This is a review of "Let It Go" recorded by Little Big Men. The review was written by Sam Saunders in 2003.

I was looking at the Plastichead huge mail order catalogue the other day. It's over a month since I ordered a copy of Cursive's new album from them ... but while I've been waiting for it to arrive the thousands of other bands I have never heard of have been swimming in 6 point print over a pale tint before my watering eyes. I mean, just how many DIY punk/hardcore/emocore/corecore/skate/ska/metal bands can there possibly be in the world? With music this basic surely you only need three or four bands to do the whole lot?

The astonishing thing is that Little Big Men, with no more grip on reality than anyone else, can still turn out a belting hit single kind of song that a non-believer like me can still recognise as quality stuff. "Science Fiction" at track 2 has been mentioned on this site before, and I can see why. It is just another shouty rant across two or three roughly hit major chords. But it's done with great natural style and some subtle tempo shifts, plus it has a real idea that rings true. Just how weird can life get? It must be science fiction. Our hero is yelling at us through the din of traffic from a noisy building site about his unfeasibly good night out last Friday, and he can hardly believe his luck. The only blip is a short "quiet bit" from 1:01 to 1:30 that will be edited out when it's goes on the "Rabid Best of 2003" compilation, keeping it down to a more acceptable one minute 20 seconds.

"Let It Go" is OK, but has a hiatus or two that lose the band's real and fierce energy. "Sherlock" is much better and has a fine classic fuzzbox guitar noise and (as far as I can tell) the great line "Bop bop Shoodawop". It's an excellent extended hippy-style album length three minutes 14 seconds that makes purchase of the item well worth the money. Assuming you haven't already completed this month's Plastichead catalogue and won't get time to listen to it until 2007.