Tol & The Certifiables : Dropping The Charges

Every now and then I get a track that is so off-the-wall crazy that I wonder if I should tread lightly or risk getting stabbed. This is one of those. The lead singer of this mangy Melbourne punk act is a dude called Hugh Tolhurst – the ‘Tol’ of the title – who couldn’t find the rhythm if you beat it into his skull. He sings like Animal from The Muppets, in both tone and technique, swinging in at seemingly random points and growling barely comprehensible lyrics about going ballistic and taking speed on election day. It is possible that Tol’s flagrantly anti-musical approach to music is a kind of committed uber-punk gesture, but who really knows. You’d have to really hate the contemporary music scene to hear anything good in Dropping The Charges. Which is a good thing?