The first thing on my mind, whenever stumbling upon another mod revival band, is: “In the name of Mod, please make this NOT to be another bunch of Jam soundalikes”.
Even though they do look the part, which IS a good thing, and is something that’s hard to avoid, along with the obligatory Rickenbacker, these Italian ragazzi seem to know better. In fact, they make it pretty much clear right from the very opening of the set, with the Syd-fronted Floyd-ish psychedelia of My Mind In Four Sights.
More than often, they also seem to lean towards the garage punk sounds of the mid’60s America, complete with fuzzed out riffs, screaming Farfisa and an occasional wailing harp (I Can’t Stand Your Love, Torpedo Woman, Don’t Call Me (On The Phone), Just Feelin Alright), or minor-chord Zombie-moods as covered by teen-punks.
On the lighter side of psych, Do The Shimmy Shimmy Duck sounds alarmingly strawberry-flavoured, The End Of Love is halfway between blue-eyed soul and Britpop, while Hot Teardrops On The Floor definitely takes it back to the British side of the approach to the same lysergic matter.
However, it’s the freaky beat artistry that these Four (occasionally five) seem to find themselves the most comfortable at, as heard in Sleep All Day, One More Time or Why People Are Standing?, as well as in the more r’n’b based, but just as freaked out I Can’t Wait Till Midnight (think The Small Faces Watcha Gonna Do About It), It’s So Hard (think The Downliners Sect’s Diddley beat), and my own pick of the bunch, is the jazzy r’n’b sound by way of Lindsay Muir’s Untamed of Don’t Mess Without Judas.
They’re said to be back in the studio these days, so let’s wait and see if they’ve gotten more modern, or even more MODern.
[Released by Area Pirata 2008]
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