Indiepop weirdos with strange and peppy meandering sound
Label: Fishdisc
Year of Release: 1987
Lazy journalism and received wisdom would have it that NME's "C86" compilation, which launched the scene of the same name, was solely filled with lots of cute but awkward kids playing clumsy songs on cheap guitars about shyness, lost love and The Velvet Underground. In reality, the cassette was a much more rounded consideration of the underground independent scene at that point in time, and also featured the hard, angular music of A Witness, Stump and Bogshed (among others) whose sounds could be amusing, confusing, disorientating and seemingly more inspired by Captain Beefheart or Gang Of Four than Orange Juice or The Smiths.
While it's a fascinating listen, there are inevitably some jarring stylistic changes as a result, and very few bands whose style seemed to act as a bridge between both camps. It's a genuine shame that The Fish Hildas hadn't had a record out by that point, then, as they're possibly one of the only bands who you could imagine being on tour with either Stump or The Pastels and pleasing both audiences.
Their only release was this single on their own "Fishdisc" label, which begins with mystical puffing flutes, jangly guitars and despairing, gnashing vocals, and just when you think it's locked itself into a direction or groove it then goes skidding at another angle, before throwing in a cornucopia of synthesised strings and glockenspiels and slowing to a halt before grinding forward again. It's possible to hear the influence of The Associates, The Pastels and The Incredible String Band here, which seems like an odd and unpalatable pot-pourri of styles - but it somehow manages to get away with it.
Rumours abound online that this was one of Rough Trade Distribution's lowest selling singles of all-time, which seems unlikely - though somebody must be able to lay claim to that dubious honour, you would have thought it would be quite tightly contested given the volume of underground material that passed through their warehouse.
The full line-up of the group also isn't known. The rear of the sleeve of my copy is signed by "Tom and Deb", the latter being "Bongo Debbie" who was also a member of The X Men, Baby Birkin, and Thee Headcoatees among others, but the rest is unclear. Perhaps it's time the group came out from their hiding places - the Internet is beginning to chatter about them.
3 comments:
well that was interesting.thanks
At the time of release, I worked for the company that distributed this: The Cartel, at the Midlands office in Warwick. The company was part of Rough Trade Distribution. As such, I saw the sales figures for this release and can confirm that this sold only a handful of copies. Our office loved it, and we wanted it to sell well, but a complete lack of promotional information on the release made this a very difficult one to sell into record shops.
Thanks for confirming that John (and hello from the Warwickshire area!)
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