Artist: Ace Bushy Striptease
Album: A Litte More Suspicion In Our Fairytales Plz
Members: Basith (Guitar/Vox), Eve (Tambourine/Vox), Jeremy (Drums/Vox), Simon (Bass/Vox)
Label: Odd Box Records
Released: OUT NOW
“Why’re you still here? Why’re you still watching us?” screams the entire band during their short, aggro-blast of an opener ‘Wrestle; Eat; Cry’
It pains me to recognise the fact that some people have often asked themselves (and other audience members) this very question at local Ace Bushy Striptease gigs in the past, but it also gives me a shit-eating grin to hear one of my favourite bands draw a line in the sand (Or piss a line in the snow?) in such a direct way before launching into their sunniest, poppiest track yet, ‘Pain In The Aga’
The thing about Ace Bushy Striptease is this; They aren’t your average, well-oiled beast of a band; they’re more like that weird-looking horse with the really funny name who you bet on out of pure insanity, but ended up rallying around like a shouty madman on the bus
‘A Little More Suspicion In Our Fairytales Plz’ (following last year’s self-released CD; ‘Daniel Ershov Has Been Offered £100,000 By An Eccentric Millionaire To Step Naked From A Car Onto A Busy City Street, Walk 200 Meters And Climb Back Into The Car’) is a fantastically under-produced record, ensuring that this diamond stays rough-edged enough to remain lodged in your consciousness, never to slide through the crevices like so much other crap in your CD collection that you ‘seem to remember liking at one point’. Background music, this is not
But then there’s the songs…Speedy lil’ pop-punk tracks like ‘HM9 Waterfall’ and ‘Bon Nuit, J’ai Changé Mon Esprit’ drag you onto a spritual bouncy-castle against your will, while ambitiously delicate tracks like ‘Let Us Sit Quietly And Listen To Pop Punk’ and ’490 Fights Before Midnight’ offer themselves up as friends you could turn to during moments of self-doubt
But for me, the album’s highlight is the bittersweet anthem ‘It’s a Race’, with it’s earthy guitar riffs jumping from one arrangement to the next like some wounded animal full of blood, snot and vitality, made all that more poignant in that the song was written for and sung with Basith’s love-interest of the time
But with all their wit and charm (not to mention a plethora of guest vocalists listed in aplhabetical order as actual band members in the liner notes), Ace Bushy never allow the listener too much time to mope about, making for an all-rounded listening experience comparable to watching a really decent Pixar film
This CD has so much to offer the average music-lover that If you could sit through it and NOT fall in love with ABS by the time you get to the part where they replay the entire album in 6 minutes, then I’d be tempted to throw you into the same sin-bin I’d normally reserve for those shady, untrustworthy kinds of people in my life who hate dogs, cheese and Prince
With tracks appearing on a Pavement covers album, two recent Brain Love Records compilations and a slot at this summer’s TRUCK festival , you’d be forgiven for thinking Ace Bushy Striptease were skipping over building a local fanbase and going straight to national status, so check ‘em out now and give ‘em the local love they truly deserve (10/10) Greg
You can buy A LITTLE MORE SUSPICION IN OUR FAIRYTALES PLZ for a mere £3 from ODD BOX RECORDS
For all their previous recordings, blogs and more, go to ACEBUSHYSTRIPTEASE.COM
In anticipation for the last planned 35 SECONDS show for OFF THE CUFF FESTIVAL at The Flapper, here’s a free download version of the mix CD which was given out at their previous gig supporting Toro y Moi for THISISTMRW (Which was an absolutely mega night, thank you everyone!)
