Albums
< Johnny Foreigner
Arcs Across The City
words by Sam Little
Everyone and everything influence Birmingham power-punk trio Johnny Foreigner. My Bloody Valentine, !!!, Rilo Kiley and…erm…The Boo Radleys are all given the thumbs up from this band of keen music enthusiasts, perhaps by way of an ironic smokescreen, perhaps to evoke just how much they thrive off sounds made by instruments. Either way, Johnny Foreigner are easily fighting off the current wave of indie-rock dirge bands without the need of any such guard protecting their eager faces. ‘Arcs Across The City’ is as fun as the packaging it arrives in (a pop-up CD sleeve that reveals a metropolis skyline, swarming with Pacman ghosts) and positively frothing with youthful exuberance. Female/male vocals vie for attention as they yelp over fuzzy guitars that run away with themselves and drums are punished throughout.
‘Champagne Girls I Have Known’ features whooping, distorted string bends that would make Josh Homme’s fingers bleed as it karate kicks open what sounds like a ‘one take EP’, while ‘The End Of Everything’ is the excitable frenetic pop of Los Campesinos!, at double speed, and seemingly fuelled by a gram of cheap wiz.
They play fast and hard, with little regard for note perfect vocals or cleanly executed chord structures, which is ultimately what makes Johnny Foreigner great. ‘Suicide Pact, yeh?’, in itself, notes how this band are holding onto their sense of humour while creating brilliantly sloppy, slurring garage pop. Not since Art Brut has a band shown that rock’n’roll still belongs in the DIY sector, not in the hands of Sylvia Young graduates and bored trustafarians.
Latest Reviews
Mike Relm - Spectacles
Let the face furniture of San Fran disco-er Mike Relm fool you. Forget that he’s named his second album after his eyewear.
Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls
One of Vivian Girls is called Kickball Katy. She plays bass even more nonchalantly than your average Valium-scoffing four-stringer.
Plastic Passion - Contrived Imagery
They're saying that punk's dead, y'know? Spiritually, if not physically.
Wetdog - Enterprise Reversal
Had ‘Enterprise Reversal’ been a five track EP of a release its toneless blahs from lead shouter Rivka Gillieron would have still been a struggle to sit through.
