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Music

PREMIERE: The City Yelps’ ‘Now’ Nods to UK Odd Pop Greats The Fall and Television Personalities

The City Yelps' fuzzy and buzzy pop seems as British as bedsits, bitter ale and biryani.

“Now”, a track taken from The City Yelps’ forthcoming debut album The City Yelps Half Hour, is a brilliantly loud but lo-fi piece of fuzzed pop that seems as British as bedsits, bitter ale and biryani.

The Leeds three piece play a bruising melodic post punk that brings to mind UK legends Television Personalities, Swell Maps and the Fall, as well as a hefty nod to the Flying Nun greats. It all sounds broken, most of it sounds amazing.

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Ahead of the album release this Friday on Odd Box records, we got the band's Shaun Alcock to send us a sneak peek in the form of “Now” and asked him some questions to find out more about the band and album.

Noisey: “We Like the Hours” is such a great song. From Mark E Smith to Ken Loach, the British seem to really nail capturing regular/mundane life. Was this song based on a true person/story?
Shaun Alcock: Thank you. Working at an ice rink, having a gammy leg, being stranded, releasing some bats. The song is about a neighbour who when I'd just be nodding off to sleep would start throwing out the rubbish, opening the back door, playing the radio and tinkering with a motorbike. The middle bit is about having nothing to do at work and the last bit is about motorbikes again and a person I knew who was this lovely guy who had just two records: a CD of Pink Floyd's The Final Cut and a 12" by The Orb.

Speaking of regular life, what’s your take on Sleaford Mods?
I think they're great. They're great at bringing up things you never usually think about. Things in British life are largely dull and just ever so slightly shit rather than exciting most of the time so you just blank most of your experiences out. The Mods are great for putting these experiences into words. I like the music a lot though, it has a great really basic Messthetics-y clatter to it.

You recently posted a 22-minute 1972 video of the construction of a lighthouse on the premise of it being really great for watching during a hangover and the awesome synth soundtrack. How severe the hangover and how much do you love synth?
I like old information and industrial films, not so much for their upbeat love of progress but for the pacing and the strange tangents they go off in. This particular one was about the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse off the coast of Eastbourne. The synth soundtrack made everything look slightly sinister, especially with the plummy British narration (by one of the Thunderbirds' voice actors I think). I love synths but you're supposed to treat music made with guitars and music made with synths as opposing factions in an imaginary war apparently.

What’s the best thing to do in Leeds on a Saturday night nowadays?
It depends on what your bag is. There's always something going on somewhere. I'm lucky that I live near a 24 hour CO-OP so if all other plans fall flat, there's always good boozing options.

'The City Yelps Half Hour' is available April 22 from Odd Box records.