self released – 18 June 2021
For those who like their Mourning Coffee grungy
You know what I like? Bands. Bands that play music. It's even better if said band releases a record that sounds like you are in the room with them, feeling the energy, hearing the individual elements form a “thing” for me to enjoy.
Excuse me for starting this review of Ugli‘s record FUCK so vaguely, but this album made me realize what a lot of modern records have been missing, and it sent me down a spiral of listening to other alternative/indie bands with the same approach. It was a fun week.
So let's start me with actually review– Ugli is a band that is a self-decribed “gloom-doom 90s alt-rock.” Grunge is the term I would use. Think soft verses, loud choruses like the Pixies and Nirvana. Big, loud and gritty guitars ala Smashing Pumpkins. In Dutch we would subscribe that as “gruizig” and the pronuncation of that words sounds exactly the same as Ugli's guitar sound. We also have slow, dissonant guitar lines in “Mourning Coffee” paired with the faster and happier “Superball,” balancing each other out.
On top of that we hear singer Dylyn Durante snarl and whine, again reminding us of the Smashing Pumpkins except far less annoying and with a more ironic delivery, which makes it just plain cool.
The band and producer Dave Downham deserve a compliment in how they build the sound of this record which bring me back to the opening of this review. You might call this record raw or even lo-fi but I would say it's real and lively. I don't feel the need to pick a favourite song since the strength of the record also lies in the cohesiveness of it all. This is one of those records that you have to listen to from front to back.
Quirijn's primary focus for TGEFM is on album reviews and band interviews. When he's not writing for the site, he can be found mixing sound at Fiction Studio, mixing up beats for as one part of hip-hop duo Breekpunt, or playing guitar for punk quartet Ink Bomb.