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they don't make them like this anymore. the well-scrubbed londoneering indiepoptastic quartet hatcham social consist of toby kidd (vocals / guitar), finn kidd (drums), dave fineberg (bass / vocals) and multi-tasking new boy jerome watson (synth / guitar). 'you dig the tunnel, i'll hide the soil' is hatcham social's debut album and fierce panda's first longplayer release in 2009, the year of the label's fifteenth anniversary. recorded at big mushroom studios in the north of england with the charlatans singer tim burgess and jim spencer at the controls this is a spiky, sparky collection of itching pop tunes which hark back to a time of musical innocence. live favourites 'so so happy making' and 'penelope (under my hat)' make a reappearance but other than those old lags this is a set of brand new songs highlighted by the tetchy lead off single 'murder in the dark', the exotic spoken word dramatics of 'jabberwocky' and the frankly terrific summer-anthem-in-waiting 'sidewalk'. you couldn't accuse the hatcham boys of rushing things either: in the past two years they have released four limited edition independent singles, compiled one mini-album cassette, played over 150 gigs (including selling out the 100 club) and enraptured countless music lovers with the sort of charmingly jagged old school alternative stance several of us thought had been destroyed forever by the corporate indie boomtime of the early noughties. not only that but hatcham social throw poetry and children's literature into the mix with a panache which would thrill any passing lewis carroll fan. in 2008 alone they toured the uk with the charlatans and then with ipso facto. they released their 'crystal world' mini-album in japan and signed to tbd records in north america, instantly becoming radiohead's labelmates. they fizzed and itched at the great escape by the seaside, at camden crawl by the trackside, at in the city near moss side and at offset in the middle of epping forest. and, barely three weeks into the new year hatcham social have already made their mark on 2009 at the borderline as part of pandamonium, at the artrocker islington academy show and at the last ever push club night. and this is where we find the core of hatcham social - behind the cassette releases and the fringes and the fairly obvious admiration for the ethics, morals, tunes and drumming kittens which defined postcard records twenty years ago there lurks a hardboiled attitude which takes them well out of any precious indie ghetto. this band bites. or, as frontman toby puts it so succintly: "i am not against selling records, but i am against selling shit records." ....release date: 16/03/2009
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