Various - Howlback Hum: We're From Norwich Vol#1

  by Anthony Dhanendran

published: 25 / 1 / 2005

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Review

A compilation of Norwich bands. Not a sentence likely to set hearts a-flutter, but it’s worth persevering, because there are some choice finds hidden here. It starts off well, with the punky electro-indie of ‘Ubahn’ by Teknikov – Norfolk’s answer to Le Tigre, by the sounds of this track. Postalowa’s ‘Okin’ is spaced-out electronic post-rock, while ‘Kiki Keep Me Company’ by Bearsuit is a more familiar-sounding thrashy indie number. Rocknrollband live up to their name, delivering a drunken slice of Rolling Stones funky rock. The Rebeccas are a laid back affair, ‘Dark Blue Paintings’ being a pretty, haunting analysis of a relationship, delivered with crystalline clarity by a two-part female harmony. ‘Tamlyn End’ by Horses Brawl ploughs a similar furrow but is a wordless, strings-led affair. Olinski offer up a quirky song made from what sounds like the Japanese versions of the indie-market hawkers to be found outside most gigs. More usual pickings can be had from the male-female dual vocals at the centre of Le Tetsuo’s ‘Nickers’, an indie-rock workout of sorts. Hyper Kinako’s track ‘Biker Liker’ is a bizarre conconction of what sounds like mid-European vocals, Casio keyboard tones and the sound of a car crash outside. Monooo n Mono provide a track titled, enticingly, ‘Live at the Trowel and Hammer’, which turns out to be a long (for this album, anyway), slow, trance-like post-rock workout. It comes across as somewhere in the middle of Spiritualized, Mogwai and Eno. Magoo, on the other hand – favourites of the late John Peel – deliver a disturbingly jaunty lo-fi number with a likewise disturbing Vincent Price voiceover. ‘Conch Rock’ by Tonkyl is pleasant enough laid-back bleepy guitar music, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. Finally, ‘Diabolique’ by the Gore Vidals has echoes of Chris T-T crossed with a slowed-down Fall, almost. Like all compilations trying to make sense of local scenes, this isn’t a coherent, or consistent, record. But it is vibrant and fun, and it hammers home the point that, musically at least, there is life outside the M25.

Track Listing:-

1 Teknikov- Ü-bahn
2 PostaLowa- Okin
3 Bearsuit- Kiki Keep Me Company (‘Lisa’s Special’ Mix)
4 Sunday Music- Live At The Playhouse Bar 21/12/03
5 Rocknrollband- I Want U, Baby
6 The Rebeccas- Dark Blue Paintings
7 Elsub- Handyman
8 Horses Brawl- Tamlyn End
9 Olinski, Toko- 7” T Shirt
10 Le Tetsuo- Nickers
11 Hyper Kinako- Bika Lika
12 Mono On Mono- Live At The Trowel And Hammer 15 Sept 2002
13 Magoo- Banana Custard
14 Tonkl- Conch Rock
15 The Gore Vidals- Diabolique