aaamusic | On 10, Oct 2011

A lot of work must have gone into this, a collaboration  between two indie labels from opposite sides of the proverbial “pond”, Holy Roar Records from the UK and Topshelf Records from the states. An awful lot of hours, an awful lot of organising, an awful lot of artists to choose from. It’s heartening to have labels with as much faith in their stock to go to all the trouble of releasing this record, the downside is that they couldn’t have picked two more effortlessly dull bands to mash together onto one E.P. All that hardwork gone to waste.

 

Let’s elaborate. The bands here are New York’s Sirs and Winchester’s run,WALK, who, respectively, peddle a strange mix of landfill indie and Pixies-esque squall with the production values of a four year old and the kind of hyperactive tech-metal that in this case neither excites or scares, just mildly irritates. Hopefully that’s not the point of it. The strange thing is neither of the four songs on offer, two from either act, are in any way, shape or form, memorable. This reporter has listened to them many times out of sheer obligation and he still has to think to remind himself which song is by which band. And this is a real shame, I want to like this a hell of a lot, this kind of release is the reason Indie Labels are such a treasure, it’s just a crying shame that in this case, both labels involved have dropped the ball in spectacular fashion.

 

Author: Will Howard