This review come from the Trakmarx blogspot, which is ran by a guy called Jean Encoule, who's involvement in Punk Rock and music journalism goes right back to the early days of punk. It is so cool that he is still super excited by contemporary music and is yet one more person who realizes that the band PEOPLE are one of the best bands going right now. Check out his blogspot and Internet based fanzine, especially the Gary Moloney interview. http://trakmarx.com/ I should take this opportunity to mention that the 2nd pressing of the People LP will be here very soon.
If there’s anything approaching a cult band left on this planet in the age of interweb intrusion, it’s People – residents of Oita City, Kyushu Island, Japan. People have existed in one form or another since 2007, releasing one seven inch, a clutch of cassettes and CDRs, and two vinyl LPs.
The first of those LPs – ‘Fairy Tale’ – was a pressing of the band’s legendary demo tape of the same name on Damaging Noise Records – a label widely regarded as rather dodgy, to say the least. This value-judgement was seemingly upheld by the b-side to the vinyl pressing of ‘Fairy Tale’, a barely credible sub-aqua rehearsal tape session that should have been left on the cutting room floor. There are multiple twists and turns to this tale, as any student of People will attest, but, to cut a long story short, People are back, with a new line up, a new record, and a new label: Mr Wanky’s Noisepunk Records.
Entitled ‘Ausentic Oral Communication’ – the sophomore People album is an entirely different beast to ‘Fairy Tale’. If the latter was ‘Very Best Of Hero’ era Swankys worship, the new record mines ‘Never Can Eat Swank Dinner’. Gone is much of the distortion that flooded ‘Fairy Tale’, replaced with a rock’n’roll clarity that allows licks to burst forth from subdued fuzz in an altogether more garage approach. You’ll still find the odd Pistols riff lurking around, you may even hear a Tenpole Tudor reference or two, but you won’t hear any recycled PiL bass lines this time out. In other news, the vocals are more nuanced, the overall vibe more swing than swagger.
Pressed on highlighter yellow vinyl, and packaged with at least one eye on continuity from the artwork to ‘Fairy Tale’, ‘Ausentic Oral Communication’ is eminently flipable, and, like all of what has come before it in this column, has rarely hit the deck with out a rapid rewind. Mr Wanky assures us People are coming to the UK to play shows sometime in the near future, and, being a man of honour, as well as a thoroughly decent chap, I have no reason to doubt him on that score.
