Harry’s Place Arts

Hello again dear readers. Here I am again with the dusty finger tips and that peculiar itch you get when you rummage through bargain bins. Perhaps I should order a batch of those latex gloves you always see on the X-Files or Law & Order. Well, anyway… here’s what I found this week.

Three CDs for £1 - bargains don’t come better than this - from Music & Video Exchange in Berwick Street, Soho. At a mere 33p each, these three albums fall well within our definition of a Junkbox find - under £1 and, of course, by an artist the buyer has never heard of.

There’s a bit of a theme for JBJ#9. The first album that caught my eye was an album called “Memory Card”. I suppose the joke was that it was on CDR, and that we’ve been having the format debate on the blog this week. Why it was on CDR, I’m not sure. Perhaps it was a self-release, but funnily enough, Windows Media Player picked up the tracks names and the cover art (though this was somewhat inexpertly designed and, on close inspection, appeared to have been printed on a colour laser printer). The band is called Red Cotton.

The CDBaby website has this album with the slug-line: “Rock and tasty new wave with huge guitars and production.” One effusive user-review states: “One of the great recording of the last decade!”. I’m not so sure. It sounded a bit like Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut morphing into Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division, either of which I venture has a greater claim to that accolade. Well, here is a track called “Mrs Rain”. What do you think?

If you like what you hear, visit the band’s MySpace page, which reveals that they are based in Amsterdam and Tel Aviv. (A track currently on this page sounds rather like Arnold Schwarzenegger singing Erasure karaoke!)

Well following from Red Cotton, we have Red Kid with their album “Rocket Ships”. Oh dear, this is sad - this is their new album “Out August 8″ as their website declares… And already in the bargain bins? For pennies! Is there no justice? Well, you decide. Here’s the title track:

As is de rigeur now, they also have a MySpace page which reveals they’re from Dublin. There are also more tunes to listen to there.

And finally we have Sad Rockets (get the theme!). Well, I won’t put up the opening track because it made me think my CD-player was skipping. So here’s a cut called “Heavy Meta” - which might make a good Bond Theme if Dame Shirley could be tempted to hip some hop.

Responsible for this sonic adventure is Andrew Pekler who, according to his record company, is ”a 20 something, Uzbekistan-born, Californian-raised and Heidelberg-residing multi-instrumentalist.” Perhaps this is him.

Well, that’s the line up for this week. Junkbox oblivion? Is that justice or outrage? You be the jury…

 Loading ...