THE CONSPIRACY Black & White and Still Waters CDRs
The Conspiracy are a long-running underground band, existing in various forms since 1988. Across these 2 demo cds there is a mix of new material and reworked old songs, which continue to show the musical diversity of the band. There's the punky powerpop of Black & White; the innovative Black Hole, which mixes 70s rock riffage with electronic and experimental elements; the bizarre/angry/dark stream of consciousness-style lyrics of Letter to Matt; the excellent laid-back rock with strings that is Caged; Still Waters, which blurs the boundaries between pop, rock and punk; Motives, which combines elements of 80s electropop, goth and punk; and St Columba, an excellent psych-folk-pop song with a tune that stays in the head. The Conspiracy are now signed to Gallipoli Records; stay tuned for more on them in this issue. Meanwhile, contact the band at duncan.pope@virgin.net

PEACE Earth Child CD (Gallipoli)
Some of you may remember Kev Sibley from the largely indiepop based tape label he ran in the 90s, Does This Work? These days he's playing drums with Peace, who the sleeve notes describe as 'cosmic warriors' (somewhat ironically, considering their name is Peace!) and their sound as 'musical ejaculation', both terms suggesting this is going to be a far cry from the bedroom pop Kev was championing in the DTW? days. This is indeed the case; Peace's particular brand of music is traditionally masculine and aggressive, combining influences from 70s rock and 80s metal. The songs here have some pretty impressive psych-rock guitar soloing, but the rest of the sound is far more 80s and sounds rather cliched to these ears. However, the lyrics often suggest Peace have their tongues firmly in their cheeks - some of the themes are so stereotypical of 80s metal that they're probably intended as parody, whilst Crystal Maze is a quirkily humorous song about the Channel 4 programme of the same name. Whether Peace are serious or ironic parody artists, their music is completely non-fashion-driven, and I applaud that, even if their style isn't entirely my thing. In a time when so many bands play music simply because it's fashionable, in search of fame, Peace are refreshingly unconcerned with such things. Contact Kev at Gallipoli via the website, www.gallipoli-records.co.uk

SARANDON The Miniest Album 7" (Runout)
This is a 7 track mini-album on 7", from Sarandon, a band which features amongst them Crayola (aka Crayola Summer), who runs Kabukikore and is also known for his own DIY pop music. Kabukikore is a strange label, sometimes putting out very difficult experimental noise, but at other times giving us the best in quirky bedroom pop. Sarandon, although not on Kabukikore themselves, thankfully fit the 2nd description - their music is off-kilter noisepop with jerky rhythms, sometimes almost punk but really far too angular to fit neatly into that pigeonhole. If you like the sort of stuff on labels such as In Tape, Flitwick or Hemiola, you'll probably like this. Contact Crayola at fieldops@kabukikore.net and Runout at joe@runoutrecords.com

WHEREWITHAL Sixth Form Poetry 7" (Foolproof)
Wherewithal is the latest band featuring Sid Stovold, formerly of Who Moved The Ground? and Inter. Their music is a strongly melodic brand of indierock with punky, melancholic and slightly off-centre tendencies, featuring the powerful vocals of Stacy Hart. Both tracks here are great but my particular favourite is the Stovold-penned I Know This, which combines a super-catchy chorus with sombre and off-kilter moments. Excellent stuff - definitely a band I'd like to hear more from. More info at www.wherewithalonline.com

SEE MY SOUND Hidden Depths 7" (Distraction)
Hidden Depths incorporates drones and other aural atmospherics into a rhythmic indie-rock format. Insomnia adds electronically processed vocals to a delicate, almost folky guitar melody. The chiming guitar piece Stand and Wait is like an instrumental version of 80s/early 90s indiepop. The first track made me think that See My Sound successfully bridge the gap between post-rock and rock; the other tracks show there is even more diversity & versatility to the band's style. An impressive mix of sounds from a band I'd be interested to hear more from. More details at www.distractionrecords.com

MY ELECTRIC LOVE AFFAIR Infinite Mass 7" (Static Caravan)
This single sees the normally electronic-based label Static Caravan diversifying into more guitar-oriented music. My Electric Love Affair are part garage rock, part buzzsaw noise and part early 90s psychedelic drone rock. The music is a paradoxical mixture of the chilled-out and the riotous, with its combination of elongated slowness and piercing noise. More info from www.staticcaravan.org

GANGPLANK Walk The 7" (Static Caravan/Fence)
I've been hearing a lot about the current alternative folk movement (variously termed 'new folk', 'strange folk', etc) and of King Creosote and the Fence Collective as part of that scene. Being a fan of both folk music and alternative forms of musical expression, I was intrigued to hear this single from Gangplank who include amongst them King Creosote, along with three others with bizarre aliases which sound more like band names than person's names (HMS Ginafore, Jim Jams, and The Pictish Trail).
I'm definitely not disappointed; this is fantastic stuff. That Bus You Missed is an intelligent, creative combination of lo-fi experimental pop, folk and French easy listening. Bits of the song remind me of those off-kilter 90s bands such as Pram, but the overall sound is something different entirely. I Don't Know Where To Begin is more overtly folky, but is far from traditional, introducing elements of psychedelia and lo-fi experimentalism. A very beautiful song.
I'm really impressed with this single and am keen to hear more from these artists. Available from Static Caravan as above.

PLEASE NOTE - I had been unable to update the site for around 2-3 months due to reasons way beyond my control. The web hosting company I used to be with were having serious problems and I was unable to carry out any updates. I have now moved to another hosting company, so hopefully things will be back to normal again soon. Stay tuned for more reviews shortly!

VOLTAIRE Zombie Prostitute CD (Projekt)
Ignore the stereotypes of goths being too serious for their own good - for Voltaire, gothic music is fun, making tongue-in-cheek, laugh-out-loud humour out of all the stereotypically 'spooky' subjects. The music itself is also not standard goth, taking on board elements of cabaret, mariachi, classical, Eastern European folk and country, laden with strings and horns. Cantina is a ludicrous and lurid Star Wars themed country song, peppered with anal sex references, which is all the more hilarious for its unlikeliness. This appears alongside a cover of David Bowie's China Girl, and three other of Voltaire's own songs that poke fun at death, hell and zombies. Very amusing and entertaining stuff! More info at www.projekt.com

DARREN HAYMAN Caravan Songs 7" (Static Caravan)
Solo single from Darren Hayman of Hefner. As you'd expect, the 7" sold out superquickly, but I'm reviewing it here as it is now available as a download from the Static Caravan website. The EP features four tracks of lo-fi pop that's rickety and ramshackle in the best possible way. The tunes are catchy and the lyrics bursting with intelligent and witty social commentary. Loft Song adds some 80s-ish bleepy synth to the fractured minimal and occasionally atonal guitar and the trademark wit of Hayman's lyrics. There is also an instrumental track here, Welcome to Cresswell Towers, which is best described as retro folk pop. Great stuff! Visit www.staticcaravan.org to download.

THE LOFT Model Village 7" (Static Caravan)
Well respected 80s indie band The Loft return with this two track 7", which features a guest appearance from Darren Hayman on organ. Model Village is as you might expect, uplifting, summery, jangly indiepop with a strong catchy tune and lyrics of nostalgic idealism. Rickety Frame is a darker and rawer variety of indiepop but still very much of the old school. Both excellent songs, an absolute must for fans of old-style indiepop. Contact Static Caravan as above.

WINDMILL Racing red vinyl 7" (Static Caravan)
Racing is quirky lo-fi piano-driven pop with twin vocals, one of fractured sadness and the other an agitated shriek. Tokyo Moon is another slice of off-centre piano and drum machine based homemade pop with bizarre lyrics, in which the melancholic and the quirky coexist. There are echoes of old-school indiepop here but injected with a dose of zaniness that was largely missing from the original scene. Available from Static Caravan as above.

SIBRYDION Praying for Rain CD (Dell'orso)
4 track ep from the band formed from the ashes of Big Leaves, featuring two songs in Welsh taken from their Jigcal album, and two in English which are exclusive to this release. When singing in English they opt for a driving powerpop/rock approach, and the Welsh songs are coming from a more electronic angle.
Praying for Rain is melodic, harmony-laden powerpop with an unexpected and effective orchestral section. Rhedeg I Ffwyrdd is mellow pop with electronic elements. 40 Thieves sounds influenced by 70s glam rock. Coed A Cnau has a mega-catchy tune based around repetition and a keyboard riff used rather like a percussion instrument, whilst various electronic sound effects weave around in the background. The song manages to effectively combine the hypnotic, the forceful and the melodic.
Much of the material here has huge mainstream potential, whilst also having the credibility and originality to appeal to an underground audience. More info from Dell'orso - gospel.frequencies@macunlimited.net

FUTURE WHIRL Sister of Light CDR (self released)
Future Whirl is the current project of Bard Titlestad, Norwegian musician now based in the USA, who is also known for his earlier recordings as Oberon. Bard terms Future Whirl's genre as 'Devotional music', and indeed it does have a strongly spiritual quality. Sister of Light concerns earth spirituality and a love for a soulmate which reaches mystical proportions. Musically it is sophisticated pop, melodic and moving, based largely around piano and atmospheric synth. Mystic Journey (Pt. III) is a beautiful laid-back song which introduces an acoustic guitar style reminiscent of traditional Spanish music. Sun Whirl is an ethereal instrumental combining elements of ambient and spacerock. An immensely talented artist whose music never ceases to impress! More info at www.futurewhirl.com

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