Brain Soup and Short Skirts Reviewed
Brain Soup – Bullets
The thing about punk-rock is that it’s loyal to nobody, but truthful to a tee. In that it is a hyper-effective assault unit, the kind of thing that record execs would mention to Rod Stewart if they wanted him, or someone like him, to choke on their tea and biscuits. It’s the kind of thing that arrives for dull pop stars in the night and is merciless.
Punk-rockers, at their best, are the villains of a story who turn out to be, if not exactly good, at the very least, resourceful and always honest narrators. Can you really trust a pop star to tell you that they love you? Can we really believe an ageing rock star when they tell us that they’re out touring for the fun of it?
Brain Soup’s “Bullets” is fantastic villain-rock for those who are unwilling to consider giving up and surrendering. It’s a song that takes Dylan-esque folk motifs and 90s pop-punk ideas with the confidence that these things belong to whoever will use them first and best. It’s fun and quirky, but it’s a Rancid-like song of survival. The world wants to bring you down? Great! Let it try!
Short Skirts – Raw Food
The good thing about punk-rock is that it’s the kind of thing that is easy to make up your mind about liking or hating. Split-second decisions are encouraged here. Playing punk-rock songs is the great equaliser. When everything’s reduced to three chords and whatever version of the truth the singer can muster, the difference usually lies in intention.
Johnny Rotten told us that he just doesn’t care, and the world believed him so much that, for a couple of years, they turned him into a superstar and kept believing him all the way to the qualification stage of the Eurovision. Do you believe Short Skirts when they tell you their story as health-food eccentrics? It’s easy to!
Short Skirts know that punk-rock allows you the luxury of not having to invent the wheel, or anything resembling it. It just requires gusto and a bit of anger, and maybe some wacky characters. “Raw Food” could just be a tune about a walk through bohemia-soaked city streets, or a metaphor for something deeper that I can’t pick up. Regardless, it sounds like the band means business. And that’d be hard to fake.
