Is this thing on?

Band – Ape Up!

Album – Kemosabe

Label – Count Your Lucky Stars

I have said it before and now I’ll say it again. In the last couple of years music, in my opinion, has been completely reinvigorated. I seriously don’t think it has been as good as it currently is for years. Any band that says that “rock’n’roll is dead” or any article that bemoans the continuing fall in record sales is missing the point. I feel very sorry for these people. Especially if they haven’t heard Ape Up! yet. This band is further proof that all is good and well in music.

Being released on 10″ vinyl and digitally through Count Your Lucky Stars records, ‘Kemosabe’ by Ape Up! is the nearest these guys have come to putting out a full length record. I say nearest thing because, although there are 9 songs on it, the record clocks in at just under 20 minutes. Not that it feels like this though as there is much to savour and enjoy.

Ape Up! play big and to the point punk anthems, with a knack for melody and fantastically gruff vocals. The kind of sound you’d get if you could imagine Braid covering Algernon Cadwallader and the kind of songs that will have you finger pointing/singing along by the second listen. Opening track, ‘Nothing Serious’, gets the record started as they mean to go along. It launches straight in, sweeps you up and gets you immediately on board with their punchy, no nonsense brand of killer punk brilliance. ‘Kemosabe’ then continues in this vein through the next 4 songs with no dips in pace or quality. Track 5, ‘Drainbow’, gives the record a bit of a breather with some lovely Grandaddy-esque lo-fi noodling but it’s only a brief respite before they come back at you with more of the aforementioned goodness.

It’s hard to pick or suggest a favourite song from ‘Kemosabe’ but if I was pressed on the matter then I would have to go with the title track. ‘Kemosabe’ is a song impossible not to like, I am a complete sucker for a sing along and some gang vocals which is something this song delivers on to great effect. The ninth and final song, ‘Tejas’, is, at 2 minutes and 43 seconds, one of the longer songs on the record. It is also a great finisher as it displays a different side to Ape Up!, a slightly darker side. As they sing repeatedly “They won’t come around”, it’s a touching end to the album. An ending that leaves you wanting a hell of a lot more.

Ape Up! are going to be in the UK in a couple of weeks, touring with the brilliant PRAWN. I will be busting a gut to get to see them play in Folkestone at the View on the 15th of June, the poster for the show is pictured below. If they are this good on record then I imagine seeing them live will be an experience you’re not going to want to miss. Go see them!!

To download or stream the record click HERE to go the Count Your Lucky Stars bandcamp page.

Cheers for reading, more reviews coming very soon xx