Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
In times to come when social anthropologists write their conclusions of 21st century behaviour there will surely be reams, a sheer scape of text that will reveal that we have been living in a kind of survival mode aided by whatever gets us through the day, that there is no forward planning, just an escape route that gets us from the crib to the retirement home without damaging us too much in the process; driven by a world on the edge, ransacked by governments who dictate new laws to drag us down…it’s no wonder those anthropologists will surmise that we have become beaten and scared into trying anything that lets us feel nothing but numb.
Whatever our escape route we can be sure there is nothing like 21st Century Meds to see us through the day, and if we are fortunate then music is our drug, our addiction, an abundance of choice which we know will get us through the day, the darker hours, the in between times where we don’t know whether we are lost or just misinformed; and if we find that golden choice on a day when we need our belief strengthened, our soul absolved, then via Lincolnshire’s premier band, It’s Karma It’s Cool, the meds are calming, legal, and undiluted in their effect to make that careworn soul sing with joy and be unafraid of what a new dawn may bring.
The new single from the forthcoming album, One Million Suburban Streets, sees 21st Century Meds’ groove focus on the relentless and resplendent with ease, its shatterproof drums lead the procession, its guitars and bass capture the feeling of security, and in Jim Styring’s vocals there is the dedication of warmth, the verbal hug that insists everything will be alright, but that we must also take care of who we allow to walk alongside us; who we let into our dreams and subconscious.
For Martyn Bewick, Mikey Barraclough, Adam Jolivel-Perkins, and Jim Styring, this is a single of immense drama unfolded, a shot in the arm delivered by one on the listener’s side, never shying away from the cause of our troubles a the 21st Century blues take hold, and in true power pop fashion, hold the door to that elusive escape route, one that lets you dwell in peace and the groove of a truer, more sincere life.
A generous single, one that is gripping and cool to the touch; we should all be so fortunate to find this antidote to modern living on prescription.
Ian D. Hall