Category: Reviews

Tense Men
Where Dull Care Is Forgotten
Faux Discx

Comprising of members from Sauna Youth, Cold Pumas and Omi Palone, namely Rich, Ollie and Liam, together, these three enigmas are Tense Men.

Aside from an unnamed cassette release on Cazenove Tapes a couple of years ago, -back when Tense Men operated as a two piece- little has been heard of this minimalistic trio until now. Tense Men have finally arrived with a mini LP, Where Dull Care Is Forgotten.

‘Stages of Boredom’ sets the tone here. Creeping in with a walking bass and tight, linear guitar riffing. A formula which is applied to most of the six tracks featured on this LP.

The concentrated repetition of ‘RNRFON’ is almost enough to induce a psychiatric episode. The drums and bass lock together so tightly here it’s comparable to having your head stuck in a vice. This is arguably the highest point of the LP and is to be played at no less than full volume to ensure you feel some serious pressure around your skull.

Title track ‘Where Dull Care Is Forgotten’ is almost reminiscent of King Krule and his vocal musings, with steady held notes building in volume to create an accommodating blank canvas for singer/guitarist Ollie Fisher’s haunting drawl.

Closing number ‘Opiate Glow’ finally unleashes the grit that Tense Men have pent up over the past five tracks. Just when you think they’ve ironed out every crease with their tight, close knit chords-a-scratching structures, they step on the distortion and screw it all back up again.

Where Dull Care Is Forgotten is a claustrophobic collection of experimental punk that lives up to the band’s name. Clocking out at just over 20 minutes, these boldly minimalistic jams confirm Tense Men’s sound as raw, stripped back and increasingly intense. Each track boasts a stiff and rigid attitude with repetition at its core, sure to leave you firmly on edge and anxious for more of Tense Men’s mysterious melody.

Where Dull Care Is Forgotten is due for release March 10th 2014 via Faux Discx.

Dave Palmer

Vertical Scratchers
‘Daughter Of Everything’
(Merge Records)
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This is the debut album by Vertical Scratchers and it’s utterly brilliant. I shouldn’t really be surprised by this. Vertical Scratchers, you see, feature a certain John Schmersal – a part of the talent behind magnificent 90s Dayton Ohio Touch And Go Records shronk-rockers Brainiac (whose wonderful burst of creativity and incredible music was cruelly cut short with the sudden death of frontman Tim Taylor in a car accident), he then went on to form Enon, continuing to make eclectic and challenging, yet always melodic and pleasurable music.

Vertical Scratchers very much continues down the path that Schmersal has travelled since the beginning. ‘Daughter Of Everything’ is quirky, jarring and sometimes disconcerting yet from beginning to end and top to bottom it is gloriously melodic. Every song crackles with addictive melodies and sublime harmonies, split between John and his partner in the band – ex-Triclops!/Anywhere man Christian Beaulieu. They met at a Thanksgiving party, started hanging out and writing songs and very quickly, and very naturally a great musical partnership began to flourish and the songs began to flow.

The highlights are many. ‘You Dug Us All’ is pure Shins, Pinback, Heavy Vegetable style quirky harmonies and prime-rump American indie rock, whilst opening track ‘Wait No Longer’ kicks into life with some high-octane drumming from Beaulieu. ‘Pretend You Are Free’ and ‘Rainbows’, on the other hand, shimmer with Beach Boys/Beatles inspired harmonies that are both sublime and beautiful.

Vertical Scratchers have delivered a classic American indie rock album that sounds effortless, fresh and exciting. Not that we should be surprised by this, it’s nothing that John Schmersal hasn’t achieved before.

Pick this up from Merge immediately.

James Sherry

Cheatahs
S/T
Wichita

Originality isn’t everything. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with sewing your influences onto your sleeves if what you are doing is still done with passion, conviction, energy and is good. There’s no getting away from the fact that this London quartet are obviously huge Swervedriver and My Bloody Valentine fans. There are moments on their self-titled debut that jolt you and drag you down a time vortex to the late eighties, early nineties when the aforementioned bands were injecting brave new sounds and moods into a flagging English indie rock scene. The influence of these bands is undeniable on Cheatahs. But it’s a good influence. A healthy influence. And the fact of the matter is, what they do, they do so very well.

On songs like ‘The Swan’ and ‘Get Tight’ they effortlessly tap into what made that era of music so exciting. Yeah, some call it shoegaze but Cheatahs aren’t staring at their feet, they’re glaring straight into your face – dazzling bright and alert and burning your retinas with their psychedelic space rock attack and swirling guitar noise. You see, much like Swervedriver before them (sorry to mention them again but there’s no getting away from it), Cheatahs rock. Although Swervedriver were lumped in with other shoegazing bands of the time such as Ride, Slowdive and Chapterhouse, they were a world apart and like Cheatahs, actually rocked. High energy, balls-out, rock.

So, despite their obvious influences, the fact of the matter is that Cheatahs have crafted an album that shimmies and shines with amazing songs, sounds incredible and is a joy to listen to. As time moves on it’s obvious that they will evolve and change and blossom into their own vision. And this is the perfect start on that journey.

James Sherry