Review:

on 2011-02-22 CharlesMartel Said:

One of those albums I downloaded and, having listened to it, quickly discarded as it was not something I felt I was ever likely to shell out any money on. This is made by teenagers for teenagers and is able to get away with it because most of the teenagers who listen to this will not realise how derivative it is. However, to anyone of my (advanced) age, all I can say is that Pauline Murray must be turning in her grave (presuming, of course, that Ms. Murray is no longer with us).

So far, I have found 2008 rather disappointing. In a lot of ways, "Get Awkward" sums up why. Just take a look at some of the other releases from this year I have so far had the all-too-often dubious pleasure of listening to. Hot Chip are doing a very poor pastiche of 1980's synth pop. Cut Copy have done the same thing, though the result is somewhat more pleasurable. Then Black Mountain entitle their offering for the year "In the Future" which would suggest that they wrote it in 1965 looking five years into that very future. And then there comes this. This is purely and simply a throwback to the sort of relatively mediocre second-division UK punk in the style of Penetration, hence the above reference to Ms. Murray. It would seem that so far 2008 is heading for the distinction of being the retro-year of this first decade of the twenty-first century.

Now there's nothing wrong with retro per se. But there is a lot wrong with bad retro, and this is bad retro. It is simply a copy of the earlier style, rather than being a reminder of the best bits of it. What you have here is warts and all girl-fronted 77 punk. Never a style of music which really delivered much of a punch, like many of its forebears, the vocal abilities of the singer fail to mask the paucity of musical talent on display. Throw in a couple of swear words and what you essentially have is music for teenage girls who think Britney is silly and McFly are the greatest band to walk the earth. The next step is to progress to a band who, if they knew anything about it, they would shun as sounding too much like something their parents listened to when they were teenagers.

None of this is co-incidental. You don't title tracks "Bummer Time" or "Food Fight" without clearly knowing the mentality of the audience you are aiming at. You do not have a song called "Zombie Graveyard Party" unless you want this to be played at sleepovers in the suburbs with late night TV reruns of The Night of the Living Dead. You do not sing "Bitches Leave" unless you have a fairly good idea that those who buy this record (and their friends) will be able to sing this as if it were a chant at those who are not part of the same in-crowd.

Like I said, there is nothing wrong with retro, per se. But this is just wrong on so many levels. A few catchy hooks and some simple, puerile, singable lyrics aside, this is not really for anyone over 16.
Rating: 3/10

on 2009-03-20 Meisho_san Said:

A great offering from Be Your Own Pet, building on the promise of their first self-titled album. Standout tracks include the high-school-homicide "BFF" story 'Becky', the bitter 'You're A Waste' and the salute to excess of 'The Kelly Affair'.
Rating: 8/10