I tend to fawn and gush over bands on Tough Love Records to the extent that it can be a little embarrassing, but I genuinely love both The Sequins and Honeytrap.  With Situationists, on the other hand, I can see a relationship that could go either way.

There’s a lot to like on this EP, and at the best they have absolutely nailed the perfect mix of old-fashioned indie sound and more current, punchy guitar pop.  There are moments within a couple of the songs that can be a little flat – a little standard, I guess – but when they’re good they are very good.  So where do they go from here?  Well I couldn’t tell you, obviously – if I could predict that kind of thing I’d be richer – but they do have another EP in the pipeline so I am looking forward to seeing if they can build on what is a very promising start.

The packaging alone makes this EP worth buying.  You get a piece of 10″ vinyl and a CD of the EP itself, all wrapped up in an excellent piece of graphic design and a really nicely executed, heavyweight card sleeve.  Tough Love put a fuck of a lot of effort and investment into their packaging, and are one of the few labels out there where simply owning the digital files just isn’t enough.

Situationists – This City Holds Us All

MySpace | More mp3s | Buy from Tough Love Records (Click on the ‘Product’ bit)

I really only found these guys because Bart at The Gentle Invasion invited them to play one of his gig nights at Henry’s recently.  ‘Who are they, then’, I wondered innocently to myself before wandering off to MySpace, hearing the title track of this album, and dancing a little jig of joy all to myself.

What a fucking great song it is, too.  The rest of the album levels off a little, both in terms of sound and in terms of ebullient mischief, but it is still very good indeed.  If it sounds like anything, I’d perhaps suggest it could be what Aidan Moffat might have done to Belle & Sebastian, given half a yard, from the flat Glasgwegian delivery and thick accent to the occasional need for a lyrical double-take.  What did they just say?

Musically, it’s decent twee pop, with just enough of a particular discordant atonality to really sprinkle proceedings with pixie dust.  It all sounds like it was recorded in a basement in an old Glasgow tenement block, with little more than a tape recorder in the corner, but I like that sort of bare sound, and I bloody like this.

The Just Joans – Hey Boy, You’re Oh So Sensitive
The Just Joans – What Do We Do Now?

MySpace | More mp3s | Buy this one from WeePOP!
Buy Last Tango in Motherwell from Ivan Lendil Music