The previous winners of the NME Philip Hall Radar Award make a dubious collective. Alongside the likes of platinum selling Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and Glasvegas sit Terris (dropped after one album), The Long Blondes (split after lead guitarist suffered a stroke) and The Twang (awful). Therefore, when I finally got round to checking out this year’s award holders The Big Pink, I was initially dubious as to their merits. On paper straddling the line between Kasbianish electro-rock and the white-synth-noise of Crystal Castles doesn’t particularly read as an appetising mix. Somehow though, the duo compromised of Merok label owner Milo Cordell and former Alec Empire guitarist Robbie Furze seem to have stumbled upon a magic formula. Current single ‘Velvet’ is as anthemic as alternative music gets without straying too far into ‘Wonderwall’ territory and previous release ‘Too Young Too Love’ drifts along in a pleasing JMC meets Spiritualized kind of way. All in all, The Big Pink appear far too abrasive to hit the dizzying heights of previous Radar Award winners but that shouldn’t stop you from taking an interest in what they come up with next.
The Big Pink can be found on MySpace here
The band will embark on a UK tour throughout the back end of April. Check out their dates here
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