Wavelets - Athaletics

Wavelets are a band I'd never heard of (let alone heard) when I bought this record. The fact I own this album is a testament to quite how trigger happy I get when ordering records from the states and how easily swung I am by a good offer. On the other hand, it's a great record so I'm very pleased I own a copy.

I was ordering a bunch of records from the Tiny Engines website and I decided to pick up the Dikembe album since we'd seen them at Fest and I thought they were awesome. The site had an offer where you could order the Dikembe and Wavelets albums together for a small saving and I figured I didn't have much to lose - the postage was already high enough another record wouldn't cost too much and records from the US are so cheap anyway. Plus the description said that Dikembe and Wavelets shared a singer and a guitarist (hence the offer) so it really couldn't go too wrong.

Athaletics isn't a long album (it plays at 45rpm) but they squeeze in some excellent moments. The album is book-ended by my two favourite songs - Julio Won't Get Out of the Car and Cannonball - two songs made excellent by the group-vocals (something that also works pretty well on My Dad the Manatee). The end of Cannonball, with the chorus screamed by a whole bunch of voices, is the highlight of the record for me.

Controversially, I think I might actually prefer the Wavelets album to the Dikembe album; both are excellent, but Athaletics comes across a more fun record and I think it works.

Format: 12", a4 insert
Tracks: 9
Cost: £8.70 new
Bought: Tiny Engines website
When: 10/01/13
Colour: Transparent red (/150)
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Dikembe - Broad Shoulders

Both times I've been to Fest I left having discovered so many excellent bands. The Sunday of the first of those two Fests was particularly exciting; I was pretty knackered after three-and-a-half days of watching bands and drinking so decided to hole up in Loosey's for the evening. Failures' Union were playing and I was keen to see them again. Beforehand were a band called Dikembe and afterwards was a band called Restorations. I'd heard of neither but both would shortly go on to completely blow me away. (As if that wasn't enough, on the way home we passed by Eight Seconds and ended up catching the end of The Underground Railroad to Candyland's set, which was also an excellent find. Beforehand all I wanted to do was sit down, but I couldn't tear myself away from that band.)

Anyway, I didn't buy any Dikembe records after their set but did make a mental note to check them out in the future. A year afterwards I finally did so by picking up their debut album, Broad Shoulders. I was ordering the new Run Forever album from the Tiny Engines website and was stocking up to make the most of the postage. I'd enjoyed their set so figured the album would be a safe bet. Luckily, it was as good as I remembered them.

There are some excellent songs throughout the album (like Librarians Would Kill For That Kind of Silence) but it's actually the sparse moments where there are just guitars and vocals like on Nothing, Stuff and Not Today, Angel that really make the album for me.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £8.70 new
Bought: Tiny Engines website
When: 10/01/13
Colour: Light brown (/250)
Etching: Side A: "Take ya lemon and ya honey" Side B: "And get outta here!"
mp3s: Download code

Constantines - Shine a Light

Constantines are a band I regularly have to kick myself about - over a number of years I had a handful of opportunities to see them live and I never once saw them. In my defence, I didn't get into them until long after they'd broken up, but somehow that makes me feel worse; sheer ignorance meant I never saw them, rather than my usual laziness (which I've come to terms with).

I first heard Constantines on their Daytrotter session - this was back when I first discovered Daytrotter and spent all my time at the office just listening to Daytrotter sessions. I have no recollection of what it was that made me click on the Constantines session, but I guess it was that vague familiarity you get when you see a band name in certain places that makes you think they'd be worth checking out. Most notably, they'd played at the Explosions in the Sky-curated All Tomorrow's Parties (and that was a line-up I spent many hours getting excited over). I listened to their session and was so, so incredibly impressed. I had two especially noteworthy moments from that Daytrotter period and they were from hearing Constantines and from hearing Low.

The Constantines session was incredible for how raucous and energetic they sounded. They played like they hated their instruments and I loved it. A short while later I picked up a copy of Shine a Light (on cd) and later Tournament of Hearts and Kensington Heights. I enjoyed them all, but none quite captured the band in the same way that Daytrotter session did (or, for that matter, how I imagine they were every time they played live). Take Sub-Domestic for example - here it's a relatively slow album closer, but on that session everything is dialled up and that outro just has this extra edge to it. Makes you wonder, if that's how they played Sub-Domestic live, how full-on would the heavier songs have sounded? That difference between the band on record and the band live is what makes me think of Constantines every time I see or hear Restorations. All that said, the songs here are all still excellent and National Hum and Shine a Light start the record in incredible style. Insectivora is a huge highlight for me, as are On to You and Tank Commander.

Anyway, a few months ago I found this re-release in Truck Records and snapped it up - not only was it very reasonably priced, but included was a bonus 7" (featuring two covers and a strange, alternative version of Hotline Operator). I'd not seen it there before and I certainly wasn't going to just hope it was still there the next time I went in. I left the store very happy that day (and, interestingly, I've not seen it there since). An excellent find.

Format: 12", 7", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 15
Cost: £15 new
Bought: Truck Records
When: 26/07/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code