St. Christopher – "Bacharach" (Sarah Records – SARAH 403) 1990

I've made this joke before, but i like a good ten incher in my hands,so here's another Sarah Mini album which fulfills the current Twee Dreampop remit,yet also manages to pay Tribute to the recently departed genius of one Mr Burt Bacharach. 'Genius' is a word I try and avoid, but i'm afraid there is no other adjective than can describe Burt's lengthy back catalogue of sheer blinding brilliance-ness. Not many achieve genius status,and i'd be challenging myself to name but a few....i'll take a chance.....Dylan(?).....they must always be referred to by family name only....so for Dylan that must be Zimmerman.....or was that Hitlers real name????.....ah...Shciklegruber wasn't it. That's a jolly fine name for a band of gay twee pop playing skin'eads innit?

Ok, reluctantly, I'm adding McCartney to the list,despite the last 40 dreadful years of his work, he did enough by 1971 to warrant a mention. Ray Davies???.....nah...not good enough, and no-one uses just his surname in reference to the great man,so is automatically rejected to the second tier. Maybe Mozart?....sorry, only limited to 20th century and onward genius's (Collective noun alert!)......he used too many notes anyway.

Not particularly a 'fan' of any of these nominations, but one has to be objective doesn't one?

And NO, Jandek is NOT a Genius!

I've used the rear of this Mini-Album by yee olde York in yorkshire based twee pop combo St. Christopher, because the cover is too garish and offensive to the eye to feature here...the rear is acceptable,so I'll use that.

This jangly bunch of earnest young men get the Digital reverb setting stuck on Large Hall,close to saturation levels as the singer croons in a Pete Wylie-esque fashion,fighting for space with the drums,while the sparkly guitars cut through the fog to restore some focus for us cloth eared bastards at the other end of the XLR cables.

They also use the obligatory reference to the Autumn and Winter winter months that Sarah bands seem obsessed with.

Awww they sad.

TrackList:

A1 A Prayer For The Sea 1:56
A2 The Thrill Of The New 3:14
A3 And I Wonder 2:42
A4 Almost December 2:46
B1 She Can Wait Forever 3:41
B2 Who's Next On Cupid's Hit-List ? 2:34
B3 The Love Of A Sister 2:44
B4 Gabriel 3:01

DOWNLOAD 10 inches of bacharach HERE!

The Driscolls – "Complete Recordings 1988-1991" (Jigsaw – PZL056) 2014

 Also on Tea-Time Records were The Driscolls, whose complete recordings have been so kindly reissued by an American Label, doing that American thing of looking after the UK's culture even if we don't do it ourselves.They owe us big-time anyway as The UK saved Rock'n'Roll for them to enjoy in perpetuity,just as they are saving some of the United Kingdom's Indie heritage....a decidedly untrendy concept in the modern British Isles.

If The Driscolls were transported back in time to The Cavern Club, and The Beatles didn't exist, rather like in that next in a long line of truly terrible Danny Boyle films called "Yesterday", we would know all the words to Driscolls songs nowadays,instead of "Love Me Do". Although they ain't as cute as the Fab Four,so maybe the girlies wouldn't have wet their pants so much when confronted with the wimpy looking Driscolls.....but The Beatles did exist, and The Driscolls are nothing more that a skid mark in history.

The Fab Three....enough to turn a young lady ON...to lesbianism.

What is laid bare the most when listening to these Indie Pop sub-classics, is the glaringly obvious worshiping at the alter of 60's UK Freakbeat and Psych,with a splash of the U.S. Paisley Underground.

Like the Postcard records lot all walked around in public carrying a Dostoevsky Novel for effect, this lot plainly had a trove of Bam- Caruso compilations under their arms at all times in the hostelry's of Bristol and the west country where all these groups seemed to emerge from.

This influence is far from hidden,in fact its flaunted,as their self-financed debut 7" testifies, a cover of The Fire's Psych Pop classic "My Father's Name Was Dad" from '68 rather than '88.....is included here as a vinyl rip.The master tapes long gone.

To cap it all there's a clear Status Quo matchstickable lead guitar riff going on here,alongside a valiant attempt at Beatlesque harmonies.....or maybe it was those bizarre harmonies that The Clash used to insert into their early tunes in between Strummer growling on about Riots and Cheating to win.Silly stuff,but quaint in its own way.

One has to say the dirty clean but chunky yet jangley Guitar sounds on these recordings are rather lovely...that Rickenbacker on the cover may explain this? Although I've yet to receive an explanation as to how groups like this managed to afford a Rickenbacker, or a Fender for that matter? Have you seen how much they are recently....for the disenfranchised kid on the dole they are not!?

PS:

Anyone interested in a movie i'm writing where Gary Numan didn't exist, and i get to come up with "Are Friends Electric"?....that drummer's haircut would have to go though.

Tracklisting:

Disc One:
1-01 Father's Name Is Dad 2:19
1-02 Girl I Want You Back 2:07
1-03 Groovy Little Town 2:15
1-04 Andrew 2:56
1-05 Julie Christie 2:18
1-06 I Heard A Rumour 2:43
1-07 Doctor Good And His Incredible Life Saving Soap 2:28
1-08 If Only 1:54
1-09 Mrs. Jones 2:17
1-10 You Must Be Mad 1:57
1-11 Something To Learn 2:01
1-12 Groovy Little Town (acoustically revisited) 2:18
1-13 This Is A Different Song 2:45
1-14 Bang Goes Another Cloud 1:22
1-15 Out Of My Head 2:58
1-16 How Does It Feel? 4:47
1-17 Superman 3:50
1-18 Sky High 3:53
1-19 The Return Of Lord Kitchener 2:11
1-20 Coloured Windows 3:54
1-21 Brittle Beautiful 3:27
1-22 Green Tambourine 4:01
1-23 Another Day (Little Pill) 4:41

Disc Two:
2-01 P.C. Roberts 1:58
2-02 Call Me Anything 2:13
2-03 Time For Change 2:30
2-04 It's Your Daughter 2:26
2-05 Circles 3:03
2-06 Here It Comes Again 2:53
2-07 These Things 2:59
2-08 Shame About The Rain 3:22
2-09 She Said She Said 3:27
2-10 Coloured Windows (alternate version) 3:51
2-11 X-Ray Eyes (live) 3:40
2-12 radio interview 4:05

DOWNLOAD a group of driscolls with not one driscoll in the line up HERE!

Mousefolk – "Mousefolk" (Tea Time Records – tea time tape 1) 1989

The mouse seems to be the rodent of choice for many an indie Lo-Fi twee shoegaze group.Firstly we had The Field Mice,but this time it's the turn of "Mousefolk" ,a Bristolian quintet on the obscure Shoegaze orientated label,the very quaint Tea Time Records(hear a radio interview here!);also from Bristol I wager?

A compilation of older recordings,released on Cassette in 1989.

They seem to have nurtured the analogue fuzz very nicely,drowning out the vocals adequately enough to invoke images of these pale young boys surfing on waves of cotton wool with the pre-axelrod Electric Prunes in the fog of the Bristol channel.

This is how music sounds when you're off yer titz on Scrumpy.

Scrumpadelic?

Tracklist:

A1 Sleepwalk
A2 Just Can't Stay
A3 Cut Me Down To Size
A4 Fire Engine
A5 Greatest Thing
A6 Acid-Trip-Out!
A7 Will Anyone Ever Remember You?
A8 Fly (live - 19/11/87)
A9 Don't Let Me Slip Away
A10 Spinning Round
B1 Pictures Of You (live - 28/2/88)
B2 Autumn (live - 28/2/88)
B3 Grannies Cake Crisis
B4 I Don't Love You
B5 Tonight
B6 End Of The World
B7 Wishing The Summer Away
B8 Motorcycle Boy
B9 Joyce McKinney's Boyfriend

DOWNLOAD in time for tea HERE!

The Field Mice – "Snowball 10" + Singles" (Sarah Records – SARAH 402) 1989

The original Snowflakes and Twee giants The Field Mice,could have been The Stone Roses if they came from some northern ghetto and walked like a bunch of monkey's.

Of course The Stone Roses were obviously Twee shoegazing wannabe's on drugs,rather than sensitive young men and ladie(s) from the stockbroker belt running light on mental issues.

You all know I like a nice mauve ten incher in my hand every now and again,and this one is a classic of the Twee genre,with the occasional rocker tucked in there for good measure.

Even better than this mini-album would have to be the 5 or so singles that came out around the same time,including the rather groovy "Sensitive",which i guess is their signature tune Stone Roses album ender on 45.

Blissfully oblivious of the Madchester nonsense that would eventually kill The Field Mice and shoegaze off,of which,there was a lot about in '89 ,unfortunately;these nice young snowflakes, stuck stubbornly to their post C-86 indie pop and made a bucket full of sweet tunes for us,from a much better time to be alive.....No Internet full of nutjobs,True Patriots,Critical Race Theorists, or impending Facist takeovers or failed coup's back then. Maybe send a copy of this to mark the first anniversary of the Ukraine WAR,(packed with explosives?), to Mad Vlad....he really does need to relax a bit and calm the fuck down!? I'm really worried about the Cunts mental health....Honest.

"Snowball 10"er):

1.Let's Kiss And Make Up 6:12

2.You're Kidding Aren't You? 2:30

3.End Of The Affair 4:14

4.Couldn't Feel Safer 3:47

5.This Love Is Not Wrong 3:21

6.Everything About You 2:30

7.White 4:48

8.Letting Go 6:33

Singles:

9.Sensitive 5:04

10.When Morning Comes To Town 5:14

11.Emma's House 3:37

12.When You Sleep 3:32

13.Fabulous Friend 2:53

14..The Last Letter 2:46

15.I Can See Myself Alone Forever 5:20

16.Everything About You 2:21

17.That's All This Is 3:16

DOWNLOAD and bring the mice inside for the winter HERE!

Jody And The Creams – "Jody And The Creams" (Cordelia Records – Ericat 026(C) 1988

Oh Fuck!.....I just inexplicably sat through two hours worth of Mad Vlad Putin spouting endless conspiracy theories straight outta the Q-Anon phrasebook....and I paraphrase :"We (the Degenerate West) are all pedophiles in same sex marriages who defile the sacred scriptures in league with Satan, and a corrupt,but secret Elite."...even the Anglican Church got name-checked for daring to suggest that their fictional deity might not have a gender!? ...I'm sure The Chinese self-imposed leadership agrees with that. So the fate of the free world lay in the hands of the slightly crazy population of the USA.

If Trump,or an endorsed version of said cunt wins ...or even loses it seems, the next US election, we are fucked,rather than our kids,who will likely be doing a lot of the shafting;and Q-Anon and its off-shoots win. Like the 1978 remake of 'Invasion of the Bodysnatchers', they know what we're thinking because they will decide for us and ultimately replace us. The conspiracy is the Conspiracy,and Putin, himself part of an untouchable Elite,is their Pin-Up boy.

Some of it is based on fact,for example we are obviously ruled by an untouchable Elite,and have been since the dawn of history,some could even be called 'Evil'?..But i tend to be somewhat skeptical about so-called Satanic child abuse by,for example, the Clintons, and Hilaries quaffing down gallons of Baby's Blood binges in the nineties. (I like how they pop the word Satanic in there,like Christian Sexual Abuse,and there's a lot of it about,isn't so bad?)

So this calls for more indie rock escapism with some untitled cast-offs by the prototype Jody and the Creams back in '88.

I suspect that this is just Alan Jenkins, on guitar and drum machine,but maybe I do hear some Blodwyn P. Tea Bag on her organ.

It doesn't quite work without those surreal lyrics,but there is a thankfully word-less version of Peter and Gordons hit ode to suicide, "I won't Live In A World Without Love" ,which seems more relevant today than ever.....living in a world without internet crazed bigots is more on the mark methinks.

Remember what Mad Vlad said about Gay rights?.....no?....let me remind you...."We must protect the children")...chilling. Que(-anon?), the return of the Nazi's Pink Triangle which must be worn at all times.

nb:

Especially interested in what Die or DIY?'s in-house conspiracy Junkie, Sandi Hook, has to say about this in the comments section.

Sandi?

Track Listing:

Side A:

1. Untitled # 1

2. Untitled # 2

3. Untitled # 3

4. Untitled # 4

5. Untitled # 5

Side B:

1. Untitled # 6

2. Untitled # 7

3. Untitled # 8

4. Untitled # 9

5. Untitled # 10

DOWNLOAD 10 anonymous tunes to drink babies blood to HERE!

Jody And The Creams – "Lords Of The Gromet Canning Factory" (Cordelia Records) 1998

Two slabs of almost seamlessly segued Indie collage experimentation from Deep freeze mice relations, the Creams with Jody,before they dropped the 'Jody' part and went all full cream on us.

Eight years after the debut long player,the formula has not changed,a lump gravy collage,furtively recorded girly chat,mixed up with some funny noises and half finished art pop numbers.Featuring the farewll appearances of Ariadne Metal-Cream Pie,and Ruth 'Po!' Miller.

The charming Blodwyn P. and her Organ.

Alan Jenkins and Blodwyn P. Teabag would carry it on in the Jody-less Creams,whom I understand were almost popular at some stage?

NB:

A sense of humour is required.

Tracklist:

A - Some Music By Jody And The Creams (19:17)
B - Some More Music By Jody And The Creams (22:06)

DOWNLOAD the creme de les creams HERE!

Jody And The Creams – "A Big Dog.n" (Cordelia Records Ericat 028) 1990

 

That's NOT Dennis Nilsen bottom right by the way!

Yet another LP with ever widening Deep Freeze Mice connectivity, featuring Ruth (Po!) without her refrigerator on singy duties, another appearance of Blodwyn P. Teabag, (She's the one who looks like Green in his squatting days but as a Lady) and a debut for Ariadne Metal-Cream Pie; the latter two wrote nearly all the tchoons.

Don't be afraid, the Dennis Nilsen-a-like is the prolific Alan Jenkins(Deep Freeze Mouse number one) himself, if you've never seen him before? Here pictured in the Producer's role.I suppose this was intended as a 'Girl Group' project?

It all starts off with a bang,with the best anti-monarchy song I've probably ever heard.It alone, is the best reason why the Monarchy should remain exactly as it is or we would have one less thing to moan about,and no more anti-monarchy songs as clever as this.....Monarchy for the UK.

There are a few more charmingly witty indie pop numbers,or to paraphrase blodwyn or Ariadne.... 'lo-fi vintage english agit-pop'.There's also a side long sound collage like a more listenable but twee-er version of the side of Tago Mago no-one plays called "N.",or 'Lumpy Gravy', and there's another inevitable Frank Zappa homage with a couple of Suzy Creamcheese moments as if the GTO's came from an English suburb.....in Shropshire(?).

"Margery is Dead" reveals a possible Joe Meek obsession by someone in the room, like the theme to an unmade Gerry Anderson pilot from 1961.....can't go wrong there methinks.

Absolutely one of the better releases on Cordelia Records by a yard or two, in Imperial measurements.Don't ask me what that is in Metric!

That's something you can thank the Royals for,that and Lsd ?!.....For those born after decimalisation,that stands for Pounds Shillings and Pence,the single most absurd money system ever thought up by one of God's relatives on Earth.

Tracklisting:

1 The Queen #1 1:34
2 Margery Is Dead 1:27
3 Moulted Fur From A Labrador 2:27
4 Tree Rings 4:38
5 Appleseed Alley
Written-By – Ruth* 3:07
6 Hi Felicity 1:40
7 Shropshire 4:18
8 N. 31:35
9 The Queen #2 1:41
10 Blue Moon 2:04

DOWNLOAD some vintage creamcheese HERE!

Po! – "Bedroom Tapes vol.1" - (self-released) 1989

Ruth, last seen as the 'Ruth' from Ruth's Refrigerator , otherwise known as Ruth Miller of Indie Twee Pop Leicester legends PO! Had her own label called Rutland Records. Named after the disputed part of Leicestershire that regained its independence sometime in the naughties I think , and better known as the fictional home of The Rutles,but absolutely NOT The Ruts. 

One never ,wittingly saw PO!...the more mischievous amongst us would misspell it as POO!... live,who seemed to be in the Leicester Mercury  entertainment section every friday night during 1989 and beyond. Oh No,I thought, not more of that bloody student indie-pop nonsense. Not brutal or aggressive enough for me at the time...of course. I now know better don't I?

There are lots of PO! albums on Bandcamp, but this is a bunch of demo's recorded in Ruth's Bedroom I guess?There are three more volumes i am assured.

Its a kind of poundshop Tracy Thorn's "A Distant Shore";she being the Godmother's second cousin twice removed's best friends sister of "Twee".

Ruth is sufficiently Twee enough on these intimate recordings to qualify as The Indie Oberleutnant for a good part of the East Midlands.

PO! weren't eccentric enough to adequately fill the void left by the demise of Yeah Yeah Noh! in the local scene,but Ruth was indeed a prolific writer of charming pop tunes,of which we have a few examples on this cassette.

Ruth in fact turned up in the Guardian last week,promoting her Older Womens Punk Collective called the Unglamorous Music project. I suppose another Ruth's Refrigerator LP is out of the question? 

Tracklist:

1 Danny's Girl
2 Fay
3 These Days
4 The Ice Cream Dream (Tina)
5 She Lies In State
6 Every Night
7 Look For The Holes
8 Sunday Never Comes Around

DOWNLOAD like shit off a sheet HERE!

Jung Analysts – "The Wishing Balloons" (Hamster Records And Tapes – HAM 12)

Yukio Jung aka Terry Burrows, international best selling author and music expert...yes...EXPERT!....multi-instrumentalist and the like, so on and so on.

He being the only member of his 'group', Jung Analysts, he likes to chop things up  bruv......sorry, i'm writing this while watching The BRIT awards.I explain this away as 'just waiting for Match Of The Day'.Which, as Terry has creative connections with Leicester,is totally appropriate, as I'm salivating at the prospect of watching the highlights of  Leicester City stuffing pretentious wannabe's Tottenham Hotspur 4-1.A lot better than watching a constant stream of Pop school graduates and talent show runner-ups collecting awards for good behaviour as a small cog in the corporate entertainment machine.(Wet Leg excepted of course!) .....OMFG i'm just watching the most awful toe curling cringeworthy dance routine ever by some chubby but clubby 'out' knob'ead called Sam Smith(!?)acting all sexeh like,with a troupe of dancers clad in shiny PVC?...who ever the Fuck he(They) is or isn't...Fuck Me! Wot a Dick!......great relief...Match of the Day's just starting.....unbelievably The Foxes aren't on first????

I'd like to see some of these poor Dancers choreographing  moves to "Here's Lucifer' by Yukio Jung,which is probably as close as you can get to Dance music on Die or DIY? Lots of funky synth and funny noises with stops and changes of direction,slap bass with tongue in cheek clever clever lyrics,just to show us that, yes, he's really playing that bassoon. Alternative dance music,which means you can't dance to it I assume?The same way as 1980's Alternative Comedians weren't funny....the Jung Ones.

There are parts of this that I could imagine Paul Jung unleashing some blue eyed soul affront of,other parts needed David Sylvian to croon to.

It turns left, it turns right,it stops,and even goes backwards...I kid thee not.Future Disco.

The only thing that's wrong with all this is the tiresome 80's underground requirement of a Margaret Thatcher sample to portray her as some kind of special evil.You can't slag off Thatcher and remain a capitalist consumer,which even Crass were,They own their own commune,bought and paid for thanks to a mortgage arranged with a local bank!?,Which, in the grand definition of things in general makes them "Bourgeois".Whatever happened to Property is Theft?

Good to see the late Jackie Charlton mentioned in the track listing,which brings to mind a rather creepy single released by the deceased world cup winner about the good old days ooop north,sitting on granddad's knee, why aye Man! Thankfully there was no such thing as Pedophiles back then, nor Homosexuals,or them troublesome human rights......"Why Aye,it w'grate back then" slurs an obviously salivating Jackie.
Jackie Charton Says:

"Why Aye Man, it was sunday every day back then" said Jackie Charlton.He would have thought that this album was utter shite man.....but you'd know you were doing something wrong if it was any other way.

Tracklist:

A1 Here's Lucifer
A2 The Cocktail Party
A3 Hello, Dali!
A4 The Executive Toilet
A5 Punishment Is Art
A6 Some Loops
A7 Maggie's Apples
B1 Jackie Charlton Said…
B2 Youth Of A Nation In Heat
B3 Mathew
B4 In Calanda
B5 One Foot In The Greenhouse
B6 Max Pax Fiend
B7 Pluggin' For The Empire

DOWNLOAD jung sam smith's anal cysts HERE!

Yukio Yung – "Valborgunmassoäfton" (Audiofile Tapes – aT 53) 1988

 "These tracks were recorded between 1983 and 1985 and were intended to make up the third Jung Analysts LP. The Jung Analysts no longer exist. - so sayeth Terry Burrows aka Yukio Jung, June 1988, London, England"

Not that anyone had noticed that The Jung Analysts no longer troubled existence, nor did anyone noticed them when they did.

Alas, jung Terry seemed to be a rather busy chap,generally.Apart from co-founding The Chrysanthemums with Deep Freeze Mouse Alan Jenkins(not a made up name),he is also a prolific author of books relating to music history, theory, and tuition, technology, business, popular psychology and modern history...... busy fellow is Jung Terry.

In between jobs,he also made an equally numerous number of experimental...here's that job description again, "Art Rock",projects,sometimes dispensing with the rock part all together,even collaborating with such prolific loony toons as R Stevie Moore,and Asmus Tietchen.

Oh Yeah...Jung Terence is also one of those Mucky Micky Oldfield types who describe themselves as a muti-instrumentalist,which in Mad Mucky Mick's case means he can play a lot of different guitars,which in my book classes that as just one instrument...A Guitar,singular.

As a Bass player/abuser myself,not something I'd put on my job description or waste space on my non-existent curriculum vitae,I fully realise that it is in fact just another type of Guitar,whereas Mike Oldfield seems to think is a different instrument altogether....No Mike, it's a guitar.

Terry seems mildly competent on the Drum Kit, but as far as Multi-instruments go he can strum and pluck and press and blow and,more importantly, Edit.He can make coherent noises with most things musical...just like all of us.Gimmie a Bassoon, and i'll make it dance for a certain open minority of eager ears if attuned to this nonsense.

If you're in a band like The Chrysanthemums however, some form of musical competence is required, so maybe he can strum a guitar approaching the competence of a level three Mad Mick's two slightly distorted guitars...(Tubular Bells Reference There).

No displays of virtuosity on display on this aborted third album for his old band The Jung Analysts however, lots of funny noises, and meandering keyboard-isms,there's even some Jandekian piano tinkling-a-foot!?...yeah 'its experimental',that celebrated cop-out phrase that helps one avoid having to actually make an effort.

Of course you can do both,The Chrysanthemums being a fine example.

Normal Member of the Public:

"Oooooh! That's a bit crap!"

Composer or band leader:

"Not Crap...Experimental;but you wouldn't understand that would you?"

Standard artistic snobbism......which does, in fact, have its place.

Listen to it all enough times and the two words become interchangeable.One wonders if Terry touches on this subject in any of his numerous Musical Theory tomes? The writing of which is no doubt his main source of income.

One man's "Crap" is another's "Experimental"

And Terry's album is certainly..."Experimental"

Tracklist:

A1 The End Of Wild Strawberries
A2 Alchemy
A3 The Thin Army
A4 The Theme From Ulcerative Colitis
A5 Fiximile
A6 Boys On The Job #1
B1 Boys On The Job #2
B2 Die Litze
B3 Elegant People
B4 Lanzarote
B5 Der Vorliegende Band
B6 The Saisho Connection
B7 Camomile
B8 Flowers
B9 Units At Risk
B10 Parlour Palm

DOWNLOAD and get experimental HERE!

The Chrysanthemums – "Is That A Fish On Your Shoulder Or Are You Just Pleased To See Me?" (Egg Plant Records – Two Eggs) 1987

The Chrysanthemums were Deep Freeze Mouse main man Alan Jenkins,whom I previously had decided sounded like Robyn Hitchcock on this one;with frequent collaborator Yukio Jung,also known as plain old Terry Burrows,best selling author on the subjects of Music History, Theory and Tuition.

Smart arses stick together it seems.

Yes this is the one thst sounds like The Soft Boys...only cleverer.The stuff that the lazy noun 'Art Rock' was invented for.

And this is what I was listening to as I wrote about The Deep Freeze Mice's 1989 album "The Tender Yellow Ponies Of Insomnia",which I likened to ...er...The Soft Boys(?)....;when they actually don't.Whereas,The Chrysanthemums do.....geddit?...'cus I don't!

Suspected Zappa fans ,DFM ,are far more DIY neo-Psychedelic in their cleverness than the abstract Indie mud-skipper dragging itself out of the primeval soup left behind by the shiny boots of Punk Rock,that is The Chrysanthemums.

Yet again more great song titles on this one,that tend to be better than the songs which can be overlooked merely for the recorded use of a Bassoon alone;but the fact that DFM and their many derivatives provide Further proof that Leicestershire is certainly not an illusion.....it really is like that!.....unlike Gloucestershire.

Tracklist:

1.Gloucestershire Is Just An Illusion 3:09
2.Bullshit 3:28
3.Mouth Pain 4:35
4.Geraldine 2:09
5.Logical Fish 2:10
6.The Unpronounceable Finn 2:53
7.The Holocaust Parade 2:15
8.You Are A Serbian (And I Like You) 2:59
9.The Ten Foot High Trim-Phone 1:14
10.Another Sacred Day 3:50
11.The Lawn 2:52
12.Geraldine (Reprise) 1:23
13.I Wish Marvin Gaye's Father Had Shot Me Instead 5:16
14.Buzzing Unobtrusively 2:42

DOWNLOAD if you are just pleased to hear this HERE!

The Deep Freeze Mice – "The Tender Yellow Ponies Of Insomnia" (Cordelia Records – ERICAT 027) 1989

I wrote this unintelligible blurb whilst unintentionally listening to
The Chrysanthemums' – "Is That A Fish On Your Shoulder Or Are You Just Pleased To See Me?" LP from 1987;which i had earmarked for this slot,and confusing myself somewhat in the process that I was listening to a Deep Freeze Mice album, namely the one entitled above.

An easy mistake to make,as both bands shared certain members.

So,as I can't be fucking bothered to write it again, I will review The Chrysanthemums as I listen to "The Tender Yellow Ponies Of Insomnia",following this utter bollox-up!

So keeping faith with the Bryon Gysin cut-up technique, and in the grand traditions of experimental literature,It remains as so,which keeps in fitting with the surrealism of yer average Deep Freeze Mice tchoon? Yes?

I know this maybe an insult, but there are times when The Deep Freeze Mice (The Chrysanthemums in fact!?) sound like The Soft Boys?

Apart from The Soft Boys being a better band name,of course  this is generally piffle Sidney ...oh no,they've got me at it now, all this surreal random sentence construction; for the sake of this blog...I like to think of it as YoOuR Blog, or in this epoch of gender re-assignment and pro nouns, maybe even Their blog?

I dunno how we got to posting more gentle mad-cap DFM madness,I was trying to indulge y'all in my new fascination with shoe gazing Twee-Pop,and its dreamy derivatives.

Well a couple of DFM members were in Ruth's Refrigerator,not literally IN her fridge,the band; which was quite Twee in places,but they're a Leicester band,and i don't need any excuses for a shaht aht for the old home town. I once wanted my mortal remains scattered onto the playing surface at Filbert street, but, like a lot of other iconic buildings ,pubs and places, It ain't there no more!!!The King Power ain't the same.....for a start its exactly the same design,\and just as soulless, as Southampton's St Mary's stadium, that replaced the very much missed,but eccentric 'Dell'.Bizarrely, that was my last match at Filbo (Filbert Street),at home to going places Southampton.....we lost 4-0,and i left early to a chorus of abuse from the home section expectorated in my general direction,when one irate young man shouted "Fuck Off Then, see you again when we're top of the fucking league.....Cunt!"

I was used to this kind of targeted heckling ,when i had the misfortune,or fortune, to pass my exam and get allocated a place in a Grammar school in those good old days of streaming and shameless elitism.Me being resident in the circle of scum that invariably forms around most cities,the ones left behind didn't take kindly to being labelled 2nd class,but didn't want anyone to leave ,or have any chance to"better themselves"...so i was frequently threatened with violence,and sometimes they even delivered on the threats, and referred to 'moi'as "That Fucking Posh Cunt"......to use a comedy catchphrase from the cult "Friday Night Dinner" comedy series..."SHIT ON IT". Hence the bitter prick I am today.

But....the Deep Freeze Mice is definitely the collective work of several persons who obviously passed their 11+ exams,and maybe a couple who didn't need to (Thinly veiled Trustafarian reference there), and boy do they want us to know it?

Yeah that singer does sound like Robyn Hitchcock don't he?...Only better,with better lyrics,better song titles and no future Eurovision song contest winners in their ranks.

Tracklist:

1 A (Dog Found A Stick In A Park With Such Magical Powers That A Bark Caused A Marvelous Pie To Drop Out Of The Sky And The Doggy Would Grin Like A Shark) 3:25
2 Ariadne Metal Cream Pie 3:43
3 The Postman's Dry 2:09
4 The Cake Of Conversation 3:26
5 Programme Controller Flowers 1:52
6 I Don't Have A Horse 2:53
7 Poodle Haddock: Part One 0:31
8 Poodle Haddock: Part Two 1:59
9 Conversation Gap Panic 2:32
10 Buzzing Unobtrusively 2:12
11 The Amphibious Nun 0:51
12 Love You More 1:54
13 Janis 3:10
14 Into The Valley Of Death Rode The Six Hundred Shouting "Dig It" 1:12
15 Don't Eat Aluminium 7:14
16 To Hell With It, Let Her Keep The Chicken (The Postman's Dryer) 2:09

Extra Tracks:

17 The Delicious Little Green Roosters Of Insomnia 29:00
18 Into The Valley Of Death (Demo Version) 1:09
19 The Grindy Track 6:30

DOWNLOAD mice and Chrysanthemums from the deep freeze HERE!

Ruth's Refrigerator – "Suddenly A Disfigured Head Parachuted" (Cordelia Records – CD072) 1990

Ruth and her Refigerator...note the standard indie bowl-cuts extreme left and right.

Escaping the the Twee-Dream pop minority of Leeds to the civilised end of the M1 motorway;leaving behind the last vestiges of the "North", lies the naturally Twee city of Leicester.....which,as if you didn't know, is my home town.Akin to an empty rugby players bath,it has nothing in the center ans a ring of scum around the outside.

No, it wasn't quite that empty in the center,it wasn't Coventry after all;but i did grow up amongst the ring of scum,of which i am proudly one.One has very hazy memories of seeing lots of these Twee Dream pop Shoegazer groups at the various venues on offer, a case of if you remember the earl 90's you weren't there,unlike Britpop,which if you remember that you definitely were there and trying to forget it.

of course, the leicster had our own Twee Pop combo's,the most celebrated of which being peel fav, Yeah Yeah Noh!

A Sense of humour certainly required The rather zany Ruth's Refrigerator,being a fine example.

Including various members DIY legends Deep Freeze Mice and, Po! and other indie hangers-on.

The lyrics are of the too clever by 'arf variety as preferred by such tiresome smart arses as Morrissy and Cocker, but as i have mellowed in the past decade i'll say, what's wrong with that? I fact they are pretty funny.Like the opening couplet of Dear Prudence re-write "Red Queen" for example:

"There Was A Girl,

She Was a Raving Psychopathic Killer.......in my eyes."

Of course you had to be there,but you get the gist.

As top Deep Freeze Mouse Alan Jenkins is in the group, you're gonna get mad cap song titles and surreal university life sentence humour in droves,all backed up with jangly twee indie psych Wimsey.

I have been less than kind to the voice of Me Jenkins during my angry years;bracketing him with such of the likes of Steve Solomar of Spherical Objects......i now know this to be plain wrong,as do I the Deep Freeze Mice, whom I have reassessed as rather good,and i even like Alan's voice too now.....but not as much as Ruth's.

So my previous reviews of DFM albums are but a window of time in which i was obviously very pissed off.....Ruth-less....haha..see what i did? (Smart arse!) 

Tracklist:

1 She Lies In State 2:16
2 Your Dog Is Rich And Your Cat Is Good Looking 2:40
3 Alan's Refrigerator 2:12
4 He Needs A Dog 2:19
5 Picasso's Problem 1:56
6 The Red Queen 2:49
7 Mind The Paprica, Joe
8 Gro Harlem Brundtland Wants Some Fish 1:57
9 On A Western Shore 2:58
10 Innocent Boy 2:26
11 Hello Anne Of Green Poplars 3:47
12 Examine The Insects And Hit Them 1:02
13 Hi Felicity 1:42
14 Fish In The Air / Birds In The Sea 7:31
15 Spot The Bear Theme 1:01
16 Hello Anne (With A Better Guitar Solo) 3:13
17 The Red Queen (With Robyn Singing) 3:12
18 I Am Big Chief Radio Luxembourg 5:15
19 She's Not There 2:02

DOWNLOAD from the deep freeze to the fridge HERE!

Pale Saints – "Some New Songs By Pale Saints" (Self-Released) 1988

Some 35 year old songs by Pale saints,who were 3 pale young boys (+ later pale young lady addition) from Leeds in Yorkshire, which is,basically, the UK's version of Australia,overflowing with undiluted toxic masculinity,prison tattoo's, and fat footy hooligans;but not too many mullets in evidence as the hairstyle of choice is the number two, in non-toilet terms. These increasingly common,cow bellied throwbacks can be seen on away matchdays, unleashing minor tributary's of dark yellow piss, like objectionable ambassadors from the home of the missing link,stumbling through the streets of their rival conurbation, whilst lobbing stale and partly chewed pukka pies in the general direction of the repulsed local woke tribe of new men.

Only Millwall fans have unleashed my inner snob more quickly.

Therefore,one must applaud the often overlooked pasty faced Twee/Shoegaze combo Pale Saints,for existing in such an environment.They seemed sensitive types,and sang in a girly way that would have yer average Yorkshire-man demanding that they make him a meal immediately,with gravy that you could stand yer bloody spoon up in.

Naturally, 4AD snapped these delicate chaps up within three seconds of the first track of this demo,and the rest is history....especially the bit where The Pale Saints are nothing less than forgotten in the annals of Twee indie Shoegaze music;but at least it got them away from Leeds United Football fans eh?

Tracklist:

1.Wasting My Time 2:16

2.Children Break 2:46

3.The Way The World Is 2:04

4.Sea Of Sound 5:15
 

DOWNLOAD these pale strangers to elland road HERE!

Trixie's Big Red Motorbike - "All Day Long In Bliss (Singles, Demos And Peel Sessions)" 1981-85

The fairy prince and princess of twee has to be brother and sister Mark and Melanie Litten who,like many of their Twee contemporaries never got to release an album in their lifetimes.

Haling from a pre-Wet Leg Isle Of Wight ,they released their sparkly gentle pre-teen ditties on their own Lobby Ludd label....which is how my father, strangely, used to refer to Robin Hood?...I blame those Nazi's  and their prison camps and stuff i do.

Amazingly,according to Discogs, Mark Litten was something of a sound tech for Def Leppard!?.....I wonder what those clueless oafs thought of  Trixie's Big Red Motorbike,if they ever got to hear it; as the sole purpose of all this Twee stuff was to distance the wimps who made it as far away from the spotty testosterone fueled nonsense of NWOBHM as possible. I'd like to think that Lemmy would have got it,but not necessarily actually liking it....maybe not?

Where did this stuff evolve from? 

I guess the earliest roots would have to be Syd Barrett's solo work,the more whimsical end of UK Psych, and Velvet Underground's third album.Then the proto-punk nerd-chic of Johnathan Richman and Talking Heads,a bit later the TV Personalities,The Raincoats,and Subway Sect, making rejection of Rock music fashionable in 1978 leading to wimps like Orange Juice,Altered Images,Marine Girls (a marine Girl,Jane Fox, actually appears on a few of these tracks),Young Marble Giants,Dolly Mixture and so-forth.

It all gets quite confusing, with a venn diagram of Twee,overlapping ShoeGaze and Dream Pop.You can find Galaxie 500, My Bloody Valentine, and The Cocteau Twins all in the same space.

However, undoubtedly,Trixie's Big Red Motorbike is firmly entrenched within the Twee area of the diagram, alongside many of the forthcoming entities we shall be visiting making music for Wimps by Wimps.

I may have spent most of my time going to Godflesh and Napalm Death gigs in 1986/7,but nearly every other band on the circuit were Twee befringed Indie pop shoegaze dreamers,which i now realise was rather good,and refreshing......then came the second summer of bloody fucking Love,and the Shoegazers picked up a tambourine and started enjoying themselves,dancing and the like!?.Tut TUT TUT!  

  
 Tracklist:

1 A Splash Of Red 4:16
2 Invisible Boyfriend 3:19
3 Hold Me (Demo) 1:42
4 You Took Him Away From Me (Demo) 3:27
5 Hold Me 1:41
6 Trixie's Groove 2:34
7 One Nation Under A Brolly 0:46
8 Whatever Happened To The Treetops? 2:18
9 You Took Him Away From Me 2:56
10 One Nation Under A Brolly (Demo) 2:23
11 Norman And Narcissus 2:33
12 In Timbuktu 2:00
13 That's The End Of That 1:44
14 I'm In Love With You 2:06
15 When He's By My Side 2:03
16 Fairytales 2:15
17 That's Quite A Lot 2:52
18 What Was In The Loft 7:01

Bonus Tracks:

Peel Session 25/08/1983:

1 That's The End Of That
2 One Nation Under A Brolly
3 Norman & Narcissus
4 In Timbuktu
5 White Horses

Peel Session 28/07/1982:

1 Invisible Boyfriend
2 Splash Of Red

3 Whatever Happened To The Treetops
4 You Took Him Away From Me

DOWNLOAD music for wimps by wimps for you HERE!