Review: I Was A King LP

Right on cue. Here comes a '90s revival. As synthpop starts to shuffle away apologetically with the new Hot Chip album, here comes the sound of noisy, brash indie music. Think Dinosaur Jr and Husker Du and Teenage Fanclub... the fuzzjangle period is upon us, starting with I Was A King.

This record, released in the US last summer, is hitting our shelves on the 8th February... and it's advised that you sit up and take notice if you're a fan of big fringes and walls of zonked out distorto guitar.

Mixing shoegazery and Byrdsy hooks, I Was A King have made an LP so unashamedly white that they should actually be applauded. Now, by that, I'm not talking 'bout some dreadful WASP rock cut, but rather, this is whitey shot in Super 8 in scuffed trainers, bumming smokes off strangers in summer. This is slacker, bedsit psychedelia.

However, this ain't no hip Yankee project... I Was A King are... Norwegian?

Frontbod Frode Strømstad has created a clutch of tracks that are a distorted 90's version of the swinging sixties. Apart from the release date, there's nuthin' new about this album,... it touches the hem of My Bloody Valentine and the first two Ride LPs as well as the aforementioned Dinosaur Jr and Teenage Fanclub.

It's noisy-as-hell... yet dipped in honey. It's a super sweet long player that prompts the feeling of a heady teenage night out with a gut churning with beer, jumping around in a smoky venue filled with crap clothes. If you're approaching 30, this'll take you right back to your halcyon days of failing to finger girls in hedges... if you're in your late-teens, it'll take you to a place of borrowed nostalgia for when everyone used to buy 45s for less-than-a-quid and drink cheapo cans on a Friday because the internet hadn't been invented and computer games took too long to load.

Tracks like 'Breathe' and 'Step Aside' bring the sweet fuzz, while 'California' and 'Stay Warm' are straight outta the vaults of some imagined Paisley Underground. These oiks are such fawning fans that they have the sheer cheek to have a song called 'Norman Bleik'. That sounds exactly like you think it does.

Basically, this dumbass LP is the most fun you can have with your pants on in this coldest of snaps. Let this LP into your life and you'll feel sonic sun all up in your earholes. It really is a cracking little album. Buy it, first chance you get. [Mof Gimmers]