Sex Hands Are There For You (And All Over You)

Manchester produce some funny folk, don't they? They produce some pretty stellar bands too. Sex Hands is one such group. Three friends from Wales with a Manchunian add-on, the awesome foursome write scuzzy, wonky garage rock about Friends. Not their friends, but everyone's Friends - Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe.


They even have an entire album glued to the obsession, called Season 1. Some of the instrumentation actually reminds me of Royal Headache at times, such a great thing.It's pretty rad, even moreso seeing as they have an amazing cover of The Clean's 'Sad Eyed Lady'. No cover of the Rembrandts' "AMAZING" title tune though, instead naming a song after the band. Small victories. Grab it here.

Sex Hands - Joey
Sex Hands - Sad Eyed Lady (The Clean cover)

But that isn't all, they have been on a couple of excellent splits this year. The first one, a 7" put out by Icecapades, with now-defunct band Daily Life. It's a little clearer in production, but just as awesomely (and gleefully) bent out of shape. He can still grab it here. Here are the four songs put to some film clips:









And in case that isn't enough, here is the other split they did, a cassette on Birthday Tapes with ____ band Golden Grrrls as part of their Zodiac collection. Called Taurus, we get more of the same, but different. But essentially the same. Woo! PLUS, their cover of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci's 'Merched Yn Neud Gwallt Eu Gilydd' is just as rad as their Clean cover. These guys cover goooood. you can buy this cassette for 2 squid here.



They also have this 12" 4-way split out through Song, By Toad Records with SM faves Paws, as well as Waiters and Dolfinz. Grab it here (the Sex Hands song is 'Jingle Bitch' off Season 1).

FINALLY! Here is ANOTHER few Friends' related track, including a newie called 'The One Where The Stripper Cries'. Ah, Danny Devito...Dr Romano...Susan...the memories! And why I'm at it, Ross and Rachel, WTF! Don't get me started (*starts humming 'I'll Be There For You'...)

Pawing The Milk Maid

Here are two linked acts that are prepping amazing releases through Fat Cat Records this year.


First up is another slacker rock album that owes as much to the 90s psych movement of the Dandy Warhols/Brian Jonestown Massacre era as it does to fellow revivalists like Yuck. Milk Maid are from Manchester (chief songwriter Martin Cohen used to be in the pretty rad Nine Black Alps) and Mostly No (their second after releasing Yucca only last year) is an album chock full of jangly guitar ramble and chunky guitar drive. I love me a guitar album. Yet I still think that due to trying to find that balance between the jangle and the crunch, the trio straddles both without embracing either, so things aren't as strong as they could be. It's not that I struggle with isn't that the trio aren't good - Mostly No is a pretty delectable album - it's that their name is too close to Milk Music, the Washington band that are one of the best things going around right now. So when I forget, or get confused, and hit up Milk Maid instead of Milk Music, I'm invariably disappointed. This isn't the band's fault of course, and Mostly No is an album that makes an impression, then falters, before winning you over in the end ('Do Right' and 'Bad Luck' are pretty killer). Let's hope the next one works harder to rock all the way through.




Much more upbeat are PAWS, a Glasgow based trio that dish out scuzzy garage fuzz with little regard for their own safety. They brought out their debut EP Misled Youth (in cassette form) back in May, and are quickly backing that up with their Jellyfish/Bloodline 7" (which rings of early Japanadroids, especially the A-side) in preparation for their upcoming LP Cokefloat! (which has been recorded and produced by Warm Brains' uber-producer Rory Attwell). I have to say that I'm a big fan - these two quickly constructed releases (everything except for 'Bainz' - my favourite - was written and recorded in under a week) allude to a world of promise.

PAWS - Misled Youth



You can grab all of these releases on the FatCat website here.