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

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

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

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

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