LAUNCH PARTY REVIEW:

I'll always give my unconditional backing to new ventures which aim to help the local music industry, so I'm hardly going to be anything other than fully supportive of Cabin Boy Cooperative, a new Newcastle-based label. Tonight, they celebrate their first release, a split 7" single featuring a song each by A Woman Of No Importance and Shin Jin Rui.

It's the second time I've seen Shin Jin Rui, and I admit, I was less than impressed the first time, especially given the glowing reports I'd heard. Tonight, they start with a new song, which isn't a good move. It sounds under practised and far from being fully formed, and doesn't give me confidence that they'll overturn my initial assessment.

At times, they sound almost Pavement-esque and that's where it works the best. The vocals are poor for most of the set, but that's no criticism - a large number of the bands I love have less than vocally blessed singers. Sometimes, the guitars sound like they're out of tune with each other, the guitarist sounds like he's playing in one key and the bassist sounds like he's playing a totally different one. All in all, they're very hit and miss - good for 50% of the time, and very iffy for the other 50%. That said, I can see their appeal, but they don't really hit my buttons.

AWoNI, on the other hand, hit all my buttons, along with some I didn't know I had. They don't have strings tonight, but that can't detract from the fact that most of their set is made up of pop masterpieces. During Your House you could have heard a pin drop, and new song This Morning is simply amazing. Add that to the fact that front man Marc is really growing into his role and you've got a simply great performance. John Egdell even joins them to play a tiny piano during the single, Your Insecurities Ring Out In His Name. The only downside for me is the non-appearance of Logic And Touch in the set, but I'll let them off for that.

On the whole, it's an excellent start for Cabin Boy, and bodes very well for the future of the label.
-- Thomas Bagnall, NARC.