author: Unpeeled Magazine (UK)
CARLOS CAN SURF -
Bitchy Boy "Time Thief" EP (Elements Music).
Scary stuff this internet radio, ole man Peel gives us a mention on one of his syndicated pension-booster webcasts and we start getting records from Melbourne as well as Morton. Mind you, Bitchy Boy are pretty famous themselves and they're endearingly rock n roll in a literate, scatty, couldn't give a fuck way. Ranging from the slow, bass n piano driven funk-slump of "Clark Gable", that has, by the by, some honking brass, to the Santana-styled shuffle of "Surrender" that breaks out into infectiously
joyous, almost gospel choruses, and there's more shit hot brass too.
Uplifting, soulful, funky, relaxed, but packing muscle, this is a lovely summer slab. Use that bloody web thing and have a listen, www.bitchyboy.net
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Judging a band by their first EP is risky, but Bitchy Boy sounds like a band to
author: Beat Magazine
BITCHY BOY - Time Thief.
Time Thief includes six original songs penned by Bitchy Boy lead singer/guitarist Mark Hughes that vary in style and range from high energy funk and manic guitar driven romps to moody acoustic pieces.
Bassist Ashley Smith and drummer Paul Richards complete the 3 piece's line up and provide the funky, chunky thumps and bumps along the way.
The smooth grooving and instantly hooky opening track Clark Gable reads like a paranoid and possibly drug enhanced reworking of the old princess and frog fairytale with lyrics like: I've got a sleeping pill and a cigarette/And I'm trying hard to remember to forget/The phone's off the hook, the hook's off the wall/I'm hanging like Ned Kelly in a shopping mall/Won't you ride my horse inside your stable/Wear me like a warning label/Kiss me like a frog prince/I'll be your Clark Gable.
This track also features Paul Williamson's agile saxophone and trumpets by Greg Spence and Eugene Ball.
In fact, a couple of tracks on this EP feature some quality brass, which gives it a bit of extra weight and funk.
Inmate sees Hughes at his bitchiest with urgent vocals complimenting the excellent guitar work on this track while Surrender bossa novas right into your head and urges you to dance, dance, dance!
Describe The Sun takes a page right out of Steely Dan's early catalogue and ends up rewriting the story and finding the groove that was missing from most of that band's later work.
Judging a band by their first EP is risky, but Bitchy Boy sounds like a band to go the distance.
Time Thief is out through The Elements Music and is available at www.bitchyboy.net
Grant Jonathon
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