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The Mae Shi
HLLLYH
Moshi Moshi
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Article
written by Paul M
Mar 9, 2008.
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While some bands, Oasis for example, produce their best material while still young and angry, other acts need to mature. Like a fine wine or a good cheese, perhaps. Stinking Bishop would be merely a Mildly Whiffy Gravedigger if it was whipped out of the dairy before it was ready. In the 60s David Bowie produced the Laughing Gnome. In the 70s he produced Hunky Dory, Low, Aladdin Sane and Ziggy Stardust… Well, I know which period I prefer. So it is with the Mae Shi’s first UK release, as something that is far better than anything promised by their earlier US only shambling efforts hits our shores like an electro punk tsunami.
They’ve lost members and as a result evolved musically; they now have the quirky synth hooks and cracking tunes to go with the trash aesthetics. They’ve gained a decent production unlike their lo-fi bedroom predecessors but nothing so grand as to spoil the spontaneous party feel. From the opener Lamb and the Lion and its pounding percussion you realise that like Lady Chatterley being taken ruggedly up the country path by Sean Bean this is not going to be a delicate affair.
Single Run to Your Grave is a magnificent stadium anthem, but only if the stadium is your local rec with jumpers for goalposts and a poop scooper to clear the rottweiler’s arse eggs before kick off. Indeed you’ll struggle to find a weak track on this collection. The battered lovespawn of Deerhoof, the Beastie Boys and Led Zep, it’s a glorious fest of squawking guitars, jagged keys and vocals so shrill they’d give a shriek owl the horn.
Sat virtually in the middle of the fourteen tracks, Kingdom Come is one of the few tracks that doesn’t spurt its load in a couple of minutes, leaving you gasping for more. Clocking in at over eleven minutes it’s nearly as long as one of their previous albums in its entirety and is almost ambient by comparison to its surrounding here, as its bleeps and skipping rhythms fade in and out, brewing up to a heady euphoric climax. And if that doesn’t moisten your tubes then what chance, Mellors…
Untitled Document
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