Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea’s Reviews Roundup – Instant Reactions
ALL ENTRIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
Tristan Armstrong ‘Lonely Avenue’
Album (Self Release) Already Out There On Bandcamp
Power Pop, Power Pop, Power Pop…I get sent so much power pop that I despair. Not that I don’t like power pop: I do. But only when it has a touch of adventure and thrill, and songwriting talent, and so much of it is so bloody average. They all know how to make power pop records; they just forget to write good songs: it’s all shit lyrics and borrowed melodies and crunchy guitars.
But this album by Tristan Armstrong succeeds where so many other fail, as he has the crunchy guitars but he has also songwriting talent and remembered that music is an artform and there is more to life than The Beatles, Big Star and Bad Finger. Tristen adds Americana, and I can hear just as much influence of Gram Parsons and Whiskeytown and Wilco than the usual three B’s, and so this has a lovely subtle urge of mild experimental warmth and texture that lesser artists would not consider. And when he does venture into the Big Star territory with “Queen Of Diamonds”, he does it with a natural flowing charm.
Yes indeed “Lonely Avenue” is a fine pop rock album and one that I would recommend to both power pop lovers and those who just love and enjoy a bloody good album.
Fran Ashcroft ‘Box Harry Day’
Album 30th May 2025
Box Harry Day is the third album from Fran Ashcroft, and anyone who has been lucky enough to enjoy his last two gems will indeed enjoy this his third foray into his own whimsical and darkly dour comical view on life and the characters he comes across in this not-so-Great Britain.
The twelve tracks on this album are split between six wonderful written vignettes and six beautiful orchestral instrumentals composed by Fran using AI, but in this case Fran being an extremely talented producer and musician has composed some rather beautiful pieces of music and they fit in well with his more lo-fi lyrical gems, and proving in the right creative hands AI can be used to make some quite beautiful art. Box Harry Day is an album of warmth, beauty and songs of lyrical accuracy of everyday British life that stands alongside the works of Coward, Davies, Dury and Haines.
bigflower ‘Something Appears’
Single – Already Out There On Bandcamp
Bigflower is back with his usual blast of monthly excellence, this time with a sonic endeavour of synth excellence. Yes indeed, “Something Appears” is a monster of a track, part Giorgio Moroder part Manchester rave; a track so buoyant that if Shelly Winters had this on her iPod in The Poseidon Adventure she would not have drowned and would have lived to swim another day: you could say she was raving not drowning.
Cody Brant & Diumal Burdens ‘A Panacea Nurtured Gurgles’
Album (Cruel Nature Records) Already Out There On Bandcamp
An aural montage of madness is maybe how one can describe this mixture of found sounds, drumbeats and samples. For “A Panacea Nurtured Gurgles” and albums of this ilk are really works of aural art best enjoyed when trying to escape the mundanities of life; finding escape in the subtle humour and the strategic placing and overlaying of sounds to create a painting of sound: a painting you can close your eyes and lose yourself in.
Fir Cone Children ‘Gearshifting’
Album (Blackjack Illuminist Records) Already Out There On Bandcamp
This album is very good – now there’s a review for you. But I’m not lying, it is very good. It sounds like the Shop Assistants, Ride and the Olivia Tremor Control getting together to gatecrash the local school indie disco to impress nobody but themselves. It has melody, charm and a not so deadly danger. It has what everyone wants from their indie album: pop suss, experimental joy mixed in with the usual post punk bass extravagancies and chiming flange melodious guitar with some rather fetching vocal harmonies – and I can even hint a subtle influence of Syd’s Pink Floyd in the mix. Can I say anymore to convince you to give this fine album a listen… if not, then bugger you. It’s your loss.
Mama Oh No ‘The Mutant’
Single Already Out There
I have more than a soft spot for 60’s Garage Rock, so this wonderful blast of riffery is indeed a blessing to the ears; a track that could have walked off any of those wonderful 60’s garage rock compilations I used to spend my teenage years rifling through in the old Prope Records in Button Street in Liverpool in the 80’s. Yes indeed, ‘The Mutant’ is blessed with a rather wonderful walking bass riff, fuzz guitars and an organ sound that would make the organist from the Fuzztones weep with joy. As you will need not telling, I await the album.
òrain ‘Hanging Fruit’
EP (Practise Music) Already Out There
This four-track EP is a rather lovely warm sounding thing of indie pop splendour; an EP of wonderfully written songs that has one’s head spinning in a slow like carousel waltz of melancholy and pure bliss. Songs that lovers of Belle And Sebastian and the Sundays will grab and hold to their hearts and play until they are paisley etched shadows of forgotten dreams and half remembered fantasy wishes.
St Johns Wood Affair ‘2’
Album 23rd May 2025
The swinging sounds of the 60’s are plundered and rediscovered in this gem of psych tinged poptitude; all original songs all steeped in the love of all things 60s pop. “Center Of Your Universe” the opening track is all “Last Train To Clarksville” guitar jangle and tells you what to expect from the rest of the album: all in your mind’s eye lyrics and the spirit and love of 1967. If an album was made to come with a cardboard cutout Kaftan, it was the St Johns Wood Affair’s 2.
Byrds like harmonies and backward guitars abound on “Hoping On The Train In Vain”, and “Magic Carpet Ride” haunted by the ghosts of the memory of late 60’s Small Faces. My favourite track, the lovely “Secret Garden”, is a kiss of pure psych pop bliss.
2 is an enjoyable and fun listen, especially for us who are still in love with the 60s sound and the 60s dream that will never fade.
Sister Wives ‘YnCanu’
Single (Libertino) Already Ou There
There is something rather beautiful about the Welsh language, and this fine single “YnCanu” by Sister Wives is a rather dark and gothic psych-Grunge gem sang in their native language. Imagine if you will The Feminine Complex being transported twenty years into the future to Seattle and told to make their mark on the local rock scene. If you can imagine that you may have some idea what this single may sound like. If you can’t imagine that just give it a listen…you will not be disappointed.
Smashing Red ‘Dark Eyed Girl’
Single (Metal Postcard Records) Already Out There
The ‘Dark Eyed Girl’ is a 60’s tinged guitar pop song that could have appeared any time over the last 50 years. It could have been performed equally by The Honeycombs (have you heard their stunning flop single “Eyes”, a forgotten dark masterpiece), The House Of Love or even Luke Haines’s Auteurs in a less narky moment. Yes, the ‘Dark Eyed Girl’ is indeed a fine guitar pop song, one that weaves a sensual sinister magic that is strangely attractive like a 60’s Mick Jagger in a floral dress.
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Our Daily Bread 607: John Howard, James P M Phillips, Corduroy Institute, Charlie Butler…
January 18, 2024
A ROUNDUP OF REVIEWS FROM BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA
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Heskey ‘Crack In The Mirror’
Do you like Teenage Fanclub and bands of tuneful guitar strum? If so you are going to enjoy this blissful pop song of tunesmithery; it has all the ingredients one would want for such a release; if it was fish and chips it would just have the right amount of salt and vinegar.
John Howard ‘Safety In Numbers/In The Light Of Fires Burning’
(Kool Kat Music)
The brand new single from John Howard is upon us and it is a double A-sided thing of nostalgic beauty, two brief glimpses of how songs where written and performed, with a pop eloquence that sadly seems mostly a thing of the past. To kick things off we have “Safety In Numbers”, a sublime pop ballad that brings to mind The Beach Boys in their Pet Sounds days; wonderful harmonies drift upon a sea of piano tranquility. The second little pop gem is “In The Light Of Fires Burning”, which again is another nostalgic gem a song that captures the magic and sadness of growing old whilst celebrating your youth and memories through the joys of pop song: A song worthy of Sedaka at his finest.
Liam Gallagher & John Squire ‘Just Another Rainbow’
I was expecting nonsense I will be honest, but was taken aback by just what an explosion of nonsense it was. We have John “I have all the Led Zep albums on vinyl, cd and cassette” Squire showing he knows all the chords, and he has six strings, and he is going to play everyone of them with as little subtlety as possible. He has seen rock school. He knows how it goes. Is it original? No, we have heard it all before. Is it good? No. Did I want the monstrosity to stop? Yes! Not to be outdone by John “I have all the Led Zep albums on vinyl cassette, cd and 8 track” Squire, we have Liam ‘I have done poo poo’s in my pants” Gallagher once again demonstrating his vocal prowess; the singing like he has just been told off by his mum vocal emoting. And to show that he is not going to be outdone by John “I have every Led Zep album on vinyl, cassette, cd, 8 track and download” Squire he decides to demonstrate how he knows the names of all the colours in the laugh out loud badness of the lyrics. I once wrote that the Oasis song “Little James” could be the worst song ever written by a grown up. Well, maybe not any longer. It is a close run thing. So for that, Squire and Gallagher should be proud.
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James P M Philips ‘Spite, Bile & Beauty’
(Turquoise Coal)
Punk, folk, rock and a medieval becoming strangeness all collide to bring us another album of psychedelic whimsy from the head and heart of James P M Phillips: an album of joy, sadness, humour and pain. Whether it be the quite wonderfully disturbingly jagged “My Head Is Full Of Rats” or the quite beautiful folk strum of “My New Friend”, James has his own unique way of making music and writing songs; dipping his own original thought patterns into a hybrid of musical genre hopping eccentricity. And it is pleasure to listen to an album of short snippets of musical madness and joy.
The Incurables ‘Inside Out & Backwards’
(Big Stir Records)
It does make me smile when middle-aged men sing about growing up, as The Incurables do on the first track ‘When I Grow Up’. As I well know, middle-aged men who play in bands never grow up; that is the power and magic of music and long may it continue.
The Incurables are a punk pop band that performs punk pop well, and at times they remind me of Green Day but without the annoying singer and with a more bubblegum sometimes New York Dolls feel, and some quite wonderful Batman bass riffs: in fact, some just wonderful bass riffs. This music is no longer going to change the world but sadly I cannot see any music anymore doing that, but The Incurables have their place and that place is in any pop punkers record collection.
Corduroy Institute ‘Take A Train To Manchester’
I have taken a train journey to Manchester many times in my life and none have been as enjoyable or as interesting as this, or indeed, as experimental – is it possible to take an experimental train journey I wonder? Anyway, the title track is a wonder: imagine Funkadelic being sucked into a video game whilst Delia Derbyshire juggled fruit. And from there we are taken on a long and dreamlike journey, calling at stops that are both rewarding and disturbing in a good way.
“[A] Girl Named Philosophy” is a bass heavy vacuum of Scott Walker like lust and mystery – just how much I miss that man and his artistry. And I could be wrong, but Scott could be a big influence on the excellently named Corduroy Institute: at least they are reading from the same book or singing from the same hymn sheet.
I love how the Corduroy Institute take jazz, pop, classical and funk and mold it into a warm expression of artistic splendicity; from at times sounding like Japan tuning up – not the band I might add, but the whole country -, and you opening your eyes and seeing life for the first time for what it is: full of love, hate, sadness and joy. An album of supreme aural wonder, and next time you take a train to Manchester soundtrack it with this.
Orchard Til You Fall Down
(Cruel Nature Records)
Punk rock is alive and well and living in Cruel Nature Records. Another ltd edition cassette delight of lo-fishness from the label that offers you all kinds of alternative delights; this time supplying us with ram jam bag of indie punk experimental joy. With mostly just guitar and drums, and occasional bass, and some fine vocals it reminds me at times of early Siouxsie and The Banshees. And, with all its beautiful post punk starkness, takes you back to an old dive of a small venue that was full of cheap booze, cig smoke and battered leather jackets and dreams of your youth when the world offered the chance to make a difference and the future was coloured in the shade of weekly music papers and John Peel on the radio and local bands blowing your minds on a weekly basis. Til You Fall Down is an album of old hopes remembered: a beauty of a release.
Charlie Butler ‘Wild Fictions’
(Cruel Nature Records) 1st February 2024
Are you all fuzzed up and ready to take that trip to the local magic carpet store and fly your purchase home, but not first deciding to stop by the local fields to pick a few magic mushrooms to pop into your grannies soup and watch her explode into a explosion of rainbow colours, which Liam Gallagher will then tell you the names of as he is good like that – he knows all the names, he is a clever boy, it won’t be long before he’s been toilet trained. You then decide to soundtrack this event by popping the brand new cassette into your hi-fi that the postman has delivered riding on his old 70s vintage chopper bike; the cassette has been posted by some kind wizard who works at Cruel Nature Records, and you are more than delighted by the magic the tape emits; the sound of all your yesterday’s rolled into four slices of psychedelic keyboard frenzy that slow dances with some augmented guitar. Oh how the soup is warm and refreshing; like how your granny is warm and refreshing, her skin surfing with delight at every organ chime; a lovely of ladybirds sit outside your window marvelling at the aural majesty not heard since the golden days of the Spacemen 3 and those long summer days daisy hopping. The music is all that you hoped it would be, for music without hope is hopeless and this is anything but that; it is the cream cake among lesser mortals.
Fran Ashcroft ‘Songs That Never Were’
(Think Like A Key)
There is magic afoot, a warm kind of musical magic; a treasure trove of forgotten emotions that are plucked and streamed from the past 50 years and gathered together in the form of the greatest of artforms; songs that explode with a cheeky nod and a wink to our musical past, our musical heritage. Yes indeed, Fran Ashcroft has given us a strange and warm sounding album.
All the music that I’ve heard Fran has had a hand in producing is always steeped in a loving glow: From the excellent “Waiting For A Britpop Revival” – a song Luke Haines would sell his left arm to have written – to the McCartney like “I Believe In You” – a song worthy of the Pete Ham album “7 Park Avenue”.
There is a uniqueness about this album; a trueness and soul you do not come across often much in these days of music to be played on phones. These are songs that could have been written anytime over the last 50 or so years, with some quite beautiful melodies and great lyrics; songs made for and by a music lover…already one on my end of the year best list.
Cumsleg Borenail ‘…Plays The Beatles’
I am a huge Beatles fan and this album captures all the magic and experimental forward thinking music the Beatles recorded. These are some of the finest and well thought out and performed covers of well known classics; songs you can hear everyday by turning on the radio can eventually sound stale, but these have been reworked and reimagined to such a degree that they would have the avant-garde young 60s Macca waving his thumbs in delight. This is an album to be heard and cherished by all Beatles fanatics.
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea’s Roundup Special
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. His latest album Atlantic Crossing, a long overdue released collaboration with 20th Century Tokyo Princess’s Ted Clark, was released last month.
Each month we supply him with a mixed bag of new and upcoming releases to see what sticks.
Blush Club ‘A Hill To Die On’
29th October 2021
Jade Fair, Devo and early Aztec Camera all spring to mind when listening to this very enjoyable 4 track EP, which by no means is a bad thing as all three artists are all excellent. As are Blush Club, who have their own jerky melody filled lyrical filled songs of nonchalance, suave fun and also some bloody fine guitar lines. This is a band that shows guitar music can still be entertaining and vital.
Fran Ashcroft ‘A Tour Of British Duck Ponds’
15th October 2021
Fran Ashcroft, one time member of 70s power poppers The Monos! and now producer par excellence, has decided to release his own album: and why not. And what an album it is; an album of Liverpudlian psychedelia that’s very soft on the ear and gently melodious. It reminds one of another great Englishman, Martin Newell and his non de plume Cleaners From Venus, and this album is indeed very English sounding with typical gentle northern humour running amok on the excellent lyrics: ‘The Legendary Fish Of The Mediterranean Sea’ being a bit of a gem.
The whole album can only be described as utterly charming with a lovely warmness of production, as one can only expect from Fran. A Tour Of British Duck Ponds is an album that will keep you warm and smiling in the oncoming cold winter months, and can be downloaded for free from his Bandcamp. So I would recommend you to do so, especially if you love the works of Wreckless Eric or the aforementioned Cleaners From Venus or the writings of Ray Davies.
Pepe Deluxé ‘Phantom Cabinet Vol. 1’
22nd October 2021
Phantom Cabinet Vol. 1 is an album that exudes sex and individuality; an album that exudes stage show pop star glamour with an experimental psych soul and funk not witnessed since Shirley Bassey drank Prince’s LSD spiked cum.
Yes indeed an album for lovers of the unusual a serious of music misadventures blended in into the soundtrack of some seventies TV cop show shown in reverse. Pussy Galore and Jethro Tull dancing naked with a young Pans People whilst Jimmy Seville rubs down his microchip with Dave Lee’s lack of style and grace. This album is adventurous, beautiful and melodious, and gives hope for modern music loving aficionados as it takes from the past but makes it sound like the future.
Yol ‘Viral Dogs And Cats’
(Crow Versus Crow) 29th October 2021
Thank FUCK for this album; it has just washed away all the tuneful perfectness of well-written and performed guitar music. This is an album of pure inspiration that has me laughing with tears running down my face and will have me shouting “expensive ice cream” all day and night. One of the finest albums I have heard this year and certainly one of the most entertaining: pure undiluted brilliance. I’m really finding it hard to find the words to express how much I adore this album, so much so that I’m going to buy the cassette and I don’t even own a cassette player. Pure genius.
Nick Frater ‘Earworms’
(Big Stir Records) 19th November 2021
I like Nick Frater. He has the songwriting pop nous to make music that more than hold its own with the pop rock brigade of the 1970s, which is indeed no easy thing to do as pop music in the 70s was a special and magical thing made with sugar coated radio huggabilty that today’s wannabes can only dream about. But Nick is a master of the pop hook with a clean-living sheen that you could polish your furniture with just a turn of the radio dial. Yes radio dial not radio of the Internet variety but the kind people use to listen to in the millions those days when BBC DJs used to fondle under-aged girls, and being in the charts meant something, and kids used to scribble the names of their favourite bands on their school bags. If Nick was recording then no doubt his name would be scribbled on many of those bags and his photo used to back teenage girls school work books and his poster on the walls of many of the teenage population, and we would find out what his favourite colour and the name of his pet dog was in the week’s copy of the Look In magazine. So what am I saying I hear you ask? Well what I’m saying is Nick Frater makes music the equal to and sometimes surpasses pop radio hits when pop music was at its finest and most life enhancing, and Ear Worm really is a must have for those who remember those days with a nostalgic tear and a smile. And also for those who were not fortunate enough to be alive during that golden decade.
Die Zimmermänner ‘Golden Stunde (alle Hits 1980-2017)’
(Tapete Records) 12th November 2021
Ah wonderful, at last a label that has had the good sense to release a best of comp of the wonderful eccentric German band Die Zimmermanner, who make wonderfully eccentric life affirming pop music and who, if sang in English, no doubt would get the acclaim they deserve.
A band who takes post punk, Northern Soul, Ska and pure indie pop, country and every other genre of music and release heartfelt melody ridden gems of pop songs; songs filled with squelchy keyboards, saxophones, plucked and strummed guitars; songs filled with a love and understanding of what makes pop music great, and understanding what makes great pop music they go ahead and make great pop music. And this album is jam packed with it.
Spring 68 ‘Sightseeing Through Music’
(Gare Du Nord) 22nd October 2021
Any album that kicks off with a spring heeled soul funk piece of smoothness that could have stepped out of ‘A Romantic Paris’ of 1968, and then goes into a Public Image like mantra of revolution and life, on ‘High On Happiness’, is alright with me. And that is what I like about this album; as it is indeed a clever sounding album that at no point sounds like it is patting itself on the back.
Sightseeing Through Music is an experimental pop album that is not too experimental nor too pop, but an album that balances both equally, and in doing so draws the listener into this magical journey of bewitchery. Mellow subtle dance drumbeats merge with mature and well-produced melodies of psychedelic flutes, funky bass lines and well-written original songs. It really does not sound like anyone else, and an album that sounds like an album not individual songs joined together by a trendy haircut and a Jazzmaster guitar.
Sightseeing Through Music is a complete triumph and shows the death of the album is just a fallacy pushed by Spotify toking hipsters who have not the intelligence to listen to an album from track one to the final finale, and musicians who neither have the talent or original thought to stretch beyond a “I love you” and a pair of new trainers. As I have just said Sightseeing Through Music is a complete triumph and also a breath of fresh hair.
Dub Chieftain ‘Homeworld’
(Metal Postcard Records) 21st October 2021
Dub Chieftain is back with an album of persuasive dance frenzy; an album that takes the alternate state of ones being and turns it inside out turns it into a mass of contradictions that takes the biscuit from one’s tea and inhales it into a much-maligned tooth filled wonder. Yes indeed Dub Chieftain has given us an album filled with invention frenzy and soul; of arcade game adventure and beats that have not been heard since the last Toxic Chicken album.
It is always a pleasure to listen to an album that has so much going on. You actually lose yourself and find yourself wandering around a strange place taking steps down avenues you have never strolled before, marveling at the wonders that fill your wide open eyes and the sounds that engulf your eager ears and fills your minds with visions and imaginary tales. Homeworld is such an album, and as the old saying goes, ‘there is no place like Home’, but on this occasion we will say there is no place like Homeworld.
Aliens ‘30Ilbs Of Air’
(Metal Postcard Records) 17th October 2021
This is quite a lovely album; an album of old-fashioned song writing with tunes and hooks and melodies and well played instruments, and is indeed a very warm sounding album of almost eighties like pop rock sounds that sometimes verges on MOR: I could well imagine Simon Bates playing ‘So Long My Love’ and making it his track of the week all those years ago. And that is exactly what I enjoy about this album, as well as the fact on the whole you do not hear new albums like this released much nowadays. And although I cannot see it picking up many reviews and airplay from the movers and shakers of todays dying music industry, it should not go without some praise.
I m sure if this album was released back in the eighties it would have been on CBS or WEA not the wonderful indie that is Metal Postcard Records, and I am quite surprised to see it on that mighty label. But I suppose MP does like to surprise and I’m pleased to say this is a very pleasant surprise.
Legless Trials – What We Did During The Fall
(Metal Postcard Records) 3rd November 2021
The Legless Trials are back only weeks after their debut EP with an absolute corker of a debut album; once again showing just how important both the Legless Crabs and Salem Trials are to the underground. The Legless Trials of course are made up of multi-instrumentalist Andy from the ST and vocalist Son Of El Borko from the LC. And together they take their love of strange and confrontational lyrics to the amazing guitar virtuosity of Andy, who once again proves he is one of the most talented and original guitarists in the underground currently.
At times this album takes on a late seventies American no-wave feel and also has me thinking of the classic Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band album: having the same nagging taking a knife to your heart riffery. It really is quite stunning stuff and El Borko is on top form with lyrics of deep insanity that can only be performed by the imagined love child of Fred Schneider and Mark E Smith that El Borko must surely be. There is not a track that is not truly wonderful on this album and is the sound of two musical mavericks on the top of their game. I would recommend dear readers that if you have not yet heard either Salem Trials or The Legless Crabs you should go and treat yourself and download all their albums, but start with this one as it is an absolute gem.
Eamon The Destroyer ‘A Small Blue Car’
(Bearsuit Records) 12th November 2021
The latest release from the excellent Bearsuit Records is the album by Eamon The Destroyer, who any readers of my round ups might remember I reviewed a single by them a few months ago, praising it to high heaven. And I’m pleased to announce this album does not disappoint in any way: if that was possible from a Bearsuit release.
As ever modern soulful electronica mixes with many other genres – rock, folk, metal, noise, psychedelia – to give us a fascinating and enjoyable listen; at times giving us a glimpse at what it would sound like if Arab Strap and Broadcast had decided to join forces and release a mighty opus. Other times recalling the might Mercury Rev at their finest.
A Small Blue Car is an album filled with beautiful music, beautiful songs; ‘Humanity Is Coming’ being an extremely touching moving track that finishes with a howl of feedback that is a joy to behold. This album once again shows there is powerful, extremely original music being released and being ignored by the so-called tastemakers in 2021. I do not think the indieground music scene has ever been so healthy, and A Small Blue Car is just one album I have heard in the last few weeks that is in contention for the best of, in the end of year shenanigans we blog reviewers like to lose ourselves in. Another gem from the Bearsuit label then: just add it to their ever-growing list.
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