Labels: No Idea
Review by: Andy Malcolm
If I didn’t know better, and you told me after listening that this record featured two dudes from North Lincoln I would have had you thrown out of the room for your imbecilic facetiousness. How could this lumbering, miserable, slowed down indie rock possibly be progenated from two guys in a band that basically sound like Hot Water Music did 12 years ago? Then I remembered that North Lincoln was linked to the Hartford Whalers, and at one point, ONE POINT, I am pretty sure that those guys said they were gonna do a band that sounded like the Blacktop Cadence. This is years ago now. Maybe this is as close as we’ll get. Maybe the guy who was in that band isn’t on this record anyway. But it’ll do. That reminds me actually, I need to dig out my copy of the Hartford Whalers CD, it was pretty good. So where was I, oh yes, Shores, playing slomo (SLOW EMO), a little Bedhead, a little Seam, a little second LP era Boys Life, a little Boilermaker too. Yep! I bet that will set a select few C-Zine pulses racing. And the super pretty guitars on “Canned” remind me of Kepler’s awesome “Fuck Fight Fail” lp. The songs are mostly slow and dreamy, with pretty guitars slowed down to a snails pace and laboured vocals drawling a monotone over the top. Yet it’s not afraid to build up and rock out as and when required, hitting a pulsating groove from time to time to bring songs to a close. It works so well. I don’t have much more than this to add though. Shores have made a cracking album, and I like to listen to it.
This is definitely a late contender for top 10 records of the year, even if it could have come out in 1997. I hope this is a sign that No Idea is looking to expand their horizons once more, to take a few risks. No doubt it’ll sit in their back catalogue ridiculously, like the Moonraker 10″. Unwanted and unloved by bearded bros who listen to an MP3 and gawp open mouthed at their bearded bro and go “FUCK MAN, WHAT IS UP WITH THE SINGING? AND WHY IS THIS SHIT SO FUCKING SLOW? TURN THIS THE FUCK OFF BRO, FOR REAL, LETS GO DRINK BEERS ON THE PORCH AND LISTEN TO OFF WITH THEIR HEADS.”