ARTiST: The Grates
TiTLE: Gravity Wont Get You High
LABEL: Universal
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 46:42 min
SiZE: 67,3 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Jul-14-2006
RELEASE DATE: Jul-17-2006
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. I Won't Survive 01:05
02. Lies 03:54
03. 19-20-20 02:05
04. Rock Boys 02:36
05. Howl 02:54
06. Trampoline 02:06
07. Science Is Golden 02:58
08. Feels Like Pain 02:59
09. Nothing Sir 03:01
10. Inside Outside 02:42
11. Sukkafish 03:57
12. Seek Me 02:15
13. Little People 03:24
14. I Am Siam 04:21
15. Small Lives 06:25
Release Notes:
Rarely does a summer go by without those damn
irritating Aussies causing us in unison to cry
"Damn! Those irritating Aussies...". Be it cricket
related, tarmac smelling lager fuelled or even Harry
Kewell's missus' fault (yeah I know she's English
but...?), there's always something about the natives
of the land down under that raises the hackles on an
Englishman's back.
So it is with great (dis?)pleasure that I welcome
Melbourne's The Grates to the club. But before
anyone calls in the xenophobic state police to
arrest, try and burn me at the kangaroo dung
infested stake of Shane Warne, their irritant streak
won't shred the nerves, impale one's head or cause
mass palputations of a disturbing nature.
Instead the only irritation that can be levelled at
this trio and their first long player, Gravity Won't
Get You High, is one of insatiable catchiness to the
point of terminal infection.
Sure, there's only so much you can do with a
traditional guitar, drums and vocals combo, and most
of that has been done already, but ignore the lazy
"Yeah Yeah Yeahs rip-offs" tag that The Grates seem
to have been saddled with from their conception and
you'll actually find a record that concocts punk,
soul, country, funk, pop...oh just about every genre
going in fact apart from disco and well, why would
you need that anyway? into a 40 minute, 14 song
frenzy that's shamelessly shambolic but all the more
charming for it.
Sure there are moments where Patience Hodgson sounds
like Karen O's excitable twin sister but there are
also parts of the record that show an incandescent
sweetness ('Sukkafish') or an innocent charm ("Lies
are much more fun!" - err, 'Lies') that ultimately
suggests by about 2020, when they're in their late
thirties and on album number 15, they may have just
grown up, not that we should care, because
adolescence rules and 'Gravity Won't Get You High'
epitomise everything about its state of being, even
if its' creators are quite possibly the oldest ones
in the book.