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Inner Roads and Outer Paths/Vic Mars (Clay Pipe Music)

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“Inner Roads and Outer Paths” is Vic Mars’ third release for Clay Pipe Music, following the widely acclaimed “The Land And The Garden” and “The Soundtrack To the Hospice” – the latter a cassette only release of Mars’ music to the Robert Aickman short story featured on Gideon Coe’s BBC6Music show. Clay Pipe Music is often characterised by albums that set a specific time and place. The label’s debut release – “The Fields Lie Sleeping Underneath” by The Hardy Tree (aka label supremo and art designer Frances Castle) embarks back to the North London at the beginning of the 20 th Century. “Tyneham House” regresses to a community frozen in time during World War Two when the UK military took over a small village for top secret manoeuvres. “Inner Roads and Outer Paths” journeys to the more recent past of Vic Mars’ childhood in Herefordshire. There have been songs that document the changes discovered when one returns to their old home after many years away – always expecting the
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Keeley Really : Why Can't You Say I Look Nice When I Look Nice?/Sleeperman (Chippy Records)

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Sleeperman’s prolific releases continue apace through their own singles club. My back is turned and two more gems emerge from the Chippy Records HQ – each cementing Sleeperman’s engaging identity as a band whose music is elegantly and accessibly crafted, with lyrics of nostalgia and social comment striking symphonies with half-centurians like myself. “Keeley Really” – the featured track of their April release – recounts the life of Keeley, a 24-year-old single mum of three. Interspersed with the humour – “She’s in the garden overdoing her Harpham suntan ‘til her legs look like she dipped them in a chip pan” is an impassioned encouragement for Keeley to make the best of her life – “But life’s too short for low-fat spread – butter both sides and have jam on it instead…..life can’t be all weekdays and no weekends”. https://www.facebook.com/stephen.skinner.148/videos/10214664547501557/?t=36 “Keeley Really” is a difficult track to eclipse, but for me its companion – “The Places Tha
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The Best Of A Bad Bunch/Pellethead (Gnu Inc)

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After the sublime genius of Asbo Derek’s “Ulysses Twin”, Vic Godard’s Gnu Inc label unveil a – well not exactly new discovery as they’ve been around for twenty-five years – Middlesbrough’s Pellethead. They attribute their longevity with the following statement – “We are in the band and have been for such a long time because it is a laugh. We laugh a lot. We take the piss a lot. It is good.” “The Best Of A Bad Bunch” -   not exactly the most positive title for a compilation – is a resume for Pellethead’s silver anniversary – including a special re-recording (“Hear Me Now”) and a brand new offering – “Skips”.   There will be some out there who may already possess all the other songs on this ‘ere LP, but for the vast majority that is the rest of us, the album is an invigorating breath of fresh (ish) air. The opener, “Social Creeper”, guides us towards the theory that there is tragedy behind Pellethead’s comedy. The song’s subject desperately tries to play down the ongoing collap
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Meet Me By The Viaduct/Corporationpop (Odd Box Records)

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             Corporationpop is the project of Elise Hadgraft – who late last year began to combine her poetry with sparse but accessible electro backing tracks.   “Meet Me By The Viaduct” is her debut EP – four tracks recounting the trials of decaying relationships, a troubled and confused teenage past, and a cynical overview of the “progress” of her hometown. “Seven Miles South” commences with the tagline – “Welcome To Stockport”. It is here that my imagined notion of the Stockport Tourist Bureau adopting this for their next advertising campaign immediately flounders. A resigned, caustic analysis of a suburban town treading the steady contemporary path of wastefully managed council resources and the ongoing, all-encompassing stranglehold of gentrification. Just to redress this balance a little, I loved the place on my ONE visit there recently – but like everywhere else – residents undoubtedly find more to criticise than occasional tourists – wherever they live. “Ted Hughes
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Ice Baths/Ice Baths (Blank Editions)

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Following their impressive 2016 digital-only single “Ubix/Keener” on Edils Records, the South London 4-piece Ice Baths unveil their debut album – released through Stoke Newington’s Blank Editions. Thomas Cleall and Alex Ives are the two ever-presents in Ice Baths, sharing vocal duties. The album features Daniel Philpott and Daniel Moseley – but since the record’s completion both have left the band to be replaced by Jack David and Ed Shellard (the latter also in Blank Editions label mates Aathens). The album’s half hour length emphasises its conciseness and intensity, but still leaves room for the odd eyebrow raising surprise. Traditionally, the opening track of any album is geared to set the stall out – to declare the gateway available to what lies ahead. “Freighter” however leaves the listener wondering if Ice Baths have elected to ensconce themselves in the world of improvisation – disembodied, frozen vocals fronting a musical landscape collapsing in on itself. Expectations ar
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Loyalty/Sleeperman (Chippy Records)

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The first review on these pages concerned an album whisking you off into a slower, more innocent past. This single’s sentiments hanker for that same nostalgic utopia, but is left surveying the chaotic debris of the unmerciful present. I was left for a time wondering – with the age of the internet and the (middle) age of myself whether it was still possible to achieve music listening Valhalla - hearing a band you’ve never heard of and know absolutely nothing about – and become instantly excited and curious and on the hunt to seek out more. Well – it certainly is. Neil Scott, ex of Felt, Horse Latitudes and current Sleeperman guitarist kindly sought out this webpage and sent me their third single of 2018, “Loyalty”. By the end of the year they will have released a single for each month. The A-Side of each single is available digitally, but limited edition CDs are issued with an extra track – or “B-Side” (for hipsters or those over a certain age). Alongside Neil, Sleeperman fea
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Galactic Sounds/Retep Folo (Clay Pipe Music)

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