Looking at Zoë's review below, I can only suggest there's no pleasing some people! Mind you,
I'm so ancient, I still remember what punk sounded like when it first started up (no CDs then,
of course, just crappy home-made cassette tapes that disintegrated and had to be hand-spliced back
together every few months...).
In fact, some of The Wind-Up Birds' material is firmly lodged in my favourites list. I love
the sheer energy (and fun) of the tracks. And if the mix isn't perfect, who cares?! That's easily sorted;
what matters is the material itself. If anything it makes things more authentic; who ever heard a live
performance where you could actually hear anything properly? The screeching plebs in the audience
always make bands unintelligible... (ban 'em, I say, ban 'em).
This EP starts enthusiastically enough with White Hair, but for me the second track on the EP,
The Families of the Disappeared, is particularly inspired! Superb riffs, superb lyrics, superb
delivery. What more could you ask for?! Slowdown into The Bailiff's Bravado (shades of
Magazine!!), then back into excellence with bus journey observations in The Neutral Countries.
What's not to like?!
Reviewer: Zoë Carter (Sept 2008)
In These Great Times is the latest EP from the interestingly named The Wind-up Birds.
The main aim of this group is to explore the usually undiscussed subject matters like, the scientific
patterns of mass behaviour and the working classes subtle manipulation of reality TV. They discuss
these highly topical subjects over a full-scale sabotage of raw, edgy, post-punk music. The idea
is there, the name's cool, the art's cool but something's missing? Most vocal offerings are out of
tune and not in an anti-establishment, punk way, just in a bad way. The recording is so poor that
even if they are discussing subjects worthy of evening news, in tune, you wouldn’t be able to hear it anyway.
After a read through the lyric book you do realise it's not all bad for The Wind-up Birds. A lot
of the song themes are good and indeed some of the words are current, real and very well written. They seem
dedicated, handy musicians that show in true punk spirit that anyone with something to say, should get a
load of mates down, bang out some riffs and have a proper laugh doing it. Raw, homegrown post-punk, that
won't be everyone's cup of tea but could be of interest to people into the obscurer side of the genre.