Next Big Thing #76Woah, 2008 has started with something of a bang.
Lot of stuff coming up to see and hear, the biggest of these is the coup of THE SONICS coming to play Le Beat Bespoke at Easter weekend. (Full details at www.newuntouchables.com.)
I'll let you know how it goes in the next instalment. It seems to be the only European show and the first since their triumphant return to the boards at Cavestomp in New York last November. I guess this comes out before the show takes place but the way things are going as I write, it's unlikely there'll be tickets left. Particularly when the support act's identity is revealed. I did think about circulating a rumour about it being THE CRAMPS, but I'm not that mean spirited.
There was just some trailer for a new TV show that's coming on using RAMONES and Bowie songs in. Everything is fair game these days but who's listening? Are you listening? Do you care what goes in your ears? If you're reading this then I expect that you do but what about all those others? Do they deserve any consideration?
The problem is that consumption is too fragmented. Sure something can "blow up" on the internet for 5 minutes but what about the bigger picture. All this sensory gratification has bred a world population of nitwits that don't want to pay for anything. Except their fucking mobile phone plans, so maybe the trick would be to bleed them via that contraption. Someone has to do something but it's going to take several generations to undo the damage.
Anyway, enough of that mothering. What's done is done but there's a mountain of cool stuff to investigate if you have the will. Something I found out about just a couple of days ago really caused a rush of blood to the head. Not an ideal situation in my advancing years.
D.I.Y. and (very) indie post-punk from Scotland, '77-81, Messthetics' first Scottish instalment focuses on a brief, intense scene of ardently independent bands who got started rubbing shoulders with 1977 punk then paid no attention at all to London after that. (London returned the favour.) The sound was based on guitars of all sorts, ingeniously skewed melodies and unashamed local accents. Naturally, it all fell apart as soon as "The Sound of Young Scotland" became a marketable commodity, but they left behind a rich cache of lost ?alternative? hits. Plenty of ?traditional? D.I.Y., too ...
24 songs on the CD plus nine bonus mp3 tracks. 90 minutes of music with a 24-page booklet, lovingly documented with histories & photos galore.
Messthetics #105 features rarities by the FIRE ENGINES, SCROTUM POLES, 35MM DREAMS, THE EXILE, COMMERCIALS, FAKES, METROPAK, Tony Pilley, VISITORS, ARTICLE 58, RADIO GHOSTS, RAPID DANCE, STRUTZ, VERTICAL SMILES, RESTRICTED CODE, BRILLS, RHYTHM METHOD, HE'S DEAD JIM, Paul Reekie, and FRICTION.
Unreleased first recordings by THE DIRTY REDS [who became THE FIRE ENGINES], 35MM DREAMS, JAZZATEERS, INTERNATIONAL SPYS [pre-RADIO GHOSTS, WEE CHERUBS, BACHELOR PAD] and Edinburgh's legendary ETTES. Plus other never-before-released material from the SCROTUM POLES, COMMERCIALS, Tony Pilley, ARTICLE 58, RADIO GHOSTS, VERTICAL SMILES, and RESTRICTED CODES ...
A lot of this stuff passed me by at the time. I was much more interested in US punk and stuff from other countries. It's fair to say that some of it doesn't stand up but some of it does and not always those you'd expect. The idea behind the series is this.
Mess+Aesthetics. Between 1977 and '83 hundreds of UK bands put out their own records and tapes - on the cheap and utterly without apology. With "D.I.Y.", Punk and everything that came before it collided gloriously with D.I.Y.'s fresh aesthetic of making and sharing music without any pretension to popular success. There's no common style: instead these songs are united by wit, enthusiasm, musical risk-taking ... and a conspicuous lack of pose.
It's practically Smithsonian in its attention to detail and over the piece, Chuck Warner should get some kind of award. In better times, it would be turned into a documentary series because that's what these time capsules are.
Investigate at hyped2death.com and prepare to fall down a rather steep rabbit hole.
Let's see, what else ... to Australia then ...
THE ROYS Holus Bolus (www.infidelity.com.au)
Imagine a peculiar intersection between CROWDED HOUSE and THE GUN CLUB. There's an inordinately commercial aspect to this album. The title means "all at once" and is something that I remember my old man saying a lot when I was a nipper. Anyway, they kick up a mighty agreeable racket with all manner of musical shards to trade up a broad swathe of appeal. It's fairly understated in the way it gets under your skin and isn't too much like anything that I've heard in recent times. "Sabrina" recalls THE JOHNNYS and that's no bad thing at this point on a driech January Sunday morning. In these days where it's almost impossible for a band to appear on media radar, THE ROYS brand of acoustic country blues could undoubtedly appeal across a whole mess of demographic twaddle. A whip-crackin' hell of a time is here to be had by all. The closing "All I Had" is a great, great song that combines the best country and pop aesthetics to arrive at a something quite timeless in terms of twang.
KLONDIKE'S NORTH 40 The Straight Path (I-94 Bar)
The esteemed Antipodean info-portal is now a label and what better way to kick off such a venture than with Chris Masuak's current outfit. I know that most of you folks of a certain vintage are familiar with this guy's guitar slinging prowess. However, there may be readers that fell by here by accident so let's address that possibility. Chris is the Australian Ross The Boss and Scott Kempner sort of rolled into one. His work with THE HITMEN (Shock has just reissued two sets to prove it) and RADIO BIRDMAN is the stuff of legend. Heck, he was even on the MANITOBA?S WILD KINGDOM album. We're not dealing with chopped liver here. Several generations of rock'n'roll kudos are wrapped up in all this. Old and in the way but positively bustling with that trademark stringbending. "Recipe for Disaster" takes place in the good old Four Winds bar. A tale of a bona fide catastrophe. "The Straight Path" is a head-banging example of a man wearing his indulgences well. It might introduce younger folks to these at the same time as it pushes the buttons for those of us who miss those rolls in the thunder. BOC fans will find much to transport them back to their old haunt. Screamin' dizbuster cocktails all round. The place where this would work most effectively is presumably in a club, louder than hell in a churchlike environment. The surf/metal cut and shut of "Gershwin May Consider" is a prime example of what is and always shall be the holy grail of my raison d'être here in the domain of my cyber rag.
THE MAHARAJAS In Pure Spite (Low Impact)
To Sweden then, and the latest instalment of primo r&r from these past masters of the form. Garage and pub rock hops are brewed in measures only known to themselves. This allows them to pour their hearts and souls out with a gusto seldom heard in these cynical, formulated times. As has been suspected for some time though, there's something in the drinking water over there. Some strange crystals or something that transforms those who imbibe into authentic purveyors of the music that'll be around long after the latest fad is consigned to landfill. It's all about recycling and if you can serve it up like this then there's surely a nobel prize in the pipeline. "Suckerpunch" sounds like a lost HOODOO GURUS nugget. In fact the whole shebang is like some unexploded bomb that's just gone off. Maybe I should take that authentic claim back, or at least put it into some kind of perspective. It might suggest that this stuff is contrived which of course it isn't. It's a concoction arrived at by people who know the form inside out. The knowing refrain of "it's a buzz buzz buzz" on "Not A New Sensation" is especially great. "The flavour of the month, lasting for a week." These guys know their product inside, outside and all points between, when that penny drops that then "In Pure Spite" gets even better.
THE FRIGGS Today Is Yesterdays Tomorrow (Singles And Unreleased Songs) (Apex East Recording)
A collection of gal-punk gold log considered lost to the world. For the uninitiated, THE FRIGGS were the missing link between THE PANDORAS and GIRLSCHOOL. An east coast phenom that included the great Palmyra Delran who has been a collaborator with Ben Vaughn in a squad of great North Jersey groups over the years. In fact, Ben produced the bulk of these sides so you know its packing heat. These were previously scattered across Apex, Sympathy and Telstar releases and of course, these demos have never seen the light of day until now. This is available now from cdbaby.com and with the dollar rate the way it is then I'd advise you pick up these 15 songs for the price of a couple of pints. The sounds will intoxicate you and induce a noggin crunch but you won't feel the worse for wear. In addition, they'll be there for you to revisit time and time again. I dig them FRIGGS to paraphrase their producer.
Need to pick up the Bomp book and there's a tome on Ace records due any minute. In the reading department, the latest CARBON 14 sports a CD of UK Combos. Curated by Jim Spence of the Bronx Cheer Empire in Glasgow. Entitled "Blight's Still Smokin'", it includes THE PRIMEVALS, HANDSOME DICKS, WILDEBEESTS, PRISCILLAS and THE HIP PRIESTS amongst others. It actually suggests that this sceptic isle's vital signs haven't given up the ghost.
And that's just about your lot. I have a BOONARAAAS!!! piece that's overdue for the fine French publication that is Dig It! The girls will be going there in May so it's always good to get the word out. All going well they'll find the time to come back to give the UK a much needed dose of salts soon too.
As always, you can reach me via the usual means.
Lindsay Hutton (www.tnbt.co.uk) |
