Radiator Hospital + Martha - Split

 

I should really like Martha more than I actually do. I love ONSIND and have done for years, but this is the only Martha record I own (and that's only really because I got it as part of the Specialist Subject subscription I had for a couple of years). I've listened to all their albums and each time thought "yeah, it's nice, but I don't love it". I'm clearly missing something because everyone I know loves them way more than ONSIND and they've had what appears to be far more success as a foursome too.

I can see the appeal for sure. Chekhov's Hangnail has a huge chorus and a big full sound. Mendable is actually much closer to ONSIND territory and I like it more. I guess what I always quite liked about ONSIND was that weren’t a rock band, but wrote songs that definitely worked as rock songs. The last time I saw them was effectively the Martha line-up (I think) playing an ONSIND set and it was incredible. Maybe I just need to see Martha for it to all fall into place.

I don't really remember having any opinions on Radiator Hospital before, but I'm quite enjoying them now. I can’t put my finger on what it reminds me of (frustratingly) - the singer's very nasal voice is very reminiscent of something, but for the life of me I can't think who. The final song, Dark Sand, has some extra vocals which do break things up quite nicely and adds a lot to the song. Good effort squeezing three songs onto one side of a 7" playing at 45rpm - I don't think I've ever put this record on at the right speed the first time - I always think "three songs must mean 33rpm".

Format: 7", insert
Tracks: 5
Cost: £5 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 08/10/15
Colour: Mint green
Etching: Side A: "Put the kettle on" Side B: "Sexy willy riff"
mp3s: Download code

Muncie Girls - Picture of Health

 

I only own this 7" because it was included in my Specialist Subject subscription. I like Muncie Girls, but not enough to bother buying 7" singles of theirs. That said, it turns out I have nearly everything they've released, so maybe I am a collector? The a-side is from their last album, Fixed Ideals. It's a strong song with a huge, catchy chorus. But it'd be more than sufficient for me to enjoy it on the LP  alone (which was also part of the subscription, although I would have bought that regardless). The b-side, Rain, is a perfectly nice song, but less memorable. Nice poster sleeve.

Format: 7", poster sleeve

Tracks: 2

Cost: £5 new

Bought: Specialist Subject Records

When: 14/06/18

Colour: Black

Etching: None

mp3s: Download code

Pale Angels - Strange Powers

 

I genuinely wasn’t sure what speed to play this record at just now - it didn’t sound right at either. Turns out it was 45. I guess this record came out after the Four Live Songs 7", although both were in 2014 at some point. I think this is a live EP recorded at a studio in Amsterdam - none of the songs are on the albums. It's far faster and more punk-rock than anything else they've recorded - the grunge vibes are barely apparent at all.

The final song, Romantic Depression, is the best by far and worthy the cost of the 7" alone. La Esquina is so short that it’s nearly taken me longer to write this sentence than to listen to the song. It's a nice enough record, but probably not essential

Format: 7"

Tracks: 4

Cost: £5 new

Bought: Specialist Subject Records

When: 05/12/14

Colour: Black

Etching: None

mp3s: Download code

Pale Angels - Four Live Songs

 

When I bought the first Pale Angels album, I figured I'd pick up the two 7"s that Specialist Subject had as well. It'd been nine months since I'd seen them and been really pleasantly surprised at how good they were, and the fact they were basically a grunge band and not a punk band. I'm not sure why it took me so long. I've got a feeling I had a discount to use with Specialist Subject so put in an order for a bunch of things. Either that, or I was just in the mood to spend some money.

The four songs here make up nearly half of the songs on their debut, but these were recorded live on a UK tour in December 2013. The quality, as you'd expect (for a number of reasons) varies from charmingly shit to just shit - Mama sounds like it was recorded on a dictaphone cassette, and it sounds like Reza was playing drums on a table; the "woo-oohs" near the end sound amazing though. I get the desire to get some songs out there, but I can't believe these were the best four live recordings from that tour unless they were the only four live recordings from that tour. Slow Dance is great though - pure Nirvana, but brilliant for it. Slow Jangle has a nice build up to a satisfying beat.

Anyway, it's a nice little package - white vinyl and the sleeve is printed on black card and numbered (mine is 124/143). It also comes with a zine of tour photos, which is nice. I hadn't realised that the cover of the Strange Powers 7” was shot in the Exchange until looking through there. 

Format: 7", zine, numbered (124/143)

Tracks: 4

Cost: £5 new

Bought: Specialist Subject Records

When: 05/12/14

Colour: White

Etching: None

mp3s: None

Bear Vs. Shark - Right Now / Terrorhawk

I love both these albums and I listen to them a lot. I found an unmarked cdr in the car a while back that had both of these albums on back-to-back - I have no memory of burning that cd or even thinking that I should do, but I evidently did and I'm very pleased that I did; every time I see it and think "what's on that unmarked cd", I smile when it starts to play.

For a long time, and partly because of that cd, I couldn't really distinguish between the two albums (maybe it's just because I've not been driving so much recently, I couldn't even tell you which is first on there). I don't mean that to be a bad thing - both are incredible albums, truly unique together - by which I mean I have nothing else that sounds like this, which itself is a shame. A lot of bands can only strive to write two excellent albums then break up.

It strikes me as strange that I can't tell them apart better, especially considering that I bought Right Now You're in the Best of Hands back in 2012, and a full three years passed before I finally got Terrorhawk. I got the reissue of Right Now that Big Scary Monsters put out and eventually loved it - it was a bit of a slow-burn at first, because I don't think I was listening to it loud enough. I remember thinking that it'd be nice to have Terrorhawk on vinyl too, but didn't fancy paying the second-hand prices it was going for; in the end I decided I'd be happy enough to just have it on cd, and then picked up a copy for very little on eBay (during a short-lived period of buying very cheap second cds on there). I paid £1.83 for it, a bargain for sure. (I think sometime between those two events, I found a cheap copy of Right Now on cd in San Francisco, but gave it to my friend Sarah after copying the mp3s - she described it as sounding "like Hundred Reasons", a comment I still think a lot about - what was she hearing?)

A while later the two albums got re-issued together as a double vinyl, and I ended up picking one up from Specialist Subject. The last year I subscribed to their year-long subscription they ended up releasing fewer records than expected, so gave everyone a voucher at the end of the year. I'd already decided against renewing for the next year (breaking a very long run of subscriptions) as they were drifting further away from the music I was into (or I was drifting further away from the music they were releasing), so I put it towards this pair of albums. I hadn't even noticed they'd had it stock before that point. There are more interesting colours out there, but this is just the plain black version. To add to my confusion between the albums, the sleeve lists Right Now as LP01 and Terrorhawk as LP02, but Right Now plays on sides C and D, and Terrorhawk on sides A and B (the matrix numbers suggest that the labels aren't wrong too). I began making notes about the wrong album when I first started writing this.

However, I have now firmly come to the conclusion that Terrorhawk is my favourite - over those 15 songs there are so many huge, huge moments and brilliant songs. They manage to write incredible fast songs (like 5, 6 Kids) and equally incredible slow songs (like Song About Old Roller Coaster), which is quite a skill. But the real gem of Terrorhawk is the pairing of The Great Dinosaurs With Fifties Section and Baranga Embankment on the first side - the former starts off so strongly and builds to a truly mammoth ending, and the latter brings in horns and keys perfectly and is so wonderfully slow. When those two hit, I always think "yeah, this is my favourite of the two".

But Right Now can't be faulted - Ma Jolie has one of those rare moments you can actually sing along to, and I love the "yo yo yo" breakdown in The Employees. The lines "Pull yourself out of the gutter, motherfucker" in Broken Dog Leg are another great moment. This pressing doesn't have the bonus tracks that a lot of others include - to be honest, I'd forgotten my BSM-reissue did have the extra songs.

Format: Double 12"

Tracks: 27

Cost: £29.75 new

Bought: Specialist Subject Records website

When: 21/11/18

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

The Smith Street Band - More Scared of You Than You Are of Me

Don't Fuck With Our Dreams announced a new level of songwriting for The Smith Street Band, and one I was really impressed by. Sunshine & Technology was a fun record, but relatively simple; on Don't Fuck With Our Dreams they wrote their first song that had different parts and movements and things more complex than just verse-chorus-verse. Throw Me in the River was, for me, something of a let down, as it had none of this new-found greatness. I went into More Scared of You Than You Are of Me with some hesitation, only be blown away - this album has that next-level songwriting overflowing at every turn, so much so it was my album of the year in 2017.

I'm going to struggle to describe this album appropriately, because I'm just not that great with words, and I throw the words "excellent" and "brilliant" around on here so much that they lose meaning. But how about this: in the summer of 2017 I'd had a really shitty day at work (side note: I've not had a single one of those since I changed job - if only I'd realised that shitty days weren't compulsory sooner) and I was sat on the train coming back from London. The sun was still high in the sky and it was a really nice evening (or would have been without a long commute). I wanted to put the day behind me, and decided to put this album on my iPod and crank it up loud. Instantly I was in a happy place and smiling to myself. Within minutes I'd forgotten why I was angry. Any album that can change your mood for the better so quickly is truly remarkable.

There's barely a let up in the energy here, which is part of the charm, yet somehow they manage to still vary between "lots of energy" and "ridiculous huge sing-along moment energy" regularly and perfectly. Every song has at least one moment that I love and would be the highlight of any other album. Death to the Lads would have made the album incredible alone. Run Into the World starts off like the first dud on the album (the chorus is amazingly flat, but maybe that's just in relation to the soaring chorus (and verses) elsewhere), but then some female vocals take over before being layered against Will's building to a huge crescendo, proving that maybe it wasn't a terrible chorus. I even put that song on my end-of-year mixtape. Shine is another great example of a song a million times bigger than their first couple of albums (as are Forrest, Birthdays and Suffer). The strange end to Laughing (Or Pretending to Laugh) is literally the only bad moment on the whole record and, after the 45-minutes that came before, I'll let slide.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 12
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Record subscription
When: 06/04/17
Colour: Pink with blue splatter
Etching: Side A: "More scared of you" Side B: "Than you are of me"
mp3s: Download code

Small Brown Bike - Our Own Wars

Three years after getting Dead Reckoning, and just two months after getting Fell & Found, I finally started to delve further into Small Brown Bike's back-catalogue. This was mostly because I was going to be seeing them at Fest that October and wanted to know some more songs. I picked this up in a large online order from Specialist Subject Records (back then, they weren't a shop too, so it was all online). I remember enjoying it, but nowhere near as much as Dead Reckoning or Fell & Found. I don't know if there's a commonly accepted order of preference for their albums, but for me it happens to go in the order I bought them, with Dead Reckoning out in front by a good distance.

Our Own Wars is Small Brown Bike's debut, and it's definitely a bit rougher around the edges - the start of Zerosum sounds like a demo. The bass, however, sounds incredible throughout, particularly on Now & Never where it's really pounding and high in the mix - that song has levels of aggression they'd rarely show again. There are some favourites here - Atlanta has a great outro and Running, Swimming & Sinking has a huge chorus. The Cannons & Tanks is a brilliant opener and a great use of the two vocalists - it's always nice when the first song on a debut album so perfectly shows what a band is about.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records website
When: 31/08/11
Colour: Pink
Etching: Side A: "Umber midget tricycle" Side B: "I want the banana erectors"
mp3s: Download code

All Eyes West + Above Them - Split

I picked this 7" up along with a bunch of other records from Specialist Subject Records - I think they had a sale on, or a discount across everything, so I stocked up. I bought it because I love Above Them and didn't have this song anywhere else. It's a great song so worth the purchase alone - a great fast-paced chorus and could have been a strong song on any of their albums.

All Eyes West are an American band who toured with Above Them in 2011 (which I guess was when this came out), and I saw them together in Kingston. I've not played their song here that much, but it's instantly familiar (but maybe it just sounds like some other gruff punk - hints of Latterman and Iron Chic, with a bit of Leatherface). It's nice, but never set my world on fire.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £2.29 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records website
When: 03/08/17
Colour: Red
Etching: Side A: "Deayer is a weiner" Side B: "Fish and chips"
mp3s: Download code

Witching Waves - Persistence

Any regular readers will notice something odd about this post - this album has just been released today, and normally I'm about three or four years behind the times. I like to give albums time to sit, and spend a bit of time with them before committing to writing about them. On top of that, I've also got a huge backlog to work through. A while ago Specialist Subject put together a guide for "supporting bands in the streaming age", which got me thinking - I'm not the proponent of new music I was once was; I don't go to as many gigs as I used to (I have a baby now who takes up a lot of my time - time I'm very happy to give) and I don't feel the same connection to the DIY music scene as I did when I was living in Cardiff or Kingston. I'm also 34 and still finding important bands from the mid-90's I've not properly explored yet (I recently heard Copper Blue by Sugar for the first time - what a record!). But I was lucky enough to get sent a stream of the new Witching Waves album (for review! Like a proper website!) and it inspired me to change things up a bit. So here's a first - a review of an album on the day of release.

I was introduced to Witching Waves in what I suspect is the same way a lot of other people of a certain background were - they played last summer with Jonah Matranga, filling the shoes of the other Far members as Jonah toured Water & Solutions for its 20th anniversary. I've been a fan of Far for nearly longer than I haven't, and was very excited to see the show (I was always more of a Tin Cans man, but can definitely understand why W&S is the album that gets the most praise). I hadn't heard of Witching Waves before that point, but saw them play twice that night - once as themselves, once as Far. Both sets were great, albeit in vastly different ways - there are few ways you could compare the band to Far, other than that they have a guitar, bass and drums, and both play music people would very broadly define as "rock". However, both versions worked for me.

I was a bit surprised I hadn't heard of Witching Waves before, but I began to wonder if there was a London scene that operated almost independently of bands I'd been around, which seemed to be based around South Wales, Exeter and Leeds (given the spread of those locations, you could forgive me for thinking I had a good grasp on the "UK scene"). The fact that this album is out on (Bristol- and formerly Exeter-based) Specialist Subject Records suggests that these things aren't happening as independently as I'd thought. Maybe I'm just out of the loop.

I'd enjoyed Witching Waves that night and quickly went to Bandcamp to check out a new song when this album was announced. Except they hadn't premiered any at that point, so I couldn't excitedly listen to any. When I got sent through the stream for review, I played it because I wanted to hear it not necessarily because I thought about reviewing it with any urgency. On that first listen I decided it was something I should write about, and on the many subsequent listens I just wanted to tell everyone about how great it is. This album is very good, and I've played those mp3s a lot in the last two months.

For me, the greatest thing about this album is how the band manages to switch between who is singing at the exact perfect point every time. Post-punk does have a tendency to rely on repetition, which is why its so pleasing that whenever you think they're about to fall into a moment of over-repetition, Emma and Mark will swap who is singing (or all sing) and it'll suddenly sound fresh and exciting. I can't emphasise enough how well timed this always is - it's not enough that's it's different, it's also because each time I think "yes, that was the exact perfect moment to switch it up". Listen to Best of Me or Melt it Down and tell me the change in singer isn't at the exact moment you wanted it to be. A while ago a friend told me about a hire car he had that had an indicator telling you when to change gear and how annoying it was that it always seemed timed such that it told you after you've already decided to change gear. Persistence would be the equivalent of a car that tells you change gear and you think "fuck, that was a good time to change". I feel like a better writer might have started with such an analogy, but this isn't Pitchfork. The closer Waiting For the Sun is one of the highlights and a great way to end the record. Strong vibes of The Ex throughout, which is always a positive in my book.

I ordered a copy straight away and get to maintain the idea that this blog is me writing about my record collection. It's nice to finally hear it playing on my hifi rather than just as a set of mp3s. I genuinely recommend this album and would love to see the band get the praise they deserve for it.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £25 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 05/04/19
Colour: Yellow
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Grand-Pop - Eight Nights

Records like this are the reason why subscriptions are awesome; I'd probably never have heard Grand-Pop had this record not arrived in the post. That would have been a huge shame, because I love this record. It's only eight songs long, but was my #2 album of the year in 2017 - that might help give you an idea how much I love it.

That said, I don't remember the first time I played it - it would have been within a few days of it arriving, but I wasn't anywhere near as into it then as I am now. In the coming weeks I found myself playing the mp3s at work a bit and thinking that more and more of the songs were great. I kept finding I had the songs in my head afterwards, and began listening to it even more. It's funny, because playing it now I can't think how I wasn't into it straight away.

For me, it's almost all about Warren's unusual and captivating vocals - he hits notes that most punk singers wouldn't go near and uses intonation like an instrument. It's almost operatic in places. There are choruses that approach RVIVR-levels of catchiness, but other than that it's hard to characterise the music exactly. That's probably why I like it so much - I've always been a fan of unusual vocals.

The highlights are Nova Scotia and Soul Man, two songs that almost demand to be sung along with - the first time the chorus in Soul Man kicks in is just perfect. That is also the worst thing about this record - I will never get the chance to sing along to these songs live; Grand-Pop ceased to be before the record was even released (I'm reasonably sure that's the case?). I'm glad I got the album, but I wish I'd had the chance to see them. I don't even remember seeing their name on line-ups, so I can only assume it was a very short-lived thing. Having Lou from Caves on drums seems like the sort of connection I'd have heard about. Maybe I'm just more out of the loop than I think I am.

Luckily, Specialist Subject put out the record, so it arrived as part of my subscription. I've got a lot of records that I knew I was going to enjoy from their subscription, but the unexpected treats like this are the reason it's such a great idea; I can't imagine any other way that these songs would have made their way to my ears, so I'm unbelievably thankful that they did in the way that they did.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 8
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 22/03/17
Colour: Grey/blue
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Great Cynics - Beach Access

This is a strange release. Specialist Subject sent it out free with orders a couple of years ago, and as a subscriber, I got a copy along with the Woahnows 7" they were putting out. I've been a fan of Great Cynics since I saw Giles play as Cynics supporting Walter Schreifels, so it was a nice addition. The song was a leftover from a recording session, and Specialist Subject decided to print it on clear green flexidisc, and not cut it - it's the only square record I have.

As you can imagine, it sounds like utter shit, but it's exactly the quality you'd expect from being pressed onto something not far from clingfilm or a carrier bag. That said, the shittiness adds a certain charm to the song - their best songs were always the slightly sloppy, beery, sing-along punk rock songs, and this is one of those. It's a fun song. Luckily, they also put it onto the end of year compilation, which is good because it's exactly the sort of record that gets lost in amongst records with actual sleeves, and I can't imagine the flexidisc standing up to many plays.

Format: 7", one-sided square flexidisc
Tracks: 1
Cost: Free new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 29/03/16
Colour: Transparent green
Etching: none
mp3s: None

Some Sort of Threat - Not the End of the World

I bought this 7" without really knowing a great deal about it. I was listening to a lot of music that Specialist Subject was putting out at the time (by "a lot", I mean nearly all) and the description on the website made it sound like something I'd enjoy; I like acoustic punk-rock, and being on Specialist Subject it was a fairly safe bet.

It's a nice record, very enjoyable but not life-changing. Rory seems to quite enjoy singing fast tongue twisters (and does it well), and the whole feel is that of a more positive, early-ONSIND. Henman’s Year, The Only Boy Living in Newtown and Soaking Wet are all particularly memorable.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 5
Cost: £5 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 13/03/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Pale Angels - Imaginary People

I have and enjoy all three Pale Angels albums, but if you asked me to put them in the order they were released, I'd struggle; if you played me a song from any of them, I wouldn't be able to tell you which album it's from. This isn't a criticism, in fact their consistency and dedication to a grunge-level of opacity within their music is one of their charms and the reason I got into them (the story of which you can read here).

As part of my Specialist Subject Records subscription, this record arrived when it was released in April 2015. I'd only got their first album at the end of 2014, which probably doesn't help my confusion between the two - I was getting into both at a fairly similar time (I have no excuse for the third then, which came out a year-and-a-half later). It was one of the many records I would have bought anyway, had I not got the subscription.

I often write about my favourite tracks from an album, but these guys are about the whole, not the single, and I love the wall of fuzz and mostly unintelligible lyrics. There's a really heavy one on the second side that I really like (Sinking Shadows maybe, or Piss Water - it's very hard to count tracks on a clear vinyl). The doomy one at the end is great too.

When I was about 13 I borrowed a copy of Bleach from the library and recorded it onto a knackered cassette - that album has always been characterised by those first listens on a muddy-sounding cassette with no track-listing and little idea of what was going on; for me, that was always what grunge was about. As I mentioned last time, seeing Pale Angels for the first time felt like I was in a time-warp to early-90's Seattle and I loved their unashamed grunge. They probably hate being compared to Nirvana and grunge in general, but this album reminds me of my confused early attempts to listen to Bleach, and that's a good thing.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 26/03/15
Colour: Clear
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Slingshot Dakota - Broken

Grudge, the first song here, is ridiculously huge, upbeat and endlessly enjoyable. It's pure pop (although with a hint of doom and foreboding) - there's a brilliant fuzz on the keys in the intro, the drums pound and it explodes perfectly. It was one of my songs of the year last year, which was a very pleasant surprise.

I got this record as part of my Specialist Subject Records subscription in March. I'd heard the name Slingshot Dakota, but never listened to them or had any idea what they sounded like before the needle hit the record. I wasn't expecting it to be so pop, but before long I didn't care. I saw them a few months later at the Deadpunk all-dayer and really enjoyed their live show too. Seeing them play Grudge was a highlight. The b-side Dying Stars starts off calmer but gets going too.

I've been horrendously lazy and not checked out any more of their music since, which is bad. I suspect it's going to be equally great and uplifting and I really have no excuse.

Format: 7", insert
Tracks: 2
Cost: £5 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 08/03/17
Colour: Cream
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Bangers - Bird

I started writing this post a while ago, but was struggling to say anything particularly interesting about it. It's easy to assume that is a criticism, but it really isn't; I love Bangers and get a similar level of joy from all of their records. They did what they did very well, and I'm happy that they released quite so much in their time. It means I can listen to them a lot and never get bored.

Bird is a great record. At the time, I remember people saying it was a step away from their first two albums, but I still see it as a solid Bangers punk album. It has Roo's strange lyricism (see Mannequin), ridiculously catchy songs (like I Don't Feel Like I'll Ever Be Clean Again) and huge singalong moments (like Half Human and Vibrate). There's a positive spin to a few of the songs too - Partial Eclipse ends the album on a (relatively) upbeat note (it's also worth mentioning the line in the notes: "Hope you like the record. Try not to let everything get you down"); it's at odds with the opener No!, but they book-end the album nicely.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 06/08/15
Colour: Transparent red
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Bangers - Dude Trips - Collected Recordings '08-'09

Dude Trips is the collection of songs by Bangers on various EPs and splits from their early days; a few of them I have on the original releases, but most were new to me. The album was originally only released on cd until Specialist Subject repressed it on this very nice blue and white vinyl in 2013.

Most Wanted Men was on the Brits Abroad 7" and was the first (studio) Bangers song I heard (excluding the ones they recorded with Kelly Kemp for the split 7" with El Morgan and The Arteries), and it was quite a way to start. They were very good at writing uniquely catchy punk-rock songs back then - Too Many Dark Knights and Jon Shoe being further great examples. I wonder if it's by the nature of writing songs for smaller releases than a bunch for an album - the songs are designed to individually shine (that's not a criticism of their LPs, which I love dearly). Huddle In from the split 12" with Break the Habit is probably the highlight of the album and one I remember being excited to hear live a bunch of times.

I was pleased the album got re-pressed on vinyl. I'm sure I would have eventually sought out the cd (or all the original releases), but it's nice to have the songs in one place on a 12". Plus, it looks so lovely (especially, in this case, side B).

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £13.10 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 18/05/13
Colour: Blue and white splatter
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code