Wow.
F*cking wow.
Smile and rave boys, smile and rave.
C Turtle, have you read my mind? Your album is the exact reason I’ve gotten into music writing for moments like this. Where you find the new band that makes your mind move to the cool. That sludgy opening riff to “Have you ever heard a turtle sing?” it’s so goofy in its cool punky way. I have lived what this band call 10,000 experiences to find the new band that I’m going to follow because this time they are not washed up rockstars from another time. Party for my ears.
I’m giving a positive review of this. Flawless.
Whatever goofy fable for story time that brought this band together matters. This is shoegaze cranked up to 11. The kind of shoegaze that created my undying fascination with Smashing Pumpkins.
Great colour and aesthetic and cracking photography on the front cover. I want in, hire me. I will do anything you ask. I also need your merchandise and your vinyl.
The contrast in vocals works really and I think it works so much better than tweaking the voice with a pedal on stage. The hipster stoner metal having this cherry on top creates a great dynamic.
C Turtle have found a grasp of what punk bands like weezer do and making it more metallic, grungey yet ostensibly interesting.
And to mention, each ballad in this album certainly is a stepping stone to a wider array of indie gothic music and was put to tape in Abbey Road studios.
The music howls at you, its whiney grungey rock that just blows my mind and C Turtle you really hit the hammer on the nail for this one. I’m flabbergasted. I cannot wait for what is next.
Highlight tracks are “Have you ever heard a turtle sing?”, “Melvin Said This” and the 50 seconds of weirdness where the album starts to lose control in a psychedelic interval “Shooby”.
9.5/10.
C Turtle: Expensive Thrills – Out 8th March 2024 (Blitzcat Records)