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Review: Lovely Ugly / Pretty Shitty (REPEAT RECORDS)

REPEAT Records are back with the 15 track compilation Lovely Ugly / Pretty Shitty. The record features current underground Swansea guitar bands, along with a couple of local legends. Upon their return to Swansea after almost 30 years away, REPEAT found it to be a more diverse, creative, vibrant and exciting place than the one they left behind. Amidst the decay of many traditional industries, imagination is running riot, with a host of venues in the city’s creative quarter continually hosting an array of artists, poets, writers and bands.

This album is a personal selection of some of the music that has inspired, enthused and excited REPEA*T since their return five years ago. The record features trailblazing upstarts including Trampolene, Monet, Swansea Sound, Rainyday Rainbow, Grey FLX and Kikker as well as boasting unreleased work from Swansea legends Helen Love, The Pooh Sticks and The DC10s.

Local legend Helen Love kicks off this mixed genre album with ‘Swansea’s Got An Our Price’, a perfect punk pop ode to former record shop Our Price. The modest queen of the Swansea indie scene talks of spending “all the money we’ve got” at the shop formerly located in Swansea town centre and how important it was to her, singing: “It was just a record shop but it changed my life. July 2nd 1985.”

The noisy, catchy and pop-punky ‘Fucked Society’ follows from Picsel, who have since evolved into Broken Fires. This track was written by accident and recorded on purpose and acts as a cathartic expression of opinion on the society we are now living in.

Baby Schillaci suddenly change the tone with ‘ULTRA HD HAPPY FACE’. It's loud, heavy and in your face, The looping drums, powerful bass and distorted guitar drive this track forward and leaves you wanting to scream out in rebellious protest. ANGHARAD takes us on a tour of her homeland with the indie pop inspired ‘Outsider’s Map of Wales’. She sings how it's “a place with funny names, but my home just the same.”

There is a more vintage and retro feel to the next few tracks. Tom Emlyn’s ‘Three Sided Coin’ is a bright, Beach Boys-like mood lifter. ‘In A Different Life’ is an organ infused jangle-pop critique of Swansea from the Heavenly and The Pooh Sticks super-group project Swansea Sound. Ian Catton’s remix of Soundwire’s ‘Degrees of Separation’ brings an ethereal mix of electronic, psychedelia and post-punk sounds. Filled with synths and echoing vocals this track is a real standout on the album.

Side two of the album starts with a bang. “I wanna go out Tory bashing, I wanna fight a fascist” are the first words of Kikker’s ‘Trash’. It's angry, visceral and inspired by injustice and inequality. Raw emotion and passion comes bursting out of the band’s vocals and music. The intensity is taken down a level with a rare 1991 single version of ‘The World is Turning On’ by 90s Swansea favourites The Pooh Sticks. The track, which featured on their 1993 album Million Seller, marks a shift away from the band’s original ‘twee’ indie-pop sound to a more American power-pop style. The BBC called The Pooh Sticks “ridiculously over-productive, stupidly catchy and archly clever.”

Swansea’s “exiled sons” Trampolene change the pace yet again with a delicate acoustic cover of Elliot Smith’s ‘Between the Bars’. Despite being a cover, the simplicity of the guitar playing and vulnerable vocals make this track another standout. ‘Thrown Hand’ is a solo recording by Egg Spectrum, soon to become a full band Rainyday Rainbow. The liquid-like soundscape created is the main feature of the track, with very little, often hard to make out vocals.

The music feels like it’s moving and is carrying you down this river of jazz and psychedelia. Grey FLX lure you in and completely surprise you with ‘Pins and Needles’. The track starts off as a quiet and intricate instrumental which rises and falls. Lyrics come in and the track builds again, getting louder before suddenly exploding with noise at the halfway mark. The screaming vocals and screeching guitars overcome everything and it is certainly a track that gets your attention.

The noise doesn’t stop there as it is Monet up next. ‘Scuff Button’ perfectly demonstrates the dichotomy of the band’s sound with elements of rhythmic post-punk to all out heavy metal. They really are one to keep an ear out for. Dead Noize are the newest band on the record and they are really making sure they’re heard. ‘Bojack Horseman’ is the third track in a row which grabs you by the throat and makes you listen. It’s noisy, distorted and energetic, fuelled by rock and metal.

Another band with cult status in Swansea, The DC10s, have the honour of closing the album with their 1980 track ‘I Can See Through Walls’. They recorded this 90 second punk pop single as teenagers and achieved a play from John Peel and an NME review before splitting up. It is a fitting conclusion to this collection of songs.

Lovely Ugly / Pretty Shitty is a 15 track love letter to Swansea music and the artists that make the city and its music scene great. There is a real blend of genres which makes the album feel a little disjointed but that is no bad thing. The compilation represents the diversity of creativity and talent that Swansea has to offer and is the perfect advert for the Swansea scene.

Two launch gigs accompany the album. The first took place on Saturday 1 June at Swansea Tangled Parrot, with Monet, ANGHARAD, and Baby Schillaci. The second will take place on Saturday 22 June at Elysium Gallery in Swansea. The show will feature Kikker, Rainyday Rainbow, Grey FLX, Soundwire, Tom Emlyn, and Dead Noize as well as sets from DJs Hue (Swansea Sound / The Pooh Sticks), Catrin (The Loves) and Peter Stone (The Sweetest Ache).

Tickets for the launch show can be found here - https://www.wegottickets.com/event/616659#tickets

The album is out now on Swansea City coloured black and white splatter vinyl, with a gatefold sleeve featuring an original painting of the city by local artist Fred Fitton.

Listen and buy here - https://repeatfanzine.bandcamp.com/album/lovely-ugly-pretty-shitty

Words: George Phillips