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Physical Format-20190501

  • Published in Columns

 

Only just over a year now separates the tunes being reviewed in this column from the time of their first play & an opinion being expressed. How many bands will therefore be known elements due to being that bit fresher in memory if heard from other sources?

April 2018 turns up none.

Island were apparently set for "a huge year" at the time of 'Ride' and 'The Day I Die' being the lead disc in this box. Having never heard of them up to this point we're either dealing with a different definition of huge or my head's even further in the sand than I thought. Within the first couple of bars on the silver 7" it's pretty obvious this will be in the earnest, yearning, indie rock camp & so it proves. I've definitely never heard it before so maybe they had a whimper rather than a bang last year. The first side is not even half done before I've seen on Discogs that the disc last sold earlier this year for a whole quid. Five folk want it though so I'll list it. A swift play of the B side confirms this to be the right course of action. The band have an album out and one live date coming up this summer, according to their site.
 
Chloe Black's photo in the accompanying booklet immediately has me expecting to not be a fan of 'Good Times' and 'Waterbed'. The transparent vinyl is as seethrough as the style of synthetic, Lana Del Ray-lite pop on offer. She's been at it for three years at least though so fair play in terms of persistence. Again five folk seem to be after the disc online so if I can get £6 that's a win. The B side is as 'raunchy' as you'd expect from the title. Yawn. Chloe's website shows she's mainly been making double entendres on Facebook of late.
 
Team Picture seem to favour white dungarees in their promotional picture, another warning sign. '(I Have A) Little Secret' sounds like ABC in places, which is no bad thing but it's pretty unmemorable stuff. '(I Want Your) Life Hack' begins very slowly. It's then got a dirtier guitar sound than the A side and a bit more oomph but again it's not really anything special. The band's website's Live link informs you that they're about to finish a short tour of the UK.
 
Three discs in and I've yet to play a track all the way through. Will Jerry Williams or Tuska change that?
 
The former immediately brings Lily Allen to mind so it's hard to maintain interest in 'Grab Life'. 'Babe' is a lot better as it sounds more honest. Not hard to listen to the whole thing as it only seems to last 90 seconds or so. One which more could be done with. Not a keeper though and potentially another £6. Jerry unfortunately shares a name with a popular old Swedish singer so online it's been a bit hard to find out what she's currently up to but there is this.
 
Tuska are a duo from London. They may have listened to some early Tame Impala in their time, given the similarity their take on psychedelia has to that. 'God Knows Why' isn't bad, indeed by the time it gets to the mainly instrumental final quarter it's a very pleasant listen. Then it just stops. 'Ambrosia' is more of the same but a bit less engaging. According to Discogs four people want the disc, yet there is no sales history and nine people have it for sale, from as low as 76p but I can apparently possibly get a tenner for it. I'll take that gamble. According to Facebook the duo have done nothing in the past year.
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Team Picture Share New Single & Tour

  • Published in News

Leeds-based six-piece, Team Picture are today sharing their new track, ’Clone You’. Co-produced with Chris Mulligan (Treeboy & Arc, WH Lung), the track, which was initially penned during the band’s infancy, arrives as part of a AA-side alongside ‘Bedroom Genius’ which is due for physical release as a limited edition cassette via Big Dumb Music. In-line with sharing the material, the band have announced details of a headline tour in April 2018 which takes in a stop at London’s The Macbeth on April 25.

Speaking about the release, guitarist JL says: “‘Clone You’ and ‘Bedroom Genius’ are two songs dating from a period when we were still experimenting with different sounds and lineups which would culminate in Recital. It's the sound of us trying to reconcile our fondness for floaty waves and chunky guitar habits: of a band in the infancy of trying to educate themselves away from popular alt-rock tropes.”

“The focus of the lyrics wasn't dwelt upon much at the time, but in hindsight, they both feel like they're about loneliness. Something I only really realised when Rufus Newell (designer) sent through his ideas for the artwork.”

 

UK Tour Dates

2019 Headline Dates

17 April 2019 | Broadcast, Glasgow

18 April 2019 | Castle Hotel, Manchester

25 April 2019 | The Macbeth, London

26 April 2019 | Cafe Totem, Sheffield

 

 

 

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