Was it worth the 90 seconds it took me to post this? Er …
The Computers: This Is The Computers (One Little Indian)
Written for and published in the Sunday Herald, 15 May 2011.
“RECORDED IN STEREO DIRECT TO TAPE” states the cover of the Exeter four-piece’s debut, stencilled in stentorian capitals as if it REALLY MATTERS. Me: I couldn’t care whether it was recorded on a wax cylinder or on an Apple Mac orbiting Mars as long as it betrays some evidence of interesting musical ideas, and this is the bit The Computers have overlooked.
What they’re doing with this excitable little yelp of an album – just under 25 minutes – is a thrashy, punky and ultimately slightly pointless take on rhythm and blues. It’s nothing that hasn’t been heard a hundred thousand times since the 1950s, although if you’re 14 and you’ve never heard a proper rock’n’roll band then it’d be as good a place as any to start.
Wilfully reductive and stubbornly regressive, The Computers would probably be fantastic playing a Tuesday-night set at the other end of a provincial pub – but if they don’t come up with something new soon, that’s sadly likely to be their fate.
