This
lot revive the long-lost art of putting the labels on the wrong side of
the record, which immediately endears them to me. They also have a left-handed
sleeve too. Take note, Flanders. 'Much Too Much' is superb. 'My life's
a mess and so's my hair - I'm groping for my underwear.' I love the singing,
all the voices clamouring and clanging. The Holloways do something similar
- it is the vogue. Closer to the spirit of The Specials than the bloody
Ordinary Boys ever get. 'Reunion' takes more listening to - there's so
much going on - but really impressive all the same.
Maps
'Start Something' / 'To The Sky' (Last Space Recordings 10" single)
In the local record emporium this wee gem was filed away under 'Post-Rock'.
How curious - seeing as how Post-Rock is Dead (all fat blokes my age whining
on about the price of stairlifts or something) while this magnificent
single is oozing with aliveness in every exquisite groove, grooves which
continue sighing delightfully and tuggling at your dreams even at the
so-called run-off stage, where MAKE YOURSELF EXIST is scratched upon the
vinyl. I'm always one for reading the messages. I can tell you a few,
from DON'T DISILLUSION ME on 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' right down to RACE
YOU TO EBAY on the new Pipettes single - I jest not. 'Start Something'
is like walking into a New Age shop and discovering that everything within
is true: crystals do emit vibrations and all your loved ones are just
a dimension away. 'To The Sky' is the moment when that shoe-gazing angel
you desired for ten tortuous years finally lifts up those gorgeous brown
eyes and fills them with you. It is the last song of the evening when
all you want to do is sway gently and hug the nearest person. Hold hands
say yeah!
The
Chalets 'No Style' (Setanta 7")
There
are a lot of groups around today who look like they've just walked out
of a Fifties diner. Drop-dead sexy the lot of them. But when you actually
hear them play - what a disappointment, what a let down. No names, but
you know the feeling. You're expecting a full on Spectre-style ear-toasting
or, at least, some half-decent bubblegum pop and all you get is droning,
postmodern Mom-rock. I wouldn't mind but they can't sing neither. NOT
The Chalets! The Chalets can write a tune. Here's one, it's called 'No
Style' and in a funny way it applies to all those groups that imitate
the The Shangri-las so bloody badly. Three cheers and all that.
Good
Shoes 'Small Town Girl' (Young & Lost 7")
Just
when you think you've heard the future of British rock'n'roll there's
always some fresh faced buggers ready to slap you around the gob and say
'F*ck that lot, get your f*cking arse over here!' I won't take my metaphoric
Arctic Monkeys posters down just yet but I'm tempted. This is terrific.
F*ck comparisons, just listen to that dazzling little guitar threading
its way through it, that super singer effing and blinding. Four quid and
no sleeve but I don't care. Worth every penny!
Kicker
/ The Butterflies Of Love / Comet Gain / Airport Girl 'More Soul Than
Wigan Casino' (Fortuna Pop CD EP)
It's
welcome to have four new songs from these groups; they've been away too
long or so it seems. The Kicker track is first and rightly so. It is the
outstanding moment of the EP. Their cover of The Inciters' 'Since You
Left' presents what is probably Jill Drew's best vocal performance to
date. Can someone tell me who has a better voice? KT Tunstal? Martha Wainwright?
The girl out of The Duke Spirit? I don't think so. I defy anyone not to
be impressed irrespective of the complex pop-politics of covering Northern
Soul classics. It shouldn't be an issue really but it is, and I'd be lying
if I said I had no time for sacred cows myself. If, for example, I heard
that Bearsuit were to cover Mary Love's 'You Turned My Bitter Into Sweet'
I think my anxiety levels would skyrocket. But maybe that would be a good
thing. Isn't the essence of great pop music to provoke, to challenge,
to destroy indifference? Yes? No? Don't care? Have you seen the charts
recently? Have you seen the shit they sell in Asda under the banner of
pop music?
Who
could be left indifferent by 'Two Lovers' being given The Butterflies
Of Love treatment? They have a style all of their own. Then we come to
Comet Gain, one of the more divisive pop groups of the past ten years.
Their version of 'If You Ever Walk Out Of My Life' is, we're told, 'rewritten
in the pub to piss off the purists.' Yet I always thought of Comet Gain
as purists themselves. I love them and yet find them intimidating. The
reason they've never had commercial success (as opposed to artistic success)
is because they have the unfortunate capacity to leave even their most
ardent fans feeling inadequate. Most people, I fear, fear people who are
so committed, so passionate in what they do and believe in. I think we
subconsciously equate it to totalitarianism or something. Anyway, I don't
know the original but this is a lovely track: insecure, warmhearted and
slightly messy… just like you. Finally, Airport Girl overhaul The O'Jays'
'Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)' in a JAMC style. Brooding, rumbling
undertow accompanied by shimmering, crystalline guitar, and percussion
in the Bobby Gillespie style. Not as convincing as the Kicker track but
then, to return where we began, the Kicker track is truly outstanding
and would have made a classic single on its own. Soul music is still alive
despite the best efforts of RnB to destroy it.
In the
week that the Arctic Monkeys hit the charts this little gem sneaks out
unbeknownst to all but those few weirdos who frequent obscure London record
shops or manage to catch Lamacq on digital radio. The Monkeys are so unimpeachable
at the moment - the indiestry has so much invested in them - that you
hardly dare suggest that this is the better record. Lunatic talk. But
this is the better record. Times ten. I'm not knocking the Monkeys. But
why does everyone have to flock in herds? Two thousand people go to see
the Sheffield band in London last week. Yet this record won't even sell
half that amount and yet it's on their bloody doorstep. The Holloways.
Of London. This is your Arctic Monkeys. Anyway, like I said, it's a brilliant
ska-indie crossover in praise of the record player and its power on the
youthful mind. I hastily amend my Top 10 of 2005 to include it.
Eighteenth
Day Of May - The Highest Tree (Transistor 7")
Last
year I was very much into Aberfeldy and The Memory Band and groups like
that because they were vaguely folksy and had the odd fiddle here and
there. They were kinda taking me in a direction I wished to go. But now
I see the gilded spires of the city itself. The folk-rock revival is so
underway its almost passing us by. So who will be its champions? The Eighteenth
Day have the potential, when they let rip. They have more fine songs in
there set than just these two. 'Sir Casey Jones' reminds me slightly of
Parsons-period Byrds at first before drenching itself in autoharp and
jangle bliss. 'The Highest Tree' features Allison, mistress of the dulcimer,
on vocals - a reassuring sincerity to her voice - and as a song it has
all that dissonance and impurity of the genre I love so much. You'll never
hear the Eighteenth Day Of May of the Mike Harding Folk Show - and good:
I despise all that over-produced, over-polished slickness, that closed-minded,
closed-shop attitude of the folk-mafia. Anyway, this lot are influenced
by Shirley Collins - can't say better than that.
Umlaut
- Winter Coat (Fantastic Plastic 7")
Some
call this 'Indie-pop' and they're probably right, but I dislike the term
because it's loaded with preconceptions. It's not all sha-la-la hee-hee-hee.
'Indie' is bad enough, but 'Indie-pop' - there's nothing positive in such
a term. Some of the most soulful, intelligent and talented artists are
filed under Indie-pop and are therefore lumped in with some of the most
soulless and untalented groups imaginable. I'm tempted to spend the next
three days listing them all and telling you which is which, but I'll desist.
I haven't made my mind up yet about Umlaut. The tune is infectious enough
but it contains a dodgy la-la clappy-clappy bit I'd rather scratch out
of the vinyl with a penknife. The vocals, I suggest, are kinda like how
Eddie Argos would sound if he actually tried to sing those Art Brut songs
rather than (wisely) just shouting them out. The b-side is about as memorable
as a toenail clipping; it does get good right at the end but they cut
it dead just at the point where it should have started. All said, it's
OK and has a great sleeve (humanity amid geometric splendour). But Indie-pop?
Aim higher!
