Emotional Response at Whisperin and Hollerin

 This is one of 3 singles all now out on Flagstaff, Arizona’s Emotional Response label. They all come on coloured vinyl, this time on grey wax and featuring the alleged final single by Indie stalwarts Boyracer. I have vague memories of having seen them live aeons ago as an opening act at the Garage in Highbury but I’m not certain about it.

All the singles also contain bonus tracks on the download card which is cool. This is the current label run by Stuart Anderson and Jen Turell who also ran 555 recordings and Red Square records.

This single has cool artwork inside the label’s own Immediate Homaging sleeves. Pete Shelley is a new wave mod urgent lo-fi tribute to Buzzcocks’ frontman Pete Shelley; not as catchy or punky as Pete’s own work but very cool nonetheless. New Wave Mod sounds like the soundtrack to a culture clash as a mate transforms into a new style. The lyrics are a cool vignette and a mix of hurt and spite and Stuart Anderson comes close to sounding like S.M.A.S.H.

On the b-side, The Kind Of Man You Really Are tells the story of a rather mouthy neighbour over Jam-esque mod punk and let’s face it this guy’s wife is going to let him know just what kind of man he is. That’s followed by Jump which is almost Nouvelle mod with Jen Turrell’s vocals on a Jump-along tune with cool keyboards that is literally jumping for joy as it hurtles by.

The download card for this single comes with 2 bonus songs that opens with (Don’t Try To) Second Guess Me. That’s a good slice of shambling loud feed-backing indie that is good and brief like all these Boyracer tunes. The final song, Date with Doug, is a weird but compelling sort of love song about how a guy keeps meeting girls who’ve had dates with Doug. The flange guitar madness is what it’s all about; for me a cool noise for sure.

[Link]