Our Daily Bread 576: Vieira and The Silvers, Tony Valentino, Fossil Beach, The Budos Band…
June 2, 2023
The idiosyncratic Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea rummages through another month of new and upcoming releases. (Unless stated otherwise, all releases are already available to buy).
SINGLES
Vieira and The Silvers ‘The Judge’
(Catch 21 Records)
There is something very Liverpool about this track; I was sure they would have been from Liverpool as they have the same Scouse pop feel that the Coral and the many bands from the Bandit era have. Maybe they take the same drugs and listen to the same records, either way this track is very good.
It starts off all Captain Beefheart and ends with the kind of Gospel inflections that Booby Gillespie would sell his favourite battered egg to have included on the much over-rated Screamadelica album; a good album, but not all as it is made up to be, unlike this single, which is pretty spiffing and yes spiffing is indeed pretty, and my word of the day. As is this single is my song of the day.
The Budos Band ‘Frontiers Edge’
(Diamond West Records)
I love this track; a sexy shimmy of spy Bond glamour with a hint of 60s hip swinging jazz in a spaghetti western type of way. The kind of track you want your night out on the town to be like – all glittered mini dresses bouffant hair and neon lights offering temptation and seduction. Yes indeed, just the kind of track to paint your evening. A hip swinging triumph.
Josienne Clarke ‘Anyone But Me’
“Anyone But Me” is a dark and bewitching folk song filled with both a sadness and relief that the affair is over, and I am quite taken with how Josienne sings the line, “how can you love anyone but me”. But that is the magic of song, a few brief seconds can transport one back to the dim and distant past and remember not so happy times. A beautiful song and an excellent video to go with it.
Beach Fossils ‘Dare Me’
(Bayonet) 2nd June 2023
Modern indie radio friendly guitar pop normally bores the pants off me: it does. I normally end up taking off my pants and wandering around the house with my them on my head, pulled over my ears whilst wondering how long the kettle is going to take to boil and what would come first: the boiling kettle or the end of the soulless dirge that someone has sent for me to review? Or the soulless dirge that BBC 6 music is forcing upon their daytime listeners, who I think have probably given up on life. But saying that, for some strange reason this song by Beach Fossil does not have that effect on me, even though it has all the lack of qualities that modern produced indie guitar pop has; the soulless production and the spray on radio BBC6 music sheen. But for some reason I like this. Why? Answers on a postcard.
bigflower ‘The Event’
The event by name, an Event by nature, we have a fine slab of mellow dance solitude that is both funky and slinky and electronic-like. And at just over three minutes long is far too short for its own good; double it and you have an ideal floor filler: yes, a floor filled with fine Manchester musicality. This could and should be a 12”, and reminds me a touch of Fatima Mansions in its dark outer grooves. How many times do I need to say, come on record labels sign this man up.
ALBUMS/EPS
Tony Valentino ‘Dirty Water Revisited’
(Big Stir Records) 26th May 2023
Tony Valentino was of course the lead vocalist with the 60s garage punk legends The Standells, and this, the Dirty Water Revisited album, is where he revisits his past with an album of reworkings of some the band’s classics, and some new songs too. And the reworkings of the classics are fun as all 60s garage songs should indeed be. “Good Guys Don’t Always Wear White” was always one of my fave garage rock songs and this version does not really take anything away from the original, as does none of the reworkings. And lets be honest, garage rock bands have been including these classics in their sets for years so why should Tony not revisit and pay respect to his own past. On the whole he has made an enjoyable romp of 60s garage punk/pop reworkings. And with last years new song single, “I’m A Sexy Punk Rocker”, included reminding us all where Iggy might have got some of his pop from.
Armstrong ‘Summer Is Here EP’
Summer is on its way, so what better way to celebrate than to listen to this 4-track beauty of pop overthrow; a quartet of summer breeze pop; an EP of pure jangle and sci-fi synths; a 4-track treasure of shadows of yesterday’s delights. But what else can one expect when it is the latest release from Armstrong, everybody’s favourite pop picker songs that has one thinking back to when Aztec Camera and Prefab Sprout would occasionally sneak into the top 40 and the internet was only something Leeds Utd supporters used to shout at three o clock on a Saturday afternoon. Sublime pop indeed and Summer Is Here is so summer sounding it has brought on my hay fever.
Cat Box Room Bois ‘Tinder Vittles’
(Metal Postcard Records)
Ah the lovely subtleties of American shambolic rock ‘n’ roll spews forth from this magical album featuring a member from the genius Legless Crabs. So it being shambolic rock ‘n’ roll is indeed nothing to be surprised at. And indeed, it is pure undiluted rock ‘n’ roll, with traces of the DNA of The Modern Lovers, Neil Young, The Marychain, the Velvet Underground and The Stooges in a loose and casual way that gives casual a new looseness.
It is the sound of a party in your pants. It is raunchy. It is sexy. It is funny. It actually sounds like a band rehearsing in your neighbour’s shed whilst the singer juggles extravagances in a cartoon denim and leather clad clown like way. Whilst the guitarist shows off his fretboard prowess imagining he was once a member of Red-Hot Chilli Peppers but was thrown out for being good and having lo-fi punk attitude. So if Lo-fi rock ‘n’ roll is your thing and you want an album that sounds like one of the most out of it bands from your neighbourhood jamming wildly on a summers day with the essence of weed and alcohol slowly drifting on a gentle summer breeze, or, The Beach Boys Party album but made by drug addled stoners brought up on a soundtrack of 70s Fm Rock and early 80s American punk , this album is for you. This a gem of an album.
Our Daily Bread 492: Mermaid Avenue, Armstrong, Pulco…
February 4, 2022
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea’s Idiosyncratic Reviews Roundup
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 last album Atlantic Crossing, a long overdue released collaboration with 20th Century Tokyo Princess’s Ted Clark, was released last year. A new album entitled Cardboard Box Beatle will be released in February by Metal Postcard Records.
Each month we supply him with a mixed bag of new and upcoming releases to see what sticks.
SINGLES/TRACKS.
Super Hit ‘Believe’
(Metal Postcard Records) 18th January 2022
I have no idea why this reminds me of Christmas but it does. Not that it matters what it reminds me of but all that matters is that this is a wonderfully whooshed beautiful version of the Cher classic. I really like it. Could be what Mercury Rev might sound like if they were down and outs and had too much cheap sherry and slept in a launderette with only memories of old top 40 hits for company. This really is quite a beautiful little number; I’m now excited at the thought of an album.
Mermaid Avenue ‘Prisoner’
I like this single. It reminds me of the Rolling Stones when they wanted to be Gram Parsons; it has all the reaching for the sky trying to shake hands with God quality: The kind of song Primal Scream have attempted many times but not quite got there. It’s not as good as Cliff Richard’s version of Jesus but to be fair not much is. Yes indeed, a rather lovely scraping the stars from the sky track.
Tony Valentino ‘Barracuda’
(Big Stir Records) 4th February 2022
Tony Valentino from the 60s garage band legends The Standells has rerecorded the bands’ famous ‘Barracuda’ and issued it as a single on Big Stir Records. And a fine single it is as well. As you expect, it’s full of 60s garage rock goodness with psychedelic guitars, 60s garage rock organ, and is a total blast of fun and freedom that puts younger artists to shame: reminding us that music can indeed be fun and ‘cambunkishush’, a word I have just made up. But why the hell not? It is the perfect word to describe this fun filled action packed piece of rock ‘n’ roll.
Ghosts Of Torrez ‘The Wailing/ The Legend of Billy The Whale’
11th February 2022
This is rather beautiful; it is like floating on a cloud made up of memories from a time when you wanted nothing but a kiss from the girl/boy you once loved’s lips; a slow-moving nostalgic stroll down the riverbank of dreams. Yes, indeed this is a rather lovely candy floss track of a single and should be swooned over now.
ALBUMS/EPs…
Armstrong ‘Happy Graffiti’
(Country Mile)
The long-awaited album by Julian Pitt aka Armstrong is upon us, and as you expect from a man who has melody oozing, yes, oozing from his pores, it is a tuneful delight. As I have mentioned many times in past reviews, Julian is one of the finest songwriters in the United Kingdom at the moment and has been for many years: one of music’s best kept secrets in fact.
Happy Graffiti is his third album proper not counting comps and reissues, and anyone with the good taste to have his other two excellent albums will not be disappointed. Songs of love, hope and heartbreak are dispatched with some aplomb; Bacharach and David, Jim Webb, Roddy Frame, David Gates eat your breaking hearts out! These are songs that should be drifting from radio 2: ‘Eyes Wide Open’ a song of pure heart-breaking beauty, and ‘In A Memory’ a piano ballad that has me thinking of the sweetness of the Zombies mighty opus Odyssey And Oracle.
These are songs that are wrapped in a comfort blanket of familiarity, even if you’ve never heard them before; ‘This One’ being stuck in my head even after just one listen, and Happy Graffiti is full of these tuneful blighters: ‘Rock Star Rock Star’ and even the piano instrumental ‘Days turn Into Months’ is melody ridden.
So, Happy Graffiti is an album of melodious delight, an album to soundtrack the days and months as winter turns to Spring and hope and loss merge into beautiful memories.
Sky Diving Penguins ‘S-T’
The Sky Diving Penguins album is one joyous pop thrill; an album that takes its Beatles, Nirvana, Zombies influences and makes an album that could have been released anytime over the last 50 years. Timeless is the word I’m looking for. Melodies float and quiver, at times reminding me of the Rentals or Fountains Of Wayne.
Sure, this is not the most original and ground-breaking albums that will be released this year and there will be hundreds if not thousands released that tread the same ground that wander the same Weary path, but I doubt I will hear as many as good and enjoyable as this. So, recommended to all you power poppers and lovers of sixties influenced pop, and anyone who’s god is George Harrison, should indeed investigate.
The Conspiracy ‘Sword Of Damocles’
(Metal Postcard Records) 14th January 2022
Do you remember the days when guitar music was the be all and end all in your life? I do, but then I’m of that age when all parts of your body start to lose its appeal, but your memories stand firm and wrap themselves in a mist of melodies coveted by nostalgia, which one dips and makes themselves open to the grace of growing old. And this five track EP has the same magical effect: Guitar songs that are well written and played and wrap themselves in a time when guitar songs could change your world or even just make it a more enjoyable place to exist or even live sometimes. An EP to cherish and hold close to your aching old heart.
Pulco ‘Crustacean Theory’
14th February 2022
If experimental art pop is your thing, you could do a hell of a lot worse than treating yourself to the new Pulco album; an album where poetry, discordant synth, occasional Fall like guitar and bass riffs collide with The Shaggs brilliance to upturn an already upturned apple cart, to set fire to an already burning building. This is the sound of a man stretching his art to new and extreme levels of bewitchery; a man arguing with himself knowing both sides of the argument being right: knowing that this album is an off-the-cuff work of pop poetry that will not break through the stagnant stench of so called alternative music scene.
For Pulco is a one off and people really do not appreciate one offs: they scare people you see. This is an album of real life, of dreams of nightmares of walking through a picturesque country landscape to see trees full of hanging Swans dripping with a deathly decaying beauty, which again is a perfect metaphor for this wonderful eccentric work of aural art.
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