MP3: Ooberman / Roll Me In Cotton

Ooberman were semi-formed in Bradford in 1988 by Dan Popplewell and Andy Flett and under the name of The Forestry Commission. Soon Andy's brother Steve joined on bass, and after moving to Liverpool, they were joined by Sophia Churney on keyboards and Alan Kelly on drums. The first official Ooberman was played in June 1997, and soon their gigs and demos led them to the attention of Graham Coxon who released their first single, Sugar Bum, on his Transcopic label. After releasing the Shorley Wall EP to much Evening Session airtime, the band soon signed to Independiente in time for their first charting single, the stunning Blossoms Falling. Spring 1999 saw the release of their debut album, The Magic Treehouse, which gained good reviews but failed to achieve significant sales. This led to the band being dropped, but they soon started to record again and decided to release a mini album, Running Girl in October 2001 on their own Rotodisc. It would not be until March 2003 that their second album, Hey Petrunko!, would be released to good reviews but again small sales. Soon afterwards the band split up, and little has been heard since. The only news of any other release is on the bands official site, the only page of which advertises 'Rare Recordings 1991-2005'. Whether this is going to be an album or a website is as yet unknown. For more info on Ooberman you can try The Magic Treehouse fansite or the Oobtube forum.


Download: Ooberman / Roll Me In Cotton - MP3 2.75mb (rapidshare)

quick note re: pulp post below

oops, just realised the three links for the pulp mp3s below were broken, but they're fixed now, so make sure you check them out. cheers.

MP3 Pulp Discography - Part Four: Freaks (1986)

Other parts in this series: One / Two / Three / Five / Six / Seven / Eight / Nine / Ten / Eleven
Okay then! Back to my Pulp marathon. Sorry about the delay since the last part, very busy and girlfriend very ill so looking after her. This week it's time for Pulp's second full length, 1986's Freaks. Described on the sleeve as 'TEN STORIES ABOUT POWER, CLAUSTROPHOBIA, SUFFOCATION AND HOLDING HANDS', Freaks is very very different from the bands debut, obviously reflecting the completely new lineup. The sound of Freaks is a slightly more developed version of the one heard on the Little Girl and Dogs Are Everywhere EP's: postpunk/indie and slightly disco, not yet the classic Pulp sound but getting closer. The album was recorded in one week in June 1986 for £600, and was later disowned by the producer, who didn't want his name on it. It's not surprising considering the completely uncommercial, occasionally out of tune and often rather depressing nature of it all. Jarvis has stated that it's his least favourite of the bands records, but I have to say I find it quite enjoyable, and the highlights are genuinely great.


It begins with the rather awful Fairground, a Mr Bungle-esque carnival post-punk mess with vocals from Russell Senior. Not a great way to start the album really, especially when it contains one of the worst Pulp lyrics ever, in 'Won't you come with me to the fairground?/Your head/Will be spinning/I said your head/IS YOUR FEET!'. Now there's no need for that. Luckily from this point on things get immeasurably better, with I Want You being somewhat of an underrated classic. I posted the next track, Being Followed Home a while back, and it's also an undeniably great song, very very atmospheric and contains another great early Jarvis monologue, including: 'They've followed me home - the one with the dog-breath in the tattoo bar says something in a language that I don't understand. The street stinks of piss and dead fish.' Nice stuff, and the production is very moody. Next is the single, Masters Of The Universe, which is notorious for Jarvis's completely out of character semi-metal 'menacing' vocal. It was a very different direction for the band, and to my ears could be a possible Nine Inch Nails classic if they covered it. Just check out the lyrics: 'I am the master of this universe/And I've got so big it hurts/Raise your eyes and graze your knees/Oh for your master is displeased.' The Russell sung Anorexic Beauty is also a mess, both lyrically and musically. However everything else on the album is pretty darn good. There's No Emotion is a good early semi-ballad, and the second single, They Suffocate At Night is rather stunning. The three songs i've put up are Don't You Know, a great upbeat number with a few tasty guitar licks and signs pointing towards some of Jarvis's later great vocal performances, Life Must Be So Wonderful, a very very depressing and rather out of tune mess which somehow manages to be utterly heartbreaking despite the bad recording, and The Never-Ending Story, unfortunately not a cover of the movie theme, but a rather nice Velvet Undergroundish stomp with the line 'What's one corpse between friends?'. This would be the last Pulp release before the band started to sound like how we normally think of Pulp, as next time i'll be looking at the classic My Legendary Girlfriend single. Until then, more info on Freaks at Bar Italia.

Download: Don't You Know - MP3 2.85mb (rapidshare)
Download: Life Must Be So Wonderful - MP3 2.73mb (rapidshare)
Download: The Never-Ending Story - MP3 2.07mb (rapidshare)

Discography: (click to buy @ amazon.co.uk)

It (1983)	Freaks (1986)	Separations (1992)	Intro (1993)
His 'N' Hers (1994)	Masters Of The Universe (1994)	Different Class (1995)	This Is Hardcore (1998)
We Love Life (2001)	Truth And Beauty	Anthology	Ultimate Live

MP3: Kerbdog - Mexican Wave

Kerbdog were (and still are, kind of) a melodic metal band from Kilkenny, Ireland who formed in 1991. The band are made up of Cormac Battle (vocals/guitar), Colin Fennelly (bass guitar) and Darragh Butler (drums) and as of 1992 Bill Dalton (guitar). By mid 1992 their status in Ireland had grown so big that they recieved attention from American A&R men, and it was to Mercury Records who would sign them in order to release their self titled debut a year later. After a few years of touring, Dalton left before the band returned to the studio in 1996 ready to record their second and final album, the stunning On The Turn, produced by GGGarth and released on Polygram. Singles released by the band include: Earthworks, End Of Green, Dry Riser, Dummy Crusher, JJ's Song, Sally, and Mexican Wave. In 1998 the band split, leading to the creation of the band Wilt by Cormac and Darragh a year or two later. I did an article about them a while back, which you can see here. After two relatively unsuccesful albums, Wilt turned back into Kerbdog last year and played a number of gigs, but have no permanent plans to record or tour again. Kerbdog were an extremely underrated band, one of the great examples of melodic heaviness without being shite i've ever heard, and On The Turn is truly, truly stunning, well worth searching out on your favourite p2p network. The mp3 below is Mexican Wave and is taken from that album. Tis a lovely piece of britrock. For more Kerbdog info check out Wikipedia or this fan forum where you can get all the latest news, more mp3s and anything else you might need. Enjoy.


Download: Kerbdog / Mexican Wave - MP3 3.02mb (rapidshare)