A combination of illness and holidays have ensured your reviewer's a little slower off the blocks to this one than usual, but - as ever - Huddersfield's INSTANT SPECIES are worth waiting for, and this cracking EP is yet another example of their finely-honed Buzzcocks-stab-The-Kinks pop skills, which again raises the question: why the shag aren't this bunch signed up and having wads of cash lobbed at them?
No matter: "She Gives Me Nothing" is great gear on its' own terms. Subtitled "a four song tale of porn, evil women and heavy metal", it's a cranked-up, spikier update of the regular anthemic Species sound, with the Porn-obsessed title track possessing a mega "whoo-hoo-hoo" chorus and a gutsy vocal from Rick Garnett. "She's only 17, but that's enough, I feel unclean" he grimaces by way of an intro line and that's it: you're hooked.
"Andrea" is again urgent and amped-up, with spidery lead guitar and call'n'response chords. Dammit, they should bottle this stuff, it's so good for the soul. Anthemic? Course it bloody is. Don't be a plonker all your life.
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However, if anything, it's the supremely silly "I've Got A Lot Of Rock" that steals the EP. The hilarious title gives way to a set-in-stone, tribal-drummed, buzzsaw pop gem, with an absolute scarf-waver of a chorus ("Any time you need it, I got a lotta rock") and a lyric that bizarrely namechecks Van Halen and The Scorpions. Why no Def Leppard, lads?
After that, it's left to the more regular "It's All Good" to sign off in typically storming fashion, with upfront chorus, flashy lead guitar and undeniably ace pop nous all present and correct.
I've said it so often now that's it's almost a cliche in itself, but it's virtually impossible to fathom why Instant Species remain solid gold local heroes, but strangely unknown quantities elsewhere. Still, Huddersfield's gain is Hollywood's loss. And most certainly a boon for discerning listeners anywhere else, too.
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