MUSIC
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Mynci troubles
Hey, hey, they're the Myncis and they’re not monkeying around. In fact they've just brought out a new album Barafundle and they'll be swinging round your way soon. Words Toby Manning
Known primarily for being a) Welsh and b) weird (the two somehow intrinsically interconnected). the fact that Gorky's '/.ygotic Mynci create hook—tilled. imaginative but accessible pop music can get a bit overlooked. Named alter the beach they l‘rctiuented
as children. the band‘s new album Burn/iiiit/le itheir
lourth. unbelievably) arrives like an ambrosial I‘oretastc ol‘ summer. haxed in nostalgia l‘or days that were always somehow warmer. brighter and taller. (iorky‘s have always been adept at invoking childhood. perhaps because. with an ayci'agc age ol 2i. it‘s still pretty li‘esh in their minds. And when. as in ‘llcywood l.ane‘. they're playing a song they wrote when they were l‘ourteen. it‘s no wonder that the innocence seems remarkably uncontrived. But there's a more general childlike quality to (iorky‘s music. a nursery rhyme whiinsicality alongside a gleel'til anarchy.
linking them to British Wilsrnis “Ht-Win ,.._ . - J l. '1!» 13.”? ‘: dig}: psychedelic bands like ‘
Barrett-Cm HUML earl)" 'l‘i'allic m- The Incredible String Band; while their melodies are as sweet and t‘rcsh as those ol. the Beach Boys. jtisl belloi‘c lii'itiii Wilson‘s marbles started to roll.
Singer and keyboard player liiiros ('hilds may have the name land the boyish charm) to go with (iorky"s music. but he believes that the band are now too removed ironi childhood to write about it anymore. ‘\\"hen we wrote the songs on the album
There's a more generai childlike quality to Gorky’s mine, a nursery rhyme whizie-gizuiiitg; alongside a gloat while their iiieiodics are mNeetandiremias Beach Boys, Ma lies-.4.
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: that's easy for you to say
about two years ago we had a lot ol‘ spare time. we were more relaxed; btit things are pretty hill on now.‘ what with a major record deal (with Fontana) and ever increasing media attention. But even in the litmiliiiitlle songs there‘s a w'istl‘ulness. even longing that already reflects this change in their lives. 'l‘y'pically though. (iorky‘s undercut the emotive (ienc (‘lark-tinged ‘Bctter Rooms‘ with a comedy cowboy choir. ‘We think that humour can sit side by side with something that’s quite serious.‘ says (‘hilds ‘You can laugh and be depressed by it at the same time.‘
The discovery of (iorkys Super Furry Animals. (‘atatonia and 'l‘opper has prompted great claims for a Welsh 'scene‘. but (‘hilds is dismissive. "l‘here‘s a dead end t‘cel to it. playing the same gigs to the same people. The social scene‘s just other bands. It makes about as much sense as brick-layers meeting tip with each ()lllt‘l'..
:\s a result. the band‘s much vaunted Welsh language quotient (and another factor in the ‘weird‘ case) is steadily decreasing. ‘We‘d been stopping oui'selyes singing in linglisb. and at one point I got so sick oi the scene that l rebelled against the Welsh language.’ ('ynics might see the input ol‘ a major label iin parallel to the Super l‘iirries’ slump in Welsh language songs once they signed to Creation) as a timber lactor oI' course. That said. listening to Bernhard/e. no one’s going to be accusing (iorky 's ol‘ pandering to commercial pressures; while always inventively melodic. the songs are prone to sudden
iii 'ttirllfll‘y',
. changes oI‘ rhythm and
tl ." " J "i ' v . My ISL Ll tile ornamentation with such . m hm cliai't-l‘riendly I'ai'e as .lew‘s‘
harps and krumliorns. (‘hilds says i'tieI‘ully "l‘he print-out ot the sales charts can be depressing. l mean Scan \laguirc sold a thousand more than iisl‘
(‘ei'tainly it‘s astonishing that a perlcct slice of pop like ‘l’aiio Song‘ could Iall short oi the Top l'oi'iy. (‘oiiiinendably (iorky’s just say bollocks to it and enioy the sun while they can.
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci play the Garage, Glasgow on Fri 11 Apr.
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More words of sound advice from music’s wise heads.
’It was more like a youth club. I used to play Chuck Berry and Howlin’ Wolf records on an old record playerl found in the cupboard, the kids were on the roof throwing rocks at me, while others cycled around inside on their bikes. It was chaos, but I didn’t give a toss, I was very stoned on spliff and it kept the youth out of trouble.’
lock Scot, punk poet, drinker and one- man party scheme fond/y recalls his days as a librarian in Niddrie. His latest works will be revealed on the album My Personal Cul/orlen, a collaboration with the Nectarine No 9, released on Mon 5 May.
’I would gladly be in a gym seven days a week if I could. I love it. I love my hands bleeding, I love it when the capillaries in my eyes break open, I love the occasional nosebleed.’
Three quessses as to the owner of that particular quote Was it A) Henry Rollins 8) Henry Rollins C) Henry Rollins
’When we first started the band we had hardly any responsibilities, but now we’ve all got little houses and me and Mickey have got kids. I’m still pretty rock ’n' roll when the mood takes me. . . you should come around my house because it’s pretty rock ’n’ roll living with two kids.’
Danny Supergrass reveals that parenthoor.l is in fact the new rock ’n’ roll.
’We are more soulful. I am aware of the size of the soul now, aware of the size of the universe. With "Free Me”, the last verse goes "As wide as the ocean/As high as the sky/as deep as the earth.” That's how free you can be. Unlimited freedom, unfathomable, it’s finite, it’s infinite.’
Cast’s lehn Power, several/a” (roarettes lor the better, comes over all mystical while (ontemplating his new album Ku/a Shaker’s Mr Mills has a rival If) his mastery of the spare cadet language
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