Comet Gain / Crystal Stilts - Working Circle Explosive! / Through The Floor

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5...according to our Brian on Wed 27 Apr, 2011.

Shambling indie-punkers extraordinaire Comet Gain always get my vote. The singer once came up to me & thanked me for playing his favourite song (Camera Camera by The Teardrop Explodes) at a gig once so he's eternally on my hypothetical Xmas card list, as it's probably my fave song ever too!) Their side of this quite unexpected split is a shrill, grinding old-skool floor-filler that kind of recalls Swell Maps in it's splicing of frenetic chugging caustic guitars, snotty sounding lyrics & psychedelic touches. It falls somewhere between prime Television Personalities & Billy Childish all told and is quite probably one of the best songs I've ever heard by them. I've already waxed lyrical about the new Stilts album so I won't repeat myself but 'Through The Floor' is one of the sparkiest, thumping tracks from that very same opus of dusty psych ghost-rock and you'll just have to buy it again as the Comet Gain track is quite indispensable. Nice splatty coloured vinyl too, winner!!!

These will go on presell so take what you need on initial order. Originally intended for Record Shop Day but arriving just a little too late this is a joint release between Fortuna POP! Records (UK) and Slumberland Records (USA) and is strictly limited to 1000 copies worldwide (500 for Europe), pressed on transparent blue vinyl with red specks and housed in a full colour die-cut disco style sleeve. On one side is ‘Working Circle Explosive!’ by Comet Gain, the first track to be taken from upcoming album Howl of the Lonely Crowd out in June. Led by songwriter David Feck, Comet Gain have released a string of critically acclaimed records on Kill Rock Stars, Track & Field and What’s Your Rupture?, with albums such as Tigertown Pictures, Réalistes, City Fallen Leaves and 2008’s singles collection Broken Record Prayers establishing the band as one of the most fearlessly passionate and fiercely intelligent British bands around. ‘Working Circle Explosive’ is a furious paean to the Baader-Meinhof gang, an incendiary pop song which recalls The Fall at their most melodic, scuzzy, and insistent, continuing the tradition of intelligent pop bands (The Yummy Fur, The Auteurs) excited by the counterculture aesthetics of ‘70s terrorist movements. On the other side “Through The Floor” is the second track to be released from the critically acclaimed second album In Love With Oblivion by Crystal Stilts. Turning their signature fuzzy moodiness into a swaggeringly melodic 50s pop number, it’s a two-and-a-half minute thrill ride reminiscent of late Velvet Underground or early Creation label singles. Crystal Stilts burst out of Brooklyn's storied post-punk indie scene in 2008 with a string of releases that culminated in their fantastic debut album Alight Of Night, deftly combining the spooked 60s Texas psych of 13th Floor Elevators and Red Crayola, the gothic blues/punk howl of Gun Club, the dark, experimental DIYism of early Flying Nun/Xpressway groups and a dash of classic 60s pop by way of early Jesus & Mary Chain.