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The Boombombs are not actually a band [yet] as we had it bit of brainstorm on potential band names in the office when along comes this CD by the oddly named, The So So Glos. From the album cover, I thought they’d be more of a post-punk influence but these guys, led by Alex Levine, seem like a modern day Libertines/The Clash crossed with The New York Dolls [none drag].

But as they come from the mean streets of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (where they are ‘local legends’ based at Market Hotel), the lack of art-rock pretentions is perhaps the surprise. ‘Execution’, ‘Isn’t It A Shame’ and ‘Underneath The Universe’ are particularly raw early Strummer/Jones sing-a-longs.

Don’t get the idea they are mere karaoke as Levine (Alex) has some good lines; “Throw your hands up DJ, we’ve got verbal shot gun shells” (on ‘Throw Your Hands’). O.K so that’s their ‘Capital Radio’ and with from a tight 27 minutes of the CD, it’s hard to tell if they’ve got a Sandinista! in them (shame they didn’t work out a proper ending to ‘Love Or Empire’). That said, as three of the four band members are related, you’d hope that they won’t split up and this is a long term project.

At a time when guitar bands are particularly (or even increasingly) dull, The So So Glos bring a F-them-all attitude that you don’t hear that often these days; we’ve missed the London November tour but worth checking them out - not forgetting, we all live in Brooklyn baby!.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Throw Your Hands Up’, ‘My Block’, ‘Execution’ and ‘Underneath The Universe’

Reviewed: The So So Glos - Tourism / Terrorism (Green Owl Records) Cat. No. GOR002 Release date: 14th December 2009
Tracklisting:
1. There’s A War (0:31)
2. My Block (3:35)
3. Throw Your Hands Up (3:35)
4. Isn’t It A Shame (3:28)
5. Love Or Empire (3:58)
6. There’s A War (Holiday Version) (0:56)
7. Execution (3:04)
8. Island Loops (3:42)
9. Underneath The Universe (5:03)

Links:
www.mysapce.com/sosoglos
www.underneath-the-universe.blogspot.com
www.greenowlrecords.com