Stump

Stumbled across them a few months back. Rather good, IMO.

Just you

How disappointing. Ah well.

Edited by Henry Plainview - January 03 2009 at 19:59

Henry Plainview wrote: Trouserpress wrote: How disappointing. Ah well. Does this mean you're going to leave again? :(

*shrugs* I've hardly returned, TBH. I've not had time to trawl through PA for ages, and whenever I do dip in it seems to be stuffed with threads retreading discussion I'd had on here years ago. There's only so many times one can read a stranger's opinion on which King Crimson line-up was best before one hankers for something new. Recently, I've found myself getting into a lot of quirky avant-pop, post-punk, etc. (hence deciding to start a thread on Stump), which naturally isn't discussed on here all that often. So yeah, I'll be around. Just don't expect me to have much to say.

Back on topic, a few words in defence of Stump: Firstly, it's meant to be silly, so it's bound to irritate some people. Not everyone finds silly to be a good thing. The lyrics are inventive, full of wordplay and rarely about typical subjects. Buffalo, for example, is all about clueless American tourists in London ("How much is the fish? Does the fish have chips?" etc.). The delivery of said vocals is, naturally, dramatic, overplayed and tongue-in-cheek. And also, to my ears, delightful.

The band's Beefheart-esque sound is definitely an acquired taste. It's all twangs and licks and bounding rhythms. But all of that stuffed into a palatable pop format is, at the very least, rather interesting, don't you think? In short, I'd recommend trying their album "A Fierce Pancake" a couple of times before dismissing them altogether, unless you find the above song to be utterly without merit.

Bj-1 wrote: Delightfully demented avant-pop there, Trouserman!   I enjoyed them, and gonna check out A Fierce Pancake when I have time.

Do. You can get it alongside a disc containing their two EPs (Mud on a Colon, Quirk Out) and another containing all their post-Pancake demos (a second album never happened, alas) in a "complete anthology" set. It's very reasonably priced (at least, it is in the UK). Mine arrived this morning.

Strangely addictive, silly tune. The video gets better and better too.