Pixies:
Indie Cindy:
Pixies Music:
Various formats:
Out Now:
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
You know, I'm reminded of Chris Morris' brilliant take on the Pixies every time I hear the real thing. 'Muthabanger' goes down as one of the greatest unrecorded should-have-been-a-Pixies song ever, even twenty years after it appeared on a flexi-disc given free with the now-defunct Select monthly music magazine.
But now we have Indie Cindy and, more to the point, more Pixies songs that you think you've heard before. But that's only because this first album from Frank Black and co since 1991's topsy-turvy Trompe Le Monde is business as usual. In a good way. Sort of. Plus the fact that pretty much the entire album has already been issued on three separate E.P.s since last year. Well then - you have heard this all before.
Of course there's no Kim Deal present either which leaves onlookers non-plussed or plussed - it's hard to ignore but life goes on. And on and on it does and so does Indie Cindy. Understandably, the short, sharp bursts of jagged frenetic guitar have gone. In their place are long drawn-out riffs and explorative arrangements that herald a band's coming-of-age and an admission that Pixies really just want to rock and roll. Blue-Eyed Hexe and the opener What Goes Boom trudge merrily along like Neil Young during his Rockin' In The Free World/Fuckin' Up-era while Bagboy, Greens And Blues and Another Toe In The Ocean are variations on the surf-pop-dance hybrid we've come to know so well. Andro Queen sounds too much like The Killers for comfort while Jaime Bravo steers this occasionally rudderless ship back on course with some aplomb. 7 out of 12 songs here are top-notch but it's no Doolittle or Surfer Rosa.
Thus, even with a Record Store Day vinyl exclusive, Indie Cindy doesn't feel like a new Pixies album at all, save for the super Vaughan Oliver sleeve and the irksome title. In fact, I preferred all of these songs when chopped up as four-track E.P.s - as an assembled album, the spark has been lost somewhere, partly due to the running-order but mainly due to the fact that there's nothing here that we haven't already heard. The choice is yours. Indie Cindy schmindy.
Indie Cindy:
Pixies Music:
Various formats:
Out Now:
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
But now we have Indie Cindy and, more to the point, more Pixies songs that you think you've heard before. But that's only because this first album from Frank Black and co since 1991's topsy-turvy Trompe Le Monde is business as usual. In a good way. Sort of. Plus the fact that pretty much the entire album has already been issued on three separate E.P.s since last year. Well then - you have heard this all before.
Of course there's no Kim Deal present either which leaves onlookers non-plussed or plussed - it's hard to ignore but life goes on. And on and on it does and so does Indie Cindy. Understandably, the short, sharp bursts of jagged frenetic guitar have gone. In their place are long drawn-out riffs and explorative arrangements that herald a band's coming-of-age and an admission that Pixies really just want to rock and roll. Blue-Eyed Hexe and the opener What Goes Boom trudge merrily along like Neil Young during his Rockin' In The Free World/Fuckin' Up-era while Bagboy, Greens And Blues and Another Toe In The Ocean are variations on the surf-pop-dance hybrid we've come to know so well. Andro Queen sounds too much like The Killers for comfort while Jaime Bravo steers this occasionally rudderless ship back on course with some aplomb. 7 out of 12 songs here are top-notch but it's no Doolittle or Surfer Rosa.
Thus, even with a Record Store Day vinyl exclusive, Indie Cindy doesn't feel like a new Pixies album at all, save for the super Vaughan Oliver sleeve and the irksome title. In fact, I preferred all of these songs when chopped up as four-track E.P.s - as an assembled album, the spark has been lost somewhere, partly due to the running-order but mainly due to the fact that there's nothing here that we haven't already heard. The choice is yours. Indie Cindy schmindy.