Gorky's Zygotic Mynci

[The Mollusk]

Welsh psychedelic folk/pop comrades with the self-professed worst band name they could think of. I've been getting steadily really into them over the last week or so and it's been very rewarding so far.

I've had Barafundle on my shelf for years but never really appreciated it fully - maybe I was unfairly expecting it to pop as much as SFA when in fairness they are, of course, two entirely separate bands, with GZM being much softer. But my current opinion is that it seems to sit comfortably between their freakier earlier stuff like Bwyd Time and their more immediate and easy work like the gorgeous How I Long To Feel That Summer In My Heart. It's a wonderfully ambitious album that brings together charming soft pop and lilting Druidic folk with a refined dollop of psychedelic eccentricity.

Bwyd Time is notably more out there - although never so far that it becomes manic or bad trip-inducing, but certainly I'd say this one reminds me a lot of Elephant 6 Collective's music, particularly Olivia Tremor Control for its more prominent forays into weirdo terrain, especially in the latter half of the album!

How I Long To Feel That Summer In My Heart, being the most accessible of the three I've heard, felt like an instant favourite. It's a great refinement of their easygoing charms and warm, delicate melodies, with Childs' lyrics being particularly simplistic and yet so affecting. "How I Long" barely says anything at all save for the first verse and repeated chorus line, but much like Elliott Smith's "Everything Means Nothing To Me" the music carries the melancholic message beautifully. And then straight after this "Her Hair Hangs Long" is the most delightful sunshine pop song I've heard in ages! Again, awesome lyrics that are so simple - "Oh, how happy I am!" - but despite some dire circumstances I'm enduring in my own life right now this song has had me walking on air when listening to it out and about this week.

[NattyDread 2]

Absolutely wonderful band. How I long may well be my favourite at a push, but all their stuff is chock full of gems. They were tremendous live too.
Loads of Euros' solo stuff is great. Check out Summer Special for a kick off.

[badaids]

Yes! Incredible band, I was gutted when they split up.  Prob top 3 fave band for me.

They never did anything bad but I prefer the earlier 3 records than the drier more mature stuff.  For me, no band does silliness without being wacky better than them.  But what a range they had; the Llanfwrog EP has Eira and Methu Aros Tan Haf for cryin out Lou, which can still bring a tear to my eye.

Bwyd Time is their best, then Tatay. There aren't many days when there's a gap in conversation or whatever that I don't think « you're still listening to: Bwyd Time ». Patio isn't really a proper album but it still has some incredible songwriting on it considering they hadn't even gone through puberty on some of them.  Is there another record that actually documents a band going through their balls dropping (not Megan though obs)?

The only mistep they made was going with the Welsh wizards and elves thing, they never escaped the gravitational pull of that.  It upsets me that most people, if they even know who they are, would probably think of them as a novelty act.

[Egyptian Feast]

I missed out on Gorky's at the time but fell head over heels for the joyous childish noise of Patio and rinsed it to death some years ago. It's messy, adorable and bags of fun. Haven't heard it in years, but I'm still always thinking "Bass sounds travel" when I play music too loud. John Cale's favourite album, I believe.

I've only heard Bwyd Time (also a banger) apart from that, but for some reason I never went any further. Time to dig them out again.

[The Mollusk]

Check out Summer Special for a kick off.

Nice, I was gonna ask someone for a jumping in point. Cheers!

[Egyptian Feast]

Dug out Patio and I'm in love again. Forgot how much I missed hearing this regularly:

I particularly love the sound effects and the bit where he starts singing surprisingly inflammatory English lyrics.

Fucking adore this as well. Almost like Welsh Tropicalia.

[badaids]

Dug out Patio and I'm in love again. Forgot how much I missed hearing this regularly:

I particularly love the sound effects and the bit where he starts singing surprisingly inflammatory English lyrics.

Fucking adore this as well. Almost like Welsh Tropicalia.

I knew one of these would be Miriam O Farbel.  It's lovely.

I also love Barbed Wire on that record.  I'd love to know what Tooty Lao means.  And Auntie Mary, Auntie Joseph is hilarious.

[Egyptian Feast]

I'm

I also love Barbed Wire on that record.  I'd love to know what Tooty Lao means.  And Auntie Mary, Auntie Joseph is hilarious.

Banger. It also ends with one of the two greatest moments in punk history (the other being the ending of 'Sally Webster').

[Milo]

I'd love to know what Tooty Lao means.

Might it be dod i lawr? 'come down' or coming down maybe.

[benjitz]

Got a thing about silliness laced with beautiful melodies, just listened to this again and got all misty-eyed:

Bought this 7" when it came out, wasn't on an album but probably is now as everything gets released on album eventually these days


Bwyd Time was lovely too, and only heard Gorky 5 and Spanish Dance Troupe from their later stuff but they didn't really grab me.Will check out other picks in this thread !

[tolecnal]

The compilation "20 Singles and EPs" offers a great variety of their more obscure and some of their more out there songs. That's a great starting point. I absolutely love Patio. It is so unique. Tatay and Bwyd Time are also excellent.

Euros has disappointed me, unfortunately. Lots of tossed off releases. His sense of humor is a bit annoying too. I think he needed the GZM band to write truly inspired music.

[checkoutgirl]

Peanut Dispenser is a belter.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

The appeal of this band is lost on me I'm afraid but maybe it'll click one day.

[Egyptian Feast]

The compilation "20 Singles and EPs" offers a great variety of their more obscure and some of their more out there songs. That's a great starting point.

I completely forgot I had this until I dug Patio out. Bonus!

I'd also forgotten about another great punk rock moment on Patio: they're playing at a youth club or somewhere like that; Euros (I assume) cheerfully repeats the band name to the old fella who wants to start up the disco, asks to play one more song and then launches into what could most generously be called a total racket.

Peanut Dispenser is a belter.

Wah wah wah wah wah, Joshua
Wah wah wah wah wah, y peanut dispenser

Poetry. Another banger. Thanks all for reminding me how much I love this band.

[another Mr. Lizard]

One of my very favourite bands, even when their influences show a little too much - if they occasionally sound like Kevin Ayers, great! Bwyd Time ought to be acclaimed as one of the truly great LPs of its era, and the quality rarely dips throughout the discography. Richard James did a number of fine solo albums, and Euros continues to do so, releasing a 'pay what you can' download a couple of days before Xmas every year. I usually send him a tenner and often get a nice handwritten note of thanks. Speaking of the festive season, the utterly gorgeous and heartbreaking 'Christmas Eve' gets a play or two from me on the appropriate date.
When Euros officially joined Teenage Fanclub I had the same excited feeling that I did when Charlie George signed for my local team Derby County in the mid 70s.
The Gorky's instore show upstairs at the Derby Virgin Megastore was one of the best live music experiences I've attended. Dig into the discography and check out some of his guest appearances and side projects too (must recheck the name of the stunning album by a Welsh male/female duo on which he guested - they sent me a nice note tucked inside their CD too. Why isn't everybody like this?)

[lazyhour]

One of my all-time favourite bands. Megan's violin playing is such a key ingredient but seldom gets the love it deserves. It's always so loose, so gloopy and meandering, but always chock full of melody. It almost sounds like she's making it up as she goes along, but it's like a layer of pure magic on top of whatever song it's on. She really enhances the couple of Summer Special tunes she pops up on, too.

Three cheers for Megan Childs!

[Eggy Mess]

Such an amazing little band. I saw Teenage Fanclub in Dublin a few months back, and found myself feeling slightly melancholic seeing Euros there at the back, sitting behind the keyboards.

Great that he's still making some sort of living out of music, although I kept wanting to grab the people around me and shout 'Look! It's Euros! Out of Gorky's!' but thought better of it. Seeing Teenage Fanclub these days is rather a melancholic affair overall, what with the lack of Gerry Love and the general sense of "oh, I must be old now" as you look at both band and audience.

Anyway - I have/had one of those Gorky's 'Beards' t-shirts I got when the Mynci played Whelan's at some point in the mid-90s. Must see if it's still around and wearable, so I can show these youngsters what's what.

[tolecnal]

There's a couple other side acts associated with GZM still releasing things. This one wasn't bad:

John Lawrence on the other hand has been releasing some very grotesque-sounding jazzy weird proggish folk songs that make no sense to me whatsoever for quite some time. I guess he was the weird one in the band.

I like all GZM pretty much up to the last album. They did go a bti soft but managed to keep writing good songs. I liked 'Donkey Island' off the first Euros album but he's really disappointed me since going solo. I guess he's just having a laugh or w/e.

[holyzombiejesus]

Euros' solo stuff is patchy but there are some amazing songs in those self-released albums. He did a piano-based one called Ends that has some really gorgeous songs on it. He did a tour around that time that was fucking ace, loads of gorkys songs. The first 7 or 8 albums are well worth getting hold of, even if you'll only play a couple of tracks from each again. Sometimes I think that the worst thing about Gerry Love leaving TFC isn't that there's a Gerry-less TFC releasing bland slop, but that Euros' solo stuff seems like an afterthought now. A truly brilliant live performer too.

I guess no reissues kind of suits Gorkys' haphazard style but I'd love to see someone like Numero do a really nice series of re-releases.

[DrGreggles]

Love Gorky's, but this one is especially beautiful.

I think they hold a record as the artist with the most Top 75 singles without a Top 40 hit too.

[PaulTMA]

I've got a signed setlist from when they played The Renfrew Ferry (with Melys) in 1998, where Euros wrote "sorry we didn't play 'Blessed Are The Meek'!" on it

Got to hang out with him a bit when we played a festival in Norway a few years back, was just overwhelmed in a starstuck way due to my still going strong fandom, ever since Lucy's Hamper came out

It's a complete load of arse that they were no good without John Lawrence.  Great as he was, his departure didn't signal a radical shift or some kind of sell-out, they just moved on.

[The Mollusk]

Oh man, Patio is so good! Listened to it on the tube this morning and was cracking up laughing at various bits - the bong hits on Miriam O Farbel, the parent bollockings (Sally Webster in particular as the preceding song is such a stoned juvenile fuzzy Ween drum machine jam) and singing "kill all Americans" on Lladd Eich Gwraig (which means Kill Your Wife).

A wonderful time capsule of an album that not only captures the joy of being a little shit playing music too loud, but also that they're the ones making the music and that music is great! It sounds like early Stereolab mixed in with Swell Maps. Loads of fun.

[Egyptian Feast]

Haha, I knew that'd be right up your street. Glad you enjoyed it!

I recall them being compared to Ween in Melody Maker or NME in the mid-90s, but the comparison was not intended to be complimentary to Ween.

[The Mollusk]

Ween were not dealt a good hand by the press in their heyday. Fortunately it only served to make them stronger.

[Egyptian Feast]

I've fond memories of saying fuck off to multiple 1/10 reviews by Johnny Cigarettes.

[sardines]

Also one of my favourite bands since the days of Mark and Lard playing 'Patio Song'. Pleased others had the same warm feeling seeing Euros up there with Teenage Fanclub. I'd even say he had a decent influence on the sound of their last album

Richard James' solo stuff is really decent but very sporadic (barely four albums in a decade). He played a lovely show at Stewart Lee's ATP but it appeared to be a one-off.

[holyzombiejesus]

Pleased others had the same warm feeling seeing Euros up there with Teenage Fanclub.

No-one has said that, have they? He's wasted on them. Think it's a bit odd that they're not letting the other band members contribute to the songwriting now, especially as Raymond is a useless song writer was struggling to produce 4 decent songs every few years before Gerry left and Norman is shit now seems to be content to churn out boring pipe-and-slippers music.

[sardines]

No-one has said that, have they? He's wasted on them. Think it's a bit odd that they're not letting the other band members contribute to the songwriting now, especially as Raymond is a useless song writer was struggling to produce 4 decent songs every few years before Gerry left and Norman is shit now seems to be content to churn out boring pipe-and-slippers music.

I may be wrong, I took the two comments here as being positive towards seeing Euros. More good will towards him not being lost in the wilderness. Whether you care for Nothing Lasts Forever (I think it is pretty decent)  it was the first time I've seen them in a decade where it appeared to be a real band enjoying and interacting with each other.

[badaids]

I bought a load of Euros solo albums a few years ago from some random site (I.e. not soundcloud or discord or anything) and when they arrived there was a handwritten note from the man himself inside thanking me for buying them.

All the postage stuff was written by him too and because it was recorded delivery it had his address on it, which i of course immediately bunged in google maps.

I found that experience thrilling, far more pleasurable than the records themselves.

I think I have seen Gorkys more than any other band, at least 15 or 16 times and I have a few sets lists somewhere, plus one of Euros' jumpers. I remember being disappointed it was from Gap. I don't know where I expected Euros to get his jumpers.

On Patio, which is the song where the chorus is just a man screaming as he falls from a very great height?  It pans across the speakers and everything.

[The Mollusk]

On Patio, which is the song where the chorus is just a man screaming as he falls from a very great height?  It pans across the speakers and everything.

That's track 2, Lladd Eich Gwraig. The horrible splat after the scream is really funny.