Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Life Without Buildings

Any other city

Label: Tugboat Records Release Date: 26/02/2001

94756
matt by Matthew Willson March 12th, 2001

This album is a powerful reminder that the punk scene is still producing innovative and exciting new sounds. The first track "PS Exclusive" hits you right away with a heady blast of fast-moving lo-fi guitar work, and a unique dreamy but attitude-filled stream of conciousness from vocalist Sue Tompkins. The band are from Glasgow and their sound really stands out amongst recent releases. The guitars have echoes of Sonic Youth or even Mogwai, but the pace is more lively and the sound more quirky and impassioned. The vocals are very distinctive across the album - they blur the boundary between a constant spoken stream of words, phrases and subconcious poetry, and a more traditional punk vocal style. Whether shouted, whispered or sung Sue Tompkins' vocals gives the band a unique character. The strength of the backing material can't be ignored either - avoiding predictable punk-rock guitar chords they pour energy into constantly changing rhythms of dischord and beauty that borrows the best from punk and post-rock and combines it with a fast-paced but dreamy indie-rock edge. Each song seems to work on some kind of vocal mantra - phrasings that seem delibarately naive and impassioned are improvised, repeated and thrown around with such energy you can't help be drawn in. In the best punk spirit the music has an edge to it that suggests the record is merely a document of the band's live energy.

While tracks like "PS Exclusive" and single "Young offenders" are bursting with a quirky catchy energy, they don't need to be incredibly noisy for this to show through. The band have a quiet beauty to them aswell, which shows in final track "Sorrow". The album ends with a really calming beautiful sound with subtle chords and dreamy vocals, reminiscent of the Velvet Underground's quieter moments. "You're beautiful but you're going to slip away like that... feeling that way about difficult people"

It's a sound to fall in love with... listen and you won't be disappointed.

  • 10
    Matthew Willson's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

Thirst

From Mouth to Skin

Mobback

The Vines at Camden Electric Ballroom, Camden, Thu 19 Feb

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND