The last of the old record reviews

Somewhere out there in the series of tubes, not to mention in print, there is more of my writing.

This is the last 2 record reviews that survived the various data losses of the last 20 odd years.

The end of this data dump is in sight.

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Rival Schools – United By Fate

With hordes of emo chancers about to appear on the scene, it’s good to know that at least one band have a bit of pedigree about them. Rival Schools frontman Walter Schreifels has paid his dues in a host of highly influential but commercially unsuccessful bands such as Quicksand and Gorilla Biscuits, but until now he was never in danger of bothering the charts. All that has changed, because in Rivals Schools he has found a way to weld his hardcore songwriting suss to hummable, dare I say it, ‘pop’ tunes. Witness opener ‘Travel By Telephone’, a tale of damaged relationships backed by jangly yet nicely distorted guitars and a driving rhythm, or new single ‘Used For Glue’, based simplistic yet highly effective riff that threatens to cave your head in, before bombing into a sublime chorus that will stay in your head for days. Add to this a love of shoegazers My Bloody Valentine (sampled on ‘Holding Sand’) and more tales of heartbreak and you have an album that could become the soundtrack to your pathetic single life. Not an album to fall in love to, an album to fall in love with. Resistance is futile.

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Evoke - Behold The Twilight

I first became aware of Evoke sometime in 1998 when Aidy, who used to write for my fanzine FSU, gave me 2 of their 7" singles (I've lost the other one!). Raging old school death metal is the only way to describe it. And there's virtually no one in England who comes close! Fans of Death and Deicide and Napalm Death would love them, and you young uns should check 'em out to see what heavy music sounded like before Korn: guaranteed 100% Adidas free!

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Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast

This album won the Mercury Music Prize, if that means anything to you. This sounds like a mixture of Travis-style indie, jazz influences and hip-hop infused beats. Stand out tracks include recent single 'Once Around The Block' and 'Disillusion'.