This week I found out that the ‘seaside town that they forgot to close down’ that inspired Morrissey’s Every Day Is Like Sunday is Borth in mid-Wales. I lived near to Borth for a number of years, and can confirm that a light scattering of nuclear bombs, as also recommended by S. Morrissey, would do no harm. The ANBAD Donkey gets Welsh in celebration of the fact.

Mixtape:

FIRST! NYC UFOs could have conceivably added a few more letters to their name, and happily thrown in a PhD for added brains, an MGMT for some art-house pop, and some LSD for, like mind-expansion, yeah?

They didn’t, and we’re probably all better off for it. Some bands have the whole guitar/drums/bass thing all wrapped up, and NYC UFOs are one of them. Their songs, like Any Other Time, pop out of the speakers and tickle your eardrums. Nice.

SECOND! Big Wave Riders are from Töölö in Finland. Just imagine having that many umlauts on your neighbourhood signposts: you’d think you were in some sort of alternate reality ruled by 1980’s metal bands.  Such a place would certainly not be a Republic of The Average, but that’s the song that Big Wave Riders have written, and they should know. Something about ROTA reminds me a lot of Happy Mondays. This is an excellent sign.

THIRD! Silk Flowers are from NYC, unlike NYC UFO. “Go figure,” as Silk Flowers might indeed say. I don’t know how you feel about quasi-operatic basso singing over music that sounds like it was ripped callously from the Blade Runner soundtrack, but I strongly urge you to listen to Shadows In Daylight to see if you can believe what you’re hearing. Surprisingly good.

FOURTH! Bear Driver – I doubt that Bear Driving is an actual job. Bears don’t – as far as I know – enjoy being herded, but do enjoy the taste of delicious human meat, a fact which may make the two activities mutually exclusive. Anyway. Bear Driver (the band) make swirling and youthful tinkly-pop that can only reasonably make your life a better place. Their music is therefore a grand, sweet and enjoyable success.

DONE! And done.