ALWAYS FONDLY REMEMBERED ROUND THESE PARTS

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD BLOG ON 22 JANUARY 2009

Glasgow’s very own Urusei Yatsura are one of those bands who really should have been far more famous than they turned out to be. They were largely an out and out pop band with a sound that was influenced by so many others….Sonic Youth in terms of the guitars….a hint of Pavement in respect of weird lyrics…..glam-rock as evidenced by the Glitter Band style chants……the buzz and feedback of the Jesus & Mary Chain…..and the delights and harmonies of Teenage Fanclub…and yet, they somehow always semed to make distinctive records.

They were particularly productive between 1994 and early 1998, but then problems linked to their record label, Che Trading, going bust had led to a near two-year hiatus just as they were really getting a head of steam. Well, just the other day and much to my surprise, I came across a mint copy of their comeback record from late 1999, released on Beggars Banquet, in a second-hand shop.

Consisting of 2 x 7″ singles (on white vinyl no less), I am delighted to bring you the Yon Kyoku EP:-

mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Kaytronika
mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Still Exploding
mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Nobody Knows We’re Stars
mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Mother of the MBK

To all the acts that I mentioned in the pre-amble, I think I’ll now add Jimi Hendrix, as the first few seconds of Kaytronika remind me an awful lot of his Foxy Lady….

It’s a great wee EP – Still Exploding is akin to the sort of songs that the band had been turning out a couple of years earlier, but tracks 3 and 4 are a bit different and indeed unexpected. Nobody Knows We’re Stars is the bitter and melancholic sort of lyric and tune I’d expect from Luke Haines, while Mother of the MBK, with a slow build up to something approaching a wall of noise, is along the lines of what would emerge a few years later in the sounds of The Twilight Sad……

JC

PS

Tomorrow will revisit an old post from June 2009, the closing line of which sent a shiver down my spine in connection with one of the main new stories to emerge in 2017.