Irma Vep
The Jerk
The first of 3 ace new 45s to kick off the new year at The Great Pop Supplement HQ, the mighty 'The Jerk' 45 from Manchester's Irma Vep is a debut on 7" wax and is heavy on distorted / phased vocals and passing nods to The Velvets. Initially from Llanfairfechan in North Wales by way of Manchester these days, main man Edwin recorded both sides with the expertise of Karl Sveinsson at Queens Ark Audio in Levenshulme. Apparently whilst not recording, Edwin works in a caf, enjoys watching wrestling and papier machet. He plays in several other bands, notably Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura, Klaus Kinski, Dinner Party and Sex Hands amongst others. With Irma Vep, he prefers jamming with people live instead of "teaching people my songs as you usually make something new and good and I wouldn't want to waste their time over something old and 'done'. The songs I record are pretty fluid and not thought about too much. More a cathartic process than anything". To these ears 'The Jerk' is not only pretty fluid but pretty damned amazing; it drones like prime era Velvets with a totally addictive chorus; you almost feel Moe standing in on drums not to mention the ace violin work of local Manc legend Dan Bridgwood Hill. A fantastic 45 following an equally impressive back catalogue of LPs, cassettes and CDRs on labels such as Giant Hell, Comfortable on a Tightrope, Endless and Turquise Coal. Beautifully dressed with typical GPS eye for details on clear vinyl in a pressing of 300 copies on 7" vinyl only.