We’ve been in need of some kick-ass rock n roll of late. The world seems to be accepting its lot at the moment and the softer-underbelly of the likes of the Gaslight Anthem, Bombay Bicycle Club, Mumford and Sons and the Temper Trap are the current darlings of the radio and the festival scene, there’s been a distinct lack of music with some balls. So, all eyes down under and enter Violent Soho.
The buzz about Violent Soho has been pretty sustained online for some time, and now the pudding’s proof arrives in their eponymous debut album. They’re clearly fans of fellow Aussies the Vines and Manchester’s Nine Black Alps, and there are hints of Jimmy Eat World and the ubiquitous Weezer throughout – ‘Jesus Stole My Girlfriend’ is Weezer but for the lack of a truly catchy vocal hook. ‘Son Of Sam’ is the Vines meets Nine Black Alps. So it goes on…throughout the album it’s kinda obvious what they’ve been listening to around the time they’ve written each track. This isn’t such a bad thing, but there’s an overriding sense of having heard all this before in different forms since the early nineties. When they begin to sound like themselves – such as the marvellous ‘Narrow Ways’ – you can begin to get it.
Violent Soho isn’t a bad album, but it’s not gonna set the world alight either. They’ll garner plenty of fans purely from those that have made this record happen in the first place – Thurston Moore for his label, Rick Rubin for his influence etc – rather than for the overriding quality of the songs. They’re not the finished article yet, the songs lack a little in quality and maturity, but the signs are promising. One to keep an ear out for in the future.
www.myspace.com/violentsoho
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