2012 and all that...

So like a really important blog and that we come the the eat junk end of year awards! 

Im going for my top 3 gigs of the year in no particular order...... 

1. CARTER USM at Brixton Acadamy Nov 2012

Sheer unadulterated joy. Words can't explain how good Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine were this year, I won't even try to begin to tell you,  suffice to say if that was the end then it was exactly how all endings should be.... Loud and utterly glorious ! 

2. STONE ROSES at Heaton Park June 2012

Well we waited 16 years.... fuck me it was worth it. 

Iv'e never felt so excited, or felt an atmosphere of excitement like it before. it was only 4 blokes on stage but wow, when mani's bass kicked off adored i don't care where else on earth i have been or where else i could have been, right there at that time all i needed was happening around me. it was perfect in every way.

and that will do , there were plenty of other gigs but thinking about putting them in any sort of list is giving me a headache....  and all top 3's are shite yea...

Neds Atomic Dustbin were incredibly good, nearly as good as carter actually!!

Reverend and the Makers weren't shite... which was a surprise

Pop will Eat Itself were noisy and pretty special

The Wonder Stuff never fail me and never will

Hadouken were bonkers, im too old!

Happy Mondays were on form and Shaun was sober!

Inspiral Carpets went back to there old singer and were better for it

Primal Scream roped in Debbie from MBV. proper proper good

The Vaccines ripped off the Libertines

Martin Rossitor released the album of the year and played one of the great gigs

and iv missed loads but hey I can't go on all night , some were good some were great , others were average, 

Support Live Music yea!! 

Spearmint - A week Away

Fronted by the somewhat unfortunately named Shirley Lee, Spearmint are one of the few truly "indie" bands, sorting out the producing and designing for themselves. 

This lends their first proper album a pleasing quality that is half slapdash schoolboy enthusiasm, half obstinate loner spirit. The heavy Motown and Northern Soul influences hinted at in the first two tracks burst out all over the exuberant "Sweeping The Nation", a tribute to all the bands who never made it. 

The lyrics are pure look-on-the-bright-side philosophy, although this doesn't stop a couple of more melancholy gems from sneaking in (the sweet "A Third Of My Life" and the ambitious "You Are Still My Brother"). Shamelessly stealing from the Style Council and even New Order in places, and throwing in the occasional obscenity (skip "Start Again" if you're easily offended)

Spearmint are sometimes haphazard but always endearing.

Week Away

Isn't It Great To Be Alive

Sweeping The Nation

Third Of My Life

We're Going Out

Start Again

Best Ballroom

You Carry This With You

Trip Into Space

It Won't Be Long Now

Making You Laugh

You Are Still My Brother

Saturday

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Mega city Four - Tranzophobia

This 1989 debut album release from Farnborough's (that's the Hampshire one) finest, Mega City Four, is a magnificently vibrant slice of post-punk. Sound-wise, the band (for me, at least) have definite echoes of some of the finest punk (OK, those with more of a pop edge) bands, namely, The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers and (even at times) The Ramones. As with a good deal of music from the punk era (and its immediate aftermath) Mega City Four's sound admittedly has relatively little variation, but, of course, The Ramones' early material dispelled any notion that this was a requirement for musical invigoration and/or excellence. What the MC4 (as distinct from the MC5, I guess) did have, however, was a tight rhythm section overlain with Danny Brown's pulsating guitar and brother Darren's (known as Wiz and sadly deceased in 2006) soaring vocal, delivering a series of unadulterated, infectious pop songs.

First up, there are no weak songs on Tranzophobia, pretty much everything has a memorable hook. Subject-wise, the songs deal with the common (punk/indie) music themes of youth angst and rebellion, disillusion with authority and failed relationships. My album favourites would certainly include Paper Tiger, a story of parental rejection penned to possibly the most exquisite melody on the album, Things I Never Said (with its Jimmy, Jimmy-like opening), the classic tale of youth and political disaffection, Occupation, the most overtly political song here about the troubles in Northern Ireland, and Alternative Arrangements, with its infectious (off-)beat and tale of shattered romantic illusions. But, of course, the album standout has to be that tale of youthful realisation, the rollercoaster that is Severe Attack Of The Truth, with its initial battle cry of, 'Stop your grinning and drop your linen'. Marvellous stuff.

Start

Pride And Prejudice

Severe Attack Of The Truth

Paper Tiger

January

Twenty One Again

On Another Planet

Things I Never Said

New Years Day

Occupation

Alternative Arrangements

Promise

What You've Got

Stupid Way To Die

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Keep The Faith

Keep The Faith

Eat Junk is literally moving house, that's like in the real world not moving URL ! 

in the meantime enjoy the Neds

Cud - Elvis Belt

Carter USM kick off a trio of gigs tonight and Eat Junk will be going to the London date as usual on Saturday.. First on the bill at Brixton are Cud, followed by Neds Atomic Dustbin, not bad for the price of one ticket I think you will agree

Originally released in 1990 on Imaginary Records, Elvis Belt was a compilation that gathered all of the Leeds-based band Cud's songs that preceded their first proper album, 1989's When in Rome, Kill Me. Gathering singles dating back to 1987's "Slack Time" with a pair of previously un issued tracks and Cud's contributions to a pair of Imaginary Records' trademark tribute albums (the Kinks' "Lola" and the Bonzo Dog Band's "I'm the Urban Spaceman," both flattened out and speeded up into near oblivion), Elvis Belt showcases the band's sardonic sense of humour and punk-derived D.I.Y. scrappiness in its earliest and crudest forms. By the time of When in Rome, Kill Me, the band had matured a bit lyrically and gained considerably more polish musically.

Slack Time
Make No Bones
Treat Me Bad
Punishment-Reward Relationship
Under My Hat
Lola
Urban Spaceman
Art!
You're The Boss
Only (A Prawn In Whitby)
Hey!Wire (The Stratospheric Mix)
I've Had It With Blondes

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Marion - The Program

An album that was deserving of far greater plaudits. Marion's break up album , released almost without promotion or any great sentiment at the back end of 1998. Produced by former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr the album failed to chart in the UK,( i know thats not always the greatest indication of greatness) but the album did deserve to be listened to by a few more people than it actually did!

Iv blogged elsewhere about the band being back together , lets hope they come back with a killer record and some live gigs

The Smile

Miyako Hideaway (Full Length Mix)

Sparkle

Is That So?

What Are We Waiting For?

Strangers

The Powder Room Plan

The Program

All Of These Days

Comeback

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Stone Roses - 2013

We are all having it yea?? 

For some reason im more relaxed about getting a ticket this year, maybe the 16 year wait meant 2012 was always going to be a massive event with a massive build up, the day came and went in a blur but was truly immense.... I think i'l actually enjoy this year a little bit more.. 

now all we need is a smith re-union right ?

Ooberman - The Magic Treehouse

I had briefly heard of Ooberman in the mid 90's through the single Shorley Wall, I had passed them off as some scouse wierdo's... i shouldn't have been so hasty as this there debut album proves.

 From the opening track to the hidden delights at the end of Silver planet, Ooberman have managed to lay down life, love and all those things that keep the mind young in a 14 track musical treat. Special mention goes to the following tracks, which are a 'must listen' for anyone who has ever loved and been loved by someone special; Track 11) Amazing in Bed & 12) Shorley Wall. The latter was the first track to bring me to the attention of Ooberman and no doubt was for many others too. Further listening confirmed this band have what many other bands have lost..."The desire to write music on what truly matters in life after all the layers of corporate varnish have been stripped away. 'Sur la Plage' gives us the wonderful vocals of Sophia as does 'Shorley Wall', together with the kicking base line in 'Bees' and 'Sugar Bum' gives this album depth and variation as well as melodic menageries such as 'Roll me in Cotton' and 'Roro Blue'.

The whole album is a wonderful mix of musical enlightenment and honest lyrics, which leaves the listener feeling young again and with the feeling they have just discovered something very special. No record collection is complete without it.

Million Suns

Blossoms Falling

Sur La Plage

Roro Blue

Tears From A Willow

Bees

Sugar Bum

Roll Me In Cotton

Physics Disco

Magic Treehouse

Amazing In Bed

My Baby's Too Tall & Thin

Shorley Wall

Silver Planet

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Wire - Pink flag

Like other punk bands Wire strived to re-focus rock from it's growing excesses, but they took that aesthetic a step further. Unlike other artists Wire's aim wasn't a return to rock's roots, but minimalism. Wire didn't approach music as a rock band, but as an art experiment. On Pink Flag, Wire eliminate every extraneous element resulting pure, angular music. While not musically accomplished (in fact, the band members admit they were barely competent technically), Pink Flag contains an astounding variety and depth of creative ideas.

While other punk bands (The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, etc.) acheived notoriety with genuine angst and shock, Wire distinguished themselves through unpredictabilty and vocalist Colin Newman's sly, oft acerbic wit (while oft incomprehensible, he's always compelling). In a sense it seems Wire's limited musicianship actually works to their advantage; since they have limited tools the band is forced to rely soley on ideas and chemistry. The 21 songs on Pink Flag rarely exceed three minutes (most are 1-2 min in duration) and rarely conform to any standard notions of song structure.

With titles like "Field Day for the Sundays", "Three Girl Rhumba", "Ex Lion Tamer", and "Mannequin", many understandably view the songs as minimalist paintings tranformed into music. Arty as Wire can be at times, they're anything but pretentious. Pithy and snobbish as Wire might seem, Pink Flag is remarkably entertaining; it's intense, wryly witty, and at times undeniably funny. Wire's breadth of ideas is remarkable; they cover ground which includes proto-hardcore ("106 Beats That", "Different to Me"), tweaked power-pop ("Reuters", "Champs"), power-blues ("Lowdown"), and even spare texture experiments ("Strange"). "Mr. Suit" is the only marginal track... and it's still pretty enjoyable.

Some have argued that Pink Flag's songs are only fragments, but close analysis reveals Wire's brilliance; each song serves to convey it's ideas as expediently as possible and once this objective is reached it ends immediately. In his Rollingstone review Greil Marcus remarked about the lack of personality on Pink Flag ("You hear cleverness, wit, irony, but not personality."). While this might be accurate the lack of intimacy isn't a problem in the musical context and actually coincides well with Wire's aesthetic . One of the many things that makes Pink Flag unique is it's combination of emotional intensity and vaguely arty distance (which eventually became dominant in their later work). Wire's somewhat impersonal approach also makes Pink Flag transcendent; unlike many late 70s punk bands who focused on the sociopolitical climate, Pink Flag's more esoteric themes (both musical and lyrical) make it vital and relevant 25 years after it's release.

Pink Flag is proudly touted as a profound influence by artists as diverse as Big Black, Sonic Youth, The Minutemen, Elastica ...and REM (who covered a more straight-forward version of "Strange" on their album Document). Wire would later make other ambitious and noteworthy albums (most notably "Chairs Missing" and "154"), but never made another as seminal, ageless, and visionary as Pink Flag.

Reuters

Field Day For The Sundays

Three Girl Rhumba

Ex Lion Tamer

Lowdown

Start To Move

Brazil

It's So Obvious

Surgeon's Girl

Pink Flag

The Commercial

Straight Line

106 Beats That

Mr. Suit

Strange

Fragile

Mannequin

Different To Me

Champs

Feeling Called Love

1 2 X U

Options R

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MC Tunes - The North At Its Heights

MC Tunes.....or Nicholas Lockett to his mum!!

 A genre-defining, time-defining album. Brought to everyone's attention by the synonymous track The Only Rhyme That Bites, listeners to the album were confronted with what can only be described as a blistering assault of hip-hop/rap and gritty reality.

Drugs, death, hard times, politics... all were given vicious-yet-poetic treatment, and all tracks leave such an impression at the time, that each will be forever embedded in your memory. The stark and brutal depiction that is My Own Worst Enemy might be the track that lives longest, though. Even more so than the popular and brilliant chart single tracks (T.O.R.T.B and Tunes Splits The Atom). The depth of feeling in his vocal performances are more than equalled by the song-writing and lyricism. 808 State provided the beats in their trademark understated brilliant fashion.

The Only Rhyme That Bites

This Ain’t No Fantasy

Dance Yourself To Death

Own Worst Enemy

The North At Its Heights

Tunes Splits The Atom

Mancunian Blues

The Sequel

Primary Rhyming

Dub At Its Heights

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Lowgold - Just Backward Of Square

Few debut albums sound as lived-in as Lowgold's Just Backward Of Square, which has a depth of thought, a wealth of experience and an aching that most acts take decades to find. 

As it is, the four--who sound like they are straight out of America's Midwest but come from Poole, St Albans and South London--got it just-so first time round. By rights, their sombre road movie rock should be both demoralising and depressing; certainly, there's very little to smile about in lyrics like "make the most of today/for beauty dies young" ("Beauty Dies Young") and "my lungs may be bleeding/so I breathe in mercury/decay" ("Mercury"). But there's also a hint of hope and a glint of optimism in Darren Ford's voice as he sings these songs of introspection, and a positive and reassuring power to the dragging guitars and plodding bass. 

That there is hope in the darkest tunes is where the maturity and magic of Just Backward Of Square lies. 

Golden Ratio

Beauty Dies Young

Mercury

Out Of Reach

Back Here Again

Counterfeit

Never Alone

In Amber

Open The Airwaves

Less I Offer

Into The Void

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Thousand Yard stare - Live Bootleg EP

I don't often post up singles and EP's but il make an exception here.... This was a 10" 'bootleg' EP by Thousand Yard Stare,Recorded at London's ULU it given away free with the LP Hands On. Never quite understood how it was classed as a bootleg given it was an official release but hey its a treat as live the band were fantastic...  

Anyway lets get to the point

You think Blur invented britpop...... you are wrong my friends. Thousand Yard Stare were forerunners of the britpop scene by at least 3 years.... TYS as im going to call them were lumped in with the shoe gaze scene primarily because they came from the Thames Valley and supported bands such as Ride and Chapterhouse however listen to the debut album Hands On and see where the band were heading... its pure pop heaven strewn with English references, if they had come along 4 years later and drank in the good mixer its a fair bet you would have heard more than 2 albums. As mentioned earlier live the band were amazing so enjoy this, I still do and Buttermouth remains one of my all time top 10 singles.

Twice Times

Village End

Three Doors Down

Buttermouth

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Cake - Fashion Nugget

"Fashion Nugget is the second album by Cake, here's a review , I actually was going to write my own review but its a Tuesday night and im watching football.... you know how it yea ?

This Album is purely sensational, although sensational's probably not the right word. It's great anyhow and you should buy it, here are some reasons why:

1. It's like nothing you've heard before.

2. It's Rock, Funk, Latin, Country, and bits of other flavours all rolled into one.

3. You'll like it too and you'll tell all your friends about it and then write an on-line review of it like this saying how I was right.

4. The lyrics are amazing. It could take years to fully understand what they really mean. There are so many metaphors and complicated words that if John McCrea (Lead Singer) came up to you and said "hello" you'd spend half an hour trying to think about it.

5. You won't put it down. It won't fall to the back of your CD collecion. It'll always be there for you.

6. I haven't seen a single bad review of it.

7. You should read the Amazon.com reviews. The Americans can't get enough of it.

8. I'm sick of commercial bands and although you wouldn't usually associate this with Indie bands like Stereophonics etc. because their music is so different, that's just what it is.

9. It's only rock and roll but I like it.

10. Admit it you can afford it. You never know, it might become you're desert island disc.

Your birthday cake's usually gone within a week but this will last for a long long time.

LISTEN NOW!

Frank Sinatra

The Distance

Friend Is A Four Letter Word

Open Book

Daria

Race Car Ya-Yas

I Will Survive [Cover]

Stickshifts and Safetybelts

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps [Cover]

It's Coming Down

Nugget

She'll Come Back To Me

Italian Leather Sofa

Sad Songs and Waltzes

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Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See

People tend to confuse the band Mazzy Star with it's singer Hope Sandoval. Truth be told, they've been right all along. Sandoval's languid, weeping willow voice is Mazzy Star; the name is a mere formality. With nods to Nico and the Velvet Underground, So Tonight that I Might See is vintage Mazzy. Remarkably, the recording produced a strikingly undanceable single, "Fade into You". The rest of the album sticks close to the single's plaintive, retro balladry. Though Sandoval rarely raises her voice above a sultry whisper, it's bright enough to hold your attention all night

There is absolutely no point in beating about the bush over the fact that Mazzy Star’s second record includes – nay commences with – what must stand as dream-pop’s crowning moment. Fade Into You is a song that has been described many times, forced into romantic context in many a big or small screen venture, yet somehow defies any real attempt to bind it with words.

“I look to you and I see nothing / I look to you to see the truth”; if this really is a love song – and a lot of people have taken that view over the years – then Hope Sandoval’s haunting lyrics posit love as a black, coma-like obliteration. This isn’t a fade into one perfect whole; it’s erasure of the self. Truthfully, though, it’s not clear what Fade Into You is about: Sandoval’s words are cryptic, speaking of emptiness and shadows, some grand psychological disappearing act. It's enigmatic, but almost unutterably beautiful, a languorously uplifting piano figure played over and over, shimmering under lambent slide guitars, something close to yearning in Sandoval’s oft dissonant voice.

It does, of course, unbalance the album, and has certainly given enormous numbers of people the wrong idea about Mazzy Star. Though woozy country trappings and soporific tempos characterise all Sandoval and David Roback’s work, they’re a far artier, more abrasive prospect than the totemic track suggests. So Tonight That I Might See may have less of a bad acid trip Doors vibe than debut She Hangs Brightly, but still: skip to the seven-and-a-half minute title song’s menacing guitar motif, erratic beds of feedback, and Sandoval’s diffuse mumble, and you’re got something more suited to soundtracking Apocalypse Now than The OC.

A cover of Love’s Five String Serenade is the only hooky moment to speak of beyond Fade Into You; this record’s heart lies with the foggy American gothic of Mary of Silence and Blue Light, the woozy, half-asleep country of Bells Ring and Blue Light. It’s an obtuse, atmospheric record, and if it’s inescapably overshadowed by its opening song, then that’s fair enough: nobody writes two of those in a lifetime

Oh and by the way i absolutely hate the words "dream Pop". Thanks :)

Fade into you

Bells ring

Mary of silence

Five string serenade

Blue light

She's my baby

Unreflected

Wasted

Into dust

So tonight that i might see

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Kitchens Of Distinction - Strange Free World

The forerunners of shoegaze????

This is one where persistence really pays off. The thick, swirling, dreamy waves of guitar are prominent on each of Strange Free World's 10 songs and this can be extremely overwhelming on the first listen. However, there are a selection of more immediate, striking numbers within the haze such as Railwayed, Quick As Rainbows and Drive That Fast that will keep drawing you back in and you gradually fall under the spell of the album's remaining tracks. 

Each massive swirl of the oceanic Hypnogogic and Aspray and the sharper, angrier edges of Polaroids will all become the best kind of ear candy, as well as the soundtrack to a perfect summer afternoon view Under The Sky, Inside The Sea. Matures like a good wine and there are no poor or uninspired tracks. For me, this is their best record. (followed by The Death Of Cool which is probably even more of a grower!) If you love to hear how the electric guitar can re-invent itself and tear up the rulebook then give this a go. 

A great record.

Railwayed

Quick as Rainbows

Hypnogogic

He Holds Her, He Needs Her

Polaroids

Gorgeous Love

Aspray

Drive That Fast

Within the Daze of Passion

Under the Sky, Inside the Sea

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Love Amongst Ruin - Love Amongst Ruin

After departing Placebo in October 2007, Steve Hewitt enlisted Lamb bassist Jon Thorne and his brother Nick Hewitt to begin writing and demoing new music at his home studio. Julian Cope collaborator Donald Ross Skinner was brought in to oversee and co-produce the recording sessions and the collective relocated to Moles Studio in Bath for three recording sessions with producer Paul Corkett over the summer of 2008. 

So far so good and nothing too outrageous yet yea .... now here's the catch..... 

The sessions yielded ten songs, on which Steve performed drums and lead vocals. Drums as he had played for bands such as Boo Radleys and famously Placebo for over 10 years is fair enough but now he was to take up singing duties as well... Everyone wants to be Dave Ghrol all of a sudden!! actually this is pretty cool and you should give it a listen.

As an aside Steve has just joined Six.By Seven and taken up drumming again.... cool as...

So sad (fade)

Alone

Running

Heaven & hell

Come on say it

Away from me

Blood and earth

Truth

Home

Love song

Bring me down (you don”t)

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Martin Grech - Open Heart Zoo

The title track of this appeared on a major advertising campaign for Lexus cars which brought Martin Grech loads of press attention, i actually think that track isn't really a fair reflection of actually what he's about! think post rock and metal are a fairer estimate of what you are getting here and you know...you won't be disappointed. I saw him support the excellent Oceansize sometime around 2005, a great gig. 

Here It Comes
Open Heart Zoo
Dalí
Tonight
Push
Only One Listening
Notorious
Penicillin
Catch Up
Twin
Death of a Loved One

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Radial Spangle - Ice Cream Headache

Radial Spangle were epic and intense the way Spiritualized and My Bloody Valentine were, however they got little or no press attention despite releasing 2 great albums inthe early 1990's, I was lucky enough to see them first on the bill supporting Stereolab and the afore mentioned Spiritualized at Portsmouth South Parade Pier , a quirky venue if there ever was one,

This was produced by long term friend and member of Mercury Rev and then The Flaming Lips Dave Fridmann, good enough on it's own to give it a listen i'd reckon!

Raze

Canopy And Shoe

Dream Problem

Drip

Snow

Birthday

Hand

Gutter Chain

White Paper Basket

Copper

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Eat - Epicure

Ange Doolittle and Eat's second period album , Epicure was released in 1993 largely to mass indifference even though it had some killer tunes.

The band itself had been inactive for the previous 2 years mainly due to them all hating the sight of each other, with bad and good drugs getting in the way and playing a major part too , 

Eat version 2 featured Ange on vocals however, so as The Fall lead singer said, as long as it Me and your granny on bongo's its still The Fall.... you get his sentiment yea....

Belly Town

Shame

First Time Love Song

Tranquilliser

Golden Egg

Bottle Blue

Fecund

Baby In Flares

Fist

Bleed Me White

Out People

Epicure

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Slain By Urusei Yatsura

THE best album by the band, out of their 3 and 2 bits released. They really began to embrace and push their indie sensibilities, beefing up the rock quotient to boot. This produced some tracks that are the closest thing to classic that they ever created , Skull In Action remains my own personal favourite

'Glo Starz' is a great opener. A massive riff, like a thunderstorm, whips you away in seconds and doesn't stop. All elements of the band seem in key with each other as well as staying true to their lo-fi/sci-fi/indie/alternative roots .Great chorus. Great riff. Great opener. 'Hello Tiger' is classic in my eyes. Just a fantastic tune. It has the playful tunesmithery of 'Glo Starz' as well as verse/chorus structure. It is actually a slight song but the production and verve all bring it up to a higher plain. 'Strategic Hamlets' actually annoys me a little. It has that almost self-referential irony in it's whiny 'na-na-na-na's and is literally nothing more than a chant. Not bad. Just not great. 'No 1 Cheescake' - great title - is much better. Brilliant, driving chorus with the same effervescent, alive guitars from the beginning of the album. 'Superfi' is ok but didn't light my fire as such. It's quite safe and ordinary and not particularly catchy either. 'No No Girl' is a great ballad. It is very 'Pavement-y' yet holds a great chorus. A perfect marriage of mainstream and indie sensibilities.

'Flaming Skull' works but is another filler track. It's rocky and slightly catchy, but slightly gutless. 'Slain By Elf' on the other hand, is a stone cold classic. From the understated, clean, over-polished opening riff to the fantastic, sneering chorus, it is undoubtedly one of, if not the best track they've written. Cracking stuff. 'King of Lazy' is lo-fi genius and is a lovely, breezy tune. 'Exidor' is another triumph in the merging of radio-friendly and stick-it-to-the-man. One of the best choruses ever. 'Fake Fur' is ok but, again, fails to be as good as the 3 tracks before it. As does 'Skull in Action'. But, 'Amber' is a rather beautiful ending to a rather excellent album.

With a few trims, this could have been flawless but as it stands it's still pretty fantastic. Alas, they were to be around but one album longer.

Glo Starz

Hello Tiger

Strategic Hamlets

No 1 Cheesecake

Superfi

No No Girl

Flaming Skull

Slain By Elf

King Of Lazy

Exidor

Fake Fur

Skull In Action

Amber

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Leatherface - Mush

This could well be the best album you've never heard !!!

It's not quite punk, its not rock either, it's as hard as some hardcore, and while the songs are certainly tuneful and catchy, it's definitely not "pop punk". Green Day can get to fuck basically

There are subtleties in the interplay of Frankie Stubbs and Dickie Hammonds guitars (while they still thrash and rage away), and, not to put too fine a point on it, Stubbs is a soulful, thoughtful songwriter with the heart of a working class, home-spun poet. Yeah, his voice sounds like a bucket of gravel and fag-ends, but so did Louis Armstrong and Tom Waits. Imagine the bastard offspring of Lemmy and Bob Mould. And Leatherface do hit as hard as old Hüsker Dü crossed with Motorhead.

If you like tuneful hardcore, lyrics that aren't your standard fuck the system or emo crap, then you owe it to youself to listen to this album

I want the moon

How lonely

I don't want to be the one to say it

Pandora's box

Not a day goes by

Not superstitious

Springtime

Winning

In the real world

Baked potato

Bowl of flies

Dead industrial atmosphere

Trenchfoot

Scheme of things

Message in a bottle

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Verve - A Northen Soul

It makes my blood boil when people talk about this album as a warm up or a lead up to Urban Hymns. This was the album Verve were born to make. and its Verve not "The" Verve yea....  It's the sound of a band locked on a collision course to the bottom of their souls (I nicked that from 'This is Music', my favourite track here).

The band shine on this album, i saw them play it at Glastonbury 1995, middle of the afternoon , fucking hot as fuck, Ashcroft on one , no shoes, dripping in sweat, totally immersed in everything the band are doing, the guitar amp breaks down mid set, the bass and drums jam for 15 mins while Ashcroft chants,sings and ad libs lyrics like some shaman preaching to the perverted ...... amazing my friends......

 Salisbury's rock solid rolling drums, Jones' rumbling bass grooves, McCabe's fucking brilliant vast guitar, and Ashcroft's raw bottled pain. It's also produced perfectly with a real gritty sound throughout (especially the vocals - I can hardly listen to the blandified sugary production of the vocals on Urban Hymns, actually think it was played it twice and then filed rather quickly to gather dust because, lets face it, its fucking shite compared to this album , and yea , i don't really care how many people bought Urban Hymns you are fucking wrong if you think otherwise.

The slower tracks on this are worth the asking price alone, under rated classics but for me this album is all about the white noise, anger, energy and pure adrenalin of openers A New Decade and This is Music and the ear-bleeding feedback of the last track.

This album is Verve at there best.

A New Decade

This Is Music

On Your Own

So It Goes

A Northern Soul

Brainstorm Interlude

Drive You Home

History

No Knock on My Door

Life's an Ocean

Stormy Clouds

(Reprise)

click here

The Seahorses - 2nd Album

The Seahorses never really stood a chance, the weigh of expectation on debut album "Do It Yourself" was enormous, it was actually a great record and this the second one was all right too, it remained unreleased however as the band called it as day before it had chance to be heard.

John Squire was of course the guitar slinger from a certain band called The Stone Roses so you can imagine how it went, the singer Chris Helme was apparently found busking on the streets of York, as a band in there own right they were great,if indie britpop singalong anthems are your thing but the spectre of the roses loomed large over everything they did

Night Train

Anamorphosis

700 Horses

Dolphin

Something Tells Me

What Can You See?

Cocksucker Blues

I Want You

Tombraid

Reach Out

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Space - Spiders

Things from Liverpool and its near neighbour,yet fierce rival Manchester are usually good and this is no exception. Beautifully made, great instrumentation, witty lyrics and off kilter vocals make this an interesting listen. Listening to Spiders, the debut album by the Liverpool four-piece Space, you've got to wonder: Is there space enough in Space for each member's musical ambitions? 

They've got a singer/bassist named Tommy Scott who writes uniquely British pop songs filled with eccentric characters and dark humor (think Ray Davies), but who splits his musical fixations between Burt Bacharach-influenced orchestral pop and edgy new wave. There's also lead guitarist, Jamie Murphy, who writes more mainstream guitar rock, with crunching chords and glam lyrics like, "voodoo roller lives in solar." And then there's technophile keyboardist Franny Griffiths, who laces together both of his partners' songs with samples, synth warbles, scratches, and dance beats. At any given point Space can take on characteristics of pop eras from the early '60s to the late '90s, and often more than one at a time.

Mix it all together, though, and the band comes off sounding like a low rent version of Happy Mondays, with their dance grooves and rock guitars dominating the mix. Particularly on Murphy-penned tracks like "Major Pager" and "Lovechild of the Queen" (both pretty rubbish attempts at political commentary actually)

But if ever an album (and a band) were saved on the strength of a few good singles, this is it. The hits "Neighborhood," "Me & You vs. the World," and especially the third single but forst big hit, "Female of the Species"--all Scott compositions--are so damn catchy and lively and clever and dynamic they almost create the impression that Spiders is a great album, when in fact it's only half great.

Neighbourhood

Mister Psycho

Female of the Species

Money

Me and You Versus the World

Lovechild of the Queen

No One Understands

Voodoo Roller

Drop Dead

Dark Clouds

Major Pager

Kill Me

Charlie M

Growler

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Six.By Seven - The Way I Feel Today

Fans of this blog will know im a fan of the excellent Six.By Seven and here Nottingham's finest do it again, bringing together the raucous punk / alt-rock of their first two albums with a bittersweet wistful vibe..... and its loud !!

 So Close and American Beer are amazing songs and right up there as my own personal favourites, Chris Olley sings and leads the band superbly throughout this raucous noise,  The loss of lead guitarist Sam hempton isnt noticed as the playing is tight and well balanced. it was recorded pretty much live with no overdubs or re takes.... and its all the better for it

So Close

I.O.U. Love

All My New Best Friends

Flypaper for Freaks

Speed Is in, Speed Is Out

Karen O

American Beer

Anyway

The Way I Feel Today

Cafeteria Rats

Bad Man

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The Stone Roses - Heaton Park - I Wanna Be Adored

21 years since Glasgow Green and the last true Roses gig that Reni played.... Friday the 29th June 2012 came Heaton Park... im sure you've read the reviews , checked out the setlists etc so il not blather on, suffice to say fucking emotional wasn't the word.... perfect perfect perfect in every way.

There will be other gigs of course.......  there will never be anything as good.

Enjoy the sound of 75,000 folk going fucking ape at the most iconic of British bands. 

Th' Faith Healers - Imaginary Friend

Iv left the song times up on this one.... yep you are reading it right , 7 songs and a 40 minute epic to finish with! il have a bit of that.. iv blogged about the excellent Tom Cullinan previously so il spare you the details etc... enjoy the tunes!

The fact that Th Faith Healers were originally picked up by the spacy English label Too Pure is certainly significant -- their music, while seemingly in line with indie-rock conventions, has so many elements of noise and drone in it that it appears to have crossed over to listeners of more spacy, organ-driven music. Imaginary Friend manages to satisfy all of these different interests, floating back and forth between soupy waves of distorted guitars and clean, ringing, indie-rock tones ("Kevin," "Heart Fog"). The real thrill of the band's songwriting lies in the way surprising pop moments can emerge from the mess of sound -- the chorus of "See-Saw" is an unexpected burst of melody that transcends all of the band's noisier tendencies. Imaginary Friend is arguably Th Faith Healers' defining album, and that makes it well worth a listen; somewhere in between sounding like a Too Pure band, a noise project, a precursor to Snowpony, and the badass cousins of Madder Rose, Th Faith Healers managed to find a unique and compelling style that no other band has truly approached

Sparklingly Chime - 4:52

Heart Fog - 6:53

See-Saw - 3:18

Kevin - 5:39

The People - 7:12

Curly Lips - 4:29

Everything, All At Once Forever - 40:08

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Indie Top 20 - Vol 12

Had a tweet about the last Indie Top 20 so thought is dig some new ones and old ones out etc etc.... Here's volume 12 and a bit of info about it from this excellent bandplanet website here

Opening strangely with "Happen to die' a charlatans b-side, albeit a classy one, but an odd opener. there's little fat here, the absence of the Wendys, The Dylans and Candyland wouldn't have been a travesty, but even they are merely dull and a little mediocre.

Some early Shoegazers make an appearance here (oddly neither Chapterhouse (who'd released at least 2 e.p.s, possibly 'pearl' too) nor Ride ('Nowhere' was out, as were the well thought of preceding singles), feature until later on), Curve's excellent debut single, the 1st Moose ep's lead track, one of The Catherine Wheels finest, the terminally ignored Spirea X (they only really had the 2 good singles but you can get the album from rich and the the excellent Teenage Shoegaze site here!!) it's all good stuff.

Other highs; a classic from Saint Etienne, another from Spacemen 3, a great early Manics single (coffee tables were just something they smashed in hotel rooms at this point), the KLF and the indie throwback feel of Bridewell Taxis covering 'Don't Fear the reaper'.

Its got The New Fads on too, probably one of the most under rated band of the last 20 years and also gets bonus points for the inclusion of a track by Terry 'mad as a hat' Bickers; Levitation, 'Nadine' was the nearest they got to a tune. Not that near, by the way.

Happen To Die - The Charlatans 

Pulling My Fingers Off - The Wendys 

Lemon Afternoon - The Dylans

Chlorine Dream - Spirea X

Spaceman 3 - Big City 

Nothing Can Stop Us - Saint Etienne 

Fountain Of Youth - Candyland 

Get Better - New Fast Automatic Daffodils 

Don't Fear The Reaper - The Bridewell Taxis 

Ten Little Girls - Curve 

Counting Backwards - Throwing Muses 

Fortune Teller - Buffalo Tom 

You Love Us - Manic Street Preachers 

She's My Friend - Catherine Wheel 

Jack - Moose 

Nadine - Levitation 

Last Train To Trancentral - The KLF

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Cabaret Voltaire - The Original Sound Of Sheffield

Im feeling in the mood today.. oh yes!

Formed in the early 70s and influenced by Burroughs, Dada, Dub and 'Ziggy Stardust', Cabaret Voltaire (Richard H. Kirk, Stephen Mallinder & Chris Watson) were electronic-pionners from Sheffield and deserve to be ranked alongside such forward-thinking pioneers as Suicide & Throbbing Gristle. This compilation takes in their early years as a three-piece and the records they released on Factory and Rough Trade; it can be seen as an update/replacement for previous compilation 'The Living Legends.' Some people prefer the early compilation.......... some don't ...such is life hey ??

The Cabs took an approach toward their music heavily influenced by culture: Ballard-Bunuel-Anger-Roxy-Ziggy-Perry-Coltrane-Cage-Sun Ra-James Brown-Burroughs-Gysin-Clinton-Neu!-The Beach Boys-Northern Soul-Miles Davis-Warhol-Velvets-Eno-Popol Vuh etc. They were electronic before many of their peers who now get the credit (notably Depeche Mode and New Order).
This compilation takes in their electronic-experimental sound, which sometimes slips into mutant-pop, & provides a companion to the 80s-volume of 'The Original Sound of Sheffield' (more pop than mutant) & the 'Conform to Deform' box-set.

The early songs here are sometimes not songs- 'Do the Mussolini (Headkick)'& 'The Set Up' stem from the 'Extended Play' release on Rough Trade and showcase a collision of cut-up techniques and dub. The Factory-release 'Baader Meinhof' samples German words on the notorious terrorist-collective (the sleevenotes have a picture of them)& sounds like the missing link between Silver Apples' 'Program' & Eno/Byrne's 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.' Robo-voices and electro-jazz-hail dirge along and it's clear that Throbbing Gristle were not alone...

Things become more tuneful with SF-surf classic 'Nag Nag Nag', which is like Jan & Dean meets Suicide and remains a hypnotic joy of its era and one to file next to 'Being Boiled', 'Warm Leatherette', 'Ghost Rider' & 'Hot on the Heels of Love.' 'Silent Command' (recently found on a free compilation with Mojo-magazine) continues the samples of foreign-voices, but displays an influence apparent from Lee Perry's 'Dub-Triptych', as well as a cleaner-techno sound & scraping-guitars (there's even a brief sample of the terrifying 'We Hate You (Little Girls)' by Throbbing Gristle!). Mallinder's vocals are messed with, Brion Gysin's 'Arkology' approach?...'No Escape' reminds me a lot of Joy Division- or should that be the other way around?- Mallinder's vocal delivery is very Ian Curtis here (could be a Northern-thing...).

1980's 'Voice of America' took the band to alien-climes, 'This is Entertainment' & 'Obssession' becoming more dub-orientated; meanwhile ethnic (what might be called 'world music') inflections were appearing in the music- the apex of this being the epic 'Yashar'-single from 1982, which makes sense alongside those Jah Wobble collaborations with Czuckay & Liebzeit, and 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts', & 'Journey Through a Body' & 'Big Science' etc...

'The Original Sound of Sheffield 1978/1982' is a pretty much definitive primer in Cabaret Voltaire's early sound (after the 'Methodology' compilation of their very early work). I think it stands the test of time and easily ranks up there with the electronic-pionners of the 1970s: Kraftwerk, Neu!, Can, Moroder, TG, Suicide, Popol Vuh, Eno, Bowie, Cluster et al

Do The Mussolini (Head Kick)

The Set Up

Baader Meinhof

Nag, Nag, Nag

Silent Command

No Escape

This Is Entertainment

Obsession

Seconds Too Late

Split Second Feeling

Spread The Virus

Yashar

Wait And Shuffle

Loosen The Clamp

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Happy Mondays - Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches

Erm... this is being given away with this weeks Guardian newspaper... so il whack it on here too...

For those that don't know its something akin to the queen reading Nuts magazine..... id love to see the faces of those guardian readers when they whack this into the stereo and Shaun William Ryder's loose tongue and even looser morals pours out in full techno colour at them.... fucking mint !!


A high (literally and metaphorically) point of the baggy scene this was the Happy Mondays finest hour in popularity stakes, the people aren't always right of course and 24 Hour Part People and Bummed are greater beasts in my own opinion but Pills Thrills and Bellyaches brought the band to the masses and the classes.... full of lyrical genius from SWR and funky, skunky guitar courtesy of much under rated guitarist Mark Day this was one of those albums that was never off the stereo.... lets see if the guardian readers think the same !!

Kinky Afro

God's Cop
Donovan

Grandbag's Funeral

Loose Fit

Dennis And Lois

Bob's Yer Uncle

Step On

Holiday

Harmony

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Veruca Salt - American Thighs

I often find that i love particular song by a particular band and so buy the album only to be kinda disappointed , welcome to Veruca Salt !!

This isn't all that bad in fact its a decent slab of grunge rock americana and ticks all the boxes for fans of The Breeders, Pixies and the like......released in 1994 to decent reviews and sales it was probably played ot death on Us college radio.....  however what it doesn't do is have anything as good as lead single "Seether" 

See Seether really is the bomb and one of my all time favourite singles.... there's a theme developing this month on Eat Junk i know !!

Get Back

All Hail Me

Seether

Spiderman '79

Forsythia

Wolf

Celebrate You

Fly

Number One Blind

Victrola

Twinstar

25

Sleeping Where I Want

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Kenickie - At The Club

I Fear i may have told you an untruth!! i once blogged that the Kenickie debut 7" was all you ever needed.... i feel that's wrong as this album is fantastic... 

Full of pop punk attitude At The Club was the bands first album released in 1997, it spawned 4 singles and has one of my all time favourite songs on....

People We Want was never released outside of the album and should have been No. 1 in 100 different countries... or something like that.

In Your Car

People We Want

Spies

How I Was Made

Brother John

Millionaire Sweeper

Robot Song

Classy

Punka

Nightlife

PVC

Come Out 2 Nite

I Never Complain

Acetone

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The June Brides - There Are Eight Million Stories

I must admit i know very little about The June Brides, i like this album and it has a certain quirkiness to it, a certain website is quite good for all the information you may need so you know, its Sunday, im tired , im watching football so il let them take it from here...... 

The June Brides were an English indie pop group, formed in London in 1983, by Phil Wilson and Simon Beesley of International Rescue. Influenced by Postcard-label bands such as Josef K and punk-era bands such as Buzzcocks, The Desperate Bicycles and The Television Personalities, their mix of guitar pop with viola and trumpet formed a blueprint for many of the indie pop bands that would follow.

After forming in June 1983, they first played live as a band in August that year, soon attracting the attention of future Creation Records boss Alan McGee who gave them several gigs at the now famous 'Living Room', but reputedly decided not to sign The June Brides to his new label as it would have been "too obvious". Two 

Joe Foster-produced 1984 singles on The Pink Label, "In The Rain" and "Every Conversation" saw The June Brides receive much attention and these two songs appeared frequently on compilation albums from that era. A year later, the mini-album There Are Eight Million Stories... appeared (produced by John O'Neill of That Petrol Emotion) and went straight to number one in the UK Indie Chart, staying there for a month. The album remained in the indie chart for 38 weeks. 

Disillusioned with Pink, the band moved to Marc Riley's In-Tape label for two further singles - "No Place Like Home" and "This Town" and in 1986 opened for The Smiths on their Irish tour dates. The June Brides were asked to contribute to the NME's C86 compilation but declined for fear of being pigeonholed. 

After losing confidence in In-Tape, they approached Go! Discs, who had offered them a deal the previous year, but with the band falling out of favour with critics and some of their early fans, Go! Discs were no longer interested. The band split in 1986, with singer Wilson embarking on a solo career on Creation Records.

The Instrumental

I Fall

Sunday To Saturday

Sick, Tired And Drunk

Every Conversation

Comfort

Heard You Whisper

Enemies

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