Noseholes – Danger Dance

If you are looking to have your imagination twisted into torturous shapes matching those drawn from the body, then checking out the twisted disco of German outfit Noseholes is a must. The ticket to its no wave/post punk/noise rock devilry comes with debut album Danger Dance, an encounter living up to its title in deed and temptation.

The Hamburg hailing quartet of Henk Haiti, Steve Somalia, ZooSea Cide, and TH have already been teasing and tempting through a host of well-received tracks which now collude with equally as compelling adventures within the band’s first full-length. Danger Dance opens up with its title track, a flirtatious bassline leading the coaxing as beats stroll alongside. Soon an equally seductive melody escapes the guitar, the combination reminding of the Au Pairs even as vocals spring their web of temptation and intrigue. The suggestive spice of keys and the alternating female and male vocals all add to the captivating drama relentlessly driven by addiction stirring rhythms

A just as potent rhythmic lure fuels the following post punk shuffle of Lush Box. Spirals of guitar and flames of sax latch onto the swagger of beats and bass; the song’s jazz bred discord and post punk dance bouncing around like a Delta 5 meets Blood Red Shoes tango before Styling shares its own riveting devilment with a similar but quickly individual template of flavours. To be honest the rhythmic heart of the first trio had us trapped hook, line and sinker, all the other psyche infesting imagination icing on their inimitable cake with only the briefness of each song a frustration, a common niggle across the album.

Yelzins Affair makes a more tempered start but one with intrigue and noir lit shadows in its breath and sound from the off. Creating a tapestry of creative languages and suggestion over rapacious rhythmic pulses and lean but potent melodic tendrils the song is a mysterious fascination allowing a breath for the body and adventure for thoughts.

Tenacious endeavour and energy breaks again in Ex Driver, a track which in its sonic webbing has a definite early XTC deviousness, while Bed Smoker bounds in on a boisterous rhythmic skip and melodic manipulation which has the body and imagination eagerly bouncing like a four year old. Both are manna to any post punk/noise pop bred appetite while the closing Aspirin Nation is pure joy to jazz infested noise rock mania. Its acidic instrumental dissonance and rhythmic pounce is captivation enough but add the Essential Logic-esque squirts of sax and again attention was lustful.

Danger Dance teased, taunted, and pleasured pretty much our every personal want from music; it may very well do the same for yours. Only one way to find out…

Danger Dance is out now through ChuChuRecords / Harbinger Sound; available @ https://noseholes.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/pg/NoseholesBand/

Pete RingMaster 27/02/2018

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Sju Svåra År – Ingen Tog Det Som Ett Skämt

 

Ingen Tog Det Som Ett Skämt is the new EP from Swedish punks Sju Svåra År, a band said to be “a precursor to the wave of Swedish-language punk swept across Sweden in the early 2000’s.” With their name translated as Seven Hard Years, and latest outing as Nobody Took It Like a Joke, the Stockholm quintet is still possibly a proposition yet to be encountered by many outside their homeland but one which now rewards their investigation with one storming slab of politically charged punk ‘n’ roll.

Emerging from the ashes of Burning Kitchen in 2001, Sju Svåra År consists of Sara Hedberg (Burning Kitchen, Hellregn), Josefin Finer (Burning Kitchen), Linus Segerstedt (True Moon), Emma Söderberg (Satirnine), and Erik Gärdegård (Icos). Returning after a break between 2003 and 2007, the band released their acclaimed debut album Storma hver hjärta in 2012. Its presence teased broader and keener attention which Ingen Tog Det Som Ett Skämt should easily match if not eclipse.

The EP opens with Skicka Några Rader, beats instantly rapping the senses as hooks and riffs gather to launch their own equally inviting assault. Just as potent are Josefin’s vocals, melodic yet forceful and backed with matching command by Sara within a web of hooks and punk grooves. The bass is rich captivation, guitars an imposing lure as rhythms bite with an instinctive snarl. Together it is a riveting enticement with a great Au-Pairs like hue to its brooding enterprise.

The following Maskeradbalen trespasses the senses from its first breath but again with a melodic infectiousness which enhances rather than tempers the song’s natural irritability. As with its predecessor, there is a seventies punk spicing at play but more Vice Squad meets Dolly Mixtures adding to the individual adventure cast by Sju Svåra År. Brief and snappy, the track is a viral growl which hits the spot within seconds, relentlessly teasing it for the next two minutes plus.

Fyra Sista Siffror is a more reserved slab of punk ‘n’ roll but just as bold in its imposing contagion and confrontational weave of melody and riff bound in suggestive grooves. Vocals drive the persuasion with continued magnetism whilst nagging beats are at the virulent heart of the song’s instinctive catchiness. Captivation at its harrying punk best with a hint of Sex Pistols inspiration at times, the track is superb and swiftly matched by the EP closing Oroliga avdelningen, a stirring incursion of rock ‘n roll as caustic as it is melodically seductive.

Having only now coming across Sju Svåra År though the excellent Ingen Tog Det Som Ett Skämt there is no escaping the feeling of having missed out the past decade, something an overdue courting of Storma hver hjärta will partly remedy. The best punk rock is instinctive, from the heart and there is no escaping that natural pulse behind one treat of a release.

Ingen Tog Det Som Ett Skämt is available now via Gaphals @ https://gaphals.bandcamp.com/album/ingen-tog-det-som-ett-sk-mt

https://www.facebook.com/sjusvaraar/

Pete RingMaster 27/02/2018

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Das Fluff – Flower With Knife

When checking out a mere week or two ago the band’s latest single, Far Gone, we suggested the forthcoming new album from Das Fluff “should be very highly anticipated”, as too for newcomers the source of the single, their current and third full-length which recently had its vinyl release. At the time it was still an unrealised pleasure for us but now having heard and devoured Flower With Knife, we can say that intrigue and hunger is now greedily lying in wait for that new album currently being created.

Das Fluff is the brainchild and creative vehicle of Berlin/London-based vocalist/writer/producer Dawn Lintern. The project’s first two albums, in 2011 debut Would You Die for Me? and Meditation And Violence two years later potently built the reputation for highly danceable and inventively dramatic propositions with songs never accepting the predictable. Fair to say though it was Flower With Knife which saw Lintern’s writing and sound blossom into an invigorating trespass infesting body and imagination like a lustful virus. Linking up with guitarist Steve May, and the electronic experimentation of Christian Ruland, Lintern brought the richest drama and deepest tapestry of sound to the Das Fluff psyche; the result a release which plays like an aural psychological movie whilst grabbing the listener like a puppet forcing feet and hips to indulge.

Flower With Knife opens up with Popstar User, a track featuring a different guest guitarist as too upcoming album songs in Nothing and Pleasure, which prowls ears with seductive menace as Lintern vocally pouts and entices. The throbbing bassy electronics similarly tempt as synths simmer and flame as the guitar spins its own inviting web. It all colludes in a riveting slice of electronic rock providing the perfect doorway into the following shadow clad, noir lit, and creatively mercurial adventures.

The furtive gothic/post punk walk of Fuck The Trees swiftly has its grips on attention and thoughts next, Lintern purveying the raping of beauty by the intent of modern thought and deed. The pulse of the song is accusation, its gait almost predatory before Someone I Adore outdoes both the first pair of tracks with its striking electro punk saunter. Again there is menace in the air, an Au Pairs meets Siouxsie and the Banshees scent tempering yet equally adding to that confrontation within the senses arousing treat.

In turn it is then eclipsed by Pleasure with its gorgeous Slits meets again Au Pairs like dub lit temptation. Within moments the hips of song and listener are swaying in unison, thought locked up in the provocative turns of voice and word as music infuses its own inventive dance into ears and appetite. More than living up to its name, the track is the pinnacle of the album’s theatre but closely matched around it and indeed by that recent single Far Gone. Almost unnerving in its psychosis fuelled canter, bass tones and scything key bred strings cinematically Hitchcock like, it is the driving rhythms and intensity of the song which brings it all gloriously together for another mighty incitement.

Through the mellower but just as dark and rapacious Enemy, a song tempering its threat with open reflection and emotion, and the hauntingly enchanting jazz kissed beauty of The Stars, the album’s adventure evolves and turns down new avenues again. As the tracks before them, each is a new adventure to sink into, all connected by shadow clad risk and perilous influences. Both songs beguile with the second especially bewitching, while the grittier growl of Love and Peace snarls and intensely throbs like a predacious temptress bred from the thickest tempest.

Throughout Lintern’s voice magnetises as it reveals an array of depths and expressions, her bold and magnetic tones seeded in the similarly adventurous writing at the heart of songs and the trio’s creative imagination as epitomised in the heavier rock of Nothing, a track embracing a host of styles to its melodic and electronic bosom. It simmers and boils with energy and emotion second by second, Lintern the vocal ringmaster within shaping song and thoughts breath by syllable.

The album concludes with the electronic asylum of Strip Down, a proposal which harries thoughts with dark flirtations and sinister airs as pulses and melodies suggestively invade and swim the senses. The track is pure drama, an irresistible fire of emotion and intensity borne of daring imagination…and that pretty much sums up Flower With Knife as a whole; a release which stretches the listener as much as itself as a kind of psychosis hugs its heart. Most of all, it is a release which has the body bouncing and pleasure brimming…roll on the next album.

Flower With Knife is out now and available through the Das Fluff website @ http://www.dasfluff.com

https://www.facebook.com/dasfluff/     https://twitter.com/DasFluffTwit

Pete RingMaster 23/09/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Kabbalah – Spectral Ascent

For everyone there are certain encounters which forge an instinctive union with personal tastes; records which more than most tap into the creative imagination. We have come across a great many over recent years, having the privilege to listen to and assess a constant flood of offerings, but few have made the immediate lustful impact as Spectral Ascent, the new album from Spanish psych/doom trio Kabbalah. The release is a siren for the senses, an enchantress for the imagination, and one of the most desirable proposals heard in recent times.

Kabbalah is the creation of Carmen and Marga, former members of Pamplona rock band Las Culebras. 2013 saw the well-received release of their self-titled debut EP, its success followed and backed by the Primitive Stone EP fourteen months later. Both lured keen attention towards the band’s fusion of occult rock, 70s retro, and classic heavy-psychedelic sounds of the late 60s; a mix creating a cauldron of temptation and dark suggestion, a snarling trespass of predacious uniqueness nestling often irritably under the beauty of alluring vocals and swarming harmonies. With Alba completing the current line-up in 2015, Kabbalah sound has blossomed again for Spectral Ascent, hints of its fascinating evolution coming in the 2016 single Revelation and earlier this year its successor Phantasmal Planetoid, both prominent lures within nothing but across the album.

Spectral Ascent quickly coaxes attention with its opening title track; a short intro of melodic flirtation with a shadowy undercurrent which plays like a music box enticing entrance to an alluring dark realm. It’s elegant if sinister coaxing leads into the equally beguiling lure of Resurrected where from the heavy throb of bass and the magnetic pull of vocals the song has ears and appetite swiftly engaged. Guitars similarly draw the senses with their melodic sparkling, teases leading into the more formidable and imposing heart of the track. Never deviating from its seductive swagger though, the song twists and crawls through ears right into the psyche, moments of almost carnal intensity and calmer flows of romancing melodies igniting the imagination and body like few other encounters.

The sheer drama of the outstanding proposition continues through next up Phantasmal Planetoid. Its climate is instantly darker and more formidable as the bass snarls, never losing its heavy trespass as the song moves on to court a boisterous gait with turns of tetchier growls. It is masterful stuff, stoner and doom essences colluding with those earlier mentioned flavours as vocals and harmonies soar. No lightweight on addiction loaded hooks either, the song is manna for ears and instincts, a consuming persuasion also bred in the voracious antics of The Darkest End and immediately after within The Reverend. The first of the two aligns carnivorous riffs and bass irritability with spell spun grooves and the ever bewitching vocal union across the band. It resembles a fusion of Blood Ceremony and Jess and The Ancient Ones, yet is as individual to Kabbalah as you could wish for. Its successor is almost punk like at times, an underlying crabby edge flaring up across its psych and post punk spiced tapestry like a hybrid growth from a union of Au Pairs, Cradle, and Deep Purple.

Following their triumph, The Darkness of Time offers a funk fuelled swing of psychedelic rock, its body a web of heavy and classic rock honed enterprise which might miss the more predatory traits of its predecessors but has body and spirit wrapped up with ease. Its occultist lure only adds to its relentless charm; bait which is taken to more threatening places within the outstanding Dark Revelation. Its first breath has a garage punk taste, the subsequent canter more of that Au Pairs like post punk tempting before Kabbalah turns it all into a compelling and virulent, almost unruly, tango of creative flirtation.

The Shadow slinks up to ears in its own inauspicious way, tempting and warning with portentous charm before its fires break from an initial smoulder into a white hot rock ‘n’ roll stroll while the album closing Presence shares a calmer though no less heated weave of retro and modern nurtured adventure to further enthral. The dancing prowess of the drums, not for the first time, is almost consuming in its rousing and resourceful drive of the magnetic sounds bringing the album to a masterful conclusion.

The need to go again is controlling as Spectral Ascent drifts away, and the pleasure in doing so ever rewarding. The album is immense and rich food for a passion for psych/doom infused rock ‘n’ roll. Some bands feel destined for greatness from their first moments; Kabbalah is one and their new offering commandingly intensifies that belief.

Spectral Ascent is out now via Twin Earth Records and available @ https://kabbalahrock.bandcamp.com/album/spectral-ascent

https://www.facebook.com/Kabbalahrock/

Pete RingMaster 12/07/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Horse Party – Horizons

Pic by Jeff Higgott

Regular readers to The RingMaster Review will know we have enjoyed an on-going affair between ears and music with UK trio Horse Party ever since they emerged in 2012 and unveiled their first pair of songs in Clarion Call and Back To Mono.  Since then, as their sound and imagination has grown and evolved, each single, EP, and indeed debut album, Cover Your Eyes, has bred a lustier and greedier appetite for their post punk/indie rock seeded adventures. Now the Bury St Edmunds hailing band has a new album to excite and draw spotlights their way, and in Horizons, one suspects and hopes, the key to deserved major attention.

Horizons is a compilation of sorts; a collection of the tracks released by the band across 2015 through EPs and singles. For fans there is the added bonus of a previously unreleased track and for newcomers, Horizons is an A-Z to why Horse Party is for so many British rock ‘n’ roll at its inspiringly majestic best. Released via R*E*P*E*A*T Records, the album is a kaleidoscope of the imagination and dark yet vibrant sounds which the threesome of vocalist/guitarist Ellie Langley, vocalist/guitarist/bassist Seymour Quigley and drummer Shannon Hope weave into their songwriting and acclaimed live shows. The fact that the tracks are laid out in release order also reveals the growth in the band’s sound over the past twelve to eighteen months alone.

It opens with the two tracks which started 2015 off in major style as a 7” vinyl single. Out Of Sight is first and instantly entices ears with a dour yet flirtatious bass riff. From its first breath, the outstanding song prowls ears and imagination, a predacious air to bass and guitar leading the seduction as beats crisply land around the just as swiftly alluring voice of Langley. Though it broadens its expression and melodic touch, the song never loses its darkly hued and persistent beckoning, even as rawer rock flames accompany the new zeal and energy fuelling the vocals. With psych rock lighting adding to the potency, the track is inescapable anthemic rock ‘n’ roll which is quickly more than matched by Receiver.

The second track shows a fleeter foot in energy and rhythms, almost bounding into view as riffs jangle and entice around the just as thickly coaxing vocals of Quigley. A delicious nagging seeded in post punk and punk with a slither of noise rock to it, the song dances around the senses, only increasing its tempting as transfixing harmonies expose lust in an already eager appetite and hooks toy with an alternation of slim and inflamed bait. Like a mix of like Au Pairs, Joy Division, and Morningwood, the track is simply irresistible.

album cover by Kate Wood

What I’d Do steps forward next, its strolling gait and intensity another reserved but vibrant beckoning with emotive hues lining voice and melodic enterprise. The steely tone of bass holds ears tight from within the hazy but openly textured song, its dark touches courting the melancholically evocative tones of Langley as well as the more sultry strains of guitar. A slice of psych/rock pop, the song has a Forever Still meets Stevie Nicks air to it, and easily casts its spell on attention before Horizons shares it’s more relaxed but no less provocative presence. Quigley again takes the vocal lead, his potent presence nestling compellingly within a landscape which uncages moments of tempestuous energy and sonic voracity. There is surprisingly a touch of The Housemartins to the song and indeed a whiff of Paul Heaton to Quigley’s expression though once more what emerges is a song as distinct to Horse Party as their name.

A brand new song in the shape of For All I Know follows and swiftly has ears engrossed and enjoyment stirred as a solemn mix of guitar and bass suggestiveness wraps the equally mellow vocals of Langley and the magnetic rhythmic enticement of Hope. It is another with fire in its belly though that is held in check for the main even with the thick nudges of Hope’s swings, the drummer as shown throughout the album, able to create anthemic incitement without disrupting the emotive flights of songs.

A hypnotic nagging steers Paydirt into ears next, its persistent jab of beats colluding with scuzz kissed riffs as minimalistic but potent grooves flirt. In full swing, the track is a bracing proposition which sonically sizzles whilst in its more mellow moments it is monotone sculpted romancing of the senses, and throughout, an addictive breath-taking stroll cast in dark emotions and predatory shadows. It just lights up air and ears, melancholy lined vocals a single seduction among many shared by the song before Animal similarly provides a rousing and compelling experience. As Langley’s almost challenging tones align with choppy rhythms, the track enforces quick submission to its expanding lures. Everything about the song provokes with aggressive intent yet only flirtation is felt as Hope harries and bass and guitars stalk and erupt. That tempting is especially arousing in the passage of surf rock seduction which has body and thoughts aflame in a moment, as echoed by the lyrics, which is like the glorious eye of an equally thrilling storm.

The acoustic hug of the darkly lit and captivating October enchants next, Langley alone and in vocal union with Quigley mesmeric within the blues expressed guitar before Money Talks saunters in on a scuzzy lure of riffs. Gentle slithers of guitar and catchy beats align with the initial tenacious draw and subsequently the siren-esque call of the vocals, it all finding extra drama in the occasional bursts of intensity which punctures the highly infectious persuasion.

Essences of noise rock and new wave creep into Rocket Science next; its canter a lively enticing within post punk shadows and blues lit sonic suggestiveness. Predictability is never an element within a Horse Party song, a point tenaciously shown here as volatile textures and energies engage with the outstanding encounter’s absorbing and seductive serenade.

Smouldering surf rock inspired melodies shape the beauty of Looking For Life next, the song an elegant and radiant shimmer of melodies and harmonies around resonating rhythms. It is a bewitchment of ears, a sonic smooching of the senses and quite delicious epitomising of another quality in the Horse Party creativity, that every listen just makes a song more compelling and impressive.

The emotive soothing of Howling At The Sun surrounds the imagination next, the twin vocal seducing as rich and dramatic as the brooding atmosphere and sounds around them whilst Gratitude Falling brings the album to a spellbinding close with its evolving tapestry of beguiling sound. From a single melody, the track courts a thick growl of bass and a sharp guitar jangle, going onto breed scuzzy expulsions of tempestuous sound whilst all the while Langley grips ears with her narrative and magnetic tones.

Horizons is simply one of the year’s musts; an essential invitation not only into the creative arms and charms of Horse Party but to one of the new breed destined to inspire the future of British rock ahead.

Horizons is released on download and CD on April 1^st via R*E*P*E*A*T Records and @ http://horsepartyparty.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/horsepartyparty    https://twitter.com/horsepartyparty

Pete RingMaster 22/03/2016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/

Petrol Girls – Some Thing EP

Originally formed for an international women’s day gig in 2013, feminist post-hardcore band, Petrol Girls have proved to be one fiery roar within British punk ‘n’ roll. Their attitude loaded, defiance fuelled sound has ignited many a venue across the UK and Europe as well as an ever increasing horde of eager ears, a success bound to be accelerated by the release of the Some Thing EP.

Inspired by the likes of Refused, White Lung, Bikini Kill, Fugazi, RVIVR, Propagandhi, At The Drive-In, and War On Woman, Petrol Girls create a ferocious brew of punk rock unafraid to embrace other spices. Certainly the six tracks making up Some Thing have varying echoes of those influences but equally there is a coincidental eighties punk/post punk essence which lures thoughts of bands like Au-Pairs, The Molesters, and Vice Squad. Lyrically too, the South East London hailing quartet pulls no punches in exploring and challenging sexism and other themes such as politics, alienation, the migrant crisis, and mental health. It all unites for one stirring and invigorating incitement and an EP which attacks, inspires, and rouses body and thoughts from start to finish.

Produced by the band and Marta Salogni at Strongroom Studios, London, Some Thing embraces ears with fiery directness straight away through Slug. The guitars of Ren Aldridge and Joe York dance as they sizzle on the senses whilst the jabbing pokes of drummer Zock reveal a swing and relish which only sparks stronger involvement in the swiftly contagious and dramatic encounter. The darker prowling tone of Liepa Kuraite’s bass adds weight to the thick lure of the song too, a tempting enhanced further by the potent vocals and expression of Aldridge backed as potently by York and Kuraite.

The strong start kicks up another gear with Protagonist where short spicy grooves aligned to piercing sonic and rhythmic hooks instantly prey on ears and imagination. As in the first, a contagious energy and flirtation is a persistent beckoning, this time within a hardcore ire that has a Red Tape meets Billy Talent feel to it before an X-Ray Spex meets The Raincoats like confrontation shows through to stir up song and enjoyment even more.

Separated strolls in next, its mellower melodic landscape courting a catchiness which combined hints at the earlier mentioned band Au-Pairs. Expectantly, it too has a raw snarl and antagonistic nature which perfectly tempers and works with the calmer but no less imposing punk ‘n’ roll revelry, but as great as it is, the track is totally eclipsed by the outstanding Restless. The best track on the EP, it is a scathing sonic tempest which seduces as it wrong foots, sudden slips into warm caresses and virulent old school punk devilment complete with addictive hooks and abrasive intensity an inescapable enslavement. At certain points, the song has thoughts wondering if this is what The Slits would sound like if starting out now, but ultimately and once more the striking provocateur is distinctly Petrol Girls.

The predatory enticement and belligerent roar of System comes next, band and song creating infectious and intimidating emotive contumacy before Disgrace brings the EP to a close with its even more cantankerous proposal. Again as wilful and rebellious as both are, there is an underlying catchiness which has the body as hooked as ears and mind.

Petrol Girls is maybe a band on the outskirts of recognition, or was as that is surely going to change if the Some Thing EP gets its persuasive way.

The Some Thing EP is available on CD, Digital Download, and three-track 7” Vinyl featuring the first trio of songs above now via Bomber Music @ http://www.petrolgirls.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Petrolgirls

Pete RingMaster 20/02/2016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Scarlet Echo – An Exact Portrayal of Nothing in Particular

Starting off 2016 in fine style, we look at an album released just a few weeks back with keen intrigue inspired by the more recent single taken from its compelling body. An Exact Portrayal of Nothing in Particular is the debut album from Scarlet Echo, a UK band whose sound, self-described as ferocious echospheric music, expertly sparks ears and imagination into eager involvement.

Proof came with the single Emergency Exit last month, a song stirring up ears and appetite with invention sprung from a fusion of post punk and indie rock. An Exact Portrayal of Nothing in Particular quickly shows that its nature is only one hue in the musical tapestry of the band, a design equally woven from varied electronic and shoegaze nurtured threads. Since forming in 2012, the Essex hailing quartet of Hannah (vocals/guitar), Jamie {guitar), Miles (Bass), and Alex (drums/samples) has incited a healthy buzz and following through their live presence, the sharing of stages with the likes of Bassment Jaxx, Rat Boy, Hadouken, Buzzcocks, The Hoosiers, and Department S amongst highlights. Now they have begun brewing a greater intensity of attention their way through An Exact Portrayal of Nothing in Particular, a tempting in force from its first moments.

Album opener Mainstream swiftly stirs ears with bounding rhythms and dramatic melodies, both aspects as shadowy as they are vibrant whilst laying down the platform for the distinctive vocal presence of Hannah. Miles’ throbbing bassline makes a just as gripping entrance; its post punk throatiness the perfect foil to the Lesley Woods (Au Pairs) like tone of Hannah’s voice. The emerging catchiness of the song draws in all these magnetic hues, in turn creating a flirtatiously gripping stroll part eighties and part modern persuasion.

   It is a thrilling start to the album, fully waking ears and attention for the following calmer mystery of Factory Floor to play with. Coldly atmospheric and romantically melodic, the track taunts and caresses the imagination with, again, a blend of melodic and raw textures. The Passions come to mind as the song writhes impressively within ears, but as shown time and time again, Scarlet Echo twist any elements into their own imaginative devilment; a Talking Heads spiced bassline perfect evidence from within the excellent encounter.

A fiery climate is explored by the sonic heat of Mass Production next, the addictive song a sultry resonance of sound and emotion driven by tenacious rhythms quickly matched in success by the sizzling blues wrung blaze of Technophobia. Its fire is interspersed with evocative slithers of calm, though it is the almost occultist air of the blistering rock expulsions which steals the show within the brief but scintillating proposition. The song shows yet another side to the band’s sound, its volatile might at times like a mix of Jingo and Jess & the Ancient Ones.

Falling Prey offers an instrumental relaxation from the fire, its shimmering melodic beauty and warm ambience enticingly mesmeric before making way for the boisterous adventure of Emergency Exit. The track opens with a splattering of guitar tempting, those bubbling lures soon joined by The Cure like potency of the bass. The minimalistic landscape of the song is beguiling, almost Young Marble Giants like on its way to brewing a livelier and thicker contagion driven by dynamic rhythms, guitar jangling, and the excellent character of the vocals. As a single the song impressed but fair to say it has only grown in stature over time, creating another major pinnacle of An Exact Portrayal of Nothing in Particular.

The smoky jazzy air of Paradigm envelops the senses straight after to fine effect; its charm and muggy seducing an absorbing temper to the revelry of its predecessor whilst casting its own hard to resist instrumental flight into imagination feeding pastures and provocative aural scenery. Its potency is emulated and surpassed by the outstanding Silicone City, its unique exploration a trigger to adventurous thoughts and heavily pleased ears as guitar and voice simmer and sway over the tempestuous incitement of bass and drums.

The album is brought to a close by firstly the sonically evocative, ambience soaked Ataraxy and lastly the poppier shuffle of Lose Control. Neither track quite lives up to what came before them yet each has body and satisfaction eagerly on board with their creative and dramatic captivations.

Scarlet Echo is a band destined to further transfix and thrill as they grow and creatively spring from this impressive debut. An Exact Portrayal of Nothing in Particular may have been released at the tail end of 2015 but for a new year of musical exploration we could not have got things off to a better start.

An Exact Portrayal of Nothing in Particular is out now through iTunes or at http://scarletecho.bigcartel.com/product/an-exact-portrayal-of-nothing-in-particular

http://www.scarletecho.co.uk/   https://www.facebook.com/scarletecho    https://twitter.com/scarletecho

Pete RingMaster 04/01/2016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/