“Too Hot” by Tight Knit

The third 7″ single on Glasgow underground pop label Not Unloved is another beaut. It’s from Tight Knit and it’s “Too Hot” (with “Want You” on the flip side).

Tight Knit traveled from Australia to Glasgow in the time-honoured tradition of Australasian underground pop bands seeking their fame if not their fortune in Glasgow. By chance a CD-R of their music came to the attention of Not Unloved, which had previously released excellent 7″ singles by Vital Idles and then Current Affairs.

By “time-honoured tradition” I’m thinking of the Go-Between here, visiting Orange Juice and releasing a single on the legendary Glasgow label Postcard Records in the early 1980s. [As a side note, Orange Juice were previously called the Nu Sonics and the catalogue number of this single is NUSONIC003, and of course Not Unloved is a song by another Glasgow band we know and love; The Pastels].

I’m also thinking of The Bats, from Dunedin & Christchurch, NZ, who found themselves in Glasgow in the late 1980s as well while touring the UK and Europe, and recorded half of their “Daddy’s Highway” album there in a basement flat.

Anyway, back to this fine Tight Knit song… “Too Hot” is perfect honest garage rock from the Melbourne trio of Ange (guitar, bass and vocals), Caitie (guitar, bass and vocals) and Jamie (drums). The thrilling lead guitar bursts channel the kind of pure fierce electricity of Lou Reed’s lead guitar circa the Velvet Undergound’s “White Light/ White Heat” album.  With its combination of harmony vocals and those guitars, it’s the kind of song that would have set a volume of the Romulan Records 1960s garage rock series Girls in the Garage alight.

 

 

“Breeding Feeling” by Current Affairs

Current Affairs are from Glasgow and the reverb-heavy chorus and flange guitar sound of “Breeding Feeling” draws on that classic post-punk sound, adding its own distinctive joyous earworm chorus.

“Breeding Feeling” is one of two tracks on a new 7″ single from Current Affairs out on Glasgow label Not Unloved label. The song (and the B-Side) captures perfectly the exotic dark kind of guitar sound often attributed to fellow Scot John McGeoch (from Greenock, near Glasgow, and Magazine, Banshees & PIL guitarist). There’s also a bit of the fidgety ice cool brilliance of bands like Josef K (on legendary Glasgow label Postcard Records in the early 1980s) about this song’s totally wired energy.

Current Affairs are Joan (The Royal We/Seconds/Rose McDowall‘s band), Seb (ex-Anxiety), Josh (The Downs/Kaspar Hauser/Rose McDowall’s band/Jacob Yates) and Andrew (Shopping/Milk Records).

If you like the sound of Current Affairs check out the link through to guitarist Josh Longton’s earlier band Kaspar Hauser.

“The Garden” by Vital Idles

If you thought Courtney Barnett’s “Avant Gardener” was the best song to be written about gardens and gardening, it has now been surpassed by the B-side of a 7″ single by Glasgow’s Vital Idles called simply “The Garden”.

If you wanted to be picky you could say that this song is not strictly about gardening as such… “Would you feel uncomfortable if we did it in the garden, with your bum facing the clean air, and the wind in your hair?”

But it does mention in loving sensory detail the features of the garden and the work that has gone into creating this setting for this fantasized al fresco relationship.

“The Garden” is the B-side (or double A-side) of the Vital Idles 7″ single released on brand new Glasgow label Not Unloved Records.  The label is a natural extension of the long-running Not Unloved blog, so named after the title of a Pastels song from their “Truckload of Trouble” album.

There’s certainly a bit of the spirit of The Pastels about this song, but also perhaps a bit of Belle & Sebastian in the wry observational lyrics and delivery – though headed in a somewhat more deviant direction than your average early B & S song.

This is not much like the earlier Vital Idles releases I’ve heard, which were enthusiastically lo-fi cassette releases with “Demo” in the title. Lovely amateurish things but a bit rough around the edges and unfinished sounding, however radiating oodles of potential because of that enthusiasm, spirit and character.

This sounds perfectly finished. The production standards have increased and it’s a glorious thing to hear this band presented in a clear and unfussy way, their character in full bloom now.

As “The Garden” and it’s risque narrative unfolds in rich detail, the pace quickens, the intensity swells, the strings and brass rising and falling like that bum in the clean air, before the post-climax outro of soothing instrumentation. As beautiful as a well-tended garden.

“Circuit In The Sunlight” by Honey Radar

Here’s some grainy lo-fi DIY jangle pop from the US from a band called Honey Radar and an album called “Chain Smoking On Easter”:

PopLib is not the only one to discover music via circuitous happenstance. Here’s the enthusiastic & reliable Glasgow-based blog Not Unloved enraptured with Honey Radar’s album.

“In summary, “Chain Smoking on Easter” is pure orange sherbet and the most easily lovable missive from the US underground I’ve heard in years.”

I can’t do a better job of describing this Honey Radar album so I suggest you pop over to Not Unloved and add it to your subscriptions or blog feed or whatever-the-hell-you-do-with-blogs (I don’t know).

If you like (a) short songs (b) amateurish distorted DIY recording and (c) jangly guitars (d) melodic pop and (e) any of the following bands – Guided By Voices, Swell Maps, The Stevens, Wire, The Rain Parade – then give it a listen.