What does it sound like?:
I’be always felt blessed: blessed to discover pop music in the heyday of Top Of The Pops; blessed to only hear the punkquake through the grapevine but land up in the record shops with enough wedge for a weekly 7 inch just when the post-punk tsunami of fantastic singles was crashing down; blessed to have The Smiths around for that awkward transition from late adolescence to young adulthood; blessed to be able to witness a whole new musical genre I love grow up before my eyes..
That particular accident of when I was born and how I came to music has always informed my taste. Childhood TOTP made me a respecter of all and worshipper of none (I’ve never been a fan or a completist: I adore Bowie – first pop love – but €11 for everything he recorded between 83 and 88? Pass!) and instilled in me a neverlost love of the perfect uncomplicated beauty of the genuine-tilt-at-a-hit.
But those post-punk records seemed to have another agenda: we will be strange, they said, whether through our cut-and-paste Marxism, weird new zynderzyzur bleeps and bloops, or refusal to polish our sound with chart-conquering sheen, but you will still give us hits, they continued, albeit mostly small ones.
Bands such as The Cure, The Associates and The Bunnymen occupied the charts like interlopers crashing a wedding to which they were not invited. Circus (of Death) freaks The Human League went one better: as an abstract painter might reproduce in perfect detail a dollar bill to shut up a critic who dissed him as having no real talent, they simply made a better classic pop album than anyone else using just a haircut. (Well, half a haircut).
Meanwhile, the numbers 20 to 75 of the eighties charts were strewn with not-quite hits which, while not a million miles away from the stuff on daytime radio, were just too odd to break through to the top.
That this alternative universe of slightly skewed scruffy shoes pop was given its own ecosystem of the Indie Charts was, ultimately, probably not for the best.
(I’m saying a lot of it disappeared up its own rectum).
You know all this already, but I mention it to give you an idea of what I’ve been listening to continuously since it came out.
Teleman, for those who don’t know, are three former Pirates (Of the “Pete and..” rather than the “Johnny Kidd and..” variety – can’t be too careful with this crowd!) plus one. When they came ashore they mostly put away their guitars to make synth and piano based tunes which sometimes recall classic sounds from the eighties, but are always within that playground of slightly left-of-field pop that I was just talking about up there.
It’s not neat ‘n’ tidy enough to have my sister singing and hooting along like Steps’ masterpiece from last year, but that doesn’t mean that the TWO MINUTE instrumental break during Submarine Life, the album’s biggest banger, doesn’t ascend with the same crescendo of gloriously increasing giddiness as the climactic last minutes of Sir Trevor Horn’s strings on The Look Of Love – making it one of the toppermost true pop moments of 2018.
The slow ones are great too: deftly simple but lovely piano lines underlay the ballads leaving their hooks in you after the album is over.
Yes there are some quirky rhythms and digressions, his singing voice is not for everyone and sometimes you can’t understand what he’s banging on about – but they said that about The bleedin’ Beatles too. And XTC.
What does it all *mean*?
It means you should give this album a listen. And if, like me, you have a penchant for left-of-field zynderzyzur-based pop which recalls the titans of the eighties, do not miss!
Goes well with…
The rest of your record collection. Look! There’s still space – just there..
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
Nice things going in their ears.
Sewer Robot says
And here’s a wee tune
monsignorbonehead says
I have been listening to this record a lot over the last few weeks, and investigating their previous two, and loving it all. Off to see them tomorrow in Dublin with high hopes.
The Good Doctor says
They’re excellent live. Enjoy
Sewer Robot says
How went the gig @monsignorbonehead?
monsignorbonehead says
@sewer-robot So good I bought the t-shirt. A sell out, albeit in a small venue, and a crowd with more than a smattering of young people which is a rarity for me even when I go and see young people (see Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, distinct lack of indie kids.)
The youngsters had gone to the trouble of learning the words to the songs and the band seemed really appreciative of the reaction they got. Dusseldorf was an unsurprising highlight, but I was delighted that Song For a Seagull made the setlist, one of my favourite songs of the year, and one that they really nailed live.
I’ll be back for more when they show their faces this way again, despite the bass player’s moustache.
Freddy Steady says
Gave this a go on Spotty recently as really liked a couple of tracks I’d heard on 6music. Started off really well, catchy stuff, but descended into a bit of blandness. Should I persevere?
Sewer Robot says
I’d have thought it’s the kind of straightforward stuff that grabs you out of the box (or not) rather than growing on you – might just not be your cup of teeth..
I notice the elves have added the album cover to my post – I didn’t as I couldn’t find an image that was guaranteed free to use. Now if only they’d pop back in and change that first word…
johnw says
I think it depends on what you mean by persevere. I think I feel the same as you but the two or three tracks I like vary according to the way the wind blows. I don’t think the appeal of Teleman lasts through a whole album (I felt the same when I saw them live before the first album came out). Most of the tracks are strong but perhaps they’re a bit samey. I never found that with Pete & The Pirates.
Tiggerlion says
Magnificent review! Top marks, Sewer.
moseleymoles says
I was a bit disappoint – nice in theory but a bit bland. I’ll give it a second listen before I write it off completely. Loving the new Chills though.
Freddy Steady says
@moseleymoles
Someone else who likes the new Chills…hooray!
Freddy Steady says
Second play. Same review as before. Starts well but then tails off.