Thursday 27 April 2023

Men Of North Country - '3'

'3' is the third album by Men Of North Country and the first on Well Suspect Records.

Moving away from the pure soul sounds of their previous two acclaimed albums on Acid Jazz Records, delving fearlessly into more eclectic territory, mapping their musical influences into a stirring collection of irresistibly melodic songs.

Featuring wistful jangle-pop 'Out on the Hills', rollicking and celebratory 'Happy Birthday, Child', sweeping anthemic bravado 'There is Light', a romantic indie love ballad 'They Don't Know' (the Kirsty MacColl's classic) plus sexy rock'n'roll 'Since I found my Love'.

Oh, and they haven't abandoned their Northern Soul roots – just sprinkle some talcum powder on the floor and soar away to the sound of 'Ravens', plus a brilliant down-and-dirty rendition of Sam Dees's dance-floor filler 'Lonely for You Baby' (video below).

Opening with the soulful soundscape of 'Titanic' and closing with their dark version of Californian 60s garage-rock gem 'Rari' by The Standells – this album is a ride through diverse musical territories, all the while retaining the melodic heart and soul of the band.

Men Of North Country - '3' is available digitally, Bandcamp and vinyl from Well Suspect Records.

Check these videos for tracks featured on the album.

Thursday 12 January 2023

Dave's Doors Of Perception - Shake It!


From possibly the 'greatest garage rock band ever', the mighty Dave's Doors Of Perception, comes, probably, the 'finest seven-inch record ever released'; the garage-rock, mod-stomping, dance-floor anthem to be....Shake It!

The responsibility in capturing this earth-quaking, live favourite to two-inch eight -track tape fell upon the shoulders of Liam Watson at Toerag Studios; tape-heads especially re-aligned to do so; the resulting recording proving to be the monster that the band and song demanded. 

The flip side cut features an earworm riff so great that once heard will never leave your mind or turntable …. Wasp Honey.

An instantly collectable, highly limited edition pressing of just one hundred seven inch vinyl copies by Well Suspect Records guarantees that this is a must have addition to the luckiest DJ boxes.

Check out their debut album - Apophenia.

Here's the fantastic video for Shake It!

Friday 9 July 2021

Men Of North Country - Titanic.

Men Of North Country release another single from their new and long awaited album since jumping ship from Acid Jazz Records to Well Suspect Records - Titanic. 

The follow up to their jangle-tastic version of the Kirsty MacColl track They Don't Know, this horn led dancer perfectly captures MONC's trade mark soulful indie pop/rock sound.

The press release blurb is fun ..

I's Titanic a cruise ship or a shipwreck? Is there a difference? Or is it a metaphor for the western world? Is Titanic the highest grossing blockbuster made up to its time, or a beautiful stop-motion animated short? Is the band in the song Robbie Robertson's The Band or a band of walruses? Do selkies really exist?

Titanic was written at a time of confusion and insecurity, when questions arose, and it all seemed to go down the drain. This called for a big vessel. We need a bigger boat.

Rari is an all-time live favourite, an epic of almost ten minutes, it's has been a show stopper and set closer for quite some time. A desperate tale of lust and longing by the great Californian 60s garage-rock band the Standells, written by the brilliant Ed Cobb of Tainted Love fame.' 

Men Of North Country - Titanic is out now on all digital platforms with links on their artist page on Well Suspect Records or Bandcamp if you prefer

The video is something else, a mini masterpiece directed and animated by Nadine Ann Abraham; check it out below.

Hopefully the album with follow .... soon.

Friday 4 June 2021

The Well Suspect Radio Show. TWR

Richard Searle. The Well Suspect Radio Show
It necessarily follows, that when Richard Searle (bass player from Corduroy)  was asked to present his own show on TWR – it would be chaotic.  
       
The Well Suspect Radio Show (named after Well Suspect Records, the label re-launched by Richard - in the same year that he launched a skateboard company and got his band back together) manages to cram more into a two hour slot than other shows manage in months.
  
Co-presented by Erika Ts, expect classic Northern, beat instrumentals, garage greats, wigged-out psych and soulful easy listening, peppered with nonsensical features and 'profound' banter.

Regular contributors include Brian Blessed, who drops his favourite New Wave tunes and Joanna Lumley who prefers sixties fuzz.

Richard has asked us not to mention that he was the bassist in Doctor and The Medics throughout their early Top Of The Pops period (he wrote a book about it, The Memoirs of Damage and Vom, so that he wouldn't have to talk about it) so we won't, but  regular 'fans' of the show  taunt him throughout in the TWR chatroom – listen in and join the mayhem.
 
The Well Suspect Radio Show is weekly, Tuesday afternoons 2-4pm (UK time) on TWR totallywiredradio.com, with a mixcloud catch-up archive.

You are invited.    

*Update. The Well Suspect Radio Show has moved time, day and frequency. The new monthly slot is 6-8pm on the third Thursday of the month. Same chaos.

Friday 7 May 2021

CORDUROY - Winky Wagon 2. (The Rest Of The Psy-Fi Years)

A great outcry; a follow-up desired; the first insufficient to needs; a second volume of the funky outfit’s acclaimed psy-fi experiments required; another collection of filmic grooviness; of cartoonish, wigged-out beats, of yacht-rockish psychedelic pep; Corduroy fans insisted on more

Winky Wagon 2. (the follow-up to Winky Wagon) the final in the acclaimed series; the best of Corduroy’s ‘Major label’ recordings, plus previously unreleased radio edits and bonus Japanese album tracks - never before pressed to limited edition red vinyl
 
Released on Acid Jazz Record's sister label Well Suspect Records; this fun and funky compilation is a collection of Corduroy's 'Brit-pop' album The New You and the beat heavy late 90s album Clik! but crucially including previously unreleased radio edits of singles that never saw the light of day, plus two bonus tracks previously unreleased (other than on Japanese CD versions of the albums) and never before on vinyl; see the great animated cartoon video below for 'You Got Me', one of the Japanese tracks.
 
 
 
This is another great release from Well Suspect Records and a must for Corduroy fans.
 
Skill!