Elephant Vs Leopard - Safariland - CD (2008)

Labels: Genin
Review by: Alex Deller

Time for yet another one of those bands you don’t want to listen to if you’ve got a headache brewing, this time a trio from the UK going by the name Elephant Vs Leopard. Snarky and angular, the band stagger through 11 tracks of stop-start punk that comprises gnashed-teeth, bass strings that go POP! and not even a whiff of guitar. While bands like Shellac, Zu and Humanfly might suit as immediate points of reference there’s also some strange funk leanings on display – not the good-time James Brown sort that might make you want to some sort of silly little hand jive as you grin like a goon but something much more pasty, unhealthy and threatening, suggesting that while the post-whatever section of their collective record collections might may well be swollen there’s doubtless a couple of Primus and NoMeansNo releases knocking around in there as well. Needs work for sure, but by no means bad at all.