Gary Showbiz AKA Gaz Le Rock AKA Gazzy Wazzy and front man for Hot Colossus, Retarded Cop and Moutpiece may have more monikers and previous bands than you’re average west coast rapper, but there is no identity crisis to his music. Definitely punk and lo fi, the DIY ethic is stamped all over ‘Beyond the Valley of the Loving Room Floor’. To cut down on cost to the punter it hasn’t even been mastered, but there is little discernible loss of quality as the mixing has been executed expertly. No corners were cut on the songwriting which is top drawer.

Recorded over a period of fourteen months, filtering out the chaff when needed, Gary Showbiz has presented a short, sharp riot of guitars full of little hooks which prick the consciousness to let the lyrics seep into your mind. The album title pays homage to Gary Showbiz’s punk and garage rock 2XM radio show, The Loving Room Floor. The album also stays true to that show’s style and content.

If you’re decrying a lack of originality in song lyrics then how about listening to songs about picking up litter, being boring bastards and working in McDonald’s. It’s completely devoid of pretension and focuses on digging glory from the mundane. Mickey D’s is the aforementioned song about McDonald’s but on closer inspection it’s a tirade against lack of originality in music and reality talent shows where the majority of contestants end up working in the eponymous fast food dispensary. Its jagged humour is typical throughout the album.

Boring Bastards is about  life slipping by wasted on a metric tonne of ganja only for it to hit home: “woke one day and I was forty / and I didn’t even have any matching socks”. Boring Bastards even breaks for an interlude as our protagonist makes tea during Eastenders.  All Teh Kule Kidz has the wonderfully ironic chorus of “All teh kule kidz are vaping” while We Are Fucking Going Out is gloriously hedonistic; “I was a social amputee/ but that’s been recitifed / and I am out of my tree”.

With ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Loving Room Floor’ Gary Showbiz kicks the arse of many contemporaries whose best efforts wouldn’t even be as good as his cast-offs. Given how prolific Gary Showbiz’s output has been over the years, it’s heartening to find out he is still creatively strong as ever.