Cougar Microbes

Slow Club are long overdue a mention on these pages given that they havebeen a regular fixture at Cougar HQ since its release. The Sheffield band have been dubbed as the new White Stripes in some quarters but I find that comparison slightly lazy.

Yes they are boy/girl duo, Yes Rebecca Taylor plays the drums whilst Charles Watson rocks a guitar but…whilst the Detroit heroes have patented their garage rock sound, Slow Club operate in a different yet equally interesting territory.

Their debut ‘Yeah So’ introduces an intimate folk sound and a shade of 60′s optimism in a way not too dissimilar to The Magic Numbers and She & Him. Both in terms of vocals and deliver these are far more apt comparison in my mind.

The band head out on a tour of Japan early next month which should well received. Meanwhile with countless live shows scheduled closer to home I am keen to catch their next performance.

‘Yeah So‘ is out now on Moshi Moshi.

TRACKS

Slow Club – Giving Up On Love

I find it difficult to be impartial about a group who have named themselves after the best left-back football has ever known. Screaming Maldini clearly know world class when they see it parading around a football pitch in a red and black striped shirt. However, do they have the expertise to compare with the majesty of their namesake in a parallel musical universe? It’s certainly a big ask.

Alcopop, landlords to Wolf Am I and My First Tooth, are the label to have taken the leap of faith in the Sheffield six-piece. On the evidence of five-track EP ‘And The Kookaburra’ the leap is anything but a blind one.

From the get-go the words that spring to mind are ‘angular’, ‘melodic’, ‘orchestration’ and most certainly ‘pop’. Screaming Maldini are experimental with song structures, as you would want your emerging artists to be, without disappearing up their own buttock valleys. They weave rock breakdowns into pop songs as effortlessly as they drop atmospheric horn sections and light percussion over their boy/girl harmonies.

Often with EPs it is difficult to know how many ideas an artist has left in the bank and hence how they would transfer their energy to a full length. Screaming Maldini show enough variety within each track, from opener ‘Secret Sounds’ to closer ‘Miniatures’, to reassure the doubter that they could make the transition with the greatest of ease.

These folks are definitely worthy of that oldest of clichés used pretty much whenever referring to emerging artists; ‘ones to watch out for’. Having said that, I’d still rather have good old Paolo over to dinner.

‘And The Kookaburra‘ is out now on Alcopop Records

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Post by Kenny the World Cup medal winner.

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TRACKS:

Screaming Maldini – The Extraordinary