. . . Off
Listening to the . . .off compilation
is a real adventure cos each band has its own style! From heavenly
dream pop, romo influenced indie bands, baggy pop in the true roses
style American influenced Lemonheads and Nirvana bands to good old
traditional punk and as for Hook I have just one word 'magic'.
The bands and their songs.
- Holsteins:Faith In Time
- Joone:Walking So Long
- Red Ash:Shaz and Kelly
- Hook:You've Got Me
- The Ferrymen:Whole World
- Front Room:Get Out Of My Front Room
- Dumb Waiters:Weather
- Juniper Hip:Crushed
- Skywalkers:Spiral
- Lil Mark:Little Sister
- Aish:Angel
- Aish:If We Have The Will
- Volcano Picnic:Lovely Love
- Portrait Gallery:Short Cut To Paradise
- Stray:Miss America
- Phil Lewis:Tumbling Down
- Breeze:In The Dark By The Swings
- 59 Reasons:Talking In Your Sleep
- Putsch:A Week Ago
- Dirge:In Bed
- Ironic?: Generation Drowning
A few words about each band.
The Holsteins: Taken from the album
'Pop gun riot', So far everyone is mad for it! Go on arm yourself!
Joone: Energetic, full of themselves and set for greater things,
the world has been awaiting a band like Joone.
Red Ash and the Love Commandos: They are
electric, charming and very sexy.
Hook: Sprightly and subliminally funky, Hook's angular cross-bred
sounds lacks adherence to any particular musical movement, through
traces of pop 'n' soul are evident.
The Ferrymen: they are
hairier then Bros and balder then Motorhead.
Front Room: Based in South Wales, there's only one place to find
this band.
Dumb Waiters: Apart from the drummer, they all share the same birthday.
Juniper Hip: Write strong energetic pop songs with guitars.
it says here.
Skywalkers: Originally recorded for their second album, this is
the only place to find this track.
Lil Mark: An off shot of the Skywalkers with for Mark's adopted
sisters.
Aish: A duo consisting of Lisa and Bruce, She sings, he plays.
Volcano Picnic: A bristling mesh of electic-acoustic pop.
Portrait Gallery: Dynamic delivery and perfect pop.
Stray: A guitar based rock outfit, described as brilliant song
writers, powerful performers. Voted among the best live acts during
bands London showcases.
Phil Lewis: Over the few years, Phil
has built up a reputation for producing quality commercial songs
with a unique blend of influences.
Breeze: Bright, tight sounds, it won't be long before Breeze catapult
from the realms of local stardom into a far larger arena.
59 Reasons: Are about passion, truth, irony, melody, clarity and
hope. This song is about prejudice and careless talk and having
a great chorus.
Putsch: Putsch, a four piece band from Bristol are set to become
the next musical sensation with various influences blending to create
their unique Brit Rock sound.
Dirge: Drunk, funk, skunk, punk, shaken but not stirred, alcohol
and cholesterol. Eat shit with Dirge!
Ironic?: Disenfranchised youth? Yeah, but nobody cares! If you
feel like no one understands, then you really couldn't care less.
TOP OF PAGE
A few reviews.
AGGAMENGMONG AMOGGIE
Strange things are afoot in Bournemouth, by which I mean all these
bands are from Bournemouth.
This starts with Holsteins (Pils?.'?) "Faith in Time."
which sounds alarmingly like Penetration, Elastica perhaps as well.
Vocally very Pauline Murray esque anyway. But more pop than punk.
Besides, Pauline Murray did it better. This isn't aggressive enough.
Joone's "Walking so long" starts off taking pot shots
at "Wonderwall" but quickly transmutes into "Thrill
me" by Charlie's Angels type territory. Pub rock indie? Good
singing and surprisingly cool.
Red Ash and the love commandos are next doing "Shaz and Kells"
Is this about Essex girls? Has a neat "Birds of a feather"
sample. Poppy in a more disjointed, geeky, Pulp way. Yet lyrically
missing the Cocker scale. Improves as it goes along, quite good.
Hook's "You've got me" sounds like PJ Harvey vocally,
yet is dancey. Works pretty well actually. Good thumping bassline.
Not the best though.
"Whole World" by The Ferrymen sounds like the Housemartins
with a bit of the Wedding Present thrown in. Indie pop, pretty neat.
Next up, the utterly daft Front Room with "Get out of my front
room" COWPUNK REVIVAL A GO GO!! This sounds like Lone Justice
crossed with the Proclaimers. No Joke. Damn good, especially to
dance to.
"Weather" by the Dumb Waiters is the Bluetones doing
the Beatles badly. Also sounds a bit They Might Be Giants ish.
"Crushed" by Juniper Hip is meandering in the jangly
guitar Sarahesque vein. Next, a band called Skywalkers. If I were
them, I'd change my name, seeing as how George Lucas threatened
to sue a certain band from Eccles called Skywalker
who were then forced to change their name to Solar Race. Mind you,
this song is very "Space; The next frontier" ish, so it'd
be a shame if they had to change it. Also rather Pet Shop Boys/O.M.D/Depeche
Mode/Teardrop Explodes-ish. Shit, does that make it romo?
"Little Sister" by L'il Mark isn't my thing. It reminds
me of "Waiting for a star to fall" enough said. The next
two tracks "Angel" and "If we have the will"
are by Aish, and sound like All About Eve crossed with Roxy Music.
Which is intriguing if nothing else. Atmospheric with angelic type
vocals.
Volcano Picnic on the other hand sound like an English Crash Test
Dummies doing a love song, and Portrait Gallery are an indie band
taking pot shots at the Smiths, the Jam and the Cure. Especially
bits of "Heaven knows I'm miserable now." "Miss America"
by Stray is Crowded House esque but not as good. Phil Lewis's song
has an intriguing beginning but after that it just sounds like Lloyd
Cole.
Breeze 5 contribution "In the park by the swings" is
"Staying out for the summer" with bits of Cast, Shed 7,
and "Ten Storey Love Song". A summer song.
59 Reasons do angsty indie rock, Putsh do Terrorvision badly, and
Dirge are Terrorvision doing Thin Lizzy. Ending this C.D are Ironic?
and their "Generation Drowning" which is J.A.M.C doing
Slowdive with a bit of a Stone Roses sideline. Very short.
Verdict; Something on here for everyone, a neat sampler.
Reprinted from AGGAMENGMONG AMOGGIE, Nov 96
TOP
OF PAGE
|
|
Two gerbils are walking down the street checking out the
nightlife, digging the scene. They happen to pass this brightly
lit and obviously gay bar.
The one stops and cocks his head to the side.
The second follows his lead and asks, "What's up ?" Gerbil
one replies' " Oh, I was just thinking, you wanna go and get
shit-faced tonight?"
|
|
