Royal Headache : High

There hasn’t been a follow up album more talked about than Royal Headache’s for quite some time.  And, since ordering my copy online I feel a little like I’m wading in after many glowing reviews have already sung its’ praises, I don’t know if anyone even needs my unprofessional opinion at this stage, but here it is;  ‘High’ is 10 tracks of pure bloody joy.  They’ve written an album that’s raw, direct and fun, reflecting on reality in contrast to fantasy.   

The opener called ‘Fantasy’ explores this idea looking at everyday life being in a band compared to the mythology of a “rock ‘n’ roll life style”.   Chugging, hyper guitars, saccharine keys, racing beats and a rubbery bass set the tone for the album, balancing total euphoria with a sense of restlessness.  This is pursued through the album, particularly when we reach ‘Carolina’.  Hall hollers “now your future passions do you harm, you know you should have never left the farm, somebody save her”, over fuzzed out guitars (Law) and bass (Joe) held up by solid pop fuelled beats (Shortty).   This is the first track to get a video treatment off ‘High’, directed by Damian Sawyers and catered by Lawrence’s Mum the video brilliantly shows the boundless energy that the record is chock full of.   ‘Garbage’ is another song on repeat, I could listen to that heady bass riff all day – “you’re as low as they come, you’re not punk, you’re just scum, you’re garbage,” Hall protests in his fiercly raspy register.  Released via Distant and Vague Recordings in Australia/NZ then What’s Your Rupture everywhere else the LP seems to have disappeared pretty quickly, and it’s easy to see why.  Leaving just as fast as they charged in ‘Electric Shock’ certainly captures the manic pace on ‘High’,  it shows the need for focus in a state of agitation, existing in the middle somewhere is what informs these songs; and the desire to breakaway, flip over and start again.

Listen on Royal Headache's BANDCAMP

 

Tronics 'Love Backed By Force'

Love Backed by Force is the third album in the Tronics cannon following What's the Hubbub Bub, also from '81, and it is the group's most immediate release. Here Zarjaz offers up discordant melodies, candied guitars and minimal rhythms made up of bongos, tambourines and handclaps. These tracks weave folk, pop and electronic elements into a piece heavily influenced by the Nadsat language used in the cult classic film, A Clockwork Orange. Interplanetary opener "Charlie Manson" features warbled digital effects revealing Zarjaz's flare for computerized sounds. Yet the bulk of the album takes a different shape, with rock guitars alongside nursery rhyme melodies with repetitive lyrics delivered deadpan. "I've got this crush on you, and it's crushing me," Zarjaz confesses in "Crush on You," accompanied by infectious bright fuzzy guitars set to chugging stripped-down rhythms. Another standout track is "My Baby's in a Coma" featuring a cheery tune offset by cheerless lyrics -- it's this tragicomic point of view that aptly describes Tronics' approach, with a style of songwriting that influenced a legion of UK indie bands who came after, from the Smiths on down. Love Backed by Force is where Zarjaz began to develop his self-styled "baroqueabilly" aesthetic, and utilized it to charge the gates of this new thing called post-punk. What's Your Rupture? has certainly done the Tronics catalog justice, absolutely recommended.
(written for edited by Other Music)

Find copies at Other Music & What's Your Rupture?

Tronics 'Shark Fucks/Time Off'

What’s Your Rupture? kick off their 2012 roster in fine style by reissuing a slice of UK/DIY history, Tronics 45 'Shark Fucks/Time Off' released with original art-work; any friend of a blood splattered head is a friend of mine.

Zarjaz (a nickname based on a futuristic comic book ‘2000 AD’) began playing music in his early teens on the fringes of West London. Touted as the “essence of Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Melody Maker, Zarjaz otherwise received little to no promotion, he had only played a handful of shows with a modest out put of records before facing scenes of teen hysteria. Too much attention from over zealous fans, and not enough from the music industry turned Zarjaz into a recluse. These days Zarjaz remains an elusive character partially due to ongoing mental health issues, yet curiously continues to retain success whilst virtually being an anonymous artist in the UK.

At 16 Zarjaz recorded Tronic’s first single ‘Suzy b/w Favourite Girls’ produced by John Edwards linked to The Who producer Shil Talmy. What’s pivotal about this release was support from Rough Trade’s Geoff Travis who encouraged and partly funded the pressing. This first single would become, arguably, a pre-cursor for English Post Punk and Indie music.

Hot off the heels of this single came a cassette that would change the game for independent music. In 1980 self released cassette 'The Tronics', described by NME as the original “Indie Album”, became the first independent record to be distributed internationally. A trend was born that saw countless artists follow suit; home recording, self-releasing, taking things into their own hands. If any further testimony is needed as to how crucial this tape was, look around today, cassettes are experiencing resurgence for these very reasons.

BSide ‘Time Off’ is taken from this very cassette, an attention flipping number switching from sultry to skittish whilst provocative in equal measure. The first half of the song features a flirtatious spoken word piece, interjected by acerbic pop-inspired post punk allowing Zarjaz to yelp his words across. “Why don’t we take the day off?” he asks in a playful yet toneless manner alongside a saccharine guitar, keys and saxophone.

ASide ‘Shark Fucks’, originally released through Alien Records, is a song quintessentially quotidian and British as you’ll ever hear. Taken from album ‘What’s the Hubbub Bub’ where Zarjaz experimented recording live in the kitchen of his Earls Court flat. His trash-poetry is delivered catatonically with repetitive guitars built on a base of minimal tapping rhythms. Tronics output isn't one to be aligned or compared with bands that came before rather, Tronics are referenced as an influence by bands who came after.

I’m looking at you messthetics-heads, LoFi-fiends, post-punk-people-oids, if you’re looking for a copy of this single that isn’t scratched the search is over! If Tronics are just coming on to your radar, What’s Your Rupture? has made it super easy (and infinitely cheaper than coughing up for the original pressing) to pick up a seminal piece of UK Underground music.



Find copies at What's Your Rupture? and Other Music