MODEL WORKERS
So The Lurkers a fortnight ago, now Magazine. For a column which tries to eschew nostalgia, this page is getting very misty eyed.
The ghosts of Christmas Past even flitted among us in the pub beforehand, where Spizz (he of Spizz Oil, Spizz Engergi and other Spizz incarnations) thrust a flyer into my hand for the next Spizz gig (May 14th, at the 100 Club in London).
Meanwhile I waved cheerily at Jeremy Vine, in the scrum at the bar, while feeling horribly guilty that the compilation CD I promised him, is still unfinished. It really has got quite busy again (two sacks of mail have arrived in the past ten days, which is a bit like four inches of snow: after the initial excitement, it's quite hard work getting through it).
Magazine however don't disappoint. They make no concessions. In stark contrast to the contemporary bands who play here, they leave The London Forum's stage bereft of a big light show. It looks like they're recording an episode of Rock Goes To College.
They are brilliantly workmanlike - almost to the point where they could have worn boiler suits (but that would have been too gimmicky). Vocalist Howard Devoto, skips and stalks the stage in three-quarter length trousers, a diminutive sprite of a figure, while the band stir the great soup that is the Magazine sound: Formula's warming gloopy keyboards, Adamsom's chunky bass, and guitars courtesy of Noko (Devoto's former Luxuria bandmate).
And on the stark, moody stage they've set for themselves, the light really does pour out of them. This isn't as dark as their Play album - the live set they released in 1980 - it is a celebration of their best stuff from Shot By Both Sides onwards, including a wealth of songs from my own favourite record The Correct Use Of Soap (when they start A Song From Under The Floorboards I'm getting my change at the bar and nearly drop the whole round).
It was all very respectful. Very sensitively done. They were like statesmen up there.
And the drizzling snow which met us on the way out, somehow only added to the mood.
A few days later I was back in north London to see Flashguns, whose '80s references lie more in the Postcard camp. In one of those strange moments of musical synchronicity, there seems to be a rush of bands at the moment who sound - to me at least - like spikier versions of early Orange Juice or maybe like the demos Rough Trade probably got sent in 1987 (have they all been reading Simon Reynolds book Rip It Up And Start Again?).
Flashguns are certainly more ambitious than most young indie guitar bands you'll see: the song structures are all twisted and burned, welding the different parts together using the heat their energetic live shows create. If they have one problem though, it's that after four songs they seem to be trying too hard. They become a little impenetrable.
And yet, you can't help but admire their craftsmanship. The devil here, is very much in the detail.
Similarly be prepared for a multi-layered debut album by Hatcham Social. I've only managed to listen to the single so far called Murder In The Dark, but it has a likable 80s indie gravitas about it, while obviously being very of the moment. It's jerky and restless and just a little dark. Remind you of anybody?
PS because one or two people have been asking what I'm listening to at the moment, I thought it might be worth including a playlist at the end of these pieces a la Sounds music paper circa my youth. So here it is, just in case you're interested (in no particular order)
GOLDHEART ASSEMBLY - Oh Really (BBC session version)
FIGHT LIKE APES - And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion (Model Citizen album)
BUSINESS CASUAL - Time To Pretend (freebie track from their album which also includes a Hip Hop reworking of Vampire Weekend's Oxford Comma)
THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS - Forever Now (Epic album, on many levels)
THE LOW ANTHEM - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin (US album, but due for release here later this year)
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