Hot Nuns – Rude, Dumb & Anxious

 

The ingredients were all there to spark our intrigue and appetite; bass, drums and vocals only, power punk fuelled sounds and featuring members of outstanding Norwegian outfit Blood Command. Even so it did not stop Rude, Dumb & Anxious from hitting a previously undiscovered sweet spot.

The four track release is from the duo of Sigurd Haakaas and Yngve Andersen going by the name of Hot Nuns. Last year saw the pair release debut EP, Wrong Again, to a potent welcome which has similarly awaited the swiftly acclaimed Rude, Dumb & Anxious if on a larger scale. Though this second EP is our first moment with the band a love of encounters built on the rhythmic enterprise of bass and drums has been an instinctive pleasure nurtured by the likes of MoRkObOt, Big Business, Lightning Bolt, and Royal Blood. Thus a lurking appetite was awoken just by the thought of the make-up of Hot Nuns but still stopped in its tracks by the individual power and captivation of the band’s sound.

Rude, Dumb & Anxious begins with the instantly riveting Can’t Get Over You and closed by its even more compelling title track. The opener breaks silence with a plaintive voice within a calm caress of bass. Swiftly Haakaas’ beats are stamping authority on song and ears as bass riffs deliciously grumble and share just as embittered grooves. The melodic holler and subsequent swing of vocals are a contagion in their own right, together it all making for a song which dances with the listeners inhibitions as they flee the occasion whilst roaring with punk endeavour.

In a kind of contrast the final song controls its urgency for a pungent canter through ears but one again fuelled by virulent infectiousness. The melodies and harmonies in vocals tease yet calm the anxiety in the darkness of the track, a shadowed heart escalated by the mouth-watering growl of the bass, but as in the first song on the EP, it all raucously infests greed gathering ears and imagination.

In between the two major highlights, there is only additional goodness and clamorous pleasure. I Love You Still, I Always Will is another track hankering for love new or lost and also surges at the listener from its first breath, hooks and grooves an invasive trespass of creative fulfilment with an almost carnal hue to the glorious texture of the bass. Vocals once more soon recruit participation as the sounds work with a bouncing body, hungry punk and feral power pop united in one inescapable and addictive proposal.

The other song of the foursome is a great cover of The Boys classic, First Time. Just by their touch and slim down line-up of instruments Hot Nuns re-ignite the track whilst paying homage to its own original raw infectiousness; the song relishing the attitude and inventive muscle of the duo as it sits perfectly alongside the other trio of treats.

No frills and plenty of thrills Rude, Dumb & Anxious is a gem no rocker should pass by.

Rude, Dumb & Anxious is out now via Loyal Blood Records; available @ https://hotnuns.bandcamp.com/album/rude-dumb-anxious-ep

https://www.facebook.com/hotnunsband/

Pete RingMaster 11/05/2020

Copyright RingMasterReview

Sofy Major – Total Dump

Sofy Major is a leviathan of sound and trespass which persistently erupts from a noise fuelled creative lair with releases which for us have pretty much left contemporaries in their tempest and turbulence. Three previous albums have as good as decimated the prowess and adventure of other ear rewarding encounters around at the time and with Total Dump, the French trio has done it again Their new full-length is in many ways their most accessible and flirtatious offering yet but equally their most voracious and imposing not forgetting irresistible slab of noise and hardcore infested, metal lined rock ‘n’ roll.

The successor to the outstanding Waste of 2015, which itself eclipsed the thrilling Idolize unleashed two years earlier, the Dave Curran (UNSANE, Big Business) produced Total Dump is a contagion of abusive yet flirtatious noise and bruising but virulently captivating force and imagination. It is predatory irritable rock ‘n’ roll from start to finish with an eager taste in contagious and invasive enterprise. Opening up with its title track, the album immediately reveals its bestial side, the track prowling the senses with the carnivorous claws of Mathieu Moulin’s bass locked onto the senses as his more welcoming vocals align with the raw flames and tendrils of Thomas Dantil’s guitar. It is a preying of ears and imagination which never diminishes in threat and temptation however it evolves, a trespass driven by the menacing swings of drummer Mathieu Desternes that equally escalate in infernal virulence and captivation as individual and united enterprise breeds fresh twists and sonic commination.

The compelling start is only accentuated, indeed built upon by next up Giant Car Crash; a collision with the senses which had us bouncing as much as cowering before its flirtatious and barbarous intent. Voraciously feral and inhumanly infectious, the track devoured body and passions with unquenchable hunger leading to lustful responses before Cream It uncages its rapacious crawl to trespass the senses and melodic irreverence to seduce an already greedy appetite. The kind of proposition which offers a warm welcome whilst ruining the foundations to your sanity, the glorious track is a manipulative mix of viral noise with an appetite for clamorous untamed pop.

As the ravenously viral rock punk ‘n roll throes of Strike and the post punk embracing devilry of The Jerk infested and seduced ears with unruly dexterity, Total Dump just stretched its landscape of esurient intent and fevered invention. Both tracks are as mercilessly catchy as they are unapologetically invasive, that greater accessibility to the band’s sound in full bloom just as much its acclaimed creative villainy is merciless, and traits just as thrilling within next up Shinny Happy Asshole, a venomously swinging, deviously contagious but inescapably corruptive slice of unscrupulous enterprise.

Through the slow hunt of the senses that is Franck Butthole; a cancer of sound which just ignites the imagination, and the unbroken antics of Tumor O Rama it is impossible to say attention and pleasure wavered, the total opposite in truth up against their combined sonic punk infection fuelled scourges while Kerosine Mike n turn just trapped and enslaved with ursine-esque power and intimidation whilst brewing up its own melodically toxic strain of bewitching rock ‘n’ roll.

Completed by the senses ravishing, violently bouncing exploits of Panamarama, it one the album’s most magnificent moments, and the sonically consumptive, caustically alluring tempest of The Longest Yard, there was and is no diminishing of the ardour we bred and hold for Total Dump. Without any doubt despite the glories of the past, it provides the greatest, most thrilling time with Sofy Major yet but also is set to send a shiver through the world of noise in any form as those within wonder how they can compete with its voracious triumph.

Total Dump is out now via Deadlight Records on CD and Antena/Corpse Flower on Vinyl.

http://www.sofymajor.com   https://www.facebook.com/sofymajor

Pete RingMaster 30/01/2019

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Sofy Major – Waste

After the merciless conditions which opposed the band when recording their acclaimed second album Idolize, including hurricane, flooding, loss of equipment for the band and the studio they were recording at, we assume the recording of its successor was an easier time for French rockers Sofy Major in comparison. What we can be certain of is that the time since the 2013 release and the unveiling of Waste has seen the band grow in presence and sound to hit another lofty peak with their new proposition. Waste is a glorious slab of rock ‘n’ roll; a storming proposal retaining the raw energy and uncompromising snarl of previous releases but also revealing a more melodic and composed touch to the wonderful volatility that persistently sets the Sofy Major sound as something to get excited over. Also as the last album, the Clermont-Ferrand trio has offered another essential slab of rock adventure to devour greedily, a temptation hard to see many refusing.

Produced by Dave Curran (Unsane, Pigs, Big Business), mixed by Andrew Schneider (Pigs, Julie Christmas, Unsane), and mastered by Carl Saff, Waste opens with its title track and an instantly intimidating and magnetic growl of noise and punk rock driven by heavy rock grooves and grizzly bass riffs. The vocals of bassist Mathieu Moulin roar with intensity yet equally an inviting tone, luring attention as a host of spicy grooves and tempting hooks add matching appeal within the increasingly carnivorous maelstrom of energy brewing across the track. It is a gripping and potent start to the release backed up in kind by We See Fire and a quickly emerging big hook of a slim but irresistible chorus. Twisting and turning with each breath, the song captivates like a fusion of The Great Sabatini, The Fat Dukes Of Fuck, and UK band The St Pierre Snake Invasion, great vocals from Moulin and drummer Mathieu Desternes around the increasingly enthralling guitar enterprise of Sébastien Fournet enslaving ears and imagination.

   Turning Point is just as adept and creative at raising the passions, its irritable bass bait inescapable addictiveness matched in success by the swinging gait of the song and its casting of contagious and psyche infesting grooves. There is a familiarity to this and the songs before it, but of Sofy Major only and taken to richer and more virulent levels, proof again coming with the bearish textures and roar of Slow Everywhere, it a bruising captivation as sonically antagonistic as it is roguishly captivating with the bass especially fiendish in its grumbling tone.

Variety is another returning aspect to the Sofy Major songwriting and ingenuity, the classic rock hook of Infinite Pill Case a wrong-footing tease from which the song tenaciously explores a weave of rhythmic agitation and guitar bred imagination impressively led by the ever alluring vocal delivery of Moulin. With unpredictability another constant throughout the rock ‘n’ roll bellow of the album, the song has body and emotions quickly involved, leaving an exhausted and full appetite in its wake for Black and Table to keep thoroughly satisfied through its slower wrapping of ears with sinister intent and stalking magnetism.

An essence of post punk flavours Iron Butt next, a spicing lacing the web spun by Fournet’s fingers whilst Devotion Man brings a more grungy essence to its enticing brew of noise and punkish confrontation. Both tracks get the blood racing in different ways as they inflame the air, the first with a more urgent tempest and its successor through a controlled yet predatory canter which uses every breath to create an infectious coaxing.

The album concludes with an excellent cover of the Les Thugs song As Happy As, Sofy Major taking the track to darker and again more post punk depths whilst increasing its virulence. Rarely does a cover match an original but the closing song on Waste is more than a thrilling match for its inspiration.

Fair to say a soft spot for Sofy Major through their previous albums, Idolise especially, has become much more lustful thanks to Waste. Rock ‘n’ roll does not get much more carnivorously attractive and exhilarating than this so get those ears and pennies ready

Waste will be released via Solar Flare Records on October 30^th on 12″ vinyl, CD, and digitally. Preordering available @ http://shop.solarflarerds.com/categories/pre-orders

Pigs/Sofy Major European Tour Dates:

15.10.15 : London @ Power Lunches

16.10.15 : Paris @ Le Picolo

17.10.15 : Liège @ La Zone

18.10.15 : Vesoul @ Café Français

21.10.15 : Cologne @ Sonic Ballroom

22.10.15 : Lille @ La Péniche

23.10.15 : Rotterdam @ Poppodium Baroe

24.10.15 : Bruxelles @ Magasin 4

25.10.15 : Genève @ L’Usine

26.10.15 : Prague @ Exit Us

27.10.15 : Vienne @ Fluc

28.10.15 : Bologne @ Freakout Club

29.10.15 : Rome @ Init

30.10.15 : Savona@ Raindogs House

31.10.15 : Milan @ Lo Fi + Mutoid Man

04.11.15 : Montpellier @ Black Sheep

05.11.15 : Lyon @ Grrrd Zero

07.11.15 : Bergerac @ Gare Mondiale

09.11.15 : Clermont-Ferrand @ La Coopérative de Mai

10.11.15 : Bordeaux @ Iboat

11.11.15 : Toulouse @ Pavillons Sauvages

12.11.15 : Poitiers @ Grand Café

13.11.15 : Rouen @ Kalif

http://www.sofymajor.com   https://www.facebook.com/sofymajor

Pete RingMaster 13/10/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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

Tweak Bird – Any Ol’ Way

pic BryanRichardMartin

Having been seduced and exhilarated by the band’s previous EP Undercover Crops, it is fair to say anticipation of getting the senses into Any Ol’ Way the new album from Tweak Bird, was acute and swiftly more than satisfied as the eleven track exotic haze of psychedelically enhanced rock unveiled its acidic and generous charms. Whereas the previous release could be said to be more stoner bred at its core, the duo of brothers Caleb Benjamin and Ashton Leech seed their new full-length more in the seventies psychedelic rock side of their creativity which in turn breeds their finest, most potent hour yet. It is a glorious evocative aural summer of fresh melodic weaves and sonic winds all caught in the inventively unpredictable psych pop kissed adventure that is Tweak Bird.

Formed in 2006, the Los Angeles based brother’s musical cv together goes back years before, as kids writing and recording music after growing up on a diet of Black Sabbath, King Crimson, and Pink Floyd. Jumping forward to 2005 with Ashton putting together his own drum kit and Caleb experimenting on the way to purchasing his first baritone guitar, the pair made their live debut as Tweak Bird within a year which led them to the attention of Melvins whose drummer Dale Crover subsequently passed a drum kit down to the duo. The bigbonesnakebite 7” came next followed by the Reservations EP in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Their acclaimed Crover produced self-titled debut album two years later was the spark to greater attention and spotlight upon the band, which Undercover Crops pushed on yet again in sound and responses, a success matched by their live shows which has seen the band stand alongside the likes of Tool, Melvins, Big Business, Black Mountain, Best Coast, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists whilst driving their own headline tours in the US and across Europe. As stated though Any Ol’ Way is another kettle of fish thrusting Tweak Bird to the highest captivating perch within imagination reeking sonic rock ‘n’ roll.

As soon as the throaty voice of the guitar embraces and resonates through the ears as opener Weird Oasis sets joy in motion there is a sense of something seduction lurking, a feeling soon realised as the guitar expands its slow coaxing alongside similarly urgent and gripping rhythms. It is an immediately captivating enticement which the vocals soon climb all over with strained melodic hues and irresistible expression as small hooks and hinted grooves entwine their welcome fingers around thoughts and a rapidly emerging appetite. It is hard not to think of Melvins with the song but to that slithers of Hot Hot Heat and The Mai Shi offers their suggestions also but as mere spices in something primarily belonging to Tweak Bird.

The enthralling start is soon lifted up a level by Greens, the warm soak of seventies psychedelic sun of its predecessor seamlessly given an injection of gnarly riffs and heavy stoner-esque virulence speared by Sabbath-esque rhythmic stabs and sonic groans. The gait of the song is a prowl and its air an oppressive breath but with harmonious vocals and sonic flames carving out searing grooves, the track is an invigorating fascination whose bruising is only welcomed wholeheartedly.

The first major pinnacle on the album comes next in the aural temptress that is She Preach, a song which from a seducing mist of sound launches into a ravenous almost wanton persuasion of melodically teased grooves and crisply jabbing beats reined by the again impressive individual vocals. The song SOON adds catchy claws to its salacious dance of sound and lyrical enticing, hooks and infectious bait almost deviously infesting the senses and passions as the song spreads its erotic charms, wiles enhanced by the excellent discordant blessed sax croons which brings thoughts of eighties UK band Essential Logic to the fore. It is a magnificent provocation which leaves the following A Sign of Badness a little pale in comparison, but with its wispy vocals and muscular beats the track glides resourcefully across senses and imagination to add another twinge of hunger for the release.

The great alignment of raw aggression and melodic elegance makes Peace Walker a riveting encounter next, its sixties pop lure within a slightly cantankerous punk spawned sonic voracity insatiably magnetic. If you wondered what a mix of The Doors, The Beach Boys, and Corrosion of Conformity might sound like then this song is a good hint. It is another potent entrapment for thoughts and emotions but soon passed over for the ridiculously addictive Builder with is post punk repetition and gentle but imposing sonic nagging. The instrumental seeks out and consumes every pore and synapse with delicious chilled toxicity before flowing into the vibrantly smouldering arms of A Sign of Positivity. With almost griping deep toned grooves and a rhythmic shuffle which defies feet not to join its dance, the song as the vocals soars majestically and almost melancholically evolving into a thoroughly riveting and thrilling sway of aural hypnosis.

Both the niggling contagion of the brilliant Mild Manor and the summer soirée of Inspiration Point keep album and listener entwined, the first providing five minutes plus of the kind of rhythmic and sonic transfixing bands such as Gang Of Four and Joy Division conjured so decisively. Complete with short but deeply penetrating hooks and spatial toxins, the track works its way towards a rich and fully packed stoner rock fuelled fire as a finale. Its successor is a narrative locking intrigue and surf party suasion into a psychedelic rock sculpted sway of melodies and shadows, a song not as potent as the last but full of drama and invention to enslave attention and satisfaction.

The album is completed by the outstanding Burn On, a feisty and raw surfaced rock pop proposition which simply chains and romances with the passions like a high school teenager, even if one clad in stalker like intent, and a humid reprise on the bewitching opener called Sunshine (slight return). The pair makes a mesmeric conclusion to a spellbinding adventure and pleasure.

The David Allen produced Any Ol’ Way according to the Bird brothers “…voice our opinions and feel comfortable. We hired our dear old friend, to engineer and co-produce, which helped us explore new sounds and develop unfinished ideas. We believe in peace, marijuana, individual freedoms and not taking ourselves too seriously. This just happened to be what came out.” It is all there to be heard within the album where freedom seeps from every note and syllable.

Any Ol’ Way is available now from http://tweakbird.bandcamp.com/releases and on vinyl via Let’s Pretend Records now!

http://www.tweakbird.com

9/10

RingMaster 22/05/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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

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Cattle: Self Titled EP

When approaching the site for a review of their new self-titled EP, UK noise distressers Cattle described their sound as ‘noise rock in the vein of Big Business, Jesus Lizard and Godheadsilo’. That just about sums up their outstanding release though they forgot it also has a very healthy vein of Morkobot about it too. The four track behemoth of noise and sonic intrusion is simply a masterful brawl upon the ear and one of the first real treats of the year so far.

From Leeds, the trio of Tom, Ant, and Chris manipulate air, thoughts, and synapses by unleashing the primal passions of voice, bass, and drums into a tempest of corrosive splendour. The band formed in the summer of 2012 with all members previously featuring in local bands over the years. It is band for which the term DIY was invented, the members in every aspect of their musical presence and upon the release produced each and every turn of its muscular confrontation from  mixing and recording to packaging and its release.

First track Rockets opens with a lone resonating bass thought, its presence emotively languid and to be honest not necessarily the most obvious of invitations. It is just a melancholic breath though, an aural sigh before the instrument picks up its head and starts to capture the imagination and attention with skilled and devious expertise. With magnetic unpredictable beats and air hassling vocal squalls the track evolves into a grooved conspirator which in no time has caged and fired up a lustful ardour for its virulent sound. Vocals soon score and graze the senses with their scowling spite whilst the drums pick the ear with lethal, concise, and uncompromising accuracy. By the time the track is reaching its compelling climax there is a maelstrom of irresistible invention and caustic passion at play which entices like a devilry conjured by a hybrid mix of again Morkobot and Rip, Rig & Panic.

The following Whoa Bessie initially teases with melodic bass incitement soon accompanied by resonating forthright beats and then gradually expands into a sludge lent swagger and corruptive intensity. Into its magnetic stride the track greedily ravishes the atmosphere, its raw distorted voice a sonic abrasion at its most delicious and the vocals themselves an undisguised fury with a wonderful lack of definition and restraint. The bass perverts the clarity of its notes into a twisted and riled grind with a touch upon the senses as vexatious as a sand blaster giving extra venom to the glorious scourge upon person and thoughts, and though it does not reach the contagion of the first it is a persuasive and thrilling irritant.

Sun Fangs and Wide Eyes is a sonic seduction from its very first breath, the cleaner yet still roughly glazed vocals given a clear run at the ear as the bass and beats pick their punches and spots around them. A storm soon consumes the ambience of the song though to envelope the listener in another infectious quarrel of noise and fuzz coated energy. Like all the tracks it brings dissidence to its encounter which impacts and excites whilst continually scarring and exploiting  already smarting wounds each delivers with insidious craft to leave one breathless and hungry.

Final track Pyramid Shaped Hole has improv looseness to its tempestuous stomp of snarling riffs, tempting rhythms, and jazzy wantonness. Like throughout the release, the sound is a thick and imaginative wash with the carnally driven side of the bass especially irresistible and intimidatingly entrancing, but on the closer everything finds extra mischief and riveting imagination to ignite the same in the listener.

Cattle is a band you know will only get better and better which on the evidence of their outstanding EP is a truly exciting thought. Noise has never come in a finer blistering sonic frenzy and is waiting for attention as a name your price download @ http://cattle.bandcamp.com/

www.facebook.com/CATTLEBAND

9/10

RingMaster 01/03/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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