Thursday, April 17, 2008

Singles going steady 21: Delakota


My memories of Delakota are a bit blurry. They centre around a gig at The Blue Note (not the original Hoxton Square one – the strange two-floor place in Islington that got demolished to make way for that horrible shopping centre) sometime in the late 90s. I had already been out that evening, I think, and had had a few. After Delakota took to the stage my friend pushed his way through the crowd, several sheets to the wind. I don’t really remember anything about the performance, though I do seem to remember that we danced like nutters throughout, which may have been due to an amazing set, or other lubricating factors. I also hazily remember continuing to dance at an after-party upstairs into the next day. Ah, days of being young and carefree.

Sometime around that gig I must have picked up a CD single (or maybe it’s an album promo) by Delakota. The band were formed by Cass Browne and Morgan Nicholls, who used to be in early 90s crusty noiseniks Senseless Things, but Delakota were a different beast, taking both baggy beats and Primal Scream-style retro American fixations as a starting point and progressing from there. The four tracks are all pretty decent. If my CD is an album promo, it suggests that the album was a good ‘un. Maybe someone can fill me in.

I’ve no idea if Delakota ever made much of an impact, but after the gig I never came across them much again. More recently Browne has been found drumming for Gorillaz (the Jamie Hewlett connection goes way back to Senseless Things cover art) and Nicholls seems to be a steady member of Muse’s touring set-up.

There you go – a fuzzy part of my CD single collection, but worthwhile all the same. Here’s a couple of tracks to remember Delakota by.

Download: Delakota – C’mon Cincinnati
Download: Delakota – 555

You can buy Delakota CDs at pretty low prices at Amazon marketplace. I could be tempted...


6 comments:

Ass Hat said...

i'd completely forgotten about these guys - they were pretty good. like you, i think i picked up this single but never got round to the album.

it's all flooding back now - regular fries! lo fidelity allstars! campag velocet! where are they all now?

The Daily Growl said...

Indeed - and Earl Brutus?

btw, I'll have a Regular Fries and a Lo-Fi Allstars singles going steady in time. I have them all!

Anonymous said...

The album was called (rather uninspiringly) 'One Love'. It was great though. 'The Rock' was a highlight - great song and should have been much bigger.

Definitely worth tracking the album down!

They were good live - I remember seeing them twice in quick succession in 1998.

Ass Hat said...

sweet - i had 'navyhead' by earl brutus on 7". sort of like a leery glam version of the fall. first class.

Anonymous said...

I found a tatty 12" in a charity shop the other day. The cover was damp and in terrible condition. I looked at it properly and realised it was the 'C’mon Cincinnati' single.

The B-side is a fantasic instrumental remix of the single, entitled "M.Organ Village Mix". Desperately looking for it online, but no joy.

I've been a massive fan of theirs since 98, even purchased 'The Rock' on 7" through Ebay for £3.

codenameflame said...

Was doing some research on this band after finding out Coldplay's song 'Strawberry Swing' was inspired by Delakota's 'The Rock.' Came across this blog post. I got the One Love album off ebay for around eight bucks and its worth it. If you don't have The Rock on your promo CD you should definitely listen to it on youtube or try to find the album. Great band though, wonder what they would've done if they had kept it up :)