Article submitted to http://www.thumped.com/ by Dr. J.

Recording with someone famous or at least with someone who has worked with the famous, or recorded in a studio people have heard of, assures a band nothing except the surety of names being dropped. And being assigned a name as a band of a certain type who play in a certain style, which can be crippling for an up and coming band who find they later cannot break out of that mould. Though record companies no matter how small, have to do this. The smaller the company, the more imperative it becomes so the band makes some sort of mark on an already glutted industry.

Montana Pete have seemingly managed to avoid this stigma and cultivated a sound of their own. They do not have the droney sound of Wire (who they have been likened too) as on, for example The Drill, yet are more remnicent of that band in Our Swimmer, if they sound at all like them. Nor do they sound as tough or relentless as Fugazi. No one could, that purely Fugazi's. And this too introduces a bias that any band signed to Dischord has to overcome, the fact they are likened to Fugazi, when in fact many, if not all of them, are not like that band.

It's unfortunate and unavoidable that bands are reviewed (and ruined) by association. No one wants to hear Fugazi sound a likes when they can hear the real thing, yet other bands are our terms of reference. Because they are moving towards a sound of their own, Montana Pete are likened to Wire that most eclectic of all English guitar bands. Yet the likes of the song Cosworth is a song you would be willing to swear you'd heard before but you haven't, which is the mark of a good song, a well-written song. It taps into an archetype, a template by which we say a song is good, a basic idea of a song as notes, maybe words, sounds certainly that appeal to our tastes in how those elements are combined. There is nothing technically brilliant about the songs, unlike Frank Zappa's music which is closely associated with Montana among other things, but in playing them there is a confidence in them, a confidence that it is, in fact, good music.

Cosworth's gentle style that builds up to a frenetic pace and spoken lyrics that degenerate into shouting is enthralling. Frozen Monkey singsong lyrics and machine gun like drums explode from the speaker. The predictability of songs is quite often the final nail in many band's coffins. As the music plays, you anticipate it and unlike a favorite song which you derive joy from following every nuance, feeling like putting on a favorite item of clothes that fits perfectly. Montana Pete though has an edge that keeps them interesting and fresh.

The music's good point is its simplicity: It doesn't try to be something it's not. The band is aware of it's limitations and work with them to craft beautiful songs within those limits. A band that knows its limits has two choices. First, they can try to exceed those limits and implode under the weight of their pretensions, or find what can be done within those limits. This is what they have done.

The pedigree of the labels this single has been released on is beyond question. Alpha Relish as an all round record label, web site, promotion machine in the form of Hag, will hopefully soon boast releases on singles by bands such as Laddio Boloko and Trans Am, and who recently brought Oxes to Ireland. Grey Slate was the home of arguably Ireland's greatest band, Jackbeast and is home now to up and coming young bucks The Redneck Manifesto and the dance/sampling/techno outfit, Burning Love Jumpsuit, both bands boasting former members of Jackbeast. Fine company for Montana Pete to keep.

There is too little on this single, not enough meat. By the time the second song is over and the CD is spat back out, you want more. Two songs aren't enough, as a sampler it is torture. Rather than supplement a longer release, hopefully it is a prelude to one. But it still isn't enough with that hope in mind. Bands now are ten a penny and bands that record and put out their product are ten a penny too, but the bands who release good material are few and far between. Montana Pete is one of that select group.

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