Author: Crossfire

The High And Mighty is a new 11 songs of punk pleasantries from Exeter’s own The Cut Ups. This album provides 34 minutes of punk with a melodic edge a la Against Me/Hot Water Music.

The record opens up with song The High and Mighty, which is a fitting opening track for it. Starting off with a simple guitar strum that has a delightful tone to it, giving the album a positive feel already and ending on an even better note. With other song titles such as Last Night I Dreamt I Saw Fugazi and Jakes Versus the Christmas Tree you know this album is going to have a nice ring to it. The Fugazi song especially being an ear opener, full of cheer and ending with the infectious chant of “We’re Still Here, But We’re Not Trying.”

The album as a whole is very appealing to allsorts, it can appeal to good old fashioned punkers, pop punkers, and maybe even indie fans as some of it sounds like more punk influenced Libertines songs. The ominous yell of singer Adam is a driving force of the music, it’s not the best singing voice in the world, but that makes it even better. His voice is deep and heartfelt, giving the music a more genuine wholesomeness.

At risk of sounding cheesy The High And Mighty is a truly uplifting album, and when you listen to it your mood will instantly be altered. That’s quite an achievement for a little band from Exeter! The music may not be the most technical ever written, and the songs might not have the most complex of structures but that’s how bands like this should sound. Stripped to the bare essentials and played with real honesty, The Cut Ups will leave you with a smile on your face.

Jonathan Teggert

Travels With Myself and Another is the new collection of 12 songs from Future of the Left, the follow up to their acclaimed debut Curses. Having never heard Curses I am diving into this album with full ignorance of FOTL’s past.

The album opens with Arming Eritrea, a song that has instantly got me wanting to hear more of this record. The song starts off very Stoogesesque with a very garage sound to it, it then builds into a lovely melodic chorus, a musical oxymoron that really sounds refreshing.

FOTL are definitely an experimental band, if you listen to the song The Hope That House Built you can hear something that sounds like a parade march. A stark contrast to the first two tracks, showcasing this band’s diversity. Each song has a sense of humour to it, the music and lyrics are fun and it’s very refreshing to hear a band that doesn’t take itself so seriously.

Tracks like Land of My Formers sound like a more harmonic Sex Pistols, this band really does have something for everyone. They could attract a very wide range of fans due to this; fans that could learn to appreciate the other songs, a very smart move on their behalf.

I feel this band is at risk of being categorized as indie but they are very far from this, I’ve never heard an indie band with music as assorted as this. It is very funky and easy to dance too, whereas you can also sit, listen and appreciate it. I’m genuinely enjoying this album and think it’s as clever as it is charming, I really think this could catch on.

Jonathan Teggert

Political punk rock isn’t scarce in this day and age, with plenty of bands jumping on the fuck the government bandwagon. This cliché has been around ever since Anarchy in the UK, but as long as governments keep screwing up, it’ll always be relevant. Anti Flag understand the concept of this with their new album The People or the Gun.

The sound is a tad more aggressive than their previous works, the first track Sodom, Gomorrah, Washington D.C. is a balls out punk song with a lighter edge. Sounding similar to iconic bands such as Bad Religion and Millencollin. The use of two vocalists set the tone for the songs, with one vocalist making things a bit angrier, and the other using his nicer voice to sing some poppier songs which will make perfect singalongs. However both vocalists’ songs aren’t short of a good old “Woooaaaah.”

Quite a few styles are blended into this record, the song You’re Fired sounds like a good old hardcore song, reminiscent of bands like Minor Threat and Bad Brains. Yet the song This is the First Night could be a Dropkick Murphy’s/Flogging Molly acoustic anthem. This could give Anti Flag a disadvantage though, someone might hear one song and think they really dig it, buy the album and think the rest sucks.

Not short of a catchy hook, the album is definitely more appealing than some of the tripe that is being spewed out lately. At the same time however, its nothing to write home about. It’s not going to go down in history as the best album ever written, but if Anti Flag just intend to strengthen their audience and bring in a few new fans then they can certainly achieve that.

A lot of it might be quite cliché, even the structures of songs are pretty standard for heavier pop punk, most songs sound like they could be featured on a Tony Hawk’s soundtrack. But the music is generally well written and deep down there are a few nice, original riffs in the album. Anti Flag have definitely evolved as musicians, and the album is a good listen, but it won’t be at the top of my albums of 2009.

Jonathan Teggert