Canshaker Pi - Naughty Naughty Violence

Scuffling their way over the North Sea, Canshaker Pi hail from the Netherlands, but have the musical sensibilities of a guitar-orientated British band from the late noughties. Their second album, Naughty Naughty Violence, builds on their self-titled debut from 2016 and shows they aren't here to muck around.

This is a band who seem perfectly capable of creating palatable music for the middle-ground but are happy to throw that in your face by doing an about-turn. ‘Pressure From Above’ is reminiscent of The Cribs, with a scruffy melody and varying energy in the delivery of the vocals, while ‘Sooner Later’ shows off their more avant-garde side, with a punkish disregard for your eardrums and the repeated mantra of “sooner or later we’ll spoon alligators”.

The album holds your interest throughout, mainly because of how diverse the guitaring is. ‘No Sack, No Way’ slinks through an opening riff worthy of 60s surf rock and roll, while single ‘Put A Record Out’ almost has you believing that guitar bands could be cool again, belting out a scuzzy riff and pinning you to the wall.

Lyrically the album is slightly alienating, and it’s not clear whether they’re a group of very intelligent lads using language as art, or whether things are getting lost in translation. This ultimately makes the album pretty cold, even if it does ooze a wiry coolness. ‘The Indie Academy’ quite clearly pokes fun at the indie stylings they’re capable of, but instead of “the anonymous heartbeat of the indie academy” it almost sounds like they’re saying “the Indian ketamine”, which in itself is amusing.  

Disparate in style from song to song, it is hard to ever be grabbed by the album as a whole. You’ll want to revisit parts and it does feel like there is a lot to discover from repeat listens, but the noise-mongering can be a little tiresome if you’re not fully committed to riding the entire, bucking beast.