The Soft Pack | The Soft Pack

Kemado (2010)
By MIKAEL WOOD  |  February 3, 2010
2.0 2.0 Stars

 OTR020510_softpack

This Los Angeles foursome first emerged in 2008 as the Muslims, a name they elected to change after they grew disgusted with and exhausted by all the ignorant — and often racist — bullshit that came out of people's mouths during shows/interviews/conversations. At least, that's the reason they gave the NME.

Yet listening to their full-length debut (which follows a handful of buzz-building singles and EPs), you might also wonder whether they didn't adopt the Soft Pack moniker because they feared their music didn't live up to a handle as willfully incendiary as the Muslims. These 10 tracks provide a half-hour's worth of tuneful, peppy-fuzzy garage-rock fun; "Answer to Yourself" sounds like Sonic Youth pounding Pavement, and opener "C'mon" is even better than the Von Bondies' "C'mon C'mon" (though not as good as Sloan's "C'mon C'mon (We're Gonna Get It Started)").

But nothing about The Soft Pack makes you wanna know who these guys are or what they have to say about the world outside their practice space. As the Muslims, they would've had to deliver more.

Related: Ghost stories, Winged migration, Injustice for all, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Racial Issues,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY MIKAEL WOOD
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS | FURTHER  |  July 07, 2010
    Astralwerks (2010)
  •   DEVO | SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY  |  July 01, 2010
    Given the theory of de-evolution these Ohio brainiacs began expounding more than 30 years ago, it makes a sad kind of sense that Devo's first album since 1990's Smooth Noodle Maps offers such a charmless, base-level version of the band's synth-addled new wave.
  •   TAIO CRUZ | ROKSTARR  |  June 24, 2010
    When Taio Cruz sings, "I can't live without you," in "Take Me Back," pop-song conventions tell us he's referring to a lover.
  •   THE FUTUREHEADS | THE CHAOS  |  June 16, 2010
    "I wish that I could stop the noise," sings Barry Hyde not long into The Chaos . It sure doesn't seem that way.
  •   BETTYE LAVETTE | INTERPRETATIONS: THE BRITISH ROCK SONGBOOK  |  June 01, 2010
    Bettye LaVette’s previous two albums had titles that required a little digging to unpack.

 See all articles by: MIKAEL WOOD