The Great Leap Forward - ‘This Is Our Decade Of Living Cheaply And Getting By’ from ‘This Is Our Decade Of Living Cheaply And Getting By’
If there has been a more acutely observed and danceable deconstruction of current times in any medium than this set of songs then I have yet to come across it. Former Big Flame front man Alan Brown returned in 2012 with this great set that spliced his agile stop-start guitar syncopation with driving Kosmische grooves and barbed politically informed and intelligent lyrics. Insanely addictive and admirably affirmative.
Former Tidy-Ups’ Olov Antonsson returned in early summer with this 10” EP filled with gorgeous baroque sounds tinted by the soft psychedelic charm of The Strands, Zombies and The Millennium. As effortlessly cool and casually classy as The Clientele, of course it immediately made me want to up-sticks and move to Sweden. One of these days, one of these days...
The best band out of Vancouver since the legendary Organ, the mighty Sleuth first came to my attention in 2011 with their ‘Brave New Nothing’ tape release. Supple and magnificently up-tight all at once, it was clear that Sleuth were bookishly articulate whilst shimmying madly under the disco-ball. That they conjured the spirit of Lizzy Mercier-Descloux getting down and dirty with Scrawl whilst Anna, Sami and Claude strutted their stuff on the silver screen was borne out this year with a cover of this Cristina gem. Now, what label will pony up for a brace of singles or an album in 2013?
Gravenhurst - ‘Fitzrovia’ from ‘The Ghost In Daylight’ (Warp)
It is over five years since I stopped my Tangents website. Although at the time the ending was all wrapped up in stresses and strains, in hindsight it feels like a prescient move given that in those five years the attention span of Internet readers has decayed even more rapidly than we could possibly have feared. Hastily penned blog posts, we groaned, were replacing carefully considered articles. Now who even reads blog posts?
Exactly.
In the days of Tangents my friend Kevin Pearce was often inclined to say something like “there is a new Autechre record out. It sounds very much like a new Autechre record and there is nothing wrong with that”. I paraphrase partly because I am too lazy to go and search my own archives, and partly because the past is passed and all of that. I mention this now only because I have begun to feel the same about Gravenhurst. And if I tell you that there was a new Gravenhurst record in 2012 and that it sounded very much like a new Gravenhurst record, well, you need to know what a wonderful thing that is. Fittingly too the new Gravenhurst record was on Warp. As Kevin may also have said, “it all fits”.
TV Girl followed up the gorgeous red vinyl smooch of their ‘Girls Like Me’ 7” with a free to download debut full set masquerading as a mix tape. It was the sound of Brian Wilson camped out on Mulholland Drive armed only with a MacBook and a brief to recreate the sugary bubblegum Pop of ‘50s Americana for a 21st Century youth with ADHD. Fizzing like a crack pipe filled with space dust.
For some of us of a certain age there is something very satisfying about being able to nod knowledgeably about links, connections and lineages. The Pre New give us a wealth of opportunities in this realm, not least with links out and back to the Earl Brutus and World of Twist; two names that ought to send shivers down your spine. For others however all that name-calling and head-nodding means nothing whatsoever and I admit that at times I am jealous of such people. After all, what does it matter? The past has passed and all that really matters is the sound of the Now. Fortunately The Pre New have that covered too, and there were few records in 2012 that bristled with quite the same nerve, verve and vivacious venom as ‘Music for People Who Hate Themselves’. The highlight was surely the clashing, crashing, cacophonous call to arms of ‘Cathedral City Comedown’ with its gloriously madcap psychedelic pop improv. As the man said, “for God’s sake, burn it down...”
With the flip side of this marvellous 7” LA’s Francisco The Man came on like the gigantic swell of ‘Arms Like Boulders’ hooking up with an Adventurous Television for a blind date, each with copies of ‘Keep It Like A Secret’ and ‘Poor Fricky’ clutched tight for identification. With such fine reference points you know that furtive snogging would be on the cards at the very least. But would they take off the hipster glasses?
The Twilight Sad unveiled their monumental ‘No One Can Ever Know’ set in February with silk screens, tote bags and a delicious double vinyl platter. I suggested back then that they had created a contemporary gothic monument to ennui and existential pleasure and I stand by that some ten months later. I also stand by the assertion that there is more than a little of the early ‘80s Simple Minds about the sound of the record: the supple motorik rhythms and icy electronic spaciousness recall an admirable update of ‘Sons And Fascination’ . There can be few better recommendations than that.
Tigercats - ‘Stevie Nicks’ from ‘Isle Of Dogs’ (Fika recordings)
God how I loved Esiotrot. They were sublimely, shambolicaly superb. But now we have Tigercats and oooh, I might just love them every bit as much. Maybe a wee bit more. It depends what day you catch my tail on. ‘Isle of Dogs’ was a stormer of a set, ‘Stevie Nicks’ a seductive sashay with a poignant guitar line full of pregnant pauses and sidelong glances. Tigercats will scratch your eyes out and kiss your bleeding lids closed. And you’ll thank them for it. Oh how you will thank them for it.
The trouble with an advent calendar is that there just isn’t enough room for all the delights one wants to share. So today we have the first shared entry; a bumper crop of three delicious chocs for the price of one. Result!
Aggi Doom - ‘Cakewalk’ from ‘Bring Me The Head’ 7" (Soft Power) September Girls - ‘Green Eyed’ from ‘Green Eyed’ 7” (Soft Power) Big Wave - ‘Only You’ from ‘Only You’ 7” (Beautiful Strange)
The Brogues seemed to be banging on about Aggi Doom for such a long time before I ever heard them that I admit I had fears they would fail to live up to my expectations . I needn’t have worried. Their vinyl debut on the magical Soft Power label was a treat and a half. ‘Cakewalk’ was the main course for me, with its Switchblade nods and Strawberry shivers. All that concerns me now is having to wait so long for new recordings...
Soft Power gave us the first September Girls vinyl this year as well, with the ‘Green Eyed’ 7” acting as a fabulous follow-up to their cassette single. Spine tingling diaphanous webs of noise, the ghosts of The Organ pattering on your heartache.
Big Wave also came to my attention thanks to Soft Power. The ‘Roots of Love (Come Tumbling Down)’ tape was a fine melodic power-pop-tinged primer, but their vinyl 7” on the Beautiful Strange label really upped the ante, coming on like Lucky Soul on their holidays to the seaside.
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