Lush released a string of excellent singles on 4AD in the late 80's / early 90's, recently inspiring Pearl Harbor. They debuted in 1991 with the Robin Guthrie produced, dreamy and heavily claustrophobic Spooky, and ended their career as a britpop band with the sharp Lovelife in 1996. In between these two records there is Split from 1994. Sounding more crisp and punky, without leaving the shoegaze guitars and dreaminess of the early stuff, this is arguably Lush's best record. Singer Miki Berenyi said in an interview at the time of the release that she was inspired by labelmates Throwing Muses, which is most prominent on first single 'Hypocrite'. Pearl Harbors' EP Something About The Chaparrals is available again on vinyl from the Mexican Summer shop.
For quite some time I thought Kate Jackson from The Long Blondes sang People think I'm being perverse on purpose in this song 'Fulwood Babylon', but she actually sings People think I'm being the first on purpose. It's a shame they broke up a few years ago, they were a lot of fun live. The only personal thing I have on stage here is my gin 'n tonic, Kate said last time I saw them. photo
IsawPavementlast Saturday in the Paradiso, it was so much better than I expected. The set had a great build-up, 'In The Mouth A Desert' and 'Grounded' were great with Stephen Malkmus putting his guitar in his neck. The last songs before the encore were ' Stop Breathing' and 'Starlings Of The Slipstream' (video below). They seem like a fit band ready to record an album.
The Chap release their new album Well Done Europe May 24th. The split single Oversized / Well Done You with Chap side-project Omo, is out now. Below the video for 'Fun And Interesting' from the last record Mega Breakfast and the video for Omo's 'Oversized', the video is better than the song.
The demo of 'In My Opinion' is more compact than the version on You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil. Hatcham Social have recently recorded a couple of new songs. They are planning to release 3 more great records before they quit.
Two new lengthy Warpaint songs, it's uncertain if the first song is called 'Little Casio', the second one is an exotic Nirvana cover. They play the Walk The Line Festival May 15th. Their debut album is also out this month on Rough Trade. Photo by Nikos Doulos.