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viewing 1 To 12 of 12 items
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SCRATCHY 097CD
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Hank Dogs is Andy Allan, his partner Piano, and Lily, Andy's daughter from a previous relationship. They started out at folk clubs in London in the early 1990s before going worldwide in 1998 when legendary producer and late '60s folk rock guru, Joe Boyd declared them the first British act he'd loved in 30 years. Their debut album Bareback saw them touring the US with Joan Baez and winning fans with their quiet, haunting sound featuring ethereal vocal harmonies, strong traces of blues and Celtic music and Allan's fluid acoustic finger-picking recalling UK folk guitarists such as John Renbourn. A follow up album Half Smile appeared in 2002 but this turned out to be their swansong. However, the story was not quite over yet -- a third unreleased album Fiveways had been recorded before they went their separate ways and now it's finally seeing the light of day on South London label Scratchy Records. Fiveways contains much of the Hank Dogs' trademark English folk/US country-straddling sound. Piano's voice bounces between early Suzanne Vega, Tracey Thorn and Mary Margaret O'Hara with occasional hints of Dolores Cranberry and Bridget St. John, while underneath the acoustic guitars run freeform tangled and Lily's backing vocals add sky. Stand out track "Logic" with its pensive lyrics and haunting guitar line recalls the way Suzanne Vega could sometimes make songs stand still in their tracks but it's the dreamy "Nut" that really captures the mood. It is the sound of two ex-lovers still able to work together but unable to hide the odd dig here and there. Andy sings a few songs too including the raggedy, swashbuckling "Gazetteer." This album is definitely one for the dreamers. FFO Pentangle, The Innocence Mission, and William Blake.
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SCRATCHY 096LP
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LP version. Hank Dogs is Andy Allan, his partner Piano, and Lily, Andy's daughter from a previous relationship. They started out at folk clubs in London in the early 1990s before going worldwide in 1998 when legendary producer and late '60s folk rock guru, Joe Boyd declared them the first British act he'd loved in 30 years. Their debut album Bareback saw them touring the US with Joan Baez and winning fans with their quiet, haunting sound featuring ethereal vocal harmonies, strong traces of blues and Celtic music and Allan's fluid acoustic finger-picking recalling UK folk guitarists such as John Renbourn. A follow up album Half Smile appeared in 2002 but this turned out to be their swansong. However, the story was not quite over yet -- a third unreleased album Fiveways had been recorded before they went their separate ways and now it's finally seeing the light of day on South London label Scratchy Records. Fiveways contains much of the Hank Dogs' trademark English folk/US country-straddling sound. Piano's voice bounces between early Suzanne Vega, Tracey Thorn and Mary Margaret O'Hara with occasional hints of Dolores Cranberry and Bridget St. John, while underneath the acoustic guitars run freeform tangled and Lily's backing vocals add sky. Stand out track "Logic" with its pensive lyrics and haunting guitar line recalls the way Suzanne Vega could sometimes make songs stand still in their tracks but it's the dreamy "Nut" that really captures the mood. It is the sound of two ex-lovers still able to work together but unable to hide the odd dig here and there. Andy sings a few songs too including the raggedy, swashbuckling "Gazetteer." This album is definitely one for the dreamers. FFO Pentangle, The Innocence Mission, and William Blake.
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SCRATCHY 070LP
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Following The Moon is essentially a solo album -- with a lot of help. It was recorded at Bark Studios in Walthamstow by Brian O'Shaughnessy (Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Beth Orton), who had worked with Simon Berridge on the last two Bromide albums. The album features drummer Fells Guilherme (Children of The Pope), bassist Ed "Cosmo" Wright, multi-instrumentalists Dave Hale, Dimitri Ntontis and Stephen Elwell, as well as folk-pop chanteuse Katy Carr on piano and Terry Edwards (Nick Cave, Tom Waits, P.J. Harvey) on trumpet. Scottish singer Julie Anne McCambridge joins Simon on the closing track, the William Blake penned "Earth's Answer". This is Berridge's first output since Bromide's Ancient Rome and I'll Never Learn singles, both released in 2020. Their most recent album I Woke Up (SCRATCHY 050CD/LP), with singles Magic Coins and Two Song Slot, was met with popular acclaim, receiving positive reviews and airplay in dozens of countries. Influenced equally by The Beatles, Neil Young, Mark Eitzel, and Bob Mould, Simon Berridge creates ultra-catchy, jangly acoustic pop/electric rock. Album track "The Skehans Song" pays homage to the club and features the Easycome Choir with Andy Hankdog, Scarlett Woolfe, and Vincent Davies.
"A febrile soul who can do pop in many voices" --Melody Maker.
"Simon Berridge's voice is as strong as ever, with the songwriter only gaining in sound and fury" --Clash Magazine.
"This is catchy, upbeat, well-structured and impeccably delivered -- with a winner of a debut release, Simon Bromide has our attention!" --The Spill Magazine.
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SCRATCHY 080LP
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Old school friends and long-time collaborators, Mark Rowland and Paul Webber formed The Volunteered at the tail end of 2019 when they started working on new songs channeling old indie rock heroes such as Built to Spill, Guided By Voices, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Belle & Sebastian. They put out the We Fall Apart EP in 2020 as a modest self-release and now, what started as a way to keep busy during lockdown has been expanded into a full-length vinyl. "We had the vague notion of recording an album at some point in 2020," says Mark "and we definitely intended to play more shows. We were talking to people about joining the band. It was supposed to be a big year for us." Then, the pandemic happened. Stuck indoors with all plans put on ice, Mark and Paul went through their demo recordings to see what they had to work with. They took elements of those recordings, added to them, and started working on some new songs. Along the way, they recruited some friends to guest on the record, including future Volunteered member Elizabeth Sadzik, Detroit-based singer-songwriter Cody Ketchum, René Methner of German indie rock band Para Lia, solo artist Ritch Spence and Simon Bromide. It's a varied listen, from the pounding, tuneful fuzz of lead single "Going to Amsterdam" to the atmospheric heart-string puller "The Lights". Everywhere you look there are hooks waiting to pull you in and some great pop songwriting recalling everyone from Buddy Holly and Weezer to The Triffids and Pearl Jam.
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7"
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SCRATCHY 064EP
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One friend. Two bands. And so it was that Manchester's Easter and London's Bromide met in their mutual pal Dave Armes's address book (of Last Harbour, LCR Records, and A-Sun Amissa sidekick repute). Soon after Easter were on their way down t'smoke to play at Bromide's place, namely the Birds Nest in Deptford. And verily did they smash it! So much so that Bromide singer Simon immediately thought about putting something out on his Scratchy Records label. And why not keep the threads twisting and make it a joint release! Especially as both bands share a love of alt. sounds from across the pond back in dem '90s days. Easter feasting on Buffalo Tom's heavier riffs, Yo La Tengo and San Francisco's "Swell", while Bromide reminded Easter's mainman Tom of "Nada Surf and Big Star and that New Zealand power pop stuff..." So the split-single was born. Easter taking the A with "Doubt Rings", a propulsive guitar-lashed gallop thru the relationship forest with Bromide on the AA offering "I'll Never Learn" from last 2018's I Woke Up album on Scratchy (SCRATCHY 050CD/LP), an up/downbeat reflective tale that dries solid on the choruses when the fuzz kicks in.
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SCRATCHY 061EP
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"Magic Coins" is an unexpected rhythm track that is seemingly drum and bass-inspired, written collectively by all three band members. Hailing from London, Bromide are Simon Berridge on vocals and guitar, Ed Lush on drums, and Hugo Wilkinson on bass. These songbirds worship at the altars of Hüsker Dü, Teenage Fanclub, The Replacements, Guided By Voices, Dinosaur Jr., The Only Ones, Buffalo Tom, and other melodic rockers equally obsessed by songs, songwriting, and the euphoria associated with playing music through amplified electronic equipment.
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SCRATCHY 050CD
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In 2015, London-based Bromide got their electric shoes back on with new bass player Hugo Wilkinson joining long-term collaborators, singer-guitarist Simon Berridge, and drummer Ed Lush. Again, stuffed full of pop delights struggling to reach the three-minute mark -- such as "Two Song Slot", the story of a disastrous open-mic encounter turning into a last-minute victory and "Tale To Tell", a conscience-pricked near perfect example of the Bromide sound written in the studio while recording -- the album also sees the band begin to stretch their wings a bit. "Magic Coins" has an unexpected almost drum and bass inspired rhythm track while title track "I Woke Up" is a six-minute Doorsian odyssey. Elsewhere Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot" is given a thorough work out, plus there are contributions from the rhythm section with Lush writing the music for both "I'll Never Learn" and "Always Now", while Wilkinson provides a breath of fresh air in proceedings with the instrumental "Futurist Shore Leave". With I Woke Up, Bromide have firmly fixed the songwriter onto the band and vice-a-versa. As one recent twitter live review summed up "They rock hard but the tunes come first: like Elvis Costello fronting Dinosaur Jr". Ain't gonna argue with that.
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SCRATCHY 050LP
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LP version. In 2015, London-based Bromide got their electric shoes back on with new bass player Hugo Wilkinson joining long-term collaborators, singer-guitarist Simon Berridge, and drummer Ed Lush. Again, stuffed full of pop delights struggling to reach the three-minute mark -- such as "Two Song Slot", the story of a disastrous open-mic encounter turning into a last-minute victory and "Tale To Tell", a conscience-pricked near perfect example of the Bromide sound written in the studio while recording -- the album also sees the band begin to stretch their wings a bit. "Magic Coins" has an unexpected almost drum and bass inspired rhythm track while title track "I Woke Up" is a six-minute Doorsian odyssey. Elsewhere Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot" is given a thorough work out, plus there are contributions from the rhythm section with Lush writing the music for both "I'll Never Learn" and "Always Now", while Wilkinson provides a breath of fresh air in proceedings with the instrumental "Futurist Shore Leave". With I Woke Up, Bromide have firmly fixed the songwriter onto the band and vice-a-versa. As one recent twitter live review summed up "They rock hard but the tunes come first: like Elvis Costello fronting Dinosaur Jr". Ain't gonna argue with that.
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7"
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SCRATCHY 048EP
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Three minutes of perfect pop gushing rock n' roll wonderment. Coach Hop is the new outfit from natty frontman Charlie Honderick. Previously to be found in the cockpit with festival-slayers-in-waiting "Hamptons", Charlie is the possessor of a rich, at times almost John Grant-esque baritone and a stage demeanor not unlike fellow American Dave Lee Roth. Now teaming up with producer Natt Webb, Charlie has found the perfect foil for his songwriting. This is celebratory music that cuts loose from any sense of self-consciousness and it's highly likely you'll want to climb on board with him.
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SCRATCHY 045LP
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LP version. Over the eight tracks that make Goodness Flows, Jonny Velon ventures across a lush ear-worm-infested terrain, trying to make sense of his life and his surroundings in the midst of a mental breakdown. It's a fascinating ride with any number of different drivers at the controls including Arc Of A Diver-era Steve Winwood (1980), Peter Gabriel, David Bowie (be-suited crooner version), and a largely forgotten '70s songwriter, Murray Head, whose 1975 album Say It Ain't So could easily be twinned with Goodness Flows. There are funky tropical horns all over the place, especially on "I Am Always Me"; transcendental Indian influences of "The White City"; a heat haze shimmering intro to "Travelling" could have fallen straight off the cult film Baraka (1992) and back in Blighty piano traffic jams rocking "The Cambridge Squeeze". At every turn there's another turn, as Jonny and an array of talented musicians twist in and out of musical styles, all woven seamlessly into his own autobiographical, prog diary.
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SCRATCHY 047CD
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Over the eight tracks that make Goodness Flows, Jonny Velon ventures across a lush ear-worm-infested terrain, trying to make sense of his life and his surroundings in the midst of a mental breakdown. It's a fascinating ride with any number of different drivers at the controls including Arc Of A Diver-era Steve Winwood (1980), Peter Gabriel, David Bowie (be-suited crooner version), and a largely forgotten '70s songwriter, Murray Head, whose 1975 album Say It Ain't So could easily be twinned with Goodness Flows. There are funky tropical horns all over the place, especially on "I Am Always Me"; transcendental Indian influences of "The White City"; a heat haze shimmering intro to "Travelling" could have fallen straight off the cult film Baraka (1992) and back in Blighty piano traffic jams rocking "The Cambridge Squeeze". At every turn there's another turn, as Jonny and an array of talented musicians twist in and out of musical styles, all woven seamlessly into his own autobiographical, prog diary. CD version includes three bonus tracks.
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SCRATCHY 040CD
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The third helping from art-pop prankster Alvin Spetz, the maverick singer-songwriter responsible for two of the most eccentric and original albums of the 2010s. Released under the Full English Breakfast moniker, his self-titled debut and the follow-up, Candy In Weightlessness, earned rave reviews, from broadsheets to blogs. With The Mixtape of Things, Spetz moves on up through the daily nutritional cycle and introduces his That Will Be Lunch alias. The Mixtape of Things is full of songs (some only just scraping past 30 seconds), which evoke children's TV themes one moment and industrial clubs from the future the next. In this unsettling but always playful landscape, one almost half-expects the whimsical paean to the snacks marketing division of British supermarket chain Waitrose when it arrives in the shape of "The Campaign For Plain Nuts." Nestled among all the strangeness is an inspired cover of the Talking Heads classic "One In A Lifetime." Spetz has delved deep into the DNA of this groundbreaking track and extracted what can only be described as "previously unseen footage." Like an inquisitive kid, he takes the engine apart without a hope in hell of ever putting it back together again. Spetz discovered music while studying at the University of Aberdeen in the '80s. Inspired by the fledgling indie sounds of Edwyn Collins, The Fall, Josef K, and The Pop Group, he embarked on a journey that's included nascent recordings with members of The Shamen, ventures into Sufism and the resultant hounding from tabloids, the immolation of everything he's ever recorded, and one gig. Ever. In Belgium.
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