COUGHS - FRIGHT MAKES RIGHT (LOAD 067)

AN UNDERRATED SUBSTRATUM OF LOAD RECORDS IS THEIR BELIEF IN THE POWER OF A RESURRECTED NO WAVE SCENE AS AN ERA-COUNTERPART TO THE ATROCITIES IN RESURRECTED PUNK-FUNK. THIS MEANT WHILE DUDES IN SKINNY JEANS WERE YELPING OVER THIN DISCO BASSLINES YOU HAD A COROLLARY OF WEIRD BASTARDS DIVING THROUGH GLASS AND SHIT IN ORDER TO MAKE MUSIC ONLY 135 PEOPLE LIKE.

COUGHS ARE ONE SUCH BAND. LED BY THE FLAME-LUNGED ANYA DAVIDSON, THIS SEXTET ARE PROBABLY THE BEST KEEPERS OF THE FLAME SINCE THE DEATH OF SCISSOR GIRLS. STYLISTICALLY THEY'RE IN NO ONE CAMP AND DANCING WITH DIFFERENT SHADES OF VIOLENT SOUNDING WEIRDNESS, ALL THE WHILE TEETERING ON THE EDGE OF SONG MIXED WITH PERCUSSIVE PROPULSION (TWO DRUMMERS?) AND LOPSIDED FURY. I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THAT THEY MADE PEOPLE SHIT THEMSELVES LIVE.

THIS ONE IS A BIT MORE PERSONALITY LED THAN SOME OF THE PREVIOUS BANDS WHO SEEM TO BE MORE DRIVEN BY A CONCEPT OR A MORE SELF-EFFACING COLLECTIVE MOTIVE. OVER 16 SONGS OCCASIONALLY WITH ROTE SAX BLAPPING AND CRUST GUITAR COUGHS MAKE THEMSELVES FEEL LIKE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH. FANS OF MELT BANANA AND BLACK EYES WOULD PROBABLY DIG THE HELL OUT OF THIS.