this is out now...
you can order here
http://fandeathrecords.mybisi.com/product/194902/Puerto-Rico-Flowers--4-FDR-013_1111423.htmlhttp://www.thefader.com/2010/01/19/freak-scene-50-puerto-rico-flowers-death-domain-and-native-cats/#ixzz0dIwZ4KP0Clockcleaner?s Babylon Rules is one of my favorite records?ever. Sure, the lyrics were kind of hokey. How many times can you make a crack about a girl not letting you cum inside her? And how many goofy guys actually believed that whole jokey shock-jock misogyny the group spewed? However, there was something, perhaps the jams or the knowledge that there was a sense of humor underneath, that transcended it all. So imagine my surprise to hear Clockcleaner singer/guitarist John Sharkey III?s new project, Puerto Rico Flowers. There are definitely no lyrics about cum and daddy issues on this one. It?s all very serious and very dramatic and very moody, and it is all very good. Even with the nearly insurmountable obstacle of that John Mayer quote on the back, UGH [ed. note: The FADER does not endorse any hatred of John Mayer, as The FADER loves John Mayer], I still think this is a most excellent record. On first listen, I was struck by the?emotional gravitas (is this right?) of the whole thing. Maybe it?s the cold weather. Most shocking of all, Mr. Sharkey is straight up crooning on this record. The speed is always somewhere in the middle but it highlights the vocals so it helps. Song two, ?Let?s Make Friends? is the best track and with lyrics about crawling on kitchen floors and possibly love/lust (?), it will demand an almost compulsive number of listens and scarily enough, sing alongs. Drums, bass, synth, vocal. That?s all you need. I am still not quite sure if I am ready for a Clockcleaner member to have a deep and profound emotional effect on me in the year 2010, but I love this record. We all change guys. Grip from Fan Death HERE.
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/882Puerto Rico Flowers
4 12? EP
(Fan Death)
Post-Clockcleaner, and really, post-America action from the outback?s John Sharkey, offering up four songs of heavy, slow Gothic rock. He wrote and recorded this alone, and this phase of the project (two live sets and a lot of talk) is apparently complete. Clockcleaner?s posthumous recordings are outright Goth/death rock, like nothing they?d done before, and this record showcases a refinement of that sound. Likewise, this material is good enough to sustain a departure to wherever he might want to take this next ? sung vocals, bass but no guitars, spare but effective use of synths, and live drums provide a sturdy framework for last-call staredowns like ?Let?s Make Friends.? Unsettled, stern dark rock bands like the Comsat Angels and Crispy Ambulance factor greatly into this product, one among many in the Great Coldwave Freezeout of 2010, but certainly one of the most memorable. (
http://www.fandeathrecords.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
http://ravensingstheblues.blogspot.com/2010/01/puerto-rico-flowers.htmlCresting in on a wave of acerbic darkwave that's been building over the past year, Clockcleaner's John Sharkey III takes hold of the sound and throttles it to perfection. Spare in the best of terms, Sharkey paces emotionless atop a steady axis of bass/synth and the distant clop of drums that keep the sinister impulses moving steady. Despite the spot on album title (4, there are 4 songs) the band has little to do with its Puerto Rican moniker, instead finding itself forged in Sharkey's haunts in the U.S. and Australia before crawling out into the open. Several have tried to capture the perfect mix of nihilism and wretched, writhing emotion in one filthy package and most have come up short. Sharkey however, leaves a taste for more with this EP and it seems he could be one of the forerunners of a new gothic underground. There are a few great new runners in this field and definitely something to watch in 2010 between this project, Xeno & Oaklander and Led Er Est. We'll see who survives.
