It must’ve been the glossy cover that made me aware of it. Just lying there in a pile with other cd’s. I don’t even look at cd’s that closely anymore. I don’t collect them. But it was something about this. So simple, so smooth. So home made.

The CD didn’t have much info. It doesn’t say which year, or what country it hails from. Based on my limited music knowledge, I’d say the music lies somewhere between “Ekkolodd” and “Highasakite”. It’s synthy, underwatery, simple. A better writer would be able to describe it better, warmer, fluffier, more textured.

So, the band, called: Pink Goop Fish Club. That’s the first clue to know the overall aesthetic I guess. Next, the band members.

vocals: Jane O’Kelp
second vocals/perc: Dexter Amberhurst
guitar: Onyeka Cissoko Remington
drums: Johannes “Grotto” Grönning-Ottersen
bass: Amy Nguyen
synth/keys: Renee Reno

This is all i have to go on.

The first song is called “Eat your heart out Jeff Koons” and it chronicles Jeff Koons over the span of a day where large objects in form of sculptures fall down from the sky and is homing in on his family and friends.

This leads me to believe that these people are artsy. Perhaps they all come from a school, or university? Are they young, or are they in their middle age? I mean, Jeff Koons isn’t the hottest name for the younger creatives, or is it?

Anyway, the first song got me hooked, and I went on a Jeff Koons image search bonanza. Which cleverly segues over to their second song: “Hop Sing was the true king of Ponderosa“, another song with a person in the title. This alludes to the TV show ‘Bonanza’, a series that ran on NBC from 1959-1973. In this show a Chinese-American man called Hop Sing works for the main family at the ranch Ponderosa. Often being the butt of jokes, and stereotyped as a hot headed chinese. The song tells the tale of one day Hop Sing comes home to the Ponderosa after a “gay time in Virginia City” as the song goes. He sees that the boys “Little Joe, Hoss, Adam and Ben” has raided the pantry and made a mess off the kitchen, and how Hop Sing goes on a murderous spree, hanging “Little Joe’s little joe on a spike” and “Twisting ol’ Ben’s neck around as you’d like“. A grueful and catchy tune that descends until Sheriff Coffee arrests and hangs him just as the climax hits. “And with his last second of life, Hop Sing cried out, the boys, the work, the food was my wife” – a weird rhyme that makes the song unclear whether it is pro gay, pro domestic abuse or pro racist stereotypes.

Third song: Hell or Tight Waters. A mostly instrumental song, where the dreamscape is explored further. O’Kelp’s vocals towards the end repeats “We’re going through this, hell or tight waters, watery tights” again and again. The distorted guitar sounds very “prom theme is underneath the sea meets in the early 90’s”.

Fourth song: Garfield’s Cat. There’s just a ramble of cat sounds and some clippings of old president speeches in this one. One speech is by Kennedy, another from Bush sr. I think one of the voices registers as Tony Blair, but my ear might deceive me. O’Kelp keeps chanting “I want I want I want I-I-Iwo Jima – I want I want Hiroshima” as the whistle of falling bombs backtracks. Another portrayal of Asia, and one tied to violence. I still have no idea what political leanings this band has. Perhaps that is the point?

Fifth song: Dollar for your Coats. This song slaps! A re imagining of the birth of Christ, but everyone wears new coats from Calvin Kline. They are warm, and efficient. The jackets have “pockets a plenty” and therefore Joseph has some surgical tools with him just in case. The wise men also show up, all in the lastest Klein fashion, and with gifts for the child. A “…onesie, socks and a turtleneck”, all courtesy of Calvin Klein. The drum is very chilled out, and the tune is almost jazz-like, apart from the synthy pop refrain, and a 60’s guitar wee-woo-guitar repeater.

Sixth song: “Honey you haven’t had pies before you’ve had Yvette’s”. “Hansel and Gretel goes to the house, Hansel falls sick, Gretel gets a spouse” Amberhurst joins O’Kelp in a harmony. The song never mentions pies or Yvette’s. So I guess this title is somewhat of an inside joke(?) or perhaps ties into the overhanging aesthetic. Yvette, not a terribly common name, and I get some danish vibes. Could “Grotto” the drummer have any relationship to this? Him being Scandinavian (i think?). “Brick upon brick, she stepped on his dick”

Seventh and last song: “God can see you dying”. A sendoff of sorts. Funeral themed organ synth, some barely audible trumpets, the chimes of a clock tower bell. This song spans over eight minutes. We are welcomed to church “enter our halls, just pass the goop, and dissect your fragrance by the door, it’s me Jane. I will marry you this day” In some weird way this makes me think about the book title “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. I thought, when suddenly:

‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Jane O’Kelp.’

How did I get that premonition? Has the whole album lulled me into thought patterns of their own design? Is this some sort of Derren Brown mind trick? The revelation of my thought and then hearing it, a Baader-Meinhof phenomena on speed, it sends shivers down your back. It made me almost a faithful man. PGFC is a band not to be reckoned with. It’s such a good closer for this album.

As soon as the CD stopped the power shut, and my CD is now trapped within my player. I hope I can get it out. I can’t listen to it – which is a bloody shame. A quick online search tells me nothing of them, the cd or the topics. I am beginning to think there’s only this copy.

If you know anything about Pink Goop Fish Club, please let me know.

 

~Peanut O’Kelp