CD Review: Baddies - Build

Written by Peer Lebrecht Friday, 04 May 2012 08:28

Artist: Baddies
Title: Build
Genre: Indie Rock
Release Date: 12th March 2012
Label: Medical Records

Album Review

Started as a new spark of hope in the welkin of Indie Rock, the BADDIES managed it to ascend to a state of being an inherent part of the British Independent scene, praised by the press and revered by its audience, and all that in a period, that felt like a wink of the eye. Although their name isn’t that big thing here on the European mainland yet, their references are reading like a Rock’n’Roll-To-Do-list: festivals like Glastonbury, Melt! and Roskilde, expanded tours through Europe, Asia and Australia and complaisant reviews in the Guardian and the Times... and they have just begun!

The success story started in 2007 in a little village of Southend near London, when the twins Michael and Jim Webster formed up the band with the claim to celebrate a so called “high-energy” Indie Rock, that found its first noticeable shape in the 2008 single ‘Battleships’, what led to the above mentioned statement in the Times magazine of a sound like a “clash between the Beastie Boys and The Pixies, with a pinch of the Klaxons”. Honoured with a record deal, the band released their debut album ‘Do the Job’ in 2009, whose musical and media-related vibrancies pushed them on a tremendous tour with about 180 shows in one year, increasing their reputation and the number of admirers. And so it’s almost a miracle that their congested schedule granted moments of creativity, but the evidence of that is named ‘Build’ and comes to light these days.

Produced by Sean Genockey (Manic Street Preachers), this package of 10 songs reveals what “high energy” means in the bands own musical lexis. Sawing and slapping guitars are cutting the air like bullets, tireless drums are hunting through the attics of celerity, distorted basses are splattering the canvas and the vocals barks and steams, dissects like a fresh sharpened blade. There’s a pattern to perceive (continued from their debut), what includes harsh and edgy verses in combination with catchy choruses, energetic roughness with melodious harmony (unveiling in songs like ‘Bronto’, the opener ‘Rewire’ or ‘Talk to Me Germany’). It’s hard to find a defined place to stand (or a reason to get bored), cause you feel whirled around between moments of THE HORRORS and GREEN DAY, between the KAISER CHIEFS and THE HIVES.

Besides the main ingredients of Rock’n’Roll and Punk it’s the stylistic variety, that keeps the album breathing. ‘Star Surfing’ (one of the albums best moments) is a sedated reflection, hiding a great intensity and melody under a surface of wave-like leisureliness. Or ‘The Lightmen’ with its cornered rhythms and leaden bass-line, coated with a menacing but harmonic singing, mouthing in an abundant, easy to grasp chorus. ‘Build’ deceives with its first impression, cause behind that cavalry of distortion and staccato three’s an open range of stylistics and morals, a relief, what brings fun to discover.


Tracklist

01. Rewire
02. Man Made Man
03. Mind Machines
04. The Lightmen
05. Excess Energy
06. Talk To Me Germany
07. Centurion
08. These Animals
09. Bronto
10. Star Surfing


Line-up

Michael Webster – Vocals, Guitars
Jim Webster – Drums, Vocals
Simon Bellamy – Guitars, Vocals
Danny Rowton – Bass, Vocals


Website

http://www.listentobaddies.co.uk/


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10


Buy the album here!