In layman's terms: A blog about music, by Luke Slater and James Welbourn.

28 March 2008

More reviews...28/3/2008

The Seal Cub Clubbing Club: May (24.3.2008 on Boon[e] Recordings)

Before listening to the amusingly named Seal Cub Clubbing Club, you do wonder whether this band is going to be a waste of a great name. Thankfully though, the Merseyside five-piece appear not to be one of those artists where the name is undeniably better than the music.

‘May’ starts abruptly but quietly enough with melodic but near unintelligible vocals backed by the softest of delicate drum beats and wolf-like howls of “yahooooo”. The track then spirals into a combination of yet more incoherent frenetic ramblings, high pitched vocals verging on falsetto set against a fast-paced rock solid rhythm section, reminiscent of iForward Russia!. It all ends with some seriously potent rock riffage before fading out to the same delicate “yahoos” which permeate the intro. Backed by the haunting and sparse 'Tin Drum' as a B-side, The Seal Cub Clubbing Club may have a mouthful of a jokey name, but their music is far from laughable.


7/10

[Review taken from Gigwise]

The Whip: X Marks Destination (24.3.2008 on Southern Fried Records)

The Whip are one of those bands which you'll probably either love or hate. Or love to hate. Or just hate.

If you're into your electro-pop-dance acts, the chances are you might like the Manchester quartet, with influences ranging from the Madchester scene but with some much more gloomy and dark musical elements. If though, you are easily irritated by silly synthesisers and bands who appear to just use effects seemingly at random then you'll probably rather flog yourself with a cat-o-nine tails than listen to this.

Album opener
'Trash' kicks off proceedings with a kick drum beat followed by some seriously sinister fuzz-bass and plenty of electronic percussion marked with metronomic precision. The track then builds to a climatic chorus in which lead man Bruce Carter proclaims "I wanna be trash!" with ultra raw coolness.

Sadly though it's downhill fast from there as
'Frustration' is just far, far too heavy on the synth and is probably two and a half decades too late.

'Fire' is a better effort though, a dirtier and grimier booming bass driven track, a style which definitely suits The Whip, and my ears, better.

'Save My Soul' and 'Sirens' are two of the blandest most boring tracks imaginable which meander aimlessly and 'Divebomb' is just five minutes 39 of interminable arbitrary electronic noise which is probably the electro equivalent of heavy metal self indulgence.

The vocals are perhaps the one redeeming feature of
'X Marks Destination', but the production and poor use of electronic instruments just overpowers everything else on this album, and it's hard to find any other creditable features, no matter how hard you look.

3/10

[Review taken from The Scene @ Beds on Sunday]