gullbuy music review

August 3, 1999

Pop-Off Tuesday

title

Pop-Off Tuesday

label

Pickled Egg

format
LP

Pop-Off TuesdayPickled Egg has become a strong new UK label. With less than 10 releases so far, it has put out 3 things from this out of left field Japanese band (two 7"s and this LP). Pop-Off Tuesday are Hiroki (machines) and Minori (guitars, vocals). Her voice is plaintive and curiously detached. The music is sometimes quiet, but is filled with disjointed sounds which make this more like a Wurlitzer Jukebox record than an electronica keepsake. Very odd, like a pair who live inside (the movie) Carvinal Of Souls and instead of thinking they are still alive (as the dead car crashed characters inb the film believe), think they still play Pop.

---Carl, August 3, 1999

Valvola

title

Teenagers Film Their Own Lives

label

S.H.A.D.O. Records

format
CD

ValvolaI agree with what I read in the Boa fanzine, so I'm going to give it to you straight, as this is the place that got me interested in this fine record, which reminds me of the Boston band Rockets Burst From The Streetlamps. Look for the review in "LP's s-z" and scroll down.

---Carl, August 3, 1999

Dauerfisch

title

Crime Of The Century

label

Bungalow

format
LP

DauerfischThe second full length from this German duo really brings it home more than their first record which followed hot on the heels of the incredibly influential RO3003 compilation on Bungalow a few years ago. This time the sound they play is familiar to all of us (clubpop) and their peers have had success (Arling & Cameron, Cornelius, etc). This record is very good, and can really thrill you if you allow it into your world.

---Carl, August 3, 1999

RPM Quigley

title

'The Vespertine' b-w 'Lost, Found, Then Missing'

label

Bad Jazz

format
7inch
RPM Quigley

7" / /

This is the first Quigley single (as RPM Quigley) for the ever trendy Bad Jazz label, after many releases on the French label Acetone, and a few on Vespertine. It is a low key affair, with a sweeping slightly melancholic love song filled with vocals on the A-side, and an instrumental with ringing piano, guitar, and drums on the B-side.

---Carl, August 3, 1999

Bows

title

'Blush (Ellis Island Sound remix)' b-w 'Blush'

label

Too Pure

format
7inch

BowsLuke Sutherland, who used to front Scotland's Long Fin Killie, has this great new band on the Too Pure label. It sounds like Peter Gabriel fronting Fantastic Plastic Machine on the great Ellis Island Sound Aside mix on this single. A very promising start!

---Carl, August 3, 1999

Salako

title

'The Bird And The Bee' b-w 'Backpack'

label

Jeepster

format
7inch

SalakoSalako are from Hull in England, and have a sound that is fresh, clean, psychedelic, and fresh. This has a song from their new LP and a song only on the single. If Syd Barrett ate vitamins instead of LSD, and never thought Elephant 6 he might make songs like "The Bird and the Bag" today, and we'd be glad he did! Salako are doing just fine on their own though.

---Carl, August 3, 1999

The Action Time

title

'Don't sell your soul' b-w 'Burn Warehouse Burn'

label

Tiger records

format
7inch

The Action TimeDescribed as "Shangri-Las meets the Dead Boys", this new band has a great single to start us loving them. Loving them is easy, as they include Delia, who also plays in Baby Birkin, Family Way, and Mambo Taxi, among others. She is the person who writes the great weekly updates for the London Rough Trade record store as well. I really love the B-side, which has male lead vocals over a Judy Nylon/Patti Palladin (Snatch) sounding background "oh-we-ewes" and chorus, with live-feel recording and hip organ to boot.

---Carl, August 3, 1999

Tele:Funken

title

'360 degrees' b-w 'Qwerty#'

label

Domino

format
7inch

Tele:FunkenTelefunken are most widely know for the record they mixed for Flying Saucer Attack a few years ago. I knew there was more to them when I heard that they had a new 7" on Domino. Domino is a consistently strong label. As I sit here, I can't think of any Domino 7"s that were really bad. Everything they put out is good. They cover many genres too. Domino has it's 500 series 12"s, which have included strong 12" releases by Ganger, V-Twin , (most recently) Tied and Tickled Trio, and a bevy of others. But the heart of the Domino catalog is its 7"s. They do not have good distribution in this country, buy always seem to be worth the effort once you seek one out and buy it sight unseen. I remember my delight when I bought the V-Twin single "Gifted", which features Katrina (of the Pastels) in a duet with what sounds like a "Mattress of Wire"-era Aztec Camera. This Tele:funken single is not so revelatory as that V-Twin single was, but it shows a sensibility more akin to Isan than FSA. Last week I heard Brian Cleary quite successfully mixing Pan Sonic into FSA on his Delta Factor radio show. Tele:funken have a really nice single here that needs nothing more than a spin on your turntable to enjoy.

---Carl, August 3, 1999