Review: The Vinyl Records - Whims E.P

From L-R: Banu Jini(Guitars),Cheyrrian Bark(Vocals/Keytar),Mithy Tatak(Drums),Minam Tekseng(Bass)

In the autumn of 2008 when I was living on only one album which was Punk In Drublic by NOFX and that album had been blasted for 3 months, needless to say its a great album but 3 months is enough for one to get tired of The Dark Side Of The Moon if one listens to it everyday, then a friend happened to introduce me to a band called The Strokes the song was "Take It Or Leave It" the guitars had chimes,vocals were lazy ,funky basslines which was a delight to hear altogether and I asked him what the fuck is this!? he replied its called "Indie", soon I discovered the whole scene backwards from The Libertines to The Smiths and I was a fan since then.

 Surprise hit me like a breeze when I came to know that India has an all-girl band which plays post- punk/Indie called The Vinyl Records, and last year they released a 4 track ep monikered "Whims" impulsively and on a whim. The first track "Apocryphal" sets the tone,it opens with raunchy notes which sounds bluesy till in the verse but switches sides to a slight punk feel in the chorus and the girls have found a perfect way to amalgamate it,bassline goes "bum-bum" ,soaring vocals,raunchy guitars,swift drumming just the way I like it and it ends with a bluesy-facemelter.

 The second track "Escape Trick" is an act of escapism from the faster bpm to slower beats ,it begins with a dream pop synth which explodes like a volcano of vibrantly coloured soundscapes in slow motion along with the rest of the band,the song is dreamy,slow,psychedelic and talks about escaping from civilization and monotony into wanderlust and the wild, the guitar solo sounds happy-shoegaze along with the xylophone-ish reprise of the intro the band then break into power mode and end the song. Third track "The Vibe" the intro guitar rings and chimes and then the rest of the band kicks in and blends in perfectly, the vocalist speed-raps the chorus, this song has a vibe to it you listen to it and you find yourself shaking your leg to the beat,the ending is apt and it fits. The concluder "Whims" begins with a whimisical- space- funky-keytar- intro overlaid by power chords, the instruments twist,turn,churn and churn and turn and twist like a never ending spiral and the vocals go in waves ascending and descending through high's and low's and it ends with the band stopping and the drummer going on a solo spree which sounds raw and head-shakey until it suddenly ends ,needless to say the rhythm section have done beautiful work the bass sounds full the drums sound huge.

 When it comes to all-girl bands people say "they sound good for a girl band" being a devoted metalhead I'd love to paraphrase exactly what Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead said about Girlschool as a reply to such a remark made on them "fuck you,they are better than you".The songs are elegantly done,if you are looking for tongue-in -cheek -girly -EDM-laden-pop you can fuck off,this is true musicianship from the underground but a lot is yet to come through this band.

Buy the album here: www.oklisten.com/thevinylrecords