MVPs, The – Big Pussy / ELH / Lie Detector / Neat Neat Neat [IMPORT] – New 7"

The first two cuts on this 45 are originals. Don't let the opening number 'Big Pussy' drape some sexist veil over you, it's merely a hit dedicated to a certain Sopranos character, performed by a bunch of nimble post hardcore gymnasts, these two minutes cram a Parquet Courts style verse, a Harlem chorus and an At the Drive-in grade bridge in and doesn't sound like a rush job either. It ends with a cascade of big muff fuzz noise that allows the band to segway seamlessly into the excellent 'ELH'. A song about a time when Charlie missed a flight home from Berlin due to too many refreshments and was taken care of by a gracious host. This track echoes 90s indie like Superchunk, Bob Mould solo records and indeed present day acts like Royal Headache and The Stevens. With a chorus like Guided By Voices and a lead guitar break that see both Alex and Charlie doing their best J Mascis impressions, the band have produced two knockout bouts of summer pop/punk in a little less than 6 minutes.

Accompanying the two originals on the flip is a couple of covers. The first one being a straight copy of Billy Childish's classic 'Lie Detector' the sound definitely facilitated comfortably by the fact the band have recorded with Billy's preferred engineer Jim Riley. The closer is a historically inaccurate cover of 1976 hit 'Neat Neat Neat' by The Damned, the band like to think they definitely crowbarred it into their own version, with a middle wig out section that's only a couple of clicks away from being a late MC5 era guitar workout.

Play it loud and on repeat, Thee MVPs would like all interested parties to know this is the 'Thames pop' sound, that being the result of all the pretty songs of yore that got lost at sea, that ended up washed up on the shores of the grimey and gross River Thames, ready for Charlie, Alex, Jo and George to wash off and claim as their own.

TRACK LISTING
1 - Big Pussy
2 - ELH
3 - Lie Detector (Billy Childish)
4 - Neat Neat Neat (The Damned)