I Was A Cub Scout

Nottingham's I Was A Cub Scout are a rare breed. A band with an ace name. I may be biased because I actually was a cub scout - I still have my green jumper with all those kerrrazy and completely useless badges on - but I maintain its brilliance. I read about this lot recently in Loud And Quiet mag under some new bands feature and turns out they were bang on the money. The teenage two piece deliver melody laden, keyboard driven pop, in the mould of The Research...if they were obsessed with Gameboys and techno.

'Part II' comes from their current 7" single 'We Were Made To Love', out now on Fear And Records (who also have Emmy The Great on their books). Like Guillemots meets Hot Chip, it has all the loving charm, genre blending and quirkyness displayed by the two Mercury Music Prize nominated bands. Considering the success of those bands, this track should really have a mass appeal. And rightfully so, it's a slice of hypnotic synthdancepop. Did I mention it has handclaps AND xylophones? No. Well, it does and sounds bloody great. Xylophonic breakdowns will be all the rage in the future, hear it happen here first.

I Was A Cub Scout - Part II

'I Was A Crate' is a different kettle of fish, less of the "if Belle & Sebastian dabbled with electronica" and more a drumnbass frenzy you heard at uber famous dance club Fabric. It opens peculiarly, almost a bit techno with breakneck drumming. A moodier, more hectic offering than the above track, it's compelling listening. Even with the last minute or so of the track going a bit Daft Punk, I Was A Cub Scout manage to keep the intensity throughout the five minutes. God knows quite what's going on here though. Download it from Black Country Grammar [link].



I Was A Cub Scout are playing all over Britain soon, including the fantastic Smalltown America alldayer in London, which features the likes of Frank Turner, 65Daysofstatic and DARTZ! See their MySpace (click on the crazy banner above) for dates and details on how to order the 7".