Half-arsed? Me?

I've been downloading various odds and sods from the JapanFiles website over the last few months, meaning to review each of them in turn. As is patently obvious to anyone who's read the blog at any time over the aforementioned past few months, that just hasn't happened. The Mizoguchi Ryoko review that I posted the other night was in fact the first review of an album that's appeared here for about three months. Bloody hell. This leaves me in the position of having a shitload of stuff to review and two options: bite the bullet, listen to everything at least two or three times, write screeds of notes which are then used to put together a number of individual reviews; or cobble together some reviews about two or three tenuously connected bands. It's not much of a choice for a committed shirker like myself, is it? Cobblers it is (with profuse apologies to all the musicians mentioned).

Great Composers – Miami

I first heard of Miami on the Call and Response compilation, 1-2-3-GO! (another CD languishing in the 'to review' pile that is threatening to take over my room). Their manic mix of beats, bleeps, squeaks and refreshingly non-helium female vocals hinted at a band that was worthy of further investigation. The five track E.P Great Composers has since brightened many a dull train journey, even the second track Fancy which wanders dangerously close to Rednex territory before swinging back into respectability.

MANY MANY SWEETS – Macdonald Duck Eclair

Quite what a Macdonald Duck Eclair is I don't know, and I hope I never have the misfortune to find out. This is a band that I read about on the Tokyo Live blog and I remain grateful to Ken for pointing me in their direction. Mixing gabba and Jane Birkin-esque vocals probably shouldn't work but it does. If Miami float your boat, then MDE ought to launch your dinghy too.