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Reviews by DJ Seed

Squall 13, Summer 1996, pg. 62.

Tofu Love Frogs

First to drop squarely on the SQUALL doormat is the new CD from the infamous Tofu Love Frogs. God knows how many times yer free festival goer will have stumbled across the Frogs. And indeed vice versa. But whether main stage or backwater blaggers, a huge rabble is always dancing the ‘drunk amoeba’.

The appropriately titled ‘Rentamob’ captures the atmosphere of their live folk ska-riot whilst also offering a rare opportunity to hear what Paddy (Vocals) is rasping about. Can we keep up? With the aid of the enclosed lyric sheet, just about. Thus we hear ‘Rooftop Anarchy’ pay due fiddler’s respect to those who scaled the roofs of the Houses of Parliament on the day the Criminal Justice Act came on-line.

“Up they went to sit at the top
Five got up but one got stopped
On top of parliament to squat
To you I raise my hand.”

We also hear the hilarious vitriol reserved for the vicar of a Stoke Newington church, a constant local critic of the late great Hackney Homeless People’s Festival.

“I don’t like you more than you don’t like me
I don’t like you much at all”

Beware! The lyrics to ‘Folk Off Reverend’ come catchy and you may find yourself singing them in public. Rentamob also offers a version of the Frog’s (Trad Arr.) modern day squatting anthem ‘Star of the Hackney Downs’.

“I was well sped
I was out my head
And I gazed with a letchy stare
Then I said to a passer by
who’s the chick with the dreadlocked hair
He looked at me with a smile and said
I’ve seen her hanging around
That’s young Rosie McAnn from the banks of the Bann
But now she squats on Hackney Downs.”

If you’re ever short of the price of a can, or even if you’re not, stick this tape on and feel drunk as skunk.

Tofu Love Frogs ‘Rentamob’ CD from P. Tofu, The Lodge, Down’s Park Road, London E8.
As of 2024 this album is currently available on Soundcloud - click here

Tragic Roundabout

The equally legendary Tragic Roundabout are both red faced nutters and consummate musicians. If - as many do - you harbour a fond taste for the kind of jewish music played to the accompaniment of a thousand vodka toasts, then book this band and send us an invite; previous appointments will be cancelled.

The number of late night festival bars whipped into an eastern bloc frenzy by this melodic rabble can only be measured by the number of moons which have waxed and waned over UK tarpaulins this last decade. Their cascading clarinet, amphetamine banjo and pumping squeeze-box, hit you between the hips with every cadence. But whilst we await the imminent summer release of their new Cooking Lager album, we thankfully make do with Here Comes the Lino Man; a no-over-dub recording of a band which always plays like there’s no tomorrow, so making tomorrow a far more cheerful place.

Tragic Roundabout ‘Here Comes the Lino Man’ (cassette) + info+silly pictures for £5 +£1 P&P from 60 Viaduct Road, Brighton BN1 4ND. Tel: 01273 385 309.

Spacegoats

On a gentler note but also to be found weaving tunes round a festival fire, the Spacegoats release their ‘Thirteen moons in motion’ cassette. These accomplished goblins can be found lending their musical support at most environmental direct actions, spinning webs of fine musicianship with the refreshingly unusual threads of dulcimer, balalaika and mandolin; pukka didgeridoo and djembe provide the beats.

There’s plenty of lyrical references to UK road protests, venues for their most recent performances. This is a true organic folk music relevant to modern struggles.

Spacegoats ‘13 Moons in Motion’ (cassette) from Mandala Records, PO Box 344, London SE19 1EQ

Here in the 21st Century, for more see www.tribalvoices.org.uk/spacegoats

Tribal Voices

Another recent release on the direct action tip is Tribal Voices, a collection of acoustic tunes recorded live from the fire places of road protest. These are the likes of the Donga Tribe, Rainbow Tribe and the Quercus Tribe rehabilitating leprechauns and full moons as a potent political force. It’s melodic, raw and acoustically inventive, like you’d have to be to make music throughout winter, living without electricity in a bender. Diggers with attitude.

Tribal Voices (cassette) - send £5.50 (incl P&P) to Tribal Voices, PO Box 10614, London SW9 0181 671 5936.

See here - www.tribalvoices.org.uk

Baka Beyond

Finally for this issue’s festival focus, a luscious dose of consummate musicianship with Baka Beyond’s ‘Beyond the Forest’ live album. Baka’s guitar player is a former member in the late great Outback, but is now to be found spinning intricate hi-life riffs over seductive rainforest pulses. Afro-inspired female harmonies spring off warm electric bass lines and trance dance synth.

‘Beyond the Forest’ features seven tracks recorded live at the 1995 Severn Revels festival courtesy of super-heroes of alternative power, Rinky Dink, an omnipresent crew of vocational nutters regularly found pumping open air dance floors with their pedal-powered electric wizardry. The sight of six peaking ravers going flat out on the static bikes at Glastonbury is a memory which can but live forever. For more mobile events, Rinky Dink mount a DJ set up on their articulated supercycle, a device capable of spinning tunes under almost any circumstance, whilst dodging in and out of the traffic at the same time.

Which brings us neatly back to the beginning and to the front cover of the Tofu Love Frog’s new album; a classic photograph of the one and only Rinky Dink pedal PA, complete with fondue of grinning children. It’s a big world isn’t it?

Baka ‘Beyond the Forest’ (cassette) with Rinky Dink phone March Hare Music, 4 Thomas St, Bath BA1 5NW. Tel: 01225 331 636.
As of 2024 this album is currently available on Bandcamp, now titled Live And Pedal-Powered - click here