Two Awesome Alter Egos [AltE17]
Some of the artists that I've covered in this blog have recorded material under other aliases. This article presents two examples: Chasms' side project, Lonesome Mercury, and The Martial Arts member Paul Kelly's "other band", How To Swim.
Lonesome Mercury - When winter sets in on the Isle of Man, the Chasms must abandon the sacred barn where they usually record their shamanic compositions. Never ones to be idle, however, Simon Pott and Mike Seed simply relocated to a sheltered garage and invented something different. Fusing their mutual love for raw 60s garage rock and suave Northern Soul, they crafted a gritty yet glorious new sound dubbed "Dirty Northern Garage" - which, coincidently, is also the title of their debut. It's not entirely removed from their Chasm output: there's the basement-fidelity production, and Pott's signature shambling beat. But then Seed actually sings, and quite fairly; melodies actually exist, and quite rollicking ones, too, if only for 2 minutes at a time. In a nutshell, Dirty Northern Garage is a blast, and well worth a listen; like all of the Chasms' output, it's free to download.
EDIT: This album has been removed. Shame.
EDIT: This album has been removed. Shame.
How To Swim - Self-proclaimed "orchestral pop" - "orchestral", in the sense that a motley assortment of instruments have been assembled; "pop", in the cheeky, somewhat pretentious, yet always infectious style. The aptly titled opener of Retina, "Diego Whirlwind", best characterizes the overall carnivalesque that dominates that album, respited for a moment by the lovely "False" and the kitschy- eerie "The Ghastly Ones". Elsewhere, wild and unpredictable turns abound, especially in "Genesis P and Me", that defy simple pop structures. Retina's not a free download - it's priced at £4.44, or $7.21 - but you can at least stream it at no charge first.
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