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Recommended by us on 11th June 2010
...according to our Business Lady on Thu 10 Jun, 2010.
Don't know much about Mazes but I can't get enough of these Spectral singles.... Happy days. Anyway, Mazes are up first with 'Most Days' and 'Vampire Jive'. These guys sound like an overenthusiastic, pumped-up, surf pop band with an keen ear for a pop ditty. They are basically a modern day Roy Orbison/Beach Boys clone with cool lo-fi riffs and sweet vocal melodies. Not bad. Now, them Spectrals lads. First up, these tunes sound fantastic! The dependence on reverb is no bad thing for these lads and this time the balance is just right. Too little and they loose that dream-like quality, too much and you can't hear a fucking thing. Both tracks here are blissful romantic odes with a spiteful edge and some real tasteful guitar playing though 'It's OK (Not To Be OK)' is a little short for my liking. Other than that, marvelous stuff.
We are ecstatic to present SID004, a release so perfectly honed for the warmer climes and clearer skies emerging that it may well have been crafted by Helios himself. On the A) side Manchester's Mazes play blissful timeless pop-rock with perfect production; clean enough to let the pop nous step to the forefront yet with a fuzzy haze that steeps the songs in a dreamy fugg. Mazes' perfect pop songs will appeal to fans of Guided By Voices, Television Personalities and The Nerves and, in our opinion, they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. No hyperbole, simply listen and concede. On the B) side Leeds-dweller Spectrals' delivers his first recordings for Sex Is Disgusting after an acclaimed 7" on Captured Tracks and a split with London's Fair Ohs on Tough Love. Backed live by The Bad Penny Band, Louis Jones plays a form of pop music that many would assume long gone. Ethereal shimmering visions of Buddy Holly, The Isley Brothers and Phil Spector float around in Spectrals haze, doo-wop melodies and forlorn love songs played through a wall of sound. However, this is music played by an individual who grew up with Cro-Mags and Vorhees on the headphones in the industrialised jungle of Leeds and it shows. These harder acts aren't immediately obvious as influences but rock & roll love songs of the doo-wop persuasion never sounded dirtier. These four songs (two apiece) converge to make SID004, a release tied with SID003 - Fair Ohs (still available) as our most summer-centric 7". Look out for the videos coming soon too. Super ltd x250.
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Norman Records,
Unit 20, Croydon House,
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Email: phil@normanrecords.com
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