Seven Inches of Fun

I bought some interesting 7 inches yesterday as part of my weekly mission to make sure my bank account never turns black for more than a few days a month.

First up i'm loving this new single from 'Battle', which has apparently been getting some people (Zane Lowe, XFM etc) very excited. On giving it a listen in Rough Trade I didn't feel it was giving me too much I hadn't heard by a thousand other indie bands, but once I got it home I was well pleased with the purchase. Like Arctic Monkeys, it's probably the lyrics rather than the music that keep you interested, but having said that I have been humming this most of the day. Not sure what the rest of their material is like, but this is an extremely promising debut.

'HA HA HA'

BATTLE - DEMONS

Boomkat have been raving about a mysterious act called Various Production on their weekly mailout, so when I saw a 7 inch by them in Record & Tape Exchange for 10p I snapped it up immediately. And i'm very taken by it. A-side 'Queen Bee' sounds like a crackly and slightly discordant recording of a fifties crooner, whereas B-side Cognac is like a slowed down and fucked up UK Garage (sorry, Garridge) track. Delicate and Eerie. According to Boomkat, this collective (?) are being chased by Warp, Planet Mu & Leaf... I can see why.

VARIOUS PRODUCTION - COGNAC

EDIT: Thanks to Gigabyte Picnic for pointing me in the direction of this Tigersushi link... seems as though this track may be by Warp artist Milanese.

You may remember me mentioning a wedding I went to in Sweden a couple of months ago? Well at the wedding I was recommended a band called "Little Barrie", who - I was told - were the best thing since The Stones. Or The Clash. I can't remember which. Anyway, this single, 'Free Salute' sounds kind of like Lenny Kravitz. Yes I know. It sounds horrendous. But it's not. This is bluesy, raw sounding rock 'n' roll. And I like it.

Strangely the band share a label with old skool Hip-Hop revivalist DJ Format, and Detroit Jazz licker Amp Fiddler.

LITTLE BARRIE - FREE SALUTE

If you're still visiting Andrew, thanks for the tip!

The last 7 inch was the first release on the now defunkt (?) City Rockers' 7 inch label "City 7's" in 2003. This is raw & dirty garage music - in the Ramones sense rather than the Artful Dodger sense. And although (or because) the singer sounds rather like Vic Reeves doing his 'club singer' impression on Shooting Stars, this would sound great in a proper sawdust-coated London boozer.

If the track sounds familiar, it's probably 'cos it closed off CD1 on City Rockers' fantastic 'Futurism 2' mix.

KID & KHAN - GOO GOO MUCK


There's quite a smorgasbord there.. you should be able to find something you enjoy!



While I have them in front of me, and just to give you a taste of my ever expanding fire hazard of a record collection, this is what I bought yesterday.

• Kitsune Maison 2x12" Promo (This album just gets better and better the more I listen to it. Check out the Interpol mix of VHS or Beta's 'Night on Fire'. Or 'Not on The Guestlist' by Marco dos Santos. Just fantastic)
  
• Linda Lamb - Hot Room 12" (International Deejay Gigolos classic)
• DJ's are Not Rockstars - Pop Your Pussy 12" (The Vitalic vs Princess Superstar bootleg I posted a few months ago.. now seems to have been brought out on vinyl. Wicked.)
• Piano Overlord - Torture EP (Beautifully packaged new 12" by Scott Herren (Prefuse 73))
• Maximo Park - The Coast is Always Changing CD (500-only original issue.. second-hand bargain!)
• The Freestylers - FSUK2 2xCD (Superb breaks mix album. I sold my copy on ebay (for a tidy sum) a while back and couldn't resist buying it again! Another bargain...)
• Gimmik - Load Error CD (Re-issue of first Toytronic release)
• Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk LP (No... not the original unfortuntately)
• Max de Wardener - Where I Am Today CD (Beautifully packaged but fairly uninspiring ambient sounds on Matthew Herberts's Accidental label)
• OOO - Upon Circles (Again, fairly uninspiring IDM on Planet Mu. Just about worth the £2 I paid..)
• City Rockers - Futurism 2xCD (About time I had an original copy of this. One of the best mix albums ever. And beautifully designed to boot...)

And finally the four 7 inchers featured above:

• Kid & Khan - Goo Goo Muck
• Various Production - Queen Bee
• Little Barrie - Free Salute
• Battle - Demons 7"

Course I also picked up a couple of things off the web last week... Aphex Twin's Joyrex J9 EP (One of the few releases by him I was missing), and Global Communication's classic '76:14' album (which has just been re-released in an expanded double-CD edition)

I have to cure this addiction. That's an average week's shopping. Most of it was second-hand, but still.. my overdraft and floorboards can't continue like this......



By the way.. i'm going to try & post more of my own photos up here. This week will be featuring some snaps from Dublin's Botanical Gardens last weekend. Some are quite nice.