Labels: bakery outlet – Flower Of Carnage – PurePainSugar
Review by: Oli Saunders
If I had to pick my favourite label of the last decade it would probably be PurePainSugar. This is number 38 in Seb’s immaculate roster of releases (teaming up here with friends Bakery Outlet and Flower Of Carnage). In years to come punks into this style will look back at what the label has put out with the same wonder that people look back at Gravity and Ebulltion nowadays. I’m serious.
12XU have had a few reviews on CZ, though no one has actually gone to the trouble of saying that they contain two members of Daïtro, Julien and Gwen. Hugues joins them on drums and they have pushed the sound that Daïtro played on their final record ‘Y’ into a new direction. It’s emo, it’s post-punk, it apparently sounds like Tubers but I have never personally understood how people can say this. To me, it is more akin to the likes of Adorno. And both bands are up there as best current active bands playing this phenomenal style.
This works so well as an album, with the band flying through their 11 songs, each averaging two minutes. The production feels slightly different than the singles series and splits, but I’m not going to waste time attempting to explain how. I am currently halfway through the record with songs five and six blowing my mind to smithereens. Somehow 12XU manage to write short songs that kind of all sound similar but get away with it. Only great bands can do this and 12XU are a great band. Listen to this.
25th December 2011