Disc of the day
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
Features Disc of the day
The Pernice Brothers
Overcome By Happiness
(Ryko, 1998)
"Prince Valium" leavens the badness with Bacharach/Fanclub tune gold.
Joe Pernice's latest project - an in no way autobiographical novel about a struggling indie rocker with a soundtrack of cover versions attached - was a neat enough idea, and Pernice found something transfiguring in each of the songs, even Mary Poppins' mockney nostrum Chim Chim Cher-ee. It made me realise how much I'd missed that hickory-smoke voice, multi-levelled writing and sun-kissed sonic aesthetic, still best exemplified by his first record after divorce from mandied-up alt.country combo the Scud Mountain Boys. Like Paul McCartney and Roger McGuinn after a Burt Bacharach songwriting seminar, Overcome By Happiness disguises Pernice's existential traumas with irresistible power-pop action, like the glare of a grim reality dimmed by prescription drugs. Fans of Teenage Fanclub should take note (Clear Spot is a cousin of Grand Prix's Don't Look Back, Crestfallen recalls Bandwagonesque's Sidewinder) but I hope Blake, Love and Co would forgive me if I dare suggest Pernice wites better lyrics, with a more complex and wounded outlook, ranging from "mere" self-loathing ("I woke up sick in my shoes and clothes") to the supersad suicide vignette of Chicken Wire, added still greater poignancy by its lonely Bacharach brass. Down lyrics with up music ain't rocket science, but done well the formula has its own gravity, and Pernice is the neutron star of the game. His web site suggests a new album is "in the can", but held up by a crisis over whether it's a solo record, a Pernice Bothers record or what. A short UK tour - promoting It Feels So Good When I Stop - begins on January 26 at Islington's Union Chapel. Pop along and tell him to pull his finger out, there's a dear.
Danny Eccleston
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 03/02/2010
Further Listening
Teenage Fanclub – Grand Prix (Creation, 1995)
Scud Mountain Boys – Massachusetts (Sub Pop, 1996)
Elliott Smith – XO (Dreamworks, 1998)
Previous Disc of the day
-
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
6:00 AM GMT 18/03/2010
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Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River
Essence De Choogle from John Fogerty and crew. Badass!
9:54 AM GMT 17/03/2010
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The The - Soul Mining
Matt Johnson's self-excoriating - but tunepacked! -classic.
6:00 AM GMT 16/03/2010
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Various Artists - Axe Attack Vol II
Metal Britannica inspires MOJO metal amnesty. Studded leather wristbands aloft!
2:32 AM GMT 12/03/2010
-
The Pop Group - Y
For connoisseurs of pop-as-rupture-in-the-space/time-continuum
6:00 AM GMT 11/03/2010
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