It is amazing what you can get for simply giving somone your email address these days. For instance simply by adding yourself to this Euros Childs mailing list you can get a whole album from one of the UK's finest purveyors of off kilter psychedelic pop music. To say that the former Gorky's Zygotic Mynci frontman has had a prolific career is something of an understatement, Son Of Euro Child marks his fifth solo release in four years and the fifteenth full release since his career began with the release of 1992's Patio. The first release on Childs' own National Elf record label, the physical release will only be available at his live shows.Unlike last year's decidedly sombre Cheer Gone, Son Of Euro Child finds it's creator in more jovial and upbeat form, his turn of phrase as dazzling and witty as ever. Lyrical hilights include Euros getting irate at a barking dog ("It's getting on my wick too"), training a monkey to shit in someones shoes and raising the question that has been on every Childs fan for the last 15 or so years: "Don't you wish your fridge was as cool as me?". Although occasionally Childs plays the clown, there is a constant sinister undercurrent to this record. That an album that is given away for nothing should be concerned with consumerism is of no surprise, the swooning downtempo pop of 'Gently All Around' telling of being microchipped to inform others of what he "tastes, eats and sees", while the Bontempi pop of 'Like This Then Try This' tells of people who "Know what you want, when you want it-city break winter, soundtrack to the summer" asking "Do you like leather? I like leather. Do you like phones? Lalalaleather phones". 'My Baby Joy' tells of a man who gets what he wants no matter the cost, yet still cannot be satisfied. A song in two parts, it has a jaunty swagger that would have fitted well on Child's solo debut Chops.Musically, by Child's own admission Son of Euro Child contains "a shed worth of Synths". Brilliantly titled bookenders 'Shithausen' and 'Son of Shithausen' begin like an out-take from a BBC Radiophonic Workshop recording before descending in to some kind of Zappa goes oompah, while the gently krautrocking 'Carborro' will please fans of Stereolab. Elsewhere there are nods to Robert Wyatt, 'Low'-era Bowie (particularly on 'The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke') and the Cantabury scene on parts 1 and 2 of 'Harp i a ii AR', as well as the ever present Beach Boy's harmonies. However, as so often with Child's the record is so much more than the some of it's parts, and while those longing for the the lusher arrangements of yesteryear may have to wait until the release of his Norman Blake collaboration 'Jonny', Son of Euro Child is another gloriously resolved mess of a record, and one to treasure.So do the man, and yourself a favour and click here now...