Do Easy

Giddy Motors come into their own on Do Easy, a set of songs that's more formidable yet more immediate than the band's ironically titled debut, Make It Pop. As impressive as that album was, Do Easy has a smart, snarling anger and sound that are more distinctive; that Giddy Motors didn't work with Make It Pop producer Steve Albini again probably helped them avoid more overt homages to the Touch & Go/Amphetamine Reptile sound of the late '80s and early '90s on this album. Instead, the band recorded Do Easy over a month's worth of weekends in a London studio, intending these tracks to be demos. Fortunately, they realized that these versions of their songs captured their raw energy better than lengthy sessions could. Though the wild and woolly experiments on Make It Pop are missed a little, the urgency of "Panzrama"'s lumbering anti-groove and mantra-like "recoil" chorus and the sheer insistency of "Early Morning Pipe" are undeniable. And while most of Do Easy is devoted to songs like these and the similarly unrelenting "Kapow" and "Nêgo," Giddy Motors still find room for their arty side on "End Game," which throws an almost jazzy interlude into the middle of its onslaught, and they save the weirdest for last: "Dot Dot Dot," an aptly named waiting game of negative space intercut with sheets of feedback and puking basslines. Fierce and concise, Do Easy sounds fresh -- and refreshing -- but it's also a welcome reminder of when indie rock used to rock (albeit in incredibly messed-up ways). - All Music Guide