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SPEARMINT SONGS FOR THE COLOUR YELLOW (HITBACK8CD) One thing I liked about Spearmint is that, as with most decent music, it took time to sink in. Best initial reaction is often 'er…' or a shrug. But isn't pop about immediacy? No, that's just journalism that isn't lazy enough. Spearmint use samples as well as guitars, drums, etc. but rely on neither for their distinctive sound. I'd rather tell you about their new LP but it isn't out yet; this is a compilation of A & B-sides going back to 1996, starting with "Goldmine", the second single; its melody develops in the same unusual way as early Kinks singles. "Scared of everything" has the same rush with distorted bass prevalent. The use of percussion throughout is subtle and fitting, especially on "Sky", another standout track along with "Best friends" and "A bench in a park". Simon Calnan's keyboards and samples are often used atmospherically rather than as an orthodox fourth instrument, enabling the group to attain a simple yet lavish sound without resorting to over- or under-production. From the simplicity of "I can't sleep" to the more complex "The other seven", songwriter Shirley Lee has a knack of producing fresh melodies devoid of cliché that mature in your head. James Parsons' bass is consistently inventive and subversive whilst Ronan Larvor provides solid, frantic John Maher-type 'falling downstairs in perfect time' drumming. Vocals, both Shirley's lead and the group's backing, are an undoubted highpoint throughout, emotive and individual, and mixed clear and high enough to allow the unusually personal lyrics to be heard. Neither pro- nor anti-revivalist, only 'indie' in certain ways (that's not a criticism, merely an observation), they're a good group and liable to get better. Took a while for me to get it, but I did. There you go then. jn.
LOVE KIT WHO'S AFRAID OF THE RADIO TOWER (Ginger CD GR4006) I keep coming back to Kasenatz and Katz, those two as yet largely unlauded icons of US late 60s pop, when I hear this disc. There are the same effortless nasal harmonies and edgy yet uncombative melody lines here as on the choices offerings by the Ohio Express or the 1910 Fruitgum Company or any of those other acts Kim Fowley would have sold his soul (if he had one) to have had a slice of. But you also get distorted vocals, snippets of short-wave and swathes of distorted guitar and other extraneous noise that would never have been allowed to have polluted such beacons of bubblegum as "Yummy Yummy Yummy" (once described by Pete Townshend in one of his most lucid post-Baba moments as 'the greatest record ever made') or "Quick Joey Small", no sir. As to how well this veritable melange of seemingly incongruous influences works, well, some of it works (notably 'Spider On The Window' where the songwriting talents of Eddie Jemison and Rich Sparks shine through more than elsewhere) and some doesn't. Sometimes they sound as if they're trying too hard, other times the songs don't quite carry it off alone. For example, "Bookmobile" and "Tiger Beat Heaven" are both on the verge of being great songs but don't quite get there somehow. But the feel of the music is never less then exuberant and charged with imagination and vigour. Standards of singing and overall musicianship are…well, these are Americans we're talking about here; need I say more? Give this a chance if you care for modern pop with a twist of experimentation and a determinedly uncommercial bent. Oops, Lovekit seem to have slipped though my critical fingers in terms of pigeonholing; surely no bad thing. jn. |
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