The Whatevers are Mike and Kate from Leeds, and in their own words they make "indiepunky teenpop mess".That's a pretty cool description, but there's so much more to them than that.For a start there's those voices. They're almost like Standard Fare in reverse; Mike is all raw and vulnerable, Kate has the pretty vocals that meander all over the shop. And if you want to add another song to this year's cannon of instant classics, you should look no further to 'Rhapsody in Blue Jeans', which reminds me of Po! or The Girl With the Replaceable Head, or something like that, anyway. I'm not kidding you, this is a song that you've been waiting years to hear. Want heartbreaking lyrics? A killer harmony? A mad guitar bit halfway through that sounds like it's being played by a bag of rascals? You get all of that, you lucky so-and-so.
There are other songs, oh boy there are other songs. Some of them sound like the best Jonathan Richman songs he never wrote (and I'm not even much of a fan of JR), other sound like those amazing early Hefner tunes on 'Breaking God's Heart'.
They're really very special, and, together with This Many Boyfriends, Leeds now has at least two splendid pop bands.
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