After finding the amazing Tapes LP from last year I thought it would be a while before I heard any half-decent dub LP again. Well, try less than a year, 'cos some of the tracks here are killer. Sub-bass frequencies to melt your eardrums, especially on opening track One Way Trip. Being something of a dub purist my favourite dub LPs will always be those that at least pay something of a homage to Tubby, Jammy and Scientist, and with tracks like Watching and Wondering you could be forgiven you'd just tripped over one a cut from one of Hopeton Brown's 90s-00s sets like "Scientist Kills The Millennium Bug". This however is firmly a 21st Century dub album, both dark and brooding (c.f Red Planet) with plenty of references to the dub flagbearers (Valles Marineris in particular). Black Hole is total guff, but the rest of the LP is well worth a listen. _________________ 'Reggae' & t'ing Folk 'n Stuff SHAMELESS RECORD DEALER PLUG
I might be quite a way off the the majority of you in terms of the sheer volume of 2016 releases I've heard thus far. I think with the Sea Pinks' new one and Blackstar my grand total is... 3. That'll learn me for listening to all this 70s Afrobeat and Dub that's thicker than Joey Essex (British joke).
Anyway, this morning whilst flicking through my regular Friday e-mail of new releases available at Rough Trade I found this. Scottish fuzz pop it said. Sounded interesting. Found a stream. Had a listen. Boys and girls, I'm proud to annouce I've found my first proper love of 2016 (and it's a sodding compy):
Gathering together their first 3 EPs (much like The Beta Band did - must be a Scottish thing), Tuff Love are a two-piece girl band much in the same vein as that other legendary Scottish duo, The Proclaimers Strawberry Switchblade. In fact in places you can hear a little of the scrunchie-cum-papier mâché Caledonian charm that made SS (not the Nazi secret service - that'd be silly) appear on the settee of TV-am (UK version of Good Morning America) in the mid 80s. Anyway, these two girls have got a little more street savvy about them, like they've had their share of Special Brew laced with Babycham, but nevertheless there's enough naivety to keep the feyest of indie-poppers happy. You can hear Marine Girls, even something akin to The Motifs (though not THAT twee) in places, though a fair few of the tracks recall those early 90s 4AD bands like The Breeders or Throwing Muses. Whatever - it's a revisionist indie/alt-pop paradise and bearing in mind the sharks on Discogs are selling their first EP for like £50 (I mean, you know, I hadn't heard of them until 7.42 this morning - admittedly, I'd ordered the vinyl within 20 minutes of first listen) this is a much better way of digesting some Tuff Love.
Standouts - That's Right, Carbon, Threads
Recommended To - Any fucker that's reading this, but definitely those with twee legs (specifically interested parties living in Nottingham and New Zealand)
Love this...really great. Feel a trip to Rough Trade is in order sometime this week 😁
Jimmy DreadOld skool like Happy ShopperModeratorProfile 555 Dub Street
Possibly the best Spanish indie-pop band since Juniper Moon or La Casa Azul (both on Elefant, natch). This lovely lot hail from the sun-kissed beaches of Palma de Mallorca and this is their 2nd album, just out now on the pretty fab Jigsaw Records out of Seattle.
Despite the fact that the cover looks like a poor advertisement for the latest in a somewhat half-arsed range of Cadbury's caramel-based chocolate bars, the album is as sweet as a Creme Egg. Jangle-pop bursting out of the wrapper from the get-go, with layers and layers of Spanglish vocals from singer Marina, who may very well have nicked Shonen Knife's vocal chords, stuffed them full of Paella, drowned them in sangria and stuffed them down her throat. The blurb on the Jigsaw website says it 'rivals anything the Cardigans (...) gave us'. I'm not sure it's up to Emmerdale standards (then again, little is), but it ain't that far off. ¡fantástico! _________________ 'Reggae' & t'ing Folk 'n Stuff SHAMELESS RECORD DEALER PLUG
Just in case you missed it, that Ginnels/Tangible Excitement! split is finally streaming on Emotional Response's Bandcamp page, obviously it's well worth a listen (and cheers for the Tuff Love rec, been subtly stealing off this whenever something appears). _________________
Just in case you missed it, that Ginnels/Tangible Excitement! split is finally streaming on Emotional Response's Bandcamp page, obviously it's well worth a listen (and cheers for the Tuff Love rec, been subtly stealing off this whenever something appears).
Anytime mate. Think you'll love that Marlovers LP I mentioned above too. And fab that you've got that Candy record at the top of your 2016 list - was giving that a listen yesterday and really liked it.
Think I'm going to have to order Ginnels/TE from Rough Trade as shipping costs from the States to Blighty are just stupid. A shame, as I'd much rather get it through Bandcamp. Ho-hum.
Anytime mate. Think you'll love that Marlovers LP I mentioned above too. And fab that you've got that Candy record at the top of your 2016 list - was giving that a listen yesterday and really liked it.
Think I'm going to have to order Ginnels/TE from Rough Trade as shipping costs from the States to Blighty are just stupid. A shame, as I'd much rather get it through Bandcamp. Ho-hum.
I must get on that Marlovers LP asap. Great to hear, I've been really digging the Candy release too, aswell as the Sea Ghost one that was also on Z Tapes bandcamp page, well worth a listen. I've knocked that Candy album off the top since though for the new Animal Collective one , I know it's getting a pretty mixed reaction but I think it's pretty great so far, can't seem to turn it off...
Pity about that, Rough Trade seems to be the way to go, Amazon has a decent price on it too, only available for pre-order there unfortunately, not sure how the shipping changes either though. _________________
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