Sunday 22nd July 2018: The Sarah Records roadshow hits Glasgow!

I've written before about how much Sarah Records meant and continues to mean to me so it's with a heart swollen with pride that I can announce that Not Unloved will be helping make the Glasgow leg of the Sarah Records alumni tour a reality. At one stage it looked likely that the tour wouldn't be stopping-off in Glasgow which was a real shame as there were so many strong connections between Glasgow and Sarah Records (The Wake! The Orchids! The Golden Dawn! Tramway!). The tour has been timed to coincide with Emotional Response's invaluable and admirably lavish Sarah Records vinyl reissues and the line-up is top-drawer:

The customary Facebook event is here

Advance tickets can be purchased via Brown Paper Tickets here

N.B. The Old Hairdressers has a capacity of ~100 so the number of tickets is pretty limited.

Even As We Speak: A rare chance to catch Sydney, Australia's pop geniuses. Not content to fit in with any janglepop orthodoxy, they've incorporated influences as diverse as country and Philly soul. 2017's 'The Black Forest' e.p. was a real joy. It's great to have them back.

Action Painting!: By marrying frenetic guitars with heartfelt lyrics sung with real feeling and a few nods to The Jasmine Minks and Buzzcocks along the way, AP! crafted some of the most vital music released on Sarah. Sure to be a blast live! 

Boyracer: Boyracer took any perceived notion of a single 'Sarah sound' and exploded it in a mess of passion and joyful guitar noise. Their post-Sarah output is a vast thing of wonder! 

Secret Shine: With lashings of guitars through banks of effects pedals, Secret Shine always whipped up a considerable sonic squall. But there were lovely melodies, too. Again, their impressive post-Sarah records should be sought out immediately.

In addition to the live music we're chuffed to have DJ selections from The Wake. The Wake's wondrous records grace the catalogues of some of the finest independent labels ever: Factory, Captured Tracks, LTM and, of course, Sarah. Expect to hear The Fall!

Please tell your pop-loving friends and, if you can, come along. After all, there's very little likelihood of most of these bands playing in Glasgow ever again!

2 new post-punk purchases

Every now and then YouTube's algorithm is so on-the-money that I have to begrudgingly admit that big business sometimes gets it right. A couple of years ago the name Disturbed Furniture showed-up on that site's 'Up Next' sidebar. From the first few seconds of "Information" I knew that I was destined to become obsessed with it. Just listen to those ridiculously fast funk guitars and that insistent, spongy bassline not to mention the strident vocal. The Rapture and the rest of their punk/funk ilk in the early 2000s would've made a pact with the devil to sound this brilliant. If discogs is to be believed, the group only made one single but lead guitarist Phil Shoenfelt went on to release an e.p. for Mark E Smith's Cog Sinister label before releasing records on Paperhouse (The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, Half Japanese etc.). A few unplayed copies came up for sale recently. They'd been used in an exhibition of punk art at the MoMA in New York. There may be some left - check ebay.

Ski Patrol's "Everything Is Temporary" was comparatively cheap and looked interesting so I took a punt on it. It's a beguiling mix of angry lyrics, dub vocal effects and clanging guitars that at times achieve real momentum. There's a lovely bit around 2 minutes in where the bass goes for a wee wander. Turn up the bass and listen, indeed.