Tuesday 14 February 2023

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