On Hungry Ghost Violent Soho serves up meaty slabs of melodic, punk-inflected alternative rock with an ample layer of scuzz. There is a bit of Smashing Pumpkins as a touchstone, but this Brisbane group is more immediate and less studied. Perhaps a better reference are the glory days of The Pixies or Mudhoney. And while the themes reflect anxiety about one's place in the community, what's important and other concerns of young people figuring out their world, the riffs come heavy and fuzzy, the rhythm is propulsive and the pace is aggressive. After listening to this album a number of times, my conclusions are (1) this is the best album of this genre I have heard in a long, long time; and (2) it really is an appealingly intelligent album, musically and lyrically - don't be fooled by the grungy style. Violent Soho deserves to go to the head of its class.
Below are the three singles from Hungry Ghost. The first is presented via the official video.
Violent Soho is Luke Boerdam, James Tidswell, Luke Henery and Michael Richards. Hungry Ghost is out now via I Oh You.
Website
I Oh You (label)
Original? No. Innovative? No. Fun, 90's pixies/pumpkins grunge? Hell yeah. Totally worth the $. Fun fun fun record. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteWe can't get enough of this track over at Happy! Their newest vid is our Vid O The Week - its toootally worth a watch
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