Second showcase EP from independent indie-label Broken Tail.
Stay with me guys, stay with me. Everything is gonna be fine. Trust me.
'Four By Four More' is the second taster EP from Broken Tail records (now do you see how achingly hip and ingenious that title is?). This means that assigning the record an overall score is tricky...very tricky. So, as I'm a misunderstood and underappreciated genius who routinely bounces back and forwards through time within my own lifetime (well in my head at least), I've given the score for the EP as a whole - but also broken the review up into four parts - one for each of the artists/bands featured. Aren't I clever?
Understand? You got it? Good. Let's get ready to rumble...
Tripwires - 'Kings and Queens'
Hailing from Bristol (by way of Reading) Tripwires have been playing as a complete band since only last summer but they sound pretty darn tight.
Whilst not quite the "heavy-hitting raucous indie-rock" that Broken Tail wants you to think that it is, 'Kings and Queens' is at least an energetic and catchy 3:15 which recalls the mischievous and stuttering-staccato pop that Orson and Panic At The Disco have both been hocking around for the past few years.
And although the production is occasionally a shade heavy and the rhythm section a touch muddy, Tripwires have fashioned a very solid pop song here and one can only hope that they build on these foundations and start gunning for the big time double-quick. Give 'em a few months and they'll be fucking your mother.
Projekt A-Ko - 'Here Comes New Challenger!'
Let's forget about the idiotic spelling for a minute, shall we? Life's too short after all. Agreed? Good.
Three ex-members of the defunct Urusei Yatsura comprise Projekt A-Ko's and those Sonic Youth, Pavement and Pixies influences are as keenly felt as ever. 'Here Comes New Challenger!' is a dilapidated, broken-up, caustic, fuzzy-geetar-thrash that as mucky as a pup and as filthy as a McNasty.
Fans of The Mai Shi (check out this years excellent ''Hlllyh') will surely lap this baby up - and just so's you know, an album is due out later this year.
Right - that minute is up - who the FUCK taught these guys to spell? Show yourself - and let me introduce you to my fist...
To The Barricades - 'Say Who You Are'
One of the first records I ever bought was Spandau Ballet's 'Through the Barricades'. It is rubbish. However, I hope you can now understand why I used to have an irrational fear of anything that had the word "barricade" in it. It wasn't just because of the inherent denotation of the word. No, it was the electronic witterings of Gary Kemp; the histrionic faux-operatic screams of Tony Hadley and the inexcusable execrable and emphatically yet inexpressibly hideous saxophonic shrieks of Gary Norman. I feel sick just talking about it. So I'll stop. I'm sure you get the picture.
Anyway, To The Barricades sound nothing like Spandau Ballet (phew). Unfortunately, To The Barricades sound something like Bloc Party (ouch).
'Say Who You Are' is obviously being marketed as classy, sophisticated, professional, slick indie-rock. Which it is...sort of...but only in the same way that you can slap a label saying 'Metal' onto the output of Thunder...i.e. you'd have to run away after you'd done it to avoid getting beaten up.
Personally, I reckon that if 'Say Who You Are' had been sung by Will Young and produced by Guy Chambers and Robbie Williams, it would be a sure-fire number one hit. And that shouldn't be taken as a compliment. It's bland, twee, plodding and miserable, (the last point really isn't a problem but due to the former three qualities, there's sure ain't no catharsis to be found).
AVOID.
Ben Marwood - 'Question Marks?'
This is the standout track. No question. It's a belter.
Ben Marwood has an axe to grind with Get Cape to be sure but he should really think about letting things lie and moving on. Seriously Ben - look inside yourself, breathe deep, dispel all that heinous shit and push past the post. It really doesn't matter.
Why? Because 'Question Marks?' hands-down beats anything I've ever heard dribble out of that Get Cape fuckers mouth since he flew onto the scene like a moth-eaten Super Ted toy sent skyward by employment of a firework shoved right up his fake furry ring. And if you can say that sentence in one breath after a couple of beers, you're a better man than I.
Acoustic (save for the electro beats, loops, strings and samples provided by Mr Fogg), 'Question Marks?' wins you over from the outset - I mean how can it not?! Opening lines "He met her eyes at a party / Now I'll meet his face with my fist" are good enough but Marwood's just getting warmed up.
What seemingly starts off as a personal harangue instead transmogrifies into an uplifting and poignant yarn, buoyed by Marwood's rich-n'-silky-yet-rough-n'-ready vocal delivery that leaves you really wishing he'd written another verse. And that's probably the best compliment I've ever bestowed.
Along with James Yuill, if you like guys who play laptops and guitars, you could do far worse than Ben Marwood. Seek it out and download forthwith (if you can).
And...um....that's it...see ya...