Bangers ‘n’ Break-ups (various artists)
CURATED by the mighty Problem Patterns, last year's excellent Bangers & Mash-Ups compilation album featured multiple Irish bands covering each others' tunes (mostly) to raise money for local domestic violence charity She Sells Sanctuary.
Now, they're back with a new fund-raising volume: appropriately titled Bangers & Breakups, the latest instalment arrives just in time for Valentine's Day, though the vast majority of the songs here are very much aimed at the unlucky in love.
Just like its predecessor, there's not a duff track among its 15 offerings. Indeed, most are actual bangers that will hopefully have you scrambling to search the internetz (or at the very least Bandcamp) for more by the artiste in question.
To wit, Problem Patterns themselves kick things off in style their "you say tomato, I say potato" punk pop number Tethered, which should hopefully energise anyone trapped in a zombie relationship to finally take that long overdue headshot – in a purely metaphorical, sense, of course.
Letterkenny’s Lunch Machine are new to me, throwing down with a superb (and indeed, superbly titled) shoegaze number Obi Wan For The Road, which turns out to be the climactic track from the trio’s excellent 2018 EP, Alt-Facts – own it today at Lunchmachine.bandcamp.com.
Also new to Noise Annoys are bilingual Dublin psych outfit Tuath, in the sense that they’ve been around for ages but this is the first time I’ve bothered my hoop to actually listen to them. Pity it took so long, because their B’n’B contribution is pure ‘banger’ through-and-through – an ‘erratic edition’ of their previously released and already pretty off-kilter number Who Do You Want Me To Be?, which starts off sounding like a codeine-addled Birthday Party before descending into a gloriously noisy, droney, art/stoner rock, wreck-the-gaff deconstruction of Teenage Kicks (no, really). Find them now at Tuath.bandcamp.com, before they find you.
Also new is F.R.U.I.T.Y, a guy from Belfast called Dan O'Rawe who describes himself as a 'queer anti-pop artist' and who recorded a charity Christmas single featuring Ciara from Problem Patterns, Merry Queersmas.
Sadly, that came out too late to make it into a Noise Annoys at the end of last year, but Dan’s offering here, a nicely noisy/woozy lo-fi pop/rap nugget called Pigeon Heart, is a belter and definitely one of the stand-out tracks on the whole comp. More, please – find what’s already out there at 2fruity.bandcamp.com.
Who hasn't wanted to build a time machine? Worry Head – aka Belfast's Aidan Reynolds aka 'Aidan out of Big Daisy', who also have a good tune on here in the form of the dreampoppy indie guitar swinger Bee Mine and feature the aforementioned Dan O'Rawe and Problem Patterns' bass/guitar maestro Ciara King among their ranks – certainly has, at least judging by the lyrics of his catchy indie rocker titled, you guessed it, Time Machine.
It finds him exploring similar sonic terrain to the lads in the awesome Buí and, apparently, this mega-catchy Longpigs-esque tune is his debut single. That means that even if he never releases another note, he'll always have the ones in Time Machine to be proud of. An absolute stormer/stunner to be sure.
Belfast’s own Junk Drawer (Junkdrawer.bandcamp.com) are definitely no strangers to this column, but their lovely 50s doo-wop style take on Patsy Cline’s standard Crazy is the first time the band have hinted at that they might make it as lounge act crooners if the whole slack rocking thing ever peters out for them.
On the subject of crooners, there’s plenty more where that came from. Country sad cowgirl lament December by the mysterious Cryan (answers on a postcard if you know where to find more of her/their music) is a pleasingly sparse and smokey cover of a Blue Rose Rounder tune (it says here), the uber-smooth and soulful All I See from Cloakroom Q (Cloakroomq.bandcamp.com) sounds like a future-karaoke queen classic to these ears here, and Charles Hurts (aka Phil Quinn, ex-Sea Pinks and Girls Names) also serves up a pretty concoction of lush loungey lovelorn vocal, finger-picked acoustic guitar and mournful horns with It’s Not You. More: Charles-hurts.bandcamp.com.
Thirteen by Big Star is a great tune, isn’t it? Belfast indiefolk scamps Blak Byrd (Blakbyrd.bandcamp.com) definitely think so, as they seem to have cheekily pinched its signature melody for the verses on their rather lovely close harmony composition, Harbour, which totally comes into its own once Beverley (also guitarist extraordinaire for Problem Patterns), Emily and Lucy come together as one voice for its swoonsome choruses.
Brilliant Belfast synthpop duo Beauty Sleep (Beautysleep.bandcamp.com) have donated one of their very best tunes to this charity compilation in the form of the slinky, summery Big Talk. They also gave this yacht rawkin’ banger away as a free single back in 2017, when it somehow failed to be a massive hit. Second time lucky, maybe? We can but hope.
I haven't even covered the great tracks by Avo Party, Alanah Frances or This Ship Argo yet, but you've probably gathered by now that this is one compilation well worth owning, especially since it's a absolute bargain at a minimum purchase price of just £5 – though do feel free to dig deeper, as all money goes to a very good cause.
Grab it now at Bangersnmashups.bandcamp.com.
Cherym – Kisses on My Cards (single, Alcopop!)
WORD reaches me that Derry trio Cherym have now officially signed their souls over to Oxford-based Alcopop! Records. To celebrate, they have just released and brand new anti-Valentine’s Day anthem, a catchy grunge pop nugget called Kisses On My Cards, which might well be their best song to date and would have sounded right at home on the Bangers ‘N’ Breakups comp.
The first of many more tunes to be released throughout 2021 in anticipation of a full-blown Cherym EP release later in the year, you can hear/own Kisses On My Cards now at your preferred streaming service.
Belfast Music Survey
FINALLY for this week, it has been brought to my attention that music advisory body Sound Diplomacy is currently working with Belfast City Council to develop "a comprehensive music strategy and recovery plan which will directly feed into the recovery of the music sector post Covid-19".
To help them do this, they’ve put together a survey for all musicians, music-related businesses and music fans based in Northern Ireland to fill out. To complete the survey please visit Tinyurl.com/BelfastMusicSurvey and tell them what you want from local music.
