If you can imagine the results of Weezer and Swound! musically cavorting with Jan and Dean alongside Blur with a punk nurtured revelry you can get a whiff of the sound of TV Coma though not necessarily the individual mischief and enterprise rampaging through their debut EP, Body Negativity. It offers six tracks of unbridled fun and boisterous deeds amongst cleverly manipulative creative antics and is simply one of the most enjoyable exploits we have greedily indulged in this year.
Emerging from the songwriting revelry of brothers Leo and Max Troy, St Albans hailing TV Coma is a foursome by bassist Jamie Rider and drummer Robert Clark. They also seemingly embrace the punk DIY ethics of yesterday with their first release recorded in Max’s bedroom who then mixed the tracks himself before passing them over to Alan Douches (Ben Folds Five, Converge, Sufjan Stephens, Mastodon) to add his professional gleam to things. The result is an encounter which has an organic roar and an instinctive devilry and one which eagerly gets under the skin with unbridled fun in close quarter.
Have A Party kicks things off and rises up from an encroaching sonic lure with big scythes of guitar and matching rhythms. Everything is an intriguing tease leading to the first vocal rally cry before things settle again into a calm stroll and reflection. It in turn invites ears and listeners to its subsequent chant loaded bellow and a finale which the body, if not already bouncing, can no longer escape. Seriously contagious with a great rock muscularity and edge to it, the track is a glorious invitation into the waiting fiendish clutches of EP and band.
There is no escaping thrusting a Weezer likeness to the following Digital Girl, the LA band one of the major inspirations for the brothers. Even so, the track is ablaze with raw pop punk zeal as it is pop rock catchiness and swiftly inciting physical and vocal participation with its rousing holler before Trudy latches on to its infectious antics for its own particular weave of viral contagion. Something akin to Weezer meets We Are the Physics with Asylums in close attendance, the track just saunters along spilling grooves and hooks like confetti as rhythms cast their own manipulative incitement. Surf pop harmonies escalate the fun and listener’s involvement with a track which never leaves a moment void of creative rascality.
A sonic clamour announces next up Unemployable; a short but attention stalking roar of angst and noise around more of the hooks and enterprising taunts the band seem to instinctively breed. The track instantly and effortlessly leads into inhibition losing shenanigans, reactions even more escalated with Football Song, a Blur meets Television Personalities howl which could easily be adopted by the sport’s fans or haters.
Grow Up completes the line-up of plaintive ejaculations. From its initial vocal wail to the punk rock soaked blaze of sound, the track is a zealously waving finger at immaturity and irresponsible fun whilst creatively providing both.
With each track sparked by traits within modern life, Body Negativity is one spirit rousing adventure. It might not be the best thing you come across in 2018, though it very well could be too, but there will be few as memorable and even fewer as relentlessly enjoyable.
Body Negativity is out now and available @ https://tvcomamusic.bandcamp.com/releases
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Pete RingMaster 22/09/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
The forcibly captivating start only continues as We Fall to Pieces steps in with its folk ska rascality, the song like a fusion of Blur and Tankus The Henge around the throbbing lure of Tim Connell’s double bass and the crisp beats of Terry Mascall. Again Baker’s piano and James Stickley’s guitar collude in creative chicanery as the former’s tones and words tantalise across two minutes of instinctively bold rock ‘n’ roll before Pretty Boy swaggers in with its own infectious dynamics and enterprise. Imagine Television Personalities and again Blur bursting in on Bad Manners and you get a flavour of the track’s gorgeous recipe of enticement.
Recorded in New York with producer Kahan James, and mastered by Kevin Blackler (Raconteurs, RHCP etc.), Make Some Money, Buy Some Love opens up with Lifer, the alluring tones of Katie cradled by melodic coaxing as the bass strolls with a controlled but carefree grace. Crisp beats add to the enticement instantly flirting with ears, the song’s underlying funkiness infesting its gait and the listener as pop catchiness and lyrical romancing tempt. Drama is never far from a Jingo twist and turn, its boldest attraction lining Katie’s vocal prowess especially here in a gem of an introduction.
The new single pulsates into view, its initial electronic tempting soon joined by rhythmic throbs and vocal bait. The ripe coaxing, speared by the purposeful swings of Guillaume Charreau, increasingly grows as sultry hues caress ears, their lures aligning with a just as potent melodic and harmonic drama. In no time body and imagination are lost in the flirtatious and riveting theatre of the song with the dark rhythms, led by a gorgeously throat bassline cast by Marc Arciero, alone just irresistible. The keys and guitars of Clément Leguidcoq and Drew Wynen sparkle and dance as they entangle with each other around the ever welcoming and tenacious vocals of Gabriel Cazes, he like the ringleader to a band of sonic mischief makers with a delivery which simply lures the listener deeper into the party playing with their ears.
A.D.D. opens with a bulging temptation of firmly bound rhythms wrapped in a tangy melodic enticing of guitar, and already drama colours the air as brewing emotional intensity begins soaking every early note and rhythmic swing. The track relaxes a little as the bewitching tones of Katie incite ears and closer attention, as ever her distinctive voice bringing an air of jazz like resourcefulness against the funkier spicing of the music. Keys add an emotive hue to the song whilst rhythms offer the shadows, everything building slowly but surely towards the irresistible flame of the chorus. It is a point where the song opens up and explores an even more energetic and provocative landscape, within which the song’s powerful lyrical and vocal narrative further blossoms. The song just grows bigger and bolder with every passing second, angst and passion increasingly and intensively dripping from every note and syllable as it heads into a blaze of a finale though the song’s parting moment is a just as pungent kiss of vocals and a reflective melody.
