DARTZ! – St. Petersburg (Single, Xtra Mile Recordings)
Posted: October 25th, 2006, by Simon MinterShort and sharp, Dartz! bring in two songs on this single in under five minutes. You’ve got to love those song lengths on yer pop singles. Sharing the jerky, excitable structures of bands like The Futureheads and Smokers Die Younger, Dartz! infuse their sound with some of the circular guitar lines that marked out the later work of the sorely-missed Yummy Fur, but it’s slightly marred by vocals which are very much of the shouty-post-hardcore now. For me, ‘St. Petersburg’, for all its brevity and grooving syncopation, isn’t as successful as B-side ‘X-RayBex’, which uses the twin-vocal style to greater effect, reminding of the impassioned pop stylings of Cat on Form. Whilst the bands I’ve mentioned here have a certain idiosyncratic style that defines them as individual outfits, Dartz! still seem to be scrabbling to find a sound that’s their own. I get the feeling that they may get there in the end.
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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