Labels: Static Shock
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This one has been in my pile for a while, I put it on every couple of weeks with intentions of reviewing it and fail. Possibly as I have been attempting to review it whilst drinking beer. Today instead, I am attempting to review it whilst drinking coffee and it makes substantially more sense, as Sleep Rough is a hyperactive ball of careless and carefree punk rock, with little hints of 1990s alternative and independent rock music flecking things, meaning that it sits comfortably alongside the current output of the offensively awesome Perennial Records. You could more than easily fling this on after rotating a bit of Milk Music or that new Son Skull record, that’s for sure. Sleep Rough is dispensed at a suitable 45rpm and features plentiful guitar squall and squeal, with a mix of male/female vocal interspersed, giving proceedings a tiny amount of focus. The songs don’t sound distractingly different, but at the rate they play, they reach the end before you’ve noticed anyway. The recording is pretty claustrophobic, with everything squeezed into a tiny space full of fuzz, riffs and vocals, which makes things interesting but also kind of tiring to listen to. This is a good record, but I definitely need to get hopped up to listen to it as I never really got a grasp on it before. Man.