Big Tea Blog

The internet may have dealt a bitch of a blow to the music industry, stripping artists and labels of their rights, utterly screwing traditional retail outlets – look at poor old HMV (that’ll teach you for marking everything up way beyond its worth for so long) – and fostering the misguided belief amongst an entire generation that music is a commodity that you acquire for free at the click of a button. And then there is Spotify, a device that makes money from other people’s assets by providing nothing more than a platform to rape artists from; it’s like privatised piracy. The internet has well and truly fucked us, but all is not lost, it does have a good side – legitimate freebies.

Via Pitchfork, Sub Pop are very kindly giving away a four track EP from the marvellous Revolution Gospel Choir, the side project band of Low singer and guitarist Alan Sparhawk. Where Low are a little moody and down beat, RGC are more upbeat, annoyingly catchy and utterly good fun in the process. ‘Feel It Superior’ opens The Revolution EP in more Low style than perhaps the rest of the EP, the vocal harmonies that book-end each verse pattern are very much in the vein of The Great Destroyer but the overall feel is more garage rock than the more considered, intricate, beautifully produced Low albums. ‘The Stone (Revolution)’ and its basic chord patterns and vocals are very reminiscent of the Super Furry Animals and Gruff Rhys, only without the quirkiness that pervades SFA. The dreamy clean chords of the middle section change the mood slightly before the song finishes pretty much as it began.

‘Maharishi’ begins with guitar stabs that Tom Verlaine would have been proud of around the time of Television’s timeless Marquee Moon. The fuller chords of the chorus and the fatter distortion elevate the song from beyond the merely pedestrian, breathing some life into it. There’s very faint hints of the Clash and Husker Du too.  EP closer ‘I’m A Man’ comes in at a second below two minutes. It’s thrashy, messy, punky and marvellously sporadic, sounding if it took about as long to write as it does to play in its entirety.

The Revolution EP lacks any kind of pretention and is a refreshing listen for it. The four tracks complement each other well in terms of simplicity and lack of unnecessary complication, and for Sparhawk is probably a welcome distraction from the more intricate nature of Low’s output. It could be argued that this is no more than refined pub rock, but who cares, it works. Sub Pop release the full album later in March. So, back to the original thread, it’s a high five this time for the internet for providing the platform to give us a taste of this record, here’s hoping those that want it actually go out and buy it now rather than pinching it from somewhere or ripping the artist off by just streaming it for a fiver a month.

Have a listen, see what you think.

Or download a copy from here.