TRACK LISTING:

Expletive Conquest
London Stinks
Kreeper
Safari of Sorts
Discretion Assured
Roadside Attraction


PRESS:

According to the ever-reliable and truthful Wikipedia, "shin jin rui" is the Japanese take on the concept of Jane Deverson's 'Generation X'. If that's the case, then Newcastle racket makers Shin Jin Rui certainly don't warrant the title. They're no slackers; the trio are releasing music and playing gigs on a near-constant basis. In the last 12 months they've put out a clutch of demos, a split 7-inch, this EP and an album's due in the summer.

And, for a three-piece, they sure make a lot of noise. SJR fall somewhere in between lo-fi Pixies style indie rock and a kind of prototype version of heavy metal. The influence of Frank Black and company is most obvious on the title track. If it's not a direct descendent of 'Vamos' it's at least a bastard child.

Opener, 'Expletive Conquest', is claustrophobic clatter punk that name checks Dracula and the Easter Bunny, but Shin Jin Rui soon loosen up, and the surprisingly charming 'London Stinks' loses the smog for some NYC nonchalant cool. It's like The Velvet Underground, had they been waiting for the man on the Northern Line and not Harlem.

From then on in, all the rock bases are touched, but most of all, 'Kreeper', 'Safari Of Sorts' and 'Discretion Assured' are sinister, deranged, sinister pieces of surfer punk, more suited to stop-start Tim Burton movie than Venice Beach. If they keep turning out tunes like this at this rate, Shin Jin Rui are a cult concern waiting to happen.
--High Voltage