stella

there are many and various bands that folk in ribbon fix played in before ribbon fix. the general fact that links these bands is that they were any good. mark allen rodgers played in driftwood and shroomunion. brian gathy played in savalas and amber inn (and later the shivering). mike roberts, i have no idea about him. and andi camp played in underside and stella. the underside 7" is worth tracking down and maybe it's one i will get around to writing about on here in 2010, along with the black jack action 7" (post julia). anyways. this 5 track cdep is quite similar to the band that ribbon fix became, lots of melodic twinklings, and of course andi's vocals. it's a fair bit rawer and less polished than the 'Fix, but well worth a listen nonetheless, the progression is interesting in itself, the fact that the music is good quality too is a fine bonus. opening song "p.s.e". is killer and perhaps the pick of the bunch, diving around wonderfully. no, wait, "fire" is maybe the best song, with a mid 90s hardcore emo feel to the guitars, which is not surprising, as these songs are from 1995. the songs definitely lean towards the shoegazemo sound for the most part, a style that wasn't tackled very often sadly. swirling guitars and airy vocals, always a fine combo for me. if you are into crash & brittany or ribbon fix, then i am pretty sure you will love this ep. "ledge" is the only track that kind of deviates from the template, a bit of a more "rock" track, again with riffs that fit with stuff like indian summer, but a lot cleaner. it's my least favourite of the 5 songs on here. they drift on out with "moods" though, which is a fine finale, all towering guitar parts and soaring vocals, ready to crush you into the ground with the beauty of it all.

you can download this here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/pmkz8f

but really you should buy it, because it's actually still available from grafton. your best bet to get in touch with grafton is to message andi via her current band's myspace site. everything on grafton is still in press, so cough up the readies and help shift some space in andi's residence. you'll improve the quality of your cd collection and help out a great label into the bargain.