New Singles: Black Moth Super Rainbow's The Sticky and Randan Discotheque's Daily Record and Time To Waste

BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW - THE STICKY
Come, come let The Black Moth Super Rainbow screw about with your childhood memories. The BBC workshop synths and vocoder rambling may evoke a carefree response but instead of transporting you back to the comforting days of long summers and peanut butter sandwiches, its affect simulates being trapped in a creepy kids TV show.

Very few of us would be able to keep a grip on their sanity while inescapably stuck in the world of The Magic Roundabout. This is precisely the reason why we don't give children acid. For sure, the reoccurring phrase "you and me, we're going to melt away like apples in the ground" holds anything but Disney schmaltz. The humid, electronic psychedelia suggests Lemon Jelly or Caribou, putting on masks made of wax and acting out German Fairytales.

At just over two minutes long, it's a short and simplistic release containing nothing overtly new (in fact, dangerously close to their classic 'Sun Lips'). Ideally, their newest album Eating Us where this record is plucked from will expose them to a wider audience. It is now that Black Moth Super Rainbow can begin to test their fans patience and drive their unique Halloween road show to more sublime destinations.


RANDAN DISCOTHEQUE - DAILY RECORD MAY 18TH 1993 and TIME TO WASTE
I wouldn't be the first of Bearded's writers to notice that there's something going on up in the cold and crazy Scottish hills. Randan Discotheque, the baby of songsmith Craig Coulthard, belt out two marvellous tunes on this double sided single and make a name for themselves.

In the catchy electro vein of the early 90's, 'Daily Record' is a window into one day in the Daily Record paper. Frankly, it's a cheap attempt to revive the by-gone era (also particularly strange when Craig says in a perky voice "a friend's legs were blown off by an IRA bomb") But despite this behaviour, it manages to come through after a couple of listens.

'Time To Waste' begins like a long lost Television track. A groovy bass riff punctuated by scratchy guitar frets. Damn cool. I'd bet you've always wondered what Jefferson Airplane would sound like if they came from a New York art school? Of course you have - Craig's echoing vocals over rolling blues answer your question.

Incorporating all sorts of ideas, Randan Discotheque's range may be broad but it still presents them with the problem of what exactly to rest on. It would be easy to label them as purveyors of Scottish indie charm but I doubt that would go down too well.

(© Copyright 2009 Brendan Morgan)