Limited editions have a certain cachet. They tempt the collector. Putting North American War's "Me & My GI Joes" EP out on a mere 100 cassettes is a marketing masterstroke that should cause Oxfam shops throughout the land to rejoice. At last people will have a reason to blow the dust off that cassette player in the cupboard and restock their collections with copies of Beach Boys' "Twenty Golden Greats". So, first we shall revisit the songs available for free download before being overcome by the sheer physicality of it all…
North American War are apparently a Glasgow band even if they don’t sound anything like your standard no mean city indie rocker. They do this distinctly effective end run on art house torment chock full of attitude ridden, and very American sounding, female vocals, discord dot com guitars and decadent misadventure. Out of their threat bag they pull “Me & My GI Joes” which staggers at you in a rather threatening manner rambling psychotically while “I’m Talkin’” just makes the room spin round and round. “Jelly Witch” sounds more conventional even if those words refuse to make sense but when you are armed with a selection of surf guitar sounds and Joy Division rhythms, then expecting to be covered by Beyonce isn’t a realistic outcome.
Right, that's the bit you can download for free out of way so on now to that which lives on magnetic tape. Creeping in at the end of the first side is a new song called "Fur War" – featuring fellow left of centre practitioners Fur Hood - that crumbles the justification for war into a low budget Apocalypse Now remake. Or at least the soundtrack to Apocalypse Now. God bless Walter Murch.
This is, however, a cassette (and a pink one at that) so there is also a side two. It's all demos but getting by the crumbling sound allows you to be smacked by the sheer half finished cataclysms that await you. The polemic "Slap" sinks into the dark side even dragging The Stooges down with it. "Now I wanna be your Jew…" she spits wistfully. Hypnotic right down to its happy birthday incantation, "Oil" then crumbles right before your ears and you just know that only Phil Spector can save it. As if to reinforce that very idea, a cornucopia of warped guitars, nonsensical samples and her laconic voice turn the demo of "Selegna Sol" into an attack of the helicopter gunship. "Pirate Ship" and "Dollar" provide the relief. The conventionality. The balance and the LSD.
Then the demos for those two tickets to oblivion assault you. Not like a slap in the face either but not exactly candy floss and cuddles either. Stripped out, "Jelly Witch" loses aggression and gains a dream like feel that disturbs the more you listen to it. Likewise, " Me & My GI Joes" metamorphoses into nothing less than a Jerry Fielding soundtrack sweep that would sit nicely on top of the titles to The Wild Bunch.
Interesting scientific fact. The stereo sweet spot for this cassette was found to be lying on the floor with the head between the speakers. All sorts of things run through your mind when you do that. Does an energy efficient light bulb explode? Do they explode like a real man's light bulb does or do they simply fade way and radiate?
This cassette is available from Disorganised Tapes.