Yeah Yeah Noh - Fun On The Lawn, Lawn, Lawn

Yeah Yeah Noh were (are, they appear to have reformed so I hope they don't mind me posting this record) a bunch of dweebs from the delightful city of Leicester who made a bit of a splash in the UK indie charts between 1984 and 1986.  They made regular appearances on Mr John Peel's radio 1 show and this album is made up of songs recorded for Peel sessions. 
These songs are clearly influenced by those masters of English mundanity, The Fall, however Yeah Yeah Noh's sound is less jarring and more melodic, and the wit of the songwriter less acidic.  There's also a jangly sweetness that I would have hated as a young teenager, but that I have grown to love in middle age.

Here is a taste of the band themselves:


I suppose that many parts of Northern England had bands like Yeah Yeah Noh, but most never got to record for John Peel or to become stars of the indie charts.  Local favourites in my area were Shrug from Middlesbrough.  From 1986 through to 1990 my friends and I would regularly make the trip from our home town to Darlington, Middlesbrough, sometimes even Newcastle, to see Shrug, with their small army of malcoordinated drummers, make their wonderful noise.
Shrug's claim to fame was that they were the first Western group to play in East Berlin after the Berlin Wall came down.  Here is a short news report on BBC's Look North about the trip (check out Mike Neville!):

And here is another great clip from 1989 about the Middlesbrough Music Collective (4.30 for a proper listen to Shrug's "Sir Walter Raleigh's Fast Food Takeover" though I recommend you check the whole clip):


Tracklist:

01         Super Imposed Man         
02         Beware The Weakling Lines         
03         (It's) Easier To Suck Than Sing    
04         Cottage Industry         
05         Another Side Of Mrs Quill    
06         Crimplene Seed Lifestyle    
07         Temple Of Convenience    
08         Jigsaw    
09         Blood Soup    
10         Prick Up Your Ears         
11         Starling Pillow Case        
12         See Through Nature    
13         Stealing In The Name Of The Lord     
14         Zoological Gardens

Get it HERE.