Billy Swivs "Time Is Not On My Side" (Wick, 2021)

Late last year Daptone's sister imprint Wick struck garage pop gold with "Time Is Not On My Side" by Billy Swivs. It's a barrel of Stones-y fun with some fine tellin'-it-like-it-is lyrics:

All the people on TV

They don't believe in you or me

No, they're just trying to waste your time

Control your brain and rule your mind

I dunno, maybe it's from witnessing all the call and response at King Khan shows or Ian Svevonius's many exhortations at Chain and The Gang/The Make-up/Escape-ism etc. gigs but I just wanna punch the air at all the wee side comments such as "That I could be somebody!" (which is uttered in a manner pleasingly reminiscent of Not Unloved fave Ryan Kidd!) or "I had a dream about it!". It's nigh on impossible to bring anything new to this style of music (I'm not sure that the avid followers of it want that, mind you!) but if you have a memorable enough tune, an ear for the good stuff from the last 55 years of garage punk and the swagger to pull it all off you'll still be able to tempt my winklepickers onto the dancefloor. Hell, yeah!

Dave Berkham "I Tried"

Last Friday Dave Berkham (of Portland, Oregon's paisley patterned pop troupe The Reverberations) released a couple of nigh on perfect gentle-voiced, heartfelt janglers for bandcamp Friday. "I Tried" is one of the loveliest tunes released in the 2021 so far and is certain to find favour among those counting down the days till the next issue of Shindig! lands on their doorstep and anyone who yearns for Ric Menck to step out from behind his drum kit and back into the vocal booth. For its part, "Younger Days" sounds like a lost Hollies-inspired Sneetches classic that really ought to grace a Bus Stop Label 45. Maybe it's time for Not Unloved to take up cosmic ordering in the hope that some benevolent saint can be cajoled into having these songs pressed onto 7" vinyl...

The Courettes "Want You! Like A Cigarette" (Damaged Goods)

Like everyone else who has spent much of their allotted span in one gig venue or another having their ears whacked repeatedly with mallets of pure sound, Not Unloved is missing the thrill of live music. In recent years very few groups have made more of an impression based solely on seeing them live than the Brazilian/Danish duo The Courettes. Their August, 2018 show in a tiny upstairs room in Leith (Edinburgh, Scotland) was a riot of pure charisma, actual POP hooks and the kind of noise that shakes you by your lapels and tells you that life's gonna be alright. Flipping through the stack of 45s that Not Unloved has purchased this year (yeah...it's list-making time again!), few have been more enjoyably moreish than last summer's "Want You! Like A Cigarette" . For a fair chunk of 2020 brief, uncomplicated pop songs were all that made sense and provided some kinda continuity with what's gone before.

The Hipshakes "Shot" (Nerve Centre)

Sub-two minute blasts of punkin' garage pop are ten a penny these days. There's so much of it around that it's tempting to look elsewhere for kicks (there's a lot of fine electronic music around at the moment, that's for sure) to save spending what seems like an eternity sifting out the lumps. One 7" that made a dent recently was the latest 45 by The Hipshakes. Pleasingly, it's unafflicted by that rodeo announcer vocal effect that the lesser groups of their ilk use to disguise the lack of a melody or any discernible vocal ability. "Shot" breezes along perkily and in the past would've had the kids down the youth club pogoing merrily. Great backing vocal swells and a lovably wonky guitar solo that disappears as quickly as it appeared enhance the air of uncomplicated fun.

The Mentalettes

If, like me, the idea of Clare Grogan fronting Thee Headcoatees sets yr heart all aflutter, y'all had best sit down before listening to The Mentalettes!

There's more joy and bounce per square (round?) inch on "Fine, Fine, Fine" (Copasetic) than on any 45 I've heard in some time.  From their bandcamp page, they're of Swedish/Spanish/German/American (!) origin but are Brighton bound on 11th May.  If I had any spare sheckels, I'd make the trip, mainline Sherbet Fountains and forget my age and my arthritic ankle and dance giddily to the embarrassment of the cool kids.  Their album, brilliantly titled "A Girl Group Gone Berserk", is sure to be top of my shopping list when it hits the record shops in "mid 2013".

(Thanks to Lindsay from The Next Big Thing for the recommendation!)

I Just Pretend

The Higher State really do have a surfeit of great melodies.  It's actually mean of them not to share just a few of them with the other similarly mid-60s fixated groups.  Their new 7" for 13 O'Clock Records was in my postman's sack the other day and it's another prime chunk of Byrds inspired folk rock.  For added period artefact authenticity it has one of those push-out centres for jukebox owners.  Of course, there's no way I'll be pushing it out - that would be like slashing a Bridget Riley painting.  It's exciting to note from this picture that their lineup has been enhanced with the young king of all things '66, Paul Messis (front right), and...er...Austin Powers.  Fans of The See See should be particularly enamoured with what they hear, below.

When I hear these loving recreations of the best of 60s music, part of me wants to have another go at donning the old Breton fisherman's cap, parka and winkle-pickers.  Then I remember that the last time I tried that my colleagues took great delight at singing "In The Navy" and "Y.M.C.A." whenever I walked by.  Philistines!

(It's available from the group's ebay store.)

The Resonars "Long Long Thoughts"

The Hollies and The Who are two 60s groups that, given my tastes, I always feel I should like more than I actually do.  Bar the odd song, however, I've never really gone a bundle on either but for some reason when The Resonars mixed one with the other on their recent-ish Trouble In Mind single "Long Long Thoughts" I was properly seduced.  From the bubblegum 'La la las' of the intro to the intermittent, manic Keith Moon-style drum battery it's relentlessly and irresistibly upbeat.  Just why I never got round to buying it before recent stints behind the decks is a mystery.  It would've sounded amazing blasting from the PA on Record Store Day or at the Aggi Doom 7" launch.  Silly me.  Ah well, it's in my record box now so if I ever get asked again...

(I got mine from those lovely Pebble Records kids!)

French Kissing "Wild Woman"

One of the best tunes around at the moment for busting awkward shapes to is French Kissing's completely genius "Wild Woman" (Croque Madame).  If someone ever compiles a Girls In The Garage-style compilation of Geeks In The Garage it will surely be track #1.  I love all its little changes in momentum and the sing-song way in which one of the chaps bemoans that "Everybody's dancing.  Nobody's listening. No one hears the words.".  "Love Is For" on the flip visits the same 50s diner world for a soda and a flirt as Hunx and His Punx did on their fab "Too Young To Be In Love" lp.  With 2 strong, fun sides, this is one boss disc and no mistake!