Male Bonding: Nothing Hurts | CD review

John Peel used to talk approvingly of records that sounded as if they had made themselves – referring to music so unbridled that the guitars seemed to have wrested control of themselves back from their human owners. The debut album from London three-piece Male Bonding is one such record. Like the Canadian duo Japandroids, they are looking back to the early 90s for inspiration, to the overdriven-yet-blurry guitar sound J Mascis brought to bear with Dinosaur Jr. There's also a sense of hardcore punk attack when they're playing at pace, as on opener Year's Not Long – so all boxes are ticked for those who like noise and aggression. But there's also real tunefulness here: Weird Feelings lifts its topline melody from Please Please Me by the Beatles; TUFF bounds around on a riff that's implausibly exciting; and Nothing Used to Hurt could be calmed down into a terrific Ash single. It's hard to make such familiar ingredients feel fresh, but the sheer zest Male Bonding bring to bear can make even the most jaded palates tingle.