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.
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years both me and the MC team have featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world: ones that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored, and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love or interest in. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to say thanks or show support, than you can now buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail
Our Daily Bread 566: Swans, Halo Maud, Night Noise Team, The Mary Onettes, Heartworms
March 27, 2023
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea’s Picks
/SINGLES/
Swans ‘Paradise Is Mine’
(Mute)
The taster track of the new Swans album is upon us and is a track of longitude, going on for nine minutes. Maybe going on is the wrong description. Maybe gently floating, drifting like a thought on the edge of a maelstrom of seduction and unease; a song that in noway outstays its welcome. In fact it kindly invites you in for tea and biscuits, offers you a choice of what you want to watch and then twiddles its moustache in a Dick Dastardly way when your back is turned. Yes, “Paradise Is Mine” is a crafty little bugger of a song. I wonder, have the Swans pieces of high quality art been described as “a crafty bugger”? Probably not. I would not describe it like that to their faces as they are a bit scary; as in fact is this seduction of unease.
Halo Maud ‘Catch The Wave’
(Heavenly Records) Available Now
‘Catch The Wave’ is a rather beautiful song, especially the Dawn Version, which is the same beautiful song with mostly just vocals and guitar and without the aural sugar coating of synths and vocal effects. The gift without the wrapping dear friends as Halo Maud really does not need any wrapping or enhancing: it is like putting eyeliner on the Mona Lisa, she really does not need it. She’s perfect as she is.
Night Noise Team ‘Little Shocks’
17th March 2023
‘Little Shocks’ is a delightfully beautiful slice of well-written electro pop; intelligent lyrics and beautiful melody with quirky catchy synth lines, which nowadays is indeed a bit of a rare thing. Yes indeed this in fact a song (did you notice I said song and not a track) that is worthy to be released and not dropped, which is sadly the modern way; in my old days the only experience of being dropped by a record label was when I was being kicked off their roster. But this is a lovely little release, and I expect if the Night Noise Team releases an album it will be equally as lovely.
Ghosts On TV ‘Sunshine’
(Soliti) Available Now
A palette wash of sonic endeavor; a throw away memory caught in the wish of a recurring dream, Ghosts On TV supply us with a brief glimpse of daylight in these dark times with the appropriately titled “Sunshine”. A Flying Saucer Attack like pop covered chocolate delight of sadness and hope; a whispered sweet nothing sound-tracked by heavenly feedback, this is a lesson in how to write alternative pop.
The Mary Onettes ‘Pearl Machine’
(Welfare Sounds) Available Now
The Mary Onettes have just released a new track and it is indeed a bit of a gem, a pearl in fact. Maybe it is why they have titled this Cure like stroll of instrumental solitude “Pearl Machine”, a work of beauty and retreat that promises great things for their forthcoming album.
bigflower ‘Anything’
(Self-Release) Available Now
Another month another slab of hypnotic dark dense guitar beauty from bigflower, and “Anything” is indeed a thing of great beauty; the sound of sinking hope; a soundtrack of loss and remembrance that once again screams out to be included in some movie blockbuster. For Ivor makes music that has such a wide cinemascope to it, that completely engulfs you, and leaves you in a state of blissed out bohemia.
Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys ‘Howl’
(Unique Records) Available Now
I love this track. It’s an unhinged point of no return of a song. A track that is adventurous, sexy and is willing to argue its own point of view; song that takes great pleasure in poking you with a phallus shaped slice of no wave glamour. A track that will bewitch you and entice you into its lair, before happily hacking you to little bits with its pure originality and individuality. A gem.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw ‘Backburden’
(Big Richard Records) Available Now
Another blast of jerky punk rock: yes another. There seems to be a deluge of jerky punk rock coming my way lately, and 90% of it is very good. And this is one of the 90%, so I will indeed take the time out and cast my appraisal. Not that anyone really cares what I think. And why on earth should they, as everyone has their own musical taste, and me saying that I like it a great deal does not mean that you will. But I enjoyed Daisy Chainsaw and Elastica and The Slits and this is in the same ballpark – as an American would say. But with myself being British I will say Cricket ground. And this is very British and very quirky and lovely and punky, and I love it.
//ALBUMS-EPS//
Heartworms ‘A Comforting Notion EP’
(Speedy Wunderground) 24th March 2023
Have you ever watched a cat admire itself in a mirror and slowly become freaked out and scared of its own reflection, backing off as slinkily as possible, giving an air of nonchalant sexiness, purring seductively as it turns and leaves the room to go and make a kill in the cold and wintery back garden. You can do nothing but admire the blackness and beauty of nature unfurling its wonderous inner self; leaving itself naked and open. Well this four track EP is an aural equivalent; it’s dark, bewitching and beautiful, and leaves an uneasy tingling in your soul. The sound of Portishead visiting itself in an insane asylum, wonderfully unhinged, and unhingedly beautiful.
LMNOP (aka dONW7) ‘LMNO3’
Available Now
Everybody needs some lo-fi power pop in their lives. Well they do when it is simply as life affirming as this album is. 22 tracks of analogue tape beauty; songs that dazzle and twirl and make you remember the joy of a pop melody and the classic guitar riff, be it the “Heatwave” break of “Semi Circular”, or the Thin Lizzy like soloing on “Y”, or the Big Star worthiness of “Wanna Write A Letter To You”, truly a pop gem, and believe me this album is full of pop gems including the wannabe rock stardom of the excellent “Garbage”. LMNOP are truly a marvel of pop.
Smashing Red ‘II’ EP
(Metal Postcard Records) Available Now
Now when an EP is kicked off with a track that borrows a hybrid riff off Ringo’s “Back Off Boogaloo”, Warrants “Cherry Pie” and “Number 1 Dominator” by Top (remember them? An unsuccessful band from Liverpool once tipped for great things) you know it is going to be good. And indeed it is; five tracks that dip their toes in indie, folk and pop, at times making one think of the excellent Comet Gain, especially on “I Luv U” – a rather fetching song about trying to make in the music industry. And at other times, a mellow Kinks “Magic Garden” and the Ray Davies tribute “He’s No Angel”. So if you are looking for five well-written songs about life …please look no further.
$t33d$_uv_LUV ‘Ballads For Bros’
(Metal Postcard Records) Available Now
$t33d$_uv_LUV is maybe the worst band name I have ever come across. In fact, is not even a good password. Well, it is a good password safety wise, but one you have no chance in remembering and most bands want to be remembered; it’s not a name that will slip off the tongue of any alt DJs out there, and in fact could well put off blog writers writing about you as you really do not want to be typing that out in a review. Luckily I’m of sterner stuff and do not mind typing it out on occasion, and that is a shame, as Ballads For Bros is a good album and could actually gain some attention.
It’s an album I’ve listened to a number of times and is as strange as the band name. It’s not often an album starts with a AOR ballad; ‘Next To Me’ is quite lovely and is something that Lennon might have recorded for his Plastic Ono Band album if he had had a happy childhood, or something Todd Rundgren might have released in the early 70s. It’s a bit of a stunner.
The next track ‘Rock (Your City) Tonight’ is a delight of Royal Trux madness. It’s funny and it rocks. And those two stunners are the best two tracks on the album.
The third track ‘Brothers In Arms (Pt.2)’ thankfully does not sound like Dire Striates or have anything to do with their tastefully plucked guitars. But saying that, the track does actually have tastefully plucked guitars, and is another well-written ballad. Then the album gets a bit strange with music that could be lift music from Dr Who (‘D2TD’), and Add N To X like porn music for computers (‘Zoom On The Can’). So a strange and enjoyable listen overall and if they went down the AOR path further could be the next Journey or Chicago.
A word about the Author of these reviews::
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. Far too many projects, asides and oddities to mention, but his latest album is Songs For Cilla Black (released on Think Like A Key Music) threatened to trouble some online alternative chart for a week on Amazon – so things must be looking up.
Each week 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.
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