THE GRATES – The Ouch. The Touch. (Captains of Industry)
Posted: July 4th, 2005, by Simon MinterThe cutesy/scratchy/cut-and-paste-y artwork on the front of this CD single sums up the music: somewhat raucous, impassioned indie noise. With its uptight girl-band-gone-bad vocals and garage-dirt riffing, the first track ‘Message’ is the standout for me – short & sweet, aggressive female-fronted punk which reminds of The Slits, The Bangles and Phil Spector’s ‘Christmas Album’ in different ways. The further three tracks don’t quite keep the pace up, and lose out by losing some of the energy and desperation, but continue in a similar vein. Playful, quietly confrontational noisy pop music for disaffected youth.
The Grates
Captains of Industry
Simon Minter
Simon joined diskant after falling on his head from a great height. A diskant legend in his own lifetime Simon has risen up the ranks through a mixture of foolhardiness and wit. When not breaking musical barriers with top pop combo Sunnyvale Noise Sub-element or releasing records in preposterously exciting packaging he relaxes by looking like Steve Albini.
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