We've reached September 2017 in this retroactive exercise of reviewing the Flying Vinyl singles I've had gathering dust. So far four out of ten have been either listed for sale on Discogs or failed to sell for 50p at a flea market & thence gone up on display in my kitchen window. What fate awaits the next five?
Alvvays get a fetching transparent orange for their disc of 'In Undertow' and 'Dreams Tonite'. The A side must be one of the more memorable releases in the
Flying Vinyl canon, getting a fair bit of airplay on 6 Music three years after they caught people's attention with 'Archie, Marry Me'. Enough for me to recognise it all these months later anyway & it's certainly not unpleasant to hear it again. 'Dreams Tonite' is a slower, dreamier song than 'In Undertow' & so fine as a B side. A nice pairing on the whole. I thought they'd shot their bolt with 'Archie' but they've probably a few years left in them although their website shows no activity since last summer.
Transparent pink is the order of the day for London trio
Calva Louise. 'I'm Gonna Do Well' races along nicely in a surf-pop vein - good riffage, quirky synth parts and some top notch screaming. So enjoyable in fact that I'm going to turn up the volume and play it again. B side 'Getting Closer' begins in more ponderous fashion but the guitar thrashes early on hold promise & sure enough we get some epic screaming not that long intp the song. This is probably my favourite disc of the three months I've so far written up.
Their Facebook shows them to be on tour in the UK at the moment, in support of LP
Rhinoceros.
Francobollo hail from Sweden. 'Future Lover' sounds like Pavement at their heaviest, which is no bad thing. As it progresses though Weezer at their roughest come to mind and after that point they've lost me. Being very quiet, like Elmer Fudd, just so you can then be VERY LOUD is pretty dull on the whole. I can't imagine this coming over at all well live. B side 'Finally' is acoustic, something I fail to see the point of when the tune was obviously written to be played electrically. Discogs reckons I could possibly get £8.70 for it so listed it is. From a look
elsewhere online it seems the band have been quiet since summer 2017.
Geowulf get no points for their name. Boy/girl duos are ten-a-penny & this pair sound no different from the likes of
Joy Zipper (who I'd forgotten about until going through 7"s to donate the other day. Hung on to theirs for now though) etc. 'Saltwater' is decent enough pop, particularly the instrumental break midway through, whilst B side 'Drink Too Much' is also equally pleasant in recounting how
Star Kendrick is apparently a bit of a handful when she has a skinful. It may not of course be autobiographical. Hedging my bets here as I'm keeping it but also listing it, seeing as double figures are a possibility and it has a decent sales history. The pair are active this week at the
SXSW love-in so clearly still a viable outfit.
Last up this time around, appropriately you could say, comes Turtle. Typically for Flying Vinyl, at least at this point in its history, the tracks on here ('Calculate' and 'Blood Type') are listed in the opposite order on the sleeve but then described as A & B respectively in the box's accompanying booklet. Whichever is which both are good slices of electronic music at the darker (but still tuneful) end of the spectrum. After finishing this piece I'll be seeking out the Turtle album, Human. 2017 also seems to be the last time that Turtle produced anything.
