ABOUT THIS ITEM

A release so perfectly honed for the warmer climes and clearer skies emerging that it may well have been crafted by Helios himself. On the A-side Manchester's Mazes play blissful timeless pop-rock with perfect production; clean enough to let the pop nous step to the forefront yet with a fuzzy haze that steeps the songs in a dreamy fugg. Mazes' perfect pop songs will appeal to fans of Guided By Voices, Television Personalities and The Nerves and, in our opinion, they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. No hyperbole, simply listen and concede.

On the B-side Leeds-dweller Spectrals' delivers his first recordings for Sex Is Disgusting after an acclaimed 7" on Captured Tracks and a split with London's Fair Ohs on Tough Love. Backed live by The Bad Penny Band, Louis Jones plays a form of pop music that many would assume long gone. Ethereal shimmering visions of Buddy Holly, The Isley Brothers and Phil Spector float around in Spectrals haze, doo-wop melodies and forlorn love songs played through a wall of sound. However, this is music played by an individual who grew up with Cro-Mags and Vorhees on the headphones in the industrialised jungle of Leeds and it shows. These harder acts aren't immediately obvious as influences but rock & roll love songs of the doo-wop persuasion never sounded dirtier.