Soft Riot is JJD (Jack Duckworth) a former Canadian Vancouverite, now residing in Glasgow, who has clocked in around twenty years of musical output in various bands and projects, including half a dozen art-damaged punk and hardcore bands as well as first-wave post-punk revivalists Radio Berlin. Soft Riot is active since 2011 (‘No Longer Stranger’ EP) and having released so far some 6 full-length records and a string of EP’s and singles reached 2019 with his new 7th album ‘When Push Comes To Shove’ LP, released November 11 via Glasgow’s DIY label Possession Records, he co-founded together with Claudia Nova from Hausfrau and Andy Brown from Ubre Blanca. No secret that JDD is an edgy musician, adventurous in his musical manoeuvers with an always sophisticated approach to the total sounding of his works, he recently offered another striking album to the masses.
‘When Push Comes To Shove’ album is a marvel of 8 quite raw yet elegant electro-pop sonic arrows. I don’t know if it was the signs of our times which pushed him to that direction, or if it is his already long journey in music that made him sound now quite a lot more electrocuted in all. Compared to his previous ‘The Outsider In The Mirrors’ album (2018), here, there is not even a question of whether it is better, because it is different in all as it sounds more like an electro tornado upfront.
The first single to appear was ‘Taking Off The Edge’ which is the opener of the album. An electroclash thunder in the senses and the song which determines the whole journey. Have a taste!
Swinging between electro, minimal wave, and the old school EBM beauty, as he also meanders in the circuits of synthpop and the storms of the post-punk nerve, Soft Riot offers a record which sounds like a turn in his course. I heard all these elements which he carefully hid in his new songs and I enjoyed all the other points where he openly proclaims his intentions at the front.
Expect to also find in the album music-oriented by the ’80s synth spirit like in ‘Don’t Get Yourself Bent Out Of Shape’. Expect to be looking for your guitar to jam along with the new wave sired ‘Heads Turn Around’ song. And finally, do yourself a favor and at least listen closely to this album as it sounds like the best starter for your night’s adventures on the dancefloors, or the dancefloor itself after 3 A.M. where everything needs a bit more…attention, yeah! For now, start choosing your weapons from the latest ‘When Push Comes To Shove’ collection by the electro designer Soft Riot!!!
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Soft Riot live in Berlin, photo by H. Ergen
Written by Loud Cities Mike
