THE HEPBURNS.

A capricious guitar pop act from Wales that appeared briefly with Cherry Red at the tail end of the 80s to the bafflement of the UK press of the day (who weren't ready for a band that claimed Bacharach, Barry and Morricone as influences). The Magic of the Hepburns was not lost overseas, however, where the band left a lasting impression on younger fans from Grimsby Fishmarket in Sweden to the Siesta crew in Spain, as well as on the future boss of Radio Khartoum. But there was a hitch (not to mention a lost album), and no one—including John Peel (who reportedly wondered aloud on air)—knew what had become of the band in the decade that followed. By some miracle, a neighbor of band leader Matt Jones was referred to Radio Khartoum in 1999 and a pact was quickly struck. Jones and co. quickly found their stride, producing a series of albums each better than the last, and much faster than the slow RK machinery can release them. Look for the albums Where the Missing Words Live, Insomniac's Lullaby and How the Fallen are Mighty in this space over the coming 12 months or so.
 

For fans of: él Records, The Lucksmiths, The Monochrome Set, The Smiths, The Specials, Momus, John Barry, and Jake Thackray.

Four unreleased songs taped from the radio (hence the sound quality) in 1989 by our friend Eddie (whose cassette turned out to be better than the previously offered dub from John Marshall):
01. Tonight the World of Entertainment »mp3
02. Where You Belong »mp3
03. Believe Me »mp3
04. You Must Have Had It All »mp3

»More unreleased mp3s + video

THE HEPBURNS: Trojan Hearse

Bendigedig Recordings (Wales)
bdg001 - CD $13 new

You want to know what this album is about?

First you have to appreciate the beauty not of Federer’s ‘Backhand’ or of his five-set win over Nadal to take his fifth Wimbledon title—no not the beauty of that—but of his decline, his downward arc, his plimsolled feet as they descend towards the ground.

Ladies and gentleman I give you a toast…

To the latter-day Icarus; to the middle-aged man, his arithmetical cage, struck dumb by the songbird half his age

To hairstyles ruined by the rain and the view from down the drain

The unwelcome guest, the reluctant host; all the ghosts from California to the Baltic Coast!

Trojan Hearse. For drunks, cyclists and drunk cyclists everywhere.

—Matt Jones

THE HEPBURNS: Something Worth Stealing

khz107 - CD $12

Probably the Hepburns’ lightest album, Something Worth Stealing was written as a romantic fling with no skeletons in the closet...well, unusually few skeletons by Hepburns standards, discounting the up-tempo duet with the dead guy who comes back to woo a former lover, the ghostly coal mine choir in the jazzy shadows on the ditty about the strongman’s cape, and, perhaps, the ode to Scooby-Doo’s Velma. This album is more a celebration of joyrides, spring storms, dinosaur incisors, winter fashions, boho wannabes, humdrum and conundrum, the occasional poisoned dart, and the use of the word “penultimate.”

SWS showcases the blossoming of the Hepburns’ association with White & White (brass and flute, respectively) which started halfway through the sessions for the last album. In addition to the Hepburns’ trademark organ and vibraphone riff-laden, jazz- and ska-tinged jangle, topped with words that could have only been penned by Matt “all Welshmen are Liars” Jones, the new album features the song everyone has been waiting to hear since the last album: “The Last Thing I Saw Before I Said Goodbye.”

Digipak with 24 page booklet with lyrics, liner notes by Matt Jones (Japanese translations by Jun Kurihara) and graphic commentaries by Bügelfrei.

THE HEPBURNS: Deciphering Linear A

mhz103 - 7"+3" CD $6

Never intended as a taster for any album, this single is just a bit of magic that happened when no one was looking. “What If Everyone Got What They Wanted,” The Hepburns’ whimsical ode to letting it slip through your fingers, is pure A-side, a song that begged to be released on its own. A single, a song heard in isolation, the kind of tune that justifies the pause between songs to stop the turntable and flip the record. Matt Jones claims to have recorded the song in all of 10 minutes but the resulting first take is timeless (and could never be duplicated on subsequent trips to the studio). The flipside features two manic slices of jaunty, quirky guitar pop as only the errant Hepburns know how.

Another packaging splurge, this time in the form of a glossy, full color gatefold sleeve featuring a stunning meditation in lines, halftones and moires on “substance and nothingness (by way of Venice)” by designer Bügelfrei. More liner notes by Jones (plus Japanese translations by Jun Kurihara). Oh, and did we forget to mention that the package includes both 7" vinyl and 3" CD? All tracks non-album.

THE HEPBURNS: The Last Thing I Saw Before I Said Goodbye

khz203 - CD $12

At the rustic inns of Hepburns country (somewhere near Llanelli, Wales) one brushes elbows with the weary ghosts of celebrity boxing promoters, painters and revolutionaries, with teen swim champion dropouts and with (naturally) the disaffected and debonair Norman de Plume. Vocalist and songwriter Matt Jones paints this remote countryside with his characteristic wit: part comic, part melancholy. A belief that all humor springs from the bad things in life. And springs eternal.

On this outing there were two new faces aboard the Hepburns charabanc: Jen and James White, a flautist and trumpet player, respectively.

Packaging splurge: Tactile and tasteful digipack as always, plus a 28 page booklet with lyrics, song-by-song prose commentary by Matt Jones (Japanese translation by Jun Kurihara), and graphical commentary by Bügelfrei.

THE HEPBURNS: Champagne Reception

khz200 - 3" CD $7
mhz200 - 10" $7

First release in a decade, and the dawn of the new Hepburns era. The philosophy of The Hepburns is intact and shining: character sketches inimitably drawn (presumably from the pages of Clinker, Matt’s novel in progress), and a knack for precisely arranged guitars and backing vocal flourishes which speak pure caprice. The cinematic sensibility which was lost on the UK press ten years earlier is still there, and quite possibly stronger than ever. A soundtrack for a film set in a village of dilapidated buildings, obsolete soda pop machines, and gardens, haunted with the ghosts of boxers, Disney’s pirates, Nick Drake, and Jackie Onassis.

THE HEPBURNS: butterfly fish T-shirt

vhf307 - t-shirt $18 new

Unisex T-shirt silver & white on navy: Available in S M L XL 

Unisex T-shirt silver & white on red: Available in S M L XL 

Unisex T-shirt aqua & red on organic natural: Available in S M L XL 

Screen printed on sweatshop-free American Apparel tees. AA shirts are cut like 1970s tees and tend to be a bit smaller than other (modern) brands. If in doubt, order one size larger than you usually wear. Or click here for size chart.

THE HEPBURNS: The Girl Who Lost Interest in Everything

uhf203 - Poster $20
Design: Bügelfrei
Dimensions: 18" x 24" (approx. 46 x 61 cm)
2 colors, hand screened on white, acid-free stock
Edition: 100 numbered prints

The text reads:
'Detail, "The Girl Who Lost Interest in Everything," one of 14 new songs by The Hepburns featured on the Radio Khartoum release The Last Thing I Saw Before I Said Goodbye (cat. no. KHZ203).'

The Hepburns / Anthony Rochester tour poster

uhf207 - Poster $3 (additional copies $1)
Design: Bügelfrei
Dimensions: 11" x 17" (approx. 28 x 43 cm)
4 color offset print

The idea with the design was to have a pre-printed, generic poster small enough to fit in the a photocopier so that local details (guest artists, venue and date info) could be added on top. Of course, it took a bit of work to get the add-on text to line up with the pre-printed text. We had some extras left over at the end of the tour. Bug us if you really want one with Bart Davenport, Baskervilles, etc. on the poster. There were a few of those in mixed in the stack the last time I looked.