A (near) 150 albums survey of the year, with choice eclectic albums chosen by the Monolith Cocktail Team.
Well was I wrong last year when I called 2021 the annus horribilis of all years. It has been soundly beaten by the shit-show that is 2022. The invasion of the Ukraine, cost of living crisis, another hideous wave of Covid – which even if the jabs are being rolled out, and the deaths rate, hospitalisations is nothing like the first wave back in 2020, is still causing major illness, absences and disruptions to a society already facing a heap of doomsday scenarios -, strikes, activism, fuel poverty, Iranian protests, and the continuing horror show of a zombie government being just some examples. Yes 2022 qualifies as one of the most incomprehensible years on record of any epoch; an ungovernable country in the grip of austerity point 2.0, and greater world untethered and at the mercy of the harridans on either side of the extreme political divide, the billionaire corporates and narcissist puritans.
And yet, it has been another great year for music. Despite the myriad of problems that face artists and bands in the industry, from a lack of general interest to the increasingly punitive costs of touring and playing live, and the ever encroaching problems of streaming against physical sales and exposure, people just can’t quit making music. And for that we, as critics – though most of us have either been musicians or still are – really appreciate what you guys do. In fact, as we have always tried to convey, we celebrate you all. And so, instead of those silly, factious and plain dumb numerical charts that our peers and rivals insist on continuing to print – how can you really suggest one album deserves their place above or below another (why does one entry get the 23rd spot and another the 22nd; unless it is a vote count) –, the Monolith Cocktail has always chosen a much more diplomatic, democratic alphabetical order – something we more or less started in the first place. We also throw every genre, nationality together in a serious of eclectic lists: no demarcation involved.
The lists include those albums we reviewed, featured on the site in some capacity, and those we just didn’t get the time to include. All entries are displayed thus: Artist in alphabetical order, then the album title, label, who chose it, a review link where applicable, and finally a link to the album itself.
Because of the sheer number of entries, we’ve split that list in to two parts: Part One (A – L) starts with Anthéne & Simon McCorry and finishes with Lyrics Born; Part Two (M-Z) begins with Machine Girl and finishes with The Zew.
This year’s picks have been chosen by (Dominic Valvona), Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea, Matt Oliver, Andrew C. Kidd and Graham Domain.
A.
Anthéne & Simon McCorry ‘Mind Of Winter’ (Hidden Vibes) Dominic Valvona
Review
Seigo Aoyama ‘Prelude For The Spring’ (Audiobulb) DV
Review
Armstrong ‘Happy Graffiti’ Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
Review
Yara Asmar ‘Home Recordings 2018-2021’ (Hive Mind) DV
Review
Avalanche Kaito ‘S-T’ (Glitterbeat) DV
Review
Avantdale Bowling Club ‘TREES’ Andrew C. Kidd
B.
Caterina Barbieri ‘Spirit Exit’ (Warp Records) ACK
Review
Jam Baxter ‘Fetch the Poison’ (Blah) Matt Oliver
Oliver Birch ‘Burning Daylight’ BBS
Review
Ｂｌａｃｋ Ｍｅｓａ ‘Research Facility’ (猫 シ Corp. ‘Selected Works’) ACK
Brigitte Beraha ‘Blink’ DV
Review
Brian Bordello ‘Cardboard Box Beatles’ (Metal Postcard Records) DV
Review
The Bordellos ‘Ronco Revival Sound’ (Metal Postcard Records) Graham Domain
Review
Boycalledcrow ‘Wizards Castle’ (Waxing Crescent Records) BBS
Review
Broadcast ‘The Maida Vale Sessions’ (Warp Records) GD
Apollo Brown & Philmore Greene ‘Cost of Living’ (Mello Music Group) MO
Brown Calvin ‘dimension//perspective’ (AKP Recordings) DV
Review
C.
Loyle Carner ‘Hugo’ (EMI) MO
Tom Caruana ‘Strange Planet’ (Tea Sea Records) MO
Cities Aviv ‘Man Plays The Horn’ (D.O.T.) DV
Claude ‘A Lot’s Gonna Change’ (American Dreams) DV
Review
Clouds in a Headlock ‘Breakfast in Phantasia’ (Offkiltr/Fat Beats) MO
Julian Cope ‘England Expectorates’ BBS
Link
D.
The Dark Jazz Project ‘S-T’ (Irregular Frequencies) DV
Review
Aftab Darvishi ‘A Thousand Butterflies’ ACK
Review
The Difference Machine ‘Unmasking the Spirit Fakers’ (Full Plate) MO
Review
Ferry Djimmy ‘Rhythm Revolution’ (Acid Jazz) DV
Matt Donovan ‘Habit Formation’ DV
Review
The Doomed Bird Of Providence ‘A Flight Across Arnham Land’ DV/BBS
Review
Dubbledge ‘Ten Toes Down’ (Potent Funk) MO
Review
E.
Eamon The Destroyer ‘A Small Blue Car – Re-made/Re-modelled’ (Bearsuit Records) BBS
Review
El Khat ‘Albat Alawi Op.99’ (Glitterbeat) DV
Review
Kahil El’Zabar Quartet ‘A Time For Healing’ (Spiritmuse) DV
Roger Eno ‘The Turning Year’ (Deutsche Grammophon) GD
Review
Eerie Wanda ‘Internal Radio’ (Joyful Noise Recordings) DV
Exociety ‘Deception Falls’ (Exociety) MO
F.
Fera ‘Corpo Senza Carne’ (Maple Death Records) DV
Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita ‘Echo’ (bendigedig) DV
Review
Flat Worms ‘Live In Los Angeles’ (Frontier Records) DV
Review
Forest Robots ‘Supermoon Moonlight Part Two’ (Subexotic) DV
Review
Nick Frater ‘Aerodrome Motel’ (Big Stir Records) BBS
Review
Future Kult ‘S-T’ (Action Wolf/AWAL) DV
Review
G.
Mike Gale ‘Mañana Man’ DV
Premiere
Dana Gavanski ‘When it Comes’ (Full Time Hobby / Flemish Eye) GD
Review
Gold Panda ‘The Work’ (City Slang) ACK
The Good Ones ‘Rwanda…You See Ghosts I See Sky’ (Six Degrees) DV
Review
Goon ‘Hour of Green Evening’ (Demode Recordings) Graham Domain
Review
Guillotine Crowns ‘Hills to Die On’ (Uncommon Records) MO
Review
Gwenno ‘Tresor’ (Heavenly Recordings) GD
H.
Aldous Harding ‘Warm Chris’ (4AD) GD
Healing Force Project ‘Drifted Entities Vol. 1’ (Beat Machine Records) DV
Review
Sven Helbig ‘Skills’ (Modern Recordings) DV
Review
Bruno Hibombo ‘Parting Words’ DV
Houseplants ‘II’ (Win Big Records) DV
Review
John Howard ‘From The Far Side Of A Miss’ (Kool Kat) DV
Review
I.
IBERI ‘Supra’ (Naxos World Music) DV
J.
Juga-Naut ‘Time & Place’ (Juga-Naut) MO
JPEGMAFIA ‘OFFLINE!’ ACK
K.
Kamikaze Palm Tree ‘Mint Chip’ (Drag City) BBS
Review
Kick ‘Light Figures’ (Anomic Records/Dischi Sottoernnei/Sour Grapes) DV
Review
King Kashmere ‘Woof’ (High Focus) MO
Evan Kertman ‘Rancho Shalom’ (Perpetual Doom) BBS
Review
KMRU ‘Temporary Stored’ ACK
L.
Labelle ‘Éclat’ (Infiné) DV
Review
The Legless Crabs ‘Always Your Boy’ (Metal Postcard Records) BBS
Review
The Legless Trials ‘Cheese Sandwich’ (Metal Postcard Records) BBS
Kristine Leschper ‘The Opening Or Closing Of A Door’ (Anti-) DV
Review
Liraz ‘Roya’ (Glitterbeat) DV
Review
Francesco Lurgo ‘Sleep Together Folded Like Origami’ (Bosco Records) DV
Review
Lyrics Born ‘Mobile Homies’ (Mobile Home Recordings) MO
Review
Keep an eye out later this week for Part Two.
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world 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. 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 buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.
BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA’S REVIEWS ROUNDUP
SINGLES/TRACKS
Alexander Stordiau ‘Nothings Ever Required’
(Timeless Music Records)
‘Nothings Ever Required’ is a gem of a aural discovery; a moody piece of John Carpenter-esque solitude over five minutes of pure instrumental poetry. The kind of mood piece to soundtrack the passing daylight by watching passing strangers walk past the old coffee house window trying to read the faces, read their thoughts, lost in your memories, and hopes slowly making the coffee last, cusping it in your warms to keep in the warmth, with Alexander Stordiau gently caressing the shifting time of loneliness.
It’s Karma It’s Cool ‘A Gentle Reminder’
‘Gentle Reminder’ is a in fact a gentle reminder that pop music is a wonderful thing, as this tuneful little ditty shows three and a half minuets of perfectly formed guitar pop rock, with a Peter Holsapple guesting on keyboards – that is in fact one of the highlights of the track – giving this perfectly formed pop rock of a song a slight new wave sense of danger.
Anxiolytics ‘S{R}[C]O[{T}[R]CHED EARTH’
Anxiolytics are an experimental synth duo from North Wales and have an evil but lovingly portrayed glint in their eye I bet, this single being a strange and haunting affair that takes me back to the post punk early 80s of the Passage and Soft Cell and offers something both original and different; a song that has a cold warmness that will smother and intoxicate you with a germ ridden freshness that has not been inhaled since the passing of the great David R Edwards and the wonder that was Datblygu. Once again I am left awaiting the debut album.
Floorbrothers ‘Drive’
(Ikarus Records)
Ahh Mr Floorbrothers, ‘Fade Into You’ by Mazzy Star is one of my favourite tracks as well. So slowing it down and making it into a drug induced waltz, adding new lyrics and making it sound like Mott The Hoople needing a good night’s sleep is a pretty nifty idea and one I stand and applaud. A good single then.
Bigflower ‘Tried To Care’
The first new track from the mighty bigflower in a few months I think, and yes, they have once again supplied a dark piece of dense guitar magic; a track to help soundtrack these dark, dark frightening days and months that lie ahead in the UK; the kind of track we need to be blasted from car radios as we head to work knowing after a week of hard slog we will still not be able to afford to pay our bills and put food on the table. Although this is not an out and out political lambasting of our uncaring and failing government it is a song to capture the intensity and hopelessness of these worrying times.
EP
Rob Clarke And The Woolltones ‘Rubber Chicken B-Sides’
(Aldora Britain Records)
This is an enjoyable little forage into the dim and distant past. Four songs that take the hip swinging beatitude of the sixties, all beat chords and “What’d I Say” riffage songs your nan would have curled her hair to in her youth before going down the ballroom to watch the local beat band. Four songs that are all enjoyable and warm sounding and with the final track, ‘Love And Haught’, being especially splendid, a track worthy of the final days of the wonderful Escorts: close your eyes and you are back in 1966 heaven. A beautiful release and only 50p to download: that is 12 and a half pence a track. Yes this EP does take you back when half a pence was such a thing.
ALBUMS
The Pixies ‘Doggeral’
(BMG) 30th September 2022
I used to love The Pixies back in the day when they first appeared, and to be honest I’ve not really listened to them much since they got back together. I’ve not really listened to them since Indie Cindy, and I think I might have been missing out if this album is anything to go by; although they are obviously missing the divine Kim Deal. But that is all they seem to be missing. They still have quite a loud thing going on (‘Haunted House’), are still masters of distorted surf guitar (‘Vault Of Heaven’), and have not lost their knack for a catchy strange pop tune, (‘Get Stimulated’). The lovely charmingly charming pop beauty that is ‘The Lord Has Come Back Today’ might just be my favourite track on this rather fine enjoyable album. They even have a whistling solo on ‘Pagan Man’, which there is certainly not enough of in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. So, the eighth Pixies album is in fact quite a musical treat.
Keiron Phelan & The Peace Signs ‘Bubblegum Boogie’
(Gare Du Nord) 23rd September 2022
What we have here my lukewarm fluffy bunny fetishists is an album of sophisticated polite pop – and we all need a little sophistication and politeness in our lives. Remember children always say please and thank you afterwards [ooeer missus]. And this album of melody rich pop could be your injection of sophistication for the day.
‘Trojan Pony’ kicks off the album with a fine Harry Nilsson like pop ditty that would not sound out of place on any of his early 70s pop masterpieces. Kieran Phelan is obviously a fan of the seventies laid-back pop as we find a tribute to the lovely gentleman and cult favourite John Howard with ‘Song For John Howard’, a lovely short piano ballad that not just recalls the music of the great man but also Brian Wilson as well, which indeed cannot be a bad thing.
The whole album is awash with gentle laid-back slightly quirky songs that have a layer of sadness and memories, and sometimes, sad memories are the most beautiful. And Bubblegum Boogie is indeed a beautiful little sophisticated bubble gum pop album.
Grave Goods ‘Tursday. Nothing Exists’
(Tulle) 9th September 2022
“Step softly into the new world of the underground” is the opening line from the opening track ‘Come’ from this rather fine post-punk album of clattering guitars and such malarkey. And it’s an invitation I would readily advise all fans of clattering guitars and such malarky to well accept. For they will be treated to seven tracks of aggressive alternative rock post-punk that takes some rather fine lyrics [which I am very taken with] and guitar riffs that put Grave Goods a step up from the usual gallop of the many many other post-punk bands. An album well worth investigation dear readers.
The Legless Crabs ‘And If You Change Your Mind About Rock ‘n’ Roll’
(Metal Postcard Records)
Thank the fuck for the Legless Crabs. After spending over an hour going through my emails to see what delights I could pontificate about and tell you lovely readers all about, I was left bereft. I had listened to loads of power pop with shite lyrics; shoegaze which in itself stands alone as why I have not reviewed it: anything that describes itself as shoegaze is enough to put me off, we all know what shoegaze is, music that reaches for the stars but very rarely manages not to leave the ground. So thank fuck for the rock ‘n’ roll un pc digs at modern life the Legless Crabs on a regular basis release. And If You Change Your Mind About Rock ‘n’ Roll’ is up to their normal high standard.
Guitars that fuzz and buzz and on this occasion form layers of pure confusion that take you back to the golden age of watching loud guitar bands in dingy clubs. ‘Piss Lake’, ‘Anti -Christian Scientists’ and every other track on this album are filled with an anger and disgust at the way modern life is shaping up.
This album is a much more serious and mature sounding album of rock ‘n’ roll. They no longer sound like the slap dash young noise merchants that overdosed on JAMC and the Cramps and Pussy Galore and now sound like they have had to grow up and get jobs. And that has just made them even angrier.
This is an album of darkness like their others, but the others came with a cheeky wink this with just a terrifying blank stare.
Salem Trials ‘Postcards From The Other Side Of The Sun’
(Metal Postcard Records)
A triple album by the Salem Trials: well it would be a triple LP if it were released on vinyl. There are 29 tracks and each and everyone is filled with the whip snap guitar madness that the Salem Trials deal in.
Songs that echo the world we live in full of dark humour, nostalgia, darkness and T Rex riffs. ‘Black Flash’, which imagine instead of David Bowie guesting on the Marc Bolan Show you had Mark E Smith, and instead of it being in a TV studio it was on a small boat that was slowly sinking below the waves, slowly lapping around Marc and Mark E’s knees; a song of pure and beautiful magic and maybe my fave ever Salem Trials song. Pure brilliance. But there are so many. Andy and Russ are quite incapable of not doing anything that is not at least very good; they have their own sound; they have their own feel; they have their own magic.
The Salem Trials are one offs. They take their influences of post-punk, psych, seventies glam, no wave, indie pop and merge into what can only be described as a unique and rewarding listening experience.
Andrei Rikichi ‘Caged Birds Think Flying Is A Sickness’
(Bearsuit Records)
Apart from Caged Birds Think Flying Is A Sickness being a great album title it is also a fine album; an album that takes electronica, dance and cinematic sculptures to a new and experimental place, a place where white noise and James Bond soundtracks collide to great and unusual effect. ‘What Happened To Whitey Wallace’ sounds like monks playing on a old ZX 90 computer game and ‘Bag, Lyrics, New Prescription’ could be on a soundtrack to an Alfred Hitchcock movie set in a colourful but black and white jazz world.
Yes, indeed once again Bearsuit Records have released an album crammed with original thought-provoking music that is both experimental but also very listenable; an album to soundtrack the spin of a roulette wheel and the shadow-stained wet pavement of a neon signed littered night time street.
The Monthly Playlist: April 2022: SAULT, Nduduzon Makhathini, Lyrics Born, Ed Scissor…
April 28, 2022
PLAYLIST SPECIAL
The sounds that have piqued the team’s interest, filled their hearts, fucked with their heads, or just sent sauntering towards escapism, the Monthly playlist gathers together all the music we’ve featured over the last month. We’ve also picked some of those tracks that managed to evade us and some we just didn’t get the time or room to exalt.
Our eclectic as usual mix starts in Tel Aviv with the Şatellites and moves across continents to take in Rwanda’s The Good Ones, Sao Tomé and Principe’s vintage África Negra, the Georgian choir Iberi, and one of Scandinavia’s principle jazz ensembles, OK:KO.
There’s plenty of more, with a freshly produced diaphanous, slow knocking beat gauzy treatment of the burgeoning pop enchantress and dystopian muse Circe’s ‘Mess With Your Head’ – now transformed into ‘It’s All Over’ under the Secret World Orchestra guise -, and a rafter of choice hip-hop cuts from Billy Woods, Dabbla, Lyrics Born and Lunar C with Jehst. Pop, jazz, electronic, dreamwave, psychedelic and post-punk are all represented. And there’s even a track from our very own Brian Shea and his cult dysfunctional family band The Bordellos.
The Monolith Cocktail team, corralled into action by me, Dominic Valvona, currently includes Matt Oliver, Brain ‘Bordello’ Shea, Graham Domain and Mikey MacDonald.
Those Tracks In Full Are:{
Şatellites ‘Zuhtu (Live)’
Melody’s Echo Chamber ‘Personal Message’
IKE (Ft. Sera Kalo) ‘What Then’
Dana Gavanski ‘Indigo Highway’ Crystal Eyes ‘Wishes’
Pete Rock ‘Brother On The Run’
Steve Monite ‘Only You’
África Negra ‘Vence Vitoria’
Samora Pinderhughes ‘Holding Cell’
Izzi Sleep & Rat Motel ‘Good Going Down’
Mercvrial ‘Look Inside’
The Bordellos ‘I Hate Pink Floyd Without Syd Barrett’
Peace De Résistance ‘Boston Dynamics’
The Legless Crabs ‘Boo Hoo Hoo’
Otoboke Beaver ‘YAKITORI’
Papercuts ‘Palm Sunday’
Kloot Per W ‘Le Pays’
Nicole Faux Naiv ‘Moon Really’
Liz Davinci ‘Daisy’
Julia Holter, Harper Simon & Meditations On Crime ‘Heloise’
Amine Mesnaoui & Labelle ‘Bleu Noir’ Billy Woods ‘Wharves’
Professor Elemental ‘Inn At The End Of Time (Remix)’
Dabbla ‘Alec Baldwin’
Nelson Dialect & Mr. Slipz ‘Association’
SAULT ‘June 55’
Nduduzo Makhathini ‘Amathongo’
Rob Cave & Small Professor ‘Respect Wildlife’
Lyrics Born (Ft. Rakaa Iriscience, Shing02, Bohan Phoenix, Cutso) ‘Anti (Remix)’
Kino & Sadistik ‘The Earth Was Empty’
Aethiopes (Ft. El-P, Breeze Brewin) ‘Heavy Winter’
Laddio Bolocko ‘Nurser’
Novelistme ‘Never’
Astrel K ‘Maybe It All Comes At Once’
David J ‘(I Don’t Want To Destroy) Our Beautiful Thing’
Jörg Thomasius ‘Okoschadel’
Ed Scissor ‘Dad’
Violet Nox ‘Eris’
Moscoman ‘Dalmar Is Back And It’s Final’
Grandamme, Claudia Kane & Bastien Keb ‘Nirvana’
FloFilz (Ft. Dal) ‘Levada’
Chairman Maf ‘Gammon Island’
Moon Mullins ‘Welcome To Tilden’
IBERI ‘Arkhalalo’
Papé Nziengui ‘Gho Boka Nzambé’
The Good Ones ‘Happiness Is When We Are Together’
OK:KO ‘Vanhatie’
Ubunye ‘Our Time’
Shrimpnose & BLOOD $MOKE BODY ‘Beyond The Villian’
Justo The MC & Remulak ‘Knockturnal’
Lunar C (Ft. Jehst) ‘Any Given Wednesday’
Qrauer ‘The Mess’ Circe/Secret World Orchestra ‘It’s All Over’
Brianwaltzera ‘tracing Rays [reality glo]’
Kota Motomura (Ft. Akichi) ‘Flower’
BRIAN BORDELLO SHEA’S REVIEWS JAMBOREE
Unless otherwise stated, all release can be purchased now.
Papercuts ‘Palm Sunday’
(Labelman)
This is a rather fine jangly pop song well written with a melancholy air that should be bottled and released into atmosphere to seep into the summers day and soak and enrich the lives of we the general public; a song that captures a snapshot, a brief still of a beautiful girl, a beautiful boy, a moment in time that will forever be etched onto our hearts.
Crystal Eyes ‘Like A Movie’
(Bobo Integral Records) 22nd April 2022
There are some fine radio friendly guitar pop singles being released at the moment, and here we have another one. It reminds me of Catatonia with rather fetching breathy vocals and chiming grungy guitars and a semi ‘Be My Baby’ drum beat: a lovely ballad. So what on earth is there not to like…I will tell you… there is nothing not to like. So yes, as Simple Simon would say, “I like it”.
Otoboke Beaver ‘Pardon’
(Damnably)
If sparkling punk pop is your thing then I would advise you to check out this short blast of pure fun from the all girl Japanese band Otoboke Beaver. It rams you in the gullet with its nonsensical charms dipping your brain into an infectious mix of madness and melody goofiness, its like losing yourself in a chocolate inspired dream after overdosing on milkshake spiked with happy thoughts.
YOVA ‘Make It Better’
(Quartertone)
I like this single it has a subtle political(ness) about it and a great nagging violin sounding [I do not know if it is a violin, but it sounds like one] riff picking away, clawing out your eyes and picking worms from your unsettled mind like a big black angry crow shouting fuck you in between pecks. Yes, I’m a bit of a fan of this single and through further investigation I’m becoming a bit of a fan of Yova: who it seems has just released her debut LP, Nine Lives.
East Portal ‘Untitled #3’
(AKP Recordings)
This sounds like something from a beatnik black and white horror film from the 60s; a road movie featuring scary gipsy children who like to devour their victims’ souls with egg spoons whilst offering their spittle to the charred remains of their god; a Mister Punch doll worked by top hatted old raggedy gentleman who has no teeth but a lot of self-belief in the power of coffee houses and backward performed poetry. You are not going to hear this track on Radio One. And it is all the better for that.
Evan Kertman ‘Rancho Shalom’
(Perpetual Doom) 29th April 2022
Rancho Shalom is a rather fetching album of baroque alt country; an album stuffed full with beautiful well-written songs. Songs with melodies that pull and twist your emotions and lyrics that both make you want to smile and cry. Evan Kertman is a man blessed with a honey rich voice that oozes class and emotion with a heart in the same place as Kurt Wagner, and Evan’s music affects you in the same way that the mighty Lambchop does.
There is just something so beautifully laid back about this album, an album to laze about in the sun to as you drink yourself into a silent oblivion with only birds and memories for company, and this album is such great company. ‘No Good Reason’ is a rather stunning song of break up and heartache with one of my favourite lines from the album, “I left you first, but you left me better”. A quite stunningly beautifully written song amongst an album of stunningly beautifully written songs.
The Legless Crabs ‘Always Your Boy’
(Metal Postcard Records)
The legless Crabs are back with another blast of sonic rock ‘n’ roll; once again proving why they are the band to be kicking the decaying corpse of culture not just in the USA but life in general everywhere. Who couldn’t agree with the sentiment of “Fuck Your Boss” from ‘Time Theft’, and anyone who couldn’t have any love for the myth of rock ‘n’ roll, does not do cartwheels, when hearing the quite wonderful JAMC like ‘Fake Weed Emergency’ hasn’t an ounce of joy left in their once thriving rock ‘n’ roll soul.
The Legless Crabs as I have mentioned so many times are the true sound of adventure and seedy darkness in the underground, and are probably ignored by many other blogs for that reason, as attitude and a devil care telling of the truth does not settle well with the meme inspired Instagram friendly culture that is currently rotting and killing our beloved mainstream alternative scene.
The Legless Crabs are not power pop; they do not cover their music in a coating of authentic rose petals from the 60s; do not make auto tuned radio friendly pop, but listen to ‘Give It A Wiggle’ and not think it’s perfect pop, as it is short catchy and pretty perfect. And Always Your Boy is an album filled with sonic adventure, be it short blasts of pretty perfect alternative punk rock or longer tracks of scuzzed up bass experimental splendor; an album that needs to be in the record collection of anyone who remembers the true magic of Rock N Roll the emphasis being on the N Roll!
Mercvrial ‘Brief Algorithms’
(Crafting Room Recordings) 29th April 2022
This is a very enjoyable album of 80s sounding indie guitar music, the kind House of Love used to tempt and seduce us with all those years ago. That can be explained by the fact that Mercvrial features the talents of one Terry Bickers on lead guitar, and the songs are awash with Terry Bickers’ guitar genius.
The songs chime with magic and melody, dipping in and out, taking me back to the days when the Sunday pub was followed by Snub TV. Ah, yes, those where indeed the days, but this is not an album of nostalgia it is an album of finely crafted and performed guitar songs and will appeal to anyone who loves well-crafted guitar indie/alternative music from any decade.
Our Daily Bread 388: Beauty Stab, The Legless Crabs, Peel Dream Magazine, The Waterboys…
July 23, 2020
REVIEWS/Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea joined the Monolith Cocktail team in January 2019. The cult leader of the infamous lo fi gods, The Bordellos, has released countless recordings over the decades with his family band of hapless unfortunates, and is the owner of a most self-deprecating sound-off style blog. His most recent releases include The Bordellos beautifully despondent pains-of-the-heart and mockery of clique “hipsters” ode to Liverpool, and the diatribe ‘Boris Johnson Massacre’. He has also released, under the Idiot Blur Fanboy moniker, a stripped down classic album of resignation and Gallagher brothers’ polemics. His next album, The King Of No-Fi is due out next month on Metal Postcard Records.
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, here Brian’s latest batch of recommendations.
Beauty Stab ‘French Film Embrace’
Single/12th July 2020
Oh lord this is bloody good. It’s perfect pop in its most perfect form. It gives me goosebumps. It has everything one wants in pop music. No wonder there is a buzz about this band that has not been heard of since…well, lord knows when.
This is worthy of The Associates at their heartbreaking best; a song that could and should if there was any justice in the world be all over the radio to brighten and enlighten, we the listening masses. Maybe too early in the year to say single of the year…but I will say it anyway…single of the year.
Related:
Beauty Stab Interview
Beauty Stab ‘O Edan’
The Waterboys ‘The Soul Singer’
(Cooking Vinyl) Single/Out Now
I have a bit of a soft spot for The Waterboys; I quite like how Mike Scott had the music world at his feet with the release of the This Is The Sea album, and was on the verge of U2 like success. It was his for the taking, but instead he locked himself away in Ireland and made two beautifully of kilter folk albums. That kind of career sabotage has to be applauded.
One of rock music’s more eccentric and lovable characters, and here we have a sonnet to another one of rock’s eccentrics the grumpily lovable Van Morrison. This is a fine sun filled pop song in a Radio 2 kind of way, the kind of song that will have you tapping your fingers on the steering wheel as you listen to the radio stuck in traffic. I wonder what Van thinks of it.
She’s A Fish ‘Downstream’
(Puffy Pastryd) Single
This is one for all you pop pickers out there with a taste for the mildly twisted, Shadow hungry psychedelic sounds bordering on the kind of off kilter post punk delights served up by the wonderful Swell Maps all those years ago; hastily scrubbed semi acoustics scratch out the nagging melody of pure austere glory. A little gem of a song.
Peel Dream Magazine ‘Moral Panics’
EP/3rd July 2020
I like this especially track two, the ridiculously titled ‘Verfremdungseffekt’, which comes on like early Julian Cope circa his first two solo albums, and early Belle and Sebastian. A mellow pop treat for sure, the Casio organ and fine melody gives one a splendid few minutes of pop bliss. The rest of the EP is fine garage pop psych tinged mellow shoegaze with lovely floating Casio like keyboards that are both soothing and enriching, giving you the warm feeling of being sponged down by the greatest hits of a sexy but enigmatic European.
Violent Vickie ‘The Blame’
Single/10th July 2020
I wonder if Violent Vickie has ever had her music described as splendid before. For that is what it is: splendid. It has a splendid lo-fi dark syntheses about it that can only be described as, well, splendid. It has a lovely dark crunchy guitar and vocals that can only be described as, splendid. The splendicity of this track is one I enjoyed a great deal and I was a bit concerned at first the press release mentions Joy Division, and normally that is a big turn off in a press release mentioning Joy Division, as every bugger who classes their music as Dark Synth always mentions Joy Division and this sounds nothing like Joy Division I’m pleased to report; there will be no mishaps hanging up her washing…thank the lord, as there is always room for splendid music in my life.
Astral Swans ‘Bird Songs’
Single/10th July 2020
Now I do like a good pop song stuffed with self-loathing and unhappiness but disguised with pop melody and sing-along ability, and this track has those qualities in abundance. It has the same feeling and in fact same beat as Smogs wonderful ‘Cold Blooded Old Times’. It is a song to sing to yourself while walking alone in the park, and we all need one of those in our life.
The Legless Crabs ‘One People One Mind One Death’
(Metal Postcard Records) Album/25th June 2020
The debut proper from the Texas Punk rockers The Legless Crabs is upon us, and what a fine LP it is too. Discordant guitar, ramshackle drums, echo laden vocals and off beat lyrics takes us to the strange world they inhabit. Pussy Galore, The Jesus And Mary Chain and The Shaggs are fine reference points, but placed into a glittering concrete music mixer to supply a musical house art all of its own making; a place where Roky Erickson would happily reside. The 13th Floor elevators are also brought to mind especially on my personal favourite, the wonderfully spaced out ‘Not The Good Kind’, which starts out as almost strange lounge punk and then erupts into waves of feedback, a track of pure wonder which perfectly fits on this album of pure wonders. I can say, without a doubt in my mind, one of the albums of the year.
Our Daily Bread 381: DeathDeathDeath, The Legless Crabs, No Exits, It’s Karma It’s Cool…
May 27, 2020
Reviews/Brian ‘Bordellos’ Shea
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea joined the Monolith Cocktail team in January 2019. The cult leader of the infamous lo fi gods, The Bordellos, has released countless recordings over the decades with his family band of hapless unfortunates, and is the owner of a most self-deprecating sound-off style blog. His most releases include The Bordellos beautifully despondent pains-of-the-heart and mockery of clique “hipsters” ode to Liverpool, and, under the guises of the Idiot Blur Fanboy moniker, a stripped down classic of resignation and Gallagher brothers’ polemics.
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, here Brian’s latest batch of recommendations.
With all live gigs and events more or less quashed for the foreseeable future, buying music (whether it’s physical or through digital platforms such as Bandcamp) has never been more important for the survival of the bands/artists/collectives that create it. We urge you all to keeping supporting; to keep listening.
The Legless Crabs ‘Be A Sadist’
LP/Available Now
If you remember a few weeks ago I reviewed a single from The Legless Crabs declaring them the future of rock n roll. Well they have just compiled a free to download LP of all their singles and EPs, and released it as a free to download compilation.
Essential is the word dear readers, essential! The early Mary Chain meets the Shaggs with a touch of Daniel Johnson and Pussy Galore thrown in, it’s dark and it has guts and a do not give a fuck attitude. It is a shambolic noisy stew of noise but with wonderfully written melodies and lyrics. The best band to come from the USA since the Banana Splits: no doubt about it.
No Exits ‘No Exists EP’
Available Now
The 80s post punk sound really is making a bit of a re-emergence, and why not, as when it’s done well it’s a fine thing indeed: and No Exits do it very well indeed.
Their music takes me back and has me thinking of very early Dead Or Alive and Theatre Of Hate with a touch of Soft Cell, and something about it really reminds me of Theatre Of Sheep (maybe its their guitar sound), but very entertaining nonetheless. So if the 80s post punk swirl is your thing you should really enjoy this fine EP.
The Loungs ‘Hey Brain’
(Fresh Hair Records) Single/Available Now
It’s nice to have those St Helens Psych Monkees The Loungs back after a far too long a layoff since their gem of a third LP, the 2015 baroque flavoured Short Circuit. And this little beauty carries on where that fine album left off. ‘Hey Brain’ being a quirky short stroll through the Summery psych of one’s past, recalling the woozy delights of the Super Furry Animals with a hint of the Zombies and Cat Stevens, but with a charm of their very own. A true delight, which could of only been better if it was called, “Hey Brian”.
DeathDeathDeath ft. Lomi MC ‘Love Is A Construct’
(Numavi Records) Single/Available Now
I love this. It’s rather quite beautiful and whoever says they don’t make pop music as quite magical as they used to do should be made to listen to this on repeat until they admit they are wrong. It has a wonderful warm quality about it that takes my aging mind back to the wonderful music of Jane and Barton. A soft summer aural seduction that I advise music lovers of all ages should allow themselves to be seduced by. They won’t be sorry.
Graham Domain ‘Waking World’
(Metal Postcard Records) EP/Available Now
What we have here is another EP from one of Manchester’s greatest hidden musical secrets. Yes, there is something quite engrossing about the music of Graham Domain, a certain quiet dignified subtle madness that completely beguiles. It has a dark seductive charm from the tinkling piano and synth strings and jazz bass that lures you into the textured dream of the songs, and as it pulls you in and you begin to lose yourself in the magic you then notice the beauty of the lyrics and the phrasing: nobody quite sings like Graham Domain anymore. I’m sure that somewhere along the line the quiet genius of his music will find a audience and hopefully the large one it deserves, plus on the track ‘What Love Means’ there is the best crazy synth solo one can ever hope to hear.
Bloom De Wilde ‘The Heart Shall Be Rewarded By The Universe’
LP/Available now
If only life could be as wonderfully magical as this album. Bloom De Wilde has an aura about her that emits a certain belief in the beauty of life, with her songs of nature and love, she gives one hope in these times of backbiting misery and disease that music and love can be the answer. Maybe we all need to return to the spiritual freedom of 1967 and not be wrapped up in the junk and social media that clouds up our minds and hearts, for this album casts a mighty spell that is bewitchingly hypnotic, that slowly seeps through the layers of self doubt mistrust and ego and has you smiling again, has you laughing, has you counting your blessings and looking forward to living your life and making the most of it as you only have one life so why not make the most of it. The Heart Shall Be Rewarded By The Universe is one of those rare albums that is made with pure love and should be treated with pure love: a shimmering delight.
Drew Davies ‘Drew Davies’
(AD1) LP/Available now
Is the good old 80s the new 60s? I wonder as I’m getting sent a load of music that is so influenced by the decade. This LP by Drew Davies could have easily been released in that decade – if I hadn’t known better I would have thought this was a reissue of some album that slipped under the radar at the time.
Drew Davies obviously worships at the altar of David Bowie, which indeed is no bad thing. He could have worshiped at the altar of Stefan Denis, and do we really need that. Instead we are treated to the kind of album a major label would have released in the 80s pretending that it was an indie. It has the same polished Alt rock glamour and choruses that has the audience punching the sky while keeping one eye for the queue at the bar to thin out so you can send your girlfriend. It is in no way the greatest LP you will hear this year or any year from the 80s but you will certainly hear worse, and any fans of Billy Idol or 80s Bowie or even John Moores Expressway [remember them] will certainly enjoy this album as I did, as melodies and glamour do not age.
Dog Paper Submarine ‘Slippery Satellites’
(Small Bear) Album/Available Now
So we finally get the final LP by Dog Paper Submarine, two years after it was recorded, and it was indeed worth the wait as it is as always fine indie rock: part dEUS part Pixies, but all Dog Paper Submarine.
Clattering guitars, instrumental surf basslines, melodies that prod and gouge and caress are all one wants from their indie rock. To be honest I’m not a huge indie rock fan, I find it incredibly dull mostly these days, which again from a personal point of view makes this album and Dog Paper Submarine even more impressive, as this is a album I will play and enjoy, and that should be enough for any music lover.
Salem Trial ‘Head On Rong’
(Metal Postcard Records) Single/Available Now
I love this. From the start the explosive wall of Thin Lizzy like double lead guitars leap out at you and joyfully throttle you ears to death in the nicest possible way, whilst Beefheart like vocals and a melody catchy enough to hook yourself make for a whopper. It’s a song that has me yearning for the wild and drunken nights at the Royal Alfred in the late 80s, while being entertained by the wonderful local band The Volunteers, who made one mini album of sublime Beefheart frenzy called Bladder Of Life. This song reminds me of those days. That’s high praise indeed believe me. ‘Head On Rong’ is a must have for music lovers old and young alike.
It’s Karma It’s Cool ‘Woke Up In Hollywood’
Album/Available Now
If your thing is music with sparkling guitars and joy filled melodies then this album is for you. At times recalling Lloyd Cole with his Commotions and maybe a poppy REM after overdosing on the sun, songs shimmer and cast shadows of one string Rickenbacker guitar solos, the kind that The Bangles would embrace and comb their hair to whilst kissing posters of Gene Clark.
Woke Up In Hollywood is an album that exists to take one back to the golden days of the California sounds from the mid 60s through to power pop of the early 80s; from The Byrds to The Tremblers, even at times reminding me of the English Beat.
If you like, this is an album that should come with a large cut-out sun to hoist up into your room as the heat and pure light emerges from your stereo or laptop.
Our Daily Bread 376: Harry Cloud, Murmur Tooth, Randolph’s Leap, Euan Hartley And Friends…
April 21, 2020
REVIEWS/Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea joined the Monolith Cocktail team in January 2019. The cult leader of the infamous lo fi gods, The Bordellos, has released countless recordings over the decades with his family band of hapless unfortunates, and is the owner of a most self-deprecating sound-off style blog. His most releases include The Bordellos beautifully despondent pains-of-the-heart and mockery of clique “hipsters” ode to Liverpool, and, under the guises of the Idiot Blur Fanboy moniker, a stripped down classic of resignation and Gallagher brothers’ polemics.
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, here Brian’s latest batch of recommendations.
With all live gigs and events more or less quashed for the foreseeable future, buying music (whether it’s physical or through digital platforms such as Bandcamp) has never been more important for the survival of the bands/artists/collectives that create it. We urge you all to keeping supporting; to keep listening.
Murmur Tooth ‘A Fault In The Machine’
(Self-Release) LP/ Available Now
Murmur Tooth is Leah Hinton, a young lady from New Zealand who is now based in Berlin, and is the vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer writer of this very fine album. Hinton is also blessed with a lilting almost folky voice filled with the kind of emotion you really do not associate with doom laden synth pop.
A Fault In This Machine is a dark sedate sultry affair; a dive into the night time of someone else’s life a life, where you spend the day hoping for that certain person to appear who lifts the boredom of a life that is not exactly happening.
There is a realness and dreaminess to these lyrics that draw you into Murmur Tooth’s existence. It really is a beautiful sounding and beautifully written album, one of the highlights being the lovely ‘Rain Rain’, a stunning piano ballad that for some reason has my mind wandering back to my teenage years of the 80’s when dark synth based pop ruled the roost: a song I would recommend to any other old timers like myself who can recall the majestic Wonderful Life album by Black.
Leah is a real talent, one that should be embraced and celebrated for A Fault In The Machine is a warm, soulful, dark and real sounding synth album wrapped in a blanket of subtlety, and that is something one does not hear everyday.
Vukovar ‘Exhumation: The First Death Of Vukovar (2014 – 2019)’
LP/Available Now
Vukovar have decided to release a ltd best of cassette; a band that could and should have been a lot bigger and better known than they currently are, but they do have the habit of shooting themselves in the foot, so much so I doubt any of the band have any toes left. And here is another prime example; instead of releasing on one of the many labels they have released their seven plus albums on they have self released it instead – an action akin to The Beatles releasing Sgt. Pepper as a boiled egg or Shakin’ Stevens appearing on Top Of The Pops and not thrusting his hips in a cartoonish sexual manner. But lack of business sous aside the tracks on this collection are essentially a best of, so are the most commercial and ear friendly to the general public and would make a fine introduction if not released in such a ltd hipster fashion.
The songs are all of the highest quality and show their many influences, from their debut single Wedding Present Monster era like ‘Nero’s Felines’ through to the should have been all over the radio ‘New World Order’. There early to mid 80s post punk synth sound is truly a wonderful thing, as demonstrated on ‘This Moment Severed’ and ‘Clockwork Dance’. The album is jammed full of greatness and it’s a bit of tragedy that not more people will get to hear it. Maybe they will release the next as a ltd edition self hum.
Randolph’s Leap ‘Petrichor’
Single/Available Now
Has Power Pop I wonder replaced Irn-Bru as the drink of choice in the band land of Scotland? For what we have here is another Scottish band showing their love for Teenage Fanclub/Big Star, with this lovely nifty little piece of perfect McCartney-ish like strum along pop. This really is a lovely thing: The sun is in the sky there is nothing to do nowhere to go but you can lose yourself in this little subtle gem.
The Legless Crabs ‘Irregular On The Cellular’
Single/Available Now
Have you ever wondered what Legless Crabs sound like? Well I will tell you: they sound like the true spirit of rock n roll; they are the aural equivalent of the apple of your eye slowly self peeling the beauty of The Shaggs covering Jesus And Mary Chain. It is a thing of great wonder and maybe my new favourite band. You heard it here first; the Legless crabs are the future of rock ‘n’ roll.
Crumpsall Riddle ‘Looking After The Duck’
(Wormhole World) Album/Available Now
It’s a strange old time so the ideal opportunity to lose yourself in the strange world of Crumpsall Riddle: Old synths, old keyboards, the occasional guitar and jazz bass and flat caps and folk music and ranting and singing sweetly acapella style – I could be making up the flat caps bit, but who knows. These are songs improvised over three sessions, so have a lovely made up at the moment feel, which I enjoy as it is like having a permanent record of madness, the unveiling of inspiration hitting and the fading as quickly as it arrived and then moving onto something else like speed reading somebody else’s book collection whilst listening to the Bagpuss soundtrack as whistling Jack Smith rifles through your girlfriend’s knickers drawer just out of view. Anything could happen or be happening in the strange world of Crumpsall Riddle.
Harry Cloud ‘The Pig And The Machine’
(Whiteworm Records) LP/Available Now
What we have here is a blaze of magic mushroom stoner bubblegum stoner psychedelia, a lo-fi inventive curse of tomorrow and yesterday when morrow meets tomorrow in a slaphappy kind of way. Imagine if your radio was wired to play the soundtrack to your most out there sordid wish, this could well be playing as it jumps from the semi classical to the music that the not quite best looking member of a 70’s edition of Top Of The Pops audience would wiggle her arse to: not sexy but getting away with it.
This album is inventive, dirty, funny, dark and moving in so many ways. Like all great rock n roll should be it is a album that at times sounds like it is arguing with itself; sometimes being far too clever for its own good, but you love it all the same. How could you not when there is song as beautiful as ‘Haunted Hayride’, or, as weirdly rocking as ‘Browser’ – the sound of the Mothers Of Invention covering The Pixies. An album that could easily get on your tits, or, an LP you could love and fall in love with – and I have not quite made up my mind yet -, and for that he gets a big thumbs up from me.
Euan Hartley And Friends ‘Ten Years At The Bottom’
LP/Available Now
Euan Hartley is singer with the band the Pit Ponies, and this is a LP four years in the making in which he worked with various musician friends. And what I like about the album is that it seems to mean a lot to him, which trust me, is not always the way. It has a lot of heart and a lot of pain seeping through the songs. Euan has quite an impressive voice like he has been gargling from the same glass as the godlike Robert Wyatt, and the music is pure [in the best way]; DIY indie style, not the generic, ‘I have a beard and Fender Jag way and am looking forward to playing the local music festival’ kind. The songs are way to quirky and heartfelt for that especially the Casio embraced beauty ‘Beatrice’ and the wonderfully weird chopped up Flaming Lips like ‘Selfies’.
Ten Years At The Bottom is a album filled with songs of purity soul and heartache and despite being made over a long period of time with various friends and his peers the album sounds like a album and not just a collection of songs lumped together: and what a fine collection of songs it is. Also, it is available as a pay what you want to download from bandcamp, so I honestly don’t know what your waiting for, get downloading.
Meat Whiplash ‘Don’t Slip Up’
(Optic Nerve) Single/15th May 2020
I normally do not bother reviewing old music as I don’t write for Mojo, and there are so many new records and songs released daily that deserve attention that sadly do not get the attention they deserve, and its so easy for a label to reissue some old song than putting the time in finding and promoting a new and up and coming band; for nostalgia is all well and good but in thirty years what will there be to be nostalgic about if the new is not embraced and loved? So I will say that this is a reissue of the one and only Meat Whiplash single released on Creation Records many years ago, and very good it is too; all Mary Chain fuzz guitars and early Psychedelic Furs vocals. They of course morphed into Motorcycle Boy who I saw live a few times back in the day -see I am getting nostalgic now. Why damn you Optic Nerve records and your excellent Optic Sevens reissue series…you cunts.
Sunbourne Rd ‘Teenage Lyrics’
LP/Available Now
Yes it’s that time again, when I start to review catchy guitar pop. Dare I call it power pop without being arrested by the power pop police for wrongly diagnosing the LP?! No I’ll risk it: it’s power pop. It has power and is pop, and for once although obviously influenced by Paul McCartney, it is more Wings Paul than Beatle Paul: which I like as such subtleties make a difference.
What we have here is a compilation of eight singles released between 2014 and 2017 by Sunbourne Rd who hail from Northern Italy. And they obviously release fine catchy guitar pop with nods to all the usual power pop icons like McCartney, Rockpile, Mott The Hoople and their ilk. Nothing truly original or different just eight finally written songs bathed in melody – which is what we want in our power pop. And just how many times have I used the words power pop in this review? Recommended for all those who like their pop with power.
Chinofeldy ‘Stay Home’
Single/Available Now
Another band from Scotland and another catchy 60s influenced pop song: it really shows just how wonderful the Beatles were, that 50 years since they split up they are still a huge influence on bands today. I suppose you may as well learn and borrow from the best. What we have here is a benefit song for the NHS; a worthy cause we all, I am sure, agree on. So you may as well download this lovingly produced slice of 60s influenced pop and do yourself and the much-underfunded NHS a favour. You know it makes sense.
Monolith Cocktail Blog 