SINGLES APOCALYPSE: Part # 2:
Comet Gain Special.

Comet Gain – I Never Happened EP
(What’s Yr Rupture?)

Comet Gain, what are you and why do we need you so? Hopeless, self-mythologisin’ faux-beatniks floundering around in the ruins of British indie culture? Self-pity ridden mod fools cursing the skies that they weren’t born in ’46, in a movie? The angriest bunch of record collectors who ever tried to persuade you they lead exciting lives? The Mekons with better dress sense? The greatest band in the world in the minds of the 400 or so people with precisely the right cultural background to take it all in? Whatever they are (never mind the ‘who’, that’s just disappointing), they’re a fortress in my head that’s not going away any time soon. If they weren’t there, I’d have had to invent them.

So listen: I’ve been going out of my way recently to avoid the chest-beating, self-pitying yak that often predominated in my tastes of yore, but fuck it, I got my troubles, and Comet Gain make self pity sound so sweet – witness the title track here, lining itself up for premier position on next decade’s equivalent of their recent singles/rarities comp. “ I never happened / you never occurred to me / I never spoke elegantly / I never walked through the door”, gasps David Feck over some quietly livid two chord shuffle. “I never happened / sure, but it happened once / I was laughed at by all those cunts / I never wanted to know”. Fucker’s just playing straight into the hands of us aging sad boys again, isn’t he? And don’t we just dig it.

Indeed, this four tracker on WYR? (something of a palette cleanser for their forthcoming Edwyn Collins produced comeback record?) finds the band closer than ever to the spirit of their beloved Television Personalities – by which I mean, captivating and frustrating in equal measure. Nil recording details or customary Feck blather here, just a fold-out tissue paper sleeve, track names stamped on white labels, and the magnificent (to some of us, in some moods) opening cut bulked up to EP status with the addition of two excruciating drunken jam sessions, an on-air apology and a number called “Love Vigilantes”, where Feck fits new lyrics about a soldier coming home to his family to the tune of “It’s Gone Before We Open Our Eyes”. It starts off kinda earnest, but he seems to have given in to parody by the closing verses. And why not, eh?

A noble mess then, probably pretty much par for the course for Comet Gain circa 2010, but it’ll still be nectar to those of us who inadvertently learned to whistle every guitar line on all their old albums years ago.

http://www.myspace.com/thecometgain
http://www.whatsyourrupture.com/

Comet Gain/Hello Cuca split 7”
(Doble Vida)

By way of contrast, Feck’s team show up two men down for their side of this single (Rachel and Jon Slade both AWOL), and knock it outta the park with just about the most furious track they’ve laid down since “City Fallen Leaves”. Nothing new here I guess, just another stumbling-out-of-the-club-shaking-fists-at-the-sky tale of blown chances and wild eyes and growling regrets. But they sound more ragged and garagey than ever as a fuzz heavy four piece busting out punk-ass 1/2/1/2 verse rhymes, and “Weekend Dreams” could easily have fitted into the flow of aforementioned album’s hallowed first side. No small boast. The defiance is intact. Kick ass solo too, David! I know you put the effort into these things really, dude.

I have fond memories of seeing Spain’s Hello Cuca absolutely tear it up at Ladyfest London at the Garage back in… ooh, 2002 I believe… taking the majority of attendees by surprise with a virtuoso display of high energy surf-rock. Now needless to say, if there’s one thing we at Stereo Sanctity can always get behind, it’s a good bit of Riot Grrl-affiliated Iberian surf-rock, and Hello Cuca’s knock at our doors is always likely to be a welcome sound, whether literally or figuratively.

In the intervening years, the trio have developed their sound admirably, ploughing their tight interpersonal dynamics and killer chops into a more vocal-heavy, art-punk direction that we hear the fruits of here, where Hello Cuca sound furious, spiky and inspired, somewhat akin to a bouncier, tropicalia-influenced Sleater Kinney, or to a more rocking number from fellow Comet Gain buddies Love Is All. Lyrics are in Spanish, which is as it should be, so I don’t know what they’re on about, but it all sounds terrific. Long-standing heroes of a scattered international community who take the Kill Rock Stars back catalogue as their god, Hello Cuca is now and forever a good time.

All in all, a beautifully presented, kick ass 7” here from new Barcelona-based label Doble Vita, who are doing good stuff and deserve your support. You might still be able to pick up a copy from Rough Trade if yr in the UK, otherwise speak to the label – they’re very friendly.

http://www.myspace.com/thecometgain
http://www.myspace.com/rompepistas
www.doblevidadiscos.com

Labels: Comet Gain, Hello Cuca, singles reviews