The Affectionate Punch were introduced to TVV by strangeways back in June 2019.
“So DIY in spirit that their songs should be sold by B&Q, The Affectionate Punch have been releasing music online since November 2018.
This is a Glasgow-based ‘thing’ – yes, they’re a band, but no, they don’t tour – and probably they’re best described, really, as ‘a project’.
Each TAP song is led by speed and momentum, with almost every number taken from spontaneous idea to completed, listenable take, artwork (and, often, an accompanying video) in just a few hours. The rush is an essential ingredient, and a few songs have been abandoned midway when it’s clear they’d require lengthy noodling.
TAP explores a few styles of music, in general, you’d find them in the Indie aisle, probably between the Twee and Shoegaze sections. Led by just one person in one room, lurking close by, and keenly watched by the not-obvious-at-all store detective, would be a gang of contributors: Paul McKeever, a singer/songwriter from Larbet, Scotland, Marshmallow Fortresses, a musician from the San Francisco Bay Area, USA and, most regularly, Amanda Sanderson, a singer from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. As a non-musician myself, it is astonishing to me that this is largely a one-man band. Did I say band? I meant project. A one-man project, albeit one that welcomes these contributions.
The songs? They’re created for fun above all, and are led by guitars, keyboards, loops and samples – not to mention the odd peppering of toy orchestra lurking low in the mix.
And, yes, Associates fans: the project is named after the band’s debut LP. An Associates sample was being used on a previous project and this inspired the entire TAP idea. I love it when pop does stuff like that.”
If you visit this bandcamp page, you’ll find 24 different releases from TAP, all of them still freely available to download. There’s even a couple of tracks to which your humble scribe has contributed a spoken vocal. It really is a fabulous body of work, testament to the vision and talent of G, the incredibly creative force behind everything.
G has now added a physical release to the TAP collection, in the shape of a 7″ single. Just 25 copies were pressed. I’ve been very generously gifted one of them….as indeed have two other bloggers who over the years have sang the praises of TAP. The reason for the single is that G has decided to bow out of pop music involvement in 2026, and I’ll now quote from the note he included with the single
My bullish ego demanded that I mark the occasion. The idea of releasing a 7″ single was born.
It wasn’t easy choosing just the two songs for the 7″ – a 12″ mini-LP and full-LP were considered. However, I thought that could impact on the fun element of the project. Pop music has to be fun, surely?
G then signed off with:-
The Affectionate Punch was a one-man band that occasionally collaborated. I’ve chosen these two songs from the back catalogue as I think they sit well together. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact it took a few hours from the initial ideas to what you hear on this record. DIY to the core.
This 7″ is provided free and is a limited edition.
Enjoy!
Cheerio.
mp3: The Affectionate Punch – How To Write A Marshmallow Fortresses Song
mp3: The Affectionate Punch – Foolscap Heart
Both tracks were originally part of the Daydream Nostalgia EP, released on 23 March 2020.
I want to pay my own tribute to TAP, and have decided to repost the links to ICA #257, which was published on 6 July 2020 and which can be found by clicking here.
Thanks for everything G. You’ve been an inspiration to us all.
Happy retirement.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 