�NAMES (FOR NAMELESS THINGS)� (3-track promo single/ 2001�
release date: May 21st)
Early last year a batch of ace promo CDs flopped through the letterbox. My Vitriol, King Biscuit Time, Fungus, Coldplay and mo-ho-how�s-it-go? were the bands. The rest�s been history - with all said bands - to relative extents (except maybe for King Biscuit Time�s experimentation), but lo-and-behold mo-ho-I�ll-get-it-right-this-time�s! new single bulleted through the very same letterbox yesterday, nearly a year to the week when their �Two-Tier Water Skier� EP first showed its sleeve. I saw half, if that, of one of their sets when supporting My Vitriol on their Feb �01 tour and wasn�t that overwhelmed by them, having previously been bowled over by Two Tier�s brilliance� and here again, timelessly calling �Names,� they up-the-ante when it comes to them playing live, because they�re so excellent in studio time. �Names� lays a phat-beat below a rocked-up Lo-fi riff, setting samples against the ethereally distanced vox, harrying a cross between Mansun and Seafood. Despite the dancey backbeat, they make a point of sustaining their emotional attachment, detaching themselves from the threat of being pigeon-holded. �Public Fox� (�She comes to me when she wants to reflect� it�s got nothing to do with you�) is more focused, the cutely bumbling bass stylishly playing off a reserved guitar growl to create its abstract melody and structure. Post post punk-rock (it sounds as though they�re picking-up the pieces of apocalypse NOW) aspirations infiltrate �Burn The Batteries,� scratching guitars squaring-up another mature melody Vs. a rawer backbone. Mo-ho� (not to be confused with recent Ocean Colour Scene �support,� Mo-Solid-Gold) are seriously Alt.-rock every time they put lead-to-guitars, but (like there�s always somebody who�s richer, poorer, smarter, cooller and heartier than you) there�ll always be another more-alternative band. To tour with King Adora through the fag-end of April and most of May, they�re deservedly building their destined-to-be high profile, quashing the irony in the fact that they�re allegedly named after a brightly coloured bird from Hawaii. A bird, incidentally, that�s as extinct as Dido�s Dodo.
(STEVE RUDD)
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