Bat Bike are nothing if not prolific. Despite having an album due out later in the year via Trashmouth Records, the band have opted to release the demo album ‘Stylez’ this week under their own steam. Two albums in six months is pretty good going and indicative of their enthusiasm and rampant creativity. Released via Bandcamp and on CD, ‘Stylez’ is described as ‘bootlegs and uncut material’ as well as promising to showcase newer material this band-on-fire are constantly producing. As the album has 19 tracks ranging in length from under two minutes to over eight, you get a lot for your money. You also get something a little more interesting – a look into music in the raw, music not engineered into sterility. Whether you like things a little messy or not, some of this is like being at a jam session in someone’s flat, kinda personal, so it’s not going to be to everyone’s taste. It’s a bit like the tin of chocolates at Christmas, some you love and a few toffees that get left till last at the bottom of the tin (I eat them as well, so I guess this is the album for me).
There is quite a variety here, a bit like the afore-mentioned chocs. I thought the better tracks sat in the middle to end of the album, although I like the messiness of ‘William Hill’ and ‘The Worst’. ‘Dog Meat’ had some extremely serviceable churned-up guitar and twisted vocals and I liked the drum-driven frenzy of ‘Willing’. ‘Your Heart is Broken’, with classic guitar teamed with slightly shambolic vocals and ‘Petrol Station’ showed that when Bat Bike get their s**t together they can really throw out some good tracks. I liked ‘Stadium Echo Radio’ best. Although it is the second-longest track on the album, it didn’t get stale. Definitely a winner for me. Of the shorter tracks, ‘Rich Lyf’ with its high/low vocals was an interesting fragment, whilst ‘Where was Shakespeare Born?’ was a surprisingly straight, focused acoustic guitar track.
Some of the album really only worked for me as a glimpse of the creative process, and I thought ‘Oh Yeah’ didn’t have the musical variation to put it out at this length, but on the whole I enjoyed ‘Stylez’. Some of the tracks are going on the early 2015 playlist to brighten my dreary winter. Kinda like a good artist’s studio, if you cleaned it up you might ruin it, it’s perfect as it is. So if you like an album that offers a wide range of creative lunacy, give it a go. Worth £3 for ‘Stadium Echo Radio’ alone, in my opinion.
RIFFED's Rating: 8/10
Listen to Bat Bike with 'Dreamcatcher' via Youtube: