The collective brainchild of canny North-West promoters Dylan Harris and Sean Doherty, the Lupine label began in the humble surroundings of the now sadly demolished Lux Club in Wigan in the dim and distant days of 2003 and has now come to fruition thanks to the success of the industrious pair’s burgeoning Northern Lights club night, which has been regularly pulling in 700 punters every Friday over the past couple of years.
Lupine’s flagship release, this 10” vinyl compilation shows just how adept Harris and Doherty are when it comes to sorting the aural wheat from the chaff as well. With two exceptions, the artists featured here are new to your reviewer, but collectively they make it quite clear that Wigan’s musical heritage will soon amount to far more than simply The Verve and, er, the Electro Hippies.
‘Tales From The Lux’ is a suitably diverse collection stylistically opens energetically with the well-aimed, snotty buzz bomb of ‘Jobseekers’ Allowance’ from promising lippy upstarts DIRTY CIRCUS. Impressively, this bunch have recently signed to the mighty Columbia label, so I think this contribution of theirs may well be the tip of a large future iceberg. It’s arguably usurped by the fine, if bizarrely-titled ‘Residual Energy Of The Broken-Hearted’ from THE VC’S, though. Esoterically described as “electro surf-rock” in the PR notes, it’s a laid-back, chilly and glacial indie boy-girl duet with soundtrack aspirations and a wonderful, Mariachi-style twist in its’ sobriety.
More familiar to this hack’s overworked lobes, meanwhile, are MOCO and GERARD STARKIE. MOCO are stalwart Wigan scenesters who’ve been threatening to trouble the scorers for some time and their tune ‘Freaks’ is a typically ebullient, ‘Nuggets’-style feast with great, spazzed-out fuzz guitars, Farfisa straight outta Caesars’ ‘Jerk It Out’ and hooks galore. It’s good, but not as heartening as the re-emergence of Gerard Starkie, who the more discerning out there will recall as singer with the under-rated Witness back in the day. His contribution, ‘The Whispering’ shows his knack for emotive, slightly dog-eared folk-rock hasn’t faded one iota and proves he’s still got a lot to give.
|
Another guy who I knew by proxy only was MAT TURNER, primarily because he was the guy in Providence who didn’t later go on to be in Gomez, but his old mates turn up to help him out on the swoon-y, finger-clicking croon of ‘Fresco Blade’ here. It’s certainly a change of pace, but works well in such eclectic company. Indeed, the only mild disappointment is the closing ‘All Your Love’ from THE LOUNGS. It’s OK, but a little frail and undernourished for my liking, but then it is a demo and with an album ready to go in 2007 for Manchester’s Akoustik Anarkhy label, we should perhaps take a rain check until then.
Nevertheless, this is an exciting and diverse opening salvo from a great new label which goes some way in proving there’s way more to Wigan than simply the Uncle Joe’s mint balls, soul all-niters and the best rugby league team in England. Listen and learn.
|
