Tonight’s best new loveliness was The Ladies‘ ‘Non-Threatening.’ It’s increasingly rare that I hear a piece of rock music that’s genuinely startling: modern rock is obsessed with retro-accuracy rather than innovation. How else do you explain Jet, eh? But The Ladies’ album, ‘They Mean Us,’ is new and different. Imagine catchy, Dinosaur Jr-ish rock songs with drumming by a human imitating Shitmat’s beats and you get partway there. Have a listen for yourself by clicking here. The album is released today er, yesterday, Feb 7th.
Do you recognise the bloke above? Yep, that’s right, it’s Charlie ‘Fast Show’ Higson.
He was partly responsible for tonight’s best old track which was ‘Conspiracy’ by The Higsons. Yep, back in the ’80s Charlie was the lead singer of East Anglia’s second-most-famous indie pop outfit (The Farmers Boys were top):
The first single, “I Don’t Want To Live With Monkeys” was released in 1981. According to Charlie Higson, “We were often accused of trying to be the English Talking Heads, which we always strenuously denied, but let’s face it, that’s what we were trying to be.” The band’s blend of high energy funk and groove brought them some chart success.
(Source: 2Tone)
He sells the band short – they made some catchy, quirky pop songs. Not all of them were about bongo theft either.
Tonight, you heard:
Cyne – Moonlight
Teenage Fanclub – Dumb Dumb Dumb
Solex – Yadda Yadda Yadda No. 1
The Spinoffs – 99 Bitches
Goldspot – Rewind
The Perceptionists – People 4 Prez
Sex In Dallas – Everybody Deserves To Be Fucked
Fucking Champs – I Am The Album Cover
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names – Peter’s Dream
Hamed Daye Feat. Lino – Indèpendance Daye
Jeans Team – Oh Bauer
Limblifter – Fiercely Co-Dependent
Ilkae – Exit Theme And Victory March
Aceyalone And Rjd2 – All For U
Dead Kennedys – Nazi Punks Fuck Off
Ghosty – Hey! Somebody
Jackal & Hyde – Dark Star
The Ladies – Non-Threatening
VAEG – The Tank
Main Flow – Breaking Bread (Ft. Hi-Tek, Crunch EX, Holmskil, And Donte)
Bristols – Who Does She Think She Is
Boyskout – Back To Bed
Ochre – Rem Sleep Research
The Joggers – Ziggurat Traffic
Victor Scott – Chimp Farm
Man Parrish – Hip Hop Be Bop
Bear Vs. Shark – Seven Stop Hold Restart
Film School – Breet
Esem – Eloki.Neadu
Rodney P – We Don’t Like Coppers
The Human Value – Kill Pangs
Cylob – Rewind
Sol Seppy – Come Running
Katch 22 – For My Mum
Saskrotch – Super Spy Hunter
Winterpills – Laughing
Heatwave – Boogie Nights
A Tribe Called Quest – Excursions
Tokyo Eye – Tori Spelling Wears Me Out
John Barry – Vendetta
The Higsons – Conspiracy
Coltrane – My Favorite Things