The Ex + Fendika - Lale Guma / Addis Hum

This is a nice little 7". I've been listening to The Ex since Shellac had them play at their All Tomorrow's Parties in 2012; they've been going forever and have released so many albums I've barely scratched the surface in my listening. The 30 compilation (celebrating the 30 years they've been together, including a list of every show they've played!) showed many sides of them, and is well worth a listen.

I bought this record on something of a whim - Norman Records had one of their massive online clearance sales and this was amongst the records I decided to pick up. I think it was a Record Store Day release, but I wasn't aware of it at the time. I probably would have bought it for a much higher price had I seen it on the list. I'm never going to have a huge collection of The Ex's records - there are more than I care to count and they're a nightmare to search on eBay - but I buy what I find when I find it. I've drifted away from buying 7" singles in recent years - I never play them enough and when I do it's a bit of a chore, but releases like this one are why they're worth picking up sometimes.

Here, The Ex join forces with an Ethiopian band called Fendika. They've played with a variety of musicians from far-flung parts of the world before, so it's very much in character. The best part of it is that no matter what music they mix their particular style of punk with, it works; given that these songs aren't written by The Ex, they have their very distinctive sound to them ("written" in the traditional sense - I'm sure there's a huge influence in the particular arrangements). Lale Guma is based on an Ethiopian war cry and features an instrument that sounds a bit like violin but almost certainly isn't. The riff is fun. Addis Hum is a bit more chuggy, but the way the vocals mix is perfect.

I'm glad I picked this record up - I doubt it's considered essential amongst fans of the band, but it's nice to hear something a bit different - I strongly suspect there are no other records in my collection (currently) that feature any Ethiopian musicians, let alone a war cry.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £3.50 new
Bought: Norman Records
When: 29/03/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None

The Ex - Catch My Shoe

The Ex were quite possibly the highlight of the Shellac-curated All Tomorrow's Parties in 2012. The line-up was quite strong, but we mostly went because Shellac are awesome and because they have an excellent taste in music; there were loads of bands we'd never heard of, but they came with Shellac's stamp of approval which counts for a great deal. In the end, we saw some of nearly every set that weekend. It was tiring but rewarding. On the final night we went over to the main room to see The Ex + Brass Unsound without any idea of what to expect, but they blew us away.

The Ex are a Dutch punk band who have been around for more than 30 years. In that time they've released countless albums and experimented with a lot of sounds. The fact that a punk band (probably) in their 50's can still impress me as much as punk band in their 20's says something about how good they are. I've since seen them two more times and they never fail to impress me. I bought this copy of Catch My Shoe from the singer at the merch table when they supported Neutral Milk Hotel after the whole Jabberwocky clusterfuck.

[Side note: I was hugely looking forward to ATP's Jabberwocky festival in 2014 - the highlights for me were NMH, Electric Wizard, Jesu, Caribou and The Ex. At some point I'd jokingly said to a friend "I'd pay £35 to see any two of those bands" which, ironically, was what ended up happening - a few days before the festival ATP cancelled the whole event and promoters scrambled to put the bands on elsewhere in London. Someone booked NMH and The Ex together in The Forum and I for one was incredibly pleased (especially since The Ex were going to be playing on the day I didn't have ticket for so would have missed anyway). As it happened, the NMH performance was by far the best I saw that year (of the four NMH shows I went to). I think the last-minute nature brought a slightly different crowd and people went mad for it. I loved seeing both bands and had a nice chat to the singer from The Ex at the end.]

Digging into the back-catalogue of The Ex isn't trivial in this country and I very rarely see their records meaning that I still only have this album and the double-cd of their 30-year anniversary best-of compilation. I therefore can't speak for the majority of their albums, but I do know that I absolutely adore this album. It's a punk record yet most of the songs hover around the 6-minute mark. Their incredibly eclectic musical backgrounds are evident throughout - the excellent riff on Maybe I Was the Pilot comes from a Ugandan harp player and Eoleyo is an Ethiopian song. There may only be nine songs but they're all excellent and I had vivid memories of most of them being played live across all three times I've seen the band. Particular highlights for me are Maybe I Was the Pilot, Double Order, Cold Weather is Back, Tree Float and Keep on Walking which I realise is the majority of the record; that's how great Catch My Shoe is.

I can't recommend The Ex strongly enough, which I have to do because they are largely unknown in the circles I move in, despite the fact that most people I know who like punk/alternative music would lap this up. I wonder how many years would have passed before someone introduced The Ex to me? Suffice to say, I'm pretty grateful to Shellac for doing that job.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 9
Cost: £9 new
Bought: gig
When: 15/08/14
Colour: Black
Etching: None
mp3s: no