Lach & The Secrets - 'Today' (Fortified)
4/5
By: Samantha Hall
Ensconced with the curious, oft unsettling humour of The Moldy Peaches? You clearly haven't heard Lach then.
Lach, y'know: the founder, creator and general St Peter-like advisor/overlooker to the recently established (well, newish; 80s birthright), quirky genre that is known as: 'antifolk'.
Antifolk? What - music against Morris Dancers? 'Not'-folk? In the word of the mighty himself - 'We are inspired by The Clash, The Pistols, The Jam etc. as we are by Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, Dylan etc.' Clearer now? No - well, we're glad. That's its magic.
Certainly 'Today' does venture forth into a strange and brilliant musical mind; an enjoyable, sincere voyage through loneliness, violence, love, drugs and ultimately music itself. A gruff-and-tough punk turned poet with a heart o'gold singing jangly, witty pop-punk in a snotty voice. Yeah - that's Lach.
His antifolk HQ, the established, holy homeland of the scene for lovers all over the world; like Glastonbury to crusties; 'The Sidewalk Café' on Sixth Street and Avenue in East Village, New York City (known simply as 'The Fort') is the cult honing-ground that encourages such stream-of-consciousness musical therapy.
And such a spirit slips through each and every acoustic ramshackle gem. Ultimate, unperfumed honesty presented in a dynamic, audaciously timed and sharply rhymed demeanour; riotously infectiously yet touchingly shocking (this guy's had a life), heart-warming and arousing all at simultaneous moments.
His musical renaissance has set the underground alight. You can almost even taste the backseat of an East Side cab in his verses. And it's a flavour that'll cling.
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