Having made electronic dance music in the past, this new album takes Dave into more folksy and folky territory. 'Badly Drawn Batman' sneered the review in Sugar Ape, sorry, Vice magazine. Warm hearted electronic folk funk is how the Mullah would put it.

Intro track Meet Me In The Summertime does what it says on the tin -- jazzy and dreamy with a breathy vocal and guitar culled from a 1950's French film score. Ironside invokes the eponymous detective as an icon of truth as Dave lets us know he wants to do the right thing over a loungecore backdrop. The rest of the album is permeated with wit, humour, compassion, and a sense of what life should really be like.

As a bonus, the album comes with two corking remixes from fellow Mancs A Certain Ratio and Homelife. If you like your music to have some heart and the brains to match, this album is for you.

Gertrude
Fetch The Parrot Blanket
Urban Missfits

The Mullah does like Gertrude a lot. Which makes it all the more difficult to write this review. Now don't get me wrong. I think the songs on the album are great. The music is awesome, especially as I've seen them perform a lot of this material live and have that to compare. It's the production that lets the whole enterprise down.

The album starts off with an elegant cello solo and all is good. Then the first track proper kicks in and it sounds like someone has put the hi-hat through some unearthly effect that grates.

Overall it makes the opening track sound like a home recording. This may be partly explained by the fact that part of the album was recorded in a squatted 'social centre'. As the album progresses, things pick up slightly but overall the production is not what it could be.

Crash cymbals are at the top of the mix whilst guitar solos languish in the background. At one point, the Mullah swears he can hear the ghost of legendary record producer Martin Hannett rattling chains and moaning. Just as you think things are getting better, that bloody hi-hat comes out of nowhere again and dominates proceedings.

Upon examining the liner notes, the Mullah notes that this album was self-produced. This is totally in keeping with Gertrude's DIY punk ethos. Having a producer calling the shots is completely the opposite of collective decision making. The Mullah can't help but wonder if principles are obscuring the music.

Gertrude are undoubtedly one of the best live bands that the Mullah has ever seen. It's just a shame that they can't quite get that magic down on record. Go and see them live instead,