Part Chimp - I Am Come

Part Chimp - I Am Come

Part Chimp was listed as one of the heirs to the "My Bloody Valentine sound" or something like that in the final chapter of the 33 1/3 book on Loveless. I'd never heard of them before their mention in said book, but that was enough to get my attention. Why not give 'em a chance, especially when you find one of their CDs in the $1.00 bin at the used bookstore? What would I have to lose?

The thing is, it turns out they sound nothing like MBV, or really any shoegaze in the laziest sense of the term. It's loud and noisy and the guitars swirl and chime but it's got an aggressive and boozy-woozy swagger that would make crotch-grabbers like Ride sound like early Lush. These guys are probably football hooligans in their spare time. What I'm trying to say is you probably won't find these Glasgow blokes on the next Reindeer Section album. Do you catch my drift?

I Am Come is their second album, perhaps it was a buzz-worthy Internet sensation when it came out, I don't really recall. 2005 was a long time ago, and I don't even remember anything I did this past March. Furthermore, I can't even remember any moments from this album even though I've listened to it 3 times this week. My memory isn't what it used to be (I have Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease) so maybe this isn't their fault. I can tell you for sure that most of the album is all LOUD guitars and drums and shouts, like &YWKUBtToD if they sucked, which seems to be a popular opinion these days anyway. I think they want to be an angry Sonic Youth but it all comes out somewhere between Ikara Colt and a hardcore punk band who's been listening to lots of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and want to take their sound "to the next level."

I don't mean to fault these guys for giving it the old college try. This isn't a Bad album (rip MJ). I'd probably like it more if I was really into this kind of stuff but I spend my mornings listening to wispy ambient musique and wind down my nights by chilling to classique jungle slow burners from '92-'96. I mean, when I'm not listening to The Beatles or Jay-Z somewhere in between. What am I supposed to feel when I listen to this? Like a 15 year-old kid who reads Bukowski, smokes clove cigarettes and kicks puppies? If you could make an album out of the 1999 Mogwai "Blur Are Shite" t-shirt, this is what it would sound like.

Rating:

Download: "War Machine"