Kicks in Space!



The Homosexuals – Neutron Girl

When I recently acquired (ok, downloaded) the ‘Astral Glamour’ 3CD anthology of stuff by post-punk obscurist faves The Homosexuals, I was kinda expecting to hear a lot of serious-minded, sharp-edged, politicised stomp n’ clatter and muscular power trio rock. And indeed, there is much of that to enjoy. But there is also, to my delight, a scattering of the bestest, craziest new wave era weird-pop gems I’ve ever heard, this song being a case in point.

To a certain extent, it sounds like a conscious parody of The Buzzcocks – hopefully a dignified homage rather than a vicious pisstake – with some of the inspired chaos of Swell Maps thrown in for luck. A fine combination. I’ve listened to this song on my way into work every day this week, and it’s never failed to put a spring in my step. I think the bit where the singer yelps “like robots falling over….. in their hungry quest for love!” is perhaps a moment that encapsulates everything I love about homemade pop music and geeky punk rock.

If Grant of The Guild of Scientific Troubadours happens to be reading, I recommend this one to him as a classic, if somewhat comical, example of what we might call the ‘science/love crossover/metaphor vocab song’ sub-genre.

“Kicks in space... Your singularity stopped my watch!”

I know I have about 8,000 favourite songs, but this is one of them.

Labels: post punk, song reviews, The Homosexuals