I do love a good vocal accent in music, and Finland’s Echo Is Your Love have a delightfully strange one in their lead singer, which immediately propels their music into the realms of the odd. Like the combined shoutings of Liliput, Huggy Bear and Babes in Toyland, the lyrics are yelped, screamed and crooned with a beautifully out-of-kilter range and phrasing. Combine this with some top-notch gliding indie guitar noise and the result is charmingly aggressive, and aggressively charming. In the same way that the Breeders, Veruca Salt, Velocity Girl and Magnapop took indie guitar rock and twisted it into odd shapes using out-there dynamics and a delicate musical style that is quick to snap and lash out, Echo Is Your Love have taken traditional guitar band elements and reinforced them with real depth and emotion. At times bordering on intense noise or there’s-nothing-there quietness, on this album they never forget to include melody and tunes. This is what makes them repeatedly listenable and admirably strange.

Echo Is Your Love
Run Out Records

Billing itself as ‘The Third Wave of Psychedelia’, this excellent compilation isn’t purely a collection of soundalike bands referring directly to their ’68- or ’88-centred influences; it’s more a cross-section of new music made by bands who’ve obviously listened to and dabbled with psychedelia to a variety of extents. This means a variety of styles from Beatle-booted blissout, through indiepop and postpunk to fuzzy soundscaping.

So whilst it does feature bands that wouldn’t be out of place on a new Pebbles or Nuggets compilation – the sitar-tinged S.F. Sorrow-styled dreamy pop of Lovetones, the fuzz guitar drawl of The Black Angels and the brilliant stoned drone of Brian Jonestown Massacre, for example – it quickly moves in different directions. Calling your band Black Nite Crash suggests an obvious Ride influence, and the sound of Ride, Stone Roses and the shoegazers of the early 90s pervades the tracks from Black Nite Crash themselves along with Pioneer 4 and The Otherside. The Electric Mainline and The High Dials, amongst others, bring to mind the what-was-once-dubbed ‘perfect pop’ of the releases of Sarah Records or Slumberland – jaunty, bright guitar lines over dreamy vocal lines and simple compositions.

Where this compilation gets most interesting for me is the point at which bands spin off on their own trajectories. For example, Dedelectric offer a bizarre, jerky 80 seconds of attitude that’s like Liliput gone very weird; The Telescopes provide a dense, threatening slice of echoes, mournful trumpet, quietly chanted vocal and static noise; and Say Jansfield produce an example of the kind of odd combination of folk and electronica that’s so damn hip at the moment.

Hopefully there will be further volumes of the self-styled Psychedelica ‘revolution’ – on the basis of this example, there are a lot of bands making a lot of interesting music out there. Like the many indiepop compilation tapes of yore, I’m glad that people are still collecting together music like this – there may not be many big names on here, but it’s nice to have the work done for you when looking for some new bands to investigate!

The full lineup for the compilation is: The Lovetones, Dolly Rocker Movement, The Black Angels, The Stevenson Ranch Davidians, Brian Joneston Massacre, HeadQuarters, Black Nite Crash, The Hiss, Daydream Nation, The Future Kings of England, The Shrills, The Otherside, The Vandelles, Floorian, Pioneer 4, The Electric Mainline, Snowdonnas, The High Dials, Say Jansfield, The Bleeding Hearts, The Bavarian Druglords, The Telescopes, The Lazily Spun, Spacegarden, Fuxa, Dedelectric, On Holiday, Dabenport, God is an Astronaut, Silvertone, The Fuzztones, Silver Apples and Electric Prunes. (And in the case of those last three bands – yes, it is those bands, not three cheekily-stolen band names).

Northern Star Records

I’m in the interesting-yet-unfortunate position of writing this review based on the memory of two listens to a CD which will no longer play for me. So cut me some slack as I do my best up against failing modern technology.

Dirty Little Faces seem, at least on the basis of their press release (which mentions influences such as The Who, The Jam, The Beatles and The Strokes) an uninvitingly straightforward prospect. However, as memory serves me, the two tracks on this single are pleasant enough mod-tinged indie stompers, that might be better received if not promoted through the citing of names so quick to turn off many potential listeners in the holier-than-though indie fraternity. The choppy guitars, uptight vocals and character-led lyrical lines were a pleasant diversion and provided a few minutes of head-nodding satisfaction; but within seconds of the CD ending, Dirty Little Faces had become in my mind just another generic indie guitar band. The quandary in the current musical climate is that there a lot of bands doing a lot of this music with equal competence. Individually they can knock out a good indie disco tune, a good iPod moment to propel you along, but collectively it’s just melodic noise with nothing to define or inspire. Is it a complaint that a lot of bands make serviceable, listenable, yet ultimately unoriginal music? Not really – the complaint is that the more regularly it happens, the more each band seems an uninspired retread of something that went by not ten minutes ago – regardless of merit.

Dirty Little Faces
Fierce Panda

Brand new Birmingham-based label 3 Pin Recordings offer up a CD compilation limited to 300 deluxe copies, coming in a printed cloth bad and housed in a trigger case with a 16 page booklet. Don’t ask me what a trigger case is because my review came in a slipcase. Ooh, there’s some CDROM content in the form of a video and some artist information too.

So who’s on it? Alongside a lot of newcomers there includes contributions from Dragon or Emperor (members of Volcano the Bear & Songs of Norway), Revox (of the Modified toy Orchestra), Daniel Padden (of his One Ensemble and VtB again) and the excellently-named Reverend Man Manly (of The Church of Noise). If you’ve heard any of these artists before you might have an inkling of what to expect from this compilation; lots of eclectic, experimental weird joy by a huge variety of performers.

Some highlights then for the uninitiated: Dragon or Emperor do an uncanny impression of The Jesus Lizard if they were armed only with bass and drums; a stunning track from Revox entirely sculpted out of interviews with talking heads; Daniel Padden’s beautiful solo piano track named after the prime chimp of Planet of the Apes; a bizarre deconstruction of a Beatles song by Jliat in homage to Steve Reich; two tracks by some guy called dead western who describes his music as “operatic folk”. Then there’s some really weird shit courtesy of CJ Pizarro; a beautifully haunting voice/synth textural piece by Sara Ayers; some excellent theoretical TV programme soundtracking by Sitcom Future Family; and a final cherry on top of this bizarre mess in the form of a hip hop track entitled “Terminally Ill” by Terms None and his mate The Mole. Class.

Add to all this by throwing in some bizarre spoken-word passages and samples interspersing the tracks just to disorientate the listener, and you’ve got a winningly confusing listen all round. This has been out for a couple of months now (yes, I am useless at doing reviews on time. Sorry), and is pretty damned limited so go! Go now! Go! Buy buy buy if your tastebuds are whetted. They certainly should be.

www.3pinrecordings.com

Remote Sound are a young band from the sunny Falkland Islands, led by songwriter Alastair Jackson and ably assisted by friends Sara, Tristan, Neil an Phil. This is a re-release of their debut CD, which sold out of its original run of 200 copies since February. This time around there’s a bonus track added on for extra value. The whole thing was recorded for less than £70 and Remote Sound have got to be applauded for their enthusiastic approach to DIY, especially as they apparently live in the back of beyond where there’s barely any outlets for music.

The production’s impressive considering how cheaply they recorded it. But what does the music sound like? Basically they’re straight-up indie rock, playing someone’s heartfelt songs written when they really should be studying for their A-Levels. It’s hard to criticise the band or their approach given their circumstances and youth, but their music could be plucked out of any number of anyone’s bedroom band from their teenage years. It’s not a bad first effort at all from someone so young; I’d just be more interested in where they’ve got to a few years down the line and have matured musically somewhat.

But then what do I know? I’m a jaded fool who likes nothing more than random ramshackle noise and drone recorded onto a broken dictaphone. This music is much “straighter” than anything I can muster enthusiasm for these days. You should really check out the band for yourself:

www.remotesound.co.uk

FatCat usually release pretty interesting guitar based music, so it’s something of a surprise to hear this, a pretty straight up conventional rock record.

This is fairly patchy stuff, but when the Brighton based 4 piece get it right as they do on 3 or 4 tracks here, they deliver a blend of powerful riffing and snarling swagger that hints at a bright future, even if there is always the danger that they might get lost in the crowd.

My favourite track on this is “Don’t Worry”, an overwrought, slow shuffle that drips with attitude and also hints at a sly sense of the bands tangled roots.

Production wise, it lacks a bit at the top end for me and would benefit from sounding a little crisper.

Ultimately though, “I Us We You” only occasionally suggests that The Mutts are capable of moving beyond the efficiency they display here.

This is worth checking out if you like stripped down, unpretentious heavy rock n’ roll, but I’d expect better from these guys in the future.

The Mutts

About two years ago I was persuaded to buy a 7″ rekkid split between two bands: the Lords of Nottingham and the Hey Colossus of Londonshire. Having witnessed both bands live but heard little recorded matter, I thought it could be a promising little number, especially as it was a debut by a new label to boot. Turns out that that 7″ was the best piece of 7″-sized wax I heard in ’04 by some distance, and it still gets regular spins on my turntable. Did I mention that the 7″ was insanely heavy and distinctly turd-coloured? I loved that 7″ and waited with baited breath for what Theory of Nothing Records (for they woz th’ label) would deign to release next.

Wind on to May of this year: I’d pretty much forgotten about Theory of Nothing, even though I probably haven’t bought a better 7″ since the Lords/Hey Colossus opus (restocked copies now available folks). Then! Out of the blue! I get asked to review the long-awaited second 7″ on Theory of Nothing – a split between the venerated and recently-reformed Billy Mahonie and Derby’s own fine young princes of post-math-pop-core, The Jesus Years. Get in! I said.

So, 9 years since their formation and a couple since everyone thought they’d split, Billy Mahonie make a triumphant comeback with their original line-up (despite the fact that Gavin apparently lives in Oslo). Their side is a track called “New Year’s Eve Song”, featuring the classic BM staples of twin throbbing basses, some deceptively sharp drum beauty and laser-like guitar playing combining to create another engaging, emotive and most importantly ROCKIN mathy/rocky genius. Even if the initial bassline sounds like a sped-up version of their signature song “Dusseldorf”. If you’ve ever enthused about Billy Mahonie in the past, this will be a proper treat of going right back to what you know. If you’ve not heard Billy Mahonie, you’ve been missing out and this is an excellent introduction. Billy Mahonie have always been a fine wine, best served cool and going down easy. This is like rediscovering a bottle that you thought you’d run out of years ago. Welcome back boys.

Facing up to matching this are The Jesus Years, a band I’ve managed to miss seeing at at least 3 gigs, despite living in the city next door to Derby. This was my first time listening to them, and they certainly impress with their skills to craft a canny pop song out of some classic math-rock moves. Their track, “Tom Seabourne PhD”, starts up like a ‘proper’ American emo band from the early ’90s; all crashing melodic guitar chords breaking down to nice jangly picked bits with slyly showy drums increasingly filling everything out until the song reaches the halfway point and it all erupts and gets suitably anthemic. It’s about this point you start wondering whether the Jesus Years really should go the whole hog and get themselves a singer and actually wear the ‘post-emo’ hat with pride. This is perhaps slightly cruel though, as they certainly have a knack for memorable guitar melodies and chunky rhythms that are satisfying like your favourite chocolate bar. Tasty, if occasionally slightly too sugary to be good for you every day.

All in all, another engaging and entertaining release from Theory of Nothing. The sleeve design is also really nice, and the vinyl is once again heavy enough to double up as an offensive weapon and it’s a beautiful translucent yellow this time. Much better than shit coloured. Excellent stuff, all. So what’s next?

www.theoryofnowt.blogspot.com
www.billymahonie.com
www.thejesusyears.co.uk

Half of Glockenspiel, Steve d’Enton, was once the drummer in Quickspace, and his new outfit’s music – as evidenced by this CD – explores similar areas, albeit with wildly different sonic results. A simplistic churn of melodic repetition binds each of the three tracks together, each being distinguished by a particular melodic flavour. Quickspace’s jittery, hypersensitive bounciness is replaced by a gliding, mellow feel, and on ‘Glock one’ a soothingly syncopated beat carries along a floating Seefeel-like electronic drone, punctuated by abstract, echoing glimpses of sound. ‘Glock two’ is altogether more traditional in its melding of mournful guitar lines and blurred, reverbed vocal samples. Godspeed and, perhaps, Explosions in the Sky have already taken this line of music about as far as it can go, and it’s a relief that ‘Glock three’ veers away from it into another relentless-yet-quiet drum-led smear of a tune. This is where hints of a band that is more than the sum if its Krautrock and post-rock influences seem to occur: a reigning in of experimental music that is at once utterly strange and eminently listenable.

Glockenspiel

So, what do we reckon to the new Sonic Youth album? I’m finding it lacking…..something. It seems to have gone straight to ‘comfortable’ after 2 or 3 listens without either the immediacy that has you obsessed for a week or the difficult, growing to like it period. It’s like I already know it well and dug it out after a year except, of course, it lacks the nostalgia and memories. Maybe that’s what’s bothering me – it has a nostalgic quality but the only memories I have associated with it so far are getting the bus to work the other morning. Thoughts?

Also can we stop with the Special Editions already? Fair enough spending an extra 7 quid to get a whole extra album of brilliant remixes Christmas songs. videos etc. but extra money for two EXCLUSIVE UK ONLY tracks is just taking the piss. Yes, I should have bought the vinyl, I know.

Having been seduced by nice packaging, the breathless recommendation of the record-store staff, and the loose purse-strings that payday always brings, however briefly, I took this album home wondering if I’d made a wise purchase. Having seen Haino perform at Glasgow’s Instal festival a couple of years ago, I knew that it would be an interesting record, if not an especially pleasant one to listen to. I was concerned that, having been played once, it would end up on on eBay, or, worse still, egregiously keep around solely for “my record collection is better than your record collection”-type bragging rights.

Man, was I wrong.

Which isn’t to say that this album marks Haino’s embracing of the pop song, but nor is it the straight-up unstructured guitar-noise that I had come to expect, and realize that I didn’t much enjoy listening to particularly often. Instead, it is an unexpectedly beautiful thing which builds slowly from a bare tickling of the ears to a powerful meditative thrum that made me feel quite peculiar. Staring into space for extended periods as it repeatedly found sympathetic frequencies within my skull, I felt oddly refreshed after taking off my headphones, as though I had just undergone the aural equivalent of being driven through a car-wash.

Sitaar Tah!, as the name suggests, are a 20 piece sitar orchestra, who, over the course of Animamima’s two tracks (One per disc. Both recorded live.) make wonderful drones which rise and fall like tides, while Haino is handed the keys to the school music department’s store cupboard and left to his own devices, adding, among other things, occasional flute, vocals, and electric hurdy-gurdy, precisely when required and never more.

Once in a while, a record comes along that reminds you why you are a music nerd in the first place. Animamima is a refreshing glass of ice-water after the dry cream-crackers of endless soundalike “The” bands.

aRCHIVE Recordings
Important Records