MWA HA HA HA HA

From a great (and sadly out of print) compilation on The Viper Label. Boo!
Round Robin - I'm the Wolfman
Gary "Spider" Webb - The Cave (part one)
Kip Tyler - She's My Witch
The Frantics - Werewolf

Noisy(ish) femme pop week (part three): The Fizzbombs

Two from the Surfin' Winter EP. I remember buying this at a little record shop in Romford, the same place I got the Vaselines "Dying for It" 12" (and the Sewer Zombies album, come to that). I used to make long(ish) journeys from Grays in search of vinyl, then queue at the bus stop with my records tucked under my arm afterwards, flushed with success and getting increasingly soggy (my memory has overlaid a veil of drizzle over all my record-hunting expeditions, although I'm prepared to entertain the possibility that it may not have rained every single time).

Record shops seemed like arcane and wonderful places then, and required some legwork to find. I was just discovering that there were delights beyond the scope of Woolworths music section; sometimes Woolies would surprise me, though, and a Mary Chain single would appear amidst the usual chart fodder, like some migratory bird with glossy black plumage newly arrived from stranger climes.

Anyway. The Fizzbombs. Various members of Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes were involved, though I couldn't have told you that at the time: I probably bought it based on the cover and song titles. I lucked out; sometimes I think it's my favourite EP ever. "Test Pilot" is one of the few songs to feature my name (though more for the sake of lyrical expedience than any inherent glamour, I think: not many male names rhyme with "day").

The Fizzbombs - Beach Party
The Fizzbombs - Test Pilot

Noisy(ish) femme pop week (part two): Bubblegum Splash

This is Side A of their "Splashdown" EP. I love her flat, artless vocals. Is that a slight speech impediment, or just part of her accent? There have been some great speech impediments in music, of course: Claudine Longet had one. So did Nikki Sudden. Coincidentally (or not), various Bubblegum Splashers became Jane from Occupied Europe, and you can download all their records here . I haven't (yet).

I like the idea of one-shot artists. More bands should split up after one single.

Bubblegum Splash - Plastic Smile + Just Walked Away

Noisy(ish) femme pop week (part one): The Fat Tulips + The Rosehips

Floral frenzy: the Fat Tulips and the Rosehips on Sweet William. It's a flexi, if you hadn't guessed. The Fat Tulips song is pre-Sheggi, and it's rather lovely. The Rosehips' gleeful desecration of "Ask Johnny Dee" sounds as if it was recorded by someone waving a dictaphone in the vague direction of their practice room, and is none the worse for that. If it was released today, it would doubtless be labelled "sh*tg*ze", and then we'd all be sorry.

The Fat Tulips / The Rosehips - You Opened Up My Eyes + Ask Johnny Dee

Magick Heads

Autumn makes me listen to The Bats: both evoke a kind of crisp, comforting melancholy. The best record Robert Scott has been associated with is, I think, the Back of her Hand single by The Magick Heads. The A side is available on the Where In The World Is Wendy Broccoli? compilation, so I shan't post that; here's both songs from the B side instead.

PS There's a new (well, new old) Bats single on the way from Slumberland, of course.

The Magick Heads - Don't Worry Son + Hear From You

Cristina

It's raining in LA.

Cristina - Ticket to the Tropics