Top Sounds - T
TEMPER TEMPER – s/t {Revelation} Quite a departure for Rev and one I’m still undecided about – even after 6 plays! Y’see, about 60% of this is pumping New-Wave rock a’la FRANZ FERDINAND played with the dark, malignant pulse of SUICIDE and given a confident arrogance reminiscent of THE HIVES. Snag is, the remaining 40% is dour Radiohead/Indie Rock drabness. Tracks like opener ‘Trust Me’, the butt-shaking ‘Sexy Little Cuts’ and ‘Heart Like A Fist’ in particular are awesome, throbbing, gyrating slabs of electro-snot-rock. The fact the disc gets better with each listen and I’ve never skipped tracks speaks for itself I guess. I just wish they’d ditch the dull-as-fuck Radiohead moments – and that mildly distorted/effected vocal that emanates from every track is a bit annoying too. Hats off to Rev for trying something different though and, pretty much, coming up with a winner.
TEMPO 38 - Con {Hit Your Head} Third EP from this East Coast 5-piece. It's strong, muscular stuff too, mixing melody with mid-paced HC while eschewing any dodgy Metal breakdowns. All tracks are up-tempo, but 'Drink' certainly sees the band put its foot down. The leading track is an obvious highlight, with a chanted chorus and big guitars. The band would fit real well on Revelation Records actually; they have a sound not too dissimilar from such bands as SHADES APART, IGNITE and SPEAK 714. Gotta mention vocalist Parry who seems to possess a real powerful set of pipes which deliver his vocals with great clarity. The disc features an additional ten tracks of other bands on the label including ANGEL HAMMER (Metal), BIG BLUE BLANKET (Ska-Punk), SERVO (Hip-hop/Industrial) and AMY RACECAR (Indie).
THE TERMINALS - Forget About Never {Dead Beat} Shit fire... This is a slice of dirty, scuzzy, ultra distorted snot ‘n’ roll. Think equal parts early NEW BOMB TURKS, FUZZTONES, HUMPERS and Dead Beat distorto-spew of recent releases and you are close. It did bugger all for me - it’s TOO garage, TOO distorted, with vocals buried deep. ‘Liar Liar’ and the trashy ‘Alley House’ got close to hitting some kinda spot, as did opener ‘Wild Bill’s Social Club’. Snag is, the rest hit a totally different negative spot entirely due to a shitty, fuzzed-to-fuck production. Forget about never? Forget about this...
THIS IS A STANDOFF - Be Excited {Household Name} Featuring a couple of ex-members of BELVEDERE, this is the debut release from this new Canadian band. While it’s tight and tres slick, it left me as cold as polar bear stranded on an ice-flat during winter hibernation. It all sounds contrived with too much of a STRUNG OUT influence, an over abundance of NO USE FOR A NAME blandness with a splash of FACE TO FACE to make it passable. Gotta say that lyrically it’s pretty interesting and everything is really well played - but it’s all very slick, sub-Fat Wreck circa ‘99. Not bad, but most definitely not appealing to those at the House Of Scanner.THIS NIGHT CREEPS - The Noise Of Music {1157} Quite and eclectic and frequently intriguing smorgasbord of sounds going on here. There're hints of Dischord Post-HC of the BLUE TIP kind, some BRAID invention, some FAREWELL BEND rocking, some SHELLAC density and some APPLESEED CAST experimentation. Add on some GEZA X electro-noise and you got something that'd fit real well on Deep Elm Recs or even Dischord of late. What is clear is that TNC are certainly not afraid to explore their instruments and the art of song writing. It's a tad too subtle, experimental and self-indulgent for my ears, but that said it IS captivating stuff with 'The Dancing Mania', 'Black Box Interpreter' and 'Inner Space' being particular standouts. It's really well produced too, creating a panoramic sound of interwoven instrumentation and a vocal that never takes the expected route.
THREATS - God Is Not With Us Today {Dr. Strange} Lively, fun-filled 15-tracker from these boozy Scots. There’s a vintage ‘77 feel to the whole deal with many tracks bringing to mind THE DRONES in terms of composition. That’s mixed with the pace of ROADRAGE, a snotty ADOLESCENTS trait and some guitar lines that could have fitted very well on THE DAMNED’s ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ album. Unfortunately, the disc starts with one of the weakest tracks on the album; it lacks the depth of the closing title track, the speed of ‘B.F.F.’, the killer chorus of ‘Oh Really (I Don’t Think So!)’ and the general brilliance of disc highlight, ‘Time’. It’s a record that won’t change any one’s life, but the sense of fun and general quality of the material makes each listen an enjoyable one.
THREE MINUTE MOVIE - The Film Reflects A Dramatic City {Snuffy Smile} This quartet is a new band to me and even on just one play, I had half the tunes from this 11-track platter rattling around in my head for days. If you remember how bands like SUGAR, ‘Too Much Kissing’-era SENSELESS THINGS and, in particular, J CHURCH made great records with a pop sensibility that interwove acoustics with distorted electric guitars and, without relying on excess speed, made these records sound crushingly convincing and not in the slightest bit weedy, then you’ll certainly dig this album. Like so much stuff from Japan, the guitars here are raw and literally have all the life of a hyperactive 7-year-old on a speed trip. Album opener, ‘Dramatic City’ cascades out of the speakers with impressive tonal guitars and subtle vocal melodies while ‘Movie Life’ steals the disc with a heavy dose of reflection and a wonderfully laconic acoustic guitar accentuating the vocal line. ‘Too Much For A Postcard’ sees an urgency arrive in the band’s sound and provides another stellar highlight on a formidable album that already stands up to the other Japanese classics Snuffy Smile have already released. threeminutemovie@hotmail.com
THROBBIN URGES - s/t {Dead Beat} The doom-laden SISTERS OF MERCY keyboard intro lulls you into a sense of ‘Goth Fear’... Until the Garage-core sneer of ‘I’m So Sick’ kicks in and incinerates any ideas of Gothdom with the flare of a nitrogen-laced Molotov Cocktail. This is vicious, rawer-than-raw snot that sounds like the VILETONES being covered by THE REATARDS using TEEN GENERATES gear and ready for release on the original Killed By Death series. The ultra-distorto and indecipherable vocals get a bit much at times but the urgent, harsh, couldn’t-give-a-fuck trashy thrill of tunes like ‘Sitcom Timebomb’ and ‘Under Suspicion’ have enough bilious spike about them to suggest there’s a hot band under all the treble, distortion, tape noise and non-existant production. Throbbin and urgent? You bet!
TOTALITÄR - Vi Är Eliten {Prank} After a series of farewell shows in 2003, these four angry Punks from Sweden are back for one final, colossal 17-track album. As with the band’s previous output, this is a potent, unrelenting thrash attack that has its roots firmly planted in classic D-Beat ‘core mixed with hints of RATOS DE PARO, fellow Euro-HC veterans, ENDSTAND and, most tellingly, the general power and pace of classic BGK. Lyrics are all in their native Swedish, although the sleeve does offer translations with highlight the band’s direct political polemics. Best tracks include the Punk thrust of ‘Det Lyckade Barnet’, the killer core of ‘Du Som Bara Hatar’ and the bowel-melting intensity of Vi Är Inte Människor’. A choice example stunning Euro HC and just how powerful it could - and should - be.
TOY LOVE - Cuts {Flying Nun} Wow - what a fucking great package! For those unaware of TOY LOVE, let me give you a history lesson. Back in the late 70s, there was a band down in Dunedin called THE ENEMY. That band moved to Auckland and morphed into TOY LOVE. The band then recorded one of the greatest Kiwi Punk albums of the age. In vocalist Chris Knox, TOY LOVE had what many consider to be the 'Granddad of NZ Punk' - he can still be seen playing out today. Move on 25 years and we get this; a 40-track double CD package of the album, all the 7"s and a heap of unreleased demos. Not only that, but the album has been remixed and sounds better than ever. But how to describe TOY LOVE? Well, listening to these discs, there is a definite parallel between the band and THE ADVERTS. The songs take unexpected routes, twisting and turning, adding texture to the basic structure. As with TV Smith, Knox's lyrics are interesting, thoughtful and way superior to the minimalist anger that many vocalists relied on. Additional to the great music, you get in-depth liner notes from each band member, photos, flyers - the whole deal! Without a doubt, this is an exceptional reissue of a band that thoroughly deserves it. Now, how about the same deal with THE SCAVENGERS?
TOYS THAT KILL - Shanked! {Recess} One of America’s best deliver the oft-tricky third album and deliver what is probably their best yet. It combines the urgency and instant accessibility of the band’s classic debut disc while adding a bit of depth and texture, so it doesn’t become a simplistic rehash. Todd’s vocals are probably some of his brattiest, couldn’t-give-a-fuck sounding yet with ‘I Hate Karma’ and opener ‘Bomb Sniffing Dogs’ being obvious, excellent examples. For me, album highlight is Sean’s ‘Liar’s Hook’ featuring a killer chorus that sounds like its sung through a barbed sneer. This is just great Punk Rock from a great Punk Rock band; great balance in terms of production (those drums sound soooo live yet not polished) and most definitely garage in feel. An obvious contender for album of 2006.
TOYS THAT KILL - Control The Sun (Recess} This band’s previous album was - and still is - one of the best debut albums of the last five years or more. Could this follow-up maintain the high standards already set? Well, initially, no. It came on as 15 tracks, over half of which sounded unfinished, lacking in focus and appearing as very dim shadows of tunes on the debut. Four plays in however and those ‘unfinished’ songs proved to have nothing more than added depth. Yep, TTK are still an exciting, effervescent catherine wheel of a band, full of sharp ideas, unexpected twists and writhing, caustic melody. Tracks like ‘Illegitimate’ and ‘The White Lies’ contain those stunning barbed-wire melodic vocal lines that were a trait of the debut while ‘No One’ and the title track bring in a new, dangerous pounding feel that adds weight to an already potent sound. Production is again raw without being messy; having clarity and power without sonic compromise. It’s packed in a neat digipack with a newsprint lyric fold-out that brings to mind the old ‘Fuck Facts’ papers that came with DEAD KENNEDYS/BIAFRA records, which contributes to another winner from Todd and the guys down in San Pedro.
TOYS THAT KILL - Flys (Recess} TOYS THAT KILL continue its rather unnerving trait of releasing another blazing slab of noxious Punk Rock soon after its last. Why unnerving? Well, it's a band that does it with such adequate and apparent ease! So many bands attempt this rough, melodic Garage Punk and sound like an exact replica of a million others - not so here. TTK sound alive, fresh, slightly trippy on this release and oh-so essential. This is a 4-track EP that kicks off with 'Brain Attracts Flies' that opens with a discordant guitar riff - one that TELEVISION in its heyday would've killed for - before exploding into a hypnotic, mid-paced powder-keg. Two equally raucous originals follow plus a frantic, pulsating rip through WIRE's 'I Am The Fly'. Never an easy band to cover, but TTK twist it yet retain the original's structure and make it a worthy cover. An incredible band indeed - seek and buy, not destroy.
TRACTOR SEX FATALITY - Peel And Eat {Dead Beat} Another Dead Beat band that seems to revel in making a noise rather than any kinda serious snotty rock 'n' roll action. This actually started in fine form with 'Rot Macumba' that attacked with murderous zeal, but from there it degenerated into a screamed crescendo of Garage noise similar to OBLIVIONS having a fist-fight with JESUS LIZARD while covering early BUTTHOLE SURFERS. An obvious reference point would be SCRATCH ACID, whose 'Cannibal' is covered here. Not really for me; the brutal barrage of garage beats impressed, it's just a shame the tuneage that went with it was so mediocre.
TV SMITH - Misinformation Overload {Boss Tuneage} Some bands/artists have such a strong back catalogue of recordings that you can be assured each new release will be more than worth a single listen. And so it is for the former ADVERTS’ frontman’s fifth (I think) solo album. TV’s got some competent musicians to fill out these 12 songs and from the rollicking, cynically reflective opener ‘Good Times Are Back’, you know this is gonna be another A-grade trip into the world of TV. Highlights are many: the crashing chords of ‘Ghost Of Westminster’; the intelligent anti-war barrage of ‘Not In My Name’; the closing optimism of ‘Carrying On’. Each song is trademark TV - clever, thought-provoking and barbed with an agile wit. So, another TV disc that not only compliments a hugely impressive back catalogue but enhances it. Smart digipack packaging too!