Calling All Astronauts – Red Flag EP

Nov4

Following on from their impressive debut album Post Modern Conspiracy, UK electro goth punks Calling All Astronauts confirm their potent presence within British electro rock with the invigorating Red Flag EP. A track which shone upon their full length release as one of the year’s best electro punk anthems, the London based trio revamp and re-ignite its already mighty presence with a full blaze of inventive explorations. Consisting of five full-bodied investigations for the cost of a single track, the Red Flag EP is a magnetic persuasion to inspire all musical appetites.

Since emerging in 2011 the band has sculpted a rich position in the goth/electro punk scene with a lyrical attack and sound which crosses and merges those elements and more skilfully and distinctly, whilst their live performances has pulled in equal acclaim with the band sharing stages with the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen, PWEI, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, and A Place To Bury Strangers whilst also headlining and selling out Alan Magee’s Death2Disco at Notting Hill Arts Club. As shown with previous singles such as Someone Like You and What’s So Good About?, and across the impressively confronting Post Modern Conspiracy, the threesome of David B (vocals, keys, programming), J Browning (guitar), and Kristi Bury (bass) take no prisoners lyrically and musically and Red Flag is no exception. Following the progress of the band has bred the thought that it is time for the band to make the next step up and this EP alongside their recent album might just be the spark needed.

The release opens with the In Your Bass Mix of the title track, a thumping brew of rhythmic provocation and scarring guitar driven by the caustic delivery of David B. There is a schizophrenic breath to the mix, a St. Vitus’ Dance rabidity to the sonic squall and a rhythm casting enslavement to the heavily boned goth rock bruising. It is an excellent start, a version which easily challenges and matches the original cut of the track which follows in its Single Edit form straight after. A more restrained presence is uncaged by the band with a Sisters Of Mercy/Play Dead like throat to the vocals and a deep pulsating bass shadow wrapping the fiery guitar play. Red Flag is a song easily accessible but one taking the listener through almost cavernous resonating realms, whichever version you frequent, whilst a lyrical incitement hits home without over playing its touch. It is a compelling blend, one impossible to resist.

Next up comes the Gothstep Mix and the E39 NYC Club Edit of the track, the first an industrial stalked version which brings a Gary Numan like breath alongside almost bedlamic electro surges and squeals, and the second an incendiary dancefloor stomp which has feet in league with its sonic fascination. Both tracks add something different to the song but neither manages to match the heights of the first two or the following album version of the track. Expanded to its full glory, the final track is ultimately the best version of Red Flag though it is easy to take either of the main versions of the track and give them equal lustful responses.

If the Red Flag is your introduction to Calling All Astronauts there is no finer a way to walk through their creative door and if already a fan, the release makes a stirring and impressive companion to their must have album.

http://www.callingallastronauts.com/

http://callingallastronauts1.bandcamp.com/releases

8/10

RingMaster 04/11/2013

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

Calling All Astronauts – Post Modern Conspiracy

May15

Calling All Astronauts CD art_Page_1

There are times when a band fills a gap in a genre or sound with something distinctly unique and impressive but is still wrapped in a mystery as to why it has not been delivered wider awareness and recognition. One such proposition is UK electro goth punks Calling All Astronauts, a band which from its first release has lit up ears and passions with their stirring and incendiary blend of guitar carved alternative rock, gothic soaked shadows, and electro/industrial bred toxicity. It is a stunning fusion which ignites the passions and incites thought led rebellion. So as to why still the Fulham based trio even after a clutch of outstanding singles are still relatively undiscovered just defies understanding but with the release of their exceptional debut album Post Modern Conspiracy, the hopes and feeling that things will surely change are at a peak.

The fourteen track release is a blaze of imaginative and snarling sounds, the band’s potent lyrical attack on society given an CAA imposing and riveting platform of caustic and invigorating rock in which to shell its restraints. Consisting of David B (vocals, keys, programming), J Browning (guitar), and Kristi Bury (bass), Calling All Astronauts has left a searing mark with their tracks since releasing their first two track single Living In The Shadow Of The Red Flag/ Someone Like You. The seeds of the band go back further though with J Browning and the band Caffeine, who he played in, being managed by David (ex-US:UK) whilst Kristi and David were also previously married to each other. Since emerging in 2011 the band has earned strong acclaim for their live performances which has seen them play alongside the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen, PWEI, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, and A Place To Bury Strangers whilst also headlining and selling out Alan Magee’s Death2Disco at Notting Hill Arts Club. A quartet of singles has also fired up greedy anticipation for this debut album within fans and the blogging media alone, an appetite which will be soon breathing heavily and intensely over the impacting triumph the album it shows itself to be. Two of those singles took the band to the No. 1 slot in the Twitter Music Chart to breed further excitement and dare one say impatience to the wait for the long time in the making Post Modern Conspiracy, but there will be no complaints, only feverishly devouring musical jaws upon its exhilarating body now it is here.

The album opens with that previous single track Someone Like You, a song which rips the attention from everything else but its own pulsating invitation. From the first second the bass and guitar snarl at the ear, Kristi offering an intimidating seduction with her dark conjured tones and the guitar of J producing an acidic groove which triggers instant rapture. With heavy dark shadows offering their own vibrant compulsion before the senses there is a distinct eighties wash at work with the likes of Play Dead and Leitmotiv coming to mind as the song prowls and stomps with irresistible potency from first note to last. Virulently contagious and equally magnetic creatively, the track is the perfect and strongest start to the album, an immense beginning soon matched and continued by Freaks and What’s So Good About?

The second track drapes itself in even darker intensive shadows, the beats and electronic invention caustic and magnetic whilst the guitar and bass bring their own individual abrasion to the brooding encounter. More reserved than the starter and with an even harsher lyrical bite, the song places down a gnarly canvas for melodic flames and senses plucking electro scorches to lay their heat and colour. It is a mighty lure driven by the dour yet vibrant vocals of David, the extremes perfectly expelled in a delivery which walks the same shadowed sun as the sounds.

The tracks Scenesters Vs. The World and Politicized – Ignorance Is Not An Excuse attack and evoke attitudes and thoughts with composed and cutting invention in word and sound, the first drenched in a dramatic noir atmosphere around its sinewy exploration and the second locked in an tempest of sonic grazing, coarse riffs, and rapacious energy which provokes and riles up the passions in similar strength to the opener. Through the song and album there is always a loud hint of Sisters Of Mercy spicing things up, essences which are seeded in the early days of that band and filtrated into something which lingers and imprints with thrilling enterprise from the creative ingenuity of Calling All Astronauts as shown in these songs alone. The mistake to avoid though is to think with these references that band and album are re-treading old sounds and times, but as the likes of the industrial punk fuelled It Could Have Been Lust and the sinister, haunting gothic and bruising ebm embrace of Eye Of God show, that is far from the truth, both songs stunning and riveting unique journeys.

The highlights keep coming track after track, such as in the immense shapes of Simple Man, a song which provokes the senses with thick ambience within which a melodic kaleidoscope sends shards of light and electro seduction into dark corners and the excellent Winter Of Discontent, a confrontation which unleashes another epidemic of infectious and evocative persuasion. The second of the two stands full and bold with an anthemic calling within its premise of dark times, a resonating drone cured atmosphere enveloping the senses and thoughts whilst the emotive vocals and fierce flames of guitar alongside thick bass caresses ensure a forceful and fully inciting treat.

Each subsequent track upon Post Modern Conspiracy cannot resist also capturing and firing up the imagination and passions, Faith In Your Cause and Feel The Pain (Again) especially adding intoxicating fuel to the fire raging within for the release whilst closing track Red Flag confirms again that this is a band of incalculable craft and promise, its invitation of Skids like guitar borne sonic tempting and passion sodden emotion a final irresistible thrill.

Calling All Astronauts as proven by their outstanding album stands before UK rock as one of its most inventive and provocative sparks, and this is just the beginning.

http://callingallastronauts1.bandcamp.com/releases

http://www.callingallastronauts.com/

10/10

RingMaster 15/05/2013

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

Calling All Astronauts: What’s So Good About?

Nov20

Upon reviewing their previous single Winter Of Discontent, we declared Calling All Astronauts as ‘one of the most exciting alternative rock bands in the UK right now, maybe the best.’ With the release of their third single What’s So Good About? on December 2^nd, the impressive track gives no reason to change our declaration. It is a thrilling blend of techno punk and electro gothic shadows which evokes thought and passion with mesmeric enterprise and seductive energy.

The London based trio of vocalist/programmer/producer David B, ex-Caffeine guitarist J Browning, and bassist Kristi B, have ignited plenty of emotion and acclaim their way since emerging with debut single Someone Like You a year ago. The follow up Winter Of Discontent drew even greater recognition towards the inventive imagination of the band whilst performances alongside the likes of A Place To Bury Strangers, Roger Daltrey, Pop Will Eat Itself and Echo And The Bunnymen, not forgetting the band selling out Alan Magee’s “Death2Disco” for their show and constant radio play across the likes of BBC 6Music, RTE, Q Radio, Amazing Radio, and The Reputation Radio Show (Audioburger) established and concreted the band as one of the most inspiring and experimentally adventurous bands around.

What’s So Good About? saunters in with a throaty resonance leading to a flesh sizzling sonic outpouring before hypnotic rhythms and washes of gentler electronic caresses take their place before the expressive and darkened delivery, lyrical and emotively, of David B. Already renowned for their social and political sharpness, the track is an arguably darker and more intense affair than its predecessors, its abrasive and senses searing corrosion and metallic confrontation bringing an impactful urgency and spite to the theme of greed orientated society blinkered through obsession with fame and consumerism to those less fortunate. It is a pulse rate elevating mix of punk rock and electro which burns potently with fiery melodic guitar sonics blistering the already intimidating surface of the song, the encounter agitating and exciting the senses further. The Sisters Of Mercy/Psychedelic Furs lilt alongside the prowling basslines brings another texture and depth to the layered piece of imagination unleashed by the band to engage and enflame heart and senses to even greater volcanic degrees. It is a furnace of intensity and pleasure showing a continued evolution in the songwriting and strength of the band and their inciting creativity.

The release comes with the less sonically pressuring Echoboy Bounce Remix of the song, the mix taking the track to the dancefloor with added warmth and elegance replacing some of the aggressive intent. It is a vibrant and enjoyable take of the track though lacks the snarl and hunger of the single to match its might, but does add an inventive breath to urge different eager reactions to its ideas.

What’s So Good About? is another irresistible and stunning step in the rise of Calling All Astronauts. To our claim of most exciting rock band in the UK, add imaginative and provocative not to forget impressive. With a show with the legendary Sigue Sigue Sputnik at Mother Live, London on December 7^th, Calling All Astronauts go into 2013 with all creative guns blazing.

https://www.facebook.com/CallingAllAstronauts

RingMaster 20/11/2012