Still stuck on 7" singles!

In the 80s I loved Crackerjack. The best bit was when somebody got gunked (as happens 39mins 35secs into this clip).  I've bought so many records but gone to so many gigs of late (there's been quite a run in Glasgow in recent weeks: Terry/Woolf/Anxeity, Moritz von Oswald, The Goon Sax/Boys Forever/Spinning Coin, Cavern of Anti-Matter, Colleen Green/Cassie Ramone/The Pooches, Bill Orcutt/Okkyung Lee etc. etc.) that on those rare evenings when I do actually sit down to listen to them it feels akin to being sat in a Crackerjack gunking booth, voluntarily pulling the cord and getting soaked to the skin by new music.  At the most recent gunking these are the 7" singles that widened Not Unloved's eyes the most:



What a heart melting slice of bounce-pop!  Tangible Excitement! have tremendous pop pedigree, being a collaboration between Scott Stevens, (singer with The Earthmen, Summer Cats), Stewart Anderson (Boyracer and a million other fab groups) and Mark Monnone (The Lucksmiths, Monnone Alone etc).  For good measure Louis from The Zebras/Bart and Friends guests on guitar, too.  On the flip there's an irresistibly fizzy cover of Tiger Trap's much cherished "Puzzle Pieces" that rivals the original in terms of sheer joy.



I don't think I'll be hearing from any lawyers if I say that The Jeanies have a fondness for the records of Big Star and Milk'n'Cookies.  That, of course, is no bad thing and when they can craft melodies as instantly memorable as "Amilee", they'll earn admiration for more than just having fine record collections.



At a recent gig a friend declared that they were officially over the 60s garage sound and never needed to hear or see another group so fixated on that period ever again.  It being 2016 and hence a whole five decades since the bulk of the touchstone records of that ilk were released, I could see their point.  Then I heard the latest blast of downer garage jangle from Hamburg's The Wrong Society's and knew I wouldn't be turning my back on that sound anytime soon.  The sombre "Don't Know Why" on the flip is particularly beguiling and would earn its place among the greats on any one of my favourite volumes of the Teenage Shutdown series.

The Wrong Society "To Be Free"

Once again I find myself hugely indebted to Higher State chap Mole.  His keen ears and knowledge of the current garage scene make his m.brooks m.porium ebay store a smashing resource for helping lazy lumps like me to keep up with what's out there.  The latest smash to hit the m.porium's virtual shelves is a 7" by Hamburg's The Wrong Society:



What a fizzing tune!  That guitar solo is pure desperation and do you hear the slightest tang of Martin Phillips (The Chills) in the way the singer pleads "Set me free!", too?  "To Be Free" could be slipped without any qualms onto any of those vintage Teenage Shutdown downer jangle comps.  With Denmark's The Youth, France's Les Grys-Grys and now Germany's The Wrong Society, European garage punk is in a right good state.  My self-imposed mailorder embargo was never gonna last, not with 45s of the quality of "To Be Free" screaming for attention.  I just didn't think my resolve would crumble so soon!