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Our single of the week (22nd January 2010)
...according to our Business Lady on Thu 21 Jan, 2010.
Upset The Rhythm have a lot of good bands doing the rounds at the moment with The Sticks being one of my favourite. Hailing from Brighton and capable of making an unearthly racket, The Sticks are the UK's Thee Oh Sees, mixing classic garage rock with 60's psychedlia and 70's new wave influences to create an irresistible noise. With ten songs split over four sides of 7" wax, this s/t release is practically an album with band mixing things up as much as they can. 'On the Run' and 'One & the Same' are pure psych rock, 'Radio' sounds like a lost crust punk gem and closing number 'Giant Strides' takes Gang of Four's sparse logic and runs with it. Known for their stand up drum style, unashamed amateurism and passion for shonky, unreliable equipment, The Sticks overcome these adversities to deliver an amazing selection of tunes, comparable to Coach Whips and Blacks Lips as much as The Raincoats or Wire. Amazing. Also available on CD.* THE STICKS are a stripped down garage party band from Brighton. They bash drums, sway on the bass and claw at guitar – often swapping over instruments between songs live - and yelp with melodic abandon and delight. The Sticks were recently dubbed as 'semi-amateur', this may be true. With cheap, unreliable equipment they manage to tease out a cacophony of crashing drums and raucous guitar melodies. The key elements of the duo's sound are undoubtedly drawn from the rudimentary ideas found in the more inept efforts of mid-sixties teen bands such as The Chimney Sweeps and The Keggs, as well as their modern day equivalents The Black Lips, The Coachwhips or The Hospitals, say.
* Finally arriving with their debut self-titled full length, The Sticks have blown the roof off last year's 10" record and a number of 7 singles. Now a trio, the band's sound is more curious than ever. Recorded in an old community hall in Brighton with rudimentary equipment, these songs bounce off the walls with inventive urgency. Thumping deconstructions of 60s Punk riffage give way to more moody bass driven post-punk clatter. These arrangements are certainly crude in nature reflecting the group's limited abilities as musicians, but it is this unpolished approach that draws the listener into the whole potentiality of the music making process.
* FOR FANS OF: The Black Lips, Hands on Heads, No Age, KIT
* TRACKLIST:
1. On The Run 2. Don't Sit on The Porch 3. Airwaves 4.On The Sea 5. Bored 6. Pongs 7. One And The Same 8. Interim 9. Earshot 10. Nothing Song 11. I'm Wrong 12. Messing Around 13. Slam Party 14. Honkey Time 15. Got Me 16.Regal Like 17. Live In A Town 18. Night Of Pleasure 19. Morning-King 20. Giant
Strides 2x7 inch Track Listing
1. On The Run 2.One And The Same 3. Earshot 4. Pongs 5. Airwaves 6. Honkey Time 7. Slam Party 8. Messing Around 9. I'm Wrong 10. Giant Strides
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Norman Records,
Unit 20, Croydon House,
Croydon Street,
Leeds,
LS11 9RT, UK.
Tel/fax: (+44) 0113 245 4399
Email: phil@normanrecords.com
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