Album Review: Brand New Cage, Wild Billy Childish & CTMF

Some artists continuously adapt and change, restless to explore new forms of expression – think David Bowie or Prince. Others settle on a defining characteristic and relentlessly belabour it to its natural conclusion – think AC/DC or The Ramones. Billy Childish lies firmly in the latter camp: he has been ploughing a singular rut since The Pop Rivets debuted in 1979. It has been said that if you’ve heard one Childish record you’ve heard them all. I’m not about to put that aphorism to the test; he has released about a million so far and down that path lies madness.

Brand New Cage, his fifth LP with CTMF, is a delightfully ramshackle collection of garage punk nuggets. In the interests of musical economy, Childish recycles the same solo for every song; it sounds not unlike an attempt to extricate a fork tangled up in the strings. Tales of disaffected youth, mental health issues and a call to punk arms sit alongside a demand to consider Brian Jones’ role in the formation of The Rolling Stones.

It’s not a one-man show, though. There’s a woman too in the form of Nurse Julie, who contributes two brilliant tracks, ‘It’s All Gone Wrong’ and ‘Bullet Proof’. Gloriously raucous and unashamedly primitive, if you’re going to remain ‘stuck’ as Tracey Emin once accused Childish of being, there are far worse places to be.
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