The Nite Songs Singles Bar - August 2022 Part 2 (EP's)
There was just enough material in here to make the Singles Bar a two parter this month not least due to a couple of what seems to have been a bit of a dying breed this year, EP's, landing on our review desk. Let's investigate 'em further, shall we?...
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GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS - "Konsumrausch"
Let's start off with the dark side of this month's duo - Girls In Synthesis' Now Here's An Echo From Your Future ended up being one of our Top 10 albums of 2020 but subsequent singles never quite topped that album's dark but fierce take on post-punk.
I'll be honest, the fact that the group's new EP Konsumrauch kicks off with a nine minute plus track in the form of Pulling Teeth had me fearing the worst but at least this one packs a bit of menace into its decidedly lengthy duration with the scuzzy I Wanna Be Your Dog style riff and the shouted vocals being reminiscent of Idles before they jumped the shark with their last album. Of the other tracks, I was a bit lukewarm on Enveloped when we reviewed it as a single and unfortunately time hasn't really improved it as the tinny drum machines and barked vocals don't really gel together. Bypassing is similarly heavy and ominous with its pounding bass and jarring sound effects and The Engine has a real stark panic attack kind of feel to it.
The main problem with Konsumrauch is that while Now Here's An Echo... had a ferocity underpinning it that grabbed you by the neck and wouldn't let you go, here Girls In Synthesis just don't seem to have quite the same quality of hooks to really draw you in. It's still a decent effort but it feels like either a bit of a step down or case of "seen it all before" depending on your point of view. GIS are definitely as uncompromising as ever here but you do start to wonder if we've maybe seen all that they can offer by now...
NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)
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CONTINENTAL LOVERS - "Dale Arden vs The World"
And here's the light side of this month's duo. We first encountered the Continental Lovers a few months ago with their It Really Doesn't Matter single which was one of the better releases of the month in question. Their debut EP is now here and I'm pleased to report it's another good 'un. Five tracks and 14 minutes of catchy as hell power-pop which kicks in with the two minute blast of Tape Deck which could easily be a lost Duncan Reid & The Big Heads single and the aforementioned It Really Doesn't Matter before Tattered Star, St Joan and Can't Get Her Out Of My Head follow up in the best "get in there, say what ya gotta say and get out again" Buzzcocks style.
It's only the closing title track (an ode to Flash Gordon's girlfriend) at four minutes long which really deviates from the formula but still packs a killer chorus (complete with handclaps) and shows that the band are definitely capable of growing beyond these simplistic roots. You'd like to think that when the Continental Lovers get on to making their full album proper, we'll see a few more tracks like this one but for now, the songs on this EP are a great collection of straight up Ramones-ian knucklehead pop-punk the way all the best kind of music like this should be. For any fans of this sort of music, this is pretty much a must-have.
NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)
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And thus we leave the Singles Bar for another month. Enjoy the rest of your summer and we'll see you for the first autumn visit to this establishment in September.
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