Adam Cresswell first came to the attention of alternative music fans as a member of Saloon. Between the late 90s and mid 00’s, the British band carved out a musical niche mixing elements of post punk, hard edged indie and Krautrock. Their use of angular riffs and vintage synths created something abrasive but distinctive, and the best moments on their 2003 release ‘If We Meet In The Future’ made it very easy to understand why Saloon’s blend of Neu!, Stereolab and Cinerama made them a John Peel favourite.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Punk Me Up: A Tribute To The Rolling Stones
From Cleopatra Records, the label that gave you ‘Punk Floyd’, a punk tribute to Pink Floyd, comes ‘Punk Me Up: A Punk Tribute To The Rolling Stones’, a release that brings together many of the same bands, and applies a similar no-frills approach to the material in hand. The presence of the same names here strongly suggests that the material was likely recorded at the same sessions for the Floyd tribute and for the fans of some of those acts – Jah Wobble, Fear, Angry Samoans, Skids, et al – their return here will be welcome, since this is another release that potentially offers a couple of interesting collection fillers.
STRAIGHT RED – Love Ain’t Enough… EP
Bringing together members of Heavy Temple, Morgul Blade and intensive noise-makers Narcos Family Band, Straight Red is a US-based hardcore punk outfit who are obsessed with British OI! punk and football – or as the Yanks call it, “soccerrr”. The mix of influences and talents doesn’t bode very well from the outset. A lot of OI! punk – a fixture during the second wave of punk in the UK – as its name suggests, eschews many of the genre’s better elements in favour of gang based shouting designed to rouse the crowd, and the football theme applies a concept here that further reduces any broader appeal the punky material might have had. Luckily, at just six tracks and just a little shy of fifteen minutes, as irksome as this EP is in places, it’s a musical assault that’s mercifully brief.
KUROKUMA – Of Amber And Sand
Ever since their inception, UK metal band Kurokuma have set about creating uncompromising riffs. Their self financed debut ‘Advorsus’ introduced the band with a world of sludge and hardcore infused sounds that made the likes of Conan seem a bit soppy, and their 2022 full length release ‘Born of Obsidian’, with the aid of a larger recording budget, found Joe E. Allen and the lads mixing doom and sludge with elements of world music, extreme stoner and more besides. Granted, the results would still seem rather hard on the ears to the metal-averse, but it certainly presented a more confident band.
DEATHWISH – The Fourth Horseman
Deathwish’s 2017 long player ‘Unleash Hell’ presented almost half an hour’s worth of full throttle thrills. With song titles like ‘Live Fast Live Forever’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is One Hell of A Drug’ and ‘Watch You Burn’ doing some extremely heavy lifting, the best material shared a no-nonsense sound that blended the speed driven sounds of ‘Overkill’ era Motorhead with classic Supersuckers, and threw in a few thrash metal tones for good measure.