15-03-2012, 13:24
online listen
nice guitar pop
sneaks on the list
1.7 from me and a converted 1.8 from the pros at allmusic
interesting, only a 1.8, yet gets their check mark, usually reserved for at least 4 stars
from the album - We Were Children
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52QHnUF13hs
released Mar 13th, 2012
![[Image: r27641dcbca.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drr200/r276/r27641dcbca.jpg)
Bio - from allmusic
Comprised of singer/guitarist Johnny Lloyd, guitarist Dan White, bassist Jimmy Cratchley (the three formerly of
Operahouse), and drummer Miguel Demelo, British rockers Tribes formed in Camden Town, London in 2010, steadily
building a following through their engaging live performances. They also made an impression with an early demo
posted on their MySpace page, attracting the attention of indie rock icon Frank Black, who personally asked the
quartet to open for a Pixies concert date that fall in London. Tribes offered its recorded debut in April 2011 with
the We Were Children EP, produced by Mike Crossley (Arctic Monkeys, the Kooks), and the band continued to grow,
playing a session at Radio 1's Maida Vale studios and taking the stage at summer festivals around Europe and Asia.
The band's first full-length, Baby, is slated for release in January 2012, just in time for Tribes' supporting
dates with Kaiser Chiefs and the Kooks.
Album Review - from allmusic
Alongside the likes of Spector, Bos Angeles, and Zulu Winter, Camden four-piece Tribes have been hailed by the
music press as one of the guitar bands capable of reviving the struggling indie scene, a rather optimistic hope
considering their fuzz-soaked debut, Baby, feels more like a leftover relic from the '90s than the game-changer the
genre needs. Indeed, frontman Johnny Lloyd, part-Johnny Borrell/part-Marc Bolan, and co. may have been labeled a
grunge revivalist, but apart from the Nevermind-esque bassline which opens the swaggering noise-rock of opener
"Whenever" and the stodgy, glam-tinged "We Were Children," which borrows the guitar hook from the Pixies' "Where Is
My Mind," it's the era of Cool Britannia which appears to have provided the blueprint for Baby's 11 tracks. At
times, it threatens to reach the heights of the Brit-pop greats, such as the ghostly swamp rock of "Alone or with
Friends," which sounds like a cross between Blur's lo-fi offerings and Oasis' Noel-fronted epics, and the Suede-ish
melancholy of "Corner of an English Field," one of several songs which refer to the recent death of Lloyd's
childhood friend, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool's Charles Haddon. But at others, it drifts into indie landfill territory,
particularly on "Sappho," a tale of sexual confusion which could have been lifted from Viva Brother's terrible,
similar pastiche debut, and the bratty pop-punk of "When My Day Comes." The reverb-drenched shoegaze of heartbreak
anthem "Himalaya," and the spacy acoustic folk of "Halfway Home" prove the band's influences extend beyond the
cover stars of the now defunct Select magazine, but they're the only real moments of inspiration on a record which
works well enough as a slice of nostalgia, but isn't going to change British guitar music's dire state of affairs.
Track Listing
1. Baby Whenever
2. We Were Children
3. Corner of an English Field
4. Halfway Home
5. Sappho
6. Himalaya
7. Nightdriving
8. When My Day Comes
9. Walking in the Street
10. Alone or With Friends
11. Bad Apple
nice guitar pop
sneaks on the list
1.7 from me and a converted 1.8 from the pros at allmusic
interesting, only a 1.8, yet gets their check mark, usually reserved for at least 4 stars
from the album - We Were Children
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52QHnUF13hs
released Mar 13th, 2012
Bio - from allmusic
Comprised of singer/guitarist Johnny Lloyd, guitarist Dan White, bassist Jimmy Cratchley (the three formerly of
Operahouse), and drummer Miguel Demelo, British rockers Tribes formed in Camden Town, London in 2010, steadily
building a following through their engaging live performances. They also made an impression with an early demo
posted on their MySpace page, attracting the attention of indie rock icon Frank Black, who personally asked the
quartet to open for a Pixies concert date that fall in London. Tribes offered its recorded debut in April 2011 with
the We Were Children EP, produced by Mike Crossley (Arctic Monkeys, the Kooks), and the band continued to grow,
playing a session at Radio 1's Maida Vale studios and taking the stage at summer festivals around Europe and Asia.
The band's first full-length, Baby, is slated for release in January 2012, just in time for Tribes' supporting
dates with Kaiser Chiefs and the Kooks.
Album Review - from allmusic
Alongside the likes of Spector, Bos Angeles, and Zulu Winter, Camden four-piece Tribes have been hailed by the
music press as one of the guitar bands capable of reviving the struggling indie scene, a rather optimistic hope
considering their fuzz-soaked debut, Baby, feels more like a leftover relic from the '90s than the game-changer the
genre needs. Indeed, frontman Johnny Lloyd, part-Johnny Borrell/part-Marc Bolan, and co. may have been labeled a
grunge revivalist, but apart from the Nevermind-esque bassline which opens the swaggering noise-rock of opener
"Whenever" and the stodgy, glam-tinged "We Were Children," which borrows the guitar hook from the Pixies' "Where Is
My Mind," it's the era of Cool Britannia which appears to have provided the blueprint for Baby's 11 tracks. At
times, it threatens to reach the heights of the Brit-pop greats, such as the ghostly swamp rock of "Alone or with
Friends," which sounds like a cross between Blur's lo-fi offerings and Oasis' Noel-fronted epics, and the Suede-ish
melancholy of "Corner of an English Field," one of several songs which refer to the recent death of Lloyd's
childhood friend, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool's Charles Haddon. But at others, it drifts into indie landfill territory,
particularly on "Sappho," a tale of sexual confusion which could have been lifted from Viva Brother's terrible,
similar pastiche debut, and the bratty pop-punk of "When My Day Comes." The reverb-drenched shoegaze of heartbreak
anthem "Himalaya," and the spacy acoustic folk of "Halfway Home" prove the band's influences extend beyond the
cover stars of the now defunct Select magazine, but they're the only real moments of inspiration on a record which
works well enough as a slice of nostalgia, but isn't going to change British guitar music's dire state of affairs.
Track Listing
1. Baby Whenever
2. We Were Children
3. Corner of an English Field
4. Halfway Home
5. Sappho
6. Himalaya
7. Nightdriving
8. When My Day Comes
9. Walking in the Street
10. Alone or With Friends
11. Bad Apple