The Mor Paranoids "Circular" (WIAIWYA)

In the annual stramash of Record Store Day some great records get elbowed out of the way in favour of the skiploads of deluxe reissues and major label product; record shops just can't stock everything from the exclusives list, I guess.  I suspect that this year "Circular" by The Mor Paranoids may have been one of them which is a damned shame as it's a fabulous collection of Alternative TV/Swell Maps informed rattlers that exist in the glorious intersection of Black Time's blasting garage and The Yummy Fur's cheeky but intelligent post-punk (actually, that description sounds a lot like The Action Time - must revisit their records this weekend!).  If I still compiled tapes for chums, the thumping "Security Guard"  would have been on every one made since mid-April, 2014.  It starts innocently enough but pretty soon proceedings get raucous then wonky before ascending into chaos:

It's a suitably thrilling way to close the record and I'm willing to bet serious money that Guided Missile wish they'd put it out on 7".  That said, The Mor Paranoids' cover of the aforementioned Swell Maps' "International Rescue" is also a real contender:

"Circular" was released in an edition of 100 copies on the best format yet devised by mankind: 10" vinyl. According to the Where It's Is Where You Are (they've had a great year, haven't they?) bandcamp page there are only 15 copies left - nudge, nudge.  There's no way on earth that "Circular" won't make my 2014 Top 10.

(Big thanks to Paul E for buying "Circular" on my behalf after none of the local record shops stocked it.)

PUPS

Where It's At Is Where You Are's 2013 7" series has yielded another smash in PUPS' "Month Long Sleep".  I'm aware that I really love it as I do everything faster when it plays.  The downside of this is that I've just eaten too many chocolate (plain - I am a grown up!) digestives .  The upside of it, however, is that I walked home in double-quick time as I listened to mp3s of it on repeat last night.  PUPS are Katie, Rose and Caitlin.  Rose is Rose Melberg.  That's thee Rose Melberg who hasn't appeared on a bad record in her best-part-of-two-decade long involvement in music.  As with Tiger Trap, Rose doesn't sing all the songs and, as with Tiger Trap, the other singers in PUPS are great in their own right, adding a little more spikiness and bite to the proceedings.  PUPS are from Vancouver, Canada and continue that city's fine line of nippy, zippy pop groups that includes Cub and Gaze.  PUPS' debut 45 is everything I need a single in summer 2013 to be: it's vigorous, it's breezy and it's completely unpretentious.  Way to go WIAIWYA!

He ain't The Boss of me

For a while when I was at primary school, if you were made to look like a chump (it happened a lot to me) it was called being 'gunked' e.g. folks would derisively sneer, "Ha!...you're gunked!". For years I've told anyone who's asked that I don't understand the appeal of Bruce Springsteen's music. That I just don't enjoy all the straining, the bulging neck veins, the internal organ rupturing drums and the chunky muscularity of his ubiquitous 80s hits.  When The Observer gave away a book of his lyrics it kicked around for a while unopened before being tossed in the recycling.  Then, a couple of years back, I giddily played Chromatics' "I'm On Fire" down the phone to J thinking it was a spooky/creepy Chromatics original only to be put straight with a chuckle.  Gunked!  On a recent trip to London I picked up a copy of Eux Autres' "Broken Bows" (Where It's At Is Where You Are/Bon Mots) cd.  From the first spin the track which made me sit up and really take notice was this*:

And, wouldn't you know it, it's another Springsteen cover. Gunked again!  It's nice to have my opinions challenged but my antipathy for Springsteen's music has been so long-lasting that I didn't expect it to ever be called into question.  This morning Janice Forsyth (whose show is shamefully facing the axe this summer) on Radio Scotland played Bruce's new single.  I listened with keen ears, eager to hear what I've been missing all these years. And...nothing,  No gunk this time.  Sure, there were some pretty melodies in the mix, some nice guitar parts, some pretty glockenspiel etc. but as a whole it was stodgy and a bit sickly.  Bruce's voice is a little more weather worn than I've heard it which takes the edge of his shoutiness but I still can't love it which is a shame as I'm sure he has interesting things to say.  Maybe in a few years when I've forgotten all about it some Swedish girl group will tackle it for a b-side and I'll turn cartwheels for it and be gunked all over again.

* - The rest of the cd is smashing and the Springsteen cover is by no means the only reason to enjoy it.

PS This Springsteen song does have its Merritts.