I often lament that every band I hear reminds me of a band I heard years ago and probably really loved back then. To find something truly new and original seems to be a rare occurrence indeed. Everything’s been done, you say. Well, everything builds on what became before and often ‘originality’ comes down to nothing more than rearranging different elements from the past. Even Picasso got his inspiration from somewhere ( like old African sculptures he bought in Parisian second hand stores and flea markets…) but that’s still different from simply rehashing the past. Sure there was a lot of great music in the 80s, but.
Ever since the world went from analog to digital, from reel to reels to computers, from thin strips of brown plastic running over tapeheads to electronic brains reading ones and zeros and editing went from precision razorblade cutting of precious pieces of tape to clicking a mouse, cut’n’paste became THE stylistic device of the digital age. Sonic collage is the soundtrack of life in 2012. If there was anything truly ‘new’ invented in the last 20 years, that would be it. Visionaries like Beck and Radiohead (not to mention rap and electronica) elevated cut’n’paste to an art and paved the way for it to become part of the vocabulary of pop.
Enter Crash and the Coots. Any band that covers Brigitte Bardot automatically winds up on my good side, but their ‘John Coles Park‘ EP offers much more than that. Telephone vocals, bells, distorted Casio beats, toy keyboards, 8bit bleeps, a scratchy record sample, overdriven echo machines…how can you go wrong? It’s as if Crash and the Coots gathered up all the lofi coolness of the last two decades or so of indie pop and stitched it all together into a true cut’n’paste tour de force. Plus their debut is being released on cassette!
The EP sounds like a bunch of ADD hipsters let loose in a thrift store filled with cheap instruments. For Crash and the Coots, lo fi is your friend, and so is buzz, fuzz, pop and crackle. Fun was clearly had by all, and ‘John Coles Park‘ is catchier than the measles and has more hooks than Mohammed Ali. After one or two listens the songs lodge themselves in my brain and I find myself humming ‘Emily-y-y’ as I’m climbing a ladder with a paintbrush in my hand during my personal daily grind.
If comparisons must be made, I’d go for a lo fi Flaming Lips-meets-Cornelius at his most rocking.
‘Emily’ is a great opener, with a catchy bass line, hand claps, bells and ridiculous backup vocals (Booohh!!” , “HA!” and ‘Twist and Shout’ like ascending ‘Aaahhh’s)
The hypnotic ‘Don’t Have Any Legs‘ starts up with a simple acoustic guitar figure, then speeds along over an irresistible beat, with falsetto vocals and buzzy Nintendo keys. If Prince was to make a record in a garage with a laptop and some cheap keyboards, it might sound like this.
‘Brian Fury Wins‘ has maybe the most lethally catchy melody, grabbing you by the throat from the first note and not letting go till you bounce all over the room like a rubber chicken ( or in my case, fiercely tap your foot along!)
The alternate version of ‘Brian fury Wins’ has a definite My Bloody Valentine vibe with warbling vocals over reverb-drenched guitars and hauntingly wailing six string lines. In fact it almost sounds like a MVB pastiche minus the distortion.
And finally the Brigitte Bardot cover ‘Ca Pourrait Changer‘ which totally deconstructs the original, reducing it to a hyperactive beat, vocals in heavily accented French, the grungy bass that drives every song, bleeps and bloops and Yeh Yeh back up vocals. Serge Gainsbourg himself would have been proud of this deconstructed version of the classic French Yeh Yeh sound.
Here’s hoping for more creative cut’n’paste maniacs like Crash and the Coots unleashing their demented pop songs on the world! Meanwhile, grab yourself a copy of ‘John Coles Park’, impress friends and family with the cassette version or simply buy the download. Either way, you won’t be sorry.
[Rating:4]
