(Metal Postcard Records) 30th August 2021
The twisted sound of the Salem Trials has never quite sounded so twisted and beautiful, and bloody sexy and life affirming. If there is any justice in the world this will be the one to break the Salem Trials, the one to move them to the radio playlists of BBC 6 Music. ‘U’ is a radio hit if I ever heard one, the sound of a young scantily clad Poison Ivy twisting at an all-night bar.
This is the sound of a fine band at the top of their game; an album full of strangely commercial and commercially strange songs that bring the golden days of alternative music to the present day. The Salem Trials once again mining their vast array of musical influences but sounding like no one but the Salem Trials.
There is a wonderful New York No Wave feel to a number of the tracks; the outstanding ‘1979 Part 2’ and ‘Climb A Tree’ benefiting from a stray discordant sax: the sound John Coltrane having belligerent sweet nothings hissed into his ear by the one-off vocal styling’s of vocalist Russ.
Something Beginning With is an album that once again proves that the Salem Trials are indeed the finest guitar band currently operating in the UK (as I have said many times). And I apologise to any members of other alternative guitar bands in the UK, but I’m afraid you are just going to have to up your game to reach these heights.
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