I have mentioned often enough how much I like EPs, not least for their lack of what I suppose Americans might call a Seventh Inning Stretch – that weary feeling you get about two thirds to three quarters of the way through an album, where your attention starts to wane and you wander off to make a cup of tea.
Anyhow, I have a lot of them in my inbox at the moment, all good for varying reasons, but it seems like I would be excessive to write a separate post for each, so figured I would condense a couple of my favourites down into a single post for your efficient musical enjoyment:
My Tiny Robots – Rock Bossa Nova EP
This EP is short and sweet, checking in at a mere four songs, with the first one swerving shy of the two-minute mark.
Stylistically it’s an interesting mish-mash. The first track has rather surprising hints of Maximo Park, of all things, but the rest of the EP tends to embrace seventies alt-pop sung in a voice which sits halfway between new wave and a barroom croon.
It sounds sort of cocky at times, I think, with the guitar played with a stylish swagger and the rhythms feeling kind of suggestive, although not in a way that is too obvious. Good stuff though, and given these guys seemed to be in danger of petering out until quite recently, it’s good to see ‘em back in the game, and back so strongly as well.
The My Tiny Robots site is here, and you can buy Rock Bossa Nova here – the physical copy of the CD really is gorgeous though, so I recommend pestering them about that, rather than settling for mere downloads.
My Tiny Robots – Rock Bossa Nova Fourbeat Black
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Randolph’s Leap – Battleships and Kettlechips
When will bloggers learn not to go starting record labels? It’s a natural extension of the instinct to spend all your time writing about your favourite music though I guess, so it should be no surprise really, particularly in the age of the internet where there actually is an audience out there to be reached now that the traditional gatekeepers are floundering about like buffoons in search of their lost customers.
Step forward Olive Grove Records, and debut release, Battleships and Kettlechips by Randolph’s Leap. Randolph’s Leap are clever and sensitive, with a tongue in cheek way with their lyrics, and the ability to combine the sincere with the amusing which few manage this well.
I hate words like quirky, but it’s hard to avoid with bands like this. Not that there’s anything zany or madcap about them, more that there are plenty of moments on this EP where I find myself looking up and actually cocking an eyebrow at the speakers, wondering quite how these guys see the world. They seem like the kind of lunatics who are absolutely convinced that they are sane, and who tolerate the rest of the world’s eccentricities with a genial sympathy.
Randolph’s Leap – As I Lie in the Mud
Visit Song, by Toad for more from Matthew.
Photo Credit: My Tiny Robots by John Bryden
My Tiny Robots – Kenny Rogers (Scent of a Woman)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1bU1E2Dmp0
Everybody Got by Ivor – Randolph’s Leap
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2hmCW-oA8M