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Dogboy Vs Monsters / Cartoons, Astronomy etc. / Skeletons On Holiday (Singing Bones Acoustic Version) TINY DOG
A ragged indie four piece hailing from the UK, Flipron make music that invites words like quirky and offbeat. With a sound that fits somewhere between Gomez, the Beta Band and Badly Drawn Boy, Flipron are a band dealing in eclectic sounds and genre skipping eccentricity.
Latest single DOGBOY VS MONSTERS is the kind of jaunty pop tune that imagines Babyshambles collaborating with Gogol Bordello, Jesse Budd delivering his husky melodies and howling dog impersonations over jubilant guitar licks and catchy organ stabs. All very summery and pleasant, DOGBOY VS MONSTERS is just a song that never really feels like anything more, a little too slight and unassuming to really shine. Elsewhere, the similarly themed CARTOONS, ASTRONOMY ETC.
trundles along in a low key indie kind of way and the country swing of SKELETONS ON HOLIDAY is awash with Hawaiian guitar licks and skiffle rhythms.
As quirky indie pop goes, DOGBOY VS MONSTERS is a pleasant enough affair; though if you’re looking for anything more substantial, Flipron may well disappoint.
BIOGRAPHY
Formed by Jesse Budd, Flipron was conceived initially as a "music therapy" exercise to help him manage his obsessions with old people, monkeys, Hawaiian guitars, skeletons, a burgeoning collection of that strange sub-genre of music that is known as 'charity shop records', his 'conversations' with dogs & his tarting about in Italian suits decorated with subtle stains of red wine & Calvados.
He recruited drummer Mike Chitty, a charmingly hirsuit tree surgeon, consistently & eminently capable of bringing 'that rural feel' to any boudoir he & his trousers care to visit. This man possesses the only drumkit in modern music to have 'things' growing on it...
Next up came organ/piano man Joe Atkinson, an amiable batchelor who earns his wholemeal crusts as a jobbing organist for aging hippie superstars & the survivors of the late 70s Ska boom, but he still belongs to Flipron. You can't have him. We don't care who you are.
He's ours.
Finally something reassuringly plump & suave was needed, a sort of sonic cushion for the Flipron backside to rest it's exotically perfumed cheeks upon, & for a couple or three all too brief years the slippery bass rumblings were provided by Mr. Mark Wingfield, whose playing you will hear on both albums, but who left in 2006. Rising immediately to this low frequency, 4-stringed challenge came our long-time friend, album producer, sound engineer & all round splendid gent, Mr. Greg Shepeard . He's the tall one you'll spot at Flipron gigs dressed in tweeds with a bass guitar & usually a black eye or a cut lip, because it turns out that not only is he a man of talent & taste, he is also utterly irresistible to the fists of gentlemen looking for somebody to punch who is, by their rating, "too tall" & therefore "asking for it." Poor old Greg.
Anyways, having played their unique cocktail of music & words in increasingly damp & malodourous venues, they felt ready to make a record. So they did, & that most adventurous of indie labels, Tiny Dog (home of Scott 4 & Magic Car) released it in 2004. It was called Fancy Blues & Rustique Novelties. They released a single, Hanging Round the Lean-to with Grandad, the video for which was made by their friend Martin Roberts and cost only £30 to make.
Then they made another album, called Biscuits for Cerberus , which came out in 2006. There was also another single, a double A side featuring The End of Summer & Raindrops Keep Falling on the Dead. You can watch the fabulous 1920s Max Fleischman-style animated cartoon video for Raindrops Keep Falling on the Dead below. It was made by the wonderful Alex de Campi at Lot 49 films.
Which leads us to our next release, the single version of Dogboy Vs.
Monsters which has another video made by Ms. de Campi, this time featuring giant man-eating crabs rampaging over the Somerset countryside & featuring the outrageous hammy "acting" skills of various members of Flipron. Watch it below if you dare! This single comes out on 14 May 2007, and is backed by an unreleased gem from the Biscuits sessions, one of Jesse's very oldest songs, indeed the first ever Flipron song, from very long ago, called Cartoons, Astronomy etc. As if this was not enough, Old Hawaii is in the air as an acoustical, wordy re-recording of Skeletons on Holiday. is also included. All wrapped up with more exclusive Dylan Schoone artwork to make for a 'package like no other...' Check out our web-site for more downloads and other stuff
DISCOGRAPHY
DOGBOY VS. MONSTERS (Tiny Dog>227)
Dogboy Vs Monsters
Cartoons, Astronomy etc.
Skeletons On Holiday (Singing Bones Acoustic Version)
LINE UP
Jesse Budd
Joe Atkinson
Greg Shepheard
Mike Chitty
LINKS
Flipron>www.flipron.co.uk
FURTHER LISTENING
Babyshambles
Gogol Bordello
Gomez
Review date: April 2007 |
