The Whip - X Marks Destination

Southern Fried

The Whip are a band of their time. A time when Paul Epworth is the hottest producer in UK indie. A time when the New Order-esque collision of dance and rock is de rigeur for all upcoming bands. It’s a time when dance music is seen to be in the doldrums while exciting new acts like The Killers, The Bravery and White Rose Movement are tipped to conquer the world. That time is 2004. Unfortunately for The Whip, it’s one thing to sound dated: it’s quite another to miss your window so narrowly you can’t even be labelled as revivalists.

The Whip are unfortunate - it’s only now that they’ve got round to releasing an album, which features several tracks released at least twice before in the past 18 months or so. ‘Trash’ is about to get a third release. This implies not only a lack in confidence in writing new material, but the material they’re relying on isn’t up to scratch either.

The reason that, of the aforementioned bands, only The Killers made it into the big leagues is that by the time the others emerged, one ’80s-influenced electro-rock band was all anyone really needed. The Whip try to remedy this by throwing in a couple of ‘now’ electro numbers, but by ripping off people who were ripping off the worst Daft Punk album, they show themselves up to be more out of touch than ever. Dean Driscoll

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DOWNLOAD: ‘TRASH’, ‘SISTER SIAM’.
FOR FANS OF: WHITE ROSE MOVEMENT, MSTRKRFT.

Issue #52 - Very Bro-some

Featuring Panama Kings, ASIWYFA, an investigation into DIY touring, details of what over 25 of the finest NI bands are up to in 2009 and much more.