Kill Murray

Oxford’s Kill Murray (not to be confused with aging Hollywood ghostbusting legends) are a very difficult band to find anything out about. They are also something of a challenge to describe or pigeon-hole, being something of a pot pourri of audio niceness. Everything, including the musical kitchen sink seems to have been blended up, leaving them as something of a sonic Eton Mess – hard to identify the ingredients, not very pretty but oh so damn good…. In fact, the influences they themselves list are generally from bands that also have a very eclectic sound (Pavement, LCD Soundsystem, Metronomy and Dinosaur Jr).

On record these influences are about bang-on. The songs are a great mix of electronic blipping and effects, grungy riffs and dance beats with intelligent well-crafted lyrics and catchy melodies. The debut EP A Drug To Shake You Up is a four track record of impressive quality. The band have an innate grasp of melody, and how to blend it with more challenging and less immediate sounds, making songs that are catchy but challenging,

They have certainly made an impact in the year they have been a band counting the Legendary Tom Robinson from 6music as a fan as well as oddly the Mayor of Detroit (who is apparently called Dave Bing).Their interesting, tight and melodic live shows including some high profile ones such as Truck Festival and, ahem, The Swindon Shuffle and supports to the like of Stornoway, alt-j and Guillimots have cemented the local buzz, and brought them to wider attention.

With the band currently putting together a follow up EP that is due out in the autumn things should only get better. So get with the programme now and be cooler than your mainstream mates… - The Ocelot

Kill Murray get a lot of love. With their twisty-turny, super-melodic indie rock, as previously heard on their ‘A Drug To Shake You Up’ single – which we described as “sleek but a little rough around the edges; catchy but with hooks that are embedded in a rhythmical stew” – they’re setting out their stall as a solid, reliable and increasingly worthy-of-your-attention band both on record and as a live experience.

They release a new single on 12 November. ‘For The Kids’ will be available to download from the Kill Murray BandCamp page, and is being released as a taster for a new five-track EP that’s scheduled for early 2013. As the band put it themselves: “We were going to wait ’til 2013 to release anything new, but we’re impatient buggers”.

If you’re an impatient bugger, you can grab access to the new track before 12 November by attending Kill Murray’s gig at The Jericho, Oxford, on Friday 9 November, where they’ll be supported by Million Faces and Go On, Do It, Jump. - Music in Oxford

But it wasn’t all bad. In fact, it was mostly very good: starting with the aforementioned 'Oxford indie-pop outfit', Kill Murray. The questionably named four-piece have the same Nineties alt-rock bent as one of last year’s highlights Yuck, complete with Mascis-lite riffs but slightly more coherent vocals. An interesting wailing sound midway through threatened to send the crowd into an early afternoon frenzy, before the guitarist realised it was his car alarm, squealing away behind the second stage. An interesting digression on what was an enjoyable set. - Drowned in Sound

A group comprised of former members of sorely missed local bands (Dial F for Frankenstein, Olid, 50ft Panda and Phantom Theory), Kill Murray have obviously been tarred with that annoying supergroup brush, but closer inspection reveals a band that really has tried to amalgamate their past sounds and forge something new. Coming across like a mature Dial F clashing with Interpol, Kill Murray are sleek but a little rough around the edges; catchy but with hooks that are embedded in a rhythmical stew.

Indeed, the rhythm section is pretty special; drummer Chris Hutchinson (formerly of Olid and 50ft Panda) is exceptional, and brings significant clout to this EP, while former Dial F bassist Scott McGregor seems to have learnt a few tricks from Carlos D. Together they form a funky backdrop to Gus Rogers and Aaron Delgado’s post-grunge guitar racket. Opening track ‘Laser’ is a moody start to the EP, and one that is largely characterised by the interaction and counter rhythm of the stop-start bass line and finicky drumming. The track presents the greatest argument for Kill Murray being a brand new beast, not sounding entirely like any one of the members’ previous bands but bringing elements of each band together.

‘Detroit’, the most immediately catchy song on the EP, is pure Dial F. It’s true that there has been a distinct gap in the local music scene for a while now, a gap that Dial F for Frankenstein once filled with their simple, melodic songwriting, and on ‘Detroit’ you can hear glimpses of Dial F’s ‘USA’ and also some of the Electric Soft Parade’s early material. ‘Superman’ is another classic Gus Rogers song – an accomplished, catchy amalgam of grunge, glam and Britpop with a few electro touches. The electro influence (ie the keyboards) continue into final track ‘Miracle, Man’ which closes the EP in a similarly moody fashion to opening track ‘Laser’.

This is a good, solid debut EP from Kill Murray; there is huge potential here but there is also plenty of room to grow (you don’t want to peak too early, do you?). Gus is a talented songwriter and his fellow bandmates are all excellent musicians but ‘A Drug to Shake You Up’ is not quite as addictive as you may have been hoping it would be. Not as immediately catchy as Dial F, not as fuzzy as Phantom Theory and not as heavy as Olid or 50ft Panda, Kill Murray are nonetheless at the start of a journey that will hopefully see them come into their own on future releases - Music in Oxford