Guillotine

Album review

British India have spent the last 19 or so years glued to their radios soaking up rock & roll and they're so excited about how great it is they want to play it back to you all at once. Guillotine opens with a guitar riff borrowed from straight out of the Queens of the Stone Age playbook and a lyrical gambit worthy of Mick Jagger at his peak -- "You make friends with ugly people/so you'll stand out in a crowd." Over the course of this, their first full-length album, they ecstatically blend together stoner rock fuzz and Brit-pop melodicism with the night-out confessions of Arctic Monkeys and self-deprecating turns of phrase worthy of Kurt Cobain, like "Tie Up My Hands"' line "I hate the way I look and I despise the way I sing." Despite all of that baggage of influence, singer Duncan Melia has an increasingly rare trait among 21st century rock singers in that he doesn't immediately remind of you anyone else. The sheer glee in his shouted contradictions and witticisms, and the band's dedication to catchy pop hooks -- probably helped by Harry Vanda from the Easybeats on production duties -- carries them past any rough patches, and the overwhelming response is pure and simple joy.

© Jody Macgregor /TiVo