The King And
Queen Of The Losers – American Squalor (Independent)
Released just in time for the annual Xmas splurge, American Squalor
will be slugging it out with new LPs by Coldplay, Westlife and Robbie Williams
(obviously other wishy-washy, shockingly poor, lowest common denomination
crock-pop records are available). Needless to say (I hope) I wont be
recommending any of those old timers over The King And Queen Of The Losers.
Before we even get to the music, everything about them is better; their name
and their green vomit LP cover – to name but a couple.
Musically they’re not doing anything blindingly original, but who
is? What they are doing – a hybrid of various alternative styles – they do plenty
well, with a glut of hooks to keep the pop fiends content and more than enough
grit for the punkers. The vocalists, male and female – the details are sketchy,
I can’t name them – display the same sort of languid technique that was
prevalent during the heyday of grunge and it works beautifully, and it’s
accessible too, like if Royal Trux played their Beatles albums occasionally or
Nina Persson joined Dinosaur Jr.
Now then, highlights, of which there are many. ‘Jean Luc Godard’
is just an instant classic. If Peelie was still with us he’d be playing it relentlessly
and just in time for the Festive 50 (Google it if you don’t know what the
Festive 50 is – but don’t use Google). ‘Hospitality’ is ballsy full-on
electric, and pummels its way into the part of the brain that contains the
repeat button. “Burning Building’ is just delightful, features a false start
(who doesn’t love a false start – it’s spontaneous, baby!) and shows the power
of a big strummed acoustic guitar. This/that machine kills fascists, damn
right!
Rollo
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