Labels: Bombed Out Records
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Debut release from the bafflingly named Dugong – it’s probably a private joke – the only (and probably wildly inaccurate) thing I can come up was deduced from their website address, they’ve put the name backwards to spell Gnogud. No good? Hardly.
Cos the ‘gong are all about happy go lucky, melodic, poppy hardcore punk, with a slight emo twist, uhuh. Opening dity, “Two Way Traffic” is really bouncy and makes me toes tap like mad. It’s got lots of neat guitar parts to it, building up into a faster chorus that then slows down again. I don’t listen to much melodic hc, Mssr Cavell is yer man for that, but to me it suggests of the faster Get Up Kids songs mixed up with the kind of style Broccoli (btw, I am going to make it my business to mention as many different bands as possible in this review) put to best effect on their Crackle 7″. It’s only let down by a bit when the whole thing stops, and the guitars get choppy. Kind of ruins the great flow they built up beforehand. Next up we have “Last Time I Was This Happy I Was Killing Someone”, so obviously we have murderers on our hands here. Disgusting habit. Anyway, this is like a cross between a little Dillinger 4 (well, it has one of those chuggy guitar parts) and No Idea pop punk obscurites, Fay Wray. Who put out a great little CD earlier this year incidentally. Melodic and catchy is the order of the day here.
On the flip there is their stand out track, “The Weather Song”, which breaks in very much in that sort of jangly Snuffy Smile way, think bands like Lovemen, and you could continue to pin that comparison on the rest of the song, the guitar sound is very similar, mix that up with some of the poppier moments of bands previously mentioned like GUK and you have another surefire addictive piece of crunchy pop. Finally we have “Coming Through” which lets the side down a little, the mix seems a little muddier, the drumming is that basic 1,2,1,2 stuff for much of the time, and you can’t pick out the soaring guitars which are such a prominent feature in the rest of the tracks here. Hardly a failure of epic proportions, it’s just doesn’t have the same impact as it’s sister songs. Fair.
And there you have it. A great blend of: Broccoli, Get Up Kids, Fay Wray and Lovemen. Crikey! Maybe it’s not quite as good as that would suggest, but it’s getting there. 3 strong tracks and 1 so-so effort wrapped up in one very nice package. I will be very surprised indeed if a UK band releases a better debut 7″ this year.