....... 11 Orchids

One of the best bands i've heard on the Great Pop Supplement since its inception are Jerusalem & the Starbaskets. I think a lot to do with it is their fantastic amped-up old rickenbacker sound; their merging of yearning country-ish rock with Velvets-y dissonance; these filthy Spector-esque, shimmering walls of sound that threaten to spill at any point into riotous sheets of distortion & feedback. They've a hazy, slightly loose vibe but a really full, hearty production that manages to somehow combine a lo-fi ethos with real warmth & power. I especially like the fact that their records - including this debut album 'Battle of the Orchids' - look like sweets, the tic-tac coloured 7" I was obsessed with for months. Now the album's a-spinning and it just looks like a giant compressed Rhubarb & Custard so i'm here, rabidly slavering over the laptop, trying to vanquish thoughts of whipping it of the turntable mid-song & taking a huge lusty chomp out of the fucker. I might just buy a copy & sit in my room crying at the futility of it all. Seriously, you cannot have your cake & eat it with this baby. You'd get splinters.
From; Norman records

Links;
Jerusalem and the Starbaskets - Battle of the Orchids [lp]
Password (if needed); wws
Jerusalem and the Starbaskets
Jerusalem and the Starbaskets @ MySpace
The Great Pop Supplement