Good Noise: Volume 5
This week’s recommendations are a quintet of signed bands, five of my favourites.
1) My top favourites are those New Jersey boys - The Wrens - I love them very very much. Discovered them in December 1996, and been a big big fan ever since. Check out various tracks on their official website (see link below) but I think my favourite from the selection they’ve put up has to be ‘Surprise, Honeycomb’ which is taken from their second album, ‘Secaucus’. It’s just a gorgeous indie track that’s quite dreamy and thoughtful in its own way. Their songs are always multilayered, which is why I think I find it difficult to tire of their work:
The Wrens - Surprise, Honeycomb: www.wrens.com/mp3s
2) Manhole - one of the best and criminally underrated rap-metal bands ever. They morphed into Tura Satana, before disbanding, and vocalist Tairrie B (who put out a solo rap album on Eazy-E’s Comptown Records) moved away from her rap roots towards full on metal with her latest outfit, My Ruin. I saw My Ruin play at The Waterfront in Norwich last July and got to meet Tairrie B and told her I’d been a fan of her work for over 10 years. That was a great moment. : )
Manhole - 6 Feet Deep: www.myspace.com/manhole666
3) A friend of mine kept banging on and on about this nu-rave collective and I eventually got hooked on their single ‘Love Like Semtex’ after hearing it on Phill Jupitus’s 6Music breakfast show. I bought the album, and it was on constant rotation. One of the most amazing live bands I have EVER seen. Their music is pretty good too. : )
Infadels - Girl Who Speaks No Words: www.myspace.com/infadels
4) Dirty beats from this duo who I got to see at Glastonbury 2005. I got into them after seeing the vid for ‘Push Up’ on a music video channel in Barcelona 2 years ago. This is quite poppier than their other work, but if you like dirty dark beats then get into the Freestylers…if you aren’t already.
Freestylers - Push Up: www.myspace.com/freestylersmusic
5) I damaged my hearing to this band. I was 15, it was May 1996, and it was my second gig. After standing for an hour at the front of Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall being squashed to death, 6 foot away from the left speaker, I collapsed. I staggered out of the crowd and into the arms of some St John’s Ambulance people who seemed rather concerned, and were there to catch me when I collapsed again. Took them 5 minutes to find my pulse. The band came backstage for a break to check on the casualties (so sweet), and I ended up with tinnitus in my left ear for a week. I now wear earplugs to gigs. The band? The one, the only, the Al-f*cking-mighty. The Almighty specialise in British rock - some tunes are loud, nasty & fast, some are slower, rockier songs. This is one of their slower ones. Saw them in December at Shepherd’s Bush Empire - they still sound amazing.
The Almighty - Jesus Loves You (But I Don’t): www.myspace.com/thealmightyuk