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Friday 23 December 2011

2011 And All That


Im struggling to decide if lists of things like a best of etc or shite that people have done in the year are cool or not?
 maybe they aren't as im sure some bloggers use them to announce to the world how cool they think they are... answer: not very..... i think i might stick up some random shit that iv done this year anyway... its been fucked up and fantastic in equal measures!!

1. Football and specifically Barnsley FC

There is something amazing about travelling the length and breadth of the country on a train , on a Saturday , with your mates... Usually the game is insignificant to the days happenings even though its the only reason for actually getting out of bed that day, it will rain, il spend shed loads of cash and my team will lose, but you know what , il still do it the week after because i cant give up.. just one more hit... just one more goal scored by a player who doesn't really care if im watching as he's pocked his 20 grand this week.. still its all about the journey...........

2. Some Bands 

You know how you feel when you hear the opening guitar line from your favourite song of your favourite band.... that feeling you wouldn't swap for anything else in the world at that time... i thank you this year for Carter USM, The Wonder Stuff, Pop Will Eat Itself , Inspiral Carpets, some new bands who dont actually mean all that much to me right now but might do in 20 years time, just the way Happy Mondays or the Stone Roses do, some more who iv forgotten now but will remember in 20 minutes....




i think il stop now.... i was going to stretch this useless post out to a magical 3 but i think 2 is kinda funny.... there is plenty more good things that have happened but as i said at the start... lists are a bit shit aren't they ! 

peace out xx

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Melys - Life's Too Short


Melys came form deepest darkest Wales , Betws - Y - Coed to be precise and were firm favourite's of the late, great John Peel , an earlier single release called Chinese Burn had been No.1 in the peel festive fifty

Lifes Too Short was to be the bands last album and its a fitting testament, It contains in songs in Welsh and English , not at the same time though which would be pretty cool dont you think !?!

Thought You Would Never Go
You Want It Deep
Skating
Diywyd
Eyeliner
Treading Water
Y Dr Yn Y Mor
How High Is The Mighty Fall
Casino El Camino
Stori Elen
Its All Been Said And Done


Monday 19 December 2011

The Beta Band - The Three EP's


The Beta Band were a folk pop group well before Mumford and Sons made it cool... A little too weird and wonderful to be mainstream successes however this is what people loved them for... gigs often took on a spiritual happening with the band swapping instruments as they went along 

The 3 EP's is just that.... a collection of the first 3 EP's the band released, Champion Versions , The Patty Patty Sound and Los Amigos Del Beta Banditos.

Dry The Rain
I Know
B + A 
Dogs Got A Bone
Inner Meet Me
The House Song
Monolith
She's The One
Push It Out
It's Over
Dr Baker
Needles In My Eyes


Tuesday 13 December 2011

Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand

Robert Pollard's Guided By Voices never ceased to amaze me, or just about everyone who has heard the records... Bee Thousand was recorded outside of the normal studio environment using 4 track demo's and almost single handed coined the phrase lo-fi , each song took around half an hour to record and in total the whole album took 3 days!

 Bee Thousand was influenced by the 4 P's of rock music.... Pop, Punk, Prog and Psychedelia and went on to be the greatest album you've never heard.......dont believe me ? Take a look below or just have a listen for yourself.... i know you wont be disappointed 

PublicationCountryAccoladeYearRank
SpinUnited StatesBest Albums of 1994199410
The Village VoiceUnited StatesAlbum of the Year - Critics Pick19948
Alternative PressUnited StatesThe 90 Greatest Albums of the '90s199863
Pitchfork MediaUnited StatesTop 100 Albums of the 1990s200310
SpinUnited StatesTop 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years200537
Amazon.comUnited StatesThe 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time20091
MojoUnited KingdomThe 100 Greatest Albums of Our Lifetime 1993–2006    200680

Hardcore UFO's
Buzzards And Dreadful Crows
Tractor Rape Chain
The Goldheart Mountain Top Queen Directory
Hot Freaks
Smothered In Hugs
Yours to Keep
Echos Myron
Gold Star For Robot Boy
Awful Bliss
Mincer Ray
A Big Fan Of The Pigpen
Queen Of Cans And Jars
Her Psychology Today
Kicker Of Elves
Ester's Day
Demons Are Real
I Am A Scientist
Peep Hole
Your Not An Airplane


Sunday 11 December 2011

Vex - Frontiers And New Technologies


Late 90's space rock?? repetition , Terry Bickers, Levitation , Ohm Records...  How about i let you decide however i think you will find this is just fantastic...

Vex came from Portsmouth , formed from the ashes of Amazing Windmills first came Velcro... soon to be Vex after a rather large fastening company got all upset with this particular bunch of Portsmouth upstarts.

However more about the music, comparisons to early Verve and Spacemen 3 were often thrown out by lazy reviewers, Vex rattled along referencing noise, sound and space in equal measures this was no ordinary guitar rock album. Almost futuristic this should get played whenever lunar landings or missions to mars are planned!

check out the Vex history, discography , scrapbook and reviews on the Deleirum records home page here

Frontiers
Flies In Amber
Heidelberg Speedmaster
New Technology
Jim Watches Over Us
Sound Of Life
Tzarcophagus
Omnia and Satori
Cheung Ta Ta Cheung

The Wonder Stuff - Never Loved Elvis


Released 20 years ago in 1991.... Wow just writing that makes me feel a little old ! Eat Junk has seen The Wonder Stuff five times this year already and is making it seven next week with gigs in Birmingham and London, celebrating this release the band are going to play it in full... Seems a good idea to me and although its sometimes seen as a cheap way of selling out gigs without any new tunes classic albums deserve recognition... and a classic this surely is.... 

The third full length release after Eight Legged Grove Machine and Hup, Never Loved Elvis was the breakthrough the band deserved , Mouthy front man Miles Hunt had been a star in his own head for years by the way!! And yea im sure you all know about Size of a Cow and that but if you haven't heard this before take a few minutes to listen to my favourite song Mission Drive or Here Comes Everyone... fantastic

Only Miles Hunt and Malc Treece remain from the original line up however the addition this year of Fuzz Towshend the band is becoming something of a midlands super group! id actually go as far to say the band are playing better now than they did 20 years ago , probably helped by not being pissed all the time!

Mission Drive
Play
False Start
Welcome To The Cheap Seats
Size Of A Cow
Sleep alone 
Donation
Inertia
Maybe
Grotesque
Here Comes Everyone
Caught In My Shadow
38 Line Poem
The Takin' Is Easy
Will The Circle Be Unbroken
That's Entertainment
Me, My Mum, My Dad And My Brother

Wednesday 7 December 2011

World of Twist - Quality Street

W

A great album by a truly great band... read more about the band , its members and pretty much everything else here


I saw World Of Twist at Sheffield University on the coat tails of the baggy era around 1991, a band called Rig supported and it probably cost about 3 quid to get in! From what i remember Tony Ogden was a genuine superstar in waiting

Lose My Way
Sons Of The Stage
This Too Shall Pass
Jellybaby
Speed Wine
The Lights
On The Scene
Sweets
The Spring
The Storm
She's A Rainbow
Life And Death


Clor - Clor


Clor was the debut and only album from London post punk's Clor. Released in 2005 it was largely ignored, despite being critically acclaimed throughout the music press, tours with Maximo Park and Art Brut failed to get the band noticed despite this being on major label Parlophone. The bands angular sound didn't fit well with the times and probably wasn't easy to pigeonhole, 

The album was voted in an NME poll in 2010 as "The greatest album you've never heard" !!! that's a pretty good reason to have a listen now i think...

The band split soon after in 2006 and nothing really of note has been heard of the band members since , you can find some information here

Good Stuff
Outlines
Love + Pain
Hearts On Fire
Gifted
Stuck In A Tight Spot
Dangerzone
Magic Touch
Making You All Mine
Garden Of Love
Goodbye


Tuesday 29 November 2011

Geneva - Weather Underground


Forgive my ignorance but i never knew this album existed until yesterday! Geneva's second album and follow up to "Further" this doesn't seem to hit the heights on first listen but i think its probably one of those albums they call growers!

Dollars In The Heavens
If You Have To Go
Killing Stars
Museum Mile
Amnesia Valley
Morricone
Guidance System
Cassie
Rockets Over California
A Place In The Sun
Have You Seen The Horizon Lately?


Sunday 27 November 2011

Terris - Learning To Let Go


Terris were NME cover stars of 2000 and a band that headlined gigs with Coldplay supporting , NME Tours and countless other big venues.... then released this and promptly fucked off..

Its a shame as the front man Gavin Goodwin was full of grandiose statements of intent that always made me smile, Self belief was never a problem for this lot. I actually think Fabricated Lunacy makes it into the top 20 of most played songs too on my generic mp3 music player that could or could not have been made my apple.

They came from Newport South Wales (not from the stars) Home of Goldie Lookin' Chain and 60FT Dolls, so a place that hasn't had much to shout about in recent times... ok unfair but you know what i mean...

White Gold Way
Fabricated Lunacy
Beneath The Belt
Bonnie
Shapeshifter
Cannibal Kids
Windvane
Petrol Hours
Lost October
Vegetable Days
Midnight Sun
Deliverance


Rude Club - Men In Suits

You're rich and you're cheap..... I like that


Debut single from long lost Manchester noise merchants Rude Club , The Band released 3 singles and were then dropped with an album ready to be released.... boy would i love to hear that now!!

Jane the singer from Rude Club now records in a band called Ernest + Tom and a review of her debut gig can be found here

Back to Rude Club anyway , Men In Suits growls along and then explodes into a wailing wall of noise that frankly could strip paint off walls... The drummer despite looking like a bar room bouncer practically barrels this along, matched by Jane's guttural, at time feral voice.... not fucking bad if you ask me.....

there is not really too much on the net about Rude Club but if you do some digging on myspace and youtube there's enough to give you a flavour of a band who never reached there potential or there audience 

Saturday 26 November 2011

Whipping Boy - Heartworm


What night have been.... "When We Were Young" ?? 

Indeed some of wonder about the every day but hey... there in an amazing review of this album over on amazon if you can be arsed going over there to read it , im not going to paste it here as its obviously written by a fan and might not be your take on it... suffice to say this is actually quite good in a could have, should have been massive kinda way.... 

Twinkle
When We Were Young
Tripped
The Honeymoon Is Over
We Don't Need Nobody Else
blinded
Personality
Users
Fiction

Six By Seven - Closer C4 Documentary 2000

Six.By Seven talk about there early years, play a few live tracks and generally make a fucking fantastic racket....


I really dont care ,stop talking at me !! 

Friday 25 November 2011

The Long Blondes - Couples


Second and last album from Sheffield's The Long Blondes , now Sheffield has spawned the world some fantastic music, often pioneers in the field of electro and dance music, The long Blondes however come on a second rate Blondie with out the killer tunes... they did have a couple of good tunes , but i think they used them on their first album :)  actually im probably being a little unfair there! il let you decide.......

Century
Guilt
The Couples
I Liked The Boys
Here Comes The Serious Bit
Round The Hairpin
Too Clever By Half
Erin O Conner
Nostalgia
Im Going To Hell

Thursday 24 November 2011

Inspiral Carpets - Your So Good For Me


Have it large !! 


How good is this ??
that's a rhetorical question by the way as its fucking fantastic....

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Dub War - Words of Warning


Released on small time Newport / Bristol record Label "Words of Warning" this was a tape only release (anyone under 25 ask your dad!) around 1993 / 1994... i think mine wore out it was played that much!

Frontman Benji was and still is amazing, iv blogged on this already elsewhere so il leave you to enjoy this slab of ragga, rock, dub punk metal... and if you have 5 minutes which im sure you have go check out the Skindred webpage here

Original Murder
Crack
Psycho System 
Words of Warning
Crack D Dub
Dub War

Blaggers ITA - Bad Karma


Quite how Blaggers ITA ended up a major label is anyone's guess! Here is the only album they released on EMI / Parlophone ,  it was actually to be bands last, 1994 was the year and from roots in political activism and anti fascist action the Blaggers absolutely smashed it.... Live they played with bands such as the Manic Street Preachers, themselves full of political idealism at the time and of course Chumbawamba and the fearsome Dub War

The Hits
1994
Mantrap
Bad Karma
Famine Queen
Stresss
Abandon Ship
Nation 
Garden Of Love
Slam
Hate Generator
Oxygen
Josephine Baker

Friday 18 November 2011

Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine - 101 Damnations


Eat Junk is off to Brixton Academy again on saturday night to see one the greatest bands of the last 20 years, you dont believe me? Well no bollocks or bull here's why......


The Road To Domestos
Every Time A Church Bell Rings
An All American National Sport
Sheriff Fatman
The Taking Of Peckham 123
Crimestoppers A Go Go
Good Grief Charlie Brown
Midnight On Murder Mile
A Perfect Day To Drop The Bomb
G.I Blues

Sunday 13 November 2011

You Should Read This............ This About Sums It Perfectly



Spotlight Kid - Departure


Spotlight Kid were formed by ex Six.By Seven drummer Chris Davis and local singer Katty Heath around 2005 , this was released in 2006 and ticked all the boxes for those interested in shoegazing and feedback, 

Rather interestingly if you check the bands website here the new album entitled "Disaster Tourist" released this month in 2011 is listed as there debut.... kinda strange but this album should not be forgotten or consigned to history....

Never's Too Soon
Machines
Cant Let Go
Hungover
Seefeel
Liquid Coloured
A Million Ways
Spit
Electric forecast
Time Goes Slow
We The People

Saturday 12 November 2011

The Wendys - Gobbledygook



If timing truly is the key then The Wendys had the ultimate misfortune of releasing this weeks before Factory  Records went tits up ! Like many of the bands around at the time and especially signed to Factory The Wendys were touted as the next Happy Mondays / New Order cash cow that Antony Wilson was desperately looking for, even though they actually came across as a poor mans Stone Roses.  

Taken out of that context this is actually a pretty cool record and stands the test of time quite easily. just like the last album posted by the Paris Angels this has one great single in "pulling my fingers off" which often finds itself on those compilations you used to find for a quid in the bargain bin of woolies!

Somethings Wrong Somewhere
Pulling My Fingers Off 
Half Blind
Suckling
Removal
Gobbledygook
I Want You and I Want Your Friend
Soon Is Fine
Half Pie
I Feel Lovely
The Suns Going to Shine For Me Soon


Wednesday 9 November 2011

Paris Angels - Sundew


Remembered (if they're remembered at all?) for 'Perfume', One of the greatest singles of all time.... FACT........ The Paris Angels were a much better band than their 'baggy also-ran' status would suggest. With the right bit of luck and application they could have broken out of the scene and become massive, they deserved to be.. If this was to be their only album released, roumers are there is a second un released album out there somewhere, its as good as anything of its time....

01 Eternity
02 Fade
03 Smile
04 Slippery Man
05 What Goes on
06 Perfume (All on You)
07 Louise
08 Breathless
09 Chaos (Stupid Stupid)
10 Purest Values
11 Oh Yes

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Gang Of Four - Entertainment


Post Punk from Leeds... released in 1979 so i missed out first time round , cant stop playing this now, that about says all you need to know.......

Flowered Up - A Life with Brian


London's answer to the Happy Mondays? I dont think so either but lazy journalism at the time of this release didn't really help...  This stands the test of time and on listening the other day was actually surprised how fresh it still sounds....its a shame weekender never made it onto this original release though :) 

Sunshine
Take It
Crackerjack
Mr Happy Reveller
Hysterically Blue
Its On
Silver Pan
Phobia
Egg Rush
Doris Is A Little bit Partial

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Chumbawamba - Anarchy


This coat my royal gown, a stolen hand me down, no need to scrape and bow, we can be heroes now, for more than just one day, here's how...........

LOOK BOTH WAYS WHEN CROSSING ROADS
DONT WEAR SLIPPERS TILL YOUR OLD
NEVER DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD
NEVER DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD

wise words indeed and a cracking album cover that was worth the money alone!


Give The Anarchist a Cigarette
Timebomb
Homophobia
On Being Pushed
Heaven / Hell
Love Me
Georgina
Doh!
Blackpool Rock
This Years Thing
Mouthful Of Shit
Never Do What You Are Told
Bad Dog
Enough Is Enough
Rage


The Smiths - The Smiths


With all the expectation around The Stone Roses reformation what price a Smith Reunion?? No amount of money in the world apparently but you never know..... a debut album as good as anything released 

Reel Around the Fountain
You've Got Everything Now
Miserable Lie
Pretty Girls Make Graves
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Still Ill
Hand in Glove
What Difference Does It Make?
I Don't Owe You Anything
Suffer Little Children


Saturday 29 October 2011

Hell is for Heroes - The Neon Handshake


Hell is for Heroes! indeed lets hope it is... HIFH as probably only me call them formed out of the ashes of Symposium in the late 90's / early 00's, is early 00's actually a time? it never looks quite right! anyway onto the band , they were friends,contempories and often touring partners of Biffy Clyro amongst others, bit of a difference now eh lads? This album is kinda sums up the time quite nicely though, post hardcore...indie rock etc etc.The band had a fearsome live reputation which meant gigs were rammed and this album sold well, it was actually voted in the all time top 100 rock albums ever in Kerrang magazine..... good though it is i doubt it would make the top 1000 if the vote ran now! 

Five Kids Go
Out Of Sight
night Vision
Cut Down
Few Against Many
Three Of Clubs
I Can Climb Mountains
Disconnector
You Drove Me To It
Slow Song
Sick Happy 
Retreat


Wednesday 26 October 2011

Manchester , Tony Wilson , Factory Records.... The Truth !!

Is this the most amazing thing you've ever seen??? 

For those who don't already know the story of Anthony H Wilson and Factory Records , and for those who do..... this is a must watch....



Walk, In silence
don't walk away, In silence
See the danger , Always danger
Endless talking, Life rebuilding
Dont walk away

Munroe Effect - Ultraviolenceland


Munroe Effect - Schizophrenic post hardcore with passages of relentless noise. melded with brooding intimate melody.... sounds f'kin ace to me, fans of Biffy Clyro and Oceansize will not be disappointed... on tour in November as well.... .result !! 











Monday 24 October 2011

Ultrasound - Welfare State


I got a comment about previous Ultrasound Album Everything Picture which sent me off in search of the video for the new single.... here it is in all its live glory..... and you know what?..........its fantastic..... but of course you knew it would be........

The Truth: Ultrasound consist of Andrew ‘Tiny’ Wood (vocals / guitars), Richard James Green (guitars / vocals), Vanessa Best (bass / vocals), Bob Birch (keyboards) and Andy Peace (drums). On July 14th and 15th our favourite prog dreamers took over the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town for two special sold-out nights of hectically expansive midsummer rock perambulations. On Monday 29th August they will be releasing their first new material for over ten years in the form of a Label Fandango double AA-side release, which features two songs, ‘Welfare State’ and ‘Sovereign’, which are so enormously ambitious and, well, bloody long that no seven inch single known to mankind can contain them. So it will be coming out on 10” vinyl. Which is brilliantly, typically Ultrasound.
Flashback to the end of the previous century: five people are onstage at a filthily sweating Falcon in 1997. They are making an extraordinarily cosmic rock sound where songs seem to last for light years with so many peaks and troughs and pop-battered pockmarks one can barely guess where the next power chord is going to come from. Except that most of the 200 people with the dropped jaws in the Camden back room do know when that next power chord is arriving because Ultrasound have been the worst-kept secret on London’s toilet circuit for months. And, as well as preaching to the converted tonight, they are also reaching out to some of the mightiest Presidential players in the A&R firmament, who are metaphorically waving comedy-sized chequebooks. It’s prog. It’s proper. It’s panic. It’s Punk Floyd. It’s Ultrasound, and it’s about to end in tears.
In hindsight it seems pretty darned amazing that Ultrasound’s gargantuan, cloud-clawing rock ever flustered a general public in thrall to Damon Albarn’s barnet and Liam Gallagher’s trousers. But consider that Ultrasounds annus mirablis – as such – was 1999, when the likes of Coldplay, Doves, Elbow and Muse all starting breaking through, and perhaps these outsiders had more in common with the mainstream than we suspected. Crucially, when Ultrasound were good, they were mind blowing. When times were bad, cosmic butterfly-in-Singapore logic dictated that things for the Ultrasound would go insanely awful. Just as their music was larger-than-life so everything else in the world of Ultrasound suddenly, dramatically became hugely magnified. The dog-friendly record deal with Nude was amazing. The acclaim was feverish. The attention was hectic. And the whole lurid circus quickly began to take its toll, particularly with the horribly elongated album recording sessions. It seemed the whole world wanted them, which made them paranoid and suspicious of everyone else, but mainly of each other. As the band were finding it increasingly hard to communicate with each other, behind the scenes the rags-to-riches fairytale was being usurped by something more akin to carrier-bags-to-bitching.
The album ‘Everything Picture’ came out in 1999 and was lauded by the press and public, reaching number 23 in the UK album charts. Too soon after the pressures took their toll and whilst playing festivals and working on their third single release the band finally disintegrated. Their ambition in the early days was to stay together just long enough to release an album. In this they had succeeded. They now wouldn’t play on the same stage again for a decade.
So far, so rock’n’roll. Then, at the end of 2009, out of the proverbial blue bassist Vanessa received an e-mail from Bic Hayes asking if Ultrasound would consider re-forming to play a Tim Smith benefit gig. The Cardiacs were a catalyst for the creation of Ultrasound the first time around and so it was an easy decision for them to make. A tentative rehearsal led to victorious comeback live shows and, slightly amazingly, highly productive recording sessions. Before even they knew it themselves the Ultrasound ball was rolling again, and the widescreen passion of ‘Welfare State’ / ‘Sovereign’ is testament to that epic momentum.
Fast forward to 2010: five people are onstage at a gently perspiring Bull & Gate. They are making an extraordinarily cosmic rock sound where songs seem to last for light years with so many peaks and troughs and pop-battered pockmarks one can barely guess where the next power chord is going to come from. Except that most of the 200 people with the massive grins in the Kentish Town back room do know when that next power chord is arriving because they are hearing ‘Same Band’ and ‘Stay Young’ and ‘Suckle’ for the first time for a decade. No major label presidents, no comedy chequebooks, just a lot of amazement and not a little bit of love. It’s Ultrasound, and this time it’s not going to end in tears.




Thursday 20 October 2011

Kingmaker - Eat Yourself Whole


Early 90's next big things Kingmaker.... this was there first album and probably the best, touted as the band the break America they even had Radiohead support them... nice.. and in two headed yellow bellied hole digger they had one the best titled singles in history....... dont ya think like ??

Where you Stand
When Lucy's Down
Hard Times
Loveless/Defamed
Eat Yourself Whole
Freewheeling
Revelation
Two Headed Yellow Bellied Hole Digger
Lady Shakespeare's Bomb
High as a Kite


Monday 17 October 2011

Zwan - Mary Star of the Sea

Zwan were a short lived supergroup centered around lead man Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, Released in 2003 this was actually pretty good but never achieved the sales or the indie kudos of their  previous bands efforts... a shame really... Billy went on to reform Smashing Pumpkins once the cash had ran out probably and the bands ego's let them....

  1. "Lyric" – 3:17
  2. "Settle Down" – 5:26
  3. "Declarations of Faith" – 4:18
  4. "Honestly" – 3:45
  5. "El Sol" – 3:38
  6. "Of a Broken Heart" – 3:55
  7. "Ride a Black Swan" – 4:54
  8. "Heartsong" – 3:08
  9. "Endless Summer" – 4:22
  10. "Baby Let's Rock!" – 3:41
  11. "Yeah!" – 3:06
  12. "Desire" – 4:15
  13. "Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea" – 14:04
  14. "Come with Me" – 4:01


Saturday 15 October 2011

Nicky Wire - I Killed The Zeigeist


I dont think this gets the credit it deserved at the time,  released in 2006 when the manics were pretty uncool in the eyes of the music press it got largely ignored! ah well have a listen now... Talking of the manics it looks as if they are about to exit stage left pretty soon... they play a massive gig covering all there 40 singles pretty soon... will be a fantastic night!!


Thursday 13 October 2011

Be Bop Deluxe - Drastic Plastic


South Yorkshire 70's post rock.... f'kin awesome name , f'kin awesome band and a f'kin awesome album..... if you dont mind me saying of course..... have a read through the blurb below or alternatively just crack on with the tunes.... its probably for the best !  

Bill Nelson has never been content simply to tread water by repeating a previously successful formula, and the transformation of his band Be Bop Deluxe from straight rock to post-punk minimalism is completed with this, their final album before he split the group and formed the experimental but short-lived Red Noise. After the guitar excesses of Axe Victim and Futurama, Be Bop began to attract attention in the USA, and Nelson, who's no fool, must have realised there was a good chance of his band becoming very big over there had he continued in the same vein. To his credit, he put artistic integrity and his desire to experiment ahead of the lure of the dollar, and Drastic Plastic, released in 1978, is certainly very different from those first two albums four years earlier, although 1976's Modern Music had showed the direction in which the band was heading. Even so, the album must have surprised many fans; the word "drastic" is not misplaced. The tender lyrics directed towards his wife Jan have largely been replaced by descriptions of a confusing and sometimes frightening new world. Musically, it's stark, black and white, with most tracks having a relentless rhythm that's repetitive, but never in a boring way; rather, one feels comforted by the hypnotic feel. Electrical Language welcomes you in, its lyrics consisting of the same four lines repeated, mantra-like. After two more fairly intense songs, there's some light relief given by the delightfully odd Surreal Estate, with its see-sawing, piano-led tune and Whistle While You Work coda. Love in Flames is the hardest, most aggressive and guitar-based track, somehow reminding me of early Stranglers. Panic in the World and Dangerous Stranger, the former borrowing the riff from Bowie's Heroes, continue the "Brave New 1984" theme, then comes the extraordinary Superenigmatix, subtitled Lethal Appliances for the Home with Everything, in which machines have apparently taken us over. Its lilting piano is abruptly hijacked by barked, staccato lyrics. A dramatic change of style arrives with the slow, hesitant instrumental Visions of Endless Hopes, recorded outdoors. Listening to its fragile, fractured beauty, you can almost feel the sun's warmth. The respite is brief, however: Possession returns us to crisp, rapid rhythms and more paranoia about inanimate objects ("I think machines and clocks have secret motives") then comes what was the final track on the original album, Islands of the Dead, written by Nelson as a reaction to the death of his father. It's a slow, gentle song, mixing sadness and hope, and is quite a relief, an easing of all the tension that's preceded it. The three bonus tracks rather spoil the feel of the album (my advice would be to listen to them separately from the rest) although they are all worthwhile, particularly Blimps, a strange, doom-laden instrumental that sounds like an attacked piano crying for help. Even if it were a musical failure (it certainly isn't), Drastic Plastic would still deserve great credit for the sheer bravery of its change of style from previous works. Few other albums have shown a comparable shift: Sergeant Pepper, of course, Talking Heads' Remain in Light, Bowie's Low....Talking of which, the NME once said of Low that however long ago it was made, it would always sound like the future. No less a compliment can be paid to this album.

Drop Nineteens - Delaware


Back in 1991 - 92 I loved pretty much all of what the so called shoegazer movement had to offer (im a sucker for a genre!) The gorgeous walls of sounds My Bloody Valentine produced without seemingly any effort at all, the soothing harmonies and fragile vocals of Slowdive and the rugged beauty of the Boo Radleys.. yes before you go on they were shoegaze and don't even talk to me about wake up boo!!  This album from unknown and unsigned Boston (home of the Pixies) band The Drop Nineteens soon became one my favorites of the era, Its hard to describe exactly so i wont il let you listen to it instead........ and the band were not even from the Thames valley! what would the NME say !! 

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Mucky Pup - Alive and Well


Alive & Well is the first live album by Mucky Pup.The album was released in 1993, under their own imprint, Mucky Records, through SPV Music exclusively in Europe. While primarily a collection of live tracks recorded during their 1993 tour of Europe., the album also contains a demo version of "The Skinheads Broke My Walkman" from the Act of Faith album, as well as cover versions of Prince's "Darling Nikki" and Sade's "Nothing Can Come Between Us". New additions to the lineup were Eric "EVS" VanSteenbergh and former Ludichrist and Scatterbrain member, Glen Cummings, who became a part time member of the band.


Thursday 6 October 2011

Man or Astroman - Made From Technetium



Made From Technetium is the fifth full-length studio album by Man or Astro-man?. In an interview, bassist Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard joked that the album "was, in fact, made from technetium" and had caused cancer in a number of listeners!! ... Its a magnificent combination of 50s B-Movie Sci-Fi and Instrumental Surf blended with 60s Garage Punk. Perhaps the most original band of the 1990s Surf revival.

Message from the Cd
Lo Batt
Jonathan Winters Frankenstein
Don't Think What Jack
Junk Satellite
A Saucerful of Sucrets
10 Years After World War 4
Breathing Iron Oxide
Muzak for Cybernetics
Structo -Mr Microphone Mixup
The Sounds Waves Reversing
Theoretical Sounds of Slow Motion
Static Cling
Evert L Pipkin
Weightless at Zero Return
Quasi Man

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Psylons - Psylons Is Golden


Psylons Is Golden is the first album by Portsmouth's Psylons released in 1988. It was released on cassette only by bite back, and features a sample of DJ John Peel before the first track suggesting that if they ever recorded an album they should call it  Psylons Is Golden... Which they of course did !

The Psylons were a UK post-punk band formed in Portsmouth 1984 by Keith Wyatt, Carl Edwards, Jack Packer and Warren Grech. The band produced four singles, an EP and two albums, the second of which, “Gimp” was produced by Jim Shaw of Cranes. The debut single “Run To The Stranger” was a New Musical Express Single of the Week and reached number 13 in the Alternative/Indie chart. Two sessions were recorded for BBC Radio One and broadcast on the John Peel and Andy Kershaw shows.Over the next few years the band gigged extensively and supported many acts including The Fall, My Bloody Valentine, Cranes, Spiritualized and Moonshake.


What Do They Care?
Push Him Away
Stephen Drowning
No Time Like Now
The Cut
Waiting Nation"

Cranes - Self , Non Self


The best 4AD band who never actually signed to 4AD...

Cranes were/are from Portsmouth and there early releases were on local label Bite Back, they eventually signed to dedicated records


“Is that Mister Peel?” His voice was unmistakeable. “That song you just played from Cranes’ Self Non Self EP on Bite Back! Records… Err, it was at the wrong speed, I’ve got a promo copy…” After checking, Peel politely told the caller it was a 45rpm 12”; He'd been playing it at the wrong speed...... excellent !!

Alison Shaw’s voice is strange, though. “Like a baby crying in a toolbox” is one description, but “a helium whisper” is nicer. Back in 1989, Portsmouth scene “rivals” The Mild Mannered Janitors wrote Fuckin’ Ethereal, a song about Cranes and the press attention they received. Their association with The Cure (Robert Smith’s Jewel remix transforms it to a thing of even more beauty) led to a misplaced “gothic” tag. Cranes are beyond categorisation, though. Their strange rhythm-and-drum patterns are like malfunctioning clockwork heartbeats. Just when they settle into a gentle, brooding mood with Satie-like piano motifs, a more percussive disorientating piece will change things. Their 1991 full length debut is the more challenging, and includes selections from the Bite Back! days. 1993’s Forever is more accessible, however, and has the Robert Smith remix. Both are music to sleepwalk and have nightmares to.

One From the Slum
Joy Lies Within
Heaven or Bliss
Beach Mover
Focus Breathe
Fuse
Reach (Live)
Nothing in the Middle, Nothing at the End