Das Wanderlust ‘someone to pull crackers with’ (self released) gather close little ones - here’s something a little sweet.

Hands up who remembers Das Wanderlust.

Weren’t they the ones who recorded that rather spiffing ‘orange shop’ a few years ago that appeared on a compilation for Transformed Dreams. What happened to them?

Yes I know they kinda disappeared off our radar to - but we got a message out of the blue telling us about a freebie Christmas download type single.

Pray tell us more for I fear I may spontaneously combust in anticipation .

Well its called ‘someone to pull a cracker with’

That sounds sweet.

Indeed it does and is.

So where do I get it from?

You have to log onto the bands site at

For nothing you say?

Well yes - in a way - though the band will be hoping that to match their generous turn that you’ll reciprocate likewise and donate something to the Brooke Animal Hospital.

Why?

Because they care for working horses, donkeys and mules - and Laura from the band is potty about donkeys.

I like donkeys - they’re cute - I’m also potty though not necessarily about donkeys - just potty. So what’s the song like is it any cop?

Indeed it is.

What does it sound like?

Toasted mallows, cranberry sauce and roasted chestnuts.

Hang on isn’t that a recipe?

Indeed it is - a recipe for a beautifully sculptured yuletide tingler that’ll make you feel all aglow with a fuzzy felt aura.

What - like the Weetabix kid?

Not quite.

Go on what does it really sound like?

Two parts Vernon Elliott albeit as though concocted by a glowing fireside inside of a snowbound wood hut, one part Dickensian like Christmas card winter wonderland scene, features lots of sleigh bells, slyly arresting carol-esque coos, nuzzling piano keys and blessed with such an abundance of seasonal good cheer that you keep expecting snow to start falling each time it comes into listening view. Will appeal to fans of Shady Bard et al.

That sounds nice.

It is.

Just one thing - what happens if I don’t donate?

Then you’ll be visited nightly by the donkey demon who’ll scare you witless while you dream.

Did I mention I have recurring dreams about masking tape, Velcro and rubber?

You’re weird!

　

Mat Reviere ‘FYH’ (Brainlove). We were certain that we’d heard this cut in recent times its distinctive dour dialects had us scampering frantically to check whether we’d actually reviewed this in recent times, but then given we hadn’t heard anything by Brainlove for a fair while at least not since we fell off their promo mailing list for some strange reason. So why was it so familiar then we puzzled. ’fear of a wack planet’ that’s how. Okay for those of you currently scratching your heads thinking we’ve totally lost it and are now resorting to talking gibberish (don’t we always I hear you cry) - ’fyh’ opens proceedings on a rather spiffing label sampler put out by Brainlove entitled ’fear of a wack planet’ (a title derived from an obvious word play on a classic album title of years gone by - what you need clues - blimey tell you what do you want me to read it too). Anyhow this comp (not sure whether its still available - that said you can always fire off a well worded begging email to the label) is a 27 track feast featuring some of the most eagerly chatted about acts currently circling the underground scene (stairs to korea, the bear driver, jam on bread, we aeronauts) with a liberal smattering of a few recognisable house hold names (pagan wanderer lu, penny broad Hurst, napoleon iiird, kid carpet and keyboard choir). Anyhow Mr Riviere cuts a rather engaging albeit sparsely austere slab of numbed pop, no doubt brooding quietly waiting to be discovered and heralded as an anthem for the day’s blank generation and hell why not, very much registering the kind of void veering frequencies once explored and detailed by Matt Shaw / Tex La Homa on his excellent ’dazzle me with transience’ set from a few years back whilst simultaneous embracing that edgy distance countered by New Order on ’movement’ - indeed recommended required listening - hopefully we’ll be able to ail a full review copy in due course so expect further appraisals as and when.

I, Ludicous ‘we’re the support band’ (Brett pack music). The axis point upon which John Cooper Clarke, Half Man Half Biscuit and the Fall converge, their legend as well as the more clued in publics affection sealed forever by virtue of support from the late John Peel in his championing of the bands ’preposterous tales’ debut - a freebie Blah Blah Blah flexi. Over twenty years on and the blighters are still treading the boards sparring with fans old and new peppering their beer swigging conservation with their dryly tempered spiky lo-fi pub punk grind weaving in their impishly caustic and poetically biting brand of urban decay and mundane realism of everyday living, ’we’re the support band’ - a re-recording of an old nugget from the trio’s bulging catalogue groans with malcontent and frustration, a tale of support band hell - the drudgery, the negativity, the emptiness and the blandness of it all condensed, distilled and delivered with such bored deadpan directness that it claws with an acidic acuteness. Ah but we love the bugger.

Thirty Seconds to Mars ‘Kings and Queens’ (Virgin). Damn these records with their chest beating cavalry charging over the hill epic-ness and anthem aching sky parting zeal. Thirty seconds to Mars feature among their ranks one Jared Leto (who he?) an actor of some description who you young folk may be well versed and acquainted about, apparently they’ve been around since times when dinosaurs roamed the earth (roughly 1998 to me and to other similarly puzzled) - during that time they’ve been adorned awards aplenty and sold records by the barrel load so on and so forth. ’kings and queens’ - I think I’m right in saying - arrives in a plethora of formats and special editions ours being a limited 7 inch housed in a sealed pvc sleeve with stickers no less. Okay enough of the flippancy I already sense a crack squad of angered fans have already been dispatched to fetch me a corrective kicking and are currently bearing fast towards our humbled hide out - in which case did you know we’ve recently moved - Arctic way I believe. Oh where were we - Thirty Seconds to Mars - that’s the bunny - atmospherically grand, searing and seismic ‘kings and queens’ is a sugar rush of euphoria festooned by braids of cathedral-esque hugeness all wrapped lovingly by the hope pouring stir of homecoming jubilant chorus’ and softly lulling and pining embrace of stratospheric riff serenades - very ‘unforgettable fire’ era U2 if you ask me which is probably no bad thing all said and done. Just to be awkward us lot quite fancy the flip cut ‘night of the hunter’ here refracted for your listening pleasure in its ’static revenger remix’ guise - sounds to these ears like a ’seven and the ragged tiger’ Duran Duran rewired through some kind of seductively electrified futuristic industrial viewfinder - tasty doesn’t cover it.

Much smitten by this the new single from the Race Horses entitled ’man in my mind’ - not the first time this lot have unwittingly attracted our attention those of you with an instant recall of such trivia will remember us being wildly ecstatic of their ’cake’ debut (see missive 210) - anyhow while we fire off begging letters to their PR for copies of this cutie for future review you lot just chat amongst yourselves and sit back to savour a video type thing…..

Fake Problems ‘the dream team’ (side one dummy). Yes, yes I know - its probably been out for ages, so long in fact that you’re probably tired to the back teeth of being grabbed firmly by the hand by some wide eyed wannabe prospective beau and whirled onto that there dance floor thing to shake your stuff and show off your raucous jig routines. But hey we’ve only just nailed a copy and blimey its ridiculously loveable. Culled from their ’its great to be alive’ full length Florida folk punksters Fake Problems turn out the most devilish toe tapping fair courtesy of this red wax finished slice of rousing blues pop for if we didn’t know better (and believe you me there was the occasional double take when this reared into life on the turntable) we have bet our worldly belonging (three elastic bands, a Jim Beam bottle top and a bent and rusty pin - the high life eh?) that this was some sort of secret gathering of Faces, New York Dolls and Black Halos albeit with less snot and mascara and shot through with an arse kicking cavalry charging vibe bled through with a decidedly retro early 70’s boogie baiting r’n’b drill the type of which that causes pulses to race and a mass breakout of swooning fits in the aisles. Did we mention it was irresistibly catchy and contagious a bit like swine flu but without the shits. Flip the disc for ‘rumble in the jungle’ - a countrified cutie that sounds like its spent several summers coolly chilling in some prairie recline quietly supping on moonshine while opining warmly to a scampering shoe shuffling signature that’s blessed by vocal drawls again borrowed from NY Dolls / Black Halos welded to a breezy affair that to these ears sounds not unlike some playful sparring between the Violent Femmes and the Orson Family. Buy on sight.

Those of you searching long and hard for a present for the discerning record lover in your life may well do yourselves a favour bagging a copy of ‘the Wire primers’ - the Primer has been something of a flag ship mainstay of the monthly publication since December 1996 (Karlheinz Stockhausen was the subject for the first and happily features here), it has proved to be an invaluable resource and entry level discovery point of the sounds / genres and artists operating in Wire’s sphere of critical interest. Each written both from the twinned perspectives of critical appraisal and fan like awe, these authoritative accounts have enthusiastically shone the light on a varied and disparate melodic underworld, typically eclectic in choice they serve as a much need navigating tool providing purchasing / listening recommendations to the informed and well versed as well as offering the novice a clearly signposted invitation to a body of work / genre previously unheard. Within its 200 pages ‘the Wire primers’ gathers together 19 such articles - in the main featuring archive raiding reprints of some of the more well known and established (Beefheart, James Brown, Fela Kuti, AMM et al) along with items previously published but revisited and revised purely for this gathering (the Fall, Ornette Coleman, Dubstep, Stockhausen, Cage and Sonic Youth) and finished off with three previously unpublished commentaries on Zappa, the noise scene and Derek Bailey. Mind you if you invest in it as a potential present you might want to consider throwing in a suitably sized record token in order to no doubt feed the recipients want for the new found sounds they’ve discovered. ;published by Verso Books -

The Velvet Underground ‘singles 1966 - 69’ (sundazed). I’m not even going to bother going on at length describing the sounds found housed in this box set for they should be indelibly printed upon each and every self respecting music lovers mind, all I’ll say on the subject of the Velvets is that for once the rewritten history surrounding the bands worth, influence and relevance is for once deserved. A quick peak at David Fricke’s liner notes includes a quote from John Cale commenting in a nutshell the key note aim of the Velvets thus ‘we were trying to do a Phil Spector thing with as few instruments as possible’. As relevant to the 60’s as both the Beatles and the Stones and embraced still even to this day primarily by bands emerging from the underground they were the legendary outsiders not through choice though one suspects through the jealously of their peers and having the unquestionable knack for being in the wrong place and time. A typically perfect package by the Sundazed crew who it seem with each and every release of finds gotten through archive digs appear determined to impart their time consuming detailing and labours of love into ensuring their releases not only sound top notch but are visually breathtaking thus giving the punter an eye catching historical artefact. ’singles 1966 - 69’ is no exception, all the stops have been pulled out on this release, housed in a box are contained 7 seven inch vinyls (2 being housed in copies of the original sleeves) which comprise the entire single release catalogue of the Velvets to include the complete recorded output on Verve and MGM. Each is pressed up in mono and arrives sporting facsimile DJ demo labels with the set completed by the inclusion of two additional pressings which were initially touted for release but cancelled at the last moment (those being ’white light / white heat’ and ’temptation inside your heart’) while of special interest to completists a rare unearthing of a VU radio spot. Irresistibly cool.

Three Mile Pilot ‘planets’ (temporary residence). Indeed we can scarcely believe it ourselves but here it is - the return after 12 long years of Three Mile Pilot. This two track set is an ultra limited exclusive taster for those who can’t wait until the release of the bands as yet untitled new album tentatively pencilled in for 2010 - a strict pressing of just 2000 seven inches guaranteed to sell fast sees the reconvening of a band whose abrupt hibernation at the tale end of the 90’s stunned their loyal fan base. Temporary Residence remark of ‘planets’ thus ‘you’re reminded right away of the connection between Pinback and the Black Heart Procession - an unusually upbeat and infectious slice of weird pop perfection’. couldn’t put it better myself, like the donning of a familiar old glove there’s a knowing comfort about ‘planets’ or rather more a gentle re-acquaintance, it neither asks, stretches or tests the listener neither does it push the envelope, instead it’s a more casual welcome, nothing to testy or surprising just a signal that its here. Surprising light and friendly, its immediacy understated its template and execution softly dwelling, breezy almost lulling - a slyly undulating coda here the genteel flick of side winding riff there and off it perkily bobs deftly gracing your listening space with a breathless yearning ease. That said its ’grey clouds’ over on the flip which we deeply suspect will be the track of play list choice among fans both old and new, the subtle shading of Neil Young and Peter Gabriel bleeding through the wax are undeniable and unavoidable, gorgeously decoded with an affecting weightlessness upon which is harnessed the purring repetition of the spacey looping lock grooves, spatial textures, cosmic swirls, layer by layer circular interweaving which when all gathered in union serve to craft out a desperately desolate distant star communiqué that’s blessed with a becoming hypnotic lull that’s sprinkled ever so delicately with a blurring fuzzy kaleidoscopic framing. A gem.