You might listen to Clap Clap Riot’s debut album Counting Spins and think that you’ve heard some of the songs before. And you’d probably be right; the band has released four singles from the album over the past year, with the tunes getting airplay all over the place.
That still leaves eight new tracks (nine if you get the bonus track through i-Tunes) that you haven't heard yet. And those tracks are some of the bands best work to date.
The album starts off with Holiday, a dark throbbing beast of song and probably my favourite from the album, mainly because of that darkness. From there the album moves into a happier space, with the songs generally feeling lighter and more upbeat, but still with a dirty and buzzy sound to them.
The previously released singles sit well in the album, with Everyone Sleeps (the first single, released in March 2011) being another instant favourite. In fact, all the songs have a knack of being instantly likeable; many because of their catchy hooks, or sing-along choruses, and because they're all well written and carefully thought out.
After listening to the album repeatedly for the past few days it’s easy to see why Clap Clap Riot have such a strong reputation for writing great pop/rock tunes. Every song on the album is well written, works well with the other songs and could be, or should be, a hit. I know that I’ll be listening to it regularly for a long time to come.
Check out an interview with the band here.
Clap Clap Riot will soon be known as the hottest NZ indie-rock band of 2009….five extremely catchy tracks packed with dueling guitar riffs, heavy hitting drums and powerful vocals giving the songs a lot of substance…" Groove Guide
"Overall verdict? Standing ovation from me..." The Press
"Five bristling songs, 14 minutes . . . doesn't get much tighter than that…" Graham Reid of Elsewhere.co.nz