I often talk on this blog about borderline inclusions and borderline misses. The former description covers tracks which would make it on to the metaphorical mixtape because they have something about them which I’d be happy to hear again, despite reservations over other aspects; the latter description covers tracks which have plenty to recommend them, but which I ultimately wouldn’t keep because the irritating or problematic part of them can’t be overcome.
On the recent Tindersticks session post, I talked about leaving one track - Tye Die - off the mixtape, because I was put off by the vocals, despite the fact that the band put in a terrific performance. In the case of Littlemeaner by Irish band, Pet Lamb, the reverse is true; it gets on the tape because I love the band’s performance enough to overlook my issues with the vocals. The difference between the two is that whereas I couldn’t get past the ludicrous club singing that Stuart A. Staples inflicted on Tye Die, I can be a little more forgiving of Pet Lamb for using distortion on their vocals, even though I feel it undercuts the song somewhat.
To be fair to them, I can clearly hear some of the lines that they’re singing i,e What are you going home for?/The grass is always greener and of course, Every time I see you, you get a little meaner. I just wish it was clear enough for me to get a better idea of what’s caused the increased levels of misanthropy from the person they’re addressing.
Ultimately though, it doesn’t matter, because this rocks like a motherfucker. The band’s advice, printed on the sleevenotes of the Paranoid From the Neck Down EP was Play this fucker loud! and they absolutely bring what’s needed to make doing so an exhilarating experience on Littlemeaner.
Pet Lamb stayed on Peel’s radar over the next couple of years, recording sessions for him in ‘94 and ‘95, so there will be other opportunities to hopefully hear what they have to say, alongside the wonderful noise they make.
Littlemeaner has popped up in two videos on YouTube, uploaded by Brendan Talbot. In both of them, he’s used the song over footage of the Dublin Zombie Walk, 2011. But in one of them, he’s slowed down both video and audio to stretch the film out to 21 minutes, and changed a charity cosplay into something far more unsettling (Suitable for all, though you do need patience with it.)
Video courtesy of masstrait.
All lyrics are copyright of Dylan Phillips.
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