* "Well, they
sound like perky youngsters!" John Peel *
Teatowel have been
making their idiosyncratic combinations of analogue and digital noizes since they met at art school. In the process they
have produced countless audio tape casettes
cataloguing hours of sporadic auditory randomness, and recently seven EPs of
more structured, though no less diverse, musical statements.
Along the way, they
have garnered praise, bemusement and acts of violence in equal measure. His Holyness John Peel played two of their tracks on his Radio
1 Show and encouraged them to continue to send him tunes, when they met at the
now legendary Melt Banana gig at Maida Vale studios.
WHAT THEY SAY
* Just got "We're Frightened" in the mail today.
Excellent! At this moment, I'm 5 minutes into your epic, "Waterbaby", which is actually quite relaxing. Well, so
far, at least. Does it get "frightening" in a bit?
* The fact that two young men can get together in a place
called "The Shed" and come up with something like this causes me
great concern. The usual distorted sounds, garbled samples and musical "twiddly bits" (that?s a piece of reviewers technical lingo) are there in
good measure. There?s also
the musical eclecticism that I?ve come to associate
with teatowel. It?s good to hear that the techno,
rock and kraut influences are supplemented with a sort of sub psychic reference
to the films of Wim Wenders
and the poetry of Sylvia Plath. This isn?t Paris
Texas and it doesn?t
make you want to cut your wrists- but by gumboots its art, and I like it! *
* Teatowel are without doubt the
finest unsigned indie-jungle-folk-blues-krautrock-low-fi-dance
act around; mixing it all in fine fashion in their very own sonic Kenwood Chefette. They are utterly insane. They are utterly
wonderful. Early tapes, put together to chart their progress and for the
benefit of friends, are gloriously chaotic ragbags of (very) low-fi tunes; often recorded in a spontaneous, semi-improvised
way and using pretty traditional gear (guitars, bass, Hammond-like keyboards,
even occasional harmonica). Though both are multi-instrumentalists, (Glasses)
takes most of the lead vocals while (No Glasses) proves himself to be more than
a bit tasty on the guitar. *
*Virgin.net Album Reviews Waiting For Polythene Man:
Teatowel are different to most bands, there's no Abbey
Road for these guys, they
record in a garden shed. This isn't just lo-fi, it's positivly no-fi. Waiting for Polythene Man is the third EP from The
Midlands answer to the Beta Band and it offers a solid introduction to the
world according to Teatowel. They have songs that sound like someone on very
potent hallucinogens tuning a beat up radio, they have beautiful songs that end
menacingly and some mad monologues set to shrieking/stumbling/painful guitars.
Teatowel hurtle ever onwards into the unknown regions of sound, verily they are
the Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin of new music.
Beam me up, Scotty! (Virgin.net music reviewer) *
Pleased at securing
the obligatory rejection letter from EMI, teatowel decided to pursue a
recording contract in earnest and have had interest from Warp Records and
several independent labels.
