Do you miss The Fall, those undeniable grumbling vocals from the late and much loved curmudgeon Mark E Smith? If so, you could do a lot worse than get yer lugs round Adventures of Salvador, a band doing a sterling job of filling the void.
Welcome to their world…
In the space of the 3 minutes 40 seconds of opening track, Girl With the Broken Face on their Welcome to Our Village album I am dragged in several directions, the song appearing to draw on the jangly guitar sound of early Happy Mondays, through the weird genius of Eat to the twisted acerbic Manc drawl of everyone’s favourite miserable bastard the aforementioned Mark E Smith. A fine start.
Coming from Manchester, its hardly surprising that there are elements of Smith throughout the vocals, complete with his trademark emphasised drawn out words and -ah’s tagged on at the end.
Punk rock infused garage rock psychobilly?
What if I was to try to describe the overall sound of the band? Well it is like a rampant Mark E Smith & Johnny Rotten along with Lux and Ivy were thrown into a steaming primordial swamp, then left to fester for a while. The resultant orgy of sounds meant the mutant beast crawling from the stinking murky bayou was Adventures of Salvador pedalling their own twisted brand of punk-rock infused garage rock psychobilly, if there is such a thing.
Twisted? I hear you say. “Hey kiddies hand me down my gun, you see I’m the son of a bitch that shot Bambi’s mum” is their delightfully warped intro to Uncle Walt. The vocal representing that manic offspring of Uncle Smith, adding the sneered over-pronunciation of words a la Uncle Rotten. Let’s just say, don’t expect to hear Adventures of Salvador any time soon at your next summer vacation to the Disney parks.
Retroman
Acclaimed single, Retroman kicks off with a crunching bassline introducing keyboards that owe much to the underlying melody of the B52’s Planet Claire before developing into a thoroughly dark bruising ride. While the band’s warped visons continue with the album title track introduced via sinister loudhailer announcement, not somewhere you’d want to come upon by accident.
Paranoia abounds in the blistering romp of Prettier than You. Cinematic organ and old skool announcer provide the next intro, and as befits the subject matter King Kong is a thumping behemoth of a track, the vintage feel threaded throughout with organ and theremin. Moody Blues does what it says on the tin – a moody intense rumble, a swamp trash blues beast exploring, not the Birmingham classic rock band, but seemingly mental health issues and the impact they have on relationships. I want to kill the moody blues…
Now Look What You Made Me Do!
As if I needed further affirmation, by now I’m already well and truly sucked into their murky world, Now Look What You Made Me Do seals the deal, the sleazy swamp rock with added sinister keys and unearthly theremin effects bring to mind once again the genius of Lux and Ivy and the mighty Cramps. A perfect ending.
Welcome to Our Village, population 69…79…89…….. Oh fuck it, 90 – make room for one more, I’m well and truly sucked into the shadowy world of Adventures of Salvador.