Babaganouj - It's Rainin' It's Summer (Single)
With a name as silky as eggplant dip it seems like Charles Sale has undergone a similarly smooth transition from his art rock band, Yves Klein Blue, to new group, Babaganouj. The trio are a self-described “Low octane rock ‘n’ roll band” but musically there are also hints of his previous act’s blend of shiny pop.
“It’s Rainin’ It’s Summer” is taken from the debut EP, “Sife Lucks” and rumbles by like a rock party on a flat-bed truck in the sunshine. Although they count Hüsker Dü and The Vaselines as influences and say they sound like The Lemonheads, Smudge and Big Star, for my money there are actually a few other forces at play. First, take the upbeat nature of The Strokes and combine with the raw and dirty guitar sounds of Straight Arrows before mixing strongly with The Pixies. The latter can be heard in everything from the laidback “Hey heys” courtesy of Harriette Pilbeam through to Sale admitting, “I lost my head today,” when we all know he could have just asked, “Where is my mind?”
The power trio are apparently happiest when they have some reasonable local beer, Whiz Fizz and the occasional Wagon Wheel. Ah, how we all pine for such simple pleasures like that or say, coffee and TV and who knows what fun their rider holds! “It’s Rainin’ It’s Summer” proves that Babaganouj are sugar and spice and everything nice, especially when you have a good bevy in hand and an optimistic outlook and song to cut through the rains.
