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Album Review

Bikos
Make Your Sound Sound Mar Vista Records

Article written by Kev W - Dec 16, 2011

Los Angeles sextet Bikos fit very snugly into the line of post-punk/indie bands that have brightened up our lives for over 30 years now. As such, picking apart their songs to pinpoint the original sources of the music that makes up 'Make Your Sound Sound' would be a lengthy process, and having the input of six people on these tracks not only gives their rickety clatter a strangely rich sound, it means that Gabriel Pearlman's songs are fleshed out with a variety of other influences.

Debut single 'You Want It' channels Gang Of Four's jerky new-wave spikiness in a similar way to early Bloc Party, but in a less clean and more organic manner than Kele's lot. The scratchy riffs and vocal yelps that were so popular a few years ago are used generously over the course of this album and Bikos manage to make them urgent and fresh again, instead of just sounding like a Good Shoes singles compilation. The crisp guitars and snappy drumming are the engine room that powers some great indie-pop songs, ensuring that things remain vibrant and vital. 'Geography Objective' is given a soulful pop vibe thanks to percussionist/co-vocalist Miki's warm Those Dancing Days-ish vocals; the boy/girl trick works a treat here, as it does on album closer 'Palindrome'.

You could easily list another half a dozen bands that Bikos sound a bit like (Talking Heads could happily be thrown in, as could Stellastarr*) but that's kind of missing the point. Whatever their references they've made a superb, solid record that follows in the tradition of many fine alternative guitar bands. Had 'Make Your Sound Sound' been produced by a London band 10 years ago they'd be attracting a mass of UK music press coverage now, but it's 2011 and they're not. And that's a crying shame.

Bikos - You Want It by buzzbands