100 Broken Windows

Second major label full length from the Scottish punk rock revival act. Includes the singles 'Actually It's Darkness' & 'Little Discourage'. 12 tracks in all. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Edinburgh's noise merchants have stepped through the looking glass with this newest release. While harmony and traditional song structure used to play second fiddle to their anguished cries and hearty gusts of guitar squall, 100 Broken Windows displays a more mature quartet: still edgy but wonderfully tuneful. It's a formula that's less "Sex Pistols for students," as they've been previously described, and more "R.E.M. for street punks." That comparison seems inevitable, given lead vocalist Roddy Woomble's passionate delivery of cloudy-clever lyrics, but plenty of other influences come to mind throughout as well: exhilarating, throaty Nirvana-esque sing-a-longs ("Roseability," "Idea Track," "Actually It's Darkness") and emotive Fugazi-like stormers ("Listen to What You've Got," "Rusty"). But these 12 tracks are thoroughly the band's own and ultimately live well beyond any easy points of reference. --Bob Michaels