DEMO OF THE MONTH: SCREAMING TUPELO •
(myspace.com/screamingtupelo)
Dark menace delivered by a stripped-back punkabilly blues review, Screaming Tupelo share more than half their name with the troubled, confessional narrative of early Nick Cave singles. From the Mississippi Delta to the blue moon of Kentucky, the trio of songs here take pointed references from the very birth of rock’n’roll and drag them into the current century, with the corpses of its founding fathers rattling in their wake. There’s also a latter-day 80s Matchbox personnel crossover here, which makes perfect sense. This is well worth investigating. (NC)

ALBUM: BEARDYMAN • I Done A Album
(Sunday Best)
Making an album was always going to be tricky for Beardyman – his whole being is performance. But on an LP nobody cares how the noises are made, just how good the songs are. So it’s with surprise, but relief, that very few sounds here come from his mouth. With production help from Tom Middleton, ‘I Done A Album’ covers mid 90s Aphex Twin, crunchy dubstep, Baltic oddness and afrobeat in as many tracks. There are still gags in here, but Beardy has turned to the music. (JK)

SINGLE: CLIFFHANGA • Landmines
(Suicide Dub)
High Rankin protégé Cliffhanga spent his childhood pulling electronic toys apart to expand their aural capabilities, before an adolescence dabbling with drum machines, finally graduating to true bedroom producer status. This single, following well-received inclusions on Rankin’s ‘This Is Suicide Dub’ compilations, is his first proper release, a vocal-led floorfiller featuring the voice of his sister. The sweet innocence of her multi-layered, near madrigal voice is threatened by a slow, dirty dubstep backing that almost makes you worry for her safety. Remixes from Arkist and Evolve Or Die add some variety to suit all floors. (NC)

ALBUM: FIDGITAL • Let’s Get Fidgital
(Eastpak)
The reinterpretation of pop classics using anything remotely approaching ‘zany’ or ‘wacky’ instrumentation is always a minefield, and Fidgital (from the Battlejam family) stride confidently into this incendiary arena. Classical violin and scratch turntablism form an unlikely alliance as they invade territories including Massive Attack and the Stone Roses, in a strategy many might surmise as almost blasphemous. But actually in the most part it’s successful – none of it plays up to novelty and they manage to make the disparate styles gel perfectly via some nice toasted MC rhymes. Definitely worth dipping into. (NC)

ALBUM: THE LOVELY BROTHERS •
(thelovelybrothers.co.uk)
The first full-blown album from the Brothers – and if ‘full-blown’ makes you think of incurable diseases, you might be on the same dark wavelength as a song like ‘Happy Days’. Its observation “I see a cute kitten burning/It makes me happy for the rest of the day” neatly sets the stall out for the rest of the repertoire. Punk comedy cabaret sums them up quite neatly, with songs about kebabs, old age and Arnold Schwarzenegger – all delivered by a strangely costumed combo including ball gowns and that 80s style evergreen, the IRA balaclava. (NC)

ALBUM: MR B THE GENTLEMAN RHYMER •I Say!
(Grot)
If you view the Terry-Thomas CV as admirable but sadly lacking in any cohesive rap work, then Mr B is the gentleman you’ve been waiting for. Time machine tea dance turntables back B’s raps, thoroughly extolling the various characteristics and capers of the chap, from briar pipe and tweed celebration to a Wooster-inspired tribute to raffish employment-swerving. ‘Chap hop’ might not have the same empowering ambitions of hip hop, but it certainly knows a vest is only worn inside a shirt, which should remained buttoned unless accessorised with a cravat. (NC)

SINGLE: GHETTOZOID • Boy Toy
(One4Ho)
Brighton stable One4Ho – the home of mostly 140bpm tempo tunes, put out mostly by ‘hos’ (hey, we didn’t name the label) – goes from strength to strength. Armed with a sardonic, Ladytron-esque drawl, label co-founder Ghettozoid is blazing the dubstep/electronic sub-genre lovestep (kinda dubtronica without the overt lummoxing swag of dubstep). Laconic robo-girl doing intelligent emo dubstep? Inevitable really. (MB)

Words by Matt Barker, Nick Coquet, James Kendall
2011