The Cooper Temple Clause - Waiting Game

This is the third and final 7" I bought from The Cooper Temple Clause's third album. After the lack of excitement I got from Homo Sapiens, I'm a little surprised I bothered. This was also bought in HMV in Lancaster along with a handful of 7"s. I think I was going through a phase of buying loads of 7"s (this was back when they were cheap) and anything I thought might be ok got bought. This is Part 2, although I didn't buy Part 1. I suspect they didn't have it in stock.

The a-side is better than Homo Sapiens, but still not one of the band's best songs by a long margin. The Last Line of Defence on the b-side is the first song from this era that I actually quite like. It starts of pretty slow but builds up into an interesting song. Maybe it is worth sticking with some bands after all. Or maybe it's just that The Cooper Temple Clause don't work so well without some electronic noodling going on.


Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1 new
Bought: HMV Lanaster
When: 19/02/07
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

The Cooper Temple Clause - Homo Sapiens (Part 2)

This is Part 2 to the single I just wrote about and comes in a clear plastic sleeve so that it can live in the other half of the gatefold sleeve. Both of these were £1 (which was only 90p after I got my student discount) and I picked them up in my last year of university in Lancaster. I was in town buying the then-new Deftones album Saturday Night Wrist and ended up with a handful of 7"s to go with it. I think the new Cooper Temple Clause album hadn't come out by this point, and I figured it was worth giving the new single a go.

Why on earth they put the exact same version of the a-side on both parts of the 7" I don't know. The b-side Pins and Needles is pretty similar to the b-side of Part 1 in that it's slow, acoustic and not particularly exciting.

My friend Matt ended up buying the album and I borrowed it once to listen to. I remember enjoying more than I thought, but on listening to these singles now, I'm not sure I'd get much out of it any more.


Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £0.90 new
Bought: HMV Lancaster
When: 30/10/06
Colour: White
Etching: none
mp3s: no

The Cooper Temple Clause - Homo Sapiens (Part 1)

Homo Sapiens was the second single The Cooper Temple Clause released from their third album, and the only one I never got round to buying. I wrote about the band in much more detail in the post about the 6x7" box-set of their first album here.

As a single, it doesn't sell the album too well (hence me not buying it). The a-side lacks all the interesting parts of their previous work and just comes across as a fairly unexciting rock song. If you're after unexciting rock songs, you could do worse though. The b-side Haunted by You is pretty bland; slow, acoustic and standard b-side stuff.


Format: 7", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 2
Cost: £0.9 new
Bought: HMV Lancaster
When: 30/10/06
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Neutral Milk Hotel - Walking Wall of Words

In 2011, after nearly 15 years since Neutral Milk Hotel disappeared, Jeff Mangum announced a small run of solo concerts and a lavish box-set of NMH's recordings. Needless to say, I got very excited, even more so when All Tomorrow's Parties announced he'd be curating and playing one of their weekenders. I was also hugely excited by the box-set because it contained a whole bunch of NMH songs I'd only ever heard about. I'd been listening to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and On Avery Island for years and the thought of hearing some new (to me) NMH songs put a huge smile on my face. At ATP that March, I bought the box-set on the Saturday morning after seeing Jeff for the first time the night before and the first thing I did when I got home was carefully open the box and play all the records. I was like a child at Christmas.

On Avery Island

I wrote about NMH's debut album on here a few months ago, and a much more detailed story can be found here. On Avery Island seems to have two different covers depending where and when you buy a copy, and this one is the same as my LP, but without the red border and title and on a very nice gatefold. I saw a bunch of copies with this cover on non-gatefold in Fopp a while back for a fiver each (vinyl is rarely a bargain in Fopp), but given that I already had two copies, I didn't bother getting a third.

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Whether you agree that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the greatest album of all time or not is irrelevant because there's no denying the huge following it has. Almost everyone I've ever spoken to about NMH have either been huge fans of this album, or have never heard of it, which says a lot about how great it is. Personally, I adore it and I wrote about that at great length here. I have so much time for this album and I'm pretty sure the people who work at Spillers will never know quite how thankful I am for their hand in me discovering this album.

Ferris Wheel on Fire EP

Here's where it starts to get interesting - those NMH songs we haven't played a million times. This EP contains eight acoustic recordings between 1992 and 1995. Some are familiar from the albums and Jeff's live album Live at Jittery Joes' and others contain lyrics that later made their way into other songs (Oh Sister shares some lines with the classic Oh Comely, and My Dream Girl Don't Exist finishes with the line "and now she knows she'll never be afraid", just as Ghost does). Most exciting here is the emotion in Jeff's voice and the strum of his guitar and the ghostly, raw echo in the room. It makes you feel like you're sat there with him and never fails to remind me of seeing him sat there on the stage at ATP. On the Sunday night we went down the front and as he walked on stage there was a strange look in his eyes that seemed to me to be a mix of fear and disdain, but as soon as he started playing you tell that was just the place Jeff needed to be to play these songs.

The whole EP makes for lovely listening and you get to see many different sides of Jeff's music, whether it's the fast-singing spit on A Baby for Pree / Glow Into You, almost punk on Home, or haunting and slow on April 8th. I never like to put songs from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea on mixtapes, because I love how the album works as a whole, so I'd instead be tempted to use one of these songs. Eight brilliant individual slices of Neutral Milk Hotel.

Everything Is EP

Everything Is contains some the earlier NMH songs, when the fuzz was cranked way up and the band were a lot more reminiscent of their Elephant 6 friends like The Olivia Tremor Control. The whole thing comes across more laid back and lo-fi and you could easily not realise you were listening to NMH at times. Jeff still sings fast, but like he's more content to let the words fly out at a pleasant pace than later where he can't get them out fast enough. When you place the record before On Avery Island in your mind, it makes sense and gives you a good idea of the musical progression. I'm definitely less keen on these songs, but still enjoy them (Everything Is and Here We Are are the highlights for me). They're the Neutral Milk Hotel songs you play on a sunny day, sat out in a field relaxing, except for Ruby Bulbs which is pretty hard on the ears.

Little Birds

There's no denying that £80 is a lot to spend on anything, but I stand by the following comment - it's almost worth every penny for Little Birds alone. Little Birds is the only post-Aeroplane NMH song to ever surface, a statement that immediately makes you wonder what they might have put out had they not called it quits so soon. It's a thought I never really had until I heard about this song and where it fits chronologically, but I can't begin to imagine how exciting a third NMH album would have been.

It's a thought that's even more exciting when you hear Little Birds because it's one of Jeff's finest songs. I know that's a grand statement, and I'm not saying it's the best, just in the top 10, possibly top 5, depending on the day. This 7" contains Unfinished Version One and Unfinished Version Two (a live version) and you can't help but wonder why on earth anyone would want to change anything for a final version. Little Birds it a dark and brutal story and possibly a glimpse into where Jeff's mind was at the time. The line "Do you really want the burning hell that we believe in?"  must be one of his darkest. It's a fairly uneasy listen, but it's beautiful at the same time and I love it. If this was the natural progression from Aeroplane to album #3 then we would have been in for a very strange, dark treat.

If you have six minutes spare, find the song on the internet and listen to it with the lyrics in front of you. You won't come away feeling uplifted, but it's such a great song it'll be worth it.

You've Passed / Where You'll Find Me Now

This 7" contains alternate recordings of two songs from On Avery Island - You've Passed and Where You'll Find Me Now, the latter being a later version of Glow Into You from the Ferris Wheel on Fire EP. You've Passed seems even fuzzier than it did before (if that's possible) and Where You'll Find Me Now is slowed down so much it almost sounds like you're playing it at the wrong speed (I wasn't; I checked). It's quite a strange version and I can't say I like it as much as the original. An interesting listen nonetheless.

Holland, 1945

The final record in the box is the 7" picture disc of Holland, 1945 with Engine on the b-side. Holland, 1945 was the only "single" from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea in that it was only one released, but also the only song that you could remove from that album and listen to as a song on it's own. Engine is Jeff's attempt at a child's song, although I imagine most children might struggle with his voice and raw guitar strum. The 7" comes wrapped in a poster that I think came with the original. This poster is the reason that some people call the untitled track on Aeroplane by the name The Penny Arcade in California as the album's tracklisting is given and that title is next to number 10. On the reverse is the Elephant 6 logo.

The box and posters

Included in the box-set are two 24"x24" posters, one of the cover and the other of the flying gramphones from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. I think all three of the bits of art on In the Aeroplane... are great (the cover with the woman with a drum for a head, the long-legged marching band and the flying gramophones) and if I wasn't so keen to keep my box-set in perfect condition I'd be tempted to frame it.

Speaking of condition, I come to my only problem with this box. When I got home from ATP, I was excited to play the records, but at the same time a little disappointed with what had happened to my box, presumably in transit - the box is structured so that the 7"s sit in the middle, with the 10"s above them, then the LPs, using a cardboard construction that sits in the box to hold them in place. However, this clearly wasn't very reliable as mine arrived slightly broken. The records were all fine (there's the smallest dint in the edge of the Everything Is EP) but it was still annoying. Luckily, I'd opened it before I went to see Jeff's shows in the Union Chapel that week, because at the merch stand they had replacement parts for the box-sets (which they should have had at ATP, but didn't). The guy let me have one when I told him what had happened to my copy and was saying that he'd bought one too, but hadn't opened it. He'd tried unfolding the replacement structure, but to no luck and, after a quick look at the one he gave me, I couldn't get mine to unfold either. That's why in the picture below I have a unfolded piece of cardboard next to the bottom layer of the box - mine may not be in mint condition now, but theoretically it could be, which is fine by me. I'm never going to sell it anyway.

So, all in all, a lovely box-set containing some incredible songs. I think they did a great job on this one and I'm very happy with it indeed. It's a pretty special way to remember a very special band.


Format: double gatefold 12", double 10", double 7", picture disc 7", three posters, box set
Tracks: 44
Cost: £80 new
Bought: gig
When: 10/03/12
Colour: Black, picture disc
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Bangers - Small Pleasures

I've been putting off writing about this record for a while, mostly because there's no particularly exciting tale to go with it. The record is great but, from the point of view of this blog, there's nothing that dramatic to say - I saw Bangers a bunch of times, liked them a lot and eventually bought the LP. Pretty much exactly how these things are supposed to work. I have no idea when I first saw them, but they played South Wales a bunch of times when I lived in Cardiff and it was definitely sometime in those two years.

I was looking to spend some money in Banquet last February and figured it was about time I picked up Small Pleasures. I had a couple of other Bangers songs on the Brits Abroad 7" and the 7" with Kelly Kemp, El Morgan and The Arteries so I decided it was a safe bet (I also ended up buying Furniture by Fugazi and Handholder by Grown Ups that day). I liked it but the first few listens I thought that lyrically it was just about, you know, stuff 'n' things and broken computers. However I then listened to it with the lyrics in front of me and there's a lot more going on; there's a lot of self-doubt and confusion, and it's always nice to be reminded that other people haven't quite got it all figured out yet either. The line "The last thing I need is any more things" always comes to mind whenever I move house.

Slightly off-topic, but the song Church Street in Ruins made me realise that the Cut Ups album Paris Street in Ruins (which I assume they're referencing, and not just a coincidence) is about a street in Exeter called Paris Street rather than, as I'd thought for years, an arbitrary street in Paris. Whenever I thought of that album, I pictured a Parisian street full of rubble, probably caused by the guy on the cover with the small head and huge guitar. I've never been to Exeter, so it's harder to picture the Paris Street that The Cut Ups were actually (probably) talking about. So there you are, an interesting story related to this album did appear after all.

I'm pretty rubbish at reviewing albums for their musical content, so I tend not to. Small Pleasures is very good and I recommend you check it out.


Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 22/02/12
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Big Black - Songs About Fucking

So we pretty much all have a copy of Songs About Fucking, right? I must have seen this LP a billion times in record shops before picking it up, but there are quite a few reasons why you notice that sleeve every time you flick past it in the racks; I'm not sure if it's the colour scheme, seeing the word "fucking" in such big letters, or the look on the woman's face, but the three together make for quite a scene. Hats off to them, it's definitely a classic cover.

I bought Songs About Fucking a quarter of the way through the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year (having probably seen it where 12 times already). This was shortly before I started reading Our Band Could Be Your Life, so I really knew nothing about nothing about Big Black other than that album cover and 1000 Hurts by Shellac, which I'd bought two weeks earlier. I was keen to hear some more of Steve Albini's work and I probably heard some recommendations for Songs About Fucking from somewhere (I bet it's in Best Albums of the 80's lists that I've read, and Spillers probably had a some favourable words to say about it on the sleeve in the shop).

When I got home and put the needle on the record, it was way more brutal than I was expecting, but I liked it. I've been known to enjoy music with an industrial leaning and it made Prayer to God on 1000 Hurts sound like a pop song. The whole thing certainly comes under the category "un-easy listening".


Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £9 new
Bought: Spillers
When: 01/04/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Jonah Matranga - You're All Those Things and Then You're None (Versions 1 & 2)

I've been putting off writing about this record for the sole reason that I just don't like it that much. Theoretically I agree that there's a lot of worth in the phrase "if you have nothing nice to say..." and that there's way too much negativity in music writing as it is, but I set out to write about every record I own, including the ones I'm not that keen on. Let's see if I can write about this without sounding like a critical arse-hole.

All that said, the key thing to take from this is that I think Jonah is a great musician. He's written some incredible songs and been a part of some excellent bands (Far and New End Original). His solo career has been prolific and I could easily list about 20 solo songs of his that I genuinely love. Most of all his live shows are excellent and I try to see him every time he comes to town; I pretty much always leave smiling because it was so much fun and he played such brilliant songs. Possibly my all-time favourite Jonah-live-show moment was the acoustic version of Far's Joining the Circus that he played upstairs in the Garage a year or so ago. I love that song and it worked so well. Also, he seems like a really nice guy, and I really hope he doesn't end up reading this (if you do, Jonah, I'm sorry).

So hopefully I've now convinced you that I ordinarily have a lot of time for Jonah Matranga and his music. The problem is that I can barely listen to this album - there's hardly a decent song in the lot. The opener This is Who I'm Gonna Be is just about passable and I Just Died in the Air is alright but that's followed by the worst song on the album. Other than that every song has at least one part that makes me rub the bridge of my nose like the kid in Dazed and Confused whenever something awkward happens.

This album began life as a kickstarter project (I think, or something like that) with the twist that the album would evolve over time - the plan was to get people to record songs from it, or parts of them, and make a second version as a "full band". I thought it had potential (remember, I do normally enjoy Jonah's work) and got involved. I opted for the double vinyl+cd+t-shirt option and didn't mind spending £40 because I was happy to help Jonah out and keen to hear his new music. Of course, upon hearing the music I realised I'd been optimistic in how this would turn out. I got screwed, these things happen.

And I think that's the worst thing - I have two copies of this album. On paper you might think an army of musicians might be able to put something listenable on the second LP, but ultimately they're still the same songs and you'd be wrong (I just wrote something way worse, but had to censor myself. Turns out it's hard to not be a negative arse-hole when you don't actually like the album. I'm looking forward to writing about records I can get excited about again). I still, in theory, like the concept here but would prefer to see it executed on 10 different songs. Any 10 songs other than these. The version of Happy-Hee is just fucking painful.

Here's another terrible thing - I've not played this album in at least a year and a half. The last time was when I put the mp3s on my player and listened to them on the way to The Peel for a gig (evidence I really did try). By the time I got to the venue I'd pretty much lost all my faith in music and the bands had to work pretty hard to revive that. I've seen Jonah live since so I know he is still a great musician. Unfortunately the stain on his solo career is sat on two records and a cd in my collection.

So I apologise once again for having nothing nice to say, but saying things anyway. If you're a Jonah fan and you love this album, I don't think any less of you for doing so - it's just not for me. If you played on the album, I'm sorry (unless you contributed towards Happy-Hee. Jesus wept). If you're not familiar with Jonah's music but you've read this far anyway, then please do check him out. His live albums are especially excellent and a great starting point. Just don't start here.


Format: double 12", cd
Tracks: 20
Cost: £40 new
Bought: Website
When: 16/07/11
Colour: Clear and transparent orange
Etching: none
mp3s: CD

The Computers - This is the Computers

The Computers have their second album coming out next week, so I figured it's about time I wrote something about their first. I was on holiday when this came out so I ended up buying it in a huge haul from Banquet that also included new albums by Fucked Up, Small Brown Bike, Great Cynics and Frank Turner. June 2011 had some big releases.

The first time I saw The Computers live was with The Arteries in Swansea for the release show of their third EP Beers and they were great fun (as were The Arteries), although I vaguely remember the trains to Swansea were a mess and losing people when we had to catch a replacement bus. I'd met The Computers sometime before this (they were staying at Reza's house in Cardiff one night and my old housemate and I were there watching Blade 3) but hadn't got round to checking them out until that night. After that show I picked up their EP You Can't Hide From the Computers from Spillers and was pretty excited for the debut album.

The album is good and has some great tunes; the opener Where Do I Fit In, Blood is Thicker and Music is Dead are all personal favourites. I particularly like the layered vocals on chorus of Blood is Thicker. It does a fairly good job of capturing what makes the band so fun live, but given the increase in the singer's on-stage antics over the last few years, some might disagree. A common theme seems to be that the choruses are just the title of the song repeated a few times, but it works so who am I to complain? It's upbeat but also quite aggressive; you can see why John Reis would want to be involved.

The new record should be good too. I've listened to one of the singles and it was pretty nice. I was also very pleased with their Misfits covers EP, which I'll write about on here soon enough.


Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 11
Cost: £10.50 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 21/06/11
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Deftones - Live: Volume 1 - Selections from Adrenaline

So Saturday was Record Store Day 2013 and, as ever, I was up outside Banquet Records very early. I like Record Store Day a lot - it's the one thing I get to be obsessive about (I love seeing queues outside shops knowing there's still small handful of people getting excited over about their particular niche), every year I have nice conversations about music with strangers in the queue and the atmosphere is always lovely. This year I arrived at Banquet 45 minutes earlier than last year but was stood a good few meters further back; the popularity is growing but that's no wonder given the ever-increasing number of exclusive releases.

Anyway, one of the highlights for me was this Deftones record. I'd heard about the plan to release seven Deftones RSD records featuring some live cuts from each album before the full list was announced and I thought it was pretty cool. The rest of the list appeared and there were some other interesting releases but the Deftones one remained one of my top priorities on Saturday (I popped into Banquet again on Sunday and there were still copies there, but the early start was worth it to (almost) guarantee a copy).

There may only be four songs, but they're great to hear. I was initially worried that the recordings of Teething and Nosebleed would be the same as on the Back to School EP but luckily they're separated by five years. The quality is good (except for the start of Minus Blindfold where the sound wavers a little) and the sleeve looks way nicer in real life than I expected. Most of all, it's great to go back in time and hear Chi play bass again. I was saddened by the news of his passing, especially because I thought he was getting better. I suppose I always thought I'd see him on stage again, but now I'll have to make do with these recording instead. One other thing that's particularly nice about this record is at the start of Teething when Chino says "if you never heard of this band right here, we're called Deftones from California" and you're reminded that Deftones weren't always a massive band and the crazy idea that people hadn't heard of them. It's like in Grosse Point Blank where John Cusack's assistant says "I just find it amusing that you came from somewhere". Teething and Engine No. 9 are my favourites at the moment.

Of course it wouldn't be a Record Store Day post without a slight moan about prices. When this appeared on Banquet's site it was listed as a tenner - "what a bargain" I thought. Then Sister Ray put out their price list and had it at £32 which I assumed must have been a mistake. Spillers' list later also had it nearer £30 and I began to panic - maybe Banquet got it wrong and this record really was going for £30! Then their price jumped up £27 before falling back down to a slightly more reasonable, but still pretty expensive £20. Somebody is almost certainly making a killing out of this and I doubt it's Banquet or the Deftones. Having bought this one I'm pretty much tied into buying the next six, and if they think they're getting £140 out of me for what will probably be about 28 songs, well, they're probably right. I'm a sucker I know. The spine has seven little circles, one for each record, and they are going to look lovely on my shelf when they're all out.


Format: 12"
Tracks: 4
Cost: £20 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 20/04/13
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no