{"id":1402,"date":"2015-06-05T19:17:43","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T18:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/?p=1402"},"modified":"2011-03-18T19:54:12","modified_gmt":"2011-03-18T19:54:12","slug":"thee-spivs-%e2%80%93-taped-up-album-damaged-goods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/thee-spivs-%e2%80%93-taped-up-album-damaged-goods\/","title":{"rendered":"Thee Spivs \u2013 Taped Up (album, Damaged Goods)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tearing in like a switchblade through the fecal velour of a cinema seat comes the debut album from this much talked about Hackney trio. Taped Up <\/em>gathers momentum across its fourteen tracks \u2013 no mean feat when the disc begins with a track such as the chant-a-log \u2018radio\u2019 \u2013 the aural equivalent of a cloud of dust through which only the occasional flying fist can be glimpsed. The snotty amphetimined nihilism of the opener rams hard into the jagged edge of \u2018Leave Me Alone\u2019, a crisp and confrontational track that channels ennui into anger, the way they did it back in \u201976.<\/p>\n

Despite the exemplary punk start, Thee Spivs have more than one way of stringing three chords together, as is made immediately apparent by \u2018I\u2019m Alive\u2019 \u2013 a bleeding limbed chunk of garaged up g-g-graveyard stompery topped by defiant vocals that sound as if they are being beamed in from an adjacent ossuary. \u2018What\u2019s Wrong With You\u2019 sees the band back on the little blue pills as taut guitars and cheek-chewingly precise vocals mash together to create a jetstream of Dexedrine desperation.<\/p>\n

This is a totally wired album, both in execution and the frantic way in which the group dip into a grab bag of influences \u2013 some are hurled across the room, while others are squeezed hard. \u2018Too Many People\u2019 is an urgent broth that mixes early Undertones and Rezillos with something that sounds like a vastly superior version of Eater. Lyrically, boredom is never far from the agenda. Similarly rooted in the spirit of 1978 is \u2018Uncle\u2019s Got An ASBO\u2019, wherein ramalama Ramonics bounce of walls and we all get to ride home in a police van.<\/p>\n

Although the tracks are delivered with vim, at something approaching escape velocity, there\u2019s no shortage of rough and ready melodies (often of the kind exemplified by such catchy vintage punk as Rudi\u2019s \u2018Big Time\u2019). Both the title track and \u2018I Don\u2019t Want It\u2019 exemplify this with absolute economy, the latter being 98 seconds of perfectly rendered minimum rock\u2019n\u2019roll. Indeed \u2018Taped Up\u2019 represents the point at which the album hits a palpitating, lung-busting stride; its irresistible chorus topping a contemporary fable of urban exclusion like a white stiletto atop a bus shelter. Likewise, penultimate track \u2018It\u2019s True\u2019 demonstrates that jackhammer rhythms and lo-fi dirty fuzz are not mutually exclusive to an infectious choon.<\/p>\n

\u2018Invisible Man\u2019 is an impressive change of pace, which sees six hands turned to a spot of neon-lit garage. \u2018Fence Hop\u2019 runs whooping from garageland all the way down to the shores of Rockaway Beach, kicking up clouds of serrated fuzz hullygully en route<\/em>. There\u2019s even the kind of implied menace neo-instrumental that would engorge Link Wray \u2013 \u2018Head Hunt\u2019 (it\u2019s all churning voodoobilly and nasty soloing until the screaming starts). \u2018Men Don\u2019t Cry\u2019 concludes Taped Up <\/em>with a trip into Hasil Adkins\u2019 \u2018Love Me\u2019 territory, a glorious cataclysm of fractured psychosis, whispered entreaties and feminine moaning. It\u2019s a supreme finale to a disc from the(e) kind of Spivs who know where to score the good<\/em> shit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tearing in like a switchblade through the fecal velour of a cinema seat comes the debut album from this much talked about Hackney trio. Taped Up gathers momentum across its fourteen tracks \u2013 no mean feat when the disc begins with a track such as the chant-a-log \u2018radio\u2019 \u2013 the aural equivalent of a cloud of dust through which only the occasional flying fist can be glimpsed. The snotty amphetimined nihilism of the opener rams hard into the jagged edge of \u2018Leave Me Alone\u2019, a crisp and confrontational track that channels ennui into anger, the way they did it back in \u201976.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,74],"tags":[121,181,180],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-picks","category-reviews","tag-eyeplug","tag-taped-up","tag-thee-spivs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}