East Village - Hotrod Hotel

If you are an indie pop fan, the top of your shopping list this week should reflect an easy choice. Hotrod Hotel by the horribly under appreciated UK band East Village has been reissued by Slumberland Records. The band had a seven year run ending in 1991, after being formed by brothers Martin and Paul Kelly, later joined by Johnny Wood and Spencer Smith. As is too common in the music industry, East Village became more popular after their demise (sound familiar, Big Star?). Hotrod Hotel, which collects the band's singles, was originally released in 1994 and now is available in digital and vinyl formats.  And since this release marks the first time the record has been available in vinyl, if you want the physical version -- and who wouldn't -- act soon.

We featured album tracks "Violin" and "Cubans In The Bluefields" in early December, so we have chosen three other gems to stream below. After sampling five of the 12 songs, we expect you will agree that Hotrod Hotel fully justifies the band's cult status, and why it easily slides on to our "essentials" list.







Bandcamp for Album