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...  

  

Neutrals - Hitler's In The Charts Again

  I've got to be honest, whilst previously featuring a couple of songs on here by Oakland band Neutrals (https://www.facebook.com/neutralsnotswiss/), I never expected in my wildest dreams that they'd be back with a cover of a track that featured on the same ep as Dead Cities, the song that had much of Britain spluttering out their evening hot chocolate as a bunch of colourfully coiffured angry looking rowdies called The Exploited made a highly memorable Top Of The Pops appearance. But they are and whilst it's on first glance a left field choice of a song to cover it's also an inspired one that makes total sense.

  As you may already know, Neutrals are 2 Americans called Phil (Benson & Lantz) and a Scot called Allan (McNaughton). They released a very good album last year titled Kebab Disco, it was a semi autobiographical indie post-punk delight that you should check out if it passed you by. Next month sees them releasing a new ep, it's called Rent/Your House and it contains 5 new tracks. The vinyl version is via Portland Oregon label Domestic Departure and all proceeds from the ep go towards 2 very deserving causes; RAICES (The Refugee and Immigrant Centre for Education and Legal Services) and Border Angels.  You can expect C-86 influenced spiky jangle punk on subjects such as struggling to keep the bailiffs at bay and musclebound oafs that talk with their knuckles so watch out for it : https://neutrals.bandcamp.com/album/rent-your-house-e-p
(If you get on that Bandcamp page quickly, they've made available for one day only an unreleased track titled Bus Stop Nights and all funds raised from it will go towards supporting Bay Area relief efforts serving the vulnerable during this current crisis).

    This track is in protest of the treatment by the current US administration towards immigrants and refugees and about the growing threat of fascism around the world. It's called Hitler's In The Charts Again...

Listen to the sound
Of the soldiers dancing
Armageddon time
On the firing line
Don't know what they're doing
Looks like trouble's brewing
Wunderbar
Auf Wiedersehen

Hitler's in the charts again
Hitler's in the charts again

You look like a tramp
Put you in a camp
Join the shower queue
In your dancing shoes
Be the dancing champ
Of your concentration camp
Keep on movin' fast
Remember Belsen was a gas

Hitler's in the charts again
Hitler's in the charts again

Moving in trance watch the soldiers dance
Bloodstains on their feet scared of everyone you meet
Armys on the street can you feel the heat
Watch the soldiers fall it couldn't happen here

Neutrals - Hate the Summer of Love

  Towards the end of 2017 I posted a song I'd stumbled across by Oakland (California) band Neutrals. Titled Motorcycle Cop (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2017/11/neutrals-motorcycle-cop.html), it was a catchy indie singalong and it featured on their Promotional Cassette 2. A band worth keeping an eye on I thought. https://www.facebook.com/neutralsnotswiss/

  Fast forward to June 2019 and the release of debut album Kebab Disco. The first thing you'll probably notice about the band is that vocalist Allan McNaughton has a Scottish accent. He's a native Glaswegian. Alongside him in the band are a couple of Phils, Phil Benson (bass/vocals) and Phil Lantz (drums). The next thing you'll notice is the music. It's indie punk. It's C86 inspired post punk. It'll have you racking your brains to decide who you think it sounds like (Maximumrocknroll suggests they'd fit in next to Monochrome Set on the Cherry Red Roster or maybe alongside Meat Whiplash on Creation). The album's a loose life story of singer Allan, side one set in Scotland, side 2 in San Francisco. If you were a fan of Scottish bands like Ballboy or Arab Strap, Neutrals might be for you (though they're possibly a little more lively). Give them a try, they're good. https://emotional-response-recs.bandcamp.com/album/kebab-disco

  There were a few songs I was toying with highlighting but as they've released a video I'll go with this. It's "a reaction to the celebrations around the anniversary of the summer of love in San Francisco; there was something gross about this place which is the most visible representation of the vast imbalance between the haves and the have-nots, patting themselves on the back for some celebration of ‘revolution’ that was really about flares, tie-dye and drugs, ignoring any of the positive ideas or true radicalism of the 60's counter-culture. A rose-tinted John Lennon specs view of the world as it was then."  I Hate The Summer Of Love...

Neutrals - Motorcycle Cop

 

  Neutrals are a couple of guys called Phil and one called Allan and they're from Oakland, California. Relocated Glaswegian Allan McNaughton plays guitar and sings, Phil Benson plays bass and sings whilst Phil Lantz is the drummer and is responsible for recording their music.

  Last year they released the snappily titled Promotional Cassette (official demo of summer 2016). It was such a good title they decided to call their latest release Promotional Cassette 2. They remind me a little bit in places of Suburban Homes with their cool sounding diy indie/post-punk tunes and I'd recommend you check them out on Bandcamp and Facebook (they definitely deserve more than their present 182 likes so click that button!).

 https://neutrals.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/neutralsnotswiss/

  This is the lead track from the new record, it's called Motorcycle Cop....