Twinkie - Twinkie

  by Alex Halls

published: 24 / 6 / 2005

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Twinkie’s self-titled debut album, which has come out on Californian-based label Avebury Records, aims to mix the absurd within a range of rock-oriented, distorted guitaring. Together since 1996; Moo (vocals, bass); Debbie (vocals, guitar); Dave (guitar); and Elvis (drums), from Derby in the East Midlands, don’t lack originality. They, however, lack the necessary quality on this fifteen track record to appear to know what it are. Certainly there are a fair few songs, but the fifteenth track, which is untitled, is a badly recorded live song which is compounded, on the album, by vocals that are often hard to make out above the hyperactive guitars. What is disappointing is that songs like 'On the Verge of Moral Collapse' and 'To Do Is to Be, To Be Is to Do' seem to have no identifiable structure. In failing to organize the songs in an accessible way, Twinkie begins to sound like kids having a good time bashing their instruments in their parent’s garage rather than an outfit that has just had a record released. This raw sound may well be attractive to some but with that comes the danger of allowing the listener to lose interest immediately and, despite persevering, it sincerely goes little further in rescuing the dire impression initially formed. Through the haze brief moments of value do occasionally occur, such as in T'his Is Your Enemy Taking Over the World' where it all begins to sound neat and intelligible. The female vocals, at times, are soothing and reminiscent of the once popular Lush, giving the listener something to enjoy amongst all the banging and crazy riffs. Yet Twinkie try their best to add some gruff vocals to ruin what would have otherwise made for a few decent songs and ultimately lack the ability to pull in more than a few listeners. Genre experimentation should be welcomed for the impact it has had on music of late, reviving styles that had been left behind in the past. As with all experiments, one has to go slightly wrong eventually, which leaves Twinkie’s album sounding rather messy and, therefore, difficult to listen to in just the one sitting. In my opinion the sound simply just doesn’t work. Any positives taken from the album are few and far between. Credit does have to be given to Twinkie for doing something different even if it does mean extracting morsels from The Pixies’ style. If this is meant to be serious then there are serious shortcomings but, if it is meant to be fun, then it serves its purpose a little better.

Track Listing:-

1 Hi Lo Medium
2 Mr Pierre
3 Mondomingo
4 On The Verge Of Moral Collapse
5 To Do Is To Be, To Be Is To Do
6 This Is Your Enemy Taking Over The World
7 Crime
8 Our Man D.A.V.E.
9 Dick Cave
10 3743
11 Aardvark Barracuda Columbian
12 Chaff The Queen
13 Guess The Weight Of My Wife The Horse
14 TK-1
15 Secret Track

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