Hell's Belles

Vintage sounds, dusty grooves, and 21st-century freaks.

Anyone else find the term chillwave completely nauseating?  Not that The Mint Chicks are even remotely related musically to the four or so bands that make up that, um, scene.  I just find it criminal that people cream themselves over drab synth wallpaper when fucked-up genius like Bad Buzz faces near-violent indifference, at least in the UK.

OK, so The Mint Chicks have won every conceivable accolade in their native New Zealand, but while people up on this side of the globe think NZ is a cracking vacation spot, when it comes to music in the northern hemisphere, “#1 in New Zealand” might as well be “#1 in Atlantis”.

Bad Buzz is the title track of The Mint Chicks’ new EP, released digitally on an amazing specimen of a USB stick via NZ-based digital store MusicHype (sadly, stick is sold out but the music is still available as a download). Sonically, it’s a wash of sunshiney fuzzy hooks – think the Zombies-meets-Partridge Family, with canyon-sized reverb and tape distortion.  Bliss.

The Mint Chicks – Bad Buzz by hells-belles

MP3: The Mint Chicks – Bad Buzz

I think of Bob Seger mainly as a star of the 8-track cassette, with the Silver Bullet Band constantly on rotation in my Dad’s Lincoln.  Yes, we had an 8-track deck in the car, which was a Lincoln Town Car, no less. Want a late 70s/early 80s specimen of the stereotypical Italian-American family? Look no further than my dad’s “Land Yacht”.

Anyway, prior to the AOR stylings of Live Bullet, old Bob was quite the Detroit monster in his first (well, first semi-famous) guise as The Bob Seger System.  ”Ramblin’ Gamblin Man” could easily sit alongside Mitch Ryder or the MC5.  It’s hardly an obscure track – Bob resurrected it for the aforementioned live album in the 70s – but the original rocks way harder, even more amazingly so when you consider it’s accomplished without guitar. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be readily available on CD. Admittedly I haven’t looked very hard, having scored a fine VG+ vinyl specimen of the 1969 album on eBay for a tenner . *smug*

TESTIFY:

MP3: The Bob Seger System – Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man

Edited for the benefit of my UK friends unacquainted with the late-seventies American suburban road leviathan, the Lincoln Town Car.  Picture yourself cruising past the Burger King parking lot with the windows rolled down and blasting “Turn The Page” :

So the xx has won the Mercury Prize.  They had been the favourites at William Hill until loads of people bet on Wellah and the bookies all cacked themselves.  Maybe they should have stuck with the original odds.

There is a point to this beyond the gratuitous mention of the Mercury Prize (hello Google spiders!).  All this talk about the xx reminded me of their post-punk roots – one friend has amusingly dubbed them They Might Be Young Marble Giants – but I think they’re in a bit more debt to Durutti Column. This track is actually 90s-era Durutti Column, but I see no need to interrupt the trend of tenuous links in this post.

Enjoy.

Durutti Column – Maggie by hells-belles

MP3: The Durutti Column – Maggie

Gratuitous photo of the xx at the Mercury Prize.

Mad Men enthusiasts looking for a musical equivalent of Betty Draper need look no further than Julie London.  She’s probably best known for lounge-tastic numbers like the mid-50s “Cry Me A River”, but she’d become decidedly slinkier by the time she recorded her 29th- and  final – album for Liberty Records in 1969.

“Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” is one of my favourite Julie tracks.  As a kid, I’d always loved the original bubblegum version by The Ohio Express (the one 8-track (!) tape my grandma had that wasn’t Barry Manilow), but Julie’s version, with her languid vocals and louche string arrangements, twists the sickly-sweet original into a super-saucy gem.

I first came across this track via the bootleg Lux ‘n Ivy’s Favourites compilation series.  As far as I know, it’s only been re-issued as a Japanese import in 1995.  The prices have since come down, but it looks like it may be out of print again (Amazon has only 2 copies and the rest are private sellers) so if you like what you hear, snap this one up quick.

Julie London – Yummy, Yummy, Yummy by hells-belles

MP3: Julie London – Yummy, Yummy, Yummy

Julie London on eMusic

Shake Rattle and Bowl has had a great summer in its happy new home of the All Star Lanes in Holborn. It’s every Saturday night with FREE entry, and there’s some ace specials on cocktails. The mint juleps are particularly awesome.

We’ll be manning the decks on at least two of those Saturdays a month, spinning 50s and 60s rock ‘ n roll, rockabilly, Motown, New Orleans funk, garage, psych, freakbeat and maybe the odd bit of country. The next one is on 11 September from 8pm, so roll on down, grab yourself a mint julep and come cut some rug with us.