Monday, December 29, 2008

The Puddle "The Shakespeare Monkey"

The Puddle's fourth studio album in 25 years, The Shakespeare Monkey, proves over its 17 songs that, like last year’s triumphant No Love No Hate, it’s not merely a case of no one else making music like them; it’s more a case of no one else can make music quite like this.

Puddle songwriter George D Henderson has absorbed Nick Drake’s melancholy, The Stooges’ raw power, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band’s desolate psychedelia, The Verlaines’ literate noir and krautrock’s menacing hypnotism to create an epic of vulnerable splendour.

The Shakespeare Monkey is an album of poetry and paranoia, of shredded guitars and heavyhearted violins, of post-punk gloom and indiepop sparkle. Rough Trade are the sole UK stockists. Go forth.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the finest out of NZ, a vastly under rated and under appreciated band. Front man George D. Henderson is a really "character", to put it idiomatically and their song 'Junk' is one of the best paeans to (as George introduced it on their KILLER!! CD 'Live 1985 & 1993') "the non medical use of pain killing drugs".

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this - it's a Great Review and I am hoping to finish one also as this is quite an amazing release from a band that deserves a lot more attention - more emotion in one song then most bands can muster in a whole album.

Wally
http://thebeautifulmusic.com/blog/