This Week's Wishlist

Well, I can dream, can't I. If anyone wants to buy them for me, drop a line. Hah. In reality, I'll probably jump at the Jandek and the Reggae double LP.





SATAN'S RATS: What A Bunch Of Rodents CD (OVER 046CD) 15.00
"Satan's Rats formed in Evesham, Worcestershire in January 1977, with an average age of just seventeen. Songs like the anthemic 'Year Of The Rats' about the demise of the old fart groups, their appearance at the Birmingham Punk Festival and support to the Sex Pistols at the Roxy soon saw the band build a large following and inevitably drew them to the attention of record labels. Their first demo (included on this CD) earned them a deal with DJM Records. Hardly a punk label, it was home to Elton John and Johnny Guitar Watson and also the enigmatic Rikki Sylvan (from Rikki & The Last Days Of Earth) who would produce their first two singles. The first single 'In My Love For You' was released in 1977. Bob Geldof reviewed in the NME and slagged it off. The second single 'Year Of The Rats' released early in 1978 fared no better, sinking without a trace despite being regarded as something of a classic these days. For their third single 'You Make Me Sick' they had Vic Maile (Dr Feelgood/Fruit Eating Bears) as producer. He managed to capture the anger of the band perfectly and this single, released in 1978 was undoubtedly their finest moment. Julie Burchill reviewed it in the NME, she hated it. All three Satan's Rats singles are highly prized collectors' items and have been heavily bootlegged on punk compilations, one series even naming itself Year Of The Rats. Originally released by Overground in 1996 as a one-off pressing of 1000, the What A Bunch Of Rodents CD soon sold out. Despite the public demand, it has taken many years of re-negotiation to secure a repress. Available again in a superior 8-page booklet with additional photographs."



VA: The Big Gundown -- Reggae Inspired By Spaghetti Westerns 2LP (EAR 303LP) 21.00
"The curious phenomenon of Jamaicans' affinity for Italian Spaghetti Westerns -- two cultures apparently far from each other -- is easily explicable with the fact that the 'Rude Boys' felt very close in their struggle for dignity and rebellion against the establishment to the solitary heroes in movies such as Django, For A Fistful Of Dollars, Navajo Joe, and The Good The Bad and The Ugly. The characters featured in these flicks live their fictional lives as personal wars and search for vengeance against injustice and corrupted lawmakers. This double LP features some of the greatest tributes to those movies, proposing an alternative soundtrack to dramatically intense stories where Good always triumphs over Evil." Features: The Crystalites, The Upsetters, King Stitt, Roy Richards, The Hippy Boys, Johnny Lover, The Eldorados, Andy Capp, Lloyd Charmers, etc.


JANDEK: Glasgow Sunday CD (COR 0779) 7.00
41st Jandek album, 2nd new release of 2005. Recorded live at The Arches in Glasgow Scotland, October 17, 2004. This was, at the time, the first ever known Jandek live performance. Backing provided by Glasgowians Richard Youngs (bass) and Scatter percussionist Alex Neilson on drums.



FRIDAY GROUP: Friday Group LP (MT 070LP) 19.00
LP version. "From out of the Great Republic of Texas, and a new side project from Tom Carter (Charalambides), rises a lone star called Friday Group. In a seemingly appropriate gesture, the opening scherzo of droney solo guitar twang blows dusty debris across the speakers, as if a small sand storm in a remote part of Amarillo. With wind wrestling loose gutters and flat chimes, the first movement is almost a weird paean to Ry Cooder's desolate Paris Texas score. Axe attacks hover thick and dragging in the hazy distance, strings sounding as if played a single wind at a time. Jittery, slithery, prepared warbled tremolos flutter warm in extended notes that drip like old paint. If you've never had the pleasure, the later addition of harmonium and the further devolution of the guitar into howling halos of rusty hinges is virtually the embodiment of a drive through western Texas. Slow motion, spacious landscapes of thirsty air and lazy lizards."




KEMIALLISET YST�V�T: Kellari Juniversumi LP (MT 061LP) 17.00
"One the best working proponents of acid folk today (and please get Current 93 out of your head right now cuz it ain't like that). Ala fellow 'trippers' Ghost and Magic Lantern Cycle, KY display a natural knack for creating organic and moving musics out of what could by all rights be a pile of instrumental compost. Their sensibilities can be traced to classic forebears such as Emtidi, Comus, Broeselmaschine etc., while their skewed and rather awkward sense of harmony also owes some small debt to The Residents, mid-period Nocturnal Emmissions (World Is My Womb) and Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast. The wide use of arcane instruments (toy pianos, shakers, flutes, mumbled voices, crumhorns) at times approaches The Portsmouth Symphonia were it conducted by David Munrow (well, we enjoyed that reference at any rate). Medieval meets Appalachan mountain music whilst still reeling from the effects of that strange moldy bread. Naive and lo-fi (yet rich and sparkling) and frequently aloping off into pregnant drones and willfully weaving in and out of the musical path."