I've been out soaking up the sunshine instead of posting stuff on here over recent weeks so it's time to play a bit of catch up. First up are Crocodiles, California's contribution to the nu-gaze phenomenon - 'Endless Flowers' is there third LP and I had some pretty high hopes for this bad boy based on their previous effort 'Sleep Forever' which was amongst my favourites from 2010. Sadly it doesn't quite live up to expectations - there is maybe only so long you can carry on cranking out fuzz pedal sugar pop before running out of ideas (see Vivian Girls, School of Seven Bells, Place to Bury Strangers etc) and these guys are starting to tread water a little. It starts well mind you, the title track rides in on a wave of gorgeous scuzzed up surf rock and is swiftly followed by bombastic lead single 'Sunday' which will blow your fucking head off - a moment's hesitation passes before they count into three minutes of rampaging distortion, massive organ blasts and thunderous percussion. It's pretty simple stuff but extremely effective and is tailor made to rock the balls off even the most casual listener, almost justifying the album's purchase on its own merits. Sadly things tail off a little after that - 'No Black Clouds for Dee Dee' is sweet enough but only serves to remind us that the singer Brandon Welchez is boffing the Dum Dum Girls' frontwoman (yeah thanks for that you smug bastard) and the band slip into cliché all too easy with production line sugar fuzz like 'Bubblegum Trash', 'Surfing Lucifer' and 'Electric Death Song' (you could make these fucking song titles up on your own really). The Crocs' first album 'Summer of Hate' was full of this kind of derivative indie dishwater before they developed the anthemic songwriting chops that made 'Sleep Forever' such a well-crafted record, varying the pace nicely and only leaving the blasts of fuzz rock for when they needed an extra boost to really take off. 'Endless Flowers' reverts to type all too often, aiming for anthemic fuzz bombs with the sinister sex appeal of early Mary Chain but generally ending up with charmless indie kookyness à la The Raveonettes or any other band of chancers simply trotting out garage rock clichés with too much feedback. There's a fine art to doing this sort of thing properly and Crocodiles have proven that they can master it so it's frustrating to see them slip back into generic sludge so quickly - swap all the references to surfing and Jesus for big tits and fast cars and you've basically got the modern indie equivalent of what Warrant and Poison were churning out twenty years ago. Don't get me wrong, trash culture rock 'n' roll sometimes works great - the Mary Chain made a whole career from it and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club knocked out a few decent albums in the same vein but they both varied the menu somewhere down the line to keep it fresh. Crocodiles are gonna end up as nu-gaze's Faster Pussycat if they're not careful - that shit was pretty good fun for one record but it started to suck REALLY quickly. Brandon you need to get your mojo back pretty soon or you're gonna be roadying for your missus this time next year - 'Endless Flowers' just about makes the grade but you can manage a lot better.
Check out : 'Sunday', reassuring proof that they've still got an ace up their sleeve.
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