– THE PEACEFUL PROTEST –

Sweet Joseph (aka Daryl Johns) is in his early 20s. Which means he’s far too young to remember when music actually used to sound like this. And I’m not just talking about the 80s synth lines and drum machines – I’m talking about the wobbly, warped-VHS tape effect that was presumably applied to Corner Store digitally.

In my day, we used to have to put up with that shit happening to our Top of the Pops recordings of Duran Duran, Eurythmics and Ultravox as standard. And, no, it was not cool, or ‘sick’ or whatever you kids say to infer approval nowadays. It was a pain in the bastard arse.

But, damn, it feels good to hear it again, doesn’t it?

What makes this track even more interesting is the fact that Johns is a supremely talented jazz musician masquerading behind the “damaged shoegaze” soundscape (as Clashmusic called it) and gaudy, (actually) sick(-inducing) video.

Son of jazz royalty, drummer Steve Johns and tenor saxophonist Debbie Keefe there’s videos of a 14 year old Daryl floating around on t’internet playing a mean stand-up bass. Meanwhile, newer fans of the genre will know him from his work with Onyx Collective (mentioned, indeed, in last week’s review).

So all that leaves us with is; is he being ironic? Is it supposed to be funny? Frankly, who gives a monkeys? Corner Store is a quirky and angular, yet warm and fuzzy take on the sound that defined a generation.

As they say, nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

MORE FROM THIS WEEK’S MIX:

SINKANE | LITTLE SIMZ | SWEET JOSEPH | SQUID | MUTUAL BENEFIT

You can find all of the tracks reviewed above in the 45 Revolutions per Minute playlist below or click to access the 45 RPM Playlist on Spotify itself.

If you like what you hear (or even if you don’t), please engage in dialogue with me @45rpm_Reviews on Twitter. And, if you’d like to receive updates weekly, please subscribe to the email list to get these recommendations sent to your inbox weekly.

– SV –