singles
september
luke vibert - synthax/i love acid
lukes first release on the ever improving warp label. this new single has two slices of twisted electronic dance beats. the double a side making for an interesting clash of styles. 'side a' - synthax is basically a bunch of lovely fat analogue synths battling it out over 4 minutes, whereas the 'side aa', 'i love acid', revisits the squiggly dirty sounds of a decade ago. but, having been a casualty of the first acid house explosion then this is a very different style. back then the beats were fast and furious and striaghtforward, whereas this is far more laidback and downright groovy. the vocoder treated vocal line which flows through the whole track has a hypnotic appeal, entrancing the listener.
may have to dig out the smiley t-shirt for one more time.
class a stuff make no mistake.
i have reviewed fins previous tracks elsewhere, needless to say those tracks were not overly representative of the bands talents as i compared the to the queens of the stoneage !
having heard a few more tracks it's safe to say that this band should have legions of fans this time next year, if only they were given the chance (debatelable as they do not come from nyc). the band have crafted an epic sound which is often reminiscent of u2's marriage of empowering melodies and state of the art production. somehow on the bands limited budget they have crafted songs that defy these restrictions.
i believe that they have now been confirmed to be support act on the forthcoming wheatus tour, a band i am not overly keen on i admit, but hopefully fin will get the attention they so deserve. this track is to be the bands debut single proper on depth records, and is a superb song. simple as that. good luck to them. its gonna be a journey. fans of alt.rock with strong melodies, crunchy guitars/basslines will not be disappointed.
someone warned me about this lot about 8 months ago. now i get access to the bands frst release on wrath records and all becomes clear. a trio from essex on a leeds label - who mentioned that north south divide ? one suspects that no labels in essex knew what to do with this uncompromising noise.
the band : david gardner (guitars/vocals) , michael stuart webster (bass), and neil ross gregory who according to the info plays 'drumkit'. not just the drums, but the whole bloody kit aswell, and it sounds like it.
three tracks of energetic angular violently abused guitars, staccatto basslines. jerky beats. massive noise, and, vocals that dont just sit with the music but fight for supremacy against the backing and demand your attention.
warning - this is not for the 'oh woe is me' crowd.
an absolute belter of an ep.
athlete - you got the style.
re-release of this album highlight. if you haven't heard this by now then you must have been subjected to a powercut of nyc proportions. catchy melodies, vocal harmonies, summery vibes. etc etc. the album has recently been mercury nominated, which all things considered was only to be expected, as athlete are in genre all of their own. hopefully, the extra media attention will bring more people into to the bands unique world and everyone will be hypnotised and feel the love that the band exude.
see em on tour in october.
the boxer rebellion - watermelon
another year, another relaunch of poptones. fingers crossed for alan mcgees baby project, so far though the poptones catalogue has not really made a large impact on my archive as a lot has been a continuation of the creation sounds and i already have plenty of that.
this though is different. this is not a garage/60's/jingle jangle beat pop combo at all. instead, this burrows ito a completely new area of guitar pop music. the opening bars of watermelon (not a jazzlite cover version) recall the atmospheric guitar bluster of late 80's killing joke. dark basslines and maximum reverbed guitars fall into battle against seering passionate vocals a la muse.
just dont package it in all too cool kitsch colours.
black will do just fine.
very impressive. this one could be a label saviour.