Retrosonic Podcast Episode 14: Steve from Retro Man Blog, Rock Photographer Paul Slattery and Adam from The Jetsonics with an eclectic mix of goodies from the Retrosonic record box...In this Episode there's a track from The Monochrome Set's latest album "Super Plastic City" and news about our gig with the band on May 24th at The Half Moon Putney, there's scary tales from Killing Joke gigs and a classic slice of KJ Dub. Paul and Adam talk about the good old days at The Nashville and pick a couple of their favourite bands who played at the legendary venue. There's a new one from Shack and Pale Fountains front man Michael Head with The Red Elastic Band, power pop at it's best from Cotton Mather and old school Rockabilly from Walter Brown & His Band. Some Slap Shot inspired Ice Hockey Punk from The Hanson Brothers and a tuneful blast from Hot Hooves. There's talk about Hamburg's Neue Deutsche Welle scene and some German Psych Soul from The Soul Explosion and the Surf Guitar twang of Dresden's The Roaring 420s...If that's not enough there's sleazy guitar boogie from Eagles of Death Metal and a Psychobilly Garage Rock opener from The Things...Listen or download below...Enjoy!

Tickets for our Retro Man Blog Night at The Half Moon Putney on Saturday May 24th are available from the box office here at the special advance purchase price of only £12.50.

Hot Hooves "Nutritious Cascades" New Album Out Now!

Hot Hooves have just released their third album entitled "Nutritious Cascades" on Big Red Sky Records and it's another superb collection of taut, edgy and melodic Punk Rock. Big Red Sky might be familiar from our recent review of Les Clochards, in fact that band's guitarist Peter Momtchiloff might also be familiar as Hot Hooves are another one of his projects. Only two tracks of "Nutritious Cascades" scale the three minute peak, in fact the album kicks off with the one and half minute blast of "Trudgery, Skullduggery, Thievery & Thuggery" which carries an air of menace reminiscent of early "Black & White" era Stranglers. Then a nagging guitar riff leads into the excellent "Limp Home Mode" with it's cynical "one for the money, two for the money, three for the money..." refrain. Next up is my personal favourite "Move Over" which features another bit of inventive buzzing guitar work and boasts a wonderfully addictive chorus. I compared the band once to the Swedish band Division of Laura Lee as they both specialise in intense bursts of slightly unsettling and claustrophobic music with riffs and melodies jutting out to catch you unaware. I guess the closest comparison I can make would be to the later period Wire and there are even shades of Pixies on "Attitude Adjuster" which has that classic drop-out dynamic where the bass and drums carry the verses, it's a great song. "I Thought You Were Dead" has an American grunge feel and the heavier better produced side of Guided By Voices, then the crunching "Hey Man, Rude Spoiler" brings us back home and even drops in a couple of neat little Clash references. "Boss Fussin'" is another one of my favourites with a great chorus and backing vocals which leads into the album closer "Well Played On The Dumb Front". This track throws me as it starts off with a rich baritone over a piano that actually could have been on Les Clochards' album, but it soon fades out into the heavy guitars and a verse that reminds me of "Lost In The Supermarket", it's a great way to close a really superb album.

Hot Hooves at The Buffalo Bar by Paul Slattery

You can read our previous feature on the band's "Fake Modern Art" album along with some exclusive live photos of the band at the Buffalo Bar by Paul Slattery here. "Nutritious Cascades" can be streamed at the band's Soundcloud site here. Here's a taster, the brilliant track "Boss Fussin'".

Les Clochards - New Album "Any Fool Can Wear Their Heart on Their Sleeve" Out Now!

Les Clochards, the Oxford based band, have just released their second album entitled "Any Fool Can Wear Their Heart On Their Sleeve" on Big Red Records. On first listen, the bands pleasant acoustic based accordian-led Indie-Pop songs seem quite similar, but after a few listens you start to discover there are subtle and effective shifts throughout the album's tracks that flit effortlessly across continents and musical reference points. One minute I imagined myself sitting in a nice sunny English Pub garden sipping a pint of real ale being entertained by Morris men dancing to The Blue Aeroplanes and then I am whizzed off to a table outside a bustling Parisian cafe to be surrounded by gleeful buskers doing covers of Go-Betweens songs...! The band are based around Karen Cleave's inventive accordian and she also provides lead vocals on the sublime "Oh, But I Would" and "On My Ass" but it's the world weary baritone of Ian Nixon that takes centre stage, particularly on the album's stand-out track "(I Still Hope To) Convince You (Some Day)". On guitar we have the very busy Peter Momtchiloff, who I saw last year performing with both Would-Be-Goods and Talulah Gosh (click the links for photos of Peter in action...) and he also provides some rather more raucous guitar-work for the excellent Hot Hooves. Back to Les Clochards and there's more diversity as "Guilty As Charged" reminds me of Roy Orbison singing Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang" over some exquisite Johnny Marr acoustic guitar chords. Elsewhere there are quick trips to Memphis for some touches of Elvis crooning and then it's back home to the wry Englishness of The Monochrome Set...It's an extremely satisfying album that draws to a close with real warmth on "Salut Clochard", and you can order it at the band's on-line store here.

Here's the closing track to the album "Salut Clochard"...

The Monochrome Set: Live at Bush Hall, London April 27th

Bid & Lester Square of The Monochrome Set - Photo Steve Worrall

The Monochrome Set played a wonderful gig in the rather ornate Bush Hall, it was a perfectly balanced set-list with a choice selection of old favourites and tracks from their latest, and rather excellent, album "Platinum Coils". The first support act were the splendid Indie-Pop band, Would-Be-Goods, who happened to feature Monochrome Set bassist Andy Warren putting in an impressive double shift, and guitarist Peter Momtchiloff moonlighting from the rather more raucous Hot Hooves, who recently featured on the Blog here. Next up was Stuart Moxham, once of Young Marble Giants, who unfortunately failed to hold the attention and a large part of the crowd seemed to drift off to the bar. Maybe it was because I'm not familiar with any of Stuart's recent material and maybe it was the somewhat weak sound, along with having to follow the more compatible Would-Be-Goods, that didn't do him any favours. It also all went on just a bit too long and there were murmurings of impatience around me.



Andy Warren & Helena Johansson - by Steve Worrall

Suddenly it was over and after a short pause, a character dressed as "Where's Wally" appeared on the stage and took their place behind the drums. The familiar tribal beat of "The Monochrome Set (I Presume)" kicked in and the band appeared all dressed in black. All apart from Lester that is, who sported a rather fetching Black and White stripey suit and he struck up the buzzing guitar intro to the perfect set opener. This was followed by another track from "Strange Boutique", their superb debut album, the saucy tongue twister "The Lighter Side of Dating". "Jet Set Junta" and a brilliant run through of the classic spiky Post-Punk single "Alphaville", keep the die-hard fans happy and then it's into three songs from latest album "Platinum Coils". This album, in my view is probably their strongest and most complete album since "Eligible Bachelors", and in particular "Hip Kitten Spinning Chrome" can easily hold its own amongst their "classic" material". Tonight this comes over brilliantly and "Cauchemar" and "Streams" follow seamlessly.

Lester & Bid of The Monochrome Set - Photo by Steve Worrall

I was pleasantly surprised that they played "Walking With The Beast" from one of my favourite albums "Dante's Casino", driven by a rollicking Samba beat, it was one of my highlights of the night. Next we have a triple hit from the faultless "Eligible Bachelors" album - "Fun For All The Family", "I'll Scry Instead" and "The Ruling Class". Then we are brought bang up to date with two more tracks from "Platinum Coils", firstly "I'm Happy To Be Here" and the brilliant "Waiting For Alberto" which has had me singing "I hope it's not bananas..."  to myself, and probably a few passing strangers, all week. Some non-album tracks follow; "Wallflower", "Cowboy Country", the 'big hit' "Jacob's Ladder" and then the grinding brilliance of "Eine Symphonie des Grauens" closes the show.


Photo by Steve Worrall

Due to the time restraints Bid said, "we've come to the end of the set and as we don't have much time, just pretend we've gone off stage and come back on again...", before heading straight into the songs marked for an encore. We were treated to a beautiful rendition of "Goodbye Joe" and then a thundering romp through "He's Frank" before the band had to finish rather abruptly. Abrupt was the word of the day as we couldn't even get a beer in the bar afterwards as it shut bang on 11 and we were then, rather unceremoniously herded out by security - Saturday night, London, Rock 'n' Roll...!

Despite my slight misgivings about the Bush Hall, I felt that this was one of best shows I have seen from The Monochrome Set in recent years, the band were tight and the set list was a fan's dream, well probably all except for one fan, who's persistent calls for "Fat Fun" went unanswered. But with such a huge back catalogue packed full of so many delights, you're not going to please everyone all of the time, although I am sure tonight the band came pretty damn close. The band will play in Madrid on May 18th before heading off to America for some dates. They will return to the U.K. for a show at London Cargo on July 13th with more dates to follow later in the year. Please check out  the band's web-site for more details on the shows.

Would-Be-Goods - Photo by Steve Worrall

A cheeky Bid - Photo by Steve Worrall

Steve Brummell - Photo by Steve Worrall

For more photographs of both The Monochrome Set and Would-Be-Goods, head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook page and hit "Like"  for access to the photo album. We played a track from The Monochrome Set's latest album "Platinum Coils" back in Episode 3 of Retrosonic Podcast.

Introducing: The Hot Hooves - Fake Modern Art

The Hot Hooves at The Buffalo Bar - Photo by Paul Slattery

Photographer and regular Retro Man Blog contributor Paul Slattery went along to see the Oxford based band, The Hot Hooves, at Islington's Buffalo Bar recently following a glowing recommendation from Ian of Damaged Goods Records. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it, but according to Paul the band were great and I have been listening to their latest album "Fake Modern Art", which has been released on Rivet Gun Records, pretty much non-stop. It's a blistering collection of powerful Punk Rock that reminds me of the great Swedish band Division of Laura Lee in the way they create a wired and edgy, almost claustrophobic sound. The album has an excellent production so the songs thunder along and the guitars positively burst out of the speakers with some spiralling riffs and crunching chords. Similar to Wire and Pixies they have that knack of confounding your senses with some unexpected chord changes and melodic twists and turns. The perfect example of this would be on the stunning title track "Fake Modern Art" with its lovely backing vocal harmonies almost fighting to be heard amongst the twisting guitars, it's a work of genius.

The Hot Hooves at The Buffalo Bar - Photo by Paul Slattery

By chance I saw Hot Hooves guitarist Peter Momtchiloff playing in The Would-Be-Goods who were supporting The Monochrome Set at Bush Hall. After listening to Hot Hooves I must admit to being a bit surprised to discover Peter has also previously played in Indie-Popsters Talulah Gosh and Heavenly as sonically they are poles apart - but then again it's all about the melodies - albeit just played at slightly different volume levels!

Nightshift Magazine, Dec '12 - Short, sharp shocks are the order of the day rather than bilious pontificating; Hot Hooves cram an irresistible amount of energy, melody, wit and cynicism into two and a bit minutes. Album opener "Youth Activator" is a well aimed pop grenade, puncturing modern age posturing and protest as the song cavorts effusively with the spirit of '77. "Uncomplicated Flow" might be a decent description of much of Hot Hooves' output - an onward rush of effortless three-chord ire and disdain with its tongue only slightly in its cheek. What sticks with you is both the strength of melody, even when the band seem to be trashing anything to hand, and a sense of youthful abandon that's rare. If only more bands would grow up so disgracefully.

Nightshift Magazine, Nov '11 - "The band kick out a few-frills buzzsaw brand of pop that fleetingly reminds you of early Teenage Fanclub or even the poppier side of Husker Du. Highlight of the album is the rambunctious "Spark Up Agenda", a full-throttle pile-up between The Ramones and Status Quo helmed by Mark E Smith, while "Midlife" and "My Telekinesis" display a withering wit that few bands can hope to emulate.

The Hot Hooves are Peter: Guitars & Vocals, Gary: Drums, Mike: Bass and Mac: Vocals & Guitars. Here's a great video for the album's opening track "Youth Activator".

Thanks to Paul Slattery & Peter. You can listen to the band at their Hot Hooves Soundcloud page.