The Surfing Magazines are made up of two thirds of The Wave Pictures and one half of Slow Club. They're named after a Go Betweens song which is a good sign. They're the kind of band who are quite content to play your local pub venue every couple of years in between bringing up children and finding other ways to pay the mortgage. I like bands like this.
Their latest album, the splendidly named Badgers of Wymeswold, starts with probably its best song, Joke. It's an eclectic record and you probably won't like every song. But if you like Vic Godard, the aforesaid Go Betweens, Wire, Modern Lovers, Weather Prophets and the like you'll probably like some of it. It also has some rather neat flamenco turns which I can recommend.
'I don't want to listen to The Silver Jews tonight.I want Mendelssohn to mingle with the moonlight. And I'm glad that I'm not 15. The cruelty of the crown was obscene.' Those are the opening lyrics of Century Breaks, a song halfway through Badgers of Wymeswold. It might as well be a mission statement for the record and the band. 'All things considered, it's good to be alive,' they conclude.
All in all it's a very nice record for those that like this stuff. If you were prone to being pernickety you might say that it's a little long at 16 tracks. I'm quite sure Surfing Magazines wouldn't give a fig about such peripheral criticism. And why should they. They're haveing far to much fun, judging by Badgers of Wymeswold.
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