Ups And Downs

Not Unloved is way too disorganised to our alphabetise 7"s. Should lockdown-induced boredom ever make it seem like an attractive proposition, however, the U section will be pretty thin. There will be a few cracking Urusei Yatsura singles , that stupendous Umpteens 45 and a couple of superior quality janglers by 80s Brisbane then Sydney-based group, Ups and Downs. 1986's "In The Shadows" sounds like a perfect 80s radio hit. Maybe it was in Australia. Passionate vocals, clean production and, above all, a singalong chorus. "The Perfect Crime", from the previous year (if Wikipedia is telling the truth), is a notch darker and starts off with strong echoes of R.E.M.s. earliest recordings. Again, it has immaculately recorded guitars aplenty and the kind of melody just begging to be sung by serious teens in cardigans as they dance round their The Smiths and The Go-betweens poster-lined bedrooms. These weren't acquired at the time - I was too busy kicking a football on any available patch of grass to know anything about Australian pop! -  but some time in the early 2000s (from the stock of the legendary but by then closed, Minus Zero) after a kind soul included an Ups and Downs song on an all-Australian mix CD-R. I'm glad he did.

NUSONIC003: Tight Knit - 'Too Hot' b/w 'Want You'

It took all of 30 seconds for Not Unloved to flip for Melbourne, Australia's Tight Knit. Looking to play some shows in Glasgow in summer 2018, they dropped-off a CD-R in Monorail Music and on hearing it, our friend Russell (thanks - we owe ya big time!) got in touch to say that he'd heard Not Unloved's new favourite band. Boy, was he right! Ange (guitar, bass and vocals), Caitie (guitar, bass and vocals) and Jamie (drums) craft the kind of endearingly romantic pop that reminds you what your heart is for. The two gems which grace NUSONIC003 highlight different aspects of Tight Knit's music. The catchy 'Too Hot' on the a-side amps up the insistent guitar scorch whereas 'Want You'  on the flip is more considered until the huge chorus kicks in at which point it becomes an anthem for the yearning. In a just world that chorus would be chanted, arms aloft by weary but happy punters on the final night of the next Indietracks. Tight Knit should be clutched to the chests of those who pored over the hallowed pages of Chickfactor eager to learn what was next on Slumberland or K Records. Tight Knit are something special. Prepare to fall in love!

Due February, 2019

320 copies
7" black vinyl (w/ bandcamp download code)
Risograph sleeve by Sundays Print Service (Glasgow)
Available from the Not Unloved Records bandcamp soon!

While Ange and Caitie were in Glasgow they filmed a coupla songs for The Artsy Vice show in the cool performance space of The Old Hairdressers. Their songs are from ~11mins 40secs onwards but be sure to watch the rest of the show as Rocky Lorelei et al are ace, too.

Tight Knit on Instagram

Tight Knit on Facebook

Community Radio "Look Now You're Cursed" (Tenorio Cotobade)

According to the Tenorio Cotobade bandcamp page, "Look Now You're Cursed" was released in July 2016. I have no idea what was monopolising the Not Unloved stereo back then but it can't have been more enjoyable than Community Radio's classy second lp. The singles that preceded the lp - "Sick In The Car" and"Real Transformation" (below) - were both excellent, understated guitar pop records, similar in mood and execution to, say, The Clean's "Getaway" lp. "Real Transformation" really should have been lapped up by admirers of Ultimate Painting's brand of subdued art-rock. Maybe they did and nobody told me.

Repeated listens reveal so much to admire on "Look Now You're Cursed".  There are some lovely details such as the unexpectedly groovy piano on "Oasis" or the iridescent intro to "Crystal Ball" (not a Felt cover, although its intro wouldn't have sounded out of place on one of their records).



Possibly, the highlight of the album is the gently spinning chorus of the otherwise languid "Travel Endlessly". It's by no means a grand gesture, more a small gift to cherish. There have been a lot of great Australian lps in recent years (The Goon Sax, Twerps, The Icypoles etc. etc.) and this up there with the very best of them. Australian DJ Josh Meadows, formerly of brilliant Sarah Records group The Sugargliders (and later of  the also excellent The Steinbecks), nominated the album's opener, "One Book A Treasure", as the best song of 2016 on his It's A Jangle Out There show. High praise, indeed. If they're good enough for Josh Meadows, they're certainly good enough for me.

"I'm Just Trying"

20 years ago I figured that it was high time I bought an Easybeats record.  After I'd played it, however, I puffed out my cheeks. a bit underwhelmed. and decided that they were nothing special.  As time's gone on, though, I've come to realise that I was way too hasty in writing them off.  Today has seen this classy slice of soul-pop from the "Son of Easyfever" e.p. (Raven Records, 1980) get play after play:

I swear I forgot myself and danced embarrassingly as it spun on the turntable in Mixed Up Records.  Whoops!  One for the 'playing out' box, I reckon.

Mad Nanna / Mole House

Maybe surprisingly, a 2-piece, all-guitar version of Melbourne, Australia's Mad Nanna showed up last week in Glasgow.  Their tipsy juice-enhanced after hours show in the Volcanic Tongue shop was something strangely special that will live long in the memory.  Mad Nanna make endearingly ramshackle records in what sounds like a dusty 70s mid-western American basement.  What they produce is, on first listen, rudimentary but somehow manages to be much more compelling than that might suggest so stands up well to repeated listens.  "I Wanna See You", their latest single for Soft Abuse Records, is a case in point.  The bulk of the slightly gruffly sung lyrics are just the song's title repeated and the guitar repeats a simple surging figure over and over with few variations.   The drums, too, are delightfully clattery but elementary.  As a whole, though, it's totally cohesive and inexplicably addictive like a lot of the more esoteric records I've heard on, say, Gulcher or Columbus Discount.  An essential purchase!

Also, out of Melbourne and with an equally compelling new single are Mole House.  As with Mad Nanna, they don't think it necessary to over-complicate their music preferring instead to leave space for feeling in their grooves.  "Come Around" features one of the best lazily unwinding guitar solos to charm these ears in a while.  It's great music to listen to when your eyelids are heavy and you just want to sing along with something soulful whose notes you can conceivably hit.  There's simple joy to be had in the act of waywardly singing such a stoned, dreamy tune.

Manly

It's just as well for me that Camperdown & Out came with Did Not Chart's seal of approval as without it their name would probably have ensured that they didn't earn an inquisitive spin. "Manly". the lead track on the group's debut lp, has such a great informal feel; jangly without approaching precious.  Singer Nathan Roche delivers the lyrics like a sleepy, less feral Iggy Pop.  Here's hoping Pebble Records or some other astute distro brings a few copies into the UK.

There's another slightly perkier track to enjoy here.

Update: Hear the whole record here.

Southern Comfort "Silver and Gold"

Time for some great buzzing Paisley pop!

Yet more essential, non-standard (no drums! no bass!) pop music from Australia, this time from Circle Pit's Angie Bermuda and Harriet Hudson.  "Silver and Gold" should be lovingly embraced by admirers of both Dum Dum Girls' downer harmonies and The Garbage and The Flowers' scorched tape arc-welding of the Velvets to Sonic Youth.  Unfortunately, Black Petal only had 265 copies pressed so it seems destined to be another of those 45s that appears on mailorder lists briefly and then just vanishes.  For instance, it went 'out of stock' almost instantaneously when Volcanic Tongue listed it.  There's an almost complete - it's also available in the UK via Infinte Limits - list of stockists on the Black Petal website.  Now to turn the stereo up to indecent and give Circle Pit's rollicking Siltbreeze lp a long overdue spin!