Giddy Motors — Make It Pop

The London based Giddy Motors is set to change the punk music scene with their radical Make It Pop debut album. Combining the jazz influence of Miles Davis and Christian Vander with raw US punk makes this already pretty unique, a good reason to delve a bit deeper into the album.

I wasn't too impressed with the single Whirled By Curses, released on FatCat in July as part of the 7" series. But after the debut album had a few spins in my CD player, the music of this trio became more understandable and enjoyable. Giddy Motors was formed in South London in 1999 by Gaverick de Vis (guitar & vocals), Manu Ros (drums & bass), later joined by Gordon Ashdown (bass). As mentioned earlier, the band takes jazzy musical themes as starting point but perform them through violent and angular punk music. And that's why it's hard to find anything to compare Giddy Motors with.

The album takes off with the violent and hard Magmanic. It is very chaotic and Gaverick's insane vocals produce another unique element. Hit Car is the jazziest track on the album, with excellent drumming in that style and a nice sample of an alto sax as backbone. Bottle Opener, the third track is a strange, quiet yet harsh combination of just a couple of riffs and again crazy vocals. The contemplative Cranium Clux is calm and moody with more acoustic-like guitars and someone who's actually trying to sing instead of producing strange outbursts of weird sounds. But that feeling is quickly gone with Sassy, which is catchy and funny (Gaverick screaming "You asshole!") and a lot harder than the previous and following track, Dog Hands. This one starts slowly and calm but later turns into a rather brutal punk track. Venus Medallist is a totally out of place rustic acoustic guitar piece with a cello (?), which is a pretty hilarious change on the album. Make It Pop ends with Whirled By Curses, taken from the 7" single with the same name. Again very chaotic, hard to follow, raw and violent, but the vocals really are a bit too strange for me on this one.

Unexpectedly good, this debut album of Giddy Motors. It is strange, unique, and different, with a great sense of humour. The 35 minutes that this album lasts are just enough to keep the interest awake, but any second longer might be too much to handle. The vocals are something you either love or hate, but they provide an essential element in Giddy Motors' music. It isn't suitable to put this kind of stuff in a certain category, so I guess you will not know how it's like until you try. But I recommend trying it indeed.

The album will be released on the 2nd of September, followed by a full European tour this autumn to support it.