Wild Season - Goldsmack

For those who like easy labels, lets go for The Velvet Overground! Why? Well, whilst at the core of the Goldsmack sound is a New York no-wave intensity, especially when guitarist Davide Tebaldi adds his gothic tinged vocals to songs such as A Wild, Wild Season, Goldsmack somehow manage to surround it with an accessible pop coating. This creates a musical Trojan Horse, a pop record that will pick up mainstream support but who’s shimmering hues belie the dangers within and move it beyond its underground influences to an overground location. The musical textures do however remain as rich as velvet.

It may come on like power pop but contains so much more, from the growling guitars of Kids With Guns and the throbbing, descending bass lines of Good Morning Star to the heavy psychedelic vibe that seems to permeate every corner. It may offer the promise of pop but revels in dark discord and warped entropy as they subvert the genre to glorious effect.

So, not only a great set of songs but one that will plant everything from Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Joy Division and The Velvets themselves in the mind of the young pop picker and that can only be a good thing. - Dave Franklin