Quantcast

Call for Music Critics and Music Bloggers

Music
cover art

Good Shoes

The Photos on My Wall EP

(Brille; US: Available as import; UK: 25 Dec 2006)

Good Shoes’ Britpop has the smacky, slapping rhythm of 1970s punk—it’s music as a punishment for your inner naughty schoolchild. This slapping rhythm seems to be their mainstay, their chief idea, and their biggest problem is that they rely on it too heavily. It’s mad that a song as short as “Deathfame” (clocking in at only a few seconds over two minutes) should overwork an idea, but damn me if Rhys Jones doesn’t grab hold of the words, “Would you. Do it. To. Yourself?” and jerk them out with such monotony that it starts to sound like musical doggerel. They’ve got confidence and showmanship and a singer with the kind of snotty Blur-ish sneer that can make sarcasm sound like fun and fun sound like sarcasm. Now all they need is to find something else to do in addition to the slapping.

Rating:

Media
Good Shoes - The Photos on My Wall
Related Articles
31 Mar 2010
With no delusions of grandeur attached to a debilitating hype machine, Good Shoes seem happy remaining cranky young men in their niche, keeping their less-than-stadium-sized but fervent crowd on their toes.
Comments
Now on PopMatters
Love, and Other Indelible Stains (Columns) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Sigur Rós: Valtari (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Lemonade: Diver (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Cory Branan: Mutt (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Big Science: Difficulty (Capsule Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Cut Chemist: Outro (Revisited) EP (Capsule Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Cygnets: Dark Days (Capsule Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Young Hines: Give Me My Change (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Gazpacho: March of the Ghosts (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Loga Ramin Torkian: Mehraab (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Max Payne 3 (Reviews) [Wed, 1:00 am]
Call for Music Critics and Music Bloggers (Announcements) [Tue, 3:00 pm]
  1. The Top 10 Overplayed Songs You Hate by Artists You Love (Sound Affects)
  2. Tea with 'Sherlock': Investigating the Investigators (Features)
  3. Sunk? This 'Battleship' Stunk! (Short Ends and Leader)
  4. Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix (Reviews)
  5. Top Ten Lost Midwest Punk Singles (Sound Affects)
  6. Like 'Doom', In Heels (Moving Pixels)
  7. 10 Pieces of Cinematic Art That Require Revisiting (Short Ends and Leader)
  8. Punk Rock's Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry! (Features)
  9. She's a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer (Features)
  10. Counterbalance No. 82: U2's 'Achtung Baby' (Sound Affects)
  11. 'Albatross': A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film (Reviews)
  12. Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects)
  13. The 10 Greatest Aspects of the 'Star Wars' Franchise (Short Ends and Leader)
  14. We Will Avenge Them Or… Be Avenged?: The Individual in the US Experience (Features)
  15. The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer (Features)
  16. Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media)
  17. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Reviews)
  18. The Best Canadian Records of the Year? The Fun Agony of Voting for the Polaris Prize Long List (Sound Affects)
  19. Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns)
  20. Flash Points: Mommy's Breast, Marriage Equality and Why Chipotle Is King (Features)
  21. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Columns)
  22. In Support of Supports (Moving Pixels)
  23. Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook (Features)
  24. In Defense Of... Rock Radio: A Force in Popular Culture (Columns)
  25. Saint Etienne: Words and Music (Reviews)
  26. The Cult: Choice of Weapon (Reviews)
  27. Garbage: Not Your Kind of People (Reviews)
  28. Willie Nelson: Heroes (Reviews)
  29. 'People's Pornography': The Mundanities of Pornography and Surveillance Culture (Reviews)
  30. Feeling '80s Spirit: Post-Hardcore Punk for the Plastic Generation (Columns)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.