tinycowboy
Well-known member
Ah, but do you remember Headtime? They were right up your street.
Hmmm - bit ordinary, as I recall?
Ah, but do you remember Headtime? They were right up your street.
Hmmm - bit ordinary, as I recall?
Bit like Revolver, but not as good.
Weekly update time
Received, reviewed, not yet guessed or acknowledged
[MENTION=2040]Staly[/MENTION].
Received but yet to review
[MENTION=17286]Gordon Bennett[/MENTION]
[MENTION=26695]Mowgli37[/MENTION]
[MENTION=14921]spring hall convert[/MENTION]
[MENTION=13836]deletebeepbeepbeep[/MENTION]
[MENTION=21578]Worthingite[/MENTION]
Theatre of Trees
Status unknown - yet to receive
[MENTION=12196]tinycowboy[/MENTION]
[MENTION=3566]hans kraay fan club[/MENTION]
[MENTION=17286]Gordon Bennett[/MENTION]
[MENTION=15464]DavePage[/MENTION] - I have been informed that this has been posted
[MENTION=19671]CorgiRegisteredFriend[/MENTION]
[MENTION=13947]happypig[/MENTION]
[MENTION=19864]Flex Your Head[/MENTION]
[MENTION=1131]Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo[/MENTION]
[MENTION=616]Guinness Boy[/MENTION]
[MENTION=468]somerset[/MENTION]
[MENTION=2351]m20gull[/MENTION]
If you've posted or received either mention on this thread or drop me a PM
Several people yet to receive and several recipients yet to review; this has become a bit of a flop hasn't it ?
I doubt I'll bother again...
Third time lucky for me, received nothing for the previous two CD swaps, so now breaking my review duck. Naturally, as organiser I know who sent me this, so I'll let the rest of you try to guess who the Bunny is.
Cover art
View attachment 65381
Review
1.The Band in Heaven - Dandelion Wine
Dreamy indie pop with a nice little riff which forms the backbone of the song. The verses alternates with boy/girl vocal and celebrates the timelessness of youth from the perspective of those now getting older and moving further away from that point. Pleasant but not something I would seek out.
2. The Declining Winter - World Wide Ruin
Strumming guitars and soft vocals mean that no matter how many times I play this song, I cannot recall anything about it after. Dull is probably the best word to describe my feelings about it.
3. The New Lines - A Short Film About Johann Strauss II
A group I know having listened to their ‘Fall in Line’ long player last year and one of those groups I felt at the time were bit too clever for their own good. This song which I hadn’t heard before doesn’t change that opinion whilst giving the impression that it would have felt far more at home being aired on a John Peel show circa 1982.
4. Knickers - Candy
Another band I already knew having really liked their only previous release, 2012 single, My Baby’s (Just a Baby), see [yt]yMDNuH9zBPM[/yt].
I really liked this too, is it something new as they seem to have been on hiatus since their single release, and searching Knickers - Candy in Google takes you down some, er, interesting avenues. Very retro pop but with a distinct identity of their own.
5. Varsity - c.2002
More indie pop this time with a female vocal which I find really irritating for some reason. It breezes by but makes little impression otherwise.
6. The Unthanks - Mount the Air
Some folk with more than a hint of jazz within the structure that includes a rather luscious arrangement of strings and brass that seems to meander forever threatening to stop at various points along the way before completing its journey a little over 10 minutes later. The musical equivalent of a chocolate marshmallow.
7. Sonotanotanpenz - Title unknown
Two Japanese ladies strum a couple of acoustic guitars and sing softly and hesitantly in Japanese about something or other, perhaps lost or disappointed love or maybe ritual disembowelment, occasionally harmonising along the way. Pretty but insubstantial.
8. The Leaf Library - Walking backwards
Lo-fi indie with a backbeat driven by bass, percussion and keyboard with the guitar well down in the mix which is a rarity on this CD. The vocals dreamily drift along with the arrangement and reminded me of Saloon, which isn’t surprising having discovered the group was formed by an ex-member (male). I liked this one.
9. Prince Jammy - Weeping Willow
Dub reggae instrumental that languidly meanders rather repetitively through the course of its four minutes and ten seconds. Not a fan of dub reggae but in the context of the CD this nicely breaks up the relentless onslaught of indiedom.
10. Dog Legs - Holiday
Noisy guitar pop ahoy with lashings of guitars, woo-hoos and 1-2-3s all harmonised in that off key way that has been so prevalent in American female indie rock over the last 20 years or so. I really would have liked this during the 1990s.
11. Mercury Girls - Golden (Demo)
More female indiepop with the voice half buried in the mix, though not as far down as the just about discernible male backing vocal. Nothing here stands out enough to make an impression.
12. Nice Legs - Two
Tagged on their bandcamp page as fuzz pop, lo fi, c86, descriptions that usually make me run a mile, but this is very nice, particularly the backing vocals on the chorus which are the complete antithesis to tight harmonising sounding like they roped in anybody they could find to provide them irrespective to whether they could sing in tune or not. After the first listen of the CD it was the chorus to this song that persistently floated around my head.
13. Salad Boys - Dream Date
More indie featuring my biggest bugbear, the weak male vocal, which is buried so far under the guitar riff and percussion that you can barely make out the lyrics
14. Whatever Forever - Miserable People
Coming in at one minute thirty five seconds and one of the shortest tracks on the CD. Female fronted American indiepop that could have been released in the 1990s but is fairly recent.
15. Westkust - Weekend
Some shoegazey indie from Sweden which is pleasant but undiverting.
16. Candi Staton - Beware, She’s After Your Man
Bass - check; organ - check; funky guitar riff - check; horns - check; we are indeed in funk territory. As I’m not too familiar with Ms Staton’s discography the first thought that came across is what classic album does this one come from, however, 30 seconds in she proclaims we are all living in the digital age. Doubting that Candi was technologically prescient in the age of analogue a little investigation discovers that this was released in 2014. What we get here is a lesson on how to retain your original sound yet somehow sound contemporary at the same time. Staton also uses her age to good effect, with her proffering motherly advice to a younger audience yet in places sounding as if she knows the advice won’t be followed and they’ll discover the hard way like she did.
17. Brain F - Lie About Diet
Hurrah, it’s 1977 again, frenetic guitars, off key female vocals that can’t be made out, and all completed after one minute and three seconds. The musical equivalent of standing by the side of the road and watching the Tour de France peloton go speeding by.
18. The Love Triangle - Do you Think that you’ve Found Love?
Still in late 1970s new wave territory, for some reason this reminded me of Eddie & the Hot Rods
19. The Morons - Motorbike
The third of the late 1970s-like trilogy, even their name harks back to that period. The intro has that descending guitar scale thing the Cramps used to do before heading off down the road at a hundred miles an hour, through traffic lights, shouting f..k you, and telling everybody you’re born to die - which they will if they keep going through red lights.
20. Cinerama - I Wake up Screaming
Always preferred Cinerama Gedge to Wedding Present Gedge, the former more thoughtful and less frenetic than the latter, and this one is no exception. Here young Gedgie goes to bed dreaming his partner is cheating on him, why is she taking the iPhone into the bathroom? Not to play Angry Birds whilst curling one out, no she’s texting another man. On waking up he discovers his nightmare has become a reality, condemning her cowardice in carrying out the betrayal. Though you feel the reality has yet to sink in.
21. Goblin - Suspiria
The nightmares continue with this piece of prog rock from 1977, the soundtrack to Dario Argentio’s supernatural thriller of the same name. What we have thrown into the mixer is what sounds like the tune a music box plays, some reverberating ‘POOMs’, warning sirens at each segment breakdown, some flourishing Rick Wakeman like keyboards, and a vocal that hovers in the background and can be best described as rasping though lyrically all that can be heard are some ‘la la las’ and the word ‘Witch’ spat out at various intervals. Not been voted the best horror soundtrack for nothing, demented and brilliant.
Favourite is Knickers followed by Nice Legs a close second (A statement which would have hordes of Millie Tants trying to emasculate me).
Looks good.
I'd guess [MENTION=19864]Flex Your Head[/MENTION]
Looks good.
I'd guess [MENTION=19864]Flex Your Head[/MENTION]
Looks good.
I'd guess [MENTION=19864]Flex Your Head[/MENTION]
I thought [MENTION=2040]Staly[/MENTION] too.