Japancakes - Soon/Touched

by Anthony Strutt

published: 25 / 6 / 2008

Label: Sonic Cathedral
Format: 7"

Not entirely successful double A-sided single from Georgia-based band Japancakes, which features covers of two My Bloody Valentine songs

Review

This double A sided vinyl only Sonic Cathedral Records single features covers of two songs by My Bloody Valentine, who have just played their first live shows for 16 years, and have also begun to finish off the album they started back then too. Japancakes formed in REM's home town of Athens, Georgia in 1996. They usually release records on Los Angeles-based label Darla Records and in November 2007 put out a cover tribute album on it of My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless', which met with a mixed reaction amongst the My Bloody Valentine community and from which these two tracks have been taken . A side 'Soon', which appears in a James Rutledge mix, is housey and techno flavoured and is purely instrumental. It is as experimental as the original but lacks grace and style and sadly sounds like a remix, which of course is exactly what it is 'Touched', the AA Side, was the only song on 'Loveless' written by My Bloody Valentine's Drummer, Colm O'Ciosoig, who has also worked with Le Volume Courbe. Mixed by Ricardo Tobar, who is a Chilean electrogazer, and originally a 57 second sound collage, it is turned into a 6 and a half minute track of total chill-out bliss.