Monthly Archives: May 2018

The Selecter & The Beat to embark on US co-headline tour

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Following the massive success of a lengthy European tour, ska legends The Selecter and The Beat will be taking their show across to North America.

Both bands have recorded new material in recent years. The Selecter’s ‘Daylight’ was released in 2017 and with their essential ‘Subculture’ LP hitting the shelves just a couple of years previously, Pauline Black and company are as busy as they’ve ever been.   The Beat, meanwhile, are the version of the band featuring Ranking Roger and his son Ranking Jnr.  Their 2016 LP ‘Bounce’ is a fine return for the band and their current live show is absolutely incendiary.  If you’re a fan of second wave ska, seeing them is an absolute must.

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PROTON PACKS / THE LIVERMORES – Party Time For Astronauts EP

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Split releases are always interesting, but once in a while one will come along that’ll be utterly amazing. This 2018 release from I Buy Records (Italy) in conjunction with Mom’s Basement Records (USA) featuring unreleased tracks by Italian punks Proton Packs and The Livermores is such a disc. Although neither band is hugely well known outside their home country, both are capable of supplying first rate Ramones styled pop punk that’s as well played as any.

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DAVID MYHR – Lucky Day

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Let’s not mince words: David Myhr’s solo debut ‘Soundshine’ is a classic album. Not just for the time of its release, but a genuine classic. Its retro pop style places it on a par with 10cc’s ‘How Dare You’, with Wings’ ‘London Town’ and Badfinger’s ‘No Dice’. In terms of more contemporary recordings, it rivals the Oranjuly debut and Jellyfish’s ‘Spilt Milk’ for sheer pop wonderment.

A follow up had a hard act to follow and perhaps knowing he had a big job in hand, Myhr rallied around the troops. As a result, 2018’s ‘Lucky Day’ features co-writes with Linus of Hollywood, Bleu, Bill DeMain and Young Hines – names which should be familiar to most power pop aficionados – and songwriter/producer Brad Jones, a man whose credits involve working with Matthew Sweet, Jill Sobule and Josh Rouse. It’s fair to say it’s got some solid foundations.

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SOPHIA MARSHALL – Song 3 EP

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At the beginning of 2018 singer-songwriter Sophia Marshall released an EP of low-key, stripped back Kasabian covers. With the arrangements finally allowed room to breathe and a decent vocal applied, Kasabian never sounded better. Barely a month later, Marshall returned with a two track digital single centred around The Pretenders. It perhaps wasn’t as broad in appeal as the Kasabian release, but her dreamy, strung out version of the Ray Davies penned ‘I Go To Sleep’ was definitely worth hearing.  The third release in her ongoing covers project, ‘Song 3’, turns its attentions to Colchester’s favourite sons, Blur, and rather disappointingly, despite the title building up hopes, she doesn’t re-imagine their indie-punk belter ‘Song 2’ in a swoon-some dream pop style. That’s not to say her three choices aren’t interesting of course, since the Blur catalogue is ripe for the picking…and it’s not like they get covered very often either. Also, two of Sophia’s re-imaginings are of a gold standard – great additions to her covers project.

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The Right Here release new video commemorating closure of the Triple Rock Club

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Mineappolis rockers The Right Here pay tribute to one of their favourite local venues in the new video for their single ‘Judge Me When I’m Sober’.  The intimate and worn-in setting provides a great backdrop for the track, since the band come across like a hybrid of The Replacements and Gaslight Anthem, combined with the roughest edge of the much missed Uncle Tupelo.

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