Chinatown Slalom
Enigmatic Liverpool quartet reveal debut album, Getintothis’ Peter Guy on the new kids on the block.
There’s a great lineage of oddball pop music to have emerged from Liverpool.
a.P.A.t.T., Half Man Half Biscuit, Hot Club de Paris, Clinic – the city just oozes wilful outlandishness. Add to the mix Chinatown Slalom.
“If we could have summed it up in a word, we wouldn’t have put it out. I hope they never come up with a name for our music,” they suggest. Well, we’re calling Scatty Pop.
Because that’s exactly what their debut album Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? feels like. A rummage around their Merseyside digs and finding all manner of sounds stuck behind the sofa.
Stoner grooves essentially coated in a dressing of whatever seemingly is at hand.
Hip hop, Beach Boy harmonies, free-wheeling rock and roll, warped jazz, collages of conversations, parping brass, running tap water, slap-bass, Hot Chip style electronic melancholy and simply boss pop – are all on display in this infectiously beguiling debut album.
Much like Clean Cut Kid before them, Chinatown Slalom emerge fully formed yet will be a band name new to almost everyone’s ears.
A series of house parties on the fringes of town, the only glimpses of Ricky, Liam, Jake and Michael’s musical project thus far.
Yet, with the same management as Låpsley and backing of the September Recordings team, there’s clearly much in place and a strong foundation in the making.
The lads, aged 19-24 and from Bury, Belfast, Macclesfield and Stratford-upon-Avon forged their allience while studying in the city citing influences as wide ranging as Child of Lov though to Tame Impala and “forgotten mid-2000s mp3 rips”.
Getting to grips with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is an enticing proposition such is the wildly differing sounds: abrasive turbocharged riffs (8:30) collide with Beta Band stoned campfire shuffles People Always Say What They Want and cosmic soul-rap of Dr Marvelo & His Best Friend Cookie.
Then there’s simply gorgeous singalong single in waiting Bullets on a Screen.
As we alluded to, it’s scatty pop – and fun is high on the agenda – just check out their debut video (above) for starters.
Next on the agenda is their latest house party – at 24 Little St Bird Street – and as their mantra states: ‘Everyone’s invited‘.
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire? by Chinatown Slalom is out today – streaming on Spotify below.
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