The Fishery Commission: "Brakeman's Blues"

Continuing their tomb-clawing rise from the dead and their dogged “bury us, will you?” aesthetic, Newcastle’s finest the Fishery Commission plod on in their mission to affod chiptune some gallantry. That Spoonbender (no relation) and Browntown’s vastly differing styles should marry so neatly is one thing (the former a programmer with a head full of Game Boys, the other a crooner doing his thang on stage); that they should hold the link long enough to move on to cover versions is proof of these two clown’s total seriousness. The target for their latest reinterpretation—and we’re talking all-out metamorphosis here, not just a shot-for-shot rehash like the Vince Vaughn Psycho—is singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, a harmonica and blues guitar man of the people who hound-dogged his way through the Depression. Covering his salt-of-the-earth “Brakeman’s Blues” at their set at Shipley Art Gallery last month, the Commish worked to one rule before handing their brainchild over to subscribers: chiptune must go Albini. One take, no nonsense, shit or bust or glory. The Brakeman himself would be beaming at that one.

The result, given minimal polishing for its download release through their homepage, might be more Buck Rogers than Jimmie Rodgers, but it still sounds so darn catchy that in another hundred years it’ll be cover-covered, protozoa imagining Depressions and Credit Crunches and simple electronic instruments made to sing. Browntown’s dour spoken word introduction camouflages the sheer range he’s about to display then does display, oooohing his way through some rambling country while Spoony gets jolly on the D-pad. The yodeling (yodeling!) hyperblaster riff he pilots feels like a Mario swim level, tickling pink until the man on the mic attains a delicate Riceboy Sleeps exquisiteness. It all rounds off with a plucky little software crash that stalls with the grace of a stage bow. Having perhaps a smidgen more studio sheen, this could be their best a-side yet. The Brakeman/BRKmen live hybrid is definitely one to cherish and proves to me at least that, once again, the music of the future is the past. Thank holy crikey for that.

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