slumberland records

PopMatters

Since its formation in 2003, English trio Sarandon has consisted of singer/guitarist Crayola and a rotating cast of bassists and drummers. After recording a whopping five EPs, Crayola finally found a stable rhythm section to craft a proper full-length with. It’s a good one, too: bassist Alan Brown used to play in Big Flame, whose jumpy, jangly indie-pop is a major template for Sarandon’s sound, and drummer Tom Greenhalgh navigates the songs’ relentless stop-start syncopations with heretofore unmatched speed and dexterity. Kill Twee Pop! starts on a bad note with the atonal title track (talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy!), but the other 11 songs definitely compensate. These caffeinated, catchy tunes tell terse tales of loneliness, jealousy and embarrassment. There’s the man whose ex-girlfriend’s life improves after she leaves him, much to his chagrin (“Remember Mavis?”), the woman who covertly hits on her son’s friends (“Very Flexible”), the man who finds a film of himself getting beaten up by skinheads on YouTube (“Good Working Practice”), etc. Fans of aggressive yet distortion-free punk-pop (Minutemen, Fire Engines, Futureheads) just might have a new favorite band!

- Sean Padilla

One Kind Radio

Waking up at six am after a night of too much wine and being over worked I have a hang over that just doesn’t want to disappear. My normal before work morning routine consists of making a pot of coffee and throwing on the poppiest pop rock you can stand, but this morning, fuck all that. Instead I throw on Sarandon’s Kill Twee Pop! in favor for an album that fits my mood: chaotic and spastic.

Oh how my ears love how Sarandon goes back to the days when you took three instruments, guitar, drums and bass turned them into post-punk goodness. Forget the effin’ accordion, violin and hand claps every other second, instead I’ll wake up to some jagged guitars and insane bass and drum work.

Crayola, Tom Greenhalgh, Alan Brown make up Sarandon and these three talented musicians bring us one of my favorite albums of the year, Kill Twee Pop! The album starts straight-away with my favorite and title track, “Kill Twee Pop!” and then fall into a slew of post-punk jangling indie insanity. “Completists Library” is another stand out track, reminiscent of The Fall and “The Discotheque Is My Lover” should not be overlooked.

Why this album is not represented all over the mp3 blogs is beyond me, because this Kill Twee Pop! just made my top ten for the year, if not the decade. (RIYL: The Fall, Gang of Four, Mission of Burma)

- Xtine

In Love With These Times In Spite of These Times

And we should also mention here Sarandon's Kill Twee Pop! album, also on Slumberland, even if it's been out long enough for many of you to have grabbed already. For Sarandon are simply one of the best British bands out there at the moment, both live and on record, and this their debut album proper (after the 28-track "Completist's Library" whetted appetites) merely proves it, both including and building on the finery of last year's "Joe's Record" 45 as they move towards (marginally) longer, but still infinitely spiky and sprightly, numbers. It's hard to describe their sound without (a) confirming that it ain't twee pop, and (b) reeling off a list of names of our favourite 80s awkward squad bands plus perhaps 90s' outsiders like the Yummy Fur and second-phase Beatnik Filmstars, so we'll restrict ourselves to saying that if you liked any one or more of the bands on the superb "Commercially Unfriendly" compilation, this will probably be one of the most exciting records you trip across this year.

Clash Magazine

First comes first - no band fronted by a man who goes by the name of Crayola has any right to be good. In these days of identikit indie bands, where the slightest variation on the theme is heralded as groundbreaking, such a moniker could easily be the sign of a "zany frontman." I believe marketers call this a Unique Selling Point. Modern indie is dependent on such a thing. The irony is that Sarandon will never grace any top tens, have their backs slapped at awards shows or record an album with Mark Ronson. Because, quite frankly, they are above all that. Their post-punk sound may share a lineage with with Josef K, The Fire Engines, etc, but whereas their influences ran out of steam as soon as Franz Ferdinand came along, Sarandon make it fresh and exciting.

SoundsXP

Back in the 1980s when the world was young, John Peel would frequently play music that was a cavalcade of noise: discordant, declamatory, ear stabbing, tautly rhythmic and often uncomfortable. Eventually, NME issued a cassette called C86, at least half of which was made up of music like this but for some strange reason became synonymous evermore with whiny and wan anorak-pop. That was unfair on bands like The Mackenzies, Shrub, Big Flame and Bogshed. But you can’t keep a fierce sound down and now Sarandon are making music that gets certain people misty-eyed at the thought of a new Wolfhounds. It helps that Crayola, one of the troika at the heart of Sarandon, knows his shronk-pop history and is out to restore the spikiness and anger that 'C86' once possessed, beginning with track 1, side 1. Kill Twee Pop! slaps down the presumptions and pretentions of the polka dotters and bowlcutters by sending up the whole 'so uncool we're cool' crowd.

There follows another 11 quick songs with abrupt endings, only one of which dares to break the three minute mark. My favourites are "The Discotheque is My Lover," a colourful riot of scratchy pop with shades of the Fire Engines, and the tender but twisted "Joe’s Record" but what all these songs have are edgy, stabbing, stop-start post-punk rhythms that distort the idea of pop about 180 degrees. There's much wit too, with the band smart-mouthing everything from happy slapping gang cultures ("Good Working Practice") to internet relationships ("Mike's Dollar") and the foolish sport of drunk dialling ("Welcome"). Both for restoring the reputation of a certain strand of 80s indiepop and in making refreshingly askew new music with a wicked sense of humour, Sarandon ought to be applauded.

- Ged M

Indie MP3

One of the most anticipated LPs of the year (well, by me at least) has finally landed. It's due for release in the USA on Slumberland Records on June 2nd [sic] (I can't see a UK release mentioned anywhere) on 10" blue vinyl and CD.

The title that Sarandon have chosen for their début LP is provocative. It's called Kill Twee Pop!. That's going to polarise opinion, before most people have even heard a note. It will have some of current indiepop fans on the defensive from the off. Whereas, it instantly gets this old codgers seal of approval. All before hearing a note from the LP as well. We're a judgemental lot, aren't we? As the band try and explain the title of the record is not aimed against indiepop per se - the press release that accompanies this CD states Sarandon are on a mission to save indie from wetness, knee jerk posturing and careless cardigan wearing and this is a fine manifesto by me. You only need to trace the routes of the word 'twee' in this indiepop context and you can see it was never meant to be worn as a badge of honour. But I digress - this is supposed to be a review of a record.

After the compilation The Completist's Library which collected together 5 earlier Sarandon EPs and was released in 2006 - this is the first 'proper' LP from Sarandon - and Crayola and his cohorts (Tom Greenhalgh - drums and Alan Brown - Bass) have made something a little bit special. It's packed full of tunes, jerky riffs, jagged guitars, great lyrics and all round excellence. This record is the essence what great guitar pop is all about. Often when music has an abrasive edge, tunes are usually a forgotten ingredient - And Sarandon are acutely aware of this - so Kill Twee Pop comes packed to the gills with hummable tunes. Every song on Kill Twee Pop! is meshed together from memorable melodies and hook-tastic riffs.

The LP starts with the song 'Kill Twee Pop!' amid scatter gun drums and an incessant guitar riff. They all propel this song along and I am soon to be found nodding furiously in appreciation. I'd never of thought it possible - Sarandon even break the 3 minute barrier for the first time on 'Remember Mavis?' - a song, again, propelled by some furious drums and those ever-present jagged guitars. 'The Discotheque Is My Lover' is one of the highlights of the LP - a slightly slower paced song that manages to maintain the energy levels that the faster songs exude.

This really is one of the finest LPs I have heard in quite some time. Sure I can hear the influence of bands like Big Flame (Alan Brown was once a member, folks), The Minutemen and Fire Engines - but the band are really a lot more than mere copyists. They've honed this mid 80s indiepop sound into something as compelling as it is brilliant. I dare anyone to play this record and not start to move. There are a fistful songs on here that should be packing indiepop dance floors out. It really is that good.

- Trev Lostmusic