Review by: Dan Baker
i first heard a song by this band on a comp, i can’t remember which, and it was great. kinda like a cross between emo and space rock, red stars theory do this best i reckon. anyhow the song was called ‘up on top of hullabaloo mountain’ and because of this song i really wanted to find their album but i couldn’t anywhere. i finally picked it up at a stall at the last ever spy versus spy gig in london.
when i got home and put it on it was nothing like i expected. the song i already knew was on it, but the rest of it was completely different. some of the songs, like ‘four out of five’ sound like newer get up kids, with the keyboards and poppy riffs. but generally this cd reminds me of a band i used to like a lot – hum. if you haven’t heard hum, they are like a very atmospheric, pretty grunge band, kinda like a band influenced by mogwai and nirvana doing covers of emo songs. it’s ok, but nothing special. some of the songs are great, such as ‘apology to god’ and the incredible ‘up on top of hullabaloo mountain’, i want to, without ripping off a spinal tap joke, give it 11 just for that song, but that wouldn’t be very fair. On the whole, a good record, could have been amazing.