Lethal Lipgloss

'Chillax' is a word you'll never catch me using. I'm not David Brent, after all! There are times, however, when I'll sing it.  Such as when I'm doing the dishes listening to crack Canadian power-pop squad  The Riff Randells' "Lethal Lipgloss" (2001, Alien Snatch!):

Brian Eno believes "that singing is the key to long life".  It don't know about that but it sure makes doing the dishes more bearable!

Violets of Dawn

There was a time (shortly after Rev-ola released this cd) when I'd listen to "Violets of Dawn" for hours on end.  That's not a figure of speech, either. I did actually listen to it over and over and over.  In a world of thousands upon thousands of wonderful songs and recordings, to listen obsessively to just one song may seem like a bad use of time but just listen to Mary's voice and you'll hear why I had to.  Have you ever heard a voice so pure in all your life?  Chuck's voice, too, is lovely - soft but certainly not weedy - and the guitar playing and its placement in the mix is perfect.  I'm so glad they didn't crowd the recording with additional needless, distracting instrumentation.   Shamefully, I know nothing about the song's writer, Eric Andersen (time to get reading!), but I do know that his song as recorded in late 1968 by Chuck and Mary Perrin is one of the most bewitchingly beautiful and endlessly comforting things I will ever hear.

Read a little about the lp, including an unexpected namecheck for The Shaggs!) on Chuck's site.  Time-Lag currently has a decidedly non-Mint copy for 450 quid!

Ex Con

Not Unloved asked: Has there been a more enjoyable ear-walloper since Catatonic Youth's mighty "Control My Gun"?

Not Unloved answered: Yes. This!

Released almost a year ago to the day (11th February, 2013 on Bon Voyage Records) but only a part of my life since late December, it's as brutally refreshing a blast of female fronted pop NOISE as I've heard since the days when "Her Jazz", Hole and Royal Trux eviscerated all before them.  All 3 tracks clobber you in the ears and leave you gasping for more.  If Volcanic Tongue hadn't shone a torch on it, I would have been none the wiser.  I guess I'm just lucky that a 20 minute walk away there's a shop run by enthusiasts committed to unearthing the good stuff so that lazy chumps like me don't have to.

CRUISING "You Made Me Do That"

Ever since the early Pavement e.p.'s led my ears towards the crunchy side, a hefty amount of fuzz and distortion allied to a good pop tune is a shortcut to my heart.  On the evidence of "You Made Me Do That",  CRUISING deal in heftier levels of fuzz than most and know their way around a chunky, insistent garage punk tune:

Has there been a more enjoyable ear-walloper since Catatonic Youth's mighty "Control My Gun"?  Not that I've heard (although all suggestions are welcome!).  Hopefully, somebody will feel it incumbent upon them to have it pressed-up on vinyl.  CRUISING boast members of both Girls Names and September Girls so it's no surprise that the first song they've unleashed is such a prime slab of austere scuzz.

Thorn In Her Pride

Have a listen to the intro to King Khan and The Shrines' brilliant "Thorn In Her Pride" (from the belting recent "Idle No More" lp on Merge) and see if you, too, feel the compulsion to scoff a Cadbury's Flake:

The King and his lovingly assembled troupe of reprobates are easily one of the most unforgettable live acts I've had the joy to witness.  Scenes from their 2009 show at Glasgow's Stereo (accurately reviewed here) are branded on my retina to this day.  It was a gloriously kitsch, hootin' an' a hollerin' celebration of old time rock'n'roll kicks. Never in one place, least of all the stage, for long, the King roamed through the crowd taking various band-mates with him.  At one point the keyboard player hauled his vintage Vox or whatever it was onto the roof of the lift adjacent to the stage and played it from there (I hope he had done his online Working In Confined Spaces training beforehand - health and safety is important, after all).  What spectacle! What mayhem! What joy!  King Khan and The Shrines return to Glasgow in April.  I'd feel like a total dud if I missed it.