NEW #39 - KEG

 

Over the past few months when Breaking More Waves dares to rear its ugly head to bash out a few words about a new band or artist that is getting me all-a-fluster. there’s a good chance that I’ve selected one of the current crop of new alternative guitar bands that seem to be popping up all over the place at the moment. That’s not to say that I’ve fallen out of love with other genres of music, not at all, but undeniably there’s been a resurgence in groups making edgy, peculiar, brilliantly noisy tunes that are equal parts unlistenable and highly listenable. It’s the sort of shouty stuff that thrives in small sweaty clubs and pubs across the land – although it would perhaps be quite amusing to see Black Country, New Road play the London 02 Arena.

Today I’m introducing another from this crop. They're called Keg.

Keg are a 7 piece collective from Brighton who throw everything imaginable into their bonkers music. A frenetic riot of guitar, keys, 100mph drumming, trombone, shouting, mad cap dancing and even some playing of the seashell all fight for space in their sound and live shows. It’s the sort of oddball WTF pop that will make your head spin as it thrusts and jerks into your brain. You can hear it all on their recently released Assembly EP (via Alcopop! Records) a weird amalgamation of Devo, Squid, Gang of Four and Talking Heads. although their inventiveness is probably closer akin to a band like Plastic Mermaids and the aforementioned Black Country, New Road - even if they don’t sound anything like them. 

If that sounds like your cup of tea then Assembly is bustling and bursting with this imaginative and quirky indie. Yes, it’s hardly likely to bother the charts, but take a listen to Kilham with its fist pumping strut, warm mellow harmonic vocal interludes, sudden tempo changes and mellow jazzy closedown or Farmhands with its deep 80’s synth sounds and spluttering danceable guitar lines or the cartoonish Heyshaw (below) and be grateful that the mavericks are still out there doing things like this.

The only criticism I have of Keg is the name. Naming your band after a small barrel often used to store beer doesn’t really do it for me. But I’ll forgive them because of the tunes and also my favourite band photo (above) in recent times.

Keg - Heyshaw