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Peluché,
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The Windmill, Brixton
Good Friday, 14th April 2017
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Single/Download Review

The Coronas / The Shitty Limits / Pulled Apart By Horses / A Place To Bury Strangers / Sons of Noel and Adrian / The Virgins
Singles round up

Article written by Ged M - Apr 8, 2009

Ireland’s Coronas are claimed by some (the insane, clearly) to walk the line between Jeff Buckley and the Libertines. Jeff Buckley and Take That perhaps. Danny O’Reilly shares Buckley’s cod-soul groan of a voice and ‘Decision Time’ (3ú Records) has a horribly manipulative chorus and over-inflated construction with a hearty dash of U2’s bombast. (http://www.thecoronas.net)

The ‘Here Are The Limits’ EP by The Shitty Limits (Static Shock 7”) is a great six-track, eight-minute blast of simple, direct punk rock. It’s an arty type of punk though, a stylish torrent of words and white hot guitars rather than an inarticulate howl of rage. ‘Here Are The Limits’ comes complete with 1-2-3-4 intros and the adrenalised punk rush of ‘Taking Two’ has a touch of Wire. Even though the final track is titled ‘Leave Me Alone’, you won’t want to take that advice. (http://www.myspace.com/theshittylimits; http://staticshockrecords.co.uk/)

Leeds fourpiece Pulled Apart By Horses make a riff-heavy sound, full of nasty guitars and raucous drumming that’s fuelled by some sort of existential anger. ‘I Punched A Lion In The Throat’ (Too Pure 7") is indierock infected with the spirit of hardcore, aggressively grungy and full of screaming vocals, which is equal parts thrilling and painful. On the flipside, ‘The Crapsons’ is almost sludgecore in its metallic gravity, and therefore as hard to listen to as it would be to excrete a bowling ball.
(http://www.myspace.com/pulledapartbyhorses; http://www.pulledapartbyhorses.com/)

New York power-trio A Place To Bury Strangers are said to be influenced by the heavier sort of shoegazing, but the chaotic, pulsing rhythms and swirling darkness of ‘Missing You’ have much more of the sound of a rocked up Joy Division. It’s effects heavy, which isn’t surprising when guitarist/vocalist Oliver Ackerman has a day job designing and building custom pedals, and is full of portents of doom. The electronica of ‘To Fix The Gash In Your Head’ sounds like New Order, though a much more direct and violent version of New Order: “I want to kick your head in”. (http://www.myspace.com/aplacetoburystrangers)

Sons of Noel and Adrian are part of the Brighton-based Willkommen folk collective but the 12-piece band must form most of that collective on their own. ‘The Wreck is Not A Boat’ (Shelsmusic) is intense and broody folk music, almost post-rock in the way it gradually swells until everything’s playing: violin, banjo, even spoons. John Peel always decried the lost art of whistling but he’d be smiling in his tomb if he could hear this. The other tracks on the EP, particularly ‘Go Jo Jee’ are orchestrated and ornate, with a soundtrack quality, while the vocals are quivering and ancient sounding. This is an American release but it sharpens the appetite for the forthcoming UK album. (http://www.myspace.com/sonsofnoelandadrian)

The Virgins are Manhattan hipsters and the red vinyl ‘Private Affair’ (50 Bones) struts cockily down the same street as the Strokes before turning into a funkier sort of Talking Heads. It’s inoffensive New York pop so self-consciously fashionable that it’s prime catwalk fodder. (http://www.myspace.com/thevirginsnyc)

Links:
http://www.myspace.com/pulledapartbyhorses