Wimps - Garbage People

Wimps have a reputation for being a ‘plenty of nonsense’ band, harking back to the days of The B52s and Devo, who used gaudy colour and even gaudier imagery to inject a sense of absurdity and fun into their music. The inclination to mimic forms of 1980's musical kitsch extends to the video for ‘Giant Brain’ (see below), inspired by the cult show, Max Headroom. The overly emphasised mouthpiece and pop-art were always the hallmarks of that 1980s character. The song 'Giant Brain' itself contains all the musical components that are the essence of Wimps - comic lyrics, catchy melodies and disparate noise, elements that belong musically to the end of that decade. Just as a comparison can be made with the likes of The B52s, there is also more than a nod towards the angular melodies, chopped-up tempos and hysterical shout-singing of bands such as The Breeders, and The Pixies.

Wimps also seem to share a love for trash rock ‘n’ roll bands such as The Cramps and The Flesh Eaters, particularly the latter’s album, Miss Muerte. Whatever what might be their medicine, it’s a winning brew of some of the best short-course indie music I’ve heard in a long time. At 29 minutes, Garbage People doesn’t muck around; long enough to give maximum effect to the humourous anecdotes. ‘OPP’ is two minutes about stealing other people’s pizzas ‘but only if it’s cheese’, or ‘Procrastination’ a song about modern apathy, which goes all punk with frenetic East Bay Ray styled riffs, like procrastination was a feature of manic depression or something. ‘Bees’ a song about the absence of bees “Where did all the bees go, bring back all the bees / what is a girl supposed to do to pollinate the trees” Funny, but replete with social invective, and this actually suits the music which starts off sweet and then goes awol, like the latter track which screeches and scrapes, whipping itself into a musical migraine. Laconic and free-spirited.

Wimps they might call themselves but musical cowards they are not.