Scab Level

Peaches (2005)

Hein Terweduwe

I've spent a couple vacations in Greece when I was younger, but apart from seeing Greeks freak out with the Sirtaki, I can't say their music inspired me very much. Run Devil Run is a new label from Thessaloniki that released their first 4 albums in 2005. The weird thing about these CDs is that they are all packaged in a much bigger sized sleeve than a regular CD. Maybe the cover art is somewhat bigger than usual, which is nice, but it definitely screws up my clean alphabetized collection! It's not a straight-forward punk label whatsoever though, more indie-oriented music with diverse influences in the alternative scene.

Scab Level is a good example of this multi-influenced style. At times they sound like the Pixies ("Hairdresser's Dream"), while a song like "Gutter" and the second part of "I Hate Chan" reminds of Weezer. The Clash popped up here when listening to the beginning of "Dirty Diry Diry" and Social Distortion folk-punk is to be heard in "Putein Gazon." Starting song "Fast" could fit well in any slow-paced streetpunk release, and "The Virgin Who Killed Our Wallets" could well have been a Burning Heads song if you'd ask me, except for the accordion in between. Freak out with the short "Lora," discover a xylophone and a trumpet in the slow, ska-ish "Just Between Us," or get that ska in a faster version in closing song "See Nose" (my personal favorite). Even the nowadays popular new wave synths are part of the action. OK, maybe it's not the most energetic music that they produce, but I like the way these songs are cleverly built up and don't tend to bore after a few seconds. There's always a good pace coming up with the good poppy melodies, and I liked the inventive vocals and gimmicky in-betweens they come up with at times.

Anyway, I didn't think I'd ever like Greek music, but Scab Level really did a great job in delivering a light album that rocks at times anyway. I enjoyed it. Too bad the CD doesn't fit my IKEA CD racks.