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}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }So the first SHIT AND SHINE record (‘You’re Lucky To Have Friends Like Us’) came out on Riot Season on vinyl so white it gave you the urge to bite into it. It really did. Hell, it was even worth a lick and a sniff. That one sold out pretty quick so SHIT AND SHINE begged Riot Season to put it out again on CD. Riot Season obviously being the class act that they are and always have been have gone and put it on CD. Hoorah!! Not worth biting into but still tasty. Verrrry fucking tasty.

After that the boys strayed into southern territory and recorded the 45 minute Latitudes series masterpiece ‘Ladybird’. Have you heard it? Brilliant. Absolutely top fucking shelf and totally untouchable. If you haven’t heard it I’m not surprised because that came out on limited CD and sold out pretty damn quick too. There are rumours of a vinyl only repress because the kids want it and the kids keep asking but its still just a rumour. Ahem!

Funny thing about SHIT AND SHINE is that most people know of them because of their live shows and not their recordings. Shame really but that’s the price they pay or releasing such quality in low quantities. Name dropping time: Acid Mothers Temple, Lightning Bolt, SUNN O))), Earth. They’ve played with the heavy hitters and held their ground like true champions. Recently they played a sold out show at this years Sonar festival in Barcelona where they were billed as "group of the year". Rightly so. Usually they have between 5 and 10 drummers onstage and 2 bass players. At a show in Germany last year they had 10 drummers, played one riff on the 2 basses for almost 2 hours, blew one of the p.a. speakers, played on while toxic smoke filled the room and the speaker was changed, and then played for another hour. Fucking ridiculous. Fucking genius. FUCKING LOUD!

So anyway time for a new record and here it is. ‘Jealous Of Shit And Shine’. Cheeky cunts. Appropriate though. Like ‘You’re Lucky To Have Friends Like Us’, this one is all over the place but quite a bit more refined and mature. The songs are a bit longer. Not such a slap on the back of the neck like the earlier stuff. Less of a head rush and more like a an intense trip that could go very wrong at any moment. They’ve roped in one of their heroes, Ben Waller from the Country Teasers, for vocals on a song called ‘Unchained Ladies Shopper’. Sounds like something between Country Teasers and early Sonic Youth I suppose. What a great combination! Shit and Shine are all about great but totally awkward combinations. There’s a song called ‘There Are 2 Bakers Now’ for instance, where you can hear twigs snapping, people fucking, and mud sloshing around while a seriously eerie ritualistic drum thud thud thud plays out over the top of some kind of satanic chant?! mmm hmmmm. Or the song called ‘When Extreme Dogs Go Wrong’ that sounds like some totally kick ass evil southern rock break down but with a sun burnt scumbag drunk football hooligan rattling on about how "Wherever I go, I go for football".

They do a 35 minute cover version of their beloved early nineties Midwestern retard rock heroes THE STRANGULATED BEATOFFS. The song is called ‘Practising To Be A Doctor’. Anybody remember that? a true classic and SHIT AND SHINE do it justice. What a great riff! A riff that totally deserves to be played for at LEAST 35 minutes. Sounds even better with the 6 drummers pounding the shit out of it! Fucking great. Really really fucking GREAT. Oh yeah, and it wouldn’t be a shit and shine record without a couple trashy ass stupid euro pop numbers. ‘Hot Vodka’. Oh god. Take a disco bass line crank it into the red and get a French homeless guy to croon over the top. CLASSY. ‘Seeing Life Through A Young Mans Eyes’- like Merzbow doing electro! Why the fuck not?! add a couple of really nasty scummy drug/noise rock blasts in the form of ‘Here Come The Vikings’ and ‘No Darling it’s a Pentagram’ and there you have it- ‘jealous of shit and shine’. This is the REAL fucking DEAL!