The Perfect Guardaroba

Im vergangenen Jahr, so ist zumindest der Eindruck den ich gewonnen habe, hat es aus Italien einen Frontalangriff in Sachen Punk und Rock´N Roll gegeben. Unzählige Bands aus Italien waren hier auf Tour, konnten überzeugen und noch viel mehr Bands brachten Veröffentlichungen auf den Markt. Dazu gehört auch THE PERFECT GUArDAROBA. Ihr Album „Un-Tidy“ kam bei uns erst kürzlich auf den Markt. Im Gegensatz zu den vielen Bands, die auch noch Alben veröffentlichten, spielen die Italiener auf diesem Werk Garagen-Punkrock-Rock´N Roll, der sehr von den 60er und 70er Jahren inspiriert ist und sehr an eine Mischung aus DEEP PURPLE, MC 5 und ähnliche erinnert, aber besonders durch die schnellen und melodischen Songs besticht. Wieder einmal kann eine Band aus Italien überzeugen und ein wirklich starkes Rock´N Roll Album abliefern. Die zehn Songs wissen allesamt zu gefallen und hinterlassen einen starken Eindruck. THE PERFECT GUArDAROBA überzeugen und werden mit der richtigen Vermarktung sicher bei uns noch für Aufmerksamkeit sorgen. Dieses Album verdient auf jeden Fall eine Menge Respekt, so gut ist es. Toll! - BURNS YOUR EARS

With a little more polish I could totally see this Italian band being played on progressive alternative radio stations. Many of the songs have an edgy guitar-driven dance punk sound that is becoming increasingly popular. It´s still rough around the edges (it´s no Interpol rip-off), but it has a surprisingly current wanna-be-British sound. In fact, I mixed up two cds in the player and didn´t even realize I was listening to the Italian band at first - their English is just as clear as any band from the states - maybe more clear! Perhaps the only real giveaway that this is a European band is the inexplicable history of absinthe printed on the tray card. Hardcore punk fans probably won´t think much of this, but if you secretly like some of those catchy bands you hear on the radio then you´ll probably like this too. - POCKETFUL OF CHANGE (SEATTLE, WA)

Melodic scream-pop: just what I need on a Tuesday afternoon. Good, fast guitar-playing, and a vocalist who manages to actually sound like a man on top of it all. Slightly annoying do-wap chorus' at times, but nothing you can't smile at; especially considering the almost Monkeys-esk guitar, and Louis XIV'th vocals that are almost spoken on top of the guitar-riffs. The drumming ties it all together, and it is delightful to hear a drummer who actually has the skill to do proper drum-fills. Very well done (and they are snappy dressers).

- LOWCUT #29 REVIEWS - DENMARK

Perhaps a slightly unusual choice for 9Hz, TPG are a rock'n'roll/new wave 5 piece out of Italy with more in common with The Strokes than Black Sabbath. Like The Long Guns, (reviewed elsewhere, expertly I might add,) they play a straight ahead brand of tuneful rock and listening to the album, you can picture them throwing all the right shapes on stage in the kind of sweaty dive garage bands seem to thrive on. It's all there, from the laconic vocal delivery, four to the floor bass, skittery drums and foot on the monitor guitars. It's a little hard to tell from the picture on the album, but I bet they're all wearing tight jeans and wishing it wasn't too hot to wear their leather jackets.

To be fair, there's more to them than second rate Strokes wish-they-weres, thankfully by making songs on their album sound different from each other. There's also some good riffing on here, a surprise for a band like this who usually rely on chord changes with little in the way of memorable guitar hooks. It's not all good though, as the solo on 'I've Got No Hope,' being a particular example. Anyone who plays guitar and noodles around the minor pentatonic scale* will be able to play large slabs of it given the right key. There's also not enough that sticks in the brain, and one song seems to pretty much run into the next as they all seem to be in similar tempos and keys. Annoyingly, the mood changes at the penultimate song '6 Years After,' which slows proceedings down and throws in some interesting guitar and bass work.

Sadly, anyone who reads the reviews here and notes who wrote them will know this type of thing isn't really up my street. TPG certainly have some good tunes, but I found my attention wavering by just past the mid-point of the album. Fans of The Strokes, Kings of Leon etc will find it sits nicely in their record collections, which judging from the press release is pretty much the idea, but anyone else would be wise to save their shiny pennies for something a little more ground-breaking.

*note to non-guitarists; this is the first and last scale everyone learns, mainly because the others have difficult names to remember. Except 'phrygian,' because it sounds funny.

Reviewed by Gareth on 23/08/2005.

- NINEHERTZ (SHEFFIELD,UK)