Beat Milk Jugs – Ten Years of Hangovers

Beat Milk Jugs are an electro-Goth four-piece (not another one!) originally hailing from Daugavpils, Latvia but currently based in the UK. Perhaps mercifully, Ten Years of Hangovers does not sound, as the press release claims, like “New Order melding into Pink Floyd on the Trans Siberian Express.” We would suggest “The Prodigy melding into Depeche Mode on the West Coast Main Line.” Of course, there are plenty of brooding male vocals hovering ominously over stuttering rhythms, along with the obligatory doom-laden synthy chord progressions.

In the current climate of 80s revivalism, the industrial-Goth side of things has received less attention than other movements, and on Hangovers, BMJ’s focused dedication to the creation of a distinctive soundworld is clear. The most impressive act now exploring similar territory are These New Puritans; what marks that band out, however, is their willingness to engage with contemporary club music. By contrast, for all their seamless blending of atonal guitars and electro, BMJ’s reluctance to stray from the breakbeat often sounds embarrassingly dated. [Sam Wiseman]