Betika - Heads Smashed In By the Boy/Girl Thing
(Superglider)
A musical collective, they call themselves—and why not. Betika's led by a feller named Dave Purse, he's got a slew of folks helping him out, and Heads Smashed In By the Boy/Girl Thing is one of those brief little records with quietly sprightly little songs that call to mind everything from very early (like early eighties) Pulp to stuff on Sarah Records that wasn't the Field Mice to acoustic Gorky's Zygotic Mynci to, perhaps inevitably, B***e and S*******n (though thankfully not really much of that, otherwise I'd puke). That there's things like recorder and glockenspiel on the songs may be twee in some eyes but the arrangements are enjoyable and Purse has got a breezy but hurt way around his singing that suits the predominantly acoustic arrangements well. Carolyn Evans makes for a fair enough vocalist in turn, as can be heard nicely on "The Bierdigan" and "Dance and Scream." "I've Been In an Accident" is the mighty fine starter, "One Day My House Will Be Flooded" and "Summers of Solemnity" also do the trick. This particular version is a re-release with two fine new songs, "Which Way Will I Go" and "Hunting With Dogs."
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