Be Like Pablo:
The New Adventures:
Stray Cat Records:
Out 4th August:
www.belikepablo.com
6/10
The New Adventures has been created by a group of teachers from the small town of Forres, presumably in between marking essays and term-time. Describing themselves as 'punk-rock for nerds' will either have you running for the hills or leaping with joy. The Scottish band's music may have you doing both, depending on what track you're currently engaged with.
Initial impressions suggest they've, at some point, heard a few tracks by Ash, The Monkees, McFly and The Pastels. Jolly, jangly, poppy, vaguely punky (in the 21st century sense) and instantly radio-friendly, the band have clearly enjoyed making the album, even if it doesn't have the deepest most meaningful clutch of songs on Planet Earth - after all, since when did pop have to be so serious?
The Post-It Song has some in-your-face retro synths going on, while The Things You Do wouldn't sound amiss on a Weezer album. Then it falls a bit flat with too many 'oh-oh-oh-uh-oh's in Oh Emily (gah) and dodgy 'rapping' in Without The Pain that makes Vanilla Ice sound like KRS-One, proof that rock and rap just don't go together sometimes. References to felt-tip pens and 'stationery' abound in Love is For the Living (hardly surprising, given their careers) and the rest of the album bounces from power-pop to sulk-rock, jammed with American-style frat-boy noodlings until we arrive at the Moog-a-thon that is Julianne, a return to form and a tune they should punt in the direction of radio - it's as good as it gets.
Overall - Be Like Pablo have tapped into teenage angst using familiar high-school musical trademarks with mixed, but occasionally likeable, results. It gets a C+.