King Tuff - King Tuff (CD)

King Tuff are the latest in a line of rock'n'pop hopefuls to dip their toes in the Sub Pop Jacuzzi party pool in the hopes of future immortality.

They open big on their sophomore release with 'Anthem', an outrageous glam stomper with the gnarliest bin-lid snare I've heard in some time. They counter this with the highly melodic sensibilities of 'Alone & Stoned' and thus lay the foundations of what's to come. It's very much a modern glam-rock record which, to me, is an odd thing to strive for in 2012. There are loads of T-Rex style riffs with that solid backbeat, acoustic guitars and anthemic phased out vocal lines. There's also moments that sound like Supergrass when they attempted a similar style on 'In It For The Money' and 'Supergrass'... Whoever sings for these lads drifts from Marc Bolan to Brian Ferry to Steve Harley to Gaz Coombes with total ease. He's got powerful lungs on him that's for sure.

I guess I can hear elements of the blissful shoegaze pop sensibility that are doing the rounds on labels like Captured Tracks and wotnot but, for the most part, we're talking full on glam revival business. Nice record but the revival doesn't stand a chance.