Easter & The Totems : The Sum Is Greater Than Its Parts (Reissue)

Living in South East London I’m suprised I’ve not come across this band yet.  Sometimes things really are right under your nose and you don’t even see them.   Doing some background reading Easter & the Totems really seem to have been a cornerstone of underground music south of the river.  The group knocked out their first raw demos in 1981 called ‘Queen Menace Shock Six’.  Their self-styled ‘agit-pop’ was a search for balance between amphetamine driven rhythms, battering punk and melodic arrangements whilst experimenting with tapes and effects.  Album ‘Hip Replacement’ debuted this wrong-footed rock vision, made in 7 days when the band was still in their teens.  All in all Easter & the Totem would go on to release 3 albums and 3 singles in the 12 years they were active - all self-financed with no management, a hard grafting DIY effort.  The line-up fluctuated a little with Mike Barry Guitar/Vocals, Steve Mountain Drums/Vocals being core members, and John Diver, Time Stocker, Dave Pearton, Chris Richardson, Kevin Tweedy, Richard Morris, Neil Braddock all working in the band at different stages.

Rooted in a frustration with UK’s political situation in the early 1980’s, specifically holding an anti-Thatcher stance, Easter & the Totem drew from and gave a voice to the downtrodden working/lower classes of the time.   Coming from those backgrounds themselves and not really identifying with music around them either, Easter & the Totems had more than one reason to feel alienated.  Perhaps this spurred on their need to play in a band, and to make connections with likeminded people in the area.  Typically performing in Woolwich, Penge, Herne Hill, Catford and Crystal Palace they established a group of artists who would be known as Bromley Musicians Collective/South East London Musicians Collective.  They go on to organize gigs for each other and release records with a focus on giving support to victims of social injustices they identified around them.

Easter & The Totem recorded some tracks in Bromley Studios with Nigel Laybourne that had been going down well during these gigs.  ‘Distant Generations’ and ‘Acid Reign’ (both direct political songs about Thatcher) from this session would feature on ‘The Sum Is Great Than Its Parts’, originally released in November 1986.  This was a collection of material documenting their work to date released on Ideological Sounds (Barry’s label).  Its first pressing came in 500 copies featuring long time designer Bill Webb for album artwork, in 1997 Pinnacle reissued a further 500.  

So here we are with SS Record’s 2015 version of the album.  SS have actually had this up their sleeve since the early 90s after finding the album in the back room of a record store, having worn out their copy and worked for many years to get permission, SS got the go-ahead to give ‘Sum Is Greater Than It’s Parts’ a full reissue treatment.  ‘Acid Reign’ is a finely-spun pop number featuring sugary synths, wild rhythms and crispy guitar accompanied by melody driven vocals.  ‘Distant Generations’ is a florid post punk charge playing happy and sad off each other, in a way that might remind one of The Smiths.  ‘We Fade’ has a curious Death Rock feel to it, there’s something definitely darker and more dejected, just in how the scaling  guitars, numbed vocals and agitated synths carry through the track.

With the recent re-election of the Tories it’s an interesting time for this album to re-appear.  Easter & the Totem were true to their South East London roots never venturing far from home turf, getting stuck into supporting local communities and art projects. And I hope they would be happy to know people have picked up this mantle today, I can’t finish this post without highlighting a few collectives, labels and shops in the area worthy of your support:

DIY SPACE FOR LONDON
STATIC SHOCK RECORDS 
BOOK AND RECORD BAR
WOOLF
FRAU

And as for Easter & the Totems I’ll leave the summary to Mike Barry, “There was Mike Barry (age 18), Ian Self (age 18), and a Drum Machine. In those days, all you needed was a couple of long coats, a mutual love of the Fall and Joy Division, a pile of existential books, Kafka, Camus, Dostoyevsky, etc and some lager. They took their name from a Jackson Pollock painting. It was Summer of 1981 and the band was as rough as a bears arse.”  

Dick Diver : Melbourne, Florida

Inspired by disorientated travellers and trivia ‘Melbourne, Florida’ (Chapter Music) experiments with and enhances Dick Diver’s shimmering pop skills.  The band treads new turf by feeling out instinctively where to take these 12 new songs, searching for a more curious and enigmatic state in their music.  To create that atmosphere Dick Diver recorded this album in a large shed at Apollo Bay, Australia with Mikey Young – setting the scene to achieve a more far reaching sound than they’ve ever done before.  ‘Melbourne, Florida’ incorporates horns, synth, piano and pedal steel alongside the band’s core line up of; two guitarists (Rupert Edwards and Alistair McKay), a drummer (Steph Hughes) and bassist (Al Montfort).  

Since forming in 2008 Dick Diver have released ‘New Start Again’ and ‘Calendar Days’ earning them high praise from various worthy sources, so it’s no surprise to see the buzz around their third record for Chapter Music (Australia)/Trouble In Mind (US).  Literature also seems to be a draw for themes in Dick Diver’s songs, just look at how the band name is lifted from a Fitzgerald character in Tender Is The Night – this carries over fittingly to the first track on ‘Melbourne, Florida’ called ‘Waste The Alphabet’ which McKay wrote with poet Michael Farrell.  A heady pop track touched by bracing melodies you might associate with 90s era indie-rock, songsmith-ery doesn’t get more uplifting than this.  Flipping over ‘Competition’ cuts through with its cyclical synths and pastel-ed vocals, a highlight simply for how mesmerizing it is.  ‘Tearing The Posters Down’ is another banger, “Reading all in upper case / reading all the warning labels / and vaguely hoping they’ll be true / empty house / I can be true – tearing the posters down / from the walls” doubled vocals muse, as the song pushes on and goes up a gear it lets loose, it makes you want to let loose.  It could be the intoxicating harmonies or the repetition of “Tear the posters down” but it musters this reckless, carefree force in the song that makes it jump out on every listen of the album.   

‘Melbourne, Florida’ yields a naturalness and feistiness that makes it a lot of fun – maybe it’s in the way it’s made, it certainly feels like an album written by friends hanging out, not taking things too seriously, questioning everything along the way and in that informal approach created something really accomplished.  Dick Diver have followed their guts making this record and in doing so have harnessed their own distinct interpretation of pop music.  It’s this approach that makes Dick Diver an exciting band to watch out for – this is your alternative to today’s alternative music.

Boyhood : When I'm Hungry

Wow wow wow.   This record from Boyhood came out at the tail end of last year on Bruised Tongue and I’m kind of obsessed with it.  It’s hard to find out much on Caylie Runciman’s career so far other than she’s from Ottawa, has one other EP/Tape out on the same label and ‘When I’m Hungry’ appears to be her first full length album.   Comprised of swampy pop and noise explorations these 12 songs are shrouded in psychedelic weirdness.   ‘When I’m Hungry’ is predominantly an electronic record however,  ‘Heat’ allows guitar to the fore in the closest thing this album comes to traditional indie, and a song that could be considered straight up indie on here still exceeds expectation by delivering something adventurous and electrifying.  Runciman’s vocals get filtered through chewy haze alongside a freely ambling melody line pitting loud and quiet arrangements against each other, and if you think you’ve heard this all before just give it a listen and see how her treatment moves the goal posts of where these sounds can go.  As the album progresses it reveals songs made from pimped subterranean beats, blissed out vocals and spooked guitar work.  Runciman wrote/performed all the songs on here and the interplay between drum machines and a drum kit gives the album different grains to latch on to, checking out ‘Maintaining My Uncool’ followed by ‘Cheddar’ is a great example of that.  ‘Where I’m Going’ fittingly shows how Boyhood captures an immersive pop sound that is sunny as it is sunless , and closer ‘Post Poc’ best describes these shady undertones intermittently emerging throughout.  ‘When I’m Hungry’ is an intimate search of the curiously twisted parts of bedroom pop.  It’s this creeper slant touched by saccharine glamour that makes the LP prevail as a blood-tingling debut release; executed with a forward thinking approach ‘When I’m Hungry’ is effortlessly unpredictable, exuberant and captivating.

Bruised Tongue's Bandcamp is here where the album has a few more track's on it than Boyhood's personal page, copies of the LP are still available too!

Elisa Ambrogio : The Immoralist

Elisa Ambrogio’s debut solo release is a boundary free record remaining in-step with the spontaneous compositional approach you might know from her work as guitar muscle of Magik Markers, whilst incorporating childhood favourites The Poni-Tales, Dixie Cups and Tiffany into 10 new songs with the assistance of Jason Robert Quever.  Sure, it’s poppier than you’ve ever heard Ambrogio before, what also comes to the fore is a penchant for folk amongst some of the places the dowsing rod navigated to...  

Right from when the album gets going with ‘Superstitious’ it suggests themes from Andre Gide's book 'The Immoralist'; desire, nature, beauty, death.  “I don’t believe in ghosts, I don’t believe in thirteen, I don’t throw the tarot, I don’t follow a strategy, but I get superstitious when it comes to you and me” muses Ambrogio in this dreamy ode.  Reverberated vocals, drum machines, strings and guitar builds a lush tone underpinning the whole album.  ‘The Immoralist’ really hits its stride on ‘Stopped Clocks’; a whirling haze of wired guitar, spooked keys and amphetamine beats spiral away until the song plaintively stops dead in its tracks.  'Arkansas’ rounds things off with a sombre refrain hollowed by piano and cello arrangements.  “Sold down the river, He had his pride, A grace in trying, to fight the tide”, it just feels like this track is marking someone who swung and missed but remembering the fact that at least they tried and that made it/them count.  It's this weighty poignancy and immense positivity which are focal to the draw of Ambrogio's new songs. 

I’ll avoid the broken mirrors, cracks in the pavement and walking under ladders if it sweetens the odds of getting more releases like 'The Immoralist' any time soon, great record, out on Drag City.

Mistletone Records : Early Woman & Montero Singles

Mistletone Records has been a Melbourne based label and tour organizer since 2006.  It was only recently I was introduced to them when these two singles were given to me as a gift.  So here we have  Early Woman & Montero 7's.  Tying both together is Ben Montero who is one part of the duo that makes up Early Woman, and works as you may have guessed, solo on Montero. 

Early Woman is Hannah Brooks and Montero.  Brooks, a documentary maker/journalist and Montero, a visual artist, began working together in 2012.  Although coming from contrasting musical backgrounds (Brooks being a member of Spider Vomit, St Helens, Young Professionals and Montero in The Brutals, Treetops),  listening through their other projects it seems where the duo meet is with a penchant for Velvet Underground on single 'I'm A Peach bw/Feathers'.  The A Side is a swaying love song pining away with an upsurge of waltzing beats, chewy guitars and loaded bass, stuck somewhere between desperation and hope.  'Feathers' on the flip side features cello from Jess Venables as well as Robert Bravington and Caitlin Perry, making for a powerfully cinematic, dreamlike piece swooning with gloaming guitars, swirling strings and a melody heavy bass alongside boy/girl harmonies.  'Feathers' couldn't be more different than 'I'm A Peach' in that it feels like the story gets a happy ending.  Early Woman is comprised of opposites that function in perfect harmony when Brooks and Montero put the pieces together, really great single.

'Rainman bw/Mumbai' is the solo single from Montero.  The A Side, plays out an inter-planetary take on 70s California pop sounds.   The track unfurls from a soft choral opening to reverb drenched guitars purling apace with crashing rhythms ascending into one joyous jam.   Mellowed out - 80's something-wave track 'Mumbai' features other-worldly keys and honeyed guitars giving a disarming sense while the track just blisses out.  This single doesn't tie in with anything else I've heard lately, and that's why I like it. It music played by someone focused on sounds they like not even aware, or even concerned maybe, with what everyone else is doing.  It's unguarded, honest and kind of awesome.

Both singles can be found HERE

Mistletone are also on FACEBOOK

Sweet Talk : Last Dance Video

Here we have a new video by Sweet Talk called "Last Dance" in support of their debut album 'Pickup Lines' on 12XU.  The Austin power punk four piece are; Stephen Svacina (Mind Spiders), Harpal Assai, Mitch Frazier (Church Shoes) and Marley Jones (60 Minute Man).  Together they play out chewy rock guitars, gulping bass, forthright rhythms and narrative heavy vocals.  Executed with all the pizazz of power pop bands like Cheap Trick or Gentleman Jesse & His Men whilst showing a penchant for ballistic rock.   Directed by Saman Ghanbar and produced by Svacina you can watch "Last Dance" here...

Sweet Talk Website Facebook

You can find copies of 'Pickup Lines' at 12XU's Website

Fawn Spots : Interview

Fawn Spots are an English band who formed in York a few years ago.  The group are a three piece featuring two guitarists and a drummer.  Throughout some line up changes Fawn Spots have released three EPs on Tie Dye Records, Louder Than War (Southern) and Bad Paintings.  The four song EPs are a warts and all snap shot of what Fawn Spots were achieving at that particular time.  These recordings succinctly capture how their sound has evolved over the last two years, and this new split shows Fawn Spots tightening the screws for their most polished work to date. 

Out next month is Fawn Spots' new split record with Cumstain called 'Wedding Dress', released as an LP on Bad Paintings in the UK and a cassette through Burger Records in America.  These four new songs offer up the raw, ballistic approach you'd expect from Dischord and SST bands mixed with the melodic finesse of early Buzzcocks. "Tailor Made" sets the pace for Fawn Spots' side of the record with its savage take on 80s college rock sounds played out by charged, fuzzy guitars and pummeling beats.  It's this mode of complete frenzy that fittingly describes Fawn Spots style, aptly shown on next track "Watered Down".  Highlight for me is "National Anthem" and you can find out more about the track in the band's own words below as I got a chance to catch up with Fawn Spots before their US tour...

Fawn Spots! You have a new line up – let’s get a run down of who you are and what you all do…

OG: Hi I’m Ollie and I play the guitar.

JM: I’m Jonathan. I play guitar and sing. Sean plays drums.

Have any of you been in or are currently in any other bands?

  

OG: Have I? Yeah I been in a few bands before, I also sometimes play solo. Sean is in a band called Beware Wolf.

JM: I don’t do anything else.

What was the first type of music that made an impression on you?

OG: Well I think the very first time music had a profound effect on me was when I heard Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game. I was in the car on the way home from school and it made me cry. I still really like the song and I would say its pretty fundamental in some of things I do.

JM: The first ‘proper’ record I got was Rage Against the Machine – some older guys on my school bus persuaded me to buy it. After getting over Korn pretty quickly I spent a couple of years obsessed with Smashing Pumpkins so I guess that’s where music started for me.

When did you have that ‘ I can do that moment’ and start playing?

OG: having been brought up surrounded by musical instruments it’s just something I think I have had all my life. In terms of this though, I had that moment when Jon asked me to play,

JM: When I started working full time. I’ve played a bit for a few years, but when I started working I  really needed to do something else.

Did you have a goal in mind when you started Fawn Spots of what you wanted to get out of playing in a band?

JM: I can’t say I had a definite goal, there was no 5 year plan or anything, but I wanted to see how far I could get trying to play shows in good places and maybe eventually release a record. There’s lots of short term goals that change all the time – shows and places we want to play and sounds we want to get - but it’s all toward the same end.

    

Burger Records are doing a cassette version of your new split release with Cumstain 'Wedding Dress' – how did this all come about?

JM: Mike (who I run Bad Paintings with) and I have been massive fans of Burger Records releases for ages. I checked out Cumstain’s record with the Crass style front cover when we played there last year – it’s amazing and they were a natural choice to ask if they wanted to do a split. When we were sorting out our show at Burger this year we dropped them the record and they were in to doing a cassette.

“National Anthem” really stands out on your side of the record, can you tell me a bit about the song?

JM: I don’t think we really know how we want to sound, so I like including tracks on records that don’t directly fit – they’re a break to a record and when we play live. National Anthem was derived from some other little riff I had, and really came to life when we got both guitars working on it – we play most of the same parts all the way through but hopefully the two or three different tones in there hold it together. It was fun to record, we got to mess about with samples and stuff like that – I think this is the only song on the record where there’s other samples on it.

‘Wedding Dress’ is also coming out on Bad Paintings in Europe – Jon, as part of the label I was wondering how you’re finding releasing records in the UK? 

JM: The first couple of 7”s we put out were The Babies and Xiu Xiu so we actually sold more records overseas initially. It was great to put something out by JOEY FOURR (Joe from Tubelord) at the end of last year– he’s one of my favourite UK artists at the moment. It’s been a steep learning curve but we’ve learnt lots and every time we release something we do a little better. There’s a great network of small labels releasing stuff in the UK now, and Tye Die Tapes from Sheffield are a constant source of support and inspiration. We are rubbish at our accounts.

You’re from York where ‘Wrong Side Of The River’ is based and am I right in saying you guys are involved in this collective?  Can you tell us a bit about it?

JM: WSOTR started, and hopefully ended, as a collective project that aimed at being inclusive and open. It was in this unused basement of an art gallery. It was all ages, BYOB and always cheap to get into. We managed to put on some great bands from all over the place, including my favourites Sex Hands and The Babies. People seemed to like the setup and vibe so it was busy even if it was a band people hadn’t really heard off. Unfortunately it’s dead now – we were totally squeezed by the building owners who thought they could turn it into a money making thing, as well as a council who aren’t really pro anything creative and all ages that’s actually interesting. Our last show was with Iceage and it was crazy – Elias fell over the monitor and all sorts of stuff happened.

You’re about to go over to the states and do some shows with Cum Stain – any particular places/shows you’re really looking forward to?

OG: I cant wait to play the Smell -  thats the one I have heard the most about, however I have never been to LA before so I am just really looking forward to being there to be honest.

JM: Burger probably. Lots of beer and records and stuff. Although I’m really excited to check out places in LA I’ve not seen before and  see friends I met last year. There’s a guitar shop called Truetone in Santa Monica that has the best guitar I’ve ever played in it, and Amoeba has an insane collection of records.

Do you prefer playing or recording?

OG: Definitely playing; especially when its a good show, it just puts me on a high. Recording can be fun and it’s really useful for really honing the performance and sound but I get more satisfaction from a crowd than laying down a good recording

JM: I like both. I think they’re designed to go together, and I like each for different reasons. It’s fun to play to get out there and thrash about, but recording means you focus on your sound and your tone. I love writing with a view to playing live, but the end of writing seems like recording if that makes any sense at all.

What else can we expect from Fawn Spots this year?

OG: Hopefully a lot more shows, touring and ideally a full album am I right?

JM: You’re not wrong!

"I'm full of dust and guitars" - Syd Barrett, if you were sliced in half what would be inside?

OG: Probably a huge tapeworm.

JM: The shredded tatters of my dignity.

JM & OG: Sean's full of shit.

'Wedding Dress' is out February 18th on 12" pink vinyl in the UK, cassette in the US and as a download

Fawn Spots Tumblr
Cumstain Tumblr