Most record labels are rubbish, they are stuck in some draconian 1980s business model. Dropping artists like flies if they don’t sell a million units, over looking the smaller bands on their labels to promote the bigger artists and of course – having an absolute unrealistic view of record sales, especially for new artists.
Most new bands don’t even make a second album. They are so scared about file sharing and making money it is less about the music than ever. Because its all about the “moolah” they don’t take enough chances and as a result, the music industry is becoming stagnant. Fortunately, with the domination of the internet in popular culture it is becoming the norm that bands don’t necessarily need a record label. Baddies are no exception, and for this, they need to be praised. Self releasing their material, they are one of the few bands which by doing this have carved a career and simultaneously cut out the middlemen. And, it seems are doing pretty well without needing one.
It is difficult to review this album without pointing out some glaring influences; sounding like a mix between an angry Futureheads (who have also started to self release) with the quirkiness of Wire, but refreshing and different enough to keep you guessing throughout. At times the tracklisting plays a little like a “best of”. Not many songs sound like one another, the identity of the band is still there, but some of the tracks sound almost like different “stages” of the bands career, which although strange is exciting – especially for a debut.
Mostly the album is excellent, particular highlights are ‘Battleships, Holler for my holiday, Pisces, I am not a machine, Open one eye and We beat our chests’. Quite a lengthy list for a debut!
There are times however, where other potentially brilliant songs fail to ignite because the band wear their influences heavily on their sleeves, ‘At the party’ and ‘Colin’ are the prime examples, the melodies and vocals sound almost identical to American punks The Offspring, which, is a shame. Not a bad thing by any means, I used to love them when I was 15, but they almost sounds like an entirely different band compared to the rest of the album especially when the majority of the album sounds so quintessentially British. Still good songs, but it feels the band lost their personality in these. Toward the end the album we descend into ‘filler’ territory when the band try too hard. The songs quickly go from balls out punk to a little more complicated – at times the last three songs work, but do sound unfinished and not fully realised.
Do the Job is nothing massively new or groundbreaking, yet because of the passion, honesty and craft of the songs it manages to transcend the tsunami of shit which is currently plaguing our airwaves and indie scene. It feels refreshing, finally a contemporary decent contemporary English punk band with the tunes to back up the swagger! It will be really interesting to see where the bands go from here. With no label to please they can more or less do anything they want, perhaps that is exactly what they have done here and maybe why so much of the album sounds so different. Either way, it shows just how well a band can do without the need for a label to force them into a contrived hole.
Baddies debut is mostly brilliant, fun, angry, furious and certainly a contender of album of the year. Most importantly, it has set the benchmark for contemporary punk by sticking a massive “V” sign to record labels. Very punk indeed.
8/10
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