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.
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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.
CULT NO-FI ICON BRIAN BORDELLO REVIEWS ANOTHER BATCH OF RECENT AND NEW RELEASES (UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE, ALL RELEASES ARE OUT NOW)
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Annie Taylor ‘School Girl’
(Taxi Gauche Records)
‘School Girl’ is a ram jam minute and a half of rambunctious melody and indie guitar rock, a workout of pure pop indiedom. Plus, why don’t more people release songs under two minutes anymore? If it was good enough for Buddy Holly is certainly good enough for everyone else. Well-done Annie Taylor.
Nails ‘Nail Me’
What a splendid racket. This is the debut release by a brand-new band made up of a gang of teenagers all aged between 16-18. The sound of youth, the sound of a band that is still in the development stage when everything is fresh and exciting, with the sound of hormones surging from their guitars.
There are a number of exciting young guitar bands around at the moment and Nails are another one to add to the watch out for list. They have youth, excitement and by the sound of it, the inklings of songwriting talent and a variety of influences: surely Nails are too young to remember the Cardiacs, but at certain points during ‘Nail Me’ the Cardiacs do spring to mind alongside Queens Of The Stone Age. Yes, indeed Nails are the sound of the dreams of the local rehearsal room where anything is possible and where the magic happens.
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A.R. Kane ‘A.R.Kive (1988 to 1989)’
(Rocket Girl)
Songs that soar and scrape the sky; plowing through the subconscious separating despairing grey clouds of pollution and lost hope, clawing kisses substituting the tick tock of the slow hand taunting you through the everyday workday blues, knowing when that slow hand eventually reaching the magical five, the five that will explode in a star-shine feedback beauty, whispering, swaying, you will once again be free. Be free to soundtrack the small town existence or your lost in the city hustle. A muse, a music that will make you feel special, make you feel like a select and secret club: this is how one of the disciples must have felt. It must have been how one of those teenage girls felt stood inches away from the leather cladded four head monster from Liverpool in that dank cellar full of noise before they erupted and changed the world. Surely you are experiencing the second coming. Surely the moistness, the orgasmic nature of teenage sexual high has never been quite this sexual: never quite taken you this high. This is how the flowers of ‘67 must have felt as Hendrix strutted and pouted biblically, leading the chosen ones to a land that promised much but folded in a squalid syringed end of a decade of could ofs and should of Beens. This is how it must have been like to be in The Velvet Underground selling little but influencing a future generation of youngsters with art in their eyes. This is how it must have felt to be A.R. Kane.
Present Electric ‘S-T’
(Paisley Shirt Records)
Now as the “king of No-fi” (as anointed by Goldmine Magazine) I can fully appreciate the beauty of this album; all lo-fi and scratchy with primitive drum machines and beautifully played guitars that are plucked and strummed with a gentle abandon. That are swirled and mixed with melodica, handheld percussion and keyboards that add to the beauty of this lo-fi gem. The beauty of lo-fi is the adventures you can take the music only using ltd resources and your own skill and talent and madness. And I’m happy to report that Present Electric has all three with abundance. A really enjoyable listen.
It’s Karma It’s Cool ‘Thrift Store Troubadours’
If you are looking for Throbbing Gristle noise experimentation this may not be the album for you, but if you are looking for an album filled with mid to late 60’s Hollies like pop with a touch of the Smithereens and stand era R.E.M. then Thrift Store Troubadours could be your thing.
Songs where the guitars chime and rock without entering into Slash perm lotion territory; songs that gently erupt in a wash of tight and tuneful harmonies that may entertain Graham Nash enough in the shower to put down his bar of soap and add a fifth high harmony, and him fondly reminisce about the time he lived with Joni Mitchell, and Charles Manson was his next door neighbour. Or the kind of album that will have Chris Pender scratching his head and wondering why the two Searchers Sire albums did not sell in greater quantities. So if you are indeed a fan of any of the bands mentioned or just someone who has a penchant for well-written 60s/70s tinged power pop ditties, give it a listen.
Oopsie Daisies ‘S-T EP’
(Metal Postcard Records)
If Bob Dylan had grown up in the C86 generation, taking in the jangle and indie pop like magic, he may have sounded like the Oopsie Daisies; an EP that is covered in layers of jangly guitars and Field Mice and the Wake like keyboards, and the clipity-clop drum machine that so enamoured me to the whole sound and feel of the DIY bedroom music culture.
This 4-track little beauty is full of charm, lo-fi elegance and a little teetering on the edge magic: especially the last track, the wonderful ‘Illusioned Broken Toys’; a song that captures the melancholy feel of the late 80’s early 90’s Beloved and one of my fave tracks this year.
Flashcubes ‘Pop Masters’
(Big Stir Records)
The pre ghost of Pete Best haunts his old haunts, taking in the memories when he was the backbeat to what would be the greatest and most influential band to ever strum a guitar on the planet; the band that would influence everything from how pop music was not just a thing that teenagers spent their money on and soundtracked their sexual adventures and nights on the town, but to being considered an art form to be studied and dissected by forward thinkers and beard strokers.
Pete shifts through where The Cavern used to stand and moves onto the tourist trap that is the facsimile that stands today. He stops to look at the statues and has a slight tear in his eye when he sees the four lads that shook the world knowing that he was the fifth, the silent partner, and the cast off Beatle. He stops off and smiles when he sees the Cilla statue and remembers the nights when she used to sing with the fabs before they were the fabs: when they were the pre-fabs. But he is not bitter. He has made his million from all the reissues of the handful of recordings he made with the pre-fabs, and he has all those memories knowing they may never have made it to Hamburg without him, where they learned their art and became the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band ever. He stops thinking and remembering and pops a cd into the player… ah good time rock ‘n’ roll pure power pop for everyday people. Pop master‘s by the Flashcubes plays as Pete lights another cig spins his drumstick and smiles.
Life Strike ‘Peak Dystopia’
(Stable Label on Tape/ Bobo Integral on Digital Formats)
What do we have here, I hear no one ask. Well my disappointed little life smugglers, this is an album of pure jingle jangle from the deepest and sunshine filled explosion of finery that is Australia. Yes, Life Strike capture the magic of early Go Betweens with all stuttering post-punk guitar riffs and Primitive melodies, or indeed Primitives melodies as the pop fun track that is ‘Tears On Tuesday’ had myself and my lady wife humming ‘Through The Flowers’ by the end. Peak Dystopia is an album that will appeal to all those indie pop lovers from yesteryear when the June Brides were second in the hearts to the Smiths, or preferred Primal Scream before they discovered the Rolling Stones and showed themselves to be heartless money grabbing bastards.
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