Review Summary: Ex-Planes Mistaken For Stars fellas get all drunk, high n' crazy, with largely impressive results...
Ever been on a long train journey whilst very tired/hungover? Yeah? Ever got to thinking about what'd happen if the train suddenly shot off the tracks and ploughed through the nearby scenery? I was on the short train journey from Coventry to Birmingham (England) the other week, in the same tired state, with only my mp3 player to keep me awake, when my thoughts drifted towards this scenario. Staring out the window as we approached the edge of Birmingham, I envisioned the train barrelling down the high embankment into a container yard, charging through forklift trucks and towers of crates to the sound of people screaming. It was at this point, mid-daydream, that the offensively loud tannoy system announced our impending arrival in Birmingham, coinciding with the end of the song I'd been listening to, causing me to almost leap out of my seat with a shocked yelp of "WHATHU
FUCK!?" This is what listening to Git Some's debut album [i]Cosmic Rock[i] on public transport will do to you.
To be quite honest, the vast majority of the eleven fairly brief tracks on
Cosmic Rock are like a mini-soundtrack to such a disastrous event, relentless and fantastically spazzed-out as they are. Rather surprisingly for a band that are billed as featuring ex-members of
Planes Mistaken For Stars (who were known for both the gruff emo of their early work, and then for more dark, brooding rock jams), the band play a dirty, wild-eyed hybrid of hardcore and rock'n'roll, that'll appeal as much to fans of the likes of
Drive Like Jehu as it will to those who worship at the altar of "Impetus"-era
Clutch. And as the band themselves are keen to point out, there's also a significant
Black Flag influence going on here.
Git Some don't
fuck about, with opener "Glowing Shadows" riding in on a wave of feedback, before the entire band clatter into gear, throwing down a gloriously off-kilter riff beneath the immediate presence of vocalist Luke's tortured yelling. "Trixie Loves Misty" comes on like a car chase with it's siren-like main riff and frantic pace, and guitarist Chuck deserves some sort of award, because the riff that opens "Fabric Eyes" is about the most amazingly twisted piece of guitar-abuse I've heard this year! The undoubted highlight of the album is "Impending Zombie Apocalypse" which, more so than any of the other tracks, exemplifies the whole whole "runaway train" vibe I talked about earlier, employing the tiniest hint of (shock, horror!) melody in the guitarwork to great effect about a minute into the song, while not for one second implying that everything isn't about to fall apart at the seams.
For a band who claim to factor weed money into their tour budget, there's little of the lethargic, groove-ridden stoner-riffing one might expect; their sound is rather more like what you'd expect to hear if that mad meth-addict who hangs on street corners shouting at traffic were to start a band, and frankly, it's this eye-bulging intensity that gives
Cosmic Rock it's edge. With that in mind, it's little surprise that when the band fail to keep this up, the quality drops; "That's Just Eczema" is a more mid-paced number that flails around a bit, but ultimately doesn't really go anywhere. Occasionally, the band's frantic approach works against them, and a couple of tracks ("Wish Cigarette" and "Buckle Up") go past unnoticed. I was going to cite Luke's barely-coherent and largely tuneless yelling as something of a weakness, but when the band really get into the swing of things on tracks like "Chainsaw Clothesline" (which is TOTALLY as badass as it's title!), it's hard to imagine any other sort of vocal approach having the same satisfyingly chaotic effect. That said, it took a few listens for me to warm to his vocal style, so it's probably something of an acquired taste.
Overall,
Cosmic Rock is a brief but satisfying listen, and one that gives the listener the overwhelming urge to
fuck s
hit proverbially right up. Despite it's weaknesses, it's a hell of a debut offering and one that should see Git Some gain many fans. If they can maintain the bulging-vein-on-the-forehead energy they exude throughout most of the album, and refine their songwriting a little, their next album could quite possibly be a modern punk classic. Or a massive
fucking wreck. Or with a bit of luck, both.
3.6/5
