Star Party - Push You Aside

  

  Although they've only released a Demo ep and had a track included on the Girlsville Records' Paid By Rock compilation since they formed in a Seattle living room in March 2020, Star Party have become a big favourite of mine. The news that there's a debut album out on 11th March has got me more than a little excited. It's gonna be called Meadow Flower and there'll be a ltd edition pastel green vinyl version available so go pre order it now https://starpartyrocks.bandcamp.com/album/meadow-flower

  

   If you heard the 2 songs I've already posted by the band, covers of songs you may have previously heard by The Shop Assistants & The Primitives, you'll know they're influenced by fuzzed up, C86 era indie pop. The album is said to "seamlessly mesh together noise, melody, and harmony as Carolyn Brennan's soft and clearly American vocals float over waves of feedback and drum machine racket like a delicate mist sitting just above a mountain lake."  Yep, it's an album I'm definitely looking forward to!

  This is a taste of what to expect. It's called Push You Aside... 

Artsick - Stress Bomb

 

  Last month I posted a song by Kids On A Crime Spree (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2021/12/kids-on-crime-spree-when-can-i-see-you.html) and whilst I was checking out their new album on the Slumberland Bandcamp page I also had a listen to a couple of tracks from another of the label's upcoming releases. They were teaser tracks for an album by Oakland trio Artsick and they were very good so I made a mental note to check out the full length. 

  And now it's out, it's titled Fingers Crossed and I like it. 

  Before writing this I did a quick double check to make sure I'd not featured the band before and I haven't, but I have mentioned them a couple of times whilst posting songs by Boyracer. It turns out that Christina Riley is also a member of both Boyracer and Burnt Palms. Drummer Mario Hernandez is also in Kids On A Crime Spree and Ciao Bella whilst bassist Donna McMean has been in Lunchbox & Hard Left (a band much loved round here and who need to get a move on releasing new material!). 

  Being a Slumberland Records release you won't be surprised to hear that Fingers Crossed is an indie punk delight. Think C86, think Talulah Gosh, think scuffed up pop with a jagged edge. Or as the label describes it, "an album just bursting with racket and heartbreak and love and enthusiasm." Enjoy...  https://artsick.bandcamp.com/album/fingers-crossed 

  Despise was the song that initially made my ears prick up a few weeks ago (I played it on the show at the time) but I'll post one of the other album tracks today, this is one of those tambourine led, shambling kind of songs that's easy to fall in love with, it's called Stress Bomb... 

Neutrals - Personal Computing

    

  It seems like ages since today's song was going down a storm with the chatroom listeners on the Just Some Punk Songs show (a check reveals it was the 11th of October) but the single and accompanying video were only released last week so it's a perfect excuse to get the band back on here. 

  If you've missed their 3 previous appearances (the last of which was earlier this year with a fabulous cover of The Exploited's Hitler's In The Charts Again), a quick recap. They're a post-punk indie pop trio based in Oakland, California who feature the distinctive vocals of relocated Glaswegian Allan McNaughton (he's ably backed by Phil Benson (bass/vocals) & Phil Lantz (drums). Last year saw them release debut album Kebab Disco, an impressive mash up of 70's & 80's punk with C86 era jangle pop.

 

  2020 has seen them continue in a similar vein with the Rent/Your House ep and now the Personal Computing 7". The orange vinyl version  is available if you do the Slumberland Records subscription, but the black vinyl can be bought separately on its own online, and it is available in shops :     https://www.slumberlandrecords.com/slr30singles 

  You can find the digital version here : https://neutrals.bandcamp.com/album/personal-computing 

   In The Future predicts that life will be good; modern homes...geodesic domes, plenty of food, no more wars, robots to do our work and even flying cars. It's an bittersweet song recorded before the Covid outbreak as we realise it's a future that'll probably never transpire. 

  The title track ups the pace a little with some gentle Wedding Present style jangling and joyful backing vocals. It's about an obsession with computer magazines and obsolete machines (the one's that you sat there for ages staring at as they took forever to load). This is Personal Computing...  

  

Star Party - Something to Do

    

  Did anyone else buy UK music paper The New Musical Express (NME) on a regular basis back when they were younger? I think I probably read most issues for a decade or so from 1978 onwards and so it's no surprise I had the C86 cassette in my record collection. No doubt you'll remember it was compiled by a few of the NME writers and featured some of the best indie bands around at that time (The Wedding Present, Primal Scream, The Soup Dragons, Shop Assistants etc). It was almost as if a generation of kids with no budget were joining together in a movement directly opposing the stadium rocking Live Aid type mega bands. The title, C86, went on to be a tag used to describe many an indie band that wrote rough and ready pop songs, played jangly guitars or maybe drenched their sound in varying degrees of distortion or feedback. Including the one I'm featuring today... 

  Star Party are a trio from Washington State who feature Ian Corrigan (Vexx & Gen Pop), Carrie Brennan and Sophie Hendry (Firewalker & Leather Daddy). They recently introduced themselves with a 4 track demo which they describe as "saturated, misty coastal rock." It's inspired by both 80's Scottish punk and 90's American dream pop. It's like The Jesus And Mary Chain meeting up with Aislers Set. It's fuzzy pop goodness. It's both familiar and very fresh. 

  There's a couple of covers, a great version of The Shop Assistant's 1984 debut single Something To Do (recorded when they were still called Buba & The Shop Assistants) and a song which originally featured on the 1964 Bob Dylan album Another Side Of Bob Dylan and was also a hit for both The Byrds and Cher). The other 2 tracks are originals and, boding well for future releases, they don't suffer in comparison to the covers.  

  The cassette version is up for pre order and will ship next month from Feel It Records (https://www.feelitrecordshop.com/collections/preorders/products/star-party-demo-2020-cs-preorder) whilst the digital version is available as a name your price download :   https://starpartyrocks.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2020 

   I'll play the Dylan cover on Sunday's Just Some Punk Songs show but today you're getting Something To Do...  

I know it's just a feeling
I know it's just me
I never know what to say
I always get it wrong
Stomping around
Confused as usual
I need a piñata
or something will go wrong

 just can't seem to keep my head straight
I just can't seem to get it right

That's a thing that makes me feel sad
Tears in your eyes
Something to do with love
It has something to do with something called love

 

All Ashore! - 17 Again

  Whenever I'm asked what my favourite ever songs are, my obvious choices are punk songs. Not all of them are though as I usually include Talulah Gosh in there (case in point is the Top 10 I chose on my birthday 6 years ago https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2014/11/its-my-birthday-so-today-you-get-my-top.html). Along with the likes of The Wedding Present, early My Bloody Valentine, Girls At Our Best etc they're the kind of punk influenced indie bands that have provided much enjoyment down the years. I do like that kind of indie music but either I've not been paying enough attention or it's not been as much in evidence in recent years. And then BOOM! A song that makes me think it's 1986 again. One that would have been a firm favourite back then and is one now.

  All Ashore are new to me. I know very little about them but it appears as though they're from Sheffield, are ex members of Sheffield bands such as Velodrome 2000, Plouf! and Parallelograms and they "recapture the breathless rush of fuzzy jangly lo-fi pop like Shop Assistants, Talulah Gosh and 14 Iced Bears." Other influences include Ramones, Helen Love, Television Personalities, Moldy Peaches, Buzzcocks and Bearsuit.

  They've an album on the way from Cardiff label Daytrip Records. Titled Stayin' Afloat, it's produced by Alan Smyth (who's worked with the likes of Pulp, Arctic Monkeys and The Long Blondes) and it'll be available in November on vinyl and digital download :   https://daytriprecords.bandcamp.com/album/stayin-afloat

  There's a couple of tracks already streaming, Radio Sunshine is an upbeat tambourine led shimmy shimmy delight but the real winner is the song that name checks the aforementioned Talulah Gosh. It's one for grown up twee kids everywhere. Back in the day this kind of song was gracing cassettes in the NME, now it's getting the fanboy treatment on your favourite blogs. It's called 17 Again...