David M Rangel / November 4, 2026 / Review
The names Nikki Sudden (born Adrian Nicholas Godfrey), Epic Soundtracks (born Kevin Paul Godfrey) and Dave Kusworth are likely unfamiliar even to people who take deeper dives into more obscure, off-the-beaten path musical styles. While the musically well-versed may have a vague (particularly in the US) acquaintance with Swell Maps, the band that is, arguably, the best known project between the three musicians, their status has been relegated to an albeit large, cult following with little commercial success. And their individual names are even more of a mystery.
But these three criminally overlooked early pioneers of DIY, post punk and guitar jangle have not gone completely unnoticed. You can hear their influence in later bands, who have cited them as key components to their sound, including REM, Sonic Youth, Blur and others. After the dissolution of Swell Maps, Sudden and Soundtracks found themselves in a band with Kusworth called the Jacobites in which the trio took a more straightforward, wasted at midnight, rock ‘n’ roll approach in the vein of The Rolling Stones and The Faces, two bands with which Sudden eventually collaborated.
All three of these mid-70s trailblazers have passed on. But Mark Mulholland, Stephane Doucerain and Joel Armstrong, three musicians who had worked closely with the trio, have recorded their own interpretations of these now classic (in certain circles) tunes, giving them new life and a chance for a new generations to appreciate these seminal tracks.
Down Silver Streets sounds less like a tribute album dedicated to decades old songs, than it does a hip compilation of groundbreaking tracks whose aim is to shake up and reinvent typical mainstream rock ‘n’ roll. These modern tribute tracks capture the spirit of what the songs were supposed to be back in their own time, exuding a somewhat simplistic vintage sound with rich, modern production. The result is an oftentimes lush, sometimes mid-70s urban proto-punk grit.
“Midget Submarines” kicks off the record, transporting the listener back to a seedy New York Bowery with a darkened minimalist sound that would fit right in between Television and Iggy Pop at Max’s Kansas City. The vocals are almost Lou Reed-ish with a slightly sinister talk/sing cadence. This is the stuff of 70s rock concert television shows such as The Midnight Special, where coverage had to be late at night because primetime audiences just wouldn’t “get it”.
Much of this record is the kind of tuneful, majestic, jangly guitar pop that sound like modern tracks influenced by the likes of REM and Paisley Underground bands, such as The Three O’clock. It’s an interesting perspective to know that the tracks on this record came well before the advent of those bands whom we so often cite as early, pioneering practitioners of that type of sound. To say Sudden, Soundtracks and Kusworth are unsung architects of a sound that so many future generations would work into their music, is a vast understatement.
“Silver Street” gives off a lonely, melancholy feel were you expect to hear Neil Young’s voice chiming in on lead vocals. I get a curious sense of The Jayhawks, circa Tomorrow the Green Grass, a record which sounds like it could’ve taken influence from “Silver Street”. “Kings and Queens” features the easy going baritone vocals of guest vocalist Rob Angst (Mulholland and Armstrong are the two main vocalists). The chiming guitars and lush organ – along with one of the most melodic instrumental solos I have heard in a long time – give this track a kind of California wandering feeling where you have no particular destination in mind, other than just to go and be out in the world.
While there are traces of bigger rock bands of the time such as The Band (on “The Last Bandit”) and Crazy Horse (on a few different tracks, including “The Chelsea Embankment”) there is something about the presentation, perhaps a more “loose“, less produced feeling, that sets these tracks apart from the corporatism of those groups.
Down Silver Streets will undoubtedly provide a good and much needed history lesson regarding the roots of the musical tree from which many of today’s indie rock bands stem. It’s a necessary musical documentation to give credit to people who were not given the proper credit while they were alive. Be sure to listen through headphones or earbuds to get the full effect of all the chiming, lush guitar delights that this album provides.
The album is out everywhere now on Ports of Call Music. Listen to it here.
