Malemute Kid

Don't Talk The Scene [7-inch] (2013)

Rich Cocksedge

Who or what is the Malemute Kid you may ask? Well, initially, it was a character in a book by Jack London, an American author, journalist and social activist at the end of the nineteenth century. However, here it is an Italian four-piece who, for me, come across a bit like the Movielife which is not a bad first impression.

Okay, they're not exactly like the Movielife, but Malemute Kid's songs contain the same kind of pop-punk energy that the Long Island quintet managed to squeeze into their music. Each of these four tracks contain enough hooks to ensure that on subsequent listens you believe that you've heard the song before and although there are the occasional been-there-done-that moments, this is no more derivative than a lot of other bands out and about today.

The key thing that makes this 7-inch work for me beyond the infectiousness of the songs is that although the variety between the songs is minimal, it is enough to make the difference in terms of the lines between all of the songs being overly blurred. It's easy to get bogged down with comparisons and nitpicking but at the end of the day, if the impact of what I'm listening to is that it gets my head and feet moving, with hooks that pop up in my head at various times then that cannot be bad.

I'd definitely check out a full length from Malemute Kid, as it would be interesting to see if they could maintain the catchiness over ten or so songs. There's nothing within this release to indicate they couldn't so I'm ready and waiting.