| Messthetics 2 - Yeah but what would an LP of it sound like??? |
| Animals and Men - Revel In The Static - H2D This amazing group were a mystery to me, but I'm certainly glad I've found out about them. It'll be a shock to anyone as well who thinks the DIY/Messthetics scene was all about aimless experimentation and noise, as Animals and Men had some cracking tunes. Obviously with that name there is a little Adam and the Antz influence in there (it was the name of one of their early songs) and indeed the intro to "Headphones" seems to have a snatch of Adam's "Friends", but the female vocals set them apart. If I had to come up with a description I would say an Alison Stratton led Subway Sect playing the Ronettes song book. But that's jounro speak and this is a quite brilliant collection. In their later existence they changed their name to the Terraplanes and the former Stuart Goddard at the highpoint of his fame was interested in putting out their "Evil Going On" single, which shows the Dandy Highwayman really did have a good ear for a pop tune. Its a shame that it never happened at the time but you can catch up with another Hyped 2 death winner. |
| Instant Automatons - Another Wasted Sunday Afternoon - H2D In some ways the Instant Automatons are the archetypal "Weird Noise" band (along with maybe the Digital Dinosaurs) but anything more than a perfunctory listen to this fine collection will show there was much more to them than that and they could certainly conjure up a memorable tune as much as they experimented with form. This ranges from straight-forward guitar based Punk Pop to primitive electro, all the time with a wise and knowing songwriting hand. My favourite track? The bass heavy, synthetic sax laden super paranoid "Scared To be Alone"...as effective in portraying fear as "Frightened" from the Fall's "Live At The Witchtrails". You see the Automatons had a knack with words as the titles of "Shorted Haired Man (In A Long Haired Town)" and "Drunk In Woolwich", show but even that doesn't fully show the easy skill they had for depicting real (or surreal) life situations. You'll just have to find out by getting this 26 track monster! |
| Midnight Circus - Richard, Roger, Rodney, Rastus, Raoul Roderick, Randy Rupert - H2D The band that became Peel legends without playing a gig!! That never owned more of a drum kit than a solitary cymbal"! This collection ranges from their early post-Punk rocking experiments that featured on "Angst In My Pants" to their later material which is actually quite sophisticated electronica melded often with aggressive guitars, a wee bit like very early Cabaret Voltaire. Something I haven't mentioned is how nicely these H2D sleeves are put together....photos glued onto the inlay card...nice. Good sleevenotes too and thorough details of line ups and recording make it a thorough collection. As for the sounds at times I thought they were going to lose me as they teeter on the prog rock brink at times, but Midnight Circus always seem to win through with a winning melody when they need it. Good stuff. |
| Click here for the next page of issue 1 |
| Here's a link to Street Level Record Studios, where a lot of these bands like Danny and the Dressmakers, the Instant Automatons and 012 recorded..... |
| Get all the above here |