Dannnnsh
Where The Pretty Birds Sing
50 Pence For Buddha
Bigger Time Mind
A Love, A Wind
Made From Ash
On A Whispering South Wind

Elvis Coffee Records are that very rare breed. A label started up for the sole purpose of releasing their own music they now actively release any recordings that they feel are interesting no matter what that musical genre might be. Though initially predominately concerned with the burgeoning South Wales electronic / ambient / experimental scene they quite happily have thrown their doors open to all comers. Nothing rare in that you might say. What if I told you that they release these recordings to usually 50 - 75 copies only apiece. Again…nothing new there. Ah…but what if I told you that these recordings are FREE!! All you need is to pay for the postage. A rare breed indeed.

Come on. Surely you’ve spotted what’s going on here by now?

ECR have kindly sent along four of their latest releases for review, their back catalogue unsurprisingly having sold out ages ago, so last up for review is ECR 13 by Psychic Space Invasion. Again. Following on from ‘And the cows go mu’, and taking a very different approach to that excellent recording, the seven tracks forming ‘The magpie rhyme’ mixes together the dark ambience and experimental genres with gusto. And I mean with gusto. Using normal instruments such as guitar / horn / harmonica et al and supplementing them with pipes / broken glass / chains et al then processing the whole caboodle with some electronic black arts forms the backbone from which the sound sculptures are divinely formed. Add in some slightly distorted vocals and other even more surprising sound sources for added effect and what you’re left with is a challenging but highly rewarding recording that often surprises…but in the nicest way possible. Ducks and trains never sounded so strange yet not out of place. Although far harsher in texture to ‘And the cows go mu’, here the listener must use all his powers of deduction to try and figure out all the conundrums being thrown their way, it is no less rewarding. In fact it acts as the prefect antidote to the more serene and dreamy ‘And the cows go mu’. The best thing to come out of Wales since Charlotte ( voice of an angel - mind of a slut ) Church. And for the last time…as it’s basically FREE you should bite their hands off pronto to get yourself a copy.

ANM