I realise that the end of one year and the start of the next is usually a time for people to do "album of the year" chat, but that causes me some problems as I don't have my number one album of the year on vinyl (yet!!!) and have already written about my number two album. So instead, here's a post about something I listened to an awful lot in 2014, even though it's from 2010. Happy New Year (over a month late, because I'm the worst).
So, this release is An Evening With The Clippers. The cover is fairly appropriate - showing two gentlemen in what might reasonably be described as "evening wear". Do I like it though? Eh, not massively. The "An Evening With" at the top gets kinda lost in the background, and there's nothing particularly memorable about the cover for me.
A lovely two-sided insert, which I think it should be fairly obvious by now that I'm a big fan of. Also note - there's only two chaps in The Clippers. That cover seems even more appropriate now, doesn't it?
This is an absolutely gorgeous record. I paid probably a little too much money to get a copy of it shipped from Germany (with other things), but "green with black smoke" was too tempting as a colourway (out of 285, pressing nerds!). Moreover, this is an utterly fantastic release. Clocking in at a remarkably precise 8 minutes across 5 tracks, such short tracks would normally suggest a grindocre release or similar, but that's way off the mark. The Clippers play summery poppy emo, and there's not a single missed step on this release. Every single song on this release has the capacity to wedge itself firmly into your head, the centrepiece being the magnificent Mature Women. It was with this song that I realised that The Clippers were a bit special, hearing it on a car journey to ArcTanGent and making a mental note to listen to the EP again. From that point onwards, I think I've listened to this EP most weeks. It's infectious, I can't listen to it and not be smiling. What a tremendous shame, then, that this is The Clippers' only real release. They have two other songs, on a split with Coping, and that's everything they ever did. What a tremendous shame. No matter - go get this EP from their bandcamp and let it make you smile.
