December 10, 2010

Album Review: Weekend - Sports (Slumberland)

Biblical floods of brooding amp static from the San Francisco Trio

7 / 10 Renaissance Gloom Principle #1: all moody post-punk bands shall trace genealogy to Ian Curtis’ Kleenex carton – what bollocks. Joy Division ripped off plenty of bands (David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Cabaret Voltaire). So do San Franciscan trio Weekend (No Age, Sonic Youth, The Jesus And Mary Chain). What about it? The point is that good groups don’t copy or borrow; they steal. And that’s what Weekend do here, through biblical floods of brooding amp static, sharp backline and submerged lyrics charting a course back to their influences. Shame it’s slightly spoiled by the morbid fixations of those same lyrics – which are the only shit thing about this LP, really.

Huw Nesbitt