Sweet is incredibly reminiscent of Sonic Youth with its screeched choruses and slightly off kilter sonic arrangements whereas Hollywood Whore doesn’t leave much to the imagination and doesn’t get over-subtle in its condemnation.
Sweet is incredibly reminiscent of Sonic Youth with its screeched choruses and slightly off kilter sonic arrangements whereas Hollywood Whore doesn’t leave much to the imagination and doesn’t get over-subtle in its condemnation.
Underground Railroad – Twisted Trees
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Right people, one thing to note. This is a very energetic record, you know, one with lots of yelling and thrashing around. Its actually appealing stuff; the opener Milk and Cookies is a tremendous slab of teen angst which goes delightfully awry at some points. Sweet is incredibly reminiscent of Sonic Youth with its screeched choruses and slightly off kilter sonic arrangements whereas Hollywood Whore doesn’t leave much to the imagination and doesn’t get over-subtle in its condemnation. Its enjoyably thrashy stuff it has to be said.
Other titles should give you an indication of what shakes Underground Railroad’s tree; 16 Teenage Mom, Headache, Saddie, and Slouch all give the indication of truculent indolence (a trait I think the band are trying to cultivate). Not that that’s any bad thing, this lot can certainly rock out, and do it in a way that doesn’t grate; it’s not really a self-abasing record, rather the band’s anger is turned outwards which is refreshing. Headache is a cracking track too, building up from a slow start to become a guitar behemoth, with a breathless vocal delivery thrown in for good measure. Moments of quiet are provided by Saddie which is a maudlin track, not a million miles away from Royal Trux in style.
Be warned, it’s a noisy release, (check On the Radio and Slouch for further proof) but it’s definitely a most enjoyable listen.
Words: Richard Foster.