We’re dropping another future pop classic on you this month with the release of The Lawnmower‘s new single ‘The Pleasures of the Table’. Out as a postcard single and download this week on 18/10/19 available from elranchorecords.bandcamp.com.

The Lawnmower is the songwriting duo of Conor Coogan and Thom Querns. Formed between them, the project sprung from a mutual interest in lyricism and song craft – with more than a nod to the works of Prefab Sprout, Steely Dan, The Blue Nile, Wally Badarou and Peter Gabriel in their writing and performing style.

Lawnmower’s second single release ‘The Pleasures of the Table’ recounts a tale of desire and disap- pointment. Exciting planning for the most lavish and complex meal in the world leads ultimately to re- gret, ambition falling short of delivering a longed for human connection. A meditation on gastronomy where, in the end, the most lacklustre pleasure is the people gathered for the meal.

Lawnmower’s songs explore themes of human frailty – pride, ego, epiphany, disappointment – weaving sophisticated vignettes and crafting them within carefully constructed conceptual pop. They possess a thoughtful grasp of the pitfalls of pride and ego and a snazzy line in gloriously catchy pop-hooks. The live performances, led by the clear, rich vocals of Coogan and underpinned by some impressive guitar playing by Querns, are packed with musical souvenirs that reverberate with empathy and humour.

Precocious and cerebral, the elaborate writing and aesthetic ambitions of The Lawnmower demonstrate the emergence of a distinctive new voice in the Glasgow’s always fertile unground scene.

The single had it’s debut airing on Amy Lamé’s BBC6 show a few weeks ago, check it out here… https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008hcm

The launch party is at Flying Duck on Sat 19th Oct w/ I. Solar and guests. We’ll be taking it through till 3am featuring DJ sets from Deep Groan (El Rancho) & ΩHuussHΩ (Music, Please!). Check it out here https://www.facebook.com/events/2724634744247485/

The day has arrived and the world waits no more! The Roves killer smash hit single ‘Hey Little Man’ bw/ ‘Once a Prefect’ is available from all good record shops and online to download or stream. We recommend buying from our bandcamp as the biggest share of the money goes straight to the artist!

You can do that here… https://elranchorecords.bandcamp.com/album/hey-little-man

The single made it’s BBC6 Music debut on Gideon Coe’s show on Wednesday night, check it out here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00087fp It was made for radio and sounded ace! Gid even said he might play the b side soon, can’t wait to hear it! It was great to hear the track giving the airing it deserves and seems so hard to achieve these days! Thanks Gid and thanks to Stephen Pastel and Monorail Music for their support of the single!

Support your local record shop, pop in a pick one up, hold the beautiful vinyl and feast your eyes on the beautiful artwork by Eleanor Dunning.

Thanks to our stockists: Monorail Music (Glasgow), Love Music (Glasgow), Mixed Up Records (Glasgow), Rough Trade (London, Bristol, Nottingham), Norman Records (Leeds), Jumbo Records (Leeds), Action Records (Preston), Vinyl Tap (Huddersfield).

The Roves launch the single this weekend at Freakender on Sunday! See you there!

LYLO join Heir of The Cursed, Man of Moon and Cucina Povera at this years Scottish Album Of The Year Awards at The Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh where they will perform one last time with their current line up!

In the shortlist and up for the award this year are the amazing Free Love with their banger ‘Luxury Hits’, and our money is on them!

El Rancho is very happy to share the news of our next release! On Friday 13th September 2019 the world will be a better place with the release of ‘Hey Little Man’ the new single from North London’s The Roves. The 7″ single is backed with ‘Once A Prefect’ and it quite simply as Gerry Love (ex Teenage Fanclub) remarked “It’s perfect. An instant classic!”

The Roves are made up of brothers James & Tom Wing with the locomotive rhythm section of Luke Evans & Brendan Monahan. The band play guitar fuelled British rock and roll music with influences they say not from the music alone but from all art forms. Without drawing on comparisons and doing original songwriting an injustice we’ll just say if you are a fan of the likes of The Kinks, Squeeze, Teenage Fanclub or The La’s you find something to love about The Roves songs. I fell in love from the first listen of their S/T debut album last year and have been obsessed by ever since!

Recorded to tape at Ray Davies KONK studios in London, in May 2019 the vinyl cut made from the lacquer master for total quality of sound and reproduction. What you have here is a 45 with all the original trimmings of true studio sound. Both the A & B side appear on The Roves latest album ‘All Those Freaks’ as original lighter versions than the re recorded punchy numbers we have here – short, sharp and catchy as hell guitar music! 

I’m not sure where great songwriting sits in popular music today? The big hits are squished with high end production, endless vocal tweaking and studio wizardry and they dominate radio and pop culture in general. These are the times I guess, but you only need one listen to ‘Hey Little Man’ to feel the world is not racing ahead and out of control. You can still sing and dance and feel uplifted by spirited guitar solos and catchy melodies, and The Roves have these in abundance. Flip over and the B side ‘Once A Prefect’ for example, which tricked one discerning listener to thinking it was the lead track! El Rancho is honoured to have this little belter as part of it’s discography It’s an absolutely flawless single – in my world.

‘Hey Little Man’ is available to pre order from the El Rancho Records Bandcamp now! A pre order from El Rancho means you can download and stream the single ahead of it’s release date! You can also pre order from Rough Trade, Monorail Records and Norman Records. The official release date is 13/09/19 where you will be able stream from all the usual places. Best of all you can walk into your local record store and pick up a copy, chat to the friendly staff and save a few ponds on extra postage!

Look out for the video premier and radio plays this coming week! The A side has already been played around the world on Music For Listeners straight out of San Antonio, USA and John Cavangh’s Soundwave on Radio Six International.

Catch The Roves launching the single at FREAKENDER at The Old Hairdressers in Glasgow on Sun 15th September.