REMEMBER ME TALKING ABOUT THIS LOT BEFORE?

Last September, I told you the tale of Glasgow's very own Urusei Yatsura, one of those bands who really should have been far more famous than they turned out to be. What I said back then, I still stand by....

They were largely an out and out pop band with a sound that was influenced by so many others but yet somehow seemed distinctive. 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 still they could sound as melodic and delightful as Teenage Fanclub. Click here for the full posting.

I mentioned how the band had been quite productive between 1994 and 1998, but then problems linked to their record label 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 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 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 sort of track I'd expect from Luke Haines, who of course I featured just yesterday, while Mother of the MBK has a hint of what would emerge a few years later in the sounds of The Twilight Sad......

And here's a wee postscript to this.....

After the PC crash of a while back, I've gotten into the habit of writing up loads of posts well in advance of publication, just in case the same thing happens again....

Well, about a week after penning all of the above, I got an e-mail from Fergus Lawrie of Urusei Yatsura, thanking me for the posting last September. That alone was an exciting enough moment for me, but the news Fergus was passing on was the icing on the cake, namely that the record being worked on by Projekt A-Ko, the band he formed after the break-up of Urusei Yatsura, is now complete and due for release in the next few months......

Yee-har.

Happy Listening.