Various Acts - 'The New Cross' (Angular)
4/5
By: Toby L
Oh, it won't fail with an intro such as this. Utilising the powers of Bloc Party's implausibly infectious, riotously anthemic, massive, towering, euphoric, frantic ravage of 'The Marshals Are Dead', 'The New Cross' is already one of the year's most defiantly striking collections.
Based around Angular Records' South London domain, surely, the lesson here is a mission in avoiding the typecasting of 'derelict' musical regions miles from Camden. Each track herein bears the glimmering brightness and pummelling raucousness of youth, showcasing and rep-ing talent of our age that won't accept being unnoticed for much longer.
Vocals are brash, guitars are hard, and any enclosed electronica is atmospheric, moody and not very particularly friendly (take The Vichy Government's berating of the music-industry in 'Make Love To The Camera', or Nemo, who blend theirs with rock-tinges to admirable, northern/New Order effect). Female-punks get a good showcasing - particularly Liz Neumayr's Ladyfuzz with her minimalist, bassy guitar-schwings, hand-claps and purring vocals, The Violets' scuffling garage-pop of 'Laxteen', and The Fairies Band's proclamation to 'f**k my hole'. How inviting.
It's all indicative of something that's been stirring more and more-so over the past year - an uprising and reappraisal of the 'underground', where bands such as The Swear (a Siouxsie-styled, brash-pop conundrum, replete with council-estate frustration; 'Can't see over the high-rise...') and Art Brut - now signed for a single-deal on Rough Trade - are queens and kings; and it's the latter's 'Formed A Band' that best depicts the mode of this whole shebang: written in just five minutes, it wryly documents in a perfect, abrupt and hard-arsed accent the trivial pursuits of alt-music today ('And, yes, this is my singing-voice/It's not irony/Or rock 'n' roll' - no, it's utterly marvellous).
Testament to what's emergent, this compilation-LP sold out its limited run of a few hundred nigh-on instantly. To those without - gutted, for the sound of humble beginnings has never looked more set for a fantastical future than herein. Viva the non-hyped.
Artists in this article: Various Acts
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment