TNS (‘That’s Not Skanking’, acronym fans) has fingers in a fair few pies. From fanzines to podcasts by way of gig promotions and a record label, the strictly DIY Manchester brand is certainly getting itself about. ‘TNS008’ (the eighth release on the fledgling label) is a three-way split featuring a bunch of bands that are probably described more often than not as ‘ska’. The offenders: Sense of Urgency, Stand Out Riot and A WarAgainstSound.
SENSE OF URGENCY
Talk about your spot-on monikers. In less than eight minutes the Stoke/Manchester sextet has bashed out four hectic stabs of speed-ska cum gritty street punk. Fast and angry is the name of the game, with verses littered with unintelligible vocals and choruses that sound like they’ve been lifted from vintage Dropkick Murphys. Basically, if you mangled The Filaments, We Are The Union and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones it may just sound something like this. That is a good thing, if you were unsure. 4/5
STAND OUT RIOT
This is a musical monstrosity. There are carnivalesque moments, a gypsy flavour, some lyric-spitting hip-hop, big hooks, big brass, big upstrokes, and even some pirate paraphernalia. It really shouldn’t work so, obviously then, it does! It’s a musical monstrosity then that you just can’t help but enjoy. The stylistic hotchpotch is just about balanced. The fast punk-rock lynchpin (very akin to run-in buddies, Kickback UK) for the most part galvanizes the peripheral tinkering, whilst the varied and often backing vocals make for a decent aside. There’re a few moments where there’s just a little too much going on, but mostly this is intriguingly solid stuff. 3.5/5
A WARAGAINSTSOUND
You can’t help but feel sorry for this Blackburn quartet. Such is the reckless abandon in terms of stylistics of the two bands previous that the outfit comes off as a little one dimensional, and a little safe if you will. If we’re being simplistic, this is pretty much ska-punk in the vein of Capdown, which in itself is no bad thing, just well trodden ground. It’s done well enough (actually, this part of the split sounds best produced) and actually shines at the moments when there’s a little technical jiggery-pokery going on (there’s the odd moment that puts you in mind of Failsafe‘s first record). If you take these three tracks on their own merit, the band has something, and will certainly be worth checking out again. Unfortunately, on this release A WarAgainstSound is a little overshadowed. 2.5/5
Alex