Cornershop -
Judy Sucks a Lemon For Breakfast (2009)
Cornershop's first album in something like 5 years, they probably live comfortably off 'Brimful of Asha' royalties, and for this reason people are willing to discard some great music and write them off as one hit wonders... First off they've always been very satirical with some sharp lyrics, and their first two albums were great shambolic indie that often get overlooked... they've slipped into a poppy Eastern/rock/electronic rut since then, and this album is business as usual - i find this rut become more of a groove (eh?) when they segue into the instrumentals, and they get a bit breakbeat/hip-hop-y. Good album flow is a feature of their later stuff. And there's a sitar-led cover of 'Waterloo Sunset' which is pretty un-bad.
V/A -
Darker Skratcher (1980)
I was expecting big things from this as I am a big fan of Steaming Coils, luminaries of the
L.A. Free Music Society, of which this provides a compendium. However this vinyl rip is hit and miss; simply because amongst the avant-pop experiments are some derivative bands that don't stimulate the brain and body quite like thee mighty Coils (who managed to be both inaccessible and accessible at the same time). It's not completely worthless however and provides a useful look-in to an obscure, occasionally brilliant little scene