The Fondas - Dirty Kicks (Level Sound)

Ladies and gentleman, this is The Fondas, the latest band spewed from the creative belly of Bristol's rock scene. A guitar/bass/drums four-piece, Little Kicks is their debut LP, and it opens with the forthcoming debut single D'ya Feel Lucky? An impish little beast, it begins serene and tranquil before distorting into boisterous guitar driven mentalness. Two minutes passes, it finishes, and no offence has been caused.

However, by Only Love Is Left Alive it's becoming clear that this band are punching well above their weight. Said song sounds like the school band rocking their local town hall and thinking they're the fucking balls. It's a bit crap, and it's a bit annoying.

It may come as a surprise then that there have indeed been Radiohead comparisons, and, in a way, they're just (if you'll excuse the pun). Dirty Kicks sounds like Pablo Honey's bottom of the class, melodically impaired little brother. There's just no imagination or creativity in the song writing.

A far bigger problem is the fact that vocalist Andy Ward really can't sing and much of the time sounds more like he's in pain than venting sumptuous rhapsody. Add to that painfully average lyricism and he's not really the most appetising front man, but I don't know; maybe he looks really cool... When aloft this rather manky cake you place the cherry of shaky and bland production the end result renders Dirty Kicks something you should probably avoid.

Always Never is slightly redeeming: featuring drumming from Steve Eyers, it is little short of awesome. To be fair, he is very good throughout Dirty Kicks, relentlessly pushing an encouraging and strong rhythm. Other slightly better than lowlights include Sleep, Mamas Arms, and the guitars on Get Out, which is eventually embarrassingly tarnished by bad lyrics. In the end, it's not enough. The Fondas really do sound like a school band of 14 year olds who have just got very, very lucky.

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