Lures "New Boy" (Salvaged Productions, 2011)

Woah, woah New-hoo Boy! Years before Not Unloved went a bundle on Real Numbers, a shadowy duo from (cough!) Hull named Lures wrote and recorded the brilliant "New Boy", a version of which  subsequently appeared on Real Numbers' ace Slumberland lp. The Lures version rattles like the fittings on a corporation bus trying to beat the red lights on the Kings Road circa 1978. It's utterly glorious from start to end. Luckily for the latecomers, it's still available from the Three Dimensional Records bandcamp page. No Messtheticist's 45 box should be without a copy or two!

Bona Dish

Captured Tracks has struck pure Messthetics gold with their forthcoming Bona Dish anthology:

A friend - thanks, Jon! - introduced me to them last night and although I've not fully assimilated all the clips on YouTube, I'm totally sold on their brand of thin, rattly/rusty post-punk and can only wholeheartedly agree with Captured Tracks' assessment:

"Collected here is a rediscovered gem showcasing the zest and spontaneity that gripped the UK DiY scene of the time, standing up to their contemporaries like Television Personalities, The Homosexuals and Marine Girls."

I felt a little guilty that in 2012 such a high proportion of the records I bought were archival releases or compilations and not the new records by extant groups.  I resolved, therefore, to buy fewer reissues this year.  If labels keep unearthing wonders like Bona Dish (that name has to be polari, doesn't it?), however it's going to be a tricky resolution to keep! Hopefully, this record will go some way to quietening the dull accusations of 'hipsterism' that seem to be getting tossed in Captured Tracks' direction with increasing regularity.  I've never met Mike Sniper but from the outside it seems pretty obvious that he's just an enthusiast with a genuine love for certain styles of music and sounds who releases records for the right reasons.