Night Birds

My laptops power supply has been on the blink, which means I've not been able to post anything up for a few days. Out of desperate hope I just tried it and through a combination of gentle precision movements, curse words that would make a sailor blush and sellotape I've got the thing working. Honestly, it was like a scene out of a mid 90's action film (think Lethal Weapon or Die Hard) where a dirty and bleeding but ruggedly handsome (me) cop is trying to defuse a bomb - beads of sweat and all.

I might be on borrowed time so lets get cracking. Night Birds - now I'd heard the name and wanted to check them out but I don't think it was until I read Mike over at The One Thing That Still Holds True write about them earlier this year that I finally did. I subsequently picked up the Night Birds 7" and the Midnight Movies 7". Instantly I thought they were great, almost as instantly I kinda forgot about them, I don't know why, I think I just bought a load of records around that time and they got pushed to the back. A few weeks ago though I listened to those 7"s again and thought 'I really must track down the LP', and wouldn't you know it as if by magic the very next day it appeared on the Vrevolution web store, and then said 'sold out' once I'd bought it so they either only got one in or it flew off the shelves.

The LP The Other Side Of Darkness is an extension of the earlier stuff and it hasn't been off my turntable this week. A super cool, B-movie, surf, rockabilly, punk, lo-fi mash up is the best way I can describe them (which is a shit way to describe them), Night Birds are a band who are oddly depressing, I guess in a similar way to the Dead Kennedys although the Kennedys comparison is a bit lazy I think, they've probably got as much in common with bands like The Meteors.

I don't really have any idea of pressing details or numbers for the LP, but I think I have the 2nd pressing as other versions I've seen have white centre labels as opposed to red. That might be shame actually as, although I can't really do it justice that red on black really pops from the black of the vinyl.

Maybe because it's late I can't seem to find the Midnight Movies 7" but here's the self titled one I spoke about earlier.

This like the LP is from Grave Mistake Records but again I've got no idea of pressing details or if other colours etc were available.

That simple cover and logo really suit the band though. In fact I think that Night Birds logo should have been used on the back cover of the LP in the top left corner, it would have looked bad ass.

So yeah that's Night Birds, great band just doing their own thing, check 'em out if you haven't already.

'The other side of darkness - The one you truly fear

There's no one watching over all of us down here

The other side of darkness- The one you can't face

It's the colour of cold and endless space

The other side of darkness'