The Embrooks LP ‘We Who Are’ is an authentic freakbeat enthused confection. With a dash of Wimple Winch underpinned by mod melodies, each track has the songwriting chops to back up its infectious noise. Material of note on the a-side include ‘Nightmare’ (like a lost Rubble outtake), a powerful cover of ‘Have You Ever Loved Somebody’, and the hard blues of ‘Riot On Kingsland Road’. With the flip not letting up with the folk rock of ‘Til Tomorrow’ and freakbeat blues of ‘You Can If You Want’ this mighty vinyl is available from State Records.
Another band who take their lead from the late 60s are Green Seagull, their splendid single providing two platters of pop-psych. ‘Simeon Brown’ adds another melancholic quintessentially English character study to our songwriting canon. The ambitious ‘Belladonna’ gives us bossa-nova, a great guitar riff and prog outro. Both numbers are a tantilising taster of their forthcoming album. Limited edition 7-Inch Single and download available from Mega Dodo from 3 May.
Next to a trio of excellent releases from Emperor Penguin. The two-for-one CD are reissues of ‘Crumhorn’ and ‘Rum Pop Engineer’. Neil Christie (vocals, guitar, keyboards) describes the background behind their debut “Roughly twenty years ago we first got the band together. We played a few gigs and recorded a session at BBC’s Maida Vale studios in London – now available as the album ‘Crumhorn’ – but work, families and poor attitude meant that we never really got our act together. Our original bass player moved away, life intervened and Emperor Penguin went into hibernation…” Which was a shame as ‘Crumhorn’ brings together a collection of chiming Power Pop songs deserved much wider attention than they got at the time. Regrouping 17 years later for ‘Rum Pop Engineer’ saw the band rekindling this early promise with a wider sonic palette. ‘Moth, Meet Flame’ is worth the price of admission alone. For their latest ‘Walnut Fascia‘ tracks like ‘Hotel Diplomat’ show the lighter pop face of the band whereas ‘Jenson Interceptor’ embodies the shimmering guitars that glitter across the album.
North Parade‘s debut single ‘Birmingham’ brings a strong New Order-Cure sound to singer Henry Plumridge’s ear catching vocals. Definitely a band to look out for in 2019.
Danish duo PBSM’s new single ‘Rainbow Girl’ is the title track of their upcoming EP. A hazy psych track that’s a future echo for sound of summer 2019.
Willie Gibson‘s mini album ‘Saint-Ex’ was inspired by the enigmatic writer and aviator Antoine de Saint Exupéry. A modular synth album recalling Berlin era Bowie, Tangerine Dream and the Stranger Things soundtrack, it’s an enduring sound that now transcends the generations. Available now to pre-order on 10″ vinyl, CD, and digital.
