Reviews

UK Stylus Pressure by Graeme McGinty

December 2005

The very latest in new UK vinyl releases

Click here for last month's column

by Graeme McGintyCambridge is very flat. The roads are small and full of colleges and pedestrians. Cars are not welcome. Bikes. Pedal cycles. This is what most people use to get around. The kids love bikes. So imagine my upset to have my bike stolen. I loved my bike, a lot. I can say my theft has left me as temporarily joy-less. So my apologies to you all, for my down beat reviews, probably best to add a couple of stars on the ratings to allow for my bad mood. Now before any one says, “it was just a bike”, I would suggest you do a google search for a Kustom Kruiser Moto Glide. That was my bike. Now feel my pain. I urge you all to put on a Wedding Present record and feel sad and then a bit angry for me.

Time for some reviews my fine friends.

The People's Revolutionary Choir – ‘Elevate’

Label: Outafocus recordings
Web: www.theprc.co.uk
Release: 17-10-05
Rating:

Turns out there is nothing particularly revolutionary about this band. There is also very little choir about them, but they are people. A band that seem to draw reference from equal parts 80’s goth rock (Jesus and Mary Chain), 90’s space indie (spiritulised/leviation) with a bit of a stooges feel. And a bit Lou Reedy. All together this does make it a good track. It’s driving bass line pounds the head while the staccato hits of the snare and floor Tom work the Kidneys. It’s all repetitive and relentless, but this is its heart and what makes you feel like the band are playing the music they want. However it never seems to peak, the guitar does go into a wah wah attack while the bass line starts to wander like a bored child in a supermarket, but then it all just loses itself somewhere near the frozen meats.

Morning Runner – ‘Be All You Want Me To Be’

Label: Parlaphone, Faith and Hope
Web: www.morningrunner.com
Release: 24/10/05
Rating:

Look they’ve got a piano. But don’t be fooled. Not all British bands with pianos are as dull as Keane. The song starts stripped down, with just guitar and south London sounding vocals. It could go two ways from here, either down the endlessly copied shambolic but effective Libertines route, or towards a more refined style. It’s the latter (the piano mentions earlier probably gave it away. The only true Albion Piano playing came from the mighty Chaz and Dave). The falsetto singing is kept to an absolute minimum leaving the vocals to do what they were meant to. That’s to sneer down on us listeners and listen to their rebellion lyrics. At the chorus the harmony singing and faint piano frills make it almost sound an acceptable song for the coffee table music lovers and the programmers of the local bland FM radio stations. Hopefully this chorus will get the track its deserved airplay, and trick those “back ground music” listeners into hearing some loud indie rock.

Amsterdam – ‘Takin' On The World’

Label: Beat Crazy
Web: www.amsterdam-music.com
Release: 24/10/05
Rating:

Dodgy synth lines are nothing to be ashamed of, they should be embraced. Centerfold by J Gelis Band. That was a great synth intro. This tune comes close. It’s got a count in to begin, and it’s a count down to indie pop! Not instantly remembered but after a couple of plays it’s lodged in there. In the dark corners of my music memory, where the new radicals, the lightning seeds, and Treason by The teardrop Explodes all hang out. If you haven’t been convinced by their Mersey routes during the song there is no escaping the full McCartney style “whooo” that bangs a full pop stop on the end.

Arctic Monkeys – ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor’

Label: Domino
Web: www.arcticmonkeys.com
Release: 17/10/05
Rating:

Not a cutting edge review this. The tracks already been to number One in the UK hit parade. But it’s got dirty guitars in it, how did it beat all the popsters? Well it’s bloody infectious for one, and the band have been loved by the British music press. Not sure when the love affair will finish, but lets hope it’s not a messy break up, as I fear the arctic monkeys will be the ones who are ignored down the pub. There was also the internet, that helped.

The song itself is a hybrid of lo-fi garage and part long haired pointy metal. But then the lead vocals don’t fit with either of these groups, the immortal line “Dancin’ to electro, pop like a robot, from 1984” isn’t really very metal.

Lets hope they will still be loved by the press and public with their next releases. Because they also got to number one by actually being good.

Test Icicles – ‘Circle.Square.Triangle'

Label: Domino
Web: www.test-icicles.com
Release: 24/10/05
Rating:

Shouty noisy disco rock fun. So the bass intro and off beat guitar may fool you into thinking it’s about to kick into London’s Calling, and the disco punk is similar to some clash stuff, but the sound on this record is theirs alone. Hand claps in the middle 8, Celtic sounding riffs; it’s a festival song. Its going to be best listened to in a large group of smiling people. Come let as all hug and mosh together. Yes, yes “we could do with some more poison”, how right they are when these vicious words twist out of the singers mouth. Although I doubt they are talking of the poodle haired 80’s rockers.

Test Icicles… Just got it.