Manchester’s The Whip have been building a big fanbase on the live circuit over the past couple of years, and now they’re ready to unleash their genre busting glittering debut album ‘X Marks Destination’, which featuress Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and Editors) on production duties, and opens with the corking current single ‘Trash’, if you can imagine Nirvana meets Soulwax then your sort of barking up the right tree. ‘Frustration’ comes next, jam packed with melancholic melodies set on jerky rhythms and firing basslines, that drive Bruce’s rasping vocals to the max, bringing U2, The Psychedelic Furs and New Order to mind. ‘Save My Soul’ builds with pleading vocals over elements of disco with flourishes of Kraftwerk, while ‘Sirens’ takes a leaf out of Julian Cope’s book. ‘Divebomb’ heads straight for the dancefloor and ends up on ‘Kitsune Maison 4’, leaving ‘Blackout’ to bowl about with a large dose of Manc swagger. The crowd pleasing chanter ‘Muzzle #1’ was the attention grabbing debut release for Southern Fried, and the ravetastic ‘Sister Siam’, alongside the electro pop of ‘Dubsex’ round off ‘X Marks Destination’. The Whip are definitely gonna have the crack in 2008.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Dean Thatcher
