Kai Slater is an artist worth watching. I started to feel that way with Lifeguard, but really got with the program with Kai's stuff as Sharp Pins. It's all good, even this new collection of demo recordings. Mod Mayday 23 is decidedly lo-fi but it's pretty damn good stuff.
From the Beatles-twang of "Face of Youth Today" to the Buzzcocks-y rush of "Tonight's the Night", the tunes here bore themselves into your ears quickly, and with ease. While lots of this is power-pop, the grinding "Friday Night" is closer to Isn't Anything-era My Bloody Valentine, which is a nice surprise. Still, material like "Live Without Her Love" has the same kind of charms about it that the best, early Nineties GBV stuff had, back before Robert Pollard wore out his welcome. I'm pretty sure Kai Slater won't, especially since so far he's been batting 1,000.
Mod Mayday 23 by Sharp Pins is out now via Perennial.
[Photo: Sharp Pins]