Self Titled - ExtendedPlay EP

Tue 31st Jan, 2006 in Music Reviews

Self Titled are an Australian four piece, a speed punk outfit with their foot firmly on the accelerator. As the band heads into the studio to record their debut album, due for release in April, they’ve released an EP cleverly entitled Extended Play, a solid but not spectacular snapshot of what the band is all about.

Beginning with the fuzzy sound of some old school radio knob swirling, opener What Are You Waiting For is symptomatic of the bands sound. The drum- and guitarwork are fast, and quite adept at doing exactly that, but there doesn’t seem to be any emotion to them at all. Unfortunately, with the speed of the guitars, there’s no memorable hooks, so nothing sticks in the mind of the listener. The vocals are similar, competent, but not mind-blowing. Control Here and I Hate You…For Now are more of the same, but Kid Again is much more noticeable. It opens with massive guitar hook and proceeds to the lead singer chanting “Woah, woah” in a way that must work excellently as a call-response with the crowd during a live gig. Get Away and Hell Is Other People round out the EP.

There’s definitely something to Self Titled, but what is surely a knockout live show has not been captured on this EP. Provided they use their album to capture a more definitive and unique sound, they should be able to avoid becoming the also-rans of the Australian punk scene, but only fans of the band will consider this EP a worthwhile effort.