Uncut – Modern Currencies review

Uncut – “Modern Currencies”
(Paper Bag)

Uncut share a name and logo with the British entertainment magazine. The band pretty much jumps around stylistically, covering as much territory musically over the course of Modern Currencies as the magazine does over the course of an issue. There’s guitar noodling from Dinosaur Jr and vocal delivery from Bob Mould and Ian Curtis. It comes close to ripping off both Joy Division and every artist covered in Our Band Could Be Your Life – especially the dancy ones.

The whole of it is pretty middle-of-the-road, though: everything is all right, ok, or perfunctory – nothing jumps out and grabs the listener’s interest. The only time the album ever gets interesting is on the loud, herky-jerky “These Times.” Past that, it’s indie rock by the numbers. Uncut might actually want to tone down the rip-off act and see about trying something of their own.

These Times