The Others - 'The Others' (Poptones) Released 31/01/05

 

 

 

Much feted and derided by their Libertine connection, their desperate penchant for guerrilla gigs and their alleged crack habits The Others are setting themselves up for a fall just by picking up guitars, but with a debut body of work that is this good, The Others are a band that can turn a whole bunch of negatives into positives.

 

Dom Masters’ nasally faux-cockney squawks (this boy is from Somerset) sit over wiry dirty bass lines and simple but melodic guitar licks that give more than a nod to some of the great late Eighties pioneers of angular indie.

 

Singles ‘This is for the Poor’ and ‘Stan Bowles’ are as immediate as 3 minutes of half cranked dirty slack jawed arm flailing can be expected to be. OK they’re singing about “smoking bone in the backroom” and dedicating songs to “the poor, not you rich kids”; it’s clichéd but it’s honest and that honesty shines through not only in the songs but in the pared down production. Stand out tracks being the fresh, simple and straightforward ‘William’, ‘Community 853’, that would sit happily on any Pixies fan's shelf and the New Order-ly ode to Masters' boyfriend ‘Johan’ .

 

If the underclass need a new hero, a new Johnny Rotten of our age then Masters and his three mates might make prime candidates, after all “they hate the trendy crowd”, don’t we all?