reviews:

After two beautiful EPs from Bubblegum Lemonade, the solo project of Glaswegian multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Lawrence 'Laz" McLuskey, comes one graceful album of C-86 brilliance. 'Doubleplusgood' opens with 'A Billion Heat Beats', which is like early Primal Scream, when they were still the best band in the world. Backed by early Jesus and Mary Chain-style vocals, it has a guitar break that James Beattie would love. 'Beautiful Friends' is a fast and furious guitar based number and played in a true retro rose- tinted glasses way.' I'll Never Be Yours' is a slow core Jesus and Mary Chain-style number, with extra Primitives backing vocals and that is pure heaven. 'Tired of Sleeping' has a Byrds jingle jangle and a vocal from Laz that creeps back from C-86. Its guitar solo again recalls Jim Beattie or even early Peter Buck. 'Last Time, I Saw Andrew' has a'9 Million Rainy Days' Jesus and Mary Chain flow and added organ, while 'Susan's in the Sky' is a C-86 wet dream, with jingle jangle Rickenbackers and primitive drums. Complete bubblegum pop, it is superb for it. 'Penny Fountain' sounds somewhere between Cornershop's 'Brimful of Asha'and early REM. 'My Dreams of You' is like a slowed-down Byrds, very 1960s in a cool black and white way. 'Lost Summer Days' is slow with a drum machine pace. Imagine the Beach Boys on a tight budget. 'Here They Come' is again like early Primal Scream, and a sugar-coated pop number, 'Tyler' again has a Rickenbacker jangle and a love song for a cat. 'Last Weekend' is lush and wide screened, and, a song about a farewell kiss, the perfect closely. It is as lovely as the rest of this album, a perfect Rickenbacker-flavoured pop album for the 21st century.  --Pennyblack Magazine

The debut album from Glasgow's Bubblegum Lemonade opens with a pleasing blast of fuzzy guitar-pop. Bubblegum Lemonade instantly resembles a band making noise in the basement, but it's actually one guy, Laz (aka Lawrence McCluskey). That opening song, 'A Billion Heartbeats", is romantic, blur-of-summer, car-crash guitar-pop, in the vein of Jesus and Mary Chain or even current hot thing The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. It's a rush of noise around good-old-fashioned pop melody, and of course wrapped up at once with wishes, dreams, and hopes. The songs are sometimes more dreamy/artsy, sometimes more overtly '60s,and sometimes more stripped-down, but still that's the general path here, that furious romantic bittersweet thing. Witness song titles like 'Lost Summer Days", 'My Dreams of You", and 'I'll Never Be Yours" to get a feel for that sensibility. 'I'll Never Be Yours" has guitars crash but also drop away to give harmonies some room, a perfect technique for the lazy-day start and the forelorn tone of the chorus. 'Susan's in the Sky", previously released as a single, is especially breezy and romantic: 'in the summer / in the night-time / we'll sleep beneath the stars." The song after it, 'Penny Fountain", sort of picks up where it leaves off, with another light but winning tune, and ends with a fuzzy cartoon bass that seems from another world. Other songs turn more interior, dealing with the individual's mental state. Doubleplusgood projects a giddy rush of feeling but also the come-down from that. 'I didn't know there was a problem / until you told me," goes the first line of 'Here They Come", a moment of coming back to reality. These songs capture the sound of people gliding along in a dream – or, like the cat in 'Tyler", 'lazing in the sun / ignoring everyone" – and, occasionally, the sound of people crashing back to earth. It's more the former, though, really.   --The Big Takeover

Laz McCluskey is a Scottish pop obsessive who carries his influences like a flag -- the C-86 gang (especially Tallulah Gosh and Primal Scream), the Byrds, the Rain Parade, the Jesus and Mary Chain and pretty much anything with a hook, a jangling guitar, and just enough of a melodic quirk to identify itself as "indie" rather than "mainstream." McCluskey is the sole official member of Bubblegum Lemonade (a name he got from an obscure album by Cass Elliot), and on his first full-length album, Doubleplusgood, he delivers a dozen sweet, guitar-powered pop tunes created with the help of his Rickenbacker, a drum program, and his computer. McCluskey's work sounds admirably warm and organic given its one-man-band genesis, and say what you want about digital technology, but this stuff sounds a whole lot better than the four-track cassette recordings every pop-minded kid was foisting upon the world back in the 1980s. Of course, in many respects Doubleplusgood isn't especially different from what your neighborhood Paisley Underground collector or Sarah Records completist might have been hawking on cassette at the local cool record store 25 years earlier, and while McCluskey lovingly honors his influences, he doesn't do much here to suggest he could ever match the level of their work. But he does have a sure hand with a melody, his guitar work is solid and concise, and there's a genuine love for the music that radiates throughout these songs; it's clear that McCluskey is doing this music for all the right reasons, and when something like "I'll Never Be Yours," "A Billion Heartbeats," or "Susan's in the Sky" comes around, it's not hard to imagine Bubblegum Lemonade having a bright future among fellow pop fanatics.   --All Music Guide

A lot of folks think indie rock got off the ground sometime a few months before the premier screening of Garden State. You're not one of those totally confused types. Others are so misinformed they mark the genre's genesis about the same time that Pitchfork started publishing in the late '90s, but you're not so sadly mistaken. You're the sort of dedicated well informed rock fan that knows its roots stretch far back into the '80s, with the C86 scene, the guitar pop of bands like The Smiths and The Wedding Present and the Sarah Records heyday, right? Right? If you are that sort of listener, Bubblegum Lemonade speaks your language. The Scottish act, which is the vehicle for one-man singer/songwriter/pop addict Laz, picks up and delves into the old-school indie as if the Internet, the silver screen and Brooklyn hadn't worked so hard to render the style so darn modern. Starting off with the base of Jesus and Mary Chain styled psychedelia and '80s indie-pop that made Bubblegum Lemonade's EPs so adorable, Doubleplusgood takes the act farther and deeper into the bowels of early-era indie than token nods to the triumphs of the past. But you're the type who knows that without having to read about it here, aren't you? If you're not, don't feel bad. Doubleplusgood is as good of an indie Rosetta Stone as you're likely to find this season. "A Billion Heartbeats" and "I'll Never Be Yours" pile on the big-room reverb as they explore the same pop forms that trace their lineage back to '60s bands like The Ronettes and The Dave Clark Five, though the production links it to JAMC and the nascent shoegaze scene. "Last Weekend" drops the psychedelia for acoustic pop augmented by string orchestration for smart pop that's reminiscent of Pulp or Felt. "Susan's In the Sky," which appeared as the title track to Bubblegum Lemonade's second EP last year, and "My Dreams of You" dip into that universal well of indie-pop inspiration that was the Sarah Records back catalog, although the band winds the bedsit pop in dense distortion and reverb. A little history lesson means nothing if Bubblegum Lemonade can't make it reach in through your ears to tickle your soul, and Doubleplusgood does just that. If you're the sort of grizzled indie fan who can check off Laz's classic influences, you'll love this album. If you're a little shaky about the days of indie-rock past, don't worry: Doubleplusgood should be just everything you need to foster a taste for the old stuff.  --Aversion.com

Bubblegum Lemonade's brand of indie pop is influenced heavily by the 1960's especially that of jangle pop creators, The Byrds. Doubleplusgood pays homage to the sounds of the 12 string Rickenbacker as played by Roger McGuinn and used to great effect by an early Primal Scream and other "C86" bands. That early 1980's reference is quite apt considering Lawrence "Laz" McCluskey's obvious love of The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Primitives and My Bloody Valentine whose fuzzy guitar noise is also an influence but less prevalent here than on some of the tracks that backed the singles. The album opens with A Billion Heartbeats which is a glorious throwback to sounds referenced above. The excellent Susan's In the Sky single also appears as does Tyler taken from last years Hit Parade compilation but it's the previously unheard tracks that cause surprise and delight. Pick of the bunch are Tired Of Sleeping which is vintage 1980's indie pop whilst Penny Fountain, which is the most obvious choice for another single, bubbles away nicely on the jangle pop stove. Overall the album sounds more relaxed, more easy going when compared to the flip sides of the singles but a noisy blast or two (Just Like You for example) would have brought some variety to the proceedings. That said Doubleplusgood is devastatingly effective and is worthy of your hard earned pennies.   --indie-mp3.co.uk

Of course, Louis Philippe never became the "Smash Hit Wonder" he ironised about on Ivory Tower and neither will Laz, aka Bubblegum Lemonade. But that never prevented me from having high hopes for the debut album, which has arrived surprisingly quick and hot on the heels of his second ep Susan's In the Sky. But considering he seems to spend a lot of time in the cosy house he shares with wife Sandra (who sings in Strawberry Whiplash) in the outskirts of Glasgow, maybe it's not so strange after all. I managed to capture him on film (or memory card, nowadays) this summer and he does come across as a very positive character, just like the songs on the two eps are full of upbeat, exuberant pop. The album is slightly different - more balanced, and the hits interspersed with a good deal of moodier and more laidback numbers - as any successful album effort must. In general, the wall-of-sound bedroom production opens up slightly to let some more air in, as in the examplary "Penny Fountain" with its feathery effervescence. This is one of the best new tracks on the lp and is joined at the top by "Tyler" from the Matinée Hit Parade compilation, the single track "Susan's In the Sky" and "My Dreams of You". The latter was a favourite of mine two years ago already, and although the demo I heard then had a bit more jangle (perhaps due to a low bitrate!) it's still a perfectly realised song modelled on The Byrds. "Lost Summer Days" is an old song also recorded by Laz' previous band The Search Engines, which leads me to wonder if any more of these songs are old compositions? In any case it's a superior recording, which makes up for the fact that he didn't choose to re-record "When She Goes" - perhaps the best song he's written - but maybe he just couldn't improve on it! There's definitely more of his Fender Jaguar on the lp than the 12-string Rickenbacker, which might be a conscious strategy to make us drool even more over janglers like the moody "Tired of Sleeping", coming across like a better recorded Rain Parade. I'm not at all surprised Jimmy Tassos mentions the paisley underground himself in the promo text. "Tyler" is finally revealed as a cat song (remember "Wop-a-din-din" by Red House Painters?). There's even room for an acousticy number at the end, "Last Weekend", complemented with some wonderfully languid synthesisers. But a word of advice is to perhaps lay off the electronic tidbits for future releases, as they don't really contribute to the songs. In a Swedish school G++ wouldn't be a very flattering grade, since G is for 'pass' and not 'good'. I'd give this record a proud MVG (pass with distinction).   --Heaven Is Above Your Head

The year 2008 was a productive one for Laz, the mastermind behind Scotland's fuzz-pop outfit Bubblegum Lemonade. Having released two solid sticky-sweet EPs on Matinee Recordings in the year's first two-thirds, Doubleplusgood, his first LP is an appropriate year-end summation. Laz's songwriting and production template doesn't vary much here from what he's put forth before. His rhythm section is simplistic and minimal, his guitars are coated in layers of cotton candy fluff which make the obvious chord progressions gooey, unpretentious fun. Bubblegum Lemonade taps into the vein of C86, when British pop comfortably wrapped itself shambling musicianship and hazy vocals. It's not a reinvention of any means, but the inherent familiarity of tracks like "Susan's in the Sky," "I'll Never Be Yours" and "Penny Fountain" are primed to explode out of pop lovers' open car windows this spring.   --Ink 19

Next up we have the debut album from Scotland's Bubblegum Lemonade, the home to delightful indie pop for some time. On lead track A Billion Heartbeats, imagine the impossible cool of the Mary Chain, with surfing keys and a delightfully lolloping fuzz pop tune and you're somewhere close. Then you have Beautiful Friends, which shimmies and throws its fringe around. The majority of the songs are two minutes something long, which seems a perfect length for a band dispensing carefully crafted bubblegum pop with ease. There's a great instrumental break on Tired Of Sleeping, which is otherwise a fine jangle pop tune. Last Time I Saw Andrew is like a fuzzy hangover feeling, disorientating but somehow sweet. The realisation dawns on Penny Fountain that there is a certain similarity to the bands songs. Some are straight pop songs, other a little rough around the edges, but ultimately they're all pretty great tunes. Because of this you find they're a band that can get away with writing a whole album of similar songs, but due to the high quality control it's immensely listenable.   --Russell’s Reviews

Glasgow's Bubblegum Lemonade have been the source of my aural pleasure lately. Named for Mama Cass Elliot's (of Mamas & The Papas) 1969 solo album "Bubble Gum, Lemonade And...Something for Mama, Bubblegum Lemonade's 1960's inspired jangly melodic indie-pop brings to mind The Byrds, Jesus & Mary Chain, and The Ohio Express. Essentially the work of one man, Laz, and his 12 string Rickenbacker guitar, his debut album Doubleplusgood was released last month on Matinée Recordings. It's yummy yummy yummy. And when Laz isn't busy with the Lemonade, he's making noisier pop with his other band Strawberry Whiplash fronted by a girl singer named Sandra.   --Some Velvet Blog

The new Bubblegum Lemonade album has just been released by the history in the making Matinée record label. Bubblegum Lemonade are a one man band consisting of Lawrence 'Laz" McCluskey who also fronts another band Strawberry Whiplash. Both bands are certified C-86 with credentials like McCluskey playing a 12 string and his adoration of Talulah Gosh, Teenage Fanclub and the Razorcuts. After putting out two 4 song eps, he's just unleashed Doubleplusgood on Matinée Records. It's a study in the pop rush with hooks and pop goodness washing over you like a California coastal break.   --The Finest Kiss

After a few excellent EPs, it's about time we got a full length record from Laz McCluskey (the Scottish mastermind behind both Bubblegum Lemonade and Strawberry Whiplash)! For those who have been following their output, Bubblegum Lemonade are the perfect missing link between the lackadaisical surf/noise-pop of Jesus And Mary Chain and Razorcuts-ish janglepop. Sometimes his songs swing one way or the other, but the ones that combine the two styles are the most interesting. A couple of these songs are familiar ("Tyler" and the title track to his last EP, "Susan's In The Sky"), and combined with the other ten tracks, there is nary a dull moment on this record. Now, let's see if he's also got it in him for more Strawberry Whiplash material!   --IndiePages

Bubblegum Lemonade are the sister band of that other food-related Matinee band, Strawberry Whiplash, and I keep changing my mind as to which I prefer. Doubleplusgood starts off with the very 'now' sounding A Billion Heartbeats, in that it sounds a bit JAMC-ish, and I'm a bit bored of that, really. But things soon start going with the dreamy Beautiful Friends which has a wonderfully noodly guitar bit, and a definite Byrds thread running through it. Indeed, much of Doubleplusgood takes heavily from either early Primal Scream taking a lot of from psych-pop, but y'know there are worse things to be listening to on a Wednesday afternoon at work. I'll Never Be Yours is probably the best track here. It's a dainty little thing, with a gently flourishing chorus, and then a mad take-lots-acid-and-say-groovy-instrumental bit, which really appeals.   --A Layer of Chips

Can you imagine what a Super Super-group that incorporates The Jesus and Mary Chain; The Byrds; Teenage Fanclub; The Beach Boys; The Ramones (in their Phil Spector period); The Stone Roses and possibly even The Mock Turtles would sound like? Well, seeing as several of the aforementioned are either pushing up the daisies or are incarcerated, we'll never really know - but I'm willing to bet their combined talents would sound like this masterful debut album from Glasgow's Bubblegum Lemonade. Rather impressively, Bubblegum Lemonade is principally one person - Lawrence ('Laz') McClusky - so that should considerably save on session fees to the aforementioned musicians! There seems to be a bit of a resurgence in Sixties (West Coast) music going on at the moment, and this album will firmly place Bubblegum Lemonade as a leader of the pack. (Yes I know... it wasn't intentional!) Leaning more towards the relatively modern influence of fellow Glaswegians, The Jesus and Mary Chain, the album opens with 'A Billion Heartbeats.' Well, maybe the Jesus and Mary Chain on happy pills! 'Beautiful Friends,' nods in the slightly fuzzed-up guitar direction of The Byrds while, 'I'll Never Be Yours,' returns to the stomp of The Jesus and Mary Chain, with backing vocals provided by Sandra from Strawberry Whiplash - another classy Glasgow band worth checking out. 'Tired of Sleeping,' reverts to the harmonised vocals and jangly guitar sound of the Byrds, before hints of The Stone Roses surface in both the slower paced guitar work and the vocal style on 'Last Time I saw Andrew.' The best song on the album, 'Susan's in The Sky, retains the Stone Roses feel but also has shades of Adam and the Ants ('Prince Charming,') combining with Teenage Fanclub and the Phil Spector type drums. Magic! The more times this album is played, the more the production and harmonies The Stone Roses shine through. They of course were also heavily influenced by the music of The Sixties and 'Penny Fountain,' continues in this vein. 'My Dreams Of You,' has more of a swirling, 'California Dreaming' psychedelic sound and the following track 'Lost Summer Days,' features the harmonious magical sound of The Beach Boys. 'Here They Come,' prompts memories of the shamefully overlooked Mock Turtles and while 'Tyler,' maintains the overriding Sound of the Sixties, it reminds me more of Blondie's 'Dreaming,' than anything else. Final track, 'Last Weekend,' is the longest of the twelve at just over three and a half minutes. It's influences seem to be more Eighties / Nineties than the others and the vocals most definitely have a ring of Paddy MacAloon (Prefab Sprout) about them. I know I keep banging on about the quality of music emanating from my home city of Glasgow, and this is a prime example.   --Loud Horizon Music

This album sounds like a mix between Primal Scream's 'Gentle Tuesday' and The Stone Roses' 'This is the One'. I eat this sound up, it brings me back to the late 80's. A must buy if you like twee. Every song on this album is great.   --The Soundtrack of My Life

Then there's the debut of Glasgow's own Bubblegum Lemonade! Doubleplusgood they call it. I call it wonderful. I stumbled across Bubblegum Lemonade a while ago on myspace and thoroughly enjoyed the couple tracks on there, so having a whole album is spectacular news. On their (his) myspace, Bubblegum Lemonade say they (he) have (has) a certain fondness for the Byrds and the good ol' JAMC, and I can't really think of a better way to describe their (his) sound, so I'll leave it at that.   --Sugarsours

Glasgow, the city that gave the world the Glasgow kiss (a headbut) and the Glasgow smile (the malicious practice of cutting a victim's face from the edges of the mouth to the ears) is the last place on earth I'd have expected to produce a band with one of the cutest names ever. It's not ironic either as the music sounds like a dayglo Jesus and Mary Chain sans feedback covering The Byrds and is as cute as a kettle full of kittens and as poppy as a needle in a balloon factory. Listening to Bubblegum Lemonade's debut album 'Doubleplusgood', which is about to be released on California's Matinée Recordings (a match made in heaven) is the closest you'll get to time travel. It makes me nostalgic for pre Oasis Creation Records, Sarah Records (there are more than a few nods in the direction of The Field Mice) and Cherry Red in their pomp. With an educated nod to the past, remarkably catchy songs, and stunning pop melodies, Bubblegum Lemonade are a perfect reminder that form is temporary, class is permanent and old school indie is always in fashion. 'Doubleplusgood' is a superb example of the vibrant new music coming out of Glasgow and another modern classic from Matinée!   --The Devil Has The Best Tuna

Bubblegum Lemonade es un proyecto escocés de pop gustoso de crear canciones de dos o tres minutos claramente deudoras del pop de los años 60, en especial del californiano jangle pop tipo Byrds, y del dream pop que recogía las esencias 60's sunshine pop, sin olvidar tampoco trazos del garaje de la misma época, de Teenage Fanclub, de Jesus & Mary Chain, de los Flamin' Groovies, de My Bloody Valentine, de los Kinks o de los Big Star. Bubblegum Lemonade es el proyecto de Laz McCluskey, quien demuestra talento para la creación melódica y el empleo de dulces voces pop en ocasiones empleando armonías y fuzz guitar. El disco es compacto en su sonido. El valor de sus melodías y la luminosidad de las mismas con guitarras Rickenbacker ofrece una muy grata escucha desde su inicio con 'A Billion Heartbeats", estupenda pieza power pop que reúne con energía todas sus influencias. Más tarde nos regala canciones tan disfrutables como 'Beautiful Friends", con fuzz guitar y bellas armonías vocales en una mezcla entre Monkees y Byrds, 'I'll Never Be Yours", tema power pop a lo Teenage Fanclub con un estribillo en el que aparece un bienvenido apoyo vocal femenino (Sandra, quien forma también junto a Laz el proyecto Strawberry Whiplash), o 'Tired Of Sleeping", con repique de guitarras jangle 'rickenbakerianas" puramente Byrds. Roger McGuinn estaría complacido con su herencia en los sonidos de McCluskey. Otros temas del álbum son 'Las Time I Saw Andrew", una canción que podrían firmarla los Status Quo psicodélicos de los 60 en su célebre primer álbum 'Picturesque…", 'Susan's In The Sky", veraniego dream pop con dulces armonías vocales y partes rítmicas spectorianas, 'Penny Fountain", un corte jangle pop más cercano a los Turtles que a los Byrds, quienes son de nuevo base para la ensoñadora 'My Dreams of You". Uno de los mejores momentos del disco es 'Lost Summer Days", una delicia que parece salida de 1966 o 1967 con una gran interpretación vocal y una perfecta construcción melódica y rítmica, que busca más la belleza pop como evasión de la gris realidad que la pretenciosidad pomposa y petardera con poco o nada que decir.  --Aloha PopRock

Toca hoy cerrar la reciente avalancha de comentarios sobre los últimos lanzamientos de sello norteamericano Matinée Recordings, una serie de novedades a cargo de artistas como Lucksmiths, The Guild League, The Hermit Crabs, Northern Portrait, Would-Be-Goods o The Electric Pop Group que han elevando sustancialmente el nivel de calidad de un catálogo ya de por sí brillante. Situando actualmente al sello de Santa Barbara como la más destacada discográfica de Indie Pop del mundo, y cobijando bajo su paraguas a propuestas diversas a las que les une una común devoción por la melodía. De entre esos últimos discos llegados al mercado dábamos buena cuenta hace poco del que era el segundo Ep. de Lawrence McLuskey, o lo que es lo mismo, su proyecto Bubblegum Lemonade. Cerrando nuestro repaso al disco aludíamos al inminente lanzamiento de Doubleplusgood, Lp de debut del grupo que se publicaba a los pocos días de recaer nuestra atención en Susan's In The Sky Ep. Absortos como estábamos en la escucha de sus referencias más pequeñas decidimos dejar para más adelante Doubleplusgood, mientras que los elogios iban lloviendo para un disco que va camino de convertirse en una de los discos más celebrados en los últimos tiempos por su sello. Es tan poco el tiempo pasado entre los tres artefactos sonoros que Laz McLuskey nos ha hecho llegar, apenas un año para dar vida a toda su música, que es de suponer que las canciones incluidas en todos ellos fueros gestadas al mismo tiempo, restando tan solo una labor de limpieza y adecentado para su inclusión en disco. Así Doubleplusgood nos presenta doce cortes (incluyendo de nuevo Susan's In The Sky) que suenan absolutamente reconocibles sin que en ningún caso hubiera desentonado su inclusión en los dos Ep's precedentes. A Billion Heartbeats y Beautiful Friends nos lanzan a una carrera desenfrenada, tan solo interrumpida por un vetusto y entrañable órgano, de la mano de los hermanos Reid. I'll Never Be Yours sigue contando con el fuzz de las guitarras, pero parece estirar los dedos hacia las enseñanzas de sus sabios compatriotas Teenage Fanclub, alcanzando su climax en los preciosos coros de Sandra, su compañera en Strawberry Whiplash. Tired Of Sleeping apuesta por una oscuridad que solo las rickenbakers son capaces de iluminar, tendencia que Last Time I Saw Andrew continúa y de la que Susan's In The Sky nos saca gracias a su pequeño muro de sonido sesentero y su franco tono romántico, imposible cansarse con su escucha, vuelve a ser uno de los temas más celebrados pese a ser el único ya conocido de los integrantes de Doubleplusgood. Penny Fountain de nuevo apuesta con claridad por los sesentas y, sorpresa, por fugaces punteos de una guitarra que evoca aún en la lejanía a la psicodelia. Siguiendo con referencias añejas My Dreams Of You se sitúa como el más claro homenaje al sonido de los Byrds, la referencia fundamental para el sonido del grupo, junto con la más que conocida a cargo de The Jesus And Mary Chain. Del claro single que My Dreams Of You podría ser pasamos a la tristeza de Lost Summer Days, y de ahí a la belleza de Here They Come, otro de los puntos álgidos del disco. Restando la para finalización de la escucha Tyler que cuenta con nuestra línea de guitarra favorita (de nuevo Byrds) de todo el disco, y Last Weekend, ambiental, romántica y decididamente distinta a sus compañeras, presentándonos una vía de conveniente exploración ante el estupendo resultado obtenido. Doubleplusgood queda como el Lp que Bubblegum Lemonade debía de presentar a unos fans que después de quedar definitivamente enganchados al sonido del grupo exigían todo un trabajo largo situado en las mismas coordenadas, pero si queremos ser objetivos después de su escucha se nos plantea la pregunta de si éste es el camino que el grupo seguirá en un futuro, puesto que de igual modo que su propuesta resulta compacta y adictiva, corre el riesgo de caer en una cierta monotonía de la que una preciosidad como Last Weekend nos saca, y es ahí donde quizás Bubblegum Lemonade debieran de fijar su atención en el futuro. En cualquier caso estamos ante un brillante Lp de debut que no debiera de pasar desapercibido para todo aquel aficionado al Pop intemporal de guitarras.   --360º de Separación

Sulla pagina Myspace della band "gemella" di questi Bubblegum Lemonade, Strawberry Whiplash, sostiene che chiunque a Glasgow fa parte di una pop-band; e, per quanto verosimile possa essere l'affermazione, bisogna ammettere che lui contribuisce non poco a tener alta la media del rapporto tra popolazione e gruppi musicali, visto che è stato ed è tuttora coinvolto in una mezza dozzina di progetti, dei quali proprio questi due più recenti sono stati prontamente messi sotto contratto dalla Matinée, etichetta il cui nome è un'autentica garanzia in ambito indie-pop. Il soggetto in questione è un rubicondo quarantenne che risponde al nome di Lawrence "Laz" McCluskey, e che dall'aspetto potrebbe incarnare alla perfezione lo stereotipo di un indie-boy scozzese troppo cresciuto, mentre dall'atteggiamento e dalla passione con cui vive la musica potrebbe sembrare un personaggio uscito dalla penna di Nick Hornby. Appassionato di qualsiasi cosa negli ultimi quarant'anni sia suonato "pop", il buon Laz, accompagnato da altri tre musicisti (tra cui la moglie Sandra), si presenta imbracciando la sua fedele dodici corde Rickenbacker e dichiarando esplicitamente l'influenza sixties sulla sua musica. Dati questi presupposti e in linea con le anticipazioni offerte da due Ep usciti nel corso dell'anno ("Ten Years Younger" e "Susan's In The Sky"), l'album di debutto non poteva che essere una raccolta di brevi popsongs dalle melodie semplici e coinvolgenti, ma supportate da un discreto impianto strumentale, che non solo non contraddice il palese riferimento ai Byrds, ma attinge a piene mani da un lato all'esperienza pop scozzese (House Of Love, Teenage Fanclub, Pastels, Delgados) e dall'altro agli aspetti più melodici espressi lungo tutto l'arco temporale della musica inglese che va dai Jesus & Mary Chain alla Sarah Records, lambendo altresì i primi My Bloody Valentine e il Madchester-sound. Insomma, di tutto un po' e nemmeno troppo rielaborato, ma messo al servizio di dodici canzoni brevi (trentadue minuti in tutto) che, superato l'approccio moderatamente lo-fi degli Ep, entrano facilmente in circolo, non solo grazie alla limpidezza delle melodie ma soprattutto in ragione del corposo contributo chitarristico e di ritmiche decisamente poco invasive eppure contrassegnate da percettibili sfumature wave. La straordinaria naturalezza di "Doubleplusgood" relega agevolmente in secondo piano considerazioni di ordine stilistico, conformando secondo fisionomie di volta in volta mutevoli brani che non pretendono di essere altro che canzoni pop, perfette nella fugacità della loro bellezza e durata. Laz confeziona infatti in modo mirabile melodie giocose e discretamente solari, che alternano chitarre liquide e arrotondate, ritmi trascinanti, tastiere briose e persino qualche moderato accenno psichedelico. Volendo praticare il gioco degli accostamenti, vengono in mente le tante band inglesi dalle maglie a righe e dai capelli sugli occhi, il sognante languore dei La's o i Clientele spogliati delle loro atmosfere uggiose; ma il denso suono creato dai Bubblegum Lemonade riesce comunque a evitare rischi di eccessiva prevedibilità, in prevalenza diluendo l'esile tensione elettrica in melodie scatenate, ma anche irrobustendo suoni e ritmiche ("Beautiful Friends" potrebbe sembrare uscita da "Isn't Anything"!) o instillando una sottile malinconia finale ("Last Weekend"), che contraddice solo in parte lo spirito gioioso del resto del lavoro. Divertente ed evidentemente divertito, questo coloratissimo debutto incarna alla perfezione l'essenza di tutto quanto possa chiedersi a un genuino disco pop, sostenuto da immutato entusiasmo per la musica e ricchissimo di canzoni contagiose che, parafrasando il nome della band, definiscono la freschissima dimostrazione di un bubblegum-pop niente affatto stucchevole e dal particolare (retro)gusto di limone.   --Ondarock