Leicester has been responsible for all manner of margin-grubbing indie weirdos down the ages (Prolapse, Yeah Yeah Noh and Gaye Bykers On Acid are merely the tip of a very large iceberg), so it’s fitting that AtomicDuster Records are based in the very same fair and frazzled county.
Their spearhead charges HICKS MILLIGAN-PROPHECY are apparently only honorary Leicester folks as their EP ‘The Good, The Bad & The Iceberg’ EP was recorded in Upminster and – as far as I’m aware – they are from an obscure part of the big smoke. However, In terms of bucking indie trends and doing whatever they damn well fancy, they are Leicester citizens through and through, coming with a personal stamp of approval from Mark. E. Smith and titles (“Pro-Celebrity Prostitution”) that would do The Membranes and The Nightingales reet proud. Eee, it’s enough to bring a lump to a C-86 boy’s throat.
Fortunately, for all the wilful obscurity and curious angles, HM-P also bag a decent tune or three and wheel several of ‘em out for this EP. Opener ‘Monkey See, Monkey Lifestyle’ is a fizzy, synth-y indie disco workout with keyboards straight out of Space’s ‘Magic Fly’ and echoes of once hotly-tipped oddballs Tiger about it. Oh, and despite the irreverent PR notes, vocalist Matt Cheetham CAN sing for toffee. Callard & Bowser’s, probably. So there.
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Track two ‘King Herod’s Baby Milk’, meanwhile, initially seems like something of a departure with its drone-y intro, sombre basslines and basic rhythm boxes. It also finds Matt repeating “Welcome to East Croydon” with more optimism than anything else and while it’s all rather mystifying, it scores highly on the natural melancholia scale and is pretty likeable overall. It’s not as good as the closing ‘Pro-Celebrity Prostitution’, though, which is considerably more strident and reminiscent of Wire circa ‘154’: even down to the overheating Colin Newman-style vocals. This is by no means a bad thing, believe me.
So there you have it. Potential galore and an ace photo of penguins and polar bears on the cover too. Good to know the awkward sods can still make their presence felt even in these cynical times, innit?
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