I’ve only mentioned Giant Paw in passing previously, because it’s too hard writing about mates’ bands. On the one hand you want to big them up, but on the other you feel a duty to remain objective (which is impossible at the best of times, but especially with your friends). Ooh, the emotional turmoil of being an obscure blogger!

So a few years ago there was talk of rehearsals and plans and schemes and suchlike. And then there was a first gig at the Rough Trade Shop in Covent Garden (now gone) and… several other gigs. And slowly it all seemed to come together. I remember suddenly realising at a gig in that dive bar under Highbury tube station that the band were actually now Officially Brilliant and not just an excuse to get pissed and jig about with a bunch of people I have known for well over a decade (two decades in some cases).

Then they conjured up some perfectly conceived limited CD singles with beautiful silk-screened artwork. And now an album.

I suppose Giant Paw is in the tradition of woozy English psychedelia – but it’s not exactly proggy. It isn’t really my field, but I think there’s more of a punky undercurrent with a splash of yer Krautrock on those long driving pieces. I guess this connects with what I was trying to write about with the Psychic TV piece recently.

Lyrically there is a twisted whimsy – “Mosquito” reports on a domestic argument with an insect, whilst “Flood” is a dreamlike voyage in a trapped car which is floating through a city – JG Ballard style. The Paw roped in Cramer (of Bongwater fame) to produce some of the tracks on the album, but they seem just at home tweaking tunes in a studio behind Stoke Newington station, roping in any passing friends and acquaintances to lend a hand.

Maybe I don’t need to be objective now we are in web 2.0 – hopefully you’ve already checked the youtube video at the top and can see where I’m coming from.

If you need more right now, check these links:

Order the album from Rough Trade (looks like they also have some of the limited editions left!).

Or download via corporate overlords Amazon

check the Giant Paw myspace for more listening and info