I was sent this track a couple of weeks ago – meant to review it before but the usual madness has prevailed recently and everything is out-of-sync still...
...so – who are IST? ... a band based in Leicester (just down the road from God's Little Acre... go here for more info...
The track: 'I am Jesus and you're not.' (Go to their MySpace site to hear it ). Pithy and sharp – like the duration – a snappy 1 minute electronic showerburst driven by an insistent nagging guitar riff (which reminded me of something which I couldn't drag back from the memory banks – until it hit me just now – surf guitar!), vocal imprecational put-down with antinomian/sectarian heretical undertones ho ho(that's not a post-punk Belfast band – but... maybe a good name for a cover band, hey, any would-be Feargals out there?) - a wild ride of joyfully sneering hurled-at-you rapido lyrics, with the title thrown out as the chorus/hook – slashing rhythm guitar and real in-your-face rock and roll drums (cymbal crashs like dustbin lids kicked over in an alley after leaving the hostelry... late) ... A lot crammed into the 60 seconds – bursting at the seams with energy... wearing its influences lightly but adding to them with a freshness and deftness of step which shows their originality (unlike most conventional current 'rock' bands who seem mired in the sludge of the past – you know who I mean...). Regarding their sonic predecessors - among many, they name-check Elvis Costello – cue standard rant: diamond geezer no doubt but the fucker can't sing (and they can) and wants to be taken seriously in his dotage...what did Burt Bacharach make of it all? (oh, hello, they name-check him as well... interesting...) – despite that, there's a taste of the old Stiff rawness that the Attractions had when he started out and his whiny voice sort of worked for a time – this is a plus... maybe that's what they had in mind...
I've had the mp3 on my desktop for a couple of weeks and it nags at me to play it all the time...
These guys have some wit – there is a song on their MySpace site entitled 'The Wreck of Eddy Fitzgerald,' title of which made me smile (memories of old groaning Gordon Lightfoot's only decent record). If this is what's coming out of Leicester at the moment I'd better hop an Arriva sometime and check it out...
'I am Jesus and you're not' is released digitally on 21st February 2007 – on vinyl/cd 28th Feb 2007... go grab it... details here...
IST does NOT stand for Indian Summer Time, or Springfield Institute of Technology – as far as I know... Or Ironic Semiotic Transitions... Istianity could be your new religion... I see that they are playing at the Loft in Cambridge on the 17th Feb... if you're in the area – go seek further revelation... hallelujah...
(The photo at the top is by Kitty Valentine - Official Pink Box photographer).
No comments:
Post a Comment