ComEnts

As you might remember a while back I had a bit of a rant about certain things garage rock (apparently it's not called that anymore, whatever annoying jangly guitar music is supposed to be called) and how I found a lot of new rock bands totally uninspiring. Jo from Caged Baby promised he'd make me a CD showcasing some stuff he thought I should listen to, to at least confirm that I didn't like it... well something like that anyway. He gave it to me at a Club Velocity and after that we went to the After Dark, in the morning the CD was gone! I've found it now. Here's a blow by blow report of what I thought. The concept was that it's a collection of mainly new English guitar bands beginning with The.

Sicko - The Rocks

I actually quite like this one it's properly nasty sounding. The singer's voice sounds like a cross between the guy from Suede who I hate and Kurt Cobain who is great. Not sure I'd go out and buy it but I like it.

It Could Have Been So Different - The Mig...
Not sure if that's the full band name... seems to be cut off.
One of those songs that you can sing countless 60s songs over. Boring guitar, annoying singing. I'm not a fan.


Time Killer - The Hells

I did wonder if there were going to be any songs on this that I really liked. This is great. It's a bit rocky and a pit punky, same kind of vibe of the Mudhoney stuff I've been listening to recently but more catchy and better put together.It's actually got a hook, I think I'll look out for their album. I've decided I'm going to link to the bands I like. http://www.thehells.com/

It's On - Sludgefeast

What a disappointment. Surely Sludgefeast should be making really heavy slow grindcore? Is there a difference between this and The Hives? If there is I can't see it, well, the Hives probably look funnier and they have a bass player called Dr Matt Destruction which is extremely cool.

Primitive - The Parkinsons

Bizarrely someone's already put this song on a compilation CD for me. I didn't really like it then but I do respect it. There's some interesting stuff going on here I just can't imagine a situation where I'd think, "oooh, I really fancy listening to the Parkinsons."

What Made You Great - The Electric Shocks

First time I listened to this CD I thought this was easily my favourite track. It's not so good after repeated listens but still one of the better tracks on here. It's got a really poppy vocal on it but the backing is occasionally quite nasty in a good discordant way. That combination reminds me a little bit of Supergrass. http://www.theelectricshocks.com/

The Moonshine - The Rattle-Snakes

I think this is my least favourite so far. It's absolutely horrible. Actually the band they most sound like is The Offspring! Even then it's only The Offspring when they got boring.

Baptised in Fire - The Grips

When you are listening to a song for the first time and you check how long it is after a minute because you are already bored it's probably not a good sign. It's not offensive like the last one but it's boring which is arguably an even bigger sin!

Bad Feeling - The Beatings

Oh god... three bad ones in a row. The CD's starting to feel like an endurance test.

Scotch Love - The Paybacks

This one kind of kicks off like a soul track which is really cool. I wish they'd kept up that vibe or integrated it with the rest of the song. Unfortunately it descends back into the same kind of 3 chord bad guitar sound with a shrieking guy singing mediocre lyrics over it thing. Better than the last three is about all I can say...

The Beat That Kills - The Flash Express

They've stolen the first 5 seconds of Electric Ladyland to open the song? I'm sorry but you couldn't kill a 150 year old man with an extremely weak heart with that beat. Not even by him laughing really hard at the bit with the clapping. I'm also willing to put money on the fact that they don't start a riot every time they try it. It's actually quite a catchy song but the lyrics are so ridiculous you can't take it seriously.

Street Survivor - The Flaming Sideburns

I want this band to be great because their name is so good. They aren't.

Jesus Died So We Could Ride - The Speed...

I think that if I hear one more week, weedy, messy, jangly guitar sound like this I'm going to start trying to staple my own forehead.

Furious Desires - The Hotwires

Ah, this is better. The guitar is a bit more distinct. Still a bit weedy and fuzzy and the singer has some annoying oooh ooooh ooooh bits but in general the song's pretty good. The Hotwires were going to get a link but they say on their website that they are "London's only true rock and roll band" the arrogrance of which annoyed me so much I decided not to.

You Bug Me - The Modey Lemon

This is really, really, really good. It's got some really cool Dr Who sounding keyboards on it. The vibe is that Queens of the Stone Age rocking vibe but in a more lo-fi way. I really like it. The Modey Lemon are definitely getting a link and I'll probably check out the album as well. http://www.themodeylemon.com/.

Track 01 - Melitzer

Melitzer are one of those local bands that I associate with Caged Baby and Floodshock... maybe because they are. This is recorded way, way quieter than anything else on the CD and it's actually quite hard to know what's going on. The bass is excellent but the rest of it is a bit dicey. If it had a real drummer rather than a lame drum machine and you could hear the guitar and vocals it'd be good. Assuming the guitar and vocals could live up to the bass...

So, that's it. I think I'm going to try and hunt down the Modey Lemon and The Hells Albums that these tracks come from. I think it was quite successful in the end. OK, I didn't like all the tracks but I did really like some of them and any time you find a couple of bands you really like must be a good thing.