Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation

Oh I like this! It is messy, ebullient and not afraid to have a little bit of fun with electric guitars.

http://www.konkurrent.nl/ http://www.subpop.com/

Oh I like this! It is messy, ebullient and not afraid to have a little bit of fun with electric guitars. Devil’s A –Go-Go is a splinter-fest of growling guitars and squeaking vocals that suddenly thinks its better to sound like a Peter Hammill record; but only for about 20 seconds, mind. Wild Mountain Nation is a great high pitched rallying cry. There is a feeling that attention has been paid to the odd Royal Trux record, but that has never been a bad thing. After the agreeable noodling of Futures and Folly we get the manic goosestepping of Miss Spiritual Tramp.

This is turning out to be a cracker of an LP. Woof and Warp of the Quiet Giant’s Hem kicks all previous efforts into the dirt with a deranged schlagerfest that is akin to having a pissed bear in your living room. Fabulous. Sci Fi Kid is a great attempt at writing a straight pop song (although it isn’t really, the demented electronica near the end ruins any pretension of that). Wild Mountain Nation Jam is a daft hillbilly work-out whereas Hot Tip/Tough Club is a GBV-style growl with lots of disparate noises acting as an irritant to the stumbling melody.

We get melody of a sort with The Green King Sings; indeed we get a left-field pop song par excellence, it’s tipping its hat at Townsend and Doug Gillard in equal measure. Summer Town is a pleasant acoustic interval before Murder Babe (with a chord run through not a million miles away from Chaz Hatherley-era Ash) kicks the party off again in style. Not without the odd daft moment it has to be said… Country Caravan is a great country singalong whereas the fabulously named Badger’s Black Brigade is a surprisingly maudlin ending for an LP that boasts such vim and vigour. Still, a must have if you want to let your hair down in style.

Words: Richard Foster