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The Delfields – Bedroom Girls (Independent)
The third release from The Delfields continues their flirtation with UK post-punk, C86 indie and Beach Boys harmonies. Indeed, why mess with a winning formula – they like it. I like and it’s possible that millions of others would like it, too. But even winning formulas need the occasional tweek, and Bedroom Girls begins with the title track, a woozy, abstract piece which incorporates some of the Rain Parade’s blissed out Paisley Underground pop-vibe. Nothing too radical I’ll admit, but it feels like a progression of sorts, and it’s something that they revisit throughout.
www.myspace.com/thedelfields
Black Bart – S/T (Faustuss International)
Black Bart come from Bournmouth, Dorset, though you wouldn’t guess from listening to them. At times they sound like they’ve crawled out of a swamp from somewhere beneath the Mason-Dixon line (“Reflection”), while at other times they apply their Southern Gothic influences to altogether more English songs: “Town To Town” with its references to the seafront, lighthouses, and the draw of the big city and the bright lights. They still sound like they’ve been hanging out with Blind Melon, but they were probably eating 99s. A sterling debut, overall, and I hope they’re playing Leicester soon. Live, I imagine, they’re even better.
www.myspace.com/blackbartband
Garfields Birthday – More Sense Than Money (Pink Hedgehog)
There was talk of Pink Hedgehog becoming a digital-only label, but there must have been a change of plan because the new Garfields Birthday release is a proper CD in a proper case. Phew. The Weymouth quintet, lead by label owner Simon Felton (go to the PH website and sign up for his strangely life-affirming e-mail updates) have been pushing the Brit-pop envelope for as long as I can remember, and More Sense Than Money, with it’s clever wordplay, crunchy guitars and melodic glut shows no signs of plans being changed.
www.pinkhedgehog.com/
www.myspace.com/garfieldsbirthday
The 16 Deadly Improvs – The Triumph Of… (Rosemont Recordings)
Of course, the clue’s in the name… what were you expecting? The Triumph Of The 16 Deadly Improvs is just that, 16 tracks of improvised avant-punk, proggy jazz and jazzy prog. Those who are intimate with the works of The Cravats / Very Things, This Heat, even Devo, will find much here to cosy up with. Those with less developed tastes will run screaming to the hills. Look, listen and buy - then file between 11 Acorn Lane and 23 Skidoo (that’s right… we must have some sort of order). Highlights are difficult to explain, indeed just switch your mind to ‘open’ and lose yourself within the concept.
www.myspace.com/thesixteendeadlyimprovs
Rob F.
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