Volk Soup

Reviews

Volk Soup 10p Jazz LP

Leeds band (or rather, a whole orchestra) VOLK SOUP releases their extremely fluid and beautifully chaotic debut LP, 10p Jazz. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I read the premise of the band and started listening. As of right now, I still don’t know what to expect from the next song, and I mean it in the best way possible. This eight-piece (yes, you read it right, folks) has everything, singing saw included. I know what you’re thinking: “Psshh, Mama. You’re exaggerating again. They can’t have everything.” And you smirk as you add, “What about an electric drill? They have that too?” Why, yes dear. They do. This is one of those albums I don’t want to reveal too much about. But all that I can say is I’m very impressed by all those clever compositional choices, intense layers, and commitment to genre-bending. Check it out yourself and thank me later.

Volk Soup Incompetent Hits: The Singles, Vol. 1 LP

Eight tracks of exuberantly original post-punk from this Leeds band. Beautiful production highlights thick bass lines, trebly guitar, and vocals that range from a hyper-vocal Mark E. Smith on speed to Nick Cave’s deranged carnival barker era. The songs take many unexpected twists and go from twangy swamp guitar to angular atonal stings to blissful chiming indie layers with ease. The minute-and-a-half blast “Wiping Arse Blues” moves quickly from a dissonant sideways guitar riff into a downward chromatic structure with staccato vocals delivered so quickly they verge on rap. “I Shot Him and I Ran” begins with a flash of 2-Tone ska that steadily builds into joyous chaos. The clever lyrics take pointed shots at grotesque wealth in “Billionaire”: I wanna be a billionaire / With that same self-satisfied, glassy-eyed stare / As Jeff Bezos that wonky-eyed fuck,” and the British royal family in “Beware an Ancient Door”: “We all have our needs and our wants / I said, ‘But Andrew, a nonce is a nonce, is a nonce, is a nonce’.” The latter constructs a danceable beat over the worst keyboard pattern of all time before slowing into a pastoral indie guitar strum that is surprisingly beautiful. The record ends with “Limeade,” an acoustic campfire sing-along that manages to come off as a charming finale. VOLK SOUP is a uniquely original band with personality to spare, and is worth your time.