The Whatevers were Mike Relton, Al Brown, Kate Bisson and Clare Stemp and they were perhaps the finest exponents of the post punk/indie pop genre that the notoriously miserable North of England ever produced. Their songs were wry to the point of self loathing and their minimalist guitar driven delivery took them a mile above mediocrity. “Lo-Fi Infidelity” is their swansong and a timely reminder of what once was.
Full of edgy little songs like “Having Sex and Taking Drugs” and “Meet Me Down The Side Of The Canal”, they were the morally bankrupt cousins of The Just Joans and you had to laugh because they were just telling it like it is, Kate Bisson’s sweet vocals were balanced perfectly by Mike Relton’s non voice, or at least when needed to make the melodramatic point, thus making for a curiously endearing musical car crash.
This album contains the many facets of the band with “Remember” being altogether more sophisticated than their rough and ready better known – Ok, less unknown – songs but the result is the same. A sense of loss. There is one flaw with this album however. It is subtitled “The Best Of” yet it does not contain the band’s seminal song “Kickin Ass and Chewin Bubblegum”. I feel robbed but you probably won’t.
Available from Bandcamp.