Extradition Order – American Prometheus

A history lesson about J Robert Oppenheimer couched in angular post-punk grooves.

For the rest of the country Warrington's main claim to fame is rugby league. Musically however it tends to be overlooked by its bigger neighbours Liverpool and Manchester. As is often the case if you did a little deeper our smaller towns have much to offer culturally and Warrington is no exception. One group with roots in the woolyback heartlands is Extradition Order. Their latest album is being co-released by no less than five record labels. Those labels are Gare Du Nord, Blang, Jezus, Helen Llewellyn Product 19, and I Blame The Parents Records. That in itself is an interesting scenario – let's hope they split the costs and don't argue about who did or didn't order a starter.

Anyway back to the record. A concept album based on the life of physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, taking in US politics and the creation of the A-bomb. If that all sounds a little highbrow and decidedly “non sexy”, fear not. The band are adept at laying down tough and angular post rock grooves, laced with slashing guitars and punchy brass, with lyrics that bring the subject matter to life. While it's educational, fun is still firmly on the agenda. Imagine if the Manic Street Preachers had grown up listening to Television, B52s, The Pop Group, Gang of Four and PIL, as opposed to hair metal bands. That's the mix of history lesson and passionate musical shapes we have here. The band describe American Prometheus as “a Northern Soul album about the atomic bomb”. That may be a stretch but it's a good chat-up line. There's a lack of finger-snapping Motown-beats but that's more than compensated by the record's cliché free romp, ragged sonic landscapes, thought-provoking lyrics and passionately delivered vocals.

So what do we learn of Oppenheimer? If like me you wished you'd paid more attention to history lessons at school, you'll welcome the insights gained via American Prometheus. Oppenheimer was instrumental in the Manhattan Project, a research and development project which resulted in the world's first nuclear bombs, later to be dropped on Hiroshima. Oppenheimer was also nominated for a Nobel Prize three times but was never awarded one, most likely down to his later public opposition against the bomb. There was also his complicated love life and left-wing politics. These aspects of his life are also touched upon, making for an album that's as much about the man's complicated inner life as it is about his legacy.

American Prometheus is dedicated to founder member and bass player Nick Boardman who sadly passed away in 2018. He leaves behind some fine musical contributions on this uniquely informative and highly enjoyable album.

Click here for Extradition Order's website.

Click here for Extradition Order on Twitter.

Click here for Extradition Order on Facebook.

Clickhere for Gare Du Nord Records.

El Valerie - IDA

DIY alt-pop from New York City.

Hello readers wherever you are! I'm constantly amazed how people stumble across this blog. When I check my daily hits ands statistics I don't always have an amazing amount of traffic but the global aspect is a very heart-warming thing. In the past month there have been views from Peru, South Korea, Israel as well as the more expected countries. Thank you. As a resident of an often overlooked region of the UK it a humbling feeling to make these connections with citizens of the wider world. Especially those, like me, who have a fondness for music made in the margins.

One musician who reached out recently and sent me their latest work is a young Queens, New York-based musician who self-releases music under the name of El Valerie. She's just released her second album IDA this summer via Bandcamp. It's a body of work that favours ideas over expert execution - its homespun, home-baked DIY quality is never going to rival the sonic sheen that a large commercial studio can offer, but that's not the point. It's part of the album's charm that the performances are in-the-moment, not always perfect but big on spirit and self-belief. These are GOOD THINGS! With short, experimental pop songs infused with an outsider's perspective, over a backdrop of basic drum machine patterns, hooky synth lines. This is pop with a pureness of intent. Throw in a smattering of punky guitar, double tracked, self-harmonised vocals and you have a collection of songs that sit in the Venn diagram where the DIY meets pop meets craft and art. Quirky, fun and worth checking out if any of those things are your bag.

Click here for El Valerie on Twitter.

Click here for El Valerie on Instagram.

The Bordellos - Crabs EP

An antidote to the anodyne.

Music lovers will be aware that last Saturday was Record Store Day. The annual event that drives nominally sane middle aged men to queue in the cold and dark early hours for fear of missing out on overpriced limited edition vinyl records that they probably won't play anyway. I'll bet most of these items get filed away alphabetically in the hope that one day they'll increase in monetary value.

Don't get me wrong, I love vinyl records, have always bought them and will continue to do so. It's also great that the shops, labels and bands are supported. Yeah can't fault that. What I object to is the fetishisation of vinyl, along with the “investment” aspect of buying records that seems to be of equal if not more important these days than the music. So RSD is the one day I guarantee I won't be anywhere near a record shop. This year? I whitewashed the wall in the back yard. A long overdue chore and I have to say, the wall looks bloody good!

I mention all this because last Saturday saw the release of a new EP from the Bordellos, a bunch of independently-minded, lo—fi leaning proud misfits from England's Northwest who each year on RSD release new music as a refreshing antidote to its madness. Their Crabs EP is refreshingly not available on vinyl. It's a five-track all instrumental affair on download/stream only available from Metal Postcards Records. As you'd expect from the Bordellos, this new music delights, challenges, amuses and takes you to places you didn't know you wanted to go. It's a journey that takes in acidic folk, found sounds, industrial noise and the open-minded possibilities of post-punk. Oh and there's some whistling too. If John Peel were alive today he'd no doubt be broadcasting tracks off the Crabs EP each night.

Interestingly Brian from the Bordellos also shares my reservations about Record Store Day. You can read his thoughts about it on his wonderful blog, along with his thoughts about pop music, both good and bad. His writing is always insightful, bang on the money, and damn entertaining too. Check it out. Now I'm off to buy a couple of fence panels. Happy Easter!

https://inthemindofabordello.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/thebordellos
https://bordellos.bandcamp.com/
 

New band alert - The Bordellos

Heading from the unique hinterland betwixt scouse and woollyback that is St. Helens The Bordellos have have been ploughing their unique furrow over the last decade. Making music that's of no fixed genre but mixes post-punk with alt-folk and whatever form best serves their songs at any given time. Infused with an outsider spirit and twisted sense of humour that anyone along the M62 rust-belt will recognize.

Think Beefheart meeting Half Man Half Biscuit in a Joy Division tribute band (or summats like that.) Anyway you decide - Their Bandcamp page is full of free downloads that have overspilled from album and EP releases along with various radio session tracks and other odds and ends. Well worth a trawl through. It's full of music that doesn't take itself too seriously but still has more to say than most of the dross we're hawked by the corporate music machine. Of particular interest is their track 'The True Meaning of Record Store Day', a timely reminder to go out and do something less boring this Saturday than line up in a queue with amoral speculators.