Lost & Found Sounds VII: John Cunningham - Happy-Go-Unlucky

Scouse songsmith John Cunningham made himself known to me a while back via this terrific Parasol Records compilation. My interest was piqued and when google informed me that he had been around for ages and had released 5 full length records, I set about tracking them all down. From his impressive catalogue of glorious pop I have selected Happy-Go-Unlucky from 2002 to share with you lucky chappies. Coincidently Cunningham was also known for helping out Mehdi Zannad on stage at live shows...

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Lost & Found Sounds VI: Fugu - Fugu 1

After a posting break of over a year, I have got off my ass to add to this lonely old blog thingy.
Fugu is to all intents and purposes the brainchild of French pop savant Mehdi Zannad. This, the debut release Fugu 1 was released in Europe on Ici d'ailleurs back in 2000 and later on Minty Fresh stateside the following year to very little fanfare on either occasion.
It is a stunning slice of sixties inspired pastoral pop, for fans of High Llamas, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci or Orwell.

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Lost & Found Sounds V: Rodriguez - Swing Like a Metronome

This took ages to find. I went on the trail soon after absorbing M. Ward's masterpiece End of Amnesia which is to date one of my top 5 favourite albums. This is Ward's first outing ably accompanied by Kyle Field from the wonderful Little Wings and overseen by Grandaddy's Jason Lytle.
Here Ward although taking a backseat to Field's more extrovert nature pays more attention to Sonic Youth and early Dinosaur Jr than the John Fahey inspired solo persona that he was to soon adopt though there are glimpses. The album is by no means a masterpiece but I reckon it's pretty essential if only for Fountain, Must be Waiting and the cover of Tom Violence which closes the show.
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Lost & Found sounds IV: All Natural Lemon and Lime Flavors - Turning Into Small

This record was the last piece of vinyl that ever made it to shelf dali. I recently found a splendid copy on a blog and fell in love again. A wonderful companion piece to Loveless is how I would bill it. The vinegar to it's sugar. Top notch shoegaze with a peculiar charm and a slightly dischordant edge. Glorious.

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Lost & Found sounds III: The Shermans - Casual

This one is not so much lost as found to be honest. I've been making a lot of jangle/twee style mixes of late and after downloading a compilation featuring these guys I sought out the disc and bought it online along with Happiness is Toyshaped (I love that title) If there is a positive response to this I will of course upload it too. Requests are not only welcomed but encouraged here. Recommended for fans of The Softies, Acid House Kings, Lucksmiths... oh bollocks It's for fans of music damn it.
A band so obscure that youtube can't provide a video this time.

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Lost & Found sounds II: Rollerskate Skinny - Horsedrawn Wishes

Ok I swear these won't all be Irish but it just seems to me that a lot of important releases got swallowed up in the chasm of time. Rollerskate Skinny lived somewhat in the shadow of My Bloody Valentine due of course to the fact that guitarist Jimi Shields (I'm pretty sure his mother didn't name him that) was the brother of Kevin. Jimi left the band before this critical breakthrough album and maybe just maybe his departure took the pressure off. It combines noise and pop perfectly. Listening now I hear bits of Animal Collective not least on Speed to my Side which is a true wonder. It took me forever to replace my battered cassette version of this one so I'm compelled to share it with y'all. This is a must, honestly.
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Lost & Found sounds I: Whipping Boy - Heartworm

Inspired to give this blogging thing more attention by that majestic Manc Sam these next few entries will see me uploading some hard to find or overlooked records that I'm passionate about.
First up we have Heartworm by Whipping Boy.

One December evening I found this baby in a little second hand record shop that was less second hand more second home for me. My elation at finding a mint condition copy subsided and was oh so quickly replaced by horror when after rifling through my pockets it became clear that I had left my wallet on my desk at work. It was 4:53 and with the shutters due to come down at 5:00 time was not on my side. After making 3 calls to people who concievably might be nearby and hearing "sorry mate still at work" "the whipping what? piss off I'm in the pub" and finally my 'beloved' girlfriend "A CD? do you need any more of those?" You've got loads. You wouldn't need to be Sherlock to know why she is an ex. Anyways The guy behind the counter who could probably bear the angst no longer handed me the CD and said just throw the money in to me next time you pass, It's cool you buy enough stuff here. MMMMwoiiii!!! I coulda kissed him.

Soooo this is the record that saw Whipping Boy go from standard Sonic Youth copyists to a fluent and cohesive act. Indeed for a few years before they were forgotten journos on the emerald isle would say "sounds like Whipping Boy" recognition of an identity they struggled to establish beforehand.

The savage dig at Bono on the wonderful We Don't Need Nobody Else remains one of my favourite lyrics in recorded music. Anyway All Music puts it more succinctly than I can.
Let the music do the talking