Album Reviews |

The Savage Nomads

Related Artists - Arctic Monkeys, Wire, Big Youth
Related Genres - Alternative

Coloured Clutter 8 ( 2011 )
A Statement / Tge Shamanic Verses / The Magic Eye / Subsides The Shakes / A Dire Love / A Dire Dub / What The Angel Said / Pineapple / A Burnt Out Case / Eternal Elizabeth / An Empty Seat / Part One / Dickie Greenleaf

This young band of late teenagers fill out their album with a variety of influences which end up hard to pin down. The opening 'A Statement' is just that, a couple of minutes of instrumental that draws in dub, dance, ambient and something else hard to define. The album is a bit like that as a whole, in a scene filled with bands all trying to sound the same, Savage Nomads seemingly revel in not sounding the same. 'The Shamanic Verses' sounds a little Big Audio Dynamite, a little Wire, a little Public Image Limited and a lot 'something else'. It's not music to dance to, sing along with. It's music that manages to hypnotise you - and when Savage Nomads are at their best, they do exactly that. We should note that this is just their debut album, an impressive one, but bands do tend to be judged on delivery and not potential these days. Yes, they deliver but no, this probably isn't Savage Nomads 'Sgt Peppers'. If The Beatles were allowed four years to progress to their finest work, let's hope Savage Nomads are allowed that same time and understanding to artistically progress, because so many bands these days are strangled at birth by a combination of no radio-play and a UK music press who seemingly delight in tearing down any new band who dare to be different for longer than 5 seconds. 'The Magic Eye' was the first single taken from 'Coloured Clutter' and it sounds nothing at all like either of the first two tracks. I like bands who do that kind of thing and where did that Public Image Limited comparison even come from, you might wonder? Well, 'Magic Eye' alone echoes back to the first two Public Image albums where musical freedom outweighed any attempt at cashing in on the success on The Sex Pistols. This takes me back to a lot of local/semi-national alternative bands in the UK. All they want to do is sound like Oasis did ten years ago. That's not really progress.

When the almighty John Peel passed away the guys in Savage Nomads were probably around 13 years old. Listening to 'Coloured Clutter' is like listening to a half-hour segment of John Peel's shows back in the early nineties when he'd play everything next to each other, from Roy Orbision to an unlistenable thrash song lasting 20 seconds to King Tubby Dub Reggae to Pavement to something else you not heard before and then a ten minute long dance track so obscure you'd be absolute certain you'd never hear it again, not even played by him. 'Subsides The Shakes' has echoes of African guitar music, a strong and melodic bass (hooray!) and vocals that are somewhat spiky without resorting to anger. Angular, Talking Heads style music, you might say. 'A Dire Love' and 'A Dire Dub' are the kind of things I like. An electro indie tune followed by a 90 second long Reggae inspired 'dub'. Maybe a few songs towards the second half of the album fall slightly flat, but 'An Empty Seat' isn't one of them, it's like The Futureheads never ceased to be relevant. The closing 'Dickie Greenleaf' also impresses, a near seven minute long slice of sheer ambition.

Add A Comment?