Beach Slang - Broken Thrills

Beach Slang burst on to the scene in 2014 with 2 EPs, compiled here on this album.  It opens with Filthy Luck which is fairly typical of the band's sound, a punch the air style rabble-rouser, with bawled lyrics about how "I'm a slave to always fucking up" or "turn the amps up to 9".  But it combines relatively cliched lyrics with all the right chord changes, which makes it really satisfying.  Done and dusted in less than two and a half minutes.  Foo Fighters-style drumming opens up Kids, while the mellow in comparison Get Lost features more glorious chord changes.  It's all so very sincere, not a drop of cynicism with lyrics like "these books, these bars and this honesty, they're all I've got".

The second half kicks off with All Fuzzed Out which is another utterly joyful, bawl along rocker with a rousing intro where Alex James sings "if there's heaven I have found it with you".  Strongest track of the lot might well be Dirty Cigarettes, with a riff and chord progression that really hits home.  The track heavily channels the Replacements as James does his best Westerberg, singing "I need the struggle to feel alive".  Final track We Are Nothing varies the formula, pacily strummed acoustic guitar but hits the same mood as the rest of this collection.

Sure it's highly reminiscent of The Replacements with a bit of Husker Du thrown in but highly enjoyable.

Album Review: Retribution Gospel Choir

The first album from Retribution Gospel Choir, released in 2008, sets the tone for this project - heavy, rocking out guitars, a sort of Alan Sparhawk midlife crisis escape from Low.

 

Basically if you like the heavier bits of The Great Destroyer, you'll love this.  Opening with the heavy rock of They Knew You Well, the band reimagine two of Low's songs from Drums and Guns in this format - Take Your Time and Breaker, both of which succeed it has to be said.

 

The pounding, bone-shaking riffs of Somebody's Someone and What She Turned Into thrill and startle in equal measure.  The bashful, subdued Holes In Our Heads is more typical Sparhawk territory, starting quietly before giving way to more guitar pyrotechnics. Kids betrays the hallmark of producer Mark Kozelek's heavier material with Sun Kil Moon, all heavy, yet hesitant guitar crunch, and is allowed a full four minutes before concluding with Sparhawk singing a gentle 'Amen'.

 

Frustratingly, many of the other songs last little over two minutes, it would have been nice to hear Sparhawk indulge his inner Crazy Horse.  It's at times unsettling and never a comfortable listen, the ideal flipside to Low's Drums and Guns album.