Formed in East London in 2012 by members Rachel Aggs (guitar), Billy Easter (bass) and Andrew Milk (drums), Shopping forge an itchy, angular explosion of propulsive bass lines, primitive disco-not-disco drums and guitar lines sharp as broken glass. Having done time in a plethora of UK DIY bands including Trash Kit and Wet Dog, they draw from a well of late '70s / early-'80s post-punk with a voraciousness seldom seen these days, bringing to mind the jagged aggression of Gang of Four, the pure, raw yelp of The Slits and the dance-inducing thrust of Delta 5, The Au Pairs and ESG.
On their brilliant new album 'Why Choose?', their debut for FatCat, the band teams up again with Jamie Grier, who mixed and mastered their debut, this time placing Grier in the recording chair at Glasgow’s Green Door Studios, while mastering duties fall to Alan Douches (Japandroids, Animal Collective, We Were Promised Jetpacks, etc.) Tracked just before Xmas, the album was edited and mixed in January and February 2015 and is set for release on October 9th. 'Why Choose?' retains the urgency, bite and the bristling, shard-syncopated rhythm-hooks of its predecessor, expanding their palette with the addition of synths on several tracks and seeing vocal duties switched between members. With the majority of its thirteen tracks clocking in at under 2 and a half minutes (running to 34 minutes in total), the album is lean and precise, powering forward on a relentlessly kinetic, infectious energy and leaving the listener craving more. Spiky and jittery, its angular funk groove pulls off the neat trick of meshing an edginess with an ultimately huge sense of fun.