Having heard a number of IBTP releases in the last twelve months, it's becoming clear that, as a label, they have a definite house style which can essentially be classified as ramshackle leftfield indie that really doesn't give a crap for slick production or overt commercialism. This is definitely a good thing.
The title track, which also introduced the EP, is an example of the unpretentious, slightly quirky (and vaguely perverse) indie that both IBTP and The Oputdoor Types specialise in. There's a solidity and a robustness about it that, for some reason, makes me think of thick wool socks, and it's got nothing to do with the band's name: despite sounding rugged, rough 'n' ready, they don't sound like outdoor types. The chances are that you'd be more likely to find these geezers being rowdy in the local boozer than taking a pleasant hike on a Sunday afternoon.
'The Snake' steels its way into darker, more theatrical realms, the delivery somewhere between The Stranglers and David Devant and His Sprit Wife (whatever happened to them, I wonder?), and 'Don't Look For Me .... I'm Dead', recorded live in Kidderminster, is a moddish stomp, and again demonstrates the dark humour that runs through the EP as a whole.
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Bookending the set is a 'clean' version of 'One Legged Elvis.' I was rather bemused by this: after all, clean or expletive-dotted, it's not going to get any radio play (not because it doesn't deserve to, but because, as Bruce Hornsby said, 'that's just the way it is.' However, as the press release puts it, 'how can we play it to granny, what with all the rough sailor's language?' Chances are I'd not play this EP to my grandmother (or mother, for that matter), but the band and their mates might want to I suppose. Amusingly, the editinging's pretty unsubtle, and as the press note wryly comments, 'you can tell by a simple subtraction that 2 "fuckin’s", 2 "motherfuckers" and a "shit" last 1 second.' No messing, there's no substitute for telling it straight. And on that basis, I'm sold.
The Outdoor Types on MySpace
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