Suffereing Jukebox is a brand new label over in the UK, who just released this single from Mazes. I was just thinking about the Lilys recently and what Kurt Heasley might be up to recently. I think hes still in LA, somewhere near Lou Barlow. That stuff really used to completely take me by surprise, they were in such a subgenre off by themselves. He was definitely a genius, the mod/psyche/pop sound was completely his and no one else's. He got me to appreciate some of that C86 sound and like the Lilys' Brief History of Amazing Letdowns, the Mazes seem to be comfortable with not settling on a particular wave of this sound, going from dirty garage, to catchy indie pop. It's nice to hear that experimentation, they aren't settled on anything yet...I'm willing to go along for this and future 7" single rides.
The A-Side, 'Cenetaph', reminds me of that 90's English laid back guitar-centric sound, a rowdy pop Belle and Sebastian with the leanings of Kurt's unique harmony and manic happy chord changes. It's immediately catchy, but not as precious ultra produced as some of later Lilys, there's a loose raw feel to the performance, and it's vocally they're off and running making this one unique.
I noticed they toured with So Cow and that feels like a perfect fit with the B-Side 'Go-Betweens', it's rough, a little bit punk, power pop and then the vocal melody softens it up a bit, it could even be twee for tough guys...what can I say they're a contradiction at the very least.
Not to mention that their other single 'Bowie Knives' on sex is disgusting records doesn't sound like either of the two on this single. Nice work. I like all three and for completely different reasons...surprising.
Available direct from Suffering Jukebox who will airmail that little piece of wax over....or better yet, it's also locally available from Goner.
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