Cut City: S/T

It’s scary that I have the option now of being glib about Cut City’s resemblance to Gang of Four and Wire, considering I was nowhere near cool (or old) enough to have listened to those bands the first time around. Still, the return of the sound has become such a phenomenon with the success of Interpol that I now know the echoes when I hear them. And they’re unmistakable here: the stinging guitar, sullen vocals, driving beat. High speed, precise, nervous. S/T is only four songs, and they all fall so neatly and clearly into that popular little sub-genre that there really isn’t much else to say.

It’s not as epic or as deep as Interpol and it doesn’t have the scruffiness or experimental quality of Wire (who, yes, I have listened to by now). Cut City skips quickly across their songs. Track two (none of them are named yet) is probably their best effort, an irresistible beat wrapping itself around an arrogant, new wave melody. All in all, Cut City is doing just fine, but not exactly distinguishing themselves. (Now for a completely irrelevant postscript: S/T is printed on one of those transparent CDs, which I’m still stupidly impressed by. Man, how do they do that?)

- Tom Vale
Cut City (Gold Standard Labs)