Shores - To Volstead

I don't have a lot to say about this record, sorry. I wrote (at length) about how I got into Shores on this blog post about their debut Coup de Grace. I bought both records at the same time after seeing the band (the conversation with the merch guy went like this - Me: "Which Shores album should I get?", Him: "You can have both for $15") so there's not much to say about that either.

My lack of anything interesting to say isn't a reflection of how much I like the album. It's good. So is their third, which I picked up more recently. If I'm craving some Shores I can put on any of their albums and get fairly equal enjoyment from them all. I played Coup de Grace a lot more at first, but that was intentional; I'd come back from Florida with a lot of records and knew I'd never get into them all properly if I didn't spread out the first listens. Humoring and Beau Monde are both stand-out songs here.

The LP came with a download code and, amusingly, the genre is listed as "Bummercore". However, listen to the start of Faith Hill and you'll be tempted to agree ("I am Hamlet, and everyone dies"). Still, there's their usual slow-build-up / slow-but-heavy-outro going on in a lot of the songs and it's a winning combination. I definitely enjoyed them more live than on record, but I'd still recommend all three of their albums.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 11
Cost: £4.62 new
Bought: Fest
When: 27/10/11
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "Future bread" Side B: "Pastry mistakes"
mp3s: Download code

Lemuria - The First Collection

This is my favourite Lemuria LP, and I say that not in a "their earlier stuff was better" way but just because it has the largest number of my favourite Lemuria songs on it. And given that there's 18 songs it's no wonder really. Certainly Keep Quiet, The Origamists and Home for the Holidays would all be in my top-five Lemuria songs, if I ever had to make such a list (putting them in order is an even bigger task). The latter two really make the most of Alex and Sheena's different voices and Home for the Holidays was an instant favourite. Strangely, Keep Quiet plays before Rough Draft despite what the sleeve says.

I bought this LP on my first-ever trip to Banquet Records in Kingston. I'd bought Banquet's cd release of Lemuria's first proper album Get Better in Spillers a year beforehand, but didn't tie the two things together until I was in the shop that day (I'd only just found out that the shop even existed at this point and probably hadn't looked at the back of my Lemuria cd in those few days). I bought a lot of records on that first trip (something you can read more about here) and I'd heard good things of this record. I also bought a Dave House cd that day, who we'd seen supporting Lemuria when they played in Swansea; I had no idea that he worked in the shop at that point. Anyway, this is the Yo-Yo Records release on black vinyl.


Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 18
Cost: £9 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 18/01/10
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

ONSIND - Mildred, Margie, Annie, Clarice

ONSIND recently released their (very good) new album, which means it's about time I wrote about their last record. The theme of Mildred, Margie, Annie, Clarice is one I've never seen attempted before and one I like a lot - each of the four songs is about a lead female character from a major film and examines some ideas that each one brings up. Luckily, the guys in ONSIND are intelligent enough to pull it off, and it made me think about the characters differently to how I had before. The four characters in question are Mildred from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Margie from Fargo, Annie from Misery and Clarice from The Silence of the Lambs.

I've only ever seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest once, and that was about 10 years ago. I was studying psychology at college and the film got mentioned a lot. I think sometime towards the end of my two years there the film was on TV and I saw it then. Evidently I wasn't paying very much attention, because I don't really remember Mildred at all. It's the only film of the four that I've not seen since, but based on the comments in the sleeve about this song, I should probably get on that.

Conversely, Fargo was the only film of the four that I hadn't seen before hearing the record. I recently found the DVD in one of the charity shops in town for £2 so bought it and finally watched it. By this point, I knew the song pretty well and, of the four songs here, Margie contains the most "spoilers" in that it gives away the most plot. It made the film differently interesting to watch, because I had this half-idea of what happens, but was enjoying seeing how it played out. Margie is the catchiest on the record, and I often have the outro of "Somewhere out there in the tundra is a briefcase filled with cash that nobody can" stuck in my head for days.

Misery and Silence of the Lambs are both films I've seen countless times and I think both are great (I even have them both on LaserDisc! I've included a picture of them at the bottom. I know they're not strictly related, but they're still cool). I've watched them both since listening to this record too, and it was nice to have these extra ideas to think about as I re-watched them. The sleeve notes suggest that Misery reflects Hollywood's nervousness of women gaining power and influence, which is a point I'd never thought about. I think part of the reason for that is that Misery genuinely scares the shit out of me and I tend to focus on that. If you've not seen it, skip the rest of this sentence - the scene with Paul's "hobbling" and the very end never fail to get my heart-rate going.

Similarly with Silence of the Lambs, I'd never really thought about the animal rights or LGBT ideas that get mentioned here, but I like to think that's because Hannibal Lector is such a fascinating character that he takes all my attention. I always thought the line "Defy your canine teeth" here was a great one, and Annie is one of my favourites here.

So, a very nice EP, enjoyable for both the music and the ideas behind it. It's not often (probably ever) that a record has made me think about a film differently (let alone two films), so this one certainly deserves some bonus points for that too.


Format: 10", a3 insert
Tracks: 5
Cost: £7 new
Bought: internet
When: 12/04/12
Colour: Transparent purple
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

The Take - Dolomite

If you lived in South Wales shortly before I did, there's a very good chance you knew about The Take. I moved there in September 2007, half a year after The Take played their last-ever show, so to me they were simply a band that everyone talked about. I think for the years they were active, they were quite a cornerstone of the Cardiff music scene, or at least that's the impression I got. People certainly liked to talk about them fondly.

This record came into my collection a year and a bit after I moved to Cardiff. I'd gone to Funky Buddha Bar with some friends to watch an open-mic night. My friend Amber was living in Cardiff by this point too and I think her housemate Adriana and boyfriend Ioan were both playing. I think we were also there with her friend Hannah, and maybe a friend of hers too. There was a surprisingly large number of us there either way. Anyway, Hugh had been to a gig and met us in there on the way home (Funky Buddha was basically at the end of our road, so it wasn't much of a detour). He'd brought me a gift from the gig he'd been at, which was this copy of Dolomite. He was keen to point out that it was only £1, as The Take had long broken up and whoever was selling records that night wanted rid of them. He'd decided that I needed to have a copy and for £1 it would be rude not to. I'm glad he did take such an interest in my record collection, because The Take had some tunes (Sample Life, Hand Over Fist and Handshakes are all highlights here). Worth checking out if you're a fan of Jawbox or Piebald.

Reminiscing about this particular event led me to wonder what gig Hugh had been at, and it turns out it was Le Pub's Stars in Their Eyes, which was a bi-annual event where local bands played short sets as other bands for the night. I have no idea why I wasn't there; I used to love Stars in Their Eyes. You could guarantee it was going to be a good night, and I certainly remember having some great times at Stars. That night apparently featured Paramore, Killswitch Engage, Bruce Springsteen, Backstreet Boys and Meatloaf, which I can imagine was pretty fun. The open-mic night was probably fun enough, but Stars would definitely have been better. (I had to dig around on the South Wales Massive to find this information out, which is fitting because it gets a mention on Awake for Hours on this record. I can't imagine The Massive made it into many other songs!)

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £0 new
Bought: gift
When: 13/12/08
Colour: White
Etching: Side A: "I'm not a demon / I'm a lizard / a shark / a heat-seeking panther" Side B: "I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion"
mp3s: no

Faith No More - We Care A Lot

There was a second-hand record shop in Cardiff near where I used to live called D'Vinyl. I have no idea if it's still there, but it was the sort of second-hand record you can't imagine is still open any more. I was mildly surprised it had made it to 2008 to be honest. Go back 20 years and I bet there were shops like that in every city, but the majority have long gone. The reason why I suspect it may have closed is that D'Vinyl wasn't very good. At all. If you wanted to spend four hours digging through piles of records on top of boxes of records in the hope of finding a half-decent record that wasn't completely knackered from years of neglect and bad care, then D'Vinyl was the place to go. Unfortunately the staff were dicks too; the last time I went in the guy behind the counter was cracking racist jokes, hence the reason I never went back. They may have had a handful of reasonable records (I'm talking easily <0.1% here) but I rather see my money going to decent people.

Anyway, this shop was very near where I lived, so we'd pop in occasionally in the hope of finding something good. I bought a grand total of five cds and records from there (and this place was piled high with records). On one trip I found this copy of We Care A Lot for £5.40 (and a copy of Gorilla Biscuit's Start Today on cd) and thought it would be worth a listen. I'd not heard any Faith No More pre-Mike Patton but was keen to see what it was like. The whole thing sounds pretty dated these days, but there are still some good songs in there (the title track and As the Worm Turns). Chuck Mosley has an interesting voice (differently interesting to Mike's) but I definitely prefer their later work. I never understood people's FNM and Red Hot Chili Peppers comparisons/comments until I heard this album, but I can see the similarities now.

The highlight of the album is We Care A Lot without a doubt, and it's no wonder FNM still play it now with Mike singing. It's a great song. A few years ago I ran the Brighton Marathon and made a huge playlist on my mp3 player of 4GB's worth of great songs to put on shuffle for the run. It was quite playlist. I remember at various parts of the run getting really excited because certain songs came up (at exactly 1 mile in I had Young Hearts by Gunrack? and around 8 miles Avail's cover of Santeria). The end of the marathon was a very exciting bit (after nearly four hours of running I couldn't wait to lie down) and, as the crowds were getting thicker, We Care A Lot came on and I sprinted to the finish line with it playing. Needless to say, my fond memories of this song are strongly tied in with giving my legs a much-needed rest. I was also pretty pleased with my achievement, which added to the positive feeling.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £5.40 second-hand
Bought: D'Vinyl, Cardiff
When: 02/02/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Nebula + Winnebago Deal - Split

Nebula and Winnebago Deal were two perfectly good bands I never really got into properly. I wish I could think of a good reason why. I guess I was just being lazy. Both are bands that, on paper, I should totally be into. The two songs here are excellent. Maybe listening to them both again today will spur me on to get into them properly.

The first time I heard of Nebula was at a record fair (rather fittingly for this blog). I used to spend a lot of time (and money) at record fairs. I remember going to one in the main hall of Southampton Guildhall and chatting to a guy who had a lot of new-looking records by American bands. Thinking about it now, I bet he had some records in there I'd go weak at the knees over now; 28-year-old me is shocked by the ignorance of 16-year-old me. That was the first time I saw the Rival Schools and Onelinedrawing split cd, but I didn't buy it (a recurring theme, it seems). I didn't know Onelinedrawing and was a bit confused by the concept of a "split" (I later picked a copy up in my local MVC). Anyway, more excitingly, he had a copy of Nebula's split with Lowrider on this awesome, marbled, murky-green vinyl. That, alongside the awesome Fall of Icarus artwork, was one of the most impressive records I had ever seen (and one of the most appropriately coloured stoner-rock records). However, I didn't buy it. I don't know why, I definitely should have bought it. I still regret that now. I've never seen it since (not that I've been looking particularly hard). I bought the Dos EPs cd and heard the songs on there but, needless to say, it's not the same.

Anyway, fast-forwarding to 2004, I was madly in love with The Paper Chase and went to Nottingham to see them. I travelled in from Lancaster and convinced my sister to come in from Derby. After the gig we went to Rock City where Nebula and Winnebago Deal were also playing. I definitely remember seeing part of Nebula's set and I have the faintest memory of catching some of Winnebago Deal's set too, but I don't know who headlined and what time they started, so it could all be some blurry (slightly drunken) memory. Since that's the only time I saw either band, it's a shame I remember it so badly. I do remember that Zane Lowe was DJ-ing in the main room and that all the girls looked way too young to be in a club.

Move forward a few months to Reading Festival 2004, and I found this 7" in one of the record shops they had on the site (this was back when they had record shops at the festival, not just stands selling herbal highs and crap). I figured for £1 it was a good buy, and survived the rest of the weekend in my tent.

But now it's 2013 and I've put no more effort into getting into these bands since. Strange Human is an awesome song, but it's not made me buy any more Nebula records. Maybe it's because I'll constantly be reminded that I never bought that great copy of the Lowrider split.


Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1 new
Bought: Reading Festival
When: 27/08/04
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Hark - Mythopoeia

Like most people (or so I imagine), I started listening to Hark because of Taint. Taint were one of my favourite bands when I lived in South Wales and I ranted about them even more when I wrote about their final EP All Bees to the Sea a year ago. They sadly called it a day and I very nearly crashed my car driving through the snow to get to their last show. It was worth it though.

So I was pleased when the news came out that Jimbob was forming a new band, and even more pleased when I listened to them. Hark follow on from what Taint were doing nicely. It can't be easy to have everyone compare your work to that of another band (which I realise I'm doing myself), but these two songs are brilliant in their own right - heavy, riffy sludge. Sins on Sleeves gets bonus points for it's extra-slow outro and use of the phrase "Ne'r do wells".

I got the 7" from my brother for my birthday (who listened to the songs online and also agreed they were great. This is noteworthy because our tastes in music rarely overlap) and the packaging is pretty nice too - a kind of cardboard envelope hand-screened by Jimbob and numbered (160/300).

I think Hark have played London twice since they've been a band (at least two times that I know about) and I missed them both times. One of those times was with Clutch but I was on holiday. I can't remember when the other was, but I'm pretty sure I must have had a good reason to have not been there. Reports I heard from their first Cardiff show were glowing to say the least. In good news, they apparently have an album coming out soon, which is great because these songs will only quench my thirst for so long.


Format: 7", envelope sleeve, insert, numbered (160/300)
Tracks: 2
Cost: £0 new
Bought: gift
When: 03/11/12
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Turbonegro - Hot Cars and Spent Contraceptives

Despite my usual love for Turbonegro, I've always struggled with their debut Hot Cars and Spent Contraceptives. The sound is much rougher and, whilst the hints of death-punk are there, it's more standard hardcore/punk than they would be on Ass Cobra and Apocalypse Dudes. It's a good punk-rock record, but  when I get the urge to listen to Turbonegro, this record isn't usually what I'm after. Still, it has some decent tunes, the semi-title-track Hot Cars being one of the best (the drums on which always remind me of Therapy?, who in turn cover Turbo on Alpha Motherfuckers).

I bought this in Punker Bunker shortly before returning to Lancaster for the last year of university. I'd been getting into Turbonegro for a few months at this point but didn't know their earliest records had been quite so different. The album has had an interesting print history (as do a lot of Turbo's earlier records) and was orginally re-released with this extended track-list, along with another song, as Helta Skelta. Blitzcore then released this version in 2000. I've always found it strange the way the bonus tracks are scattered throughout the album (tracks 2, 3, 10 and 11), but given the fact that the vast majority of people will own this version or Helta Skelta it might as well be considered the standard track-listing.


Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 14
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Punker Bunker, Brighton
When: 16/09/06
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Electric Wizard - Black Masses

I've been listening to Electric Wizard for quite a while now, but this is the first of their albums I've had on vinyl. I can do better than tell you about how I got into Electric Wizard, because in this case I can show you what made me listen to this band - this poster (you can click on the link, or see my (badly framed, but much loved) copy in the pictures below). You'll agree that it's a fucking incredible poster.

When I was living in Australia, Electric Wizard were touring the country with an Australian stoner/doom band called Pod People, which included two dates in Canberra (two more than most bands bothered with), one in the student union bar. A while before the gig, these posters appeared all over campus advertising the show and I remember thinking it was the coolest poster I'd ever seen. I'd heard of ANU getting some decent gigs in the past, but in the four months I'd been there nothing great had come to town. After seeing the posters I went home and Googled Electric Wizard; the first link I clicked on described Electric Wizard as "the heaviest band in the world". Needless to say, I was quite intrigued.

The worst part of this story, is that I didn't go to either of Electric Wizard's Canberra shows (or, in fact, any on that tour). They played a five minute walk from where I was living and I didn't go. In hindsight, I regret this very much. In the Australian calendar, late-October/early-November is exam time and I had four very difficult exams to prepare for (ANU was a much harder university than Lancaster). On top of that, I was going on a trip through central-Australia two weeks afterwards which would require most of the money I had left and some time planning. Finally, the gig was Au$28 and this was a lot of money to an exchange student with travel on his mind. At $28 there was no way I could convince any of my friends to come (who were far from metal fans) and this was before I didn't mind going to shows on my own. I should have gone.

Anyway, some time afterwards I picked up a copy of Dopethrone on cd and it blew me away. It's the most brilliantly slow yet grooviest doom I've ever heard. I made a copy for Hugh and he described Funeralopolis as being "two weeks long". A while later they played The Trinity Centre in Bristol and I went with Hugh, Richey and a friend of his whose name I've forgotten but was a nice guy. The Trinity Centre is/was a church and I can't think of a better venue to watch Electric Wizard in. It was excellent and I no longer felt like such a fool for missing them in Canberra. I've since seen them again and plan to see them as many times as possible. There's nothing like a good, slow headbang sometimes.

Black Masses is the latest Electric Wizard album, and if you go on Rise Above Records' website you can still get some fancy colours of this record. My sister asked me what I wanted for my birthday last year, and I asked for this. I'd been eyeing it up for a while, but hadn't quite got round to clicking "buy". The blue and red swirl looks great, although it's worth mentioning that in my colour-blind eyes I can only see the red clearly through a camera. Otherwise it just looks like the darker blue around the edge. The whole package is pretty lovely. Musically it's everything I want and I've come to expect from an Electric Wizard album. My favourites are Venus in Furs and Turn Off Your Mind.

I can't say there are many bands I've got into because they had an excellent tour poster, but Electric Wizard are certainly one of them. Before the gig I'd taken down one of the posters from one of the pillars around campus and I've had it on a wall in every house I've in since. Although it should remind me that I should have gone to see them, it mostly reminds me how awesome Electric Wizard are.


Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve, picture sleeves
Tracks: 8
Cost: £0 new
Bought: gift
When: 29/10/12
Colour: Blue and red swirl
Etching: none
mp3s: no

A Storm of Light - Untitled

A Storm of Light have been a recent discovery who I'm still working on. Last year I went to two days of All Tomorrow's Parties' I'll Be Your Mirror weekend in Alexandra Palace. The first day was headlined by Slayer and I went with Hugh and Thom, and the second was Mogwai (with Mudhoney, Codeine and The Dirty Three) and I went with Sarah. Hugh and Thom met at my place in Surbition in the morning, we got some beers and a pizza for the train and headed into town for the gig.

ATP usually put a cinema on at their festivals and I've never been - the showings almost always clash with a band I want to see. The first band on that day were A Storm of Light, who I'd never heard of (at this point I'd not listened to Neurosis either), and the only other thing on was a screening of John Carpenter's classic They Live in the cinema. I'd not seen the movie, but was impressed by the description I'd read on the internet and really keen to see it. Hugh was adamant that I should watch A Storm of Light though and very pleased that the queue outside Alexandra Palace meant I'd miss the start of They Live but have just enough time to get a beer before A Storm of Light. As it happens, I ended up seeing They Live in the Prince Charles Cinema a few months later (loved it) and A Storm of Light again supporting Converge in November (so I would have seen both either way).

A lot of the music I write about on here isn't as heavy as this. I like (and need) a good dose of metal from time to time, but I wouldn't consider myself a metal fan, and any metal fan would agree that I'm not. The metal I do like tends to be more doom than thrash, and I do like my heavy bands to be slow too. A Storm of Light's apocalyptic doom is right up my street then, and I've been spinning this record quite frequently since I got it for Christmas. I've also recently bought their second album Forgive Us Our Trespasses (on cd) but I've not got into it as well as this record.

Half of the four songs here are covers - Day of the Lords by Joy Division (which always reminds me of Jesu) and Kitty Empire by Big Black. I didn't realise the latter was a Big Black cover for a while (despite having the original on Songs About Fucking) and thinking the first few times I played it that it reminded me of Shellac. Funny how the mind connects these vague memories of songs/bands. The two originals are great too, and the whole thing makes for a pretty bleak, dark twenty minutes. But if you're into that sort of thing it's pretty enjoyable too. I'd recommend them for anyone who needs a fix of doom.


Format: 12", die cut sleeve, cd-sized insert
Tracks: 4
Cost: free, new
Bought: gift
When: 25/12/12
Colour: White
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Kyuss + Slo Burn - Live at The Marquee-Club / Amusing the Amazing

I don't normally bother with bootleg records like this one, but a number of factors led to me buying it in April 2011:

1) I was in London and due to meet a friend a bit later. I had some time to kill so headed to Selectadisc (Sister Ray) to browse the records. That place is usually too expensive for my liking, and most of the new releases were about £20. I browsed for ages and the only record I could find that wasn't stupidly expensive and that I kinda wanted was this one.

2) I'd been thinking not long beforehand about how ridiculous it was that I didn't have any Kyuss vinyl. When I lived in Australia their LPs were fairly easy to find (I've not seen them in shops since) and I regret not buying them then (my record buying budget was much smaller back then). The JB Hi-fi in Canberra even had the Muchas Gracias best-of record, which I still don't own. Back in those days the idea of ever seeing any band that even remotely resembled Kyuss was wishful thinking, and I remember thinking it would be cool to hear the four live songs on that record. Since the four songs here are those live songs, I figured this record would make me regret not buying the LPs a bit less. It does. These songs are great, especially Gardenia, which was always one of my favourite Kyuss songs. Freedom Run is ace too.

3) Kyuss Lives were playing a month later and I was even more excited about Kyuss than I am normally (I'll save the usual how-I-started-listening-to rant for another time; I hope to buy the LPs one day, so I'll write it then). I saw the second night of the two London Kyuss Lives shows and it more than satisfied by need to see Kyuss live. For me, so much of Kyuss is in John Garcia's voice that I didn't mind Josh Homme being absent. The gig was incredible and I head-banged solidly for a hour and a bit. I've never missed having long hair so much.

4) On the B-side were four songs by Slo Burn, who I knew nothing about. Wikipedia filled in the gaps after I bought it. I like it but, like I said, I love John Garcia's voice, so it was going to be a winner. I bought a Hermano record a few years back and get equal enjoyment out of that. If these four songs had been on a 12" and someone told me John Garcia was singing, I'd have probably paid £11 for them alone. I certainly like them enough to have done so. It's also worth noting that I probably would never have a copy of these songs if it wasn't for this record.

5) It's on a nice clear vinyl.

6) The fact that the label is called "No Man's Ruin" amused me.

So, all those things coming together led to me buying this record. I then went to meet my friend (in North London; I rarely venture up there) and we went out for some beers. It turned into a fairly messy night and I ended up sleeping on his sofa. Luckily the record survived the night unharmed.


Format: 12", a4 insert
Tracks: 8
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Selectadisc, London
When: 12/03/11
Colour: Clear
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Against Me! - Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy

I've been playing this record a lot over the last few days. Usually when I'm after a fix of Against Me! I put on Reinventing Axl Rose because it's an incredible record and I know that I'm going to spend the next half an hour singing along to some great songs. The same can be said for this record, but I've only really realised that the last few days.

A friend of mine is a huge fan of Against Me! and put a picture up on Facebook the other day of his iTunes most played songs. These 11 songs made up the top 11 places (each with 80+ plays), with some other Against Me! songs taking up a further seven places of the top 20. I was surprised that there were no Reinventing Axl Rose songs in there, but Matt has been listening to Against Me! for almost as long as I've known him, so he probably played that album to death in 2002. Anyway, it made me think about this record, so I pulled it out of the racks and it's been on the turntable quite a lot since.

I bought this album in Generation Records in New York on my second visit (the first had only been two days before, but I decided I'd seen enough sights and wanted to buy more vinyl). I'd bought the first album about nine months earlier and loved it, so figured it was worth trying another one. I liked it from the start, but somehow I didn't connect with the songs as well as I did with those on Axl Rose, which is probably why I always put that album on instead. For me, the highlights are all on the A-side: T.S.R., Sink, Florida, Sink and Slurring the Rhythms, although Turn Those Clapping Hands... is a good tune too.

So, all in all, another record that I've under-appreciated but hopefully won't any more.


Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 11
Cost: £5.42 new
Bought: Generation Records, New York
When: 13/04/08
Colour: Black
Etching: Side B: "I think ya'll might be accessorizing your lifestyle a little too uniformly"
mp3s: no

Various Artists - The Darlington Sessions #1 - Roo Pescod, Kelly Kemp and Giles Bidder

This record got announced around Christmas I think (possibly even Christmas Day - all the days around Christmas tend to become a festive blur) and I was pretty excited by the prospect of it. All three of the musicians here appear in my record collection in other places - Roo plays in Bangers, Giles plays in Great Cynics, and Kelly played on one of my all-time favourite 7"s - so I knew it would be pretty good.

The theme of the record is that the three of them recorded some songs over an apparently drunken weekend in the eponymous (had to look that word up to make sure I'm using it right; not entirely sure I am) Darlington House along with some other familiar names from the UK punk-rock scene. It's a great idea; I love the fact these bands get the chance to hang out and record together. It worked pretty well on the 7" I mentioned above and it works well here too. I guess a good description would be that it's some sort of cross between a collaborative Daytrotter Session and the Revival Tour (so much so, they went off on the Survival Tour, which I sadly missed because I was away).

The record certainly lived up to my expectations, although I was gutted when it arrived to see that the record had knifed its way through the top of the sleeve in transit. It's a one-sided vinyl, so its edges are that bit sharper than a regular record. I don't ever plan to sell any of my records, but I like them to be in nice condition anyway. Still, a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. One thing that works really well on the record is that the three of them have very different voices, so when they lend backing vocals to each other's songs, it sounds great.

My favourite of the nine songs has to be Under the Table by Roo, which consists of just a bass guitar, Roo's vocals and Kelly singing "ba ba ba-ba". It reminds me of Don't by Dinosaur Jr in the fact they both sound so different to the other songs on the album; Dinosaur Jr's album of lo-fi, indie rock ends with a brutal, industrial wall of noise and here, after eight songs of nice, mostly-acoustic songs, we get a dirty bass line and particularly-gruff vocals (I always feel like a prick calling bass "dirty" but it somehow always seems the most appropriate word). Other highlights are Giles' Harrow Adam, Roo's Hammer Whammer and Kelly and Roo's Banished to the Gods.

I'm glad this is called The Darlington Sessions #1, because that implies there'll be more in this series, and I'm very excited to see and hear whatever may come from future sessions.


Format: one-sided 12", insert
Tracks: 9
Cost: £10.50 new
Bought: Internet
When: 16/02/13
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Pacer - Making Plans

I thought I'd written about Pacer's first EP #1 on here, but I guess I haven't yet. I'll come back to that record another day, because I want to write about Making Plans today. Pacer are another band that I got into simply by seeing them play countless times in Kingston and London. I'd seen Dave House play his solo stuff back when I lived in Cardiff, but I'm not sure I even made the connection the first time I saw Pacer.

Anyway, Making Plans had a very non-standard release but has eventually ended up on vinyl. It first came out last year as a download and 8"x8" book featuring lyrics and artwork. There was also a pay-what-you-like on the band's bandcamp. I picked up a copy of the book+download code in Banquet that summer, but naturally forgot to download the album for a few weeks. Sometime later they announced that they were going to release the album on vinyl too, with space in the sleeve for the book to live, so I ordered that from Banquet and, fittingly, forgot to pick it up for a while after it arrived in-store.

I'm all for band's experimenting with how they release albums, but I must admit that the download didn't really work for me. Back when I had an office and a desk and desktop computer I found myself listening to mp3s loads, and had this album come out a year earlier, it would have got pretty heavy play I'm sure. As it was, it came out when I was doing most of my work in a library with either books or an internet-less laptop. On top of that, I find it hard to work while listening to music through headphones (unless it's instrumental, usually), so finding time to download an album and time to play it wasn't very easy, hence the weeks it took me to download it. (It's also worth mentioning that I'm pretty useless at redeeming my download cards and updating my mp3 player at the best of times.) So I was glad they pressed the album on vinyl too; I say that not because of any audio-snobbery, but I'm just not anywhere near as likely to find the mp3s on my laptop, plug in the cable that links to the hi-fi and play them that way, as I am to put the needle on the record. A testament to this is that I've listened to Making Plans far more times in the two months I've had the vinyl than in the nearly-year I've had the mp3s. Also, the blue and white splatter looks great.

So, that rant aside, what about the music? It's great. It's a nice step up from the EP and there are some brilliant songs (Little Avalons, Ice Eater and the excellently-named Explainer? I Hardly Know Her). My favourite song however is definitely Flutter, which ends with Dave and Mike "Woah-oh-oh"-ing while Mark sings without appearing to take a breath. I didn't notice the first few times, but the lyrics in the outro are the same as those at the start, and it's interesting how different they sound when sung differently and to a different beat. I like it a lot. The last time I saw Pacer was in The Black Heart and the lead vocals in the outro of Flutter were pretty much drowned out by the "woah-oh-oh"s, but it was great to see Mark singing along even though we couldn't hear him. It was quite a strange sight, but it worked.


Format: 12", 8"x8" book
Tracks: 12
Cost: £9 new (plus £6 for the book+download)
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 18/03/13
Colour: Blue with white splatter
Etching: none
mp3s: Download