Ladyfuzz - 'Kerfuffle' (Transgressive) Released 03/04/06

Can any independent label boast as many good acts on their roster as the oh so trendy Transgressive can right now? At the time of writing they boast  GoodBooks, The Rumble Strips and Battle whilst in the past they have helped out bands such as The Subways, Mystery Jets and Larrikin Love. Ladyfuzz unfortunately seem to be Transgressives weakest card. If Gigwise were into satire then we would hold up Ladyfuzz as the poster band of all the bad 80's influenced, arty crap that exists at the moment. With so many fantastic bands appearing on an almost daily basis Ladyfuzz seem somewhat unnecessary. 'Kerfuffle' is 10 tracks of quirky art rock that sounds tired and second hand, there is nothing here that you cannot find being done much better elsewhere.

The band boast 2006's must have, a female lead singer. Now it would be lazy to compare Liz Neumayr to Karen O but it seems she has gone out of her way to sound like her so we are left no option. It seems odd that in the year that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have made their comeback there are so many bands imitating the music they were making four years ago, surely a bit of female innovation isn't too much to ask for? 'Kerfuffle opens with ' Hold Up' and it sets the tone for the whole album. It stays at a mid pace neither fast nor slow, military like drums are pounded by Ben Esser in the background whilst Matt Lords guitar stabs in the way every other hyped band in the
world does.

The album continues in a similar vein until it reaches album highlight and the bands most recent single 'Bouncy Ball'. For all of 'Kerfuffles' weaknesses it does contain this gem of a tune that sounds like Beck reinterpreting the theme music from Super Mario, genuinely brilliant. Perhaps this is why the album is so frustrating, Ladyfuzz show how good they can be then carry on being derivative and clichéd.

Lets not overreact here, there are far worse bands around and much worse happenings in the world of music (one word, Embrace) however Ladyfuzz seem to represent a worrying trend in the current alternative scene. They take random parts of fantastic bands and bastardize them until they are a worthless mash of style over content. Ignore Ladyfuzz and stick to the
originals, they are always better.