White Belt Yellow Tag

Methods

Distiller Records

Rating: 4/5

Yep, I know what you're thinking: another four-out-of-five record review. Well, it's because why the fuck would I write about anything that's less than that good using my spare time? Exactly. Anyway, so White Belt Yellow Tag came to my attention through the amazing Exploding in Sound site, where I learned that they were approximately 1/3 Yourcodenameis:milo and 1/3 Cooper Temple Clause. Holyjesusfuck. 

If I was to sum them up in brief I'd say something like this- you get all of your clever, post- Ok Computer rock influences (exemplified in the bands above, and well, pretty much every band I'm always fucking raving about on here), mush them into something a little grungier and more catchy, add some reverb and some post-rock vibes and finally top with a singer who's half Ben Gautrey, half Chris Martin (seriously!). 

WBYT are at their most urgent on singles 'Remains' and 'You're Not Invincible', where in all honesty the mixing makes them nigh-unlistenable once you notice how the kick has been treated (fuck's sake, people). Their most rocky cuts are the superior 'Tell Your Friends (It All Worked Out)" and 'Where Echoes Land', which luckily make up for the former two (although I'll admit that without the mixing issue, they'd be great left-of-mainstream alt rock tracks). The Coldplay reference, mild as it is, is most apparent on 'It's a Long Way, Don't Fall Behind'; that is, at least until an army of distorted guitars are Marshalled (see what I did there) to blow the cobwebs away. 
 

Closing on the dreamy wash of 'Careless Talk and Sinking Ships', you'll probably be left wondering how you've not heard of this band before, for whilst there's nothing groundbreaking here, for a certain type of alt rock fan (permanently stalled somewhere between 2000-2005), this is pretty much the purest guilty pleasure imaginable.