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I arrive back in this country to the pissing rain, the violence of the local crack den dripping at the seams, minus fucking 12 in the night moon which lights illuminous a jiffied parcel on my doorstep. Finally that copy of Mirkin Weekly I tell myself (which by the way is twelve weeks overdue)! To my horror there is no discussion of pubic wigs deflecting my eyes from the tedium of English television, but an EP from a band/person called Alien Alright, of whom I have never heard (though to be fair I do own an Aqua album; the first one, with Barbie Girl), which tells me must be reviewed.
Well, I’ll start with the fact that it’s very professionally put together; nice cardboard (that bendy shit, not that rice paper crap I’ve been known to get), it has it’s own press release, and, lastly, the person who sent it has called me Matthew - something I haven’t been called since my mother caught me enhancing my feelings for Xena Warrior Princess. But back to the music, and as first impressions (ayy) are always the wrong way to go about reviewing independent music, I’ve decided to listen to it about um, twice.
Alien Alright is/are experimental and sound like the schizophrenic sound of London at the moment: a London bulging with gender identity issues that can’t define whether it wants a boyfriend or girlfriend to warm those lonely, disturbed nights. As the press release says ‘The First Impression EP’ fuses genres such as Alt-Rock, Punk and "Alt.Country with elements of Hip-Hop, Funk, Reggae and occasional touches of Electro’, so I’m guessing it’s diverse. This statement makes me never want me to listen to it, because basically I hate the word ‘alternative,’ which to me is gentle way of saying ‘I’m a hip bastard me’ and is a word for idiots who work at HMV to shuffle CDs. It’s just plain old country people. But I persevere and am pleasantly surprised with the ‘DJ cut-program-sample-edit approach with a more trad. Bass and guitar sound…’ type performance. Yes, that’s from the press release too. It sounds like when your dad’s trying to talk like Tim Westwood.
The real treat on this mini EP thing is the diversity; touches of piano, and the final track, 'Orchid Energy (Backing away)' to be precise. I hate comparing music to other music as it is pretty unfair and advocates stealing, but this song could be a B-Side for a Beatles single, and is pretty stunning to say the least. Sounding like ‘a heroic’ dose of mushrooms, it contrasts the reggae punk tinges with layered strings perfectly, bringing the little EP thingy to a close and gives me a sense that this guy might actually be rather good. If reggae is the theme here, it isn’t a bad time to be influenced considering bands such as London’s Hard-Fi, Liverpool’s The Dead 60s, and the The Ordinary Boys are getting a good flogging. ‘First Impression’, the track, even throws in a bit of DJ Shadow-type sampling into its Bombay mix, with ‘Jimi Iconoclast’ bringing to the plate that 70’s punky snarl the press release gloated at. Blimey. If one track lets the EP down it is probably ‘Blue Plaque,’ with its rising £9.99 Argos keyboard spoiling a promising ballad.
The EP is promising, then. They are still possibly in search of a voice, but hopefully a removed bloody voice box is around London somewhere. Yadda.
Matt Gilbert
Alien Alright's website |
| Coding: Darren Burrows