2010 News Items

2010 News Items

14.12.10 Reticents celebrate the making of the I Want One Too video by splitting up almost immediately.

Living up to the dictionary definition of their band name, Thomson, Toynton and Hamilton are cat’s-whiff silent as to the whys and wherefores. It’s not important. The songs remain in all their shattered majesty. Never mind the shambolics.

10.12.10 Advertising whizzkids DeLeet, Dunderhead & Skwint produce award-losing promo clips for Loudsneakers’ ‘Shut Up Shop’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqNZ0yjud4s), Horrible Head‘s ‘I’m A Loser’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFgvpWdzIpE) and Reticents‘ ‘I Want One Too’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LXT2WS4Peg). “Simple but effective,” explains effectively simple director Sly d’Sho.

8.11.10 Horrible Head “The Gloom Of Youth”, the Horribles’ collection of 4-track yellalongs from 1986, is now primed for unleashment. Grab your ear trumpets and monocles and catch them screaming one of their own ballads here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw-XpjXxHJA – and there – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA2IP_lEzCI

21-23.10.10 Bisonics A further eight songs are duly recorded for the next album, provisionally entitled ‘The Life And Death Of Tall Elf’. These short, sharp shockers include Samuel the goldfish, Carl LaFong (for all you W.C. Fields fans), a school reunion, the fear-frozen grin of an astronaut monkey, chapped lips, a salmon pink raincoat and rum-laced coffees. The day before the sessions commenced, the news broke that Slits screamstress Ari Up had died. In tribute, Bisonics improvised a song for her called ‘aRI uP’.

29.9.10 Bisonics The hundreds of photos prepared in June have been junked in favour of a more Bisonical approach to video clip-making. See what Hamilton and Gordon Beswick did to the tune of Bisonics’ “Beyond” with just a camera, a bowl of water, some ink and a pipette by leaping over to here: http://www.vimeo.com/15375302

27.9.10 Horrible Head The prospect of “The Gloom Of Youth” [see 14.5.10] edges ever-nearer to becoming a reality as Jason Emberton and Hamilton complete the final mixes, nail the songs into a running order that doesn’t trip itself up, and master the monster. With song titles like I’m A Loser, Sinking Slowly, Another Lonely Place, They Don’t Need Me and Got To Get Out, you just know it’s gonna be a right old family knees-up sing-a-long album. Put your money into razor blades now!

1.7.10 Bisonics Murphy and Hamilton report that sketches for 10 new songs have been recorded. The cast of characters include a shoe-spewing shark, jumping monkeys, a murderer hanging in the hallway, a crowd of legless men in a topless bar, and a conveyor belt of rigid, frigid brides.

9-10.7.10 Bisonics Hamilton catches the RyanAir economy Get Out And Push flight to Haugesund, Norway to see whether he and Doug Murphy can invent any more songs in one take with no rehearsal.

6.10 Bisonics In their respective countries, Murphy (Norway), Beacon (Australia) and Hamilton (England) take hundreds of photos for a film of their song “Beyond”, due to be put together by Gordon Beswick (director of Reticents’ video “I’m All Right [It’s The Others]”) in July.

1.6.10 Bisonics Their 19-song CD “Play For Today” escapes.
Arts blog worldwidereview.com had some commentators enthusing or defusing… Here are some extracts:

‘[…] one hell of a mixed bag bursting with ideas both good and bad. Most of the songs sound like they were recorded in 1979. (That wasn’t meant as a dig by the way – many of my most treasured albums came out that year!)’

‘”The Last Post” sounds rather like The Stranglers.’

‘”What Happened” is a silly song about two sad men complaining about being let down by the other. It’s unintentionally comic and reminds me of the parodies of pop songs on Not The Nine O’Clock News.’

‘W.O.E. is, quite frankly, an astonishing mixture of Joy Division, Graham Parker and The Fall. “Starecase” made me want to dig out Alex Chilton’s Sister Lovers L.P. “Tender” – another great track that brings to mind Elvis Costello circa “Trust”. [However] “The Next Door Neighbours”, “This Is” and “Someone Else’s Wife” made me cringe and all outstayed their welcome. ‘

‘Urgh, a bit blokey, anal-retentive trainspottery every-single-copy-of-Q filling the wardrobe kind of thing. Sort of Blur pretending to be someone else.’

‘[…] it’s probably the most unproduced record ever – certainly since ‘Bend Sinister’ by The Fall. And that’s refreshing because I find that the records in the last couple of years are simply little more than wavering noise tones compressing music like a bus-squelched badger. ‘

‘If there’s a fault with it, it’s its all-over-the-placeness. But that’s also its charm. Whereas most bands can spread the same idea across albums and decades, Bisonics valiantly attempt to crowbar everything in – because it might be the only chance they get. ‘

‘I wish Flaming Lips had this amount of ideas…’

‘If they were artists, I’d imagine Bisonics being Stuckists rather than the ghastly tories of BritArt middle-aged contemptibles. ‘

‘I suppose the reassuring thing about the Bisonics is they’ll probably only last for one album and then disappear, conveniently for the NME of 2025 to hail them as the true godlike geniuses because, by then, hopefully, they’ll be dead and won’t be around to spoil the illusion.’

‘Hey, I think you might be the victim of a hoax. A few years back Kevin Eldon (from Brass Eye) had a character called Paul Hamilton and I know Chris Morris does brilliant parodies of Jarvis Cocker etc. So I reckon Bisonics is part of some project that will reveal itself next time one of those jokers is on TV.’

‘I played the song “What Happened” and it really tore me up. On the surface it’s about a gay manager priming his protege for fame and then being rejected but underneath theres this whole subtext of manipulation, emotional uncontrollable forces and the aspect of money and how it goads then corrodes. “What Happened” has this very soft singer with a warm croon – sort of Scott Walker but very English – giving you his side of the story – how he’s sacrificed everything for his little star. It ends with the star sounding wrecked like Marianne Faithfull saying, “I didn’t want this anyway”. If you love musicals and high camp you’ll definitely like this but this is kind of butch camp because they have all those rock guitars when it should be Angela Morley orchestrations. Bowie and Sinead O’Connor could do a great hetero cover.’

14. 5. 10 Horrible Head Whilst completing “undoneup”, Sean Hyde unearths some tape cassettes of 4-track recordings from 1986 and passes them to Smoking Ant. These Portastudio sessions are digitised by Jason Emberton. They may be released with the tentative title “The Gloom Of Youth”.

13-18. 4. 10 Loudsneakers After a year of intermittent activity, Sean Hyde completes the “undoneup” album. Smoking Ant inquire when Loudsneakers are going to go on tour and promote the record. “Well, I’ve got to collect the kids from school. Then there’s the dinner to make. Oh, and the World Cup in June…”

1.4.10 Reticents Appropriately perhaps, the material for their 4-song E.P. is finished. Thomson adding guitar to “I Want One Too” and Hamilton some Stylophone squalls to “John Peel”.

15-18. 3.10 Bisonics With nine songs in the bag after as many months, Simon Beacon abandons his attempt to complete the production on Bisonics’ “Play For Today” album due to continual ill-health. Malcolm Gayner and Hamilton mix and master the remaining ten in four days.

22.1.10 Reticents Toynton & Hamilton make unannounced performance at an open-mike evening at The Star & Garter, Greenwich, London and play their tribute to DJ John Peel. The unrehearsed Stylophone solos were acclaimed by two groovers of fine vintage as “Pure Crimson, son. Total Crimson.”