Violent Soho are Luke
Boerdam, James Tidswell, Luke Henery and Michael Richards. Residing from
Brisbane, the band formed in 2004. Since then they have put out four EPs, two
whole studio records, gone on to play national and international festivals,
toured around with Arctic Monkeys, been compared to the likes of Nirvana and The
Pixies and most recently to add to their list of accomplishments, been signed
to Melbourne based record label I Oh You. These guys certainly know how to pull
out the goods, with their latest LP Hungry Ghost being no exception.
Being hit with
the good ole case of artist mental block may just have been the best thing to
happen to these boys, with this most recent material possibly being some of their
best work to date.
The album is a
collective of 11 tracks and begins with ‘Dope Calypso,’ a head-banging rock
tune from start to finish, consistent of pulsated drumming while Boerdam’s
vocals soar over blistering guitar riffs. It’s a solid opening track that sets
the mood for the rest of the record.
In succession
comes track ‘Lowbrow’ also driven by stirring guitar riffage with a screeching vocal
potency to match. Conjunction with the rest of the album come tracks ‘Saramonia
Said,’ ‘OK Cathedral’ and ‘Fur Eyes’ with the drums and bass more prominent and
the vocals a lot smoother – providing some good contrast while still having
head bopping songs to go crazy to.
The album
finishes with self-titled track ‘Hungry Ghost.’ They show some diversity in
this track with the lyrics more distinct and Luke’s voice a lot clearer,
accompanied with light percussion and chords that don’t over power the vocals.
As a whole the
record is chock full of side splitting guitars and smashing drums, with ‘Gold
Coast’ and ‘In The Aisle’ being further standout tracks. You get a real
evocative vibe of Sonic Youth meets The Smashing Pumpkins when listening to it,
with the bands early 90s grunge influences notably present.
