Labels: bakery outlet – PurePainSugar
Review by: Andy Malcolm
The first couple of tracks on this EP by Red Stick remind me a rather large amount of Tubers. Mostly in the guitar tone (I think that’s the term I want). So it’s perhaps appropriate that it finds a home on Bakery Outlet. Things start off in a distinctively grooving post punk fashion, replete with urgent shouty vocals and noisy guitars. It’s compelling stuff. However the best is yet to come, as later on in the record that diversify… you get smacked up by the first three tracks that tend to not relent, the focus is the urgent vocals and the tight, winding guitars that push the song on. Then we hit the astonishing “Que Des Fils”, which glides into earshot with gorgeous guitar out of the Van Pelt school and strained sung vocals that fit perfectly, such a good combination. You feel that the song is building and building, bounding into call and response vocals whilst the guitars start to churn with anticipation. It never quite explodes to a climax, easing things off again calmly to the shimmering ending. Nice. I’m also somewhat smitten with “Ca Colle a La Peau”, with the guitar rolling along moodily, recalling Boilermaker quite wonderfully. Super emo. Then there is the lurching “Des Chemins Belises” which rumbles this way and that that leads me to recall I Hate Myself, especially when it drops out into a twinkle break. Soothing. Then all of a sudden they finish the side of the record with a fast one again. Out of the blue. Over on the flip the jam for 14 minues. It starts out as a regular song, before hitting guitar squalls and squeals, going a bit post rock. I tend not to bother listening to this one.
I find the blend of styles on here quite intriguing, like the band hadn’t quite settled on what they wanted to do. Maybe they had some fast songs left over from 12XU. I’d be quite happy if they settled on playing the slower stuff, but that’s not to say the rest is without merit, far from it.
They didn’t make many of these. You should ensure that they don’t hang around any longer than necessary and acquire forthwith.