Leon - Uppers and Downers
The outcome is some of the most uninspiring and standardised 'music' I've had the bad luck to lend my ears to
Writing about music is a glamorised occupation; before you find the ripe cherries you have to wade through a good bit of nuclear waste. Sometimes, just when you think you've stepped over the worst mine, you stumble onto the big kahuna quicker than you can say Orson. The new kings of crap are a quirky pop-combo from Derby that use a Casio-driven ambience in order to make their voices heard. The ballpark they're playing in is certainly not appalling, but the outcome is some of the most uninspiring and standardised 'music' I've had the bad luck to lend my ears to. There's a frustrating gullibility surrounding 'Uppers and Downers' that reminds me of a school-choir. Top up this sour cocktail with the worst emergency-rhymes and the most predictable vocal patterns ever heard and you have the CD that will be played on repeat whenever I'm carried in kicking and screaming for my Big Brother torture-session in room 101. [Chris Nordeng]