Perfect Pop Co Op Sampler – Impulsive Compulsions 01

Dec5

As we all look for the perfect gift for loved ones this time of year, the irrepressible UK indie label Perfect Pop Co Op are giving one to all music lovers. Free with the December issue of their magazine, Impulsive Compulsions 01 brings together 13 tracks from six unique bands and seven projects past and present borne from within the Perfect Pop Co Op family; quite simply a baker’s dozen of the best and most mischievous songs and artists you could wish dangling from the stocking on your various speakers.

From start to finish, the album teases and flirts with the imagination as it dances with ears; getting off to a mighty start with Scant Regard. The band is the solo project of London-based guitarist/writer/producer Will Crewdson renowned for his work with the likes of Adam Ant, The Selecter, Johnette Napolitano, Flesh for Lulu, Bow Wow Wow, She Made Me Do It and Rachel Stamp, which he co-founded. Taken from his snare of an album, the wonderful Skipping Over Damaged Area which was released earlier this year, Destroy (We’re Here to) is a salacious flirtation of electro punk/ synth pop intimation; a viral infection which could even have the walking dead dancing to its hook spun, groove strung, guitar driven, funk sprouting machination.

It is a glorious start which sets the tone to the sampler, each track unapologetically individual in sound and character but united in DIY imagination, devilish intent, and sonic goodness as proven immediately by next up Impulsive Compulsions by Pony Virus. The band is the original incarnation of The Scratch and the track a tantalising piece of post punk shoe gaze as haunting as it is infectious. The song is a slice of weird with hues of eighties bands such as The Passage, The Wonder Stuff and Inspiral Carpets; teasing with these somewhat familiar spices in a whole new recipe sounding as fresh now as it did back in the day. The Scratch itself provides its own piece of temptation later in the album’s playlist with Teen Idol, itself a ridiculously magnetic encounter which had us hooked from the first rumbling growl of bass. Currently on hiatus after releasing a quartet of greedily devoured albums, the band’s sound s pure pop/indie punk romping blessed with seventies DIY adventure and inescapable contagion.

Through the sinister dark electronica bred dystopia of Age of Control in a remix by creators Rogue Sector, a track which also haunts ears and thoughts whilst teasing hips to gather momentum with its electronic dissonance, and the wonk pop punk bred Limited Ambition swung through ears by Andreas And The Wolf, temptation and captivation to the album only deepened. Both bands have debut albums in the works and each has been given a rich teaser through their contributions to Impulsive Compulsions.

Andreas And The Wolf also provide the radio show which this album has mutually sprung from with Perfect Pop Co Op, all favourite artists being greedily featured over time, none more so than the following pair of Dislocated Flowers and The Tuesday Club. The first of the pair gives AudioBiological to the parade of aural independence, an invasive psych rock track inciting the body to erupt as it corrupts the senses with its imposing and invigorating instrumental incitement. Unshakeable favourites and friends to The RR, The Tuesday Club simply infested the passions with Too Pure To Live, a slow swing of a creative virus directing hips and imagination like a puppeteer. The band has unleashed numerous gems over the past few years but this track alone shows they are creating not only their finest escapades but some of that fuelling the independent rock scene.

And the goodness just kept coming, just confirming already the thought we had rattling around the brain that this is an essential, indeed must have release. The Venus Overload kept the suggestion bubbling with their encounter Without Doubt, a sixties nurtured psych pop lure echoing the band’s major inspiration, The Velvet Underground, but with its own compelling persona.

Further into the album, the poetic drama and stark atmospheric breath of Sometimes When I Dream simply infested thought and appetite, the dark soundscape from Southdown Laundry Club, a project created by Pete ‘Joyless’ Jones (Department S) and Andrew Trussler (Rogue Sector) as mesmeric as it is chilling.

In its own way, Dead Marchers is just as tenebrific and haunting, the track by Bleeding Soul Angels an inviting smog of psych and dark pop with a raw edge to its contagion while the following Dream boy doin’ well had the body bouncing with its punkabilly stomp. The Bleeed is an offshoot of four members out of The Tuesday Club when it was a seven strong rascal, and features the devious swings of drummer and gentleman Terry Super Cockell, who since its creation has passed away. The band has vowed to return this year and on this scoundrel of a track we for one cannot wait.

The album is finished off by firstly Waiting for the Walls to Come Down from The Dodo. A band made up of Andy Scratch, Steve Filth and John the Bassist, who released one album in 2010 before the side project was put aside, they had the body bouncing like it was on a string with their contribution. Mixing sixties pop and seventies new wave to try and describe its epidemic of temptation, the track is another in a perpetual line of major treats, the last coming with album closer Way it goes. From Reverse Family, a project headed by the reported missing but maybe we know better (wink wink) Dermot Illogical, the band have just completed their 2018 epic task of releasing 365 songs over 365 in weekly EPs, an epic adventure in sound and pleasure we are still catching up on such its size. Way it goes gives all the reasons with its Adam & The Ants-esque, swing spun chicanery for you to go check it out too and the band’s debut album it comes from, My Songs About Life – Mid Crisis.

There are a host of truly great independent labels out there right now and Perfect Pop Co Op stands right there on the frontline and as mentioned all songs and artists have been featured on the Andreas and the Wolf radio show which equally we can only heartily recommend; the album in celebration of one year of their shows and fifty issues of the Perfect Pop Co Op magazine.

The Perfect Pop Co Op Sampler – Impulsive Compulsions 01 is out December 11^th free with the new issue of the Perfect Pop Co Op magazine.

https://theperfectpopco-op.bandcamp.com/ https://perfectpopco-op.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/perfectpopcoop/ https://perfectpopco-op.co.uk/magazine/

Pete RingMaster 5/12/2018

The Tuesday Club – Art Is Magic

Apr2

Trials and turbulences are no strangers to most bands but few as acute as that which impacted on British outfit The Tuesday Club and almost brought it to an end. Now though they are poised to release “unlikely album 3” in the shape of Art Is Magic, a slab of multi-flavoured rock ‘n’ roll which certainly gets under the skin in no time but an itch which just gets more delicious and addictive by the listen. It is their finest moment built across ten bold devilish tracks embracing old and new sounds with a unique imagination and their inimitable touch.

Formed in 2011 in Walmington-on-Sea, the renowned setting for British legendary comedy Dad’s Army, The Tuesday Club was an eight piece extravaganza of sound and creative revelry embracing the sights and mischief of their home town’s TV heritage. Their sound blossomed with the punk nurtured DIY attitude and inspiring sounds of the late seventies yet from day one cast its own aural image as proven by debut album See You Next Tuesday in 2013. It was a proposition though which was evolving from that first release and in open exploration by the band’s second album which was released as a quadrilogy of four EPs.

Devastation hit after the release of the first EP when drummer Terry Super Cockell tragically died. Though the band completed the album’s unveiling it was obviously without zeal; as they say the following EPs released in a ‘daze’, with the band falling to its knees and closing in on demise as members subsequently left. It was a challenging, life questioning and changing time which was not so obvious to the outside world at the time such the quality of those releases but maybe now best understood by checking out Reverse Family’s current project 365 days of songwriting, the band the solo project of TTC’s founding member Andreas Vanderbraindrain though he goes by Dermot Illogical for it. It is a still on-going colossal collection of tracks written across those times released as an EP a week for a year, many of its songs spawned from the darkness he personally fell into through those times.

TTC did survive though, its remaining members regrouping and finding a new breath and energy, stripping away “much of the old ‘glamour’ replacing it with a new urgency and directness.” Alongside vocalist Vanderbraindrain, the band now consists of guitarist Dave Worm, bassist/keyboardist Rogerio Marauder, and drummer Blairdrick Sharpely. As they suggested, the quartet has stripped back the TTC sound and brought forward its raw breath and instinctive imagination whilst broadening yet honing its creative flavourings and adventure.

Art is Magic opens with its title track, slipping in on a rhythmic coaxing until a lash of sound sparks a post punk lined stroll led by Vanderbraindrain’s distinctive tones. The song prowls the senses, keys simultaneously providing a melancholic yet mystique lined caress; it all uniting in an infectious swing and call to join its arcane devilry. Captivation was swift and only escalated as the track tempted and teased with its seventies lent enterprise.

It is a thickly potent start to the album keenly backed by the poppier rock exploits of Always taking things too far. It bounces around like a mix of Athletico Spizz 80 and Mammal Hum, a fusion of new wave and art rock which poked the appetite initially, whetted its lips further before thereon in fully teasing eager greed by the listen. It is a trait of the album as a whole, making an attention grabbing first impression but spawning lustier reactions by the play though some songs like Soulless City Syndrome had us instantly drooling. Its opening noir tinted intimation simply nurtured intrigue, the following electronic and tenacious punk ‘n’ roll of the song sparking the passions as it cantered lustfully through ears. The best track on Art is Magic, it twists and lures like an Adicts meets Zanti Misfits inspired dervish wearing a cape woven with threads of The Monochrome Set for one unique and gorgeous encounter.

It is a hard task to follow such a pinnacle yet Fruit Salad Girl with its spiky pop rock makes relatively light work of it, the infection loaded romp a nagging rock ‘n’ roll roar which had the body bouncing and vocal chords blaring in no time before Drowning My Sorrows allowed a breath to be taken with its folk pop saunter. Not that it is a dormant on the catchiness, its easy going but boisterous swing leading feet and hips away like a collusion of The Farmer Boys and Swell Maps.

Put your Faith in what you can control similarly has a laid back but tenaciously catchy gait and demeanour, again the band’s lo-fi instincts breeding a richly appetising temptation as rhythmically persuasive as it is melodically and lyrically sharp. Thus eager involvement was swift and as forcibly recruited by the bolder rousing punk ‘n’ roll of We are the Team, a song which is the band announcing they are undefeated and returning with new vigour and invention whilst creating a personal declaration for all to embrace.

It would be a shock not to have the scent of early Adam and The Ants somewhere within a TTC encounter, Let the kids run the country the irresistible moment within Art Is Magic as the band source their own earlier traits and another influences’ for a greed brewing slice of aural virulence before the darker tone and shadows of Rock and Roll’s not a science infests ears and psyche like a viral infection you cannot shake off, or in this case want to. The song reminded of short lived Welsh punks The Table at times but again TTC spin a web of sound and addiction all their own.

The album concludes with Who and youz army, a rhythmically tenacious and infectiously barbed slice of punk rock which would have aroused air punching crowds back in the day just as now. Its hooks are familiar yet inescapable and its character old school with the irritability of today; ingredients ensuring Art Is Magic goes out on a major high.

Listening to their album just hits home what we would be missing without The Tuesday Club and how lucky newcomers will be now discovering them through such a glorious romp.

Art Is Magic is released May 6^th with its launch party the same night @ The Lower Red Lion in St. Albans pre-ordering available now @ https://theperfectpopco-op.bandcamp.com/album/art-is-magic

http://thisisthetuesdayclub.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/thisisthetuesdayclub/ https://twitter.com/thetuesdayclub1 https://twitter.com/Vnderbraindrain

Pete RingMaster 30/03/2018

Reverse Family: 365 days of songwriting

Feb6

Last August we gave you a first look and insight into the epic new project from Reverse Family. Starting the following October, the plan with 365 was to release 52 EPs as one a week for a whole year, each of their songs representing a single day in the inspiring life of its creator.

Reverse Family is the solo project of Dermot Illogical, though you may know him as Andreas Vanderbraindrain, the frontman of British outfit The Tuesday Club. With its brainchild embracing the various talents of others, Reverse Family first grabbed keen attention with debut album My Songs About Life Mid Crisis in 2016. In so many ways 365 is a whole new ball game for the band, a project taking the listener into the heart and thoughts, not forgetting darkness, Dermot personally experienced as he came to terms with personal despair through the death of a great friend and band mate, going through divorce, dealing with the serious illness of both parents and other traumas taking Dermot to the edge.

Since that first collection of songs sent our way to announce the release of 365, the project has been in full swing with some more teasers sent for our ears to explore. So time to give you more insight into a collection of songs which we can say to date has grabbed the imagination and pleasured ears in varying persistently enjoyable ways by focusing on a few more which have recently been unveiled.

Day 20 provides The Suns rays are just like birthdays, an inviting stroll built around a great post punk bassline as crispy beats align to the distinctive tones of Dermot. Reflecting on the radiance of the weather as emotions rise and fall, the track is a thickly infectious affair nagging away at ears like a pleasurable itch.

There is great diversity to the sound and personas of songs with 365 too, Was I a good man (day 15) swinging along with a sixties garage pop hues as guitars offer their psych kissed jangle while No Reason to run (day 6) has the rhythmic shuffle of a King Trigger aligned to an off kilter twee/ indie pop croon. Hugging a melody which enthrals in its nagging simplicity, the track is simply mesmeric, almost shamanic in its virulent enterprise.

Equally irresistible is the bricks and mortar snarl of Sunshade City (day 21). It has a gnarly tone around the pulsating shadowy lure of the bass, both at the heart of its post punk/industrial examination while with matching success We Got It (day26) sees Reverse Family embrace early Adam and The Ants textures in its resourceful punk dance. With so many tracks unveiled already it is hard to pick a favourite but this always figures in any contemplation as too does the twang lilted Keep Being the Good Guy (day 25). Its country punk tinge and another irresistible bass line and tone court the ever virulent vocal delivery of Dermot, it all uniting in one seriously catchy persuasion.

Seductive acoustic discord flirts from within Dark pop (day 7) and insatiable askew pop punk is bred through the rousing antics of Pay the price (day 3) while School gate politics (day 64) is a prowling harassment with menacing shadows and post punk intimation, kind of like a Bowie meets Artery contemplation. All three are additional pinnacles in the lofty landscape of tracks released to date and definite favourites with us among so many more.

It has to be said though that Movin’ forward (day 74) is the cream of the crop, its repetitious swing and hook lined lure simply irresistible; a real ear worm as dark as it is vibrant. There are numerous potent ways to get into 365, such as the delicious lithe tenebrific pop ‘n’ roll of Your wandering hands (day 82) but Movin’ forward is addiction in the waiting.

There is so much more to discover already with 365, aside from our glimpses, with EPs released currently standing at 19 as you read, and all there for your exploration, @ http://reversefamily.co.uk/ with plenty more adventure to come which you can keep up with through the Perfect Pop Co-Op magazine. 365 is DIY majesty with drama to be found at every turn and so much pleasure too.

https://www.facebook.com/reversefamily/ https://twitter.com/PerfectPopCoOp

Read our introduction to Reverse Family and 365 @ https://ringmasterreviewintroduces.wordpress.com/2017/08/26/day-by-day-with-reverse-family/

Pete RingMaster 06/02/2018

Buster Shuffle – I’ll Take What I Want

Nov30

As you shiver over the winter months, body and energy needs something to keep the cold at bay and spirit stomping and Buster Shuffle have just the right tonic in the shape of their new album, I’ll Take What I Want. Bursting with their most virulent and imaginative sound yet, the UK quartet’s fourth full-length mischievously swings and devilishly strolls as it grabs limbs and soul like a rascal puppeteer.

I’ll Take What I Want casts more of the fusion of ska, pop, and rock ‘n roll Buster Shuffle has increasingly pushed and established since emerging back in 2007. Each of their previous albums has added a fresh lick of enterprise and adventure but the street carnival of their latest offering is a whole new ball game and easily the band’s most unique and thrilling proposal yet. Debut album Our Night Out of 2010 swiftly lured acclaim and attention the way of the London outfit subsequently backed by a live success soon seeing the band share stages with the likes of The Holloways, The Wombats, Goldie Lookin’ Chain and Chas ‘n’ Dave, a list which Buster Shuffle over the years has added artists such as Lee Scratch Perry, Frank Turner, Drop Kick Murphys, Madness, The Blockheads, The Rifles, and Flogging Molly. The albums Do Nothing and especially Naked has increased their presence and reputation with unerring fun and craft something I’ll Take What I Want can only vigorously escalate.

With their street wise/reflective lyrics and multi-flavoured sound, Buster Shuffle instantly infest ears and appetite with album opener I Don’t Trust a Word You Say. Straight away a rousing wave of vocal and musical temptation surges through ears, vocalist Jet Baker leading the way with his tones and equally potent piano revelry as rhythms swing. Hitting an impossibly contagious stroll part ska, part old school punk with a dash of fellow Brits The Tuesday Club to it, the song instantly has the body bouncing and passions greedy with its boisterous antics.

The forcibly captivating start only continues as We Fall to Pieces steps in with its folk ska rascality, the song like a fusion of Blur and Tankus The Henge around the throbbing lure of Tim Connell’s double bass and the crisp beats of Terry Mascall. Again Baker’s piano and James Stickley’s guitar collude in creative chicanery as the former’s tones and words tantalise across two minutes of instinctively bold rock ‘n’ roll before Pretty Boy swaggers in with its own infectious dynamics and enterprise. Imagine Television Personalities and again Blur bursting in on Bad Manners and you get a flavour of the track’s gorgeous recipe of enticement.

There is no escaping a rich Madness spice within next up See You Next Week, its determinedly infectious canter pure instruction to the body to dance and ears to greedily devour before The Estate takes the listener into the danger and shadows of modern city life with its spunk pop manipulations. Set across two stages, the day light vivacity of its initial stomp is a darkened night lit rush by its departure, song and imagination running with instinctive eagerness to only increase the already rich impact of the release.

I’ll Be in Peckham has a touch of gypsy to its virulent amble next, its seductive yet off-kilter street waltz manna to these ears as pretty much the whole of I’ll Take What I Want to be honest but especially manipulating as it sets up the warm gallop of the album’s madness soaked title track. It is ska pop to get frisky with, hips getting a keen workout as melodies and hooks unite in an irresistible web of catchy temptation.

With a throbbing tuba-esque hook to swing from, Your Mommy Is So Hot for Me is simply ska impishness so easy to devour, the band’s constant humour as virulent as their sound as too their lyrical prowess as shown yet again in the predacious flirtation of The Tables Have Now Turned and the indie punk pop jangle of Take Them All. Both songs tease and tempt with their creative twists and unpredictable turns, all lined with the never relinquishing infectiousness of the Buster Shuffle sound.

The album is completed by the folk littered contagion of Banana Thief, its ska spun carnival also embracing a country twang as tasty as its other infectious ingredients, and finally the instrumental skanking and harmonic seduction of the Outro Song. With its sixties espionage/sci-fi TV theme tune air and not for the first time, the golden hues of backing vocalist Carrie Griffiths radiating, the track is a masterful end to a real treat of an album. Also featuring the keyboard and vocal enterprise of Pete Oag, I’ll Take What I Want is sheer pleasure and addiction in one; quite simply another year high for music.

I’ll Take What I Want is out now via Burning Heart Records on iTunes, Amazon, and other stores.

https://bustershufflemusic.com/ https://www.facebook.com/bustershuffleofficial

Pete RingMaster 29/11/2017

Day by day with Reverse Family

Aug26

We all have different outlets for extreme emotions be they bred in grief, frustration, anxiety or romance for example. For many an artistic avenue is the release from such overwhelming trespasses and so it is with Reverse Family who are about to unleash a daunting but we can already assure you irresistible adventure for ears.

The Reverse Family is the solo project of Dermot Illogical, someone probably better known right now as Andreas Vanderbraindrain, the frontman of British outfit The Tuesday Club. Towards the end of last year, he released acclaimed debut album My Songs About Life Mid Crisis, a collection of multi-flavoured lo-fi experimental goodness which continues to hang around in the imagination and passions like an inescapable itch. It was an introduction which commanded attention and breeds real anticipation for the next epic outing with Reverse Family.

Starting in October, Dermot is releasing 365, a project made up of 52 EPs released as one a week for a whole year. Before panicking, shouting impossible, or mistakenly thinking anything that massive has to be more filler than thriller let us declare that with the evidence of the sampler sent by the man our way in our hands, it is going to be an escapade taking ears and imagination on a helter-skelter of honest and emotionally raw but instinctively fun exploration; a journey given greater intimate potency by Dermot’s diary entry of that particular day by the way of ‘sleeve notes’.

The tracks making up the project were all recorded DIY style at home between Jan 1^st 2015 and Dec 31^st 2015 with Dermot playing every instrument and sharing every syllable. Everything heard is as played and recorded; no editing or tampering made with every song bred in heart and spontaneity. It is an organic air and array of textures which grips the imagination as much as the sounds themselves; a fly-on-the-wall like climate baring the same open heart as that of their creator.

The catalyst to the project was the death of Terry, the drummer of The Tuesday Club. His sad passing came just as the band was deservedly stirring bigger and bolder praise carrying spotlights, a time topped by the band supporting Toyah at The 02 Islington and releasing their most successful and critically acclaimed EP to date. It was a world crushing time for the band and especially for Dermot who was also coming to terms with divorce, life dictating and changing illnesses for both parents as well as the constant struggle of being self-employed. It was a time many would have buckled under but Dermot focused all the suffocating turbulence into his music and turned it into a creative quest, one which at times you feel probably completely took over his world but gave him a survival and now the listener a spark for pleasure and thoughtful contemplation.

As the tracks we have reveal there is no ‘woe is me’ self-pity fuelling the adventure. Yes, it scratches his open wounds at times and is not always sharing smiles but every moment is an open insight and reflection on his feelings across the evolving year of those challenges and the life around Dermot in St. Albans with plenty of knowing black humour involved along the way.

The first track swiftly grabbing years was Future son – The Twa Twa’s, day 8 of the creative pilgrimage. Instantly it reminds of My Songs About Life Mid Crisis with its post punk twang and Dirk Wears White Sox era Adam and The Ants like character. A gorgeous hook lurks within the angular clamour, Dermot’s vocal delivery a swinging flirtation matching the similar allure of bass. The structurally organic design of the track alone is a web of lust clasping shenanigans, the song in its whole a psyche infesting treat.

Some tracks have an even rawer sound and temptation than others, This house is empty (day 10) one which borders abrasive in sound but within its causticity is an instinctive funkiness which has the body bouncing and appetite eagerly exploring words and emotion. There is a sense of despair and also hope carrying new beginnings felt with the track, a conflict most of us are no strangers too at some point and can grab with nodding recognition.

The clutch of songs within the sampler show the great array of styles embraced by the Reverse Family sound, the outstanding I stand alone (day 13) a post punk natured infestation managing to sound like a mix of Fire Engines, Swell Maps and unsurprisingly The Tuesday Club with Dermot’s distinctive tones yet is unique in every pore while MP3 (day 310) is a junction box of sonic wires casting a Devo meets Pere Ubu scented discord over the imagination.

The darker, grungier Faded colours (day 336) offers melancholy at its most magnetic, In my head (day 337) sharing a sonically and emotionally haunting incursion on the senses as pained as it is corrosively elegant, and both songs continue the broadening maze of flavours and emotional tempestuousness within the sampler alone. Like many tracks, each is also a relatively brief encounter; fleeting moments in an unsettled and often unsettling day though Bad cartoon (day 343) stays a little longer with its melodically jangling and evocatively persuasive as Bowie-esque toning draws the listener with seductive ease into its own personal melancholy.

The punk ‘n’ roll of Do it just for me (day 344) hits the spot just as easily, its tenacious canter a gentle cacophony of guitar, rhythms, and voice while I built a new contraption (day 356) shares a broad grin in its post punk/art rock pop. The pair relish in the addictive prowess Dermot constantly finds in his minimalistic but oh so potent grooves and hooks, though he saves maybe the most addictive for Breathy graffiti (day 365), its electronic poking the kind of inescapable nagging lust was bred for.

So that gives a hint of what is in store for us once 365 begins revealing its heart in a few weeks. It would be a little unrealistic to expect every one of the songs within the 52 EPs, each suggested to contain seven tracks, will hit the lofty heights of those on the sampler but do expect each to be the most honest and spontaneously shared temptations sure to intrigue and captivate like nothing else around today.

We for one just cannot wait!

The first of the 365 EPs will be released digitally from 2nd October 2015 through Perfect Pop Co-Op / Nub Country with one a week through to the first week of October 2018. For more information keep an eye on http://reversefamily.co.uk and https://www.facebook.com/reversefamily/ or through https://twitter.com/PerfectPopCoOp and the Perfect Pop Co-Op magazine.

Pete RingMaster 26/08/2017

Playboy Manbaby – You Can Be A Fascist Too b/w I’d Like To Meet Your Parents

Feb1

How to describe Playboy Manbaby? Hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, they are a six piece punk band where imagining the Banana Splits meets Swell Maps in cahoots with The Tuesday Club and Zebrahead feels the closest in portraying the band’s deliciously creative rioting. They are mayhem in the speakers, irreverence in the imagination and quite simply and as shown by their new single, irresistible.

Described as “the contradictory soundtrack to the contemporary life experience”, Playboy Manbaby is made up by the combined creative mania of Robbie Pfeffer (vocals), Chris Hudson (bass), TJ Friga (guitar), David Cosme (trumpet), Chad Dennis (drums), and Austin Rickert (sax). The past five years has seen the band steal the hearts and support of their local music scene and tear up stages alongside the likes of Mike Watt & The Missing Men, King Khan & BBQ Show, King Khan & The Shrines, Rocket From The Crypt, Thee Oh Sees, Cosmonauts, The Spits, Black Flag, The Descendents, The Replacements, The Slackers, Teenage Bottlerocket and many more. Grabbing major attention on broader landscapes has yet to find Playboy Manbaby, we ourselves only being introduced to them through latest proposal You Can Be A Fascist Too b/w I’d Like To Meet Your Parents, but thanks to the ever impressive discovery of talent by Dirty Water Records, things could be about to explode for the band.

With new album Don’t Let It Be in the works, Playboy Manbaby tease the appetite with You Can Be A Fascist Too, the first single from the impending release. Originally scheduled for a February unveiling, it was brought forward to coincide with the US presidential inauguration. From the off it assaults and lures with a belligerent guitar jangle quickly followed by the raw incitement of Pfeffer’s vocals. Second by second new invasive hooks and salacious grooves fling themselves into the punk mayhem, band shouts and off kilter harmonies wagging a beckoning finger as effectively as the caustic riffs and tenacious rhythms.

The track is a treat and mischievous brawl easy to devour as too is its companion I’d Like To Meet Your Parents. In fact it just about steals the show with its less intrusive but just as virulent dexterity in sound and flirtation. Leading up to a chorus which needs mere seconds to recruit and chain listener participation, the song strolls with minimalistic yet alluring melodies and enticing hooks as vocals make a plaintive proposal with a similarly swinging canter. It is glorious stuff with a foot in seventies punk as the band’s unique modern day mania bellows.

Dirty Water Records have a growing reputation for the eclectic range of their releases, the Playboy Manbaby adding yet another thrilling facet and while becoming one of the label’s best singles yet.

You Can Be A Fascist Too b/w I’d Like To Meet Your Parents is out now on Dirty Water Records and through http://playboymanbaby.com/shop/ and https://playboymanbaby.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ButterGravyButter https://twitter.com/playboymanbaby

Pete RingMaster 01/02/2017

Introducing Reverse Family

Dec13

RF_RingMasterReview

Ever had that dream where an insect invades the ear and sets up home to mercilessly tease and torment thereon in? If so, a form of similar reality is about to be unleashed as the Reverse Family step forward to announce themselves with a sound which trespasses and festers in the psyche. The difference is that this is set to be the most welcome invasion of ears as it crawls with relish into the imagination.

Reverse Family is the solo project of Walmington-on-Sea resident Dermot Illogical, better known as Andreas Vanderbraindrain, the frontman of British band The Tuesday Club. Aided by a fluid band of collaborators from time to time, the new offering from Dermot is a lo-fi exploration into an experimental DIY web of sounds and flavours which is hard to pin down but certainly embraces everything from post punk and noise pop to indie and old school punk.

The RingMaster Review had the honour and pleasure to be the first to hear the tracks set to make up My Songs About Life Mid Crisis, the debut album from Reverse Family which is not due until next year through Perfect Pop Co-op but makes the ideal introduction to the new proposition so we thought we would share our findings within its dementedly addictive lures.

The first song we came up against was Alchopoppers on Fast Food, a brief and gentle yet deviously engaging song which instantly entices thoughts of seventies bands like Swell Maps and The Shapes but with the melodic natures of The Freshies. It is captivating stuff even with a drop into calmer waters which does not quite connect with personal tastes. We are not sure of the album’s track order but if this is to be the opener it provides a potent start though the brilliant Way It Goes is an even bigger pull. Carrying an early Adam and The Ants feel to its magnetic stroll, the song is pure addiction with a funk revelry bubbling under its pop punk surface, Dermot as vocally mischievous as the guitar led sounds around him.

art_RingMasterReview There is great variety to the songs too; Bit Slits for example flirting with the senses through keys which manage to sound like the brass flames of Essential Logic while guitar and vocals veer towards the Nikki Sudden school of discord blessed minimalistic seduction while Electronic 6 entangles portentous keys and winy guitars with fuzzy vocals for a Dalek I Love You/Artery scented melancholy. It is fair to say that Dermot wears influences openly yet each song develops its own distinct character under often familiar hues.

Hand of God has a darker and meatier nature to its predacious swing, contagious hooks and a great grumbling bassline aligning with melodic enterprise for a proposal which swiftly grips ears and appetite; a success just as easily won by the lively pop bounce of One Eyed, a seemingly early Television Personalities seeded encounter and the hypnotic I Can Sense Their Watching Eyes. This too has a flavour of Dirk Wears White Sox to it but with funky beats and another irresistible post punk guitar jangle in its off kilter dub teased shuffle, the track blossoming into another unique proposition within My Songs About Life Mid Crisis.

Other tracks in the mix are Business or Pleasure, a delicious song which sounds like Weezer soaping The Piranhas while recording it all in the bath, The Legend of Pierre with its haunting keys wrapped sultry croon, and Odd Mix Newgates, a seductive magnetic monotone tone spawned track surely inspired by Mark E. Smith.

The collection of tracks are completed by Higher Power with plaintive melodies and dour yet emotionally suggestive vocals and the outstanding May Number 10 Dream which again hints at bands like The Fall, Marc Riley and The Creepers, and The Mekons, as well as the criminally catchy Sods Law. Hips and feet beware as even in its low key nature it will have you swinging in an instant.

There are so many highlights offered by the Reverse Family songs; each track connecting with an ever eager hunger for punk fuelled, post punk spiced imagination. Plastic Punks epitomises this perfectly, its Fire Engines toned melodic jangle and Spizzenergi devilry sheer temptation again emerging as something specific to Reverse Family.

With a tongue in cheek lining to the lyrical reflection shaping songs which spreads into the music itself, Reverse Family is a beguiling adventure with a nod to the past and a grip on an imagination as fresh as it is, well quite simply a touch loco.

As mentioned My Songs About Life Mid Crisis is due for release next April but it is never too soon to get into something this craftily tasty.

http://reversefamily.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/reversefamily/

Pete RingMaster 07/11/2016