Yuck - Yuck

Yuck are a London-based four piece that are very much enamoured with the kind of fuzzy indie-rock that Pavement, The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr were playing in the nineties. They're also the latest group to join a more contemporary strand of the fuzz-rock lineage, inheritors of the slacker throne as it were; groups like Lovvers, Jay Reatard, Wavves and Times New Viking. Yuck will have you digging out yr copy of The Flaming Lips 1992 fuzz-rock opus Hit To Death In The Future Head as well as Best Coasts latest single.

The album starts with a bang, with the exhilarating 'Get Away' exploding into a beautiful racket of distorted guitars, youthful enthusiasm and sugar-fuelled adrenaline. Second track, 'The Wall', resembles Jay Reatards knack for a simple, repetitive, punk-pop tune as they sing, "trying to make it through the wall, trying to make it through the wall, you can see me if you're tall…"'Shook Down' finds Yuck in a hazy, strung-out mood as they slow things down a little. The result is a pretty, lovelorn tune reminiscent of Teenage Fanclub at their loveliest as they sing, "you could be my destiny, you could mean that much to me…" Aw, bless.

Recent single 'Holing Out' draws those Jay Reatard comparisons again via Dinosaur Jrs laid back cool; it's riotous , repetitive and brilliant punk-pop. 'Suicide Policeman' is a sensitive semi-acoustic ballad that starts a little like Elliot Smith at his most Beatles-esque and ends with Belle & Sebastian style twee brass arrangements. 'Georgia' is pure indie-pop perfection, via The Wedding Present et al. It's like a rush of serotonin to this committed indie-pop fans brain and one of the most instantly satisfying moments on the album.

'Suck' slows things down to a stroll as they sing, "…wait up, wait up for me, I've had enough of being young and free…" over uncharacteristically crystal-clear, lilting guitars. 'Stutter' shimmers and shakes along before 'Operation' skilfully borrows a few tricks from Sonic Youths 'Teen Age Riot'. While perhaps not being the most original tune, 'Operation' is an undeniably exciting slice of fuzzy, slacker rock.

'Sunday' could be an Evan Dando tune with its mellow melodies and subdued optimism. Next up we get the lovely instrumental 'Rose Gives A Lilly' before 'Rubber' ends the album on a rather louder note. 'Rubber' doesn't really sound like anything else on the album with its slow, heavy drone and distortion. It's a seven minute monument to noisy, distorted American indie rock and it's so, so good.

With their debut Yuck have gone and made the best American indie-rock album in years and I think only one of them is actually American. It's a youthful, exciting, wide-eyed and at times, quite stunning debut. If you enjoy your indie stoned, dethroned, slightly lovelorn and drenched in distortion then you should give Yuck a go.