Reviews by henry-winchester

Ska that I actually liked, WTF.

I think I had this when I was about 20, didn't really get it at the time. I understand it a bit more now though.

I liked this as an alternative to the sausage fest that was late-00s/early-10s music.

Better than I initially thought it would be

What even is this.

Love their style, but it did get a bit tedious after a while.

The metal bits of this are great, the techno bits not so much. And I usually like German techno! Actually, the metal bits aren't that good either. It's all awful.

Wanted to give this a low rating as I initially thought it was Kate Bush if Kate Bush wasn't weird, but it's definitely more than that, and Cornflake Girl is still such a remarkable song.

Enjoyed it

One of those bands I've heard a lot about, but never actually heard. I looved Imperial Drag and this is a bit like them, but also quite a lot like XTC. But also slightly disappointing if I'm honest.

I'm old enough to remember the cool kids having 30 Something long-sleeve t-shirts in the 90s, and I'm also old enough to realise that these "cool" kids weren't actually that cool, it's just that I thought they were cool.

A bit like Carter themselves, weird and gawky and not quite like any other band before or since (except Pulp, maybe), but somehow funny and cynical and smart at the same time. I feel like it's one of the few albums that's better than I remember it, if only because I understand it more now.

Okonkole y Trompa 😮

Enjoyed this more than I thought I might, self-reflexive country and western that's a great deal smarter than the slop this genre became in the 80s and 90s.

I needed to focus and this had too many words.

The story about the woman on the cover is more interesting than the album itself.

Do Summer of 69!

So small and perfectly formed, and a stepping stone between 80s indie and 90s shoegaze. Assumed they were from Austin or somewhere but they're actually from Bristol!

Didn't really feel anything?

In 1985, Arthur Russell was employed by GRANT guitar effects pedals to record a demo of their equipment. Unforunately, Russell spend all of his advance on LSD. While the recording (World of Echo) demonstrated the full potential of the pedals, it was so weird that it sunk GRANT and there is no evidence of their existence, not even on the internet.

Kind of music I probably would have loved at the time. Takes a lot more from bands the other side of the pond at this time (Slint, Sonic Youth) than their Britpop brethren, while also sounding a bit like Mogwai or Arab Strap. Desolate and dispondent in the best possible ways.