Basement
Wired
Run For Cover
Basement are our favourite on and off and on again alternative rock act, and on βWiredβ they summon a hazy nostalgia for a time when bands played in garages, and grunge was just something you found in your washing machine. Opener βTimewasterβ sets the scene beautifully with slacker vibes and pleasing fuzziness married to a massive chorus. This continues into the title track βWiredβ, which we guarantee you’ll be humming for days. The most surprising thing about Basement is that they don’t, in fact, come from Americaβs Midwest but are actually one of our own, hailing from Ipswich. The sun-kissed melodies on display here certainly sound completely at odds with the British climate. When Basement ease off the tempo, they lay down thick grooves like on the sublime βDeadweightβ, which tempo shifts and drifts skywards without a care in the world. Recent single βBroken By Designβ effervescently twinkles and tugs on your broken heartstrings. This is truly the most complete collection of summer-ready tracks we’ve heard in a long time. The anthemic βPick Up The Piecesβ delivers skittering beats and a refrain that will bounce off the walls of alternative club nights everywhere. βThe Way I Feelβ is the best track J Mascis never wrote. βEmbraceβ and βLongshotβ showcase Basementβs softer, dreamier side and are bound to be many new couplesβ joint favourite songs. All in all, we cannot find fault with this record if you’re either a forty-something that yearns for this type of band again or if you’re a 20-year-old punk kid that needs to soundtrack their latest unrequited love. We are so happy that bands exist that make music like this again, and from the opening track to the dying notes of βSummer’s Endβ, this is a damn near perfect album.
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Review By George Miller