Album name: Standby

Genre: Rock

Artist/ Band: Tripwire

Review:
This is my review of Bombay punk band Tripwire’s debut album Standby. I also manage gigs for the band. Here’s my email: ennuidotbomb@gmail.com. You might need it if you organize some sort of gigs/stuff and if you check out this CD properly. Readers, please don’t expect a song-by-song murderous slander. Form your own opinions. Buy the album. (Get it anyhow!)

It’s that good.

Ideally I would have liked to be listening to the tracks as I type my words. But sitting here in a dingy cyber café with a weird orange light (and probably repressed horny people all around), I can hear the songs resonate in my head. These three guys have been together as a band for almost five years. Can you imagine the kind of vibe they’d share? And if the album is anything to go by, the answer won’t be too tough to find. This is the stuff cult albums are made of. And Standby will prove to be one. Mark my words.

Jack/Drums, Sagar/Bass, Ameya/Guitar, have all written the words to some/other songs. Phrases grab me from each. Simple combinations of words that leave me @ random. These might be great lyrics or not but they’re quirky enough to stick to the inside of your head like superglue. “Outside they’ll put you aside/ coz they think your brain is circumcized” (Housewives/Ameya) for one.

Standby contains 14 listed tracks, one hidden track (one of my dad’s favorite songs – Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop - tabla version – old recording), no thank you notes, lyrics, 36.08 minutes of music and some neat photography.

The songs are simplistic punk pop music with themes ranging from boredom, geekism, and housewives to call center folks, mall culture, weed and weed scoring lanes. The CD, in true spirit of a Tripwire live gig, offers old songs [Norm The Guy Is Cool (Sam freakin' Lal headbanged to this one \m/), Bad In Bed (ha ha love the thought!), That’s Not What I Want (Sagar’s debut as the second voice for the band)] along with newer and fresher stuff like Housewives, Boredom, Stupidities (with a single “t”) and System (Jack’s masterpiece). Why Are We Like This and Stupidities are two songs gouging my insides nowadays.

Standby is that small album that’ll be the cornerstone for a whole new musical tradition in our country. The album is very listenable and will grow on anyone if you give it a shot. And then new doors will open your mind. Then you will be rich and famous. And have all the chicks queuing up. You’ll be the CEO of your company.

Or you’ll have one more CD in your collection. One, which you’ll know is very very good.

Tripwire’s debut album Standby is available for a highly discounted price from www.tripwire.in. Don’t forget to sign their guestbook!

My rating :

Tags: music, punk, rock, mumbai, cd, india, tripwire, standby