Cabbage (band)
11 January 2017I recently came across a retweet mentioning a news article about a Mossley (NW England) discordant neo post-punk band named Cabbage. The ironies within the article, well, I’ve already determined 2017 will be one led and thus eventually characterised by Schadenfreude. Now the band’s genre isn’t my usual cup of tea, but the introduction alone was definitely something helping to drag me out from the depths of my post-New-Year funk.
Here’s why…
The publicity wasn’t because of their music, at least not directly. No, it was their frank, gloriously frank, response to the British national tabloid newspaper* attempting to champion them as one of their sounds of 2017. To see what I suspect is merely the iceberg-tip of the band’s response, here’s a Manchester Evening News article - sanitised only by redacting the entirely-appropriate sweary language.
I asked the band on Twitter for their recommendation; which of their albums should I buy? The response was, in hindsight, entirely predictable.
@ahcabbage: @bazbt3 @antmeals anything by @TheBlindersBand
I simply ignored their response, hoping for something more, a ‘Best Of’. Heh, Baz playing the long game‽
A few days later they released a compilation album, ‘Young Dumb And Full Of…’! Yes, the ellipsis is a part of the album title; and though the dystopian days of ‘Bollocks’ aren’t over yet, not for me at least, there’s enough of an implication there to satisfy this listener.
Or maybe it’s a shorter word, one that rhymes with, er… Yeah, I think I’ll step away from that one!
I bought and listened to the album all the way through, turned up loud enough to enjoy it as I’m imagining the band intended (and then turned down a bit for this old man’s ears.) I was struck first by how the passage of time hasn’t dulled my inability to discern the actual lyrics of a song; but it’s not a criticism, there’s enough there to keep me interested.
The second thing that struck me relates to some of the melodies; I’m sure there’s some Talking Heads (I’m a fan) and a bit of Kosheen too. Perhaps if I listen some more I’ll find more, but is that perhaps missing the point? Naah, is it bollocks: Music is Music!
Suffice it to say that, whilst I’m drawn to the obvious parallels with the Sex Pistols (yes, I’m that old but wasn’t a fan at the time) this isn’t a rehash, doesn’t seen like an homage. It’s shiny and new. Ok not shiny, it’s spiky stuff this.
I’m emphatically no music reviewer, but I do know what I like. ‘Young Dumb And Full Of…’ by Cabbage thus gains Baz’s seal of approval, is rated 10/10 for the timely (and in some respects timeless) music and for dragging me out of my 1977-to-early-nineties musical comfort zone.
Ta Cabbage.
*Why yes, it is in fact the hated Sun misjudging our cultural history.