Late last year Daptone's sister imprint Wickstruck garage pop gold with "Time Is Not On My Side" by Billy Swivs. It's a barrel of Stones-y fun with some fine tellin'-it-like-it-is lyrics:
All the people on TV
They don't believe in you or me
No, they're just trying to waste your time
Control your brain and rule your mind
I dunno, maybe it's from witnessing all the call and response at King Khan shows or Ian Svevonius's many exhortations at Chain and The Gang/The Make-up/Escape-ism etc. gigs but I just wanna punch the air at all the wee side comments such as "That I could be somebody!" (which is uttered in a manner pleasingly reminiscent of Not Unloved fave Ryan Kidd!) or "I had a dream about it!". It's nigh on impossible to bring anything new to this style of music (I'm not sure that the avid followers of it want that, mind you!) but if you have a memorable enough tune, an ear for the good stuff from the last 55 years of garage punk and the swagger to pull it all off you'll still be able to tempt my winklepickers onto the dancefloor. Hell, yeah!
There's a fair chance that you can count on one hand the number of records on Not Unloved's shelves that could conceivably be tagged with word 'prog'. Agincourt's "Fly Away" - most recently reissued in 2021 on Trading Places - is one of the few, if discogs is to be believed. Thankfully, however, "Fly Away" is a much more succinct, (folk)pop-oriented affair than the dreaded 'prog' word would suggest with the highlight being "All My Life" which somehow manages to rival the acoustic side of Kaleidoscope for effortless beauty:
Agincourt unexpectedly landed in Not Unloved's orbit when, upon playing the heart-meltingly pretty "Bacharach" by the Japanese group Andersens to a musician friend, they (correctly to these ears!) mooted a certain similarity in the vocal melody to "All My Life". "Bacharach" appears on Morr Music's smashing overview of Andersens' output to date, "There Is A Sound". Fans of Tenniscoats and Molly Linen are urged to seek it out if they haven't already!
That Record Got Me High came to Not Unloved's attention when Tim Hinely (of Dagger zine fame) had the good sense to select Galaxie 500's landmark debut album as his topic of discussion. The format of the show is simple: an invited guest selects an album of their choice to listen to and discuss in detail with host, Rob Elba (and, previously, former Moe Tucker and Jad Fair collaborator, Barry Stock), Episodes are just over an hour in length and Elba is a great host who is cheerful and never overbearing. Pleasingly, he doesn't fall into the trap that so many other music podcasters do of trying to assert their knowledge and opinions over those of their guests. In fact, it's really refreshing to hear Elba admit to not having prior knowledge of some of the chosen albums. The periods in 2020 and 2021 when going out to live shows wasn't a possibility provided plenty of time for catching up with previous episodes of That Record Got Me High. Some of Not Unloved's favourites are:
Former Blake Babies and Lemonheads drummer (and President of Rounder Records!) John P Strohm selected The Byrds "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" and brought it to life with passion and insight.
Steve Michener was lucky enough to play bass with three fabulous 80s/90s US indie-rock touchstones: Volcano Suns, Big Dipper and Dumptruck. The Vulgar Boatmen was a name I'd seen in mailorder catalogues in days gone by but a group I'd never actually heard. After listening to season 5, episode 201, however, I'm sure keen to hear more.
The episode where Joe Tunis of noise label Carbon Records and Elba chatted about The Dead C's "Trapdoor Fucking Exit" was a blast.
That's enough to be going on with, All that remains is for Not Unloved to finally put our hand in our pocket and become a patron of the show.
Since this post has name-checked both The Lemonheads and Volcano Suns, it seems like an opportune time to post this wonderfully heartfelt cover by the former of the latter's excellent "Balancing Act"which was released on 7" by Atlantic in 1997 (!).
Krister from esteemed Swedish culture site Record Turnover kindly asked Not Unloved to contribute a mix to their guest mix series. Since Record Turnover covers both guitar music and electronic acts of all types it seemed only right to do a mix which reflects that. Of couse, there are some great Scottish-based acts (Soursob, Kubler-Ross and Gaming) and some smashing covers (Epic Soundtracks and friends taking on one of the sweetest tracks by The Monkees and Star Party's blasting take on Buba and The Shop Assistants genius "Something To Do"). From 2021 there's a wonderful cut from Bobby Lee's evocative "Origin Myths" lp and a track from Itchy Self's 12" that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Numero Group's tremendous Ork boxset. Of the electronic contingent there's Kara-lis Coverdale's stargazing "A 480" and a stomper from Bobby Flan's 2019 7". Hope you find something to enjoy!
The Lizards (aka Epic Soundtracks) – I Wanna Be Free
Awful Sirs – Rock the Boat
Jason Henn – Carriers
Itchy Self – Playin’ MTV
Galore – Lydia
Bobby Lee – Impregnated By Drops of Rainbow
Kara-lis Coverdale – A 480
Bobby Flan – Cone of Perversity
Gaming – Otago Lane
Angel Corpus Christi – John Cassavettes
The Stray Trolleys (pre-Cleaners From Venus) – Secret Dreams of a Kitchen Porter
In late 2019 Soursob were one of the most exciting groups in Glasgow. Their tape on Fuzzkill was a blast which showcased a group with a real spark and just the right blend of cockiness ("Gizmo"), irreverence (the take-down of a pompous music obsessive on "Shoegaze" will never not be funny) and catchy tunes. Around that time Not Unloved saw them play some great sets at Mono and Nice'n'Sleazy etc. and was all set to ask them to do a 7" for our wee label - I'd even started dropping hints to radio shows like Dynamite Hemorrage - but learning that one of the band members had to return to Australia meant that it didn't happen. The prospect of trying to sell out the pressing with no gigs to help spread the word and a general decline in enthusiasm from music buyers for the 7" format just seemed too difficult. Shortly afterwards, the pandemic-related postal system issues and the well documented vinyl pressing woes experienced by labels made the idea of continuing to release 45s seem like an even worse idea. It was with great delight and more than a little jealousy, therefore, that Not Unloved learned via a Facebook posting last March that HoZac would be be releasing a Soursob 12". Now that it's out. however, it's just great that a wider audience has already or will in the future get to hear Soursob and fall for their cheek and charm. Here's hoping that 2022 brings a buncha new songs and a slew of gigs!
As the stacks of lps currently without a home bear witness,Not Unloved bought way too many records (and tapes and CDs, for that matter!) in 2021. Reviewing the situation, it would appear that a large chunk of these were gentle or instrumental or both. I guess that's, in part, due to another year of home working. Maybe unexpectedly, Bobby Lee's "Origin Myths" was the record that earned the most spins round here.
Not Unloved is no aficionado of dusty Americana but it instantly became a favourite and was easy to play on a loop. Rachel Love's gorgeous "Picture In Mind" album was up there, too, and there were days when the incredibly moving "Space" from Molly Linen's "Days Awake" e.p. was looped over and over without ever coming close to outstaying its welcome. As for reissues, Stephen's "Radar of Small Dogs" had been on Not Unloved's wants list for years so it was a genuine thrill when it was finally made available again even if I did pay well over the odds for a copy of Joyful Noise's "White Label Series" version only to see Liz Harris's Yellow Electric reissue the reissue at a much more affordable price a few months later. Still, what a record!
Long Players
The Umbrellas"s/t" lp (Slumberland) / Chime School"s/t" lp (Slumberland) / The Reds, Pinks and Purples"Uncommon Weather" lp (Slumberland)
Shamefully, Not Unloved neglected its duty to share (the sole point of this thing!) for a large chunk of 2021. One of the records (it's actually a cd...no format snobbery here!) that deserved to be shared but wasn't was "Let's Get Shiny!"(Melotron Recordings) by Shiny Times. Shiny Times is the home recording project of Kim Weldin of Tape Waves (whose recent "Bright" album for Emotional Response is a dreamy pop smash) and on the evidence of "Let's Get Shiny!", Weldin's neighbours won't feel compelled to call the cops to report a noise nuisance any time soon. All 6 songs are beautifully sung in a hushed, comforting manner and even the fuzzier guitars are never abrasive or harsh. I tried and failed to decide upon a favourite track to post here but "So Alone" achieves Rose Melberg levels of prettiness and has Not Unloved yearning for the days of photocopied fanzines and mixtapes so it's a good ambassador for the cd. With "Let's Get Shiny!" Kim Weldin has added to the sum total of good things in the world and for that I thank her. Let's hope 2022 brings more Shiny Times!
