The So So GlosTourism/TerrorismReview

Not just bandmates, Brooklyn’s The So So Glos are, amongst other things, blood relatives, sparring-partners and housemates. Starting out, they were frustrated by the lack of all-age gigs in the notoriously strict over-21s gigging-culture of New York. So the foursome – brothers Alex Levine and Ryan Levine, joined by Matt Elkin and Zach Staggers – built their own venue, naming it the Market Hotel. Between kipping on an erected mezzanine and doing the washing up, they invited a number of America’s premier alternative bands in to do shows, hosted their own parties and got into an almighty physical fight after their own debut gig there.

But it’s not just the tiling they channel their communal spirit into. Tourism/Terrorism, their second album (and first in the UK), is packed with ideas of brotherhood (and all the inner conflict that goes along with it), political spite and lost-love. "There's an energy that goes beyond blood," they spouted on their first visit to the UK in spring 2009. We’re inclined to believe them.

Tourism/Terrorism is an album which channels the combustible spirit and uncompromising belief of The Libertines, The Cribs and Weezer – punk rock that’s hanging by a thread. They're at their best when they're losing control of themselves, as they do on pop-racket highlight Throw Your Hands Up. On first listen sounds it like a dumb-rock anthem, until you realise Alex is about throw himself on a "railroad track". Following that is My Block, a wonderfully off-key tribute to their scruffy neighbourhood. When they do slow down, as with There's A War (Holiday Version), they sound like George Formby meets Herman Düne.  

Don’t get us wrong, this isn’t the sound of the future – their songs are compact, fierce, traditionalist rants reminiscent of The Clash. “Isn't it a shame we don't even talk no more / you just send your letters to my telephone,” spits Alex on Isn’t It a Shame. Indeed, there’s nothing amongst the rickety guitars, firestorm drums and sentimental angst here pushing the envelope. Rather, The So So Glos just lick their envelope, post it and hope for the best. And that’s admirable.