Crackout
"EP2"
(Precious Cargo)
review by katie
(Over my head/Forget about hope/Empty head/Take down)
Mmmm. I choose my words very carefully as my lovely editor (yes you Ruth) (why
thank
you Katie dear - medieval torture expert Ed) stands holding a rusty blade to my
throat.
Having been informed of the wonders of Crackout on previous occasions I was
intrigued...
So here I sit with a copy of their second EP. Here goes...
Crackout remind me of someone. Someone famous. A band with a cult following that
inspired a wave of new music in the late 80's and early 90's (oh my God... last
CENTURY). Oh yes. The Pixies. Crackout sound not unlike the Pixies. "Over
My Head"
opens with a bassline that would not sound out of place on "Debaser"
and continues
into 'moshtastic' punk rock. (It should be noted that a very similar -ahem-
bassline
emerges on "Empty Head") Over this pop-punk guitar melody flows a
torrent of sneering
lyrics delivered, not without a Sex Pistols flourish. "Forget About
Hope" is the Pixies
taking Feeder violently from behind, sounding incredibly like "Day In, Day
out" and is
a nice jump around and singalong type of song. The lyrics, "I am in a
rut" are not,
however, misplaced. "Empty head" is a good attempt at breaking the
cycle of similar
sounding punk pop but it doesn't go anywhere, and it gets lost on the way
anyway. It is
simply the obligatory quiet bit and the first chords of "Take Down"
make it sound, rather
comically like Star Trek and goes on to form a tolerable and tuneful but
painfully
formulaic rendition of quiet-loud-quiet. Quality.
Crackout are everything a record company wants to be exporting out of America,
they rock,
they have tunes, they are not too challenging, so The Kids In The Big Shorts
should get
it. And there is nothing wrong with that. It should be pointed out, however,
that Crackout
sound an awful lot like all the other commercial punk (spot the oxymoron) stuff
around at
the moment. Green Day, The Offspring, even to a certain extent the likes of
Blink 182,
they lack...spontaneity, they are unchallenging. So if you like punk
rock-by-numbers this
should float your boat. It just doesn't float mine.
2/5
|
eeebleee
"Midnight Creatures"
(Shifty Disco)
review by Ruth
Out of the depths of the resurgence of the Oxfordshire underground, comes this
occultist's dream. A combination of slick street beats, double bass, louche
vocas and
the magic of moonlit nights (a full moon, of course); it's almost seductively
calm,
until Mia Farrow starts screaming over the top. It's the kind of quiet insanity
not
heard since Massive Attack's Karmacoma or Zero 7's remix of Climbing Up The
Walls. But
a hell of a lot more perverse.
3.5/5
|
Hundred Reasons
"One"
(Fierce Panda)
review by Ruth
Cerebra/Slow Learner/Clear (Flawed)
The one real challenge to the more intelligent leanings of the metal
fraternity
of the States comes from home of British rock, um, Surrey? The time factor has
aligned them in critics minds as our own At The Drive-In; oh yes, let's
categorise
based on hair and a willingness to not just randomly break stuff. But sonically
they're worlds apart. Starting with a riff lifted from U2's 'I Will Follow',
before
launching into a full-frontal drumming/bass assault, Cerebra's vocal melody and
guitar seem randomly synchronous, like some glorious planned experiment. This is
definitely not pop, this is definitely not radio friendly in any sense of the
word.
It's moshpit music with a kind of slow-burning intelligence that belies the
frustrated
yet glorious release of the expression. Or something. Look, it's music to throw
yourself about to and get rid of those brain cells that did nothing but fuck you
up in the first place. Never have bruises felt so
satisfying.
5/5
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