“C-C (You Set the Fire in Me)”
from the album We Have Sound
2005
Previous post – 04.01.05
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What is it with everyone having to be the “new” someone in music? Oasis were proclaimed the new Beatles ten years ago, five years ago an up-and-coming The Strokes were heralded as the new new-wave, and now Tom Vek is being labelled the new Beck with equal gusto as the previous incarnations of parody.
Indeed the 23-year-old Londoner can play every instrument under the sun and has a penchant for the sort of part funk/part garage rock that made Beck back when Odelay was being shouted about as the album to listen to by the people in the know. And we all know it is all too easy to think “skinny bloke + guitar + drum machine = Beck Mk II” But surely there must be more to him.
We Have Sound is interesting enough from before you put the CD in the stereo. The cover reminiscent to some kind of early ’80s Channel 4 futuristic thriller that would always leave you slightly unnerved, yet filled with a slight buzz of adrenaline before heading off to bed as a kid. When listening to the album, it promises much of the same.
The opener “C-C (You Set the Fire in Me)” commences with some electronic madness and a break beat that makes you wonder whether The Chemical Brothers, rather than Beck, were on the stereo of a young Vek.
The pace continues with the excellent single “I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes.” A favourite at most indie discos, this alone has made Vek hot property as a live performer of present, and a star of the future. The relatively short amount of time this was released before the album goes to show the record execs felt this would be the one to put Vek firmly on the map.
The album continues as a mix of the garage rock sound that most bands out at the moment have decided is cool and something different that will enable to Vek to grab the attention of the young modern music fans that have Bloc Party/Futureheads/Babyshambles on continual loop on their iPod, but offer them something they don’t get from the generic bands.
Vek’s varied musical influences continue with the likes of the Iggy Pop-like “If I Had Changed My Mind” and the heavily Talking Heads-influenced “Nothing But Green Lights.”
We Have Sound is an enjoyable mixture of rock and breaks that, while not blowing your mind, is refreshing and interesting enough to keep you entertained for a while. Just, what ever you do, don’t call him the new Beck.