More mandatory Cleveland avant garage from ’75. Poli Styrene Jass Band aka The Styrenes formed in the wake of the dissolution of Mirrors. The group made their live debut in ’75, at the last performance of The Electric Eels and Mirrors. This killer ’75 single marries Syd-era Pink Floyd with fabulously crude DIY styles, a more ‘progressive’/art pop feel than their contemporaries and, of course, some primo Velvets damage. A classic 70s under-the-counter-culture artefact. Hand-stamped sleeves with a jukebox 7. A killer. 

First full-length album from this amazing group since 2007’s Stories For Late At Night: The Cakekitchen were formed by Graeme Jefferies in the wake of the dissolution of This Kind Of Punishment, still one of the most revered of the legendary NZ underground groups. The Cakekitchen further expand on TKOP’s amazing combination of brokedown Syd Barrett-isms, dark primitively-rendered ballads and cracked avant garage. Indeed, Kangaroos... seems to specifically reflect on TKOP’s classic 1984 recording A Beard Of Bees with *those* droning kiwi vocals hovering over the tracks and some great piano-led downers that connect the Xpressway sound with the alternate Albion of Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt et al. There’s a definite argument to be made about how the NZ underground rebirthed the whole singer/songwriter genre w/influences from DIY, the avant garde, non-canonical freak and post Velvets noise and if you hadda hold up one person who pretty much personifies that kind of genre-devouring style then it would have to be Graeme Jefferies. And this is a peerless example of his alchemical powers. Hand-numbered edition of only 300 copies. Highly recommended!