On their début album X-Marks Destination Manchester's The Whip tread a fine line between nostalgic indie street cred and being a fully fledged electronic act despite somehow being grouped with the so called nu rave scene.They draw inspiration from the eighties especially from fellow Mancs New Order. Début single Frustration, which is one of five singles on show here out of the ten tracks in total, is pure New Order 1983. However over the course of the album they demonstrate that they are not exact replicas although comparisons do remain close at hand throughout.
I am not sure why all the singles are on the album unless they have a lack of material or they want to close this chapter of their existence. Trash is the weakest single they have produced and reminds me of Sheep On Drugs at their worst. And that's bad! But to be fair the other singles have all been, in their original and un-remixed forms, winners. Muzzle #1 and Sister Siam once again have the air of the synth bands of the eighties about them but the star is Divebomb which heads all the way to the dancefloor via Berlin & Detroit circa 1991.
When The Whip are good, they are good and on Fire they demonstrate how good they can be with it's bleeps and beeps in every nook and cranny. Sadly they demonstrate their inconsistency with Save My Soul which sees the title sung over and over again on top of a pretty poor beat and on Blackout, which is as dull as dishwater. Actually that's unfair on dishwater but it's all very repetitive and lazy. Sirens and Dubsex are back to eighties again in a Psychedelic Furs kind of way with Bruce Carter sounding uncannily like The Furs Richard Butler on the former track. They are not bad but when you think back to Divebomb you wonder why they bother when they are capable of so much more.
Pretty In Pink or Live At Fabric? I think the Whip need to decide. Download the choice cuts only.
X Marks Destination is out now on Southern Fried.
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