REVIEW OF ‘GOLDEN BLUE’ E.P. BY SCREAMING TEA PARTY
Stolen Records, London

‘Screaming Tea Party’ are a trio from London who have been around since 2006 and are probably one of three of the most genuine punk bands in the U.K at present.  Their Quentin Taratinoesque ‘Reckless Rabbit’ from their previous E.P. ‘Death Egg’ (2007) is really all about sound and feeling, a sonic jolt the size of a rock,  a pure delicious headrush.. But ‘Golden Blue’ brought out a variety of  songs and sounds which establish them as a proper punk outfit which needs to get on the road fast. Their high concept artwork belies the soaring simplicity of their songs ; there’s nothing ‘experimental’ about this band. They do the job.

The band consist of Koichi Yamanoha (bass guitar and vocals), Nell Eu (drums and vocals) and Niiyan (guitar). It’s been a long, long time since music has been this much fun…

‘Id rather be stuck on the stair rail’ (single) is a staccato zig zag, jaggedly pulling you into their crazy world. The hard sweetness of Nell’s chorus is aggressively assaulted back by the insistent verses. This song has more bounce than a sixty foot bungee. The vocals and guitars are on the same violent trajectory, swinging in drastic arcs.

‘Car Crash Beauties’ has noise guitar screeching themes before the mundane chords and nasal vocals.  These contrast with the helium-induced guitar-led bridge.  Koichi’s vocals are used almost as the basic chords while the guitar takes the lead. Ska beats give way to a raging crashing crescendo with clean yells – as unadulterated as punk gets.

‘Golden Blue’ is reminiscent of Velvet Underground’s ‘I’m Sticking With You’ with its fairy tale world of nursery rhyme…except the sadness and regret take this from innocence to elegance.

‘Today is The Day’ is a favourite of Radio 6’s Marc Riley. When I first heard this, I thought it was The Buzzcocks as it has that immediate old skool feel and the irrepressible joyous vibe.  The persistent repetitive infectious chords rip a track in your head along with the ecstatic boyish ‘Wohh-hoh!’s and jubilant yells of abandon. The reverbed chorus builds up with a frenetic bridged out noise guitar bringing you into the most upbeat song I’ve heard all summer. This track along with the next one was used in the TV series 'FM'.

‘Holy Disaster’ (single) starts off with single drum beats and picked out guitar, pulling out the bare bones of a poignant pristine emotion. Again, the use of a repetitive melody lays the themes. This song is deliciously wistful with unlikely harmonies dissolving you into the song.

‘The Witch From Oregon’ is the least memorable.  A lot of girly bop which is universes away from the finale, ‘Final World War’.  This is a soft, kind, deeply wonderful track with unique vocals and a proper song structure. It has a very simple melody using just three chords but there is a heartbreaking guitar solo which makes it feel like it walked straight out of the 60s.
Altogether this is a gem of an E.P. which beggars the question why are they hiding away?  You need to bring your Screaming Tea Party to the world.  It needs such chaotic civilised activities.

Head north.