Anyone familiar with Fat Cat stars such as MuM and their ghostly, but warm Icelandic post-rock or the rabid, drooling out-thereness of Animal Collective will probably get quite a shock when encountering THE MUTTS.
Not because they're crap or anything, but simply because their, taut, sinewy garage pop with a retro twist seems so damn full-on and approachable in such bizarre company.
Although its' spiritual home sounds closer to Wapping's Toe Rag studios, these six get-in-say-it-get-out tracks were actually laid down in Camden and get to work, melody-wise, within seconds.
The opening trio are the highlights. "Blasted" is an insistent, hipshakin' set piece with fast-acting Dee Dee Ramone basslines and guitar solos unashamedly spilling out from the three chord bluster. "Shark" is as predatory as its' handle suggests: all circular and riffsmart and sounding like Billy Childish sitting in with The Chocolate Watch Band. Nothing new, but a cool track nonetheless, which is also a soundbite that would work with "Melted", where a simple military tattoo and a bassline that's the epitome of gormless set up a clubfooted, but infectious stomper that retains a weird air of menace.
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There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the three subsequent tracks either, but somehow the over-familiarity begins to feel like diminishing returns. "Gamma Life" lurches into being and parades a stunted boogie sounding like a rag week version of Deep Purple's "Black Night", while "Neon Lights" is the kind of straightahead r'n'b thrash The Blueskins reglarly regurgitate, save with less of the working men's club vibe about it. Closing track "Uniform" again comes on like The Yardbirds' bastard offspring, but with Sandy Nelson-style tribal drum breaks. This time it really is hard to believe it's not Liam Watson donning the white coat behind the desk.
The Mutts' style has been subjected to far too many cross-breeding programmes for them ever to be classed as pedigrees, but all in all these six introductory tunes ensure they're still loveable mongrels you'll be happy to have around.
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