Mystic Eyes

London's now defunct Minus Zero Records was a total knee-trembler of a shop when I first went there.  At the time Velvet Crush figured big in my life and they seemed to have countless records by Paul Chastain and Ric Menck's side-projects and previous groups such as The Reverbs, The Nines, The Big Maybe etc. for sale.  Unfortunately, I wasn't in possession of the requisite funds to buy them but it was just exciting to see them (see also the records in the hallowed glass case on the wall of the now also gone Intoxica in its heyday).  One 7" I could afford to purchase from Minus Zero was by Buffalo, New York's Mystic Eyes on that beacon of 80s garage goodness, Get Hip Records.  It's one of the strongest two-siders from that decade's garage revival to cross my path with an endearingly romantic (those cute lyrics!) folk-punk stomper on the top side and a seriously twangy tale of a serial heartbreaker getting a dose of his own medicine on the bottom.  Get Hip still has unplayed copies for sale via its ebay store for a devilish $6.66.  Go on...it's what Paypal's for!

a-side: "I Can't Wait To Love You"

(Is this a cover?)

b-side: "Taste Of The Same"
(originally by The Bad Seeds and available on this Sundazed Records ep)

Straight outta Denmark - The Youth

State Records are the truest of true believers in the sounds and ways of the guitar pop world from 1965 to 1969.  Whether it's through the records they release or sell*, there's no doubting where their passions lie. The next installment in their increasingly brilliant run of singles (remember how great that fizzing recent single by The Thanes was?) comes from scorching new Danish group The Youth.  "I'll Call Your Bluff" has a guitar sound to slacken the jaw and a vocal that is completely saturated with feeling, plus, and it's a big plus, you can dance to it.  It's so much more than a faded facsimile of the Euro-beat greats of the past.  It has too much heart for that.  "You've Done Me Wrong" on the reverse has a more overt R&B flavour to it.  It, too, should come in handy for DJs looking to tempt Chelsea boots onto the dancefloor.  The 7" is penciled in for an October release.  Only 500 copies - the first 250 with a numbered postcard - of this colossal 45 are being pressed so pre-ordering is a must.  When the time comes, get on it!



* The discerning record buyer is urged to visit their Mbrooks Mporium ebay store where the first single by The Youth is still in stock. Also still available is The Embrooks' "Jack"  7" on which you'll find their blistering take on The Barrier's "Dawn Breaks Through" which somehow manages to outdo the original for sheer power.  Skeptics are advised to check out this post on the astute Flower Bomb Songs blog to judge for themselves.

Update:
Krister Bladh over at Record Turnover has written some great words on it (and the new Paul Messis single) here. Check it out!

Post-Teenage Fanclub gig shindig at The Poetry Club

(ace flyer by Carrie from The Voidoid Archive)

On August 15th Teenage Fanclub play at the beautifully renovated Kelvingrove Bandstand in Glasgow.  If it's anywhere near as good as Belle & Sebastian's celebratory show there a few weeks ago, it'll be a real highlight of summer 2014.  After the show there's a free shindig at The Poetry Club where filmmaker and former The Jesus & Mary Chain bassist Douglas Hart will be playing some tunes.  It'll be fascinating to hear his selections.  I'll also be making an appearance behind the decks under the wee train.  There's every chance I'll play the Go Ahead reissue - no 'original vinyl only' snobbery from me; I'm no Daddy Warbucks, y'know - of Jackie Wilson's mighty "Because of You":

Come along and dance like a loon.  It'll be better if you're there!

Facebook event page here

Pang "Young Professionals"

Maybe it's because I just got my ears syringed and everything's sounding 67.3% more crisp but Pang's "Young Professionals" (Grazer) sounds more vibrant, more VITAL than almost anything else around at the moment.  They're canny enough to have assimilated the Swiss Rough Trade groups of the late 70s and realised that The Long Blondes were at their best on that 12" for What's Your Rupture?.  Not only is the guitar sound enough to make you throw things - anything!, EVERYTHING! - in the air with delight, but the "On, on, on" backing vocal refrain and the lead singer's screams are the most exquisite pop details of summer 2014.  More Pang, NOW!

(Thanks for the introduction, Mike!)

On And On With Lou Reed

22 years go Trash (now, that's how to name yr band!) released "On and On With Lou Reed" (New World of Sound).  I wish I'd heard it at the time as it's a clattering delight that never lets up and yet another reason to look back in awe at the music being produced in New Zealand in the 80s and 90s.  A friend described it as 'a pop Dead C' which is not only a great concept but an astute observation given that that group's Robbie Yeats played on it.  I wonder if John Peel picked up on it.  It would surely have turned a fair few heads if he did, in fact, play it on his show*.

(Thanks for the tip, Jon!)

* - this would suggest Peel did play it - sweet!

My Love Has Gone

Last week's trip to Monorail Music yielded the"My Love Has Gone" 7" (Norton) by Miriam (Linna of The A-Bones).  I'd read about Miriam's album on Lindsay Hutton's cranky but admirably passionate Next Big Thing blog so was on the lookout for her records.  "My Love Has Gone" is such a punchy evocation of the classic girl group sound.  TV theme catchy with hooks by the score, everything is played so emphatically (those drum skins took quite a beating!) that despite all the glockenspiel and romance-gone misery it could never be described as twee.  Hopefully, the lp will show up in Glasgow before too long.

Stuck In The 60s

BBC Radio 5Live ran a feature the other night about how Environmental Health officers had clocked crazy 100+ db sound levels during showings of recent blockbuster movies such as Godzilla.  Of course, I tut-tutted in agreement.  I mean, who hasn't come out of the cinema in the last few years rubbing their ears and moaning about it?  Of course, I am a total hypocrite when it comes to volume.  If 5Live ran a similar feature on the volume of music played in cars, I would be totally busted.  Tonight I stopped by the ever-wonderful Monorail Music and picked up a bunch of hot new vinyl spins and one second hand cd - this - and you should have heard the loopy volume at which I repeatedly played Bob & Kit's incredible 60s jangler "You've Gotta Stop" (HBR):

The first thing I did when I got home was to fire up ebay and search for an original 7".  Unfortunately, there's only 1 copy for sale and it's quite visibly scratched so I won't be investing in that.  I'm willing to wait for a pristine(ish?) copy.  After all, thanks to the impeccable taste of the cd's compiler, Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond, I can blast it on cd till my ears stop working completely.

Another recent 60s cut to have won my heart is The Striders' adorably perky "There's A Storm Coming" (Columbia):

A tenner secured me a(n allegedly - we'll see when it arrives!) Mint- copy.  The slightly wimpy songs from the mid-60s that straddle the line between garage and pure pop are just so endearing.

Finally, while revisiting Ace Records' ridiculously great "Boy Trouble: Garpax Girls", this Rev-lons stunner swelled my heart all over again:

If "Whirlwind" doesn't have ya shufflin' and a handclappin' and a ooh-ooh-in' then just how do you get your kicks?

There's a fair chance the above 3 songs will form my Three In A Row suggestion for Brian Matthew's Sounds of the Sixties on BBC Radio 2.  Yeah, let's do this!