The opening track, and recent single, ‘Hologram’ sets the tone for This Mess Is A Place.  I hesitate to call Tacocat’s sound “pop punk” because of the baggage that tag carries with it.  They are far removed from the shrill, over-produced, homogenised, production line mentality one associates with that genre but they are nonetheless a pop band who play with a punk approach.  The palm-muted power chords, heavy choruses and three part harmonies all suggest pop punk without becoming it.  They blend indie singer-songwriter lyrics and melodies with power pop choruses, and play grungy guitars under it all. 

The grunge label is one that fits This Mess Is A Place much more comfortably.  It helps that it’s being released on Seattle’s Sub Pop label too.  With the variety of styles and multiple songwriters, the record sounds like a mixtape of ‘90s alternative rock with Weezer songs followed by The Breeders, and The Raincoats next to Veruca Salt.  Throw in Nirvana, Hole and The Vaselines et voila, you’ve got the new Tacocat LP.

Tacocat tread new ground on each track. Working within the confines of a basic rock guitar/bass/drums setup, they throw in some light funk a la Tom Tom Club on ‘Grains Of Salt’ to great effect. The Infectious chorus and sweet groove make if feel like Led Zeppelin’s ‘D’yer Maker’. Elsewhere we get some Ronnie Spector style vocals on current single, ‘The Joke Of Life’, over a Ramones guitar riff; very End Of The Century. The twin guitars work in counterpoint, lifting the chorus of ‘Rose Colored Sky’ to euphoric heights and ‘Crystal Ball’ is another classic pop tune, with Tacocat channelling the Buckingham/Nicks era Fleetwood Mac,but the punk roots that underlie This Mess Is A Place come to the fore on ‘Phantom’.

Finishing off the LP, ‘Miles and Miles’, shouldn’t work.  Slow ballads and distortion pedals go together as well as yesterday’s fish pie and the office microwave but somehow they manage, just about, to pull it off.  It certainly doesn’t hurt that it sounds so much like Weezer’s blue album opener ‘My Name Is Jonah’.  I reached for the skip button during the first listen but ‘Miles and Miles’ endures.  As a closing track it works, aided by the identifiable chorus, “The days dragged, but the years have flown by”

This Mess Is A Place is a sunny collection of tunes and arrives at the first weekend in May.  The timing could hardly be better.  This is best listened to while walking down sunny city streets or lazing in the garden.  Or by the pool, if you are so inclined. There isn’t a bad song on here. I have now listened to this record ten times in a row without skipping a track. That is the best recommendation I could give any album.

You can pre-order This Mess Is A Place here

What Nature Gives…Nature Takes Away is the new album from The Membranes. The band formed in 1977 and were post-punk before post-punk was a thing.  This is a long way from the “three chords and the truth” mythos of the late ‘70s with its choir, orchestral arrangements and dance elements but the “truth” part is still apposite.  The spirit of punk is present too, particularly as The Membranes have taken the template and feel of punk and cultivated it into a beast of their own conception.  It’s clear from the opening bar that this band is trying something different.  That would be interesting enough if this were a hot new act on the scene but seeing as The Membranes formed in the ashes of punk’s first wave, it’s all the more impressive.

Layered choral singing forms the hook of ‘A Strange Perfume’ but doesn’t define it. Like the rest of What Nature Gives…, it’s informed by dance music (of every ilk), dub, post punk, synth pop, goth and an unapologetic artiness.  For evidence of the latter, check out the titles of tracks like ‘Winter (The Beauty And Violence Of Nature)’ and ‘Deep In The Forest Where The Memories Linger’.

The title track brings the tempo down a little with an arrangement that is melancholy and epic in vision.  A foreboding sense of doomed resignation permeates the album and it’s coupled with an instinctive groove that is too often forgotten by ‘serious’ artists; this is music that makes you want to move.  ‘A Murder Of Crows’ mixes dirty funk guitar and a Birthday Party vibe replete with over-the-top vocals, while the shadow of Nick Cave also falls on ‘The City Is An Animal’ but this time it’s more of a Bad Seeds-era tune.  ‘The 21^st Century Is Killing Me’ starts out with a mournful chorus of “Breathe in/breathe out” like something from the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? and changes direction on multiple occasions with that opening refrain tying the whole tune together.

The momentum gained by the quality of the title track and the early promise of What Nature Gives… fade quickly as the album sags in the middle under the weight of its own seriousness.  The metallic guitars of ‘The Magical And Mysterious Properties Of Flowers’ offer a brief respite but every song sounds like it is the centrepiece of the album and therein lies a problem.  A couple more raucous numbers like ‘A Murder Of Crows’ or some light relief would have made this a must-have record but it really doesn’t recover once that initial creative burst is spent.

You can pre-order What Nature Gives…Nature Takes Away here