Penny For The Workhouse have attracted attention by performing a spirited cover of ‘Pick a Pocket’ from Oliver in their live sets. That and their choice of band name should give you at least some idea of where this quirky London band’s main interests lie. Their self-named brand of folk ‘n’ roll is occasionally spiky, sometimes upbeat and has the cheeky charm of a stage school pick-pocket. However, like the kid who learnt their craft at stage school, their performances often seem contrived and try too hard to impress, rather than just tapping into a natural talent. The five tracks on ‘Sneaky Peekers’ – the band’s second release – are lo-fi and hard going, but nothing if not spirited. Not that those high spirits will help at all should Lionel Bart’s estate come knocking – in that instance, they won’t have the Dickensian orphan’s song(s) to fall back on for too long should those guys get wind of the live show…
Tag Archives: bad music
JORN – Heavy Rock Radio
Possessed with one of the biggest voices in rock – possibly the biggest, alongside his regular collaborator Russell Allen – Jorn Lande has carved out a career with some great releases over the years. His place as Dio’s natural successor is very much assured due to a few albums of self-penned material often presenting well-honed performances. He’s also fond of a cover tune or six: his 2010 album ‘Dio’, in particular, did exactly what it said on the tin, with Lande putting his stamp on tunes originally brought into the public eye by the late, great Ronnie James, the results meeting critical acclaim. Some six years on from his Dio-fest, Lande’s eleventh studio album ‘Heavy Rock Radio’ finds the huge voiced Norwegian wheeling out more covers. This time, however, the results are sometimes questionable. So questionable in places, the disc could have perhaps been subtitled “Jesus Christ, How Did This Happen?”. The answer to that should-be-rhetorical question, of course, simply being “because he’s Jorn Lande”. As most people know, with Jorn you only get Jorn, and that means – whatever the material in hand – it’s very much a case of “dials up to eleven and needle in the red” all the way. In this respect, he’s very much made each of the cuts his own, but frankly, his choices don’t always work.
AMERICAN KILLERS – Young Blood EP
Formerly known as Lite Brite until the threat of legal action necessitated a name change, Sacramento’s American Killers are anything but delicate. Set to bring back various old school rock styles on their debut EP, this three piece band are loud, brash and subtle as bricks. What they aren’t is very good. These five songs show off a lot of bravado and volume, but are ultimately the work of four musicians who understand nothing about range or emotion.
UNUSUAL USELESS – And You Shall Use Less
Unusual Useless bill themselves as an “Unusual Chilean Band”, which seems quite fitting, since they’re a band not so easy to pigeonhole and they’re a band who have no clear idea of their own musical identity. That would be cool, if like some, they managed to push boundaries with their art. As it is, on their 2015 release ‘And You Shall Use Less’, they start out as a jangly indie rock outfit, but it’s not long before they give up on that and wheel out the ukuleles and hammer us with twee pop-folk that’s, in the main, so poorly formed you’ll have to wonder who’d want to even listen. Being in a band should be fun, and sometimes it’s clear they’ve got that right, but the twelve tracks that form this LP are by and large a genuine chore to listen to. As such, Unusual Useless all too often come across as an unprofessional mess.
SKINNY LISTER – Down On Deptford Broadway
Skinny Lister will be known to some as a band who’ve shared a label and toured with Frank Turner; to others, a band who’ve made regular appearances at festivals, their quasi-drunken jigs designed to gee up those unwashed tent dwellers well on their way to having a skinful of Doom Bar. …And “designed” is somewhat of a sticking point here. Where you may feel The Pogues had a natural flair for drunken gigs and aggressive performances – it’s well documented that the Pogues bought the party with them wherever, whenever necessary – with Skinny Lister, any relative rowdiness seems very much a facade. Like Bellowhead (a bunch of public schoolboys trying to fool us into thinking they have deep traditions and folk roots) or Mumford & Sons (folk music for those who know almost nothing about folk music), Skinny Lister often sound as if they’re landing on their chosen bandwagon with a mighty thud. The bulk of ‘Down on Deptford Broadway’ is faux folk of the very worst kind.