Rumble Strips
(Gigantic Music)
In Britain, where Dexy's Midnight Runners were epochal rather than ephemeral, the Rumble Strips are widely taken as Dexy's redux. But Yanks who know only "Come On Eileen" needn't do further research before auditioning the Strips' Girls and Weather. The similarity between the two bands is superficial: Both have a raw-voiced lead shouter and a '60s-soul horn section, but little else in common. Indeed, with their thin, retro and intentionally ramshackle sound, the Strips could just as easily be typed as a brass-driven Libertines.
Officially a quartet -- although they have a permanent auxiliary bassist -- the Strips build their songs on acoustic guitar and stripped-down drums, augmented by trumpet and sax. Trumpeter Henry Clark sometimes adds piano, but not to plump the music. There's always lots of room for Charles Waller's voice and worldview, which is witty and rueful. Where Dexy's aspired to world-beating swagger, the Tavistock-rooted, London-based Strips show the modesty of small-town boys in the big city. From the opening "No Soul"
(about not having any) to "Motorcycle" (about not having one), Waller cuts the band's exuberance with self-doubt.
A 2007 release in the U.K., Girls and Weather does sometimes suffer from a common Brit-pop affliction: a style that -- despite glimmers of ska, skiffle and Motown -- is so tightly defined it can barely breathe. But when the group's formula is perfectly executed, as on such stompers as "Alarm Clock," that problem is blown right out the door by jumpy beats, horn blasts and Waller's refrain of aggrieved "oh no, oh no, oh no."
Standout Tracks: "No Soul," "Alarm Clock" MARK JENKINS
