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BAD FRIDAY!
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The Windmill, Brixton
Good Friday, 14th April 2017
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Album Review

Standard Fare
The Noyelle Beat Melodic/Thee SPC

Article written by Matt H - Jan 31, 2010

Standard Fare - This is the sound of the slag-heaps?

There were plenty of folk in the 80s who liked to write about “pure pop” - meaning not Bananarama but earnest boys and girls playing clever jangly guitar tunes. Standard Fare should induce a Proustian rush for any of them still paying attention. Despite their self-deprecating moniker, don’t write them off as nostalgia-piquing revivalists though (I’m no candidate for nostalgia here - old enough, sure, but c86 I’d have been most likely listening to Kreator rather than cassettes off the front of the NME).

The music, though toe-tapping and head-nodding, is as wistful and forlornly hopeful as the mundane but heartfelt relationship analysis of the lyrics - their cleverness natural rather than studied. Key songs, Dancing, Fifteen and Philadelphia all contain the sort of beat-skipping moments that persuade even the hardest hearts. They also showcase the bands biggest asset. Danny How provides a very capable foil, but Emma Kupa’s vocals stand out. Bell-clear despite being dotted with glottal stops, seeming both to strain towards and reach notes at the same time, what could so easily have been whiny is in fact a delight.

There’s something of a buzz around this lot, and it’s justified. Despite wearing its inherited musical DNA boldly on its sleeve, the Noyelle Beat is a collection of fabulous tunes that deserve to stand on their own for a new audience.

Links:
http://www.standardfare.co.uk/
http://melodic.co.uk/index.htm?/melo065.htm
http://www.myspace.com/standardfare