80 – Pete and the Pirates
Sounding like any number of indie-rock/pop bands from across the pond, Pete & The Pirates aren’t necessarily going to be winning any awards for originality. But that doesn’t make their music any less enjoyable.
The five-piece from Reading formed in 2006, releasing their first single the next year and their first album, Little Death, in February 2008. The disc is full of decent tracks, as well as a few standouts, including “Knots” and “Mr. Understanding” — the latter can be heard prominently during the first few seasons of the hilarious British comedy, The Inbetweeners.
Pete & The Pirates – Mr. Understanding
While most bands today seem to put out a new album every couple of years, P&TP waited a little longer, not releasing their follow-up until May of this year. During its hiatus, the band, apparently, did some experimenting with its sound.
The new album, One Thousand Pictures, ventures into several different genres. The opening track, “Can’t Fish”, has a psychedelic feel, and, vocally, it’s one of several songs on the disc that has a slight She Wants Revenge vibe.
A lot of the songs are slower than the first album, including “Cold Black Kitty”, “Washing Powder”, “Blood Gets Thin” and “Shotgun”.
While this disc is a little harder to get into, a lot of the songs are decent, including “Come To the Bar” — which has a bit of a Devo quality to it but is mildly catchy — and the closing track, “Half Moon Street” — easily the tightest song on the album, it almost sounds like it’s performed by a totally different band.
Infinite Shuffle 
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