Vacuum Spasm Babies - Whipping Clowns

Having apparently toiled in the depths of the Scottish musical underground for two decades, it's a real shame Charles S Bravo and Malcolm Spasm didn't take another six months to refine this album; it seems strange that two such seasoned veterans would deliberately allow themselves to fluctuate so readily from respectable to amateurish. The recording is weak, but that could potentially be forgiven if it was the result of some deep-set lo-fi, indie identity. Instead, Whipping Clowns often just sounds sloppy. Though there are moderately successful moments of dry, Ian Curtis-esque retro, the vocals are, at other points, utterly cringeworthy. The album does spring to life on the likes of Furious Robot Interlude and Song for Katie but can't maintain its energy. Never a pleasant thing to acknowledge, this recording really needed to be better-produced and more considered in order to give the few real songs present any chance at all.