Labels: Obscene Baby Auction
Review by: Kunal Nandi
This here is a 10″ that documents the burgeoning Leeds scene, showcasing what styles are to be found within LS6:
With a yell, and a lurching minor-chord riff, THIS AIN’T VEGAS kick things off in a manner that marries melody and metal with a frightening amount of ease, considering how new this combo is. They just did a great 7″ too.
BILGE PUMP are funk for post-hardcore kids (er, maybe), which is a good thing, and are at once utterly addictive and utterly bizarre. Some screechy guitar over a mega-bouncy beat gives way to a grinding section that ends it all. “Up The Nest” is on their new album too, which must be a corker judging by this.
Fuck yeah, KILL YOURSELF are properly pissed-off scratchy hardcore, like The Jesus Lizard, Shellac blah blah blah, but with an extra-hostile disregard for melody, slide-bass shooting off in seemingly random directions, rock-solid drum grooves and some nutter wailing away on top. Awesome.
THE WOW don’t make me say, “wow”, instead teasing a playful “mmm” out of me with their twinkling, flowing indie-rock, that is immensely catchy yet densely layered on repeated listens. “The Necromancer” has a nicely threatening edge to it that seems about to signal its descent into wilful noise-mongery, although it doesn’t really. I anticipate new songs wetly.
Flip it over, and you get JOHN HOLMES, who weigh in with a live rendition of “Yo-Yo” from their ace split CD with The Kabinboy. I like this band a lot. The ideas behind the music may be pretty conventional, verse-chorus-verse etc., but the band sound really fucking driven and totally unstoppable once they’re cranked up. Awesome, although shame it’s not a newie.
EIGHTY SIX weigh in with a cover of Jawbreaker’s “Shirt”, which is great if you like Jawbreaker, and even better if you like Jawbreaker AND Eighty Six. Good choice of tune.
Have a bit of parping trumpet in amongst your guitars, and all you get are endless Rocket From The Crypt comparisons, which although never a bad thing are a little unfair for BUZZKILL I reckon, who definitely have their own take on things. Slightly calmer in the verse, with an awesome swingy feel to it, this is damn catchy orchestral rock ‘n’ roll. Fuck it – this sounds like RFTC.
Ahh, good old J*R. Tighter than a gnat’s chuff, yet still allowing for a bunch of meandering on the part of the guitar, which weaves in and out of the driving rhythms on the instrumental served up here. Fucking good band.
So, a compilation that does that rare thing where you have a high degree of variety, but without a single stinker on there. Something for all the family! It’s bound in a lovely large booklet, with some excellent photos by a certain Matt Dale – nice one. Should be an essential purchase, and not just because you know someone who’s played on it. Plus, 10″‘s are cool, even with an intriguing painting of a cat in a party hat “tackle out”, on the cover. Odd.