So here are some more of the bands that nearly got the dreaded green tick in the delete box on my gmail. Instead, they have had a Sunday night reprieve and made the Smash or Trash. Are they deserving of any more of my attention - you decide! No comments = Trash. Oh, I am becoming hardened to this writing. I have to admit some of these would of been posted by me last year.
First up The Cute Lepers!
Their US jaunt put them on a bus for over a month in support of their mid-summer US debut release, Can’t Stand Modern Music on Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records label. The group is led by Steve E. Nix, former frontman of on-the-verge punk band The Briefs.
Can’t Stand Modern Music is “catchy and crisp… just raw enough to tart the sweetness,” says Alternative Press. Take “So Screwed Up” for instance. Clocking in at just over 2 minutes, this tune is classic punk: sneering vocals, tight guitars and sing-a-long choruses, while the bass provides a glammy backdrop. The Cute Lepers have been praised for their modern take on classic throwback punk, paying homage to their punk ancestors while creating something fresh. Says PopMatters, “[Can't Stand Modern Music'] is exactly the type of hook-laden, short, sharp shock modern music needs at the moment.”
MP3: The Cute Lepers - So Screwed Up
Old School Tie
Five years ago two pairs of brothers didn’t so much converge as collide somewhere outside of Wiltshire, before relocating to Birmingham and beginning their journey as Old School Tie.
Evolving from an instrumental tempest to a Birmingham basement-roving bottle band, Old School Tie are now ready to lay siege to venues further afield than their native West Midlands home with a string of dates in October / November to support their self-released debut mini-album ‘Mystery Sound Playground’ which is out on the 29th of September.
MP3: Old School Tie - Fire Flies
Boo and Boo Too
Noise-obsessed, dark and unmistakably poppy, Lawrence, Kansas-based band Boo and Boo Too buries its indie rock beneath shimmering layers of post-punk squall and shoegaze abandon. With the imminent release of its full-length debut No Tempo (following a much adored EP), Boo and Boo Too sets its sights on extensive touring (see the band at CMJ, 2008!), determined to spread its own brand of noise and punk and whatever everywhere. Expect busted guitars and blown-out eardrums as No Tempo stands to firmly establish Boo and Boo Too as uncompromising purveyors of charismatic and chaotic pop music.
MP3: Boo and Boo Too - No Tempo
- Mark
