Well. This is all a bit embarrassing isn't it? Thegeneral left in July, saying they'd be back in September and then...nothing...In truth, the last couple of months have been rather less festive than a jaunt to the abattoir with no sandwiches. But life must go on.
**Just before I launch into my first review since the moon landing, the blog is still on a sort of hiatus, just for the foreseeable future. I'll be doing very occasional entries and reviews - and these will be a little more sporadic than before. I could go into all sorts of reasons why - but it would turn into something a bit political and mercenary and I don't want to do that, cos this is supposed to be FUN FUN FUN**
Now. For something nice.
Way way back at the end of February I featured these guys: Bug Prentice with their brilliant single "Nicholas Ray".
Well, the band have now got their debut album together and the frankly rather marvellous Ally Craig (guitar, vocals) from the band contacted me and asked if I would put a little something together for them ahead of the release, which comes on 23rd November. I honestly couldn't think of a better way of bringing the blog back, than with this corker of an album, so I agreed.
First - and it seems like forever since I last did this - here are the necessaries:
You can find them on Bandcamp here:
bugprentice.bandcamp.com/
On soundcloud here:
soundcloud.com/bugprentice
And their website is here:
bugprentice.com/
Please avail yourself of the facilities, and remember to wipe your feet on the doormat.
This genuinely is such a superb album - not a duff track on it. I've listened to it twice, all the way through and it's a collection of songs that grabbed me by the jugular.
What stands out to me are the angular, discordant guitars and the spikiness of the music and vocals - it's a slightly off kilter album, but in a good way.
To align it with some of the great alt rock that came out of the US in the 90s would be to pigeonhole it and do it a disservice, but there are nods and shakes to some of the brilliance of that era, without it being a pastiche.
If you click on the bandcamp link you can have a sneaky listen to "Nebraska Admiral" and I really recommend you do. It starts with melancholy, wistful guitars and almost plaintive vocal from the aforementioned Ally.
"A Train and then a Train and then a Train" has brilliantly distorted and fuzzy chords - the staccato progressions they make are brilliantly jangly.
It's hard to pick stand out tracks - because I genuinely did love them all, but the Nirvana-esque "Moustache" is beautifully downbeat, "Nicholas Ray" from earlier in the year was always going to be a favourite of mine anyway and finally, if you're holding a gun to my head to make me pick then I would go for "Just Do Anything", a short, coquettish song with an almost French/60s vibe, which really fools you with it's start, then turns into something totally unexpected.
The album, as mentioned earlier in the post, is out on 23rd November, so not long to wait. It will definitely be worth it for you all, that I can promise. A huge well done to Ally, Ruth and Stephen - and keep up the good work. This will be high up on my Autumn play list - as it should be on yours too.
And now, with a swirl of my cape, and a twirl of my moustache, I'm disappearing off into the ether again, I'll return very soon - but I cannot say forwhen. Keep my seat warm, my pipe lit and the tea brewed. Pip pip.
