Bleeding Knees Club are a rowdy teenage duo from Australia who've gained major hype overseas through a steady string of singles and EPs. With their debut LP, the band have created an album of quick-and-dirty two minute garage punk anthems that fly by as fast and intensely as machine-gun fire.
The inspirations are obvious but varied
throughout the album, from the slacker attitude found in bands like Wavves, and the classic guitar work and
tempo of 50's rock n' roll. Things get
slightly poignant on 'Beach Slut',
with a slow-moving spoken word intro by vocalist/drummer Alex Wall, accompanied
by a quiet synth in the background. That lasts all of... 36 seconds, before the
band launch into their frenzied, hook-laden normal self again. Hooks are used
constantly by the band to engrave each song into your memory, and they'll get
stuck there for hours.
The themes tackled on the record are by
no means ground-breaking and the lyrics are devoid of any kind of depth, but
there's an endearing teen spirit throughout which makes the whole thing a lot
of fun to listen to. They're just straight forward tunes about angst, lust and
boredom which anybody who's ever been a teenager can relate to.
Dev
Hynes of Lightspeed
Champion/Blood Orange fame helped master Nothing To Do, but there's not really any of his trademarks here. The
album lacks the familiar bells and whistles of Hynes' work, instead taking advantage of lo-fi production and bare-bones musical dynamics. It has a raw quality that really lets BKC's
attitude glimmer.
With Nothing To Do, Bleeding Knees Club did what everyone expected them
to do, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's a collection of breezy,
addictive skater punk that, while lacking in any longevity, make up for it with a
hell of a lot of passion.
7/10
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