A release that is almost mainstream when compared to other stuff on this label, the new one from The Tubs is, of course, one of this week's real highlights. Names, the debut EP from The Tubs, a band featuring Owen Williams and George Nicholls of Joanna Gruesome, is out on Friday on Trouble in Mind, and it's full of bright, somewhat acerbic indie-pop. Some of this sounds like early Go-Betweens, others like Comet Gain, and even a bit like the band that Williams and Nicholls formed earlier. But all of Names is delightful.
"The Name Song" recalls bands from the C86 era, even as the vocals sound like a Richard Thompson offering. That one, and "Illusion" instantly place this band in the right place. The roar from earlier Joanna Gruesome releases has been tempered a bit, even as the music veers into the lane paved by Art Brut a few years ago. Along with Williams and Nicholls, The Tubs features Max Warren (bass), Steve Stonholdt (guitar), and Matthew Green (drums), and together they attack this stuff with gusto, rendering the riffs that anchor "Two Person Love", for example, as evidence The Tubs are as in debt to early R.E.M. as The Fall, even as a risky cover of Felt ("Crystal Ball") succeeds far more than it fails. The Tubs are not trying to re-invent things here, but, as with any band on this imprint, the sound is wildly unique and a refinement of some of the best things you've already heard. And in this case, it might be some of the best new music you're going to hear this year.
Names is out on Friday on Trouble in Mind.
More details on The Tubs via the Facebook page.
[Photo: Trouble in Mind Records]