Writing songs for computer games like Driver and Getaway doesn’t really raise an eyebrow chez Drum but London five-piece NARCO recently did impress with their ‘Worth It’ single. Now attention is focussed on that all-important debut long-player ‘Control Of The Stereo’ and its relative merits in the – hey! - wild and crazy world we call Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Let’s not beat around the bush. NARCO are unpolished but great; simple as that. Unlike so many other Stooges/punk inspired bands NARCO go the extra mile. NARCO don’t forget that to really set out your stall it’s just not enough to have the right guitars, the right chords and the right hair but also to have the attitude, the right size of kahunas and most importantly a downright dirty dollop of scuzzinesss to go with the hooks and the looks. It also doesn’t hurt that their songs possess the requisite amount of sheer dumbness and that their music contains a dangerously high quota of rhythmic flourishes to render the great tracks all killer and total dancefloor filler. Believe me, with most of these songs it is impossible not to cut a rug; an intoxicating rush of heart-charging adrenalin awaits at virtually every note.
Ok, ok so the album dips in places and the ideas run out of steam but the energy never flags and throughout NARCO keep a sharp edge to the proceedings, always finding some new twist with which to razzle and dazzle.
So, what are the highlights?
I suppose I could spend an interminable amount of time discussing the Phases of Iggy that inform NARCO’S sound from the Stooges and Bowie years and beyond, or I could wax lyrical about how ‘The 2nd Evolution’ is like the ultimate alt-pop single with its fantastic tune, brilliant chorus and unexpected ambient guitar outro. How about the sheer punk thrill of ‘Pick It Up’? Or the rolling blues-glam stomp of ‘Worth It’? Or shall I analyse the lyrical challenge offered by opener ‘Hey You’ in which Cave challenges, “maybe I’ll kill you with another song!”
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Take your pick: there are 12 weapons from which to choose to wipe yourself out.
With NARCO less is more. The songs are deceptively simple but the clattering, stuttering drum patterns and “cock-quaking” (their phrase) bass-lines ensure that each track goes straight for the jugular and refuses to let go from start to finish. You’ll hear more polished and more adept albums this year and you’ll find albums with more complex tunes but you’ll hear few that match the feral frenzy and primal instinct of ‘Control Of The Stereo’.
It’s an album that refuses to drop the tempo, pause for breath or offer any respite with a ‘slowie’: that “mature sound” can wait for now.
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