all I know is when I first heard Tall Dwarfs I’d never really
heard anything like it. And maybe that’s not actually quite
100% true but we’re talking feelings, not facts. And there’s an
important difference. I wasn’t in on the ground floor either. I
arrived late, parasailed in through an open window halfway up
their tower of songs, crashed the playdate they’d been having with
lo-fi approximations of Beatles and Beach Boys melodies, merging
samples and found sounds with noisy-pop perfection. Several of their
best moments are only fragmentary; sketches of a moment – but that
doesn’t make them less than great. Guided by their noise I started
to look out for other things that had that feel and there are plenty –
of course. Because they were liberally grabbing from so many open
sources. They were happily nabbing ideas and repurposing them,
applying just enough of their own special sauce so that you couldn’t
ever imagine it existed in any other way – either previously or later
on by anyone else. It’s perfectly believable to assume they invented
everything in a back-shed with only the memories of a whole lot of great
songs in their heads, doing it their way and only when and as it suited.
And I sometimes think that not enough people know about them. And
I often think that I’m glad about that, or that maybe actually it’s the
exact and correct amount. But I sure do know that it spun my world.
And sometimes it feels like it’s spinning still as a result of hearing
“Stumpy” when I did; as a result of having “Throw A Sickie”
on vinyl; as a result of that wonderful, silly, naughty earworm
Gluey Gluey; as a result of “Weeville”, “Fork Songs” and “3EPs”.
they have that thing where they’re my all-time favourite band in the
world whenever I’m listening to them. And even when I’m not listening
to them I’m thinking about them; thinking about how I should be
listening to them. Which is what I’m going to do now. I will leave this
all messy, unfinished and just trailing off I think. I feel like that’s…