EASTER means many things to many people: religious observance, excessive chocolate consumption, the endurance of fare-and-a-half taxis and erratic licensing hours.
"What has this got to do with local music?" you may ask: well, if you're lucky enough to be within the vicinity of Derry city tonight between 5pm and 11pm, the arrival of Easter weekend means you can enjoy The Long Good Friday at Sandinos, the Derry venue's annual evening of free live bands and complimentary nibbles.
Belfast psychedelic indie types exmagician are your headliners for the night, with a quality supporting bill featuring Invaderband, The Gatefolds and Glenn 'Rosborough' Rosborough.
I've been meaning to write about Invaderband's excellent self-titled debut album for a couple of months now, so this seems like as good a time as any to advise you of its 'quality item' status.
Led by Mancunian transplant Adam Leonard and featuring Our Krypton Son man Chris McConaghy, Invaderband are a Derry-based indie outfit with a melodic post punk-flavoured garage pop sensibility.
Their eight song debut sounds very much like a lost classic from the late-1970s/early-1980s and, as such, offers a thrilling listen for anyone with an appreciation for groups like Magazine, The Fall, Half Man Half Biscuit and The Prisoners (dig those organ sounds).
How can you resist a band who come up with a tune like Not Alan Rickman's urgent archly ironic artrocking ode to the late great star of screen and stage?
You can't, not when Leonard and co get busy referencing a handful of Rickman's most iconic roles ("Skyscraper with, Bruce Willis in it / his nemesis, German terrorist / but it's not Alan Rickman, not Alan Rickman, no") before cleverly incorporating Truly, Madly, Deeply into the insistent, appealingly absurd chorus.
Elsewhere, You're a Submarine finds Leonard memorably describing the titular submersible as "a deep sea limousine" before exhausting pretty much every rhyming word from 'aubergine' to 'Vaseline' in his distinctive Lancashire lilt as the band whip up a noisy garage punk stomp, while Attack of The Pod People is an anthemic sci-fi-themed discopunk strutter with a wry twinkle in its synths 'n' samples of The Day The Earth Stood Still-enhanced eye.
However, the album's stand-out track is probably the highly atmospheric psychedelic dronepop of Spirit Photography: a slowly unspooling groove replete with oodles of spiky guitar abuse, the song more than justifies its six minutes-plus of existence.
And the record's not all guitar-based: Invaderband crank-up their synths and set the controls to 'devastating krautrock instrumental' for memorably titled album closer Tree Erection, another moody extended number on which the group steadily build up the tune into a suitably climactic din.
A great listen from front to back, Invaderband have set the bar incredibly high with their debut album, hopefully the first of many more to come.
Check it out online right now at Adamleonard.bandcamp.com, where CDs, vinyl, downloads and T-shirts are all very much available – and, for Jesus's sake, don't miss Adam and co in action live tonight at Sandinos.
THIS WEEK'S MOST ANNOYING NOISES (EASTER SPECIAL)
Egg Man – Beastie Boys
Basket of Eggs – Clutch
White Chocolate Space Egg – Liz Phair
Sweet Like Chocolate – Shanks & Bigfoot
More Songs About Chocolate & Girls – The Undertones
Being Boiled – The Human League
Cracking Up – The Jesus & Mary Chain
Tossed Salads & Scrambled Eggs – Kelsey Grammer
Dizzy – Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff
I Am The Resurrection – The Stone Roses
