Šut / Big Charmin’ Men: Hladna Soba / Birthday 31 split cd

    A release all fans of garage punk/ punk will find more than a fleeting interest in is the split album from two raw and intriguing Serbian bands, Šut and Big Charmin’ Men. The album is a retrospective release from the pair of Svilajnac bands in that it brings together potent moments from their undiscovered careers, beyond their borders anyway. 2000 album Hladna Soba (Cold Room) from Šut (an album from what we can tell was unreleased), consisting of 13 tracks makes up half the release along with an additional three songs from 1998 and is matched in the number of tracks by the 2006 mini album Birthday 31 and an additional eight songs which include covers of tracks from legendary bands from the former Yugoslavia by their compatriots. Released on underground label  T2 (Torpedo Boom), it is a raw and honest collection of sounds and tracks which from start to finish are compelling and enlightening.

Šut was formed in 1993 by Mouse and Pop alongside Voja (bass). Their sound from accounts evolved over the years until 2002 with the band building a strong reputation and fan base for their fiery sounds. A demo was released in 1997 to be followed by the recording of Vetar (The Wind), an also unpublished album from which the three additional songs on this album come from. With a line-up of Mouse (guitar/lead vocals), Voja (guitar/vocals), Darius (bass/vocals), and Dreja (drums/backing vocals) for Hladna Soba, the band has brewed up a tasty mix of garage and post punk for songs which capture the imagination constantly.

The quartet open up the album with an excellent instrumental simply called Intro, a piece of rock n roll fused from punk, garage rock, and a loud whisper of rockabilly neatly moulded into a brief and infectious invitation.  The following Ovih Dana is a boisterous fusion of old school punk and garage punk abrasion which hits the spot with its heavy bass breath and riotous energy and attitude and as with the majority of the songs on the album and all from Šut the lyrics are sung in Serbian but ensure it is not an issue by raising a passion and energy which triggers the primal instincts only punk of any form can touch. The first full song is seeded in punk but from the following Pesak U Satua a post punk vein begins to make its voice heard especially within the best tracks from the band in the magnetic form of Pad, Pucaj, and Predsoblje. The first is a mesh of blustery sonics, harsh snapping drums, and a cold yet incendiary groove. There is an underlying drone to it which is irresistible and within the melodic sonic flames it tempers and compliments the heat of the instrumental elsewhere. Pucaj immediately from its discord dripping groove and scathing riffs reminds of bands like Artery and Crispy Ambulance and offers a cold contagion impossible not to devour eagerly. It is the best track on the whole release though easily equalled by Predsoblje, the song a Joy Division meets Thee Headcoats which again just enthrals and leads limbs in to a chaotic response as does the band for most of their presence on the album.

Big Charmin’ Men sound like their influences are similar to their conspirators but offer a more blues and sixties punk breath to their garage furnace of noise. Consisting of Mihajlo Belolule, and Andreja Vlajic the band began in 2005, recording the eight track mini album which makes up half their contribution here the following year. Their first CD New Life appeared in 2010 to good responses to be followed by Born (Down Somewhere) a year later with the band apparently calling it a day the same year.

The duo start off their part of the release with the challenging attitude of Iskovan Od Bola, a slab of provocative rock n roll which stamps and stomps like a belligerent teenager. Next up the Ramones veined I Dalje Tu is an excellent piece of punk rock whilst the blues fire raging within Ja Sanjam shows the diversity of the band and their open sound. Elevated highlights from the band come through the punk grazing of Jedva Čekas Da Odeš with a great guitar blaze for is climax and the muscular intimidating Dobro Sam, again the songs bringing an accomplished variety from the band. The band take influences from the likes of Majke, Pokvarena Masta, Machine Gun, and Kaoticne Duse, and contribute a few very decent covers including one of the Pokvarena Mašta song Ne Budi Divlja and the Majke track Loš Život featuring the harmonica skills of Sarma. They end their participation on the record with the wonderful Rođen Negde Dole, a blues driven romp of total pleasure with more mesmeric harmonica craft this time from the soulful skills of Knucklehead. It is a delicious brawl of rock n roll and the perfect way to end a fine release.

If punk, garage, and to some extent blues raises strong flickers of passion within than checking out this thoroughly enjoyable release could just make your day.

To find out more about the album and how to get it https://www.facebook.com/mihajlobelolule.markovic?ref=ts&fref=ts

7/10

RingMaster 08/02/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Zebras: Self Titled

Though it came out midway through 2012 the self-titled album from sonic manipulators Zebras quite simply is an album you need to know about and hear. If like us you are just becoming aware of the band  then see this as the key to infernal rapture and if you already know the magnificence of the release than sit there nodding knowingly as we drool all over this review of one of the mightiest releases of last year.

Formed in 2007, the band from Madison consists of guitarist and vocalist Vincent Presley and synth player Lacey Smith as well as across its years featuring a mix of drummers. Musically the band is wonderfully indescribable merging the insidious aspects of punk, noise rock, post punk, doom, and industrial to name a few spices to their unique sonic infestation. Following on from their EP Parasitic Clones Under The Strong Arm Of The Robotic Machine, the new album is a two sided beast which consists of tracks recorded in 2011 on first side Impending Doom, with drummer Shane Hochstetler of Milwaukee band Call Me Lighting, and on the The Fate of a World Plagued By Soulless Shits side, tracks recorded in 2009 with Shawn Pierce on drums. The release is a breath taking collection of songs which shows the move in sound across the two years covered by the band and the giver of the richest rewards and pleasure.

The first quintet of tracks are those recorded in 2011 and are opened by the towering presence of The Dying Sea. Opening with thunderous beats and caustic guitar rubs the song is a brooding doomy weight loaded with the insidious tones of Presley. It is a venomous bruising encounter with a sludge thick energy which sucks the wind from the lungs and hope from the senses before later flailing the carcass with serpentine sonic lashings.

The stunning start is soon left in the wake of Mighty Bayonet, a snarling ravenous rampage of bulbous rhythms, harsh corrosive electronics, and psyche twisting riffs and guitar abrasion. It is a sprawling acidic aural licking with the vocals, a perpetual psychotic mix of Jello Biafra and Russell Toomey of Innercity Pirates/My Red Cell, a malevolent siren within the brief incessant furnace of intensity. In contrast the following Queeny Gloom Doom is a doom provoked arctic wrap of post punk discord bringing elements of Joy Division and Xmal Deutschland into the antagonistic dance of Alien Sex Fiend or Sex Gang Children. As compelling as it is exhausting the song is a darkly shadowed crawl over the senses and emotions with a deviant sexual whisper to its intimidating breath.

A Turd By Any Other Name and Black Cancer close off the first part of the release, both ingenious brawls of sonic intrusion and imaginative violence. The first is a tower of again greedy energy which rages like a hungry fire across the ear whilst the keys of Smith shoot flares of sonic irreverence and flesh spearing melodic weaponry out from within the engrossing wall of heavy aural malice. The other is a punk soaked slice of infection, a ferocious distorted mix of Dead Kennedys, Buzzcocks, and The Pixies which leaves a drooling grin on face and heart, though to be fair all the tracks on the album do achieve that with ease.

Stepping back a little in the evolution of the band the remaining sextet of songs are those from two years before the previous ones, not that you would know it in regard to quality and excellence. As soon as the best track on the release Field-Noise sets off its sonic alarm and the rampant thumping rhythms assault the ear the strongest rapture is fully engaged. Early Killing Joke fused with Mad Capsule Markets, The Melvins, and again Alien Sex Fiend, is the best way to describe the genius at play here, a moment of sheer brilliance and the best song heard in a long time.

Things are just as stunning through the songs Diablo Bianco with its blood thirsty rhythms and scattergun riffs, The Dirty Dice and its viral melodic wantonness and its devilishly discordant hooks, and Tension. The third of these is an acidulous burn of spiky vocals and sonics within a bedlamic presence of manic invention and sinister energy, oh and quite brilliant. The now entrenched treacherously seductive splendour is continued by the equally sensational Wiener Kids and the closing glory of The Serpent & The Pig, the former a riotous ball of mischief which incorporates all the goodness of Pere Ubu, early XTC, and Cardiacs in a twisted embrace and the latter an invidious bitch slap of bedlamic invention and tribal instinctiveness through the thoughts of one wicked set of minds.

It is the stunning end to a sensational album and one can only drool over what will come next from the band. Zebras have grabbed album of the year honours for 2012 with ease and the hearts of The Ringmaster Review.

Find out why by listening to future podcasts of The Bone Orchard.

http://zebras.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zebras/143884414675

RingMaster 03/01/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

 

Bombers: Drawing / Buddy’s In A Cult

Crawling all over the senses with sonic clutches of psyche post punk, the new single from UK band Bombers is an unfiltered treat of barbed lures and raw expression. Offering a double track acidic caress, the release has a chilled yet hypnotic beauty which whips one back to the vintage days of the post punk whilst wrapping the ear in a fresh and inciting sharpness.

Released through Dead London Records on January 28th, the single follows their acclaimed debut EP Film Fanatic of just over a year ago. With further tracks in the pipeline, the two songs which make up the single confirm the Birmingham quartet of vocalist/guitarist David Duell, guitarist Matty Warke, bassist Darren Mullen, and drummer David Owen, as a band primed to turn 2013 into something big for them and us through their very satisfying frenzied abrasions of discord beauty and melodic scouring.

Drawing immediately starts on the ear with guitar grazes and a resonating bassline amongst snapping rhythms. As the vocals of Duell add their nails to the encounter the track is a near toxic rub of sonic teasing and fiery energy. It is a compulsive presence using simple barbed enterprise and small snatches of repetition to great effect and coming over like a slightly unhinged hybrid of The Fall, Joy Division and Artery. A fingertip short of two minutes the track is a thrilling excursion into tart aural shadows and quite simply mesmeric.

Accompanying the song is the equally irresistible Buddy’s In A Cult, its entrance on another delicious bassline and Joy Division inspired guitar coaxing an instant compulsive embrace impossible to ignore. Once Duell adds his cold tones the Exploding Seagulls song Johnny Runs For Paregoric springs to mind. Bombers soon take the senses into different dark corridors though with flames of passion vocally and musically to light the way whilst the drums of Owen rally energies with barracking rhythms to enthuse further the whole enthralling experience. Again barely long enough to warm up the speakers the tasty little sonic tartlet is a real gem and arguably outshines its partner.

Both tracks are outstanding and show that there are still creative melody violating artists out there with imagination and dark inspiring intent. Bombers are on the runway and ready to drop the biggest thrills for 2013 (oh come on there had to be an obvious flight reference from us at some point.)

www.bombersbombersbombers.com

RingMaster 20/12/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Doom’s Day: The Unholy

Though arguably offering more promise for the future than major satisfaction in the now, The Unholy the debut album from Canadian  occult metal/horror punk band Doom’s Day is still a recommended investigation if the likes of Mercyful Fate, Venom, Ghost, and early Misfits grab the imagination. There is also an eighties essence to the sound which pervades the eight songs which make up the release bringing spicery from the likes of Joy Division, Sex Gang Children, and Fields of The Nephilim into the mix. It is a far from flawless release but given time makes a more than decent persuasion that this is a band to keep an eye on.

The Québec based band has been making big waves in their surrounding area since forming earlier this year, soon moving from a small project into a full band for shows around their province. The Unholy was originally released as a hand numbered CDR consisting of just 50 copies, but soon came to the attention of PRC Music owner Remi Cote. Impressed by what he heard and no doubt the promise ahead, his label has re-released the album on CD and digitally. It is a release proudly steeped in the musical past but with the intent to embroil things with a freshness of modern imagination and opinion, it is debatable how successful it is in that but certainly engages enough to incite returns to its sounds and inspire intrigue ahead.

From the opening track Overture, a gothic cathedral instrumental breath within an oppressive storm, the album enters fully with the title track. Dark heavy riffs and Hammond organ like keys merge for a heated embrace upon the ear which holds many similarities to fellow Canadians, the excellent New Jacobin Club. The gruff unpolished vocals stand aside from the strong guitar play and scorched melodic  touches to add an abrasive bite to the track. It is quite a compelling song despite the weak production, a trait for the whole release which manages to leave the strong aspects of the album rather lifeless and the raw unrewarding parts accentuated. It is a more than decent start though inspiring good expectations for the rest of the release.

The following trio of songs She’s Possessed, Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, and Sabbath Deadly Sabbath do not exactly live up to the hopes though most again offer things which suggest the possibility of good things coming from the band on the future horizon. The first of the three has a great female vocal alongside the restrained and tempered delivery of vocalist Doom, it makes for a magnetic encounter lined with hypnotic rhythms and a snarling bass  within the sonic wash of guitar. A short and crisp track it is certainly one of the better efforts on the album to ensure continued investigation. The metallic groove of the second song makes an enticing additive to another strong enough song whilst the latter is a bland formulaic song but one fans of classic metal will find something to latch onto.

The best moments of the album are kept to the end with The Sorceress and its great Bauhaus like opening, the muscular Your Last Breath, and the closing Ghost Of Fate. The smoother vocals of the first pair of the songs are a definite plus to the sound of the band and used within a sinewy and formidable intensity works a treat. The last track Ghost of Fate is a great tease of what one senses hopefully will be ahead with Doom’s Day, the song a rampaging well thought out merge of riling energy and melodic craft.

The Unholy is overall enjoyable with its strengths managing to outshine its negatives but it does lack the spark to ignite any real passion for its contents. Placed in a studio with a top producer who can breathe life into their certain creativity and the band itself discovering a unique heart to their invention, it is not too hard to imagine Doom’s Day turning into a more notable ingredient within occult metal.

https://www.facebook.com/dooms666day

RingMaster 03/12/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Broken Links: Disasters: Ways To Leave A Scene

There has been a little bit of a stir brewing around UK rock band Broken Links and after hearing their debut album Disasters: Ways To Leave A Scene a few times it is easy to see why. To be fair it only took a couple of engagements with the vibrant and compelling release to be convinced but such its magnetic and powerful pull the resistance to returning time and time again was weaker than a paper boat in a tempest.

Since forming around four years ago, the trio from Southampton has seen a slow but very solid rise with their potent mix of post punk, rock, and industrial rock with strong whispers of new wave, winning over hearts consistently along the way. Certainly locally they are one of the most talked about bands and with the release of a trio of well received EPs have built a fan base which is loyal and feisty whilst moving farther afield. Influences come from the likes of Joy Division, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Manic Street Preachers and Bush, flavours which Broken Links evolved into their own unique sound. The result is songs which trigger all the keen responses and taste buds their inspirations ignited, whilst opening up new depths of pleasure for themselves. Their eclectic sound also makes the band an easy and effective fit with many genres which their sharing of stages alongside bands such as British Sea Power, The Boxer Rebellion, InMe, My Vitriol, 22, Official Secrets Act, Fighting with Wire, and The Xcerts shows.

Disasters: Ways To Leave A Scene brings many of the tracks which featured on those early self released EPs with a couple of new ones to create a stirring and towering expanse of emotive and melodic invention. Even though the release strikes a match to open a full magnetism towards its sounds from the start, the more impressive it becomes with time spent in its striking aural arms. Evocative and impactful, the album leaves one breathless and invigorated whilst fully charged to dive into its shadows and immense soundscapes again and again.

The release opens on the sonic simmering of Electrik, though the track soon explodes into a sonically burning sunrise of mesmeric charms.  It is impossible not to be rocked back on ones heels by the mighty vocals of guitarist Mark Lawrence and the electronic blistering which ignites the atmosphere of the song like a cascade of hot golden rain. The rhythms of drummer Phil Boulter form a magnetic frame whilst bassist Lewis Betteridge is a prowling and imaginative shadow to the synths and expressive guitar of Lawrence. The track itself is a ravenous mix of Depeche Mode, My Preserver, and Muse, though the one band which did come to mind during the song was Ultravox, the early version before John Foxx and guitars became redundant.

Within Isolation and What Are You Waiting For? Raise the temperature even higher with their thumping urgency and inventive craft. The first is a sinewy romp of energetic vocals and riffs wrapped in riotous intent and acidic sonic manipulation, a barnstormer of an affair whilst the second explores darker corners of the sound with a smouldering heavy post punk resonance and metallic sonic licking of the senses. A Joy Divison starkness combines with  barbed Comsat Angels like hooks to leave one drooling and when the atmospheric grandeur of Modern English wraps its emotive muscular arms around the song nothing but passion is apace. It is a track which reaps the riches of the eighties yet still is of the now, the band nurturing and evolving those seeds once again into something quite irresistible and distinct to themselves.

Great tracks come thick and fast, each song without fail leaving deep pleasure and ardour behind their accomplished ingenious lures. Tracks such as the brilliant electro rock/pop  triumph We’re All Paranoid, the two part grandeur that is Choice/Decay, with Part I a chilled ambient and slightly disturbing build into the stunning crescendo of Part II, and the swaggering Shelter Your Loss, just captivate and evoke more and more heated enthusiasm.

Hitting even greater pinnacles with the snarling Therapy Sessions In The Dark and potently contagious Cherno, not forgetting the gloriously inciting What Are You Addicted to?, the album expertly and skilfully explores across styles and emotions. Melancholic and reflective, warm and oozing positivity, Disasters: Ways To Leave A Scene is a true giant of a release and surely the first massive and impressive step to wide recognition for Broken Links.

http://www.brokenlinksmusic.co.uk

RingMaster 16/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Bad Powers: Self Titled

Some bands upon their introduction just make you sigh with pleasure as the flames to a permanent attachment are lit and such is the case with Bad Powers and their self-titled debut album. It is a glorious and deeply stimulating piece of creative invention, its imagination as stirring and impressive as the raging provocative sounds brewed from the distinctly unique musical minds of the band. Arguably the quality of the release is not a surprise given that three quarters of the band were in the acclaimed Made Out Of Babies which called it a day earlier in the year, but guitarist Brendan Tobin, bassist Eric Cooper, and drummer Matthew Egan, have returned with something quite different and greedily enthralling.

The Brooklyn band headed by the stunning vocals of Megan Tweed (also of The Family Curse), has unleashed a hybrid of post punk and noise rock blended into a steaming maelstrom of innovation and ingenious enterprise. It is not the easiest to describe such the unique invention at play, for example at times the album teases the ear like a dysfunctional offspring of The Creatures, with Tweed sounding like a emotionally beleaguered Siouxie Sioux, The Pixies, and Throwing Muses lined by the corrosive breath of Joy Division, and in other moments the senses are swamped with a ravenous erosion brought by a cacophonous smothering from a mix of The Raincoats, The Sugarcubes, Stinking Lizaveta, and Essential Logic veined by the chilled whispers of a Xmal Deutschland. For all those inciting comparisons though the songs are in a realm of their own, a staggering amalgam of ideas and their inventive realisation brought through craft and energy to leave one drooling within a full and eager passion.

Released through The End Records, the album sets to work on the heart with opener New Bruises, the song immediately turning the key to adoration with dramatic sonic slices across rapping beats and firm riffs whilst Tweed begins her magnetic squalls of immense vocal enchantment. Like the music she offers a warm sizzling caress which alternates with a scorched and tenacious bite, her passionate wind shifts from deliciously scarring thoughts and emotions to coaxing them with a heated elegance. Whichever the source guiding her delivery it is a continual irresistible temptation. The track pulls one into an enveloping sonic wantonness, guitars and bass manipulating the synapses with brewing melodic gasses which consume all resistance whilst the rhythms cage and ensnare with an inescapable captivation.

The following likes of the tempestuous Hit Sniffing Dog and the brilliant Eves And Eyes cast their own distinct spells, the first a mix of intimidating intensity and taunting hypnotic grooves like a blistered union of elements from Dead Kennedys and Belly and the second an expansive crawl of emotive majesty and sinister shadows which delves within the psyche like the darkened fallout from The Birthday Party meeting Breeder overlooked by Morningwood. With its dark strings the track is immense amongst nothing but titanic pieces of dare one say genius?

Throughout its ten stunning tracks the album just offers the richest of rewards from its stylish and brilliantly crafted magnificence. The erosion Black Alf with its rolling plundering rhythms of Egan and abrasive vehemence from Tweedy just sparks higher flames of desire for the staggering creativity, the bass of Cooper snarling with venom within the caustic guitar assault whilst Blueberry transports the ear into an outstanding storm of air pilfering sonic rubs and incessant incendiary grooves. It is not the fiercest of the songs on the album but burns with a melodic heat to leave one breathless and smarting from its precise intensity.

With further heightened pinnacles in Electricity Should Be Free with its Bond like teasing intricacies and evocative swagger, and the quite wonderful and astounding closing track Bread And Butter, the album is without doubt one of the real triumphs of the year. From beginning to end it just wraps the senses and heart in a textured wash of brilliance. From its moments of crunching encounters through to the enchanting yet barbed beauty it seduces with ease through, the release is a sensation and Bad Powers in one stroke has taken sonically gifted music to a new and titanic height.

http://www.badpowers.com/

RingMaster 12/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

 

Waves Of Fury: Thirst

Sounding like the deliciously steamy hybrid from a union of Sam Cooke, Thee Vicars, Rocket From The Crypt, and Jesus and Mary Chain, Thirst the debut album from sonic teasing crew Waves Of Fury is quite magnificent. Consisting of ten garage punk filtered rock n roll/R&B classics, the release pulsates with an instinctive and inspiring brew of infectious sonic grazings wrapped in warm and refreshing imagination. It is excitable yet equally held by a restraint which allows every individual element and idea to shine within the acidic surface smouldering of sound. Quite simply Thirst is a triumph of noise and heart.

The Somerset based quintet of Carter Sharp (vocals, guitars), Jamie Bird (pianos, vocals), James McPhee (drums), Fil Ward (guitars, vocals), and Bim Williams (horns), has been making distinct waves both sides of the pond, the band undertaking  successful tour of Southern States in the US before venturing into the studio to record their album. With its magnetic charms and sounds Thirst is destined to spark an even fuller and wider recognition, it is hard to imagine a release this dynamically compulsive doing anything less.

The album opens with Death Of A Vampire, its initial shadowed music hall like echoes the introduction to a storm of fiery horns and fuzzy guitars paced by flattened chilled keys. As the distinct hollow lilted vocals stroll within the sounds the track flares up again and again with shimmering melodic expulsions and contagious enterprise. It is a merciless lure, a barbed splendour to envelop and seduce the senses and passions, something which can be applied to Thirst as a whole. There is a tomb like atmosphere to the song which only accentuates its immediate and masterful inventive presence.

From the incendiary beginning the following I Don’t Know What To Make Of Your Fucked Up Friends and Businessman’s Guide To Witchcraft offer their own caustic fires to overwhelm the heart. The first is a riled Motown gaited piece of magic which like an insidious puppeteer controls limbs and voice whilst unleashing its own cutting intent and opinions. The second is an amazing mix of shall we say Joy Division and The Four Tops, a constrained riot of sound and passion yet unbridled in its mesmeric strength and teasing. It is glorious, arguably best track on the album though that does wander as a choice with each listen of Thirst.

As tracks like the dark and schizo spiced Killer Inside Me with its scuzzed breath the perfect shadow to the melodic shards hooks and barbed horns, Pretender Soul, and The Everlasting Thirst state their claim on the affections the strong variety to the songs and writing of Sharp is unmissable. The second of this trio is a gentle emotive breeze within a flesh burning sonic heat whilst the latter is an acutely driven stomp across the ear with spotlights of horns sparking up a dazzling sheet of nagging sonics and consuming energy. The album is a perpetually twisting joy, each track bringing something new and unexpected but with a swagger to turn heads and ignite desires for much more.

After the brief Buddy Holly like pleasure of Nervous Exhaustion, the album closes on the mighty Viodrene, a song which just hypnotizes with its varied ideas and noise wrapped in a furnace of raw guitars and explosive horn crescendos. With an excellent break midway to allow a breath before the equally staggering conclusion, the track is all you need to know about Waves Of Fury and their quite brilliant sound. Lyrically the album is inspired by gothic writers like Poe and Saul Bellow but also by life and everyday manipulations, this song dealing with celebrity culture in an acerbic and mischievously skilled ingenuity.

Waves of Fury have created an album and songs which take all the wonderful discord and cryptic facets of melodic and sonic elegance and conjure them into their own unique and irresistible beauty. Thirst is outstanding and will easily makes a late and formidable impression on those best of year lists.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Waves-of-Fury/204286162955259

RingMaster 29/10/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

BlakCan: Dark Daze

Shadowed and uplifting, the new single from UK dark electronic indie pop band BlakCan is a vibrant and enjoyable introduction to the Wolverhampton quartet. Dark Daze is a song which grabs the attention and takes it on a ride of infectious melodies, incisive lyrics, and impassioned emotions from arguably all shades of life and the heart.

Consisting of vocalist/percussionist Ash Bradley, Jon Nash on keys and synths, and Ryan Deakin on guitar and synth, alongside drummer Mudie and bassist Adam hall, BlakCan has created their impossible to ignore sounds for the past eighteen months and drawn strong responses and acclaim for their live performances, which included supporting The Twang at the opening of the new 02 Academy in Birmingham. The band has already firmly began to turn a growing wave of heads their way and the new single, taken from their forthcoming album Flat Pack Nation, will be and is the next big step in their rise.

Produced by Gavin Monaghan (Editors, Twang, Ocean Colour Scene) and released through Big Industry Records, Dark Daze instantly sweeps the senses up in an energetic yet controlled breath. The slowly brewing keys wrapping gently around the ear as the vocals start their emotional questioning, ignite warmth which the track never loses but does test with the chilled ambience and shadowed whispers which make their presence known throughout. It is though a magnetic song overall with hooked melodies which playfully light the heart and guitars which chip away with slight mischief and heated enterprise.

An intriguing mesh of sounds which would have settled nicely in the works of Blancmange, Fad Gadget, early Depeche Mode and Joy Division with more current traits of a Calling All Astronauts or Strangers to flavour things, Dark Daze is a pleasing and infectious treat which not only keeps its too brief a time fully engaging but makes the anticipation for the album strong and keen.

http://www.blakcan.com

Ringmaster 18/09/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

The best and easiest way to get your music on iTunes, Amazon and lots more. Click below for details.

A Sky Jet Black: Japanese Moon

If the electronic/post punk sounds of the eighties still whisper in your ear or are a recent discovery for you younger retro investigators, then the excellent debut album from US band A Sky Jet Black will easily light some burning fires with their shaded glowing sounds. Japanese Moon like the band, is heavily influenced by new wave/post punk/gothic pop as well as according, to their bio, Berlin era Bowie/Eno/Pop, Phil Spector wall of sound girl bands and 8-bit. It is the post punk dark electro pop elements which firmly cores it all though as the songs weave their impressive charms, their breaths igniting thoughts and memories of numerous iconic British artists.

Formed in 2010 by Hope Iris and Karasene (both keys and vocals) alongside Tim-O (bassist, vocals, production), the band spent its first months honing and creating its sound before making their live debut at the infamous Monstrosity House at SXSW. The following years has seen the band in a hectic flurry of recording and touring, including supporting David J (Bauhaus, Love and Rockets). The Austin, Texas trio recorded the album alongside producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead) and have created one vibrant and mesmeric feast of warm and crystalline soundscapes posing as songs.

The album opens with the eager pulsating Be My, a song bringing the melodic charms of The Cure and Felt through the shimmering vocals of Siouxsie Sioux. It energetically wraps itself around the ear with a firm grasp whilst inspiring memories and dazzled passions, the sounds alongside the vocals of Hope a graceful impactful pleasure. Wholly infectious and fully enchanting it is a hypnotic start to the album, its nostalgic presence a perfect union with the heart of today.

The following Honey has a harder presence, a steely post punk surface to the again instantly absorbing melodic touch. The vocals have a slight Ian Curtis air bringing a Joy Division/The Passage essence across the icy yet heated emotive sounds. Its successor Sunday holds a similar gait but from a glowing New Order aspect, its brisk emotion teasing the electro pop of The Pet Shop Boys, though as throughout the album, shadows add the strongest voice to the romantic noir heart of the song.

Already the varied structure and sounds of the songs impress and ensure the release is never predictable even with the re-energising of well preserved sounds. The band also shows a wonderful ability to evolve things into their own distinct world as with the cover of The Stone Roses song, I Wanna Be Adored. Admittedly not a fan of its creators anyway, the song emerges as easily the better version from A Sky Jet Black, its sensuality and throaty bass veining the astounding contagion to leave one breathless.

As the seductive title track with its oriental kiss and cold beauty of Siouxsie & The Banshees/The Creatures, the kinetic Heart On Your Sleeve, and the brooding Out To Sea captivate thought and imagination, there is nothing but deep pleasure within. The second of the three songs especially hits the sweet spot with its early Human League like beginning and evolution into another New Order spiced piece of addiction, though the third with its Cocteau Twins/Chameleons teasing is equally powerful and deeply reaching.

The final piece of post punk sonic glory So Far Away, closes up what is a wonderful and enthralling album in Japanese Moon. With an album of beauty and darkness brought with provocative and exciting passion, A Sky Jet Black has taken us back in time but indie electro forward. It is majestic and an essential experience all should spare their hearts and time for.

https://www.facebook.com/askyjetblack

RingMaster 14/09/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Interview with Paile from Beastmilk

A release which ‘…swamps the ear and senses with an unrelenting intensity, a shadowed energetic breath and doom coloured melodic mesmerism’ was how we described the excellent Use Your Deluge EP from Finnish post punk band Beastmilk . The four track release is an outstanding feast of self proclaimed apocalyptic post punk which unrelentingly grabs hold from the very beginning and grips and twists tighter as it consumes the ear persistently. With pleasure we had the chance to find out more about the band and release thanks to bassist Paile taking time out to answer a few questions.

Hi Paile and welcome to The Ringmaster Review

Firstly for those new to the band could you simply introduce yourselves?

Hello, and thank you. If fluids in general feel intriguing to you, our music should be to your liking. Please have a sip and a listen!

We have to ask about the band name, Beastmilk. It inspires many thoughts and images not all healthy haha but what are its seeds?

The contaminated seed is of our fathers and other homosexual men. And one should never belittle the value of taste. All beasts produce liquid substances of varying density and color.

Tell us about the beginning of the band and how you all met?

It was cold, very cold. Much snow. And very dark. Paile wanted to play drums in a band, so Goatspeed invited him to a cellar to play some songs he’d written. They needed a bottom end to it all and called bassist Arino, asking if he’d like to come and play some punk music. Arino showed up, and on that instant, White Stains on Black Tape was recorded. Goatspeed knew Kvohst from before, and the vocals were recorded later that same night when the quartet met each other for the first time.

There is already a strong history musically to the members of the band I believe?

We must all be winners then.

How would you describe your music from the inside?

Inside it’s always throbbing, between the gushes. We try not to get stuck in there too long, one tends to lose perspective that way.

The press release to your new release states the intent of the band was to bring forth music that was a mixture of various acts like The Cure, Misfits, and Dead Kennedys. Listening to your music though one feels there are many more influences and inspirations which have spiced your style and music?

In a clever way we copy other people’s music and disguise it as our own original creation. We are also inspired by female sweat. Licking armpits can be very educating.

Maybe it was our ears but we heard a definite eighties UK post punk flavouring reminding of the likes of Joy Division, Leitmotiv and Crispy Ambulance. Coincidence or do you have a heart for those sounds too?

Our sound is calculated and constructed artificially using advanced machinery. We’ve all stepped outside our comfort zones for this band, and that’s where all the tension and the flavours are coming from.

The release we mentioned is your stunning Use Your Deluge EP, four songs which for us swamps the ear and senses with an unrelenting intensity and doom coloured melodic mesmerism for the fullest aural addiction.

Thank you kindly! We trust in the vibe that seems to arise by itself when the four of us are put in a tiny space for a limited time. There is always present a balance of sceptical curiosity for what the guys will play, and yet the outcome always sounds smashing.

Tell us about the songs on the EP, what inspired them and were they written specifically for the release?

The songs are always written quite quickly, and specifically for the upcoming release. At least Ms. Chapman and A.O. Spare should feel particularly honoured this time.

Do songs emerge in the songwriting from one person or is a full band contribution throughout?

It’s always interesting to listen back to the original demos and drafts of Goatspeed after a song has been recorded in the studio. They appear to go through a natural metamorphosis. The demos usually get their specific feel and direction once Kvohst has written the vocals. Then everything crystallizes when Paile and Arino build up the backbeat.

When reviewing the EP, we talked about the track Children of the Atom Bomb which we loved by the way, as the perfect example of ‘repetition when used right and with thought is irresistible,’ In hindsight though we still know it to be true, we were wondering how you guys think about the repetition comment, if you see the song using that too quite as much as our ears do?

Never thought of it that way. Repetition in thought and in practice is a fine thing.

Use Your Deluge was only released as a 7” vinyl. An old school return we love and endorse but do you think you are restricting yourselves in the spreading of your sounds and presence by no CD release?

We love the sound of vinyl (and cassette). Do people still buy CD’s?

Was this always the intention to do a vinyl physical release?

The vinyl comes with a download code as well. But somehow things tend to exist a little more when they take physical shape, like seed and eggs.

In the studio did the way you were releasing the material make any impact on how you recorded the songs?

Not so much. Red Majesty is quite long in comparison, so it had to be paired with a shorter one.

The songs on the EP have a delicious and powerful raw edge to them leading us to wonder if you recorded them like a live cut.

We’re very quick in the studio. It all comes down to the communication between Goatspeed and Paile. They look each other passionately in the eyes until the tension gets unbearable. That’s when the main arrangements just seem to appear. Then we add the bass and the vocals and some additional overdubs. It’s not live, but we leave a lot of room for spontaneous solutions and unobstructed expression.

Is the release just a teaser for something more substantial in the near future or is there going to be a wait ahead for our impatient ears

Yes

I believe you have ‘real’ lives alongside Beastmilk, how does this impact on the band if at all?

Unfortunately you are mistaken, we do not have ‘real’ lives alongside Beastmilk. Beastmilk is everywhere

Is there a live side to Beastmilk, I ask as it was hard to find any dates upcoming or recent for you.

We are currently in the process of booking festival gigs for summer 2013. So dig out your aprons and buckets and get ready for some milking!

What does come next for you and as a band?

What does come next for us and as a band?

Thank you for sparing time to talk with us.

Thank you for showing interest and for the nice compliments!

Would you like to end with a final thought?

We hope not to have any final thoughts yet.

Read the review of Use Your Deluge EP @ http://ringmasterreviewintroduces.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/beastmilk-use-your-deluge-ep/

The Ringmaster Review 03/08/2012

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