This is such a pretty song. With just an acoustic guitar and voice, it could've easily sounded like any other folk song, yet I find something incredibly endearing about it.
Lyrically, it's a love story interrupted with baseball imagery (very strange for a Scotsman to display an understanding of the sport).
from Dear Catastrophe Waitress, available on CD (Rough Trade)
One of the greatest rock songs ever recorded. Loud, distorted, strangely tuneful and tuneless at the same time. An exhilerating rush of pure energy without being remotely fast.
The superior single version also has the mighty Nick Knox on drums. And I don't think is on the cd. But it is on the LP.
from Its a 7 inch single (Rough Trade) available on CD - The eyeball of hell (scat)
i love this band-sure they have ripped of the almighty 'felt' but what the hell-this track chugs and grooves along like loaded era-'velvets',the aforementioned 'felt', 'television' and a thousand perfect pop songs-the rest of the album is a killer and i urge you to purchase this immediately-features the godlike ric menck on drums and i beleive thay share members with'beechwood sparks'-a reason for being-a reason to keep believing.
Swiss post-punk that really cheers me up. Certainly one of my favourite singles of all time, this. Five women (formerly named the corporate-baiting Kleenex) weave ununderstandable lyrics through a backing as tight as anything The Fall have ever produced. I first heard this in a Brighton record shop 5 or so years ago and nearly ripped it off the turntable in my anxiety to have it for my very own.
from the single Split (Rough Trade RT 047) available on CD - LiLiPUT (Kill Rock Stars)
08 Apr 05 ·shakeahand: Kleenex were great - this (and its b-side Die Matrosen) were Liliput's greatest moments. Their entire output Kleenex + Lilipt is available on a double CD. Also listen to 'Hitchhike'... and When The Cat's Away.
This early single starts off in quite an unpromising way, the sound is quite dry and sparse. Bass and drums, David Thomas muttering teen angst semi audibly in a style that hadn't quite developed into the strange sing song delivery that became his trademark.
"The girls won't touch me cos I got a ". What was that, what?
As it progresses the volume picks up until the final chorus where Thomas is screaming and the guitars start thrashing, then it finishes on a guitar solo that I swear J. Mascis based his entire career on, wah wah squealing on the edge of feedback, while the rest of the band just seem to be lifted into a noisy stratosphere.
I heard for the first time in 10 years last week, and it was breathtaking.