Rips your lungs out through your nose and stomps on them in biker boots... (See This Through And Leave - Cooper Temple Clause)

Member Name: wicked_witch

Product:	See This Through And Leave - Cooper Temple Clause
Date:	05/07/02 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: original, mixes guitars with electronic noise pretty damn well

Disadvantages: one or two weak tracks, Liamism. One arrogant, drunken twat is enough thanx!

...Or at least thats what an exxagerating indie boy mate of mine told me once. And though my lungs remain intact, my quality of hearing has gone significantly downhill due to playing this album full blast and pissing the neighbours off large style.

This is another of those bands I had heard great things about for, like, ever but yet to hear. Perhaps I have lost all faith in the bands NME promotes after the whole StarSailor thing (don't even get me started). Although that faith was regained slightly by the whole strokes, white stripes, hives, vines, BRMC thing.

This (not very well known) Reading based band is probably best known for the lads crazy hairdo's (mullets, using beanies and beer as styling devices etc) and for their incredibly noisy debut. Eclectic sums it up in one word, and, as hard as it is to be truly original in todays world, this band comes pretty damn close to it! It combines electronics (as in "Did you Miss Me?") with gritty, dirty guitars completely flawlessly, and although they haven't yet mastered the art of the song that gets into your mind and won't budge, and the slightly Liam-esque lyrics, this is one helluva debut!

1. "Did you miss me?" Opens with high pitched metallics, a very light cymbal based drum track, and is hauntingly beautiful. The vocals are eerie and muted, and the interjecting guitar between verses rock hard and yet completely original. After a short, slow, haunting opening, we get grinding feedback, and a heavy bassline working its way in, and this track turns from a creepy, odd-sounding slow song to a bouncy, pounding but still a bit creepy and odd-sounding stomping rock track. The eerie vocals become wailing and screaming vitriol and seething anger. Lacks widespread appeal, but a technically brilliant, beautiful, and well-thought-out track.

2. "Film Maker" In sharp contrast, starts out with the guitarist throttling is instrument to within an inc
h of its (metaphorical). It is at this point the vocalist becomes a bit whiny and Liam-y. A real kick-ass song with roaring guitars that would go down well in a festie mosh pit. A slightly more sing-along track, purely because of its tendancy towards predictability.

3. "Panzer Attack" Insane name, insane song. Opens with electronics, feedback, and a synthesised drum machine. A low pitched guitar is added by way of a teaser. Incoherant (in a good way) it stumbles and falls drunkenly from fast to slow, with more spittingly mad vocals, with an added arrogance which adds a nice twist. Finishes with a gritty guitar that sounds like you've got a bee stuck in your earlobe.

4. "Who Needs Enemies" Nothing special, this one, although it was recently released as a single. Once again, the vocalist shows Liam-esque tendancies, but of course the backing music is harder than you would expect from Oasis. The lyrics are blase and unnaffecting. Most fans of TCTC seemed to love this one, but to me it just sounds dull, and a cliched song to come from such an original band.

5. "Amber" A welcome break from the roaring, ear-killing noise of the previous track. Opens like an ambient dance track and then adds a jangly guitar tune, with more heavily accented vocals, but without the whiny edge, and with the backing guitar, it conveys a haunting effect, which is intercepted by heavy guitar lines. Sounds like something you might expect from earlier Stereophonics- ie, very good but uninnovative, but then that isn't necessarily a bad thing, and of course, the Phonics are too crap to write anything this good!

6. "Digital Observations" The opening bar or so for some reason reminds me of that irritating Dido track, but the addition of percussion dispels any thoughts of that. An acoustic track which sounds strange purely because of the percussion and weird "spaceshippy" effects. Another welcome distraction f
rom the onslaught of the first four songs.

7. "Lets Kill Music" Cracking title, cracking song. Full on outer-space effects, thunderingly loud, alternately roaring and wailing guitars, and the multiple vocalists (very reminiscent of early Kinks and Beatles style pop. The only thing about TCTC that could ever be described in that way!) An interesting guitar is provided, basically a minimal wailing sound with so many effects its difficult to pick out. The vocalists turn to canon's halfway through the track to powerful effect.

8. "555-4823" is bizarre to say the least. Continuing in the spirit of space age rock this one opens in an almost Muse like way. A drum machine is brought in again in addition to the alien zapping effects (which sound a lot like those you might get on an early computer game). Far more offbeat dance than indie music, some scrambled, incomprehensible vocals are thrown in, but this is predominantly an instrumental track, with samples galore thrown in. I suspect this would be an interesting one to see performed live.

9. "Been Training Dogs" well you can't accuse them of dully named songs. Ah this is a return to full-on, loud rock of the ear-bleeding variety. Accented and medium paced, but extremely heavy on the guitars and drums, and with low-pitched, almost sardonic vocals. Another one that would go down well at a gig, methinks, if purely for the rather kick-ass guitar work. This song has the added brilliance of being beautifully put together while sounding like someone threw it together in a few hours in an ancient recording studio.

10. "The Lake" More haunting guitars and vocals, and more odd wooing effects in the backgrounds. Contains a definite indie melancholy as well as a hopeful air, aided by the high-pitched guitars. Lots of talk of drowning as you might expect from a song called "The lake". A short, effects laden interlude follows, building up to ye
t more heavy guitars. This ones quite difficult to define, but it is a weird, wonderful track.

11. "Murder Song" Another groovy title from TCTC (wonder which one makes them up?). The song, as you might expect, is dark, with muted, low-pitched guitars, very light drumming and a distinctly spooky feel to it. In fact, the whole song has a muted, dulled down air. The singer adds a touch of conventiality where none at all may have suited the track better (conventiality, not vocals). However, as the tracks continues, the vocals and the music melds much better. At points the addition of strings and yet more effects accentuates the creepy vibe of the song.

The second disc of "See this through and leave" inludes the following- "Devil walks in the sand", "Way out west", "I'll still write", "Lets Kill music" plus three videos and a live version of "Panzer attack. So, I'll review the four new tracks which are on the second disc.

1. "Devil walks in the sand" Gloomy, dirgey,grinding, all in all an absolutely cracking track. This one is gratefully effects free, and the guitar sound is lovely and gritty sounding, verging on filthy. Sounds like something you might hear on a horror movie soundtrack, like "The Craft" maybe, either that or a cult movie. In a good way.

2. "Way Out West" Opens with a twangy guitar sound, with some looming, threatening sounding feedback. This one is quiet and has a tinny feel to it, with bits of Oasis-esque indie pop moments thrown in. Nice jangly, easy on the ears tune with one or two well placed sample.

3. "I'll still write" Boring acoustic track. Thats about it really. The singer unsuccessfully tries to reach new heights with his voice and fails badly, sounding like Jarvis Cocker on helium. Which is an interesting thought. A boring end to the second disc, and to the album.

All in al
l "See this Through and Leave" is an absolutely stellar first album, loud, weird and creepy, innovative and as original as an album can be nowadays, except for the odd (as I've mentioned) Liam vocal. Plus, you get a second disc with extra tracks and videos on it! Bonus! Well done TCTC, see you at T in the Park (I'm counting down the days, hours and minutes!)

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