Flying Chaucers Single
All together now: "you need a personality sir, to go with that disorder".
Fasten your seatbelts for The Flying Chaucers, the new solo lockdown project from Joe Murphy of Sergeant Buzfuz and Blang. During lockdown Joe has been learning to record on an 8-track portastudio at his home in Sheffield. ‘Down With The Creeps' is available across all the usual platforms, including
Spotify Apple Music Deezer Bandcamp
Watch 'Down With The Creeps' video here.
"The title is from four words an autistic girl wrote on a piece of paper in a class I was supply teaching in. She was non-verbal and could barely produce any written work but had produced these four words. I figured she must have got the phrase from a TV show or book, but I couldn't find any reference to it. It's kind of a goofy phrase but I like it and was amused by the idea of using it for a song about various bosses I've had in day jobs over the years. Writing the song in lockdown, politicians kept barging into it as well as college managers. So the characters are fictional mash-ups of various real arseholes." - Joe
'Down With The Creeps' is an addictive brass-driven earworm made with the help of two other members of Sergeant Buzfuz. Joe's wife Polly MacLean (Slate Islands) sang bvs and Ian Button (Papernut Cambridge/Gare du Nord Records) remixed and mastered.
Awkward Silences new album
How many albums get compared to Leonard Cohen, PiL and The Village People? The new eponymous album by The Awkward Silences is the answer (see first review below). The long-awaited follow-up to Outsider Pop develops the post-punk leanings of that album into sparser territory; the drums, bass and two guitars building interlocking angular riffs with economy and space to provide a taut canvas for the pointed musings of disability campaigner Paul Hawkins. In record shops now and from our shop here.
"a damn fine record; an indictment on the state of dysfunctional Britain. It’s good to have them back and on form; as unique and rebellious as ever." MONOLITH COCKTAIL
"mischievous melodies...daring lyrics... this album has found a special place in my heart. 5/5" ALTREVIEW
Blang show on Soho Radio
Blang takes over Soho Radio from 8 to 10 pm on Thursday October 15th as guests on the stations Label Lodge series where independent labels are invited to host a show. We'll be playing and chatting about records from our fifteen year history. The show is broadcast on the eve of the release of Scratchcard our new compilation CD of tracks from our 2016-20 archives. Soho Radio is an online station which you can find here.
Soho normally broadcasts from Great Windmill Street in the heart of London's Soho, close to where Blang began at the 12 Bar Club. Which we all still miss terribly. But it's closed at the moment for Covid reasons so we're going to record our show in Forest Hill in South London.