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The Nectarine No. 9 | Received Transgressed & Transmitted (Creeping Bent)
The odds and sod I've heard by The Nectarine No. 9 have been pleasing, but I've never had the time or inclination to delve deeper. I've admired the cavalier attitude with which they approach pop, but other things have got in the way, until now. I'm not going to say that this latest released really squeezed my lemon, but a little juice was produced. (The first and last citrus fruit reference, I promise). First off, it involves two interesting characters - Gareth Sager, late of The Pop Group and Rip, Rig and Panic; two of the more visceral British outfits, and oft wrist-slittingly brutal Scottish poet, Jock Scott. Jock appears to be an ever-present companion of the band - he may be officially in them, for all I know - but what I do know is that Mr. Scott once attempted to persuade my friend Steve to let him move into his attic. So that done, let's see what Received etc. is transmitting. Very simple this - 50% really good; 50% not really good. It doesn't start well with the death-jazz dirge of Pong Fat, but that gone, there is a parade of intriguing pop songs that drip with ideas, but some are not quite realised, hence the verdict. Susan Identifier is Kevin Rowlands' Vegas soul-vision in a blender, Space on fluoxetin - fractured loungecore with a chirpy extended outro, not a few miles from what Martin Carr is up to these days. The edgy, bleepy Foundthings is Regular Fries recorded in a garden shed, with the confidence of The Beta Band. Ending on the refrain "Jammin' it up with average gravy," how can it lose? Mason's mob's groove surfaces on the next track, It's Rainy For Some Cloudy Reasons, where the only lyric, "There is a silver moon," is harmonised over a loose percussive clatter. Mega-stoned cod-Reggae is the order of the day on Pocket Radiodrops, bobbing along mournfully, and I'd have expected nothing less than the wee tacked-on dub. (sic) surprises as sub-Calexico, and it slinks to a close with the Nectarine's take on Raz Ohara's take on Prince, with Lazy Crystal. I really like the tracks I've mentioned, and don't the ones I've not (and one I have), but there is no doubting that this motley band do have some orange-inal ideas that occasionally flick yer pips.

Tom Sheriff
June-July 2001

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