Even more opinion and comment…

Looking Backward!

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/newthisweek/5134/looking-backward/

Posted Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:21am PST by Dave DiMartino in New This Week
The last week of 2008? Surely today’s wonderful record industry has saved the best for last!
But no, unless you are a fervent fan of Front 242 reissues and the always charming Richard Simmons–whose new DVD Supersweatin’: Party Off The Pounds admittedly sounds captivating–there’s really not much new in the way of music product in stores this week. For that matter, there are fewer stores than ever now, too! It’s great!

So why not wind the year up with a heady recap of what I, the writer, consider to be the year’s most interesting albums?

Oddly enough, because this blog focuses on the week’s hottest new releases, I often forego the opportunity to write about records that are actually good!

El Goodo: Coyote (Grease) OK, well I feel like I’m cheating since this record isn’t officially out for a few weeks, but I’ve had the advance for two months and have been playing it more than most other new releases, so give me a break. They’re Welsh, it’s their second album, they obviously copped their name from the Big Star song, and if you ever enjoyed Teenage Fanclub or the Pooh Sticks during their creative peak, you might be inclined to like this, too. Excellent stuff.

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Losing Today Review

http://www.losingtoday.com

a new South Coast imprint who to date have so far managed to secure the services of two artists to their infant roster those being El Goodo and Ruckus Roboticus. Describing themselves as ‘psychedelic / alternative / country’ – Welsh based five piece El Goodo indelibly sift through the remnants of long discarded and forgotten late 60’s hippy chic pop motifs, cross wired with an impeccable knack for a razor sharp hook and an immediately infectious foot stomping throb this brace of day-glo babes showcased here reveal a hugely crafted melodic mindset at work here who’ve poured through the various compilation catalogues such as Pebbles, Nuggets, Back from the Grave, Fuzz Flaykes and Shakes et al and distilled the best moments into their own lysergic tapestry. ’feel so fine’ – primed as the forthcoming single culled from their (we assume) debut full length ’Cayote’ is a shade wearing shimmering acid pop flashback that imagines a dirtier more gritted blues orientated Stone Roses going toe to toe with the psychedelic side of the Soup Dragons operations, some neat nods the Beatles ’I feel fine’ at the opening sequence, plenty of kaleidoscopic tonalities and blessed with the kind of wigged out waywardness that suggests a potential transistor rattler in the making. We aren’t certain whether it us or them but ’she turtle’ sounds well warped and I don’t mean that in a psych way but rather more as though someone’s left the studio tapes on top of a radiator left full on in the hot Californian sun. Whether the effects are deliberate or by accident still sounds like the Lemon Pipers and the Creation being thrown through some mind arranging washing machine on a hot setting. Well smart in short. That said we suggest you tune into their MS page at www.myspace.com/elgoodomusic and fall headlong in to their trip wired transcendental mantra ’I only dream’ – think Mamas and the Papas, Jefferson Airplane and Fairport Convention taking part in some wonderfully weird and wired Tibetan incantation.

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Electric Roulette: Coyote Review

From Electric Roulette

http://www.electricroulette.com

Review – El Goodo ‘Coyote’
HOT DAMN! You hearda El Goodo? If the answer is ‘No, no I haven’t‘, then you’ll wishyadid! If the answer is ‘Of course I have! Where’ve you been dolt-head?! These guys are the coolest heavy freakbeat band since the whole of 1967‘ then you’re right and the collective ‘we’ feel kinda ashamed.

El Goodo have a new LP coming out Jan 12th of 2009 called ‘Coyote‘ and I’m already fawning, head-over-heels, might just start running around and telling everyone just how amazing this LP I heard… is. Serious. It’s got me all shook up, over, under, sideways… down.

Fact is, there ain’t a reader of The Electric R’ that won’t seriously dig this LP… and if you read over, I’ll tell you exactly why.

For those who are plain lazy and can’t be bothered with a full review, dig.

‘Will this band make you feel cool because no-one has really heard of ‘em, and thereby, giving you bullshit-cred amongst your record collecting mates?’ In fuckin’ spades, son.

‘Will this record stay on the platter and sound fresh-as in a coupla years so I can say ‘I told yer so!’?’ Yup. It’s timeless shit they got goin’ on here.

‘What are their influences… I don’t wanna be hangin’ wit’ no lose-fiends…’ Gene Clark, Love, The Standells, Things With Fuzz Guitar, Honey-dipped harmonies, psych, psych, psych… ‘kay? Now get the fuck outta my face. This review won’t write itself.

El Goodo have already touched the hem of the greats. These little freaks have shared a stage with The Zombies and the Super Furry Animals. That’s recommendation enough. However, you’re a fickle bunch who need more proof, huh? The bottom line is that El Goodo have an armoury of hooks and melodies that’ll knock you clean over, bang, into cocked hats.

They’ve also got that playful spirit I ain’t heard in many bands since 1971 and before. These guys wanna touch as many bases as they can… so in ‘I Saw Her Today‘, the band wanna go to the border and kick up the stinks with the Mariachi bands, via Arthur Lee and The Byrds. In ‘Aren’t You Grand?‘ they’ve stole a Mersey-groove and melded it with a blissed out SanFran dreamy pop-lyric. On the last number… it’s a track I can’t stop listening to… I’ve become some OCD muvver who keeps hittin’ repeat.

LP kick-starter, ‘Feel So Fine‘ hops between drone-fuzz rock ‘n’ roll, swelling up from the underground and spilling out into your ears in huge attacks of volcanic-mechanicals! Even though I’ve mentioned The Byrds and Gene Clark, it’s a lazy comparison… I mean… anything with harmonies gets lumped in with those guys right? Or worse still, The Beach Boys… like these guys were the only purveyors of harmonies ever. No, these talented little fucks share more with the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and Crosby Stills and Nash. One track kinda reminds me of ‘Transparent Day’ from the West Coast Pop Art… debut, only with more ideas thrown at it.

There’s no gettin’ away from the fact that these psychedelic chimps love the way-out sounds of the ’60s… and if you think that’s a bad thing, then really, what in fuck’s name you doin’ reading this website? The real deal question you’re asking is ‘Does This LP Sound Authentic?’ Twofold, brudder. The sound is hot off the reels and the songwritin’ is to be filed under ‘far-out’. However, we ain’t dealin’ with no Kula Shaker here bucko… this is the new, steamin’ off the press sound of a band who dug the cool 33rpms and channelled ‘em through the now. You need this record. 2009 will be a grim year without it.

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El Goodo released their self-titled debut in 2005, (damn! has it been that long?), on the Empyrean label. (after first being released on Super Furry Animals’ own Placid Casual.) Stewart Mason, as per usual, of AMG nails a deft accounting of the albums charms:

“Although Welsh psych-pop outfit El Goodo don’t sound a bit like Big Star, the fact that they nicked their name from an old cult fave tune is illuminating: there is nothing about El Goodo that any reasonably knowledgeable student of pop history hasn’t heard before. That said, the first-names-only quintet do a better job than most of synthesizing enough disparate influences that it doesn’t sound like they’re just ripping off one band in particular. The wry “Stuck in the ’60s” says it all, really: faux Beach Boys vocals, queasy strings out of a Serge Gainsbourg record, a Mellotron part straight from the opening of “Strawberry Fields Forever,” Forever Changes’ mariachi trumpets, but all of them are brought together by a solid, hooky melody and a knowing lyric that says “Yes, we know we’re not really doing anything new here.” Other highlights include the accordion-powered waltz “I Tried But I Failed,” which has unexpected echoes of Ram-era Paul McCartney, and the sweet-tooth psychedelia of the jangle-fuzzy “Surreal Morning,” complete with backwards guitar solo. Blending the druggily experimental vibe of the Beta Band or El Goodo’s friends and patrons Super Furry Animals with the kind of retro songcraft the Apples in Stereo mastered on Fun Trick Noisemaker and Tone Soul Evolution, this is strictly for those who like to play spot-the-homage, but the group’s better than average songwriting and clear fondness for their obvious influences make this an enjoyable listen.”

Me, I could substitute their track “Esperanto” for “Let’s Go Away For Awhile” and quite a few would be none the wiser…and put “Stuck In The 60s” right behind it.

Word is they’re all busy putting together a new album to unleash upon us. I have high expectations and hope their intake of hallucinogenics was copious and prodigious. (!)

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Advance Copy
“There’s been many recent artists that use the blueprint of 1960s psychedelia. Welsh band El Goodo (not to be confused with El Guapo) is one of the most authentic-sounding of the bunch. It’s a result of using the appropriate instruments (vintage Hofner bass, vintage Ludwig drums, Vox Continental, etc) and reverberated vocals. Super Furry Animals took them under their wings, bringing them on tour and in 2005 releasing El Goodo’s first album under their Placid Casual label. El Goodo’s second album will be on Grease records in January 2009. The first available cut, “Feel So Fine,” is HERE. ”

WELSH POP WIZARDS, EL GOODO ANNOUNCE SOPHOMORE RELEASE, “COYOTE,” OUT JANUARY 12TH ON GREASE RECORDS
Posted by admin on October 6th, 2008 No Comments Printer-Friendly
Hailing from inside the valleys surrounded by the majestic mountains of South Wales, five piece multi-instrumental group, El Goodo consists of the talents of Pixy, Jason, Lewie, Matty and Elliott. They were first noticed by the Super Furry Animals who, in 2005 picked up their first self-titled album and released it under their Placid Casual label and subsequently were their tour’s opening act, introducing El Goodo as a band worthy of critical and mass appeal. They have received accolades from both their home isle and the United States, touted as Artist of the Month by Spin Magazine in 2005. Besides touring nationally around the UK with Super Furry Animals, El Goodo has graced the stage with heavy-weights such as The Zombies, Dead Meadow, Preston School of Industry, Beulah, Essex Green and the Keys just to name a few, solidifying their rise as psychedelic champions.

ABOUT COYOTE
El Goodo combines the mellow and melodious psychedelic sounds of the Beach Boys, The Byrds and Love with beautiful and lush arrangements that call upon the mystical countryside from whence they came. The result is the creation of a mysterious, sweepingly grand, and at times whimsical approach to their already eclectic soundscape. Their intoxicating sophomore release, Coyote, due January 2009 (Grease Records), is both sprawling and hauntingly deserted, evoking a sonic landscape both richly cultivated and desolate, with intensely poetic harmonies and darkly articulated instrumentation. “Aren’t You Grand”, “I Saw Her Today”, “Talking to the Birds”, and “Oh, to Sleep” feel cinematic, like a dark western cowboy soundtrack, juxtaposing surfy and at times summery melodies to create an ominous score. “Feel So Fine”, “Be My Girl”, and “I Can’t Make It” continue in El Goodo’s knack for beautiful beach harmonies, but opt for psych-breakouts and breakdowns reminiscent of efforts by Olivia Tremor Control and Lansic Dreiden. Coyote was produced by the band in a deserted theater and has brought together Cian Ciaran of the Super Furry Animals’ fame to mix the album, as well as renowned artist Pete Fowler to capture the eloquence of the music for the album’s artwork. Coyote is a beautiful piece of darkly rich psych-pop perfection, brought to you by the new breed of Welsh pop wizards–El Goodo.