Big Strides
Super Custom Limited [album]
“Quirkiness
seems to be the order
of the day for late 2008/early 2009 and
Big Strides is no exception, with the
band’s
release of their Super Custom
Limited album...”
HAILED AS A BADASS FUNK-BLUES-ROCK TRIO, Big Strides is a London band with
the determination to get right on in there and produce interesting music of
no fixed abode.
Super Custom Limited is the third album to be released by this 'stripped
down' funky three-piece band whose unique melding of lo-fi indie pop, rock,
hazz, blues and hip-hop cannot be slotted into a single genre or trend.
The publicity machine says: "Super Custom Limited delves into everything
that is greatly admired about Big Strides, takes everything that is new and
interesting in pop, rock and hip-hop and wraps it into a unique and completely
pioneering, imaginative and profound sound. [This] eclectic collection of eleven
superbly crafted songs is Big Strides' most accessible and entertaining album
to date."
With a fistful of melodies that are both charmingly retro and yet swishingly
bang up to date, Big Strides has cut a pathway through the organised styles
of music to bring out the deliriously different and creative Super Custom
Limited and offer it to a variety of tastes.
Each track sits well in its own right. No Lower Case Kisses is melodic
and quirky and we liked the cute rap beat of Your Supposed Eyes and the
modern, careless feel of Nothing. The album ripples with addictive notes
and we found The Pretty One surprisingly retro.
The single taken from Super Custom Limited, Hen Night Limousine,
has a fantastically 'urgent' feel as it hip-hops its way through a myriad of
superb notes and crystal clear, intriguing lyrics. But our favourite is 12
Easy Payments with its great melody and a night-club feel that makes you
want to invent a new dance (the f-word is not generally endearing but this great
track is forgiven!). The album goes out on a memorable note with the retro-laden
Fat Duck Sugar Daddy. Don't knock it until you've tried it!
• Big Strides' Super Custom Limited was
released on Tall Order Records in November (2008) and distributed by Cargo.
This inimitable album is produced by Dan Swift (Snow Patrol, Aqualung, Kasabian,
Futureheads, Art Brut) and the recording was backed with funding from EMI Japan,
who signed Big Strides after they had already sold over 10,000 albums on import
and appeared at the Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo and Osaka last year.
Big Strides has now made such an impression in Japan that Paul Smith Clothing
recently launched a range of Big Strides/Paul Smith clothing over there! And
the band members? They take it all in their stride.
Tracklisting
1 No Lower Case Kisses | 2 Your Supposed Eyes | 3 Nothing
| 4 The Pretty One | 5 Hen Night Limousine | 6 12 Easy Payments
| 7 Melt Like A Mars Bar | 8 I Love | 9 Vanessa | 10 Soul
Swap | 11 Fat Duck Sugar Daddy
"With a fistful of melodies that are both charmingly retro and yet swishingly
bang up to date, Big Strides has cut a pathway through the organised styles
of music to bring out the deliriously different and creative Super Custom
Limited and offer it to a variety of tastes" — Maggie Woods, MotorBar
Check out bigstrides.net and
myspace.com/bigstrides.
About Big Strides
Big Strides has been steadfastly marching down their own unique walkway since
they first burst out of the box with their Small Town, Big Strides debut
album in 2005.
"For a band who include a F*** You as well as a Thank You in their sleeve notes,
it's hardly surprising that the contents of their debut album are as cocky as
its cover suggests" stated Big Issue in the North.
Suicidal, the first single taken from the album, was downloaded over
300,000 times in the USA, while in Britain the band won their debut slot at
Glastonbury and sold out Ronnie Scott's.
Cry It All Out, Big Strides' second album, released late in 2006, once again
confused as many as it delighted. In their October 2006 issue, Clash
magazine described it as an "anyone who is anyone" album, because "anyone who
is anyone should have it", while Jonathan Ross stated on his BBC Radio 2 show
that "I can't decide if I love it or it upsets me".
Main man Marcus O'Neill's laconic vocals and wry sense of humour perfectly complement
Big Strides' musical meanderings. Just check out Hen Night Limousine,
the first single to be taken from the album Super Custom Limited and
for which a video has just been shot, complete with a gaggle of tipsy Welsh
girls!
Big Strides, who has supported a suitably eclectic bunch of bands in the past
— from Roy Ayers to Bloc Party, Horace Andy, Little Barrie, Damien Rice
and the Arctic Monkeys — played at Glastonbury Festival and Secret Garden
Party as well as recent headline shows to packed-out audiences at London's Scala
and Electric Ballroom. The latter half of 2008 saw the band head off to Germany
and Japan before returning to the UK to play London, Leeds and Bath.
