Thursday 25 February 2010



QBiM SPiNS: Soft Copy, Vicious Modernism

Perseverance is one of those often overlooked qualities, because often time it gets confused with stubbornness.  That saddens me actually, to think that a band who stick with what they like and know best might get labelled pig-headed, as opposed to being self-assured and confident in themselves.  Although I don’t know them personally, Paul Boddum and Andrew McAllister of Soft Copy don’t strike me as the stubborn kind, but they’ve been working away at that 90s DIY post-punk sound while others may have taken a slightly different route.  They began together as part of the band Neck, who later changed their name to Christiana; if those names ring a bell, it’s probably because you recognize them from my post last week about the final Wavelength show in Toronto.,  They were one of the first bands–and now one of the last–to play the legendary series.

Boddum and McAllister, along with Wes Hodgson on bass have just released Soft Copy’s second album, Vicious Modernism, a record that reminds me of Sugar, Bob Mould’s 90s power-punk trio.  While Soft Copy are a bit more angular and rough around the edges, they still know how to construct a good pop song and make it work in a setting that’s not so pop-friendly.  A track like “Bad Wiring” teeters on the edge of sounding dated and being a classic post-punk anthem (more the latter than the former), while a song like “First Date” brings the noise and them tempo down a bit and show that Soft Copy have got all corners covered:  they do subtle as well as they do sneering.

Vicious Modernism is another one of those albums that I wouldn’t usually gravitate to, but it’s a refreshing listen and one I thoroughly suggest you look into.  It’s available to buy through Amazon and on iTunes.

MP3: Soft Copy “First Date”
MP3: Soft Copy “Hot Cakes”
Video: Soft Copy “Hot Cakes”
Myspace: Soft Copy

by J. Di Gioia | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 11:30 am and is filed under MP3, QBiM SPiNS, video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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