News / / 14.09.12

CROCODILES

Endless Flowers (Souterrain Transmission)

16/20


With only a few months until The Walkmen – rapidly being reappraised as a more important band than many gave them credit for – headline Green Man festival, Crocodiles’ third album of sun-drenched but edgy alt-surf-punk is a timely release. This under-the-radar San Diego band have a loose-limbed, melodic, reverb-heavy but searing aesthetic which pulses through the album, giving it a swagger (Sunday Psychic Conversations #9) but simultaneously a winsome lilt (Bubblegum Trash). The spiky pop hooks of The Cribs, the cutesy-yet-edgy jangle of Surfer Blood, and slightly demented folk twang of Dodos are all welcome reference points, and lead single, title track and album opener Endless Flowers is an anthem in the vein of the aforementioned Walkmen’s The Rat. But it’s when Crocodiles move beyond their more surfy influences and get a bit raucous that the album really hits its stride. Standout track Dark Alleys is a muscular, wailing wall of guitars that grows until it howls at the moon, and it’s magical – more like that please.

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Words: Adam Corner

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