The Hector Collectors – Remember the Hector Collectors? ..You Won’t Believe What They Sound Like Now!!!!!

There are some bands which truly are one of a kind and The Hector Collectors surely fit the bill and have so since the day they made their first inimitable steps back in the year 2000. Almost tinkering with a revival after their demise/hiatus around 2004, the Glasgow hailing mischiefs are back in full swing with new album, Remember the Hector Collectors? ..You Won’t Believe What They Sound Like Now!!!!!, an encounter which teases, flirts, and keenly pleasures ears in the band’s unique way.

Something akin to a blend of Television Personalities, The Freshies, and Half Man Half Biscuit, the quartet of vocalist A.J.Smith, guitarist I.D.Smith, bassist Joseph Greatorex, and drummer Gavin Dunbar have honed in on their poppiest instincts yet within Remember the Hector Collectors? though that creative dissonance which sets them apart still drives their lo fi revelry.

The album opens up with Drowning in Dorito Chips, rhythms immediately calling on attention before the track’s infectious stroll works on feet and imagination. Flirtatious keys add to the potent lure still led by those manipulative beats and the call of group vocals alongside A.J.’s magnetic lead. With a sniff of Josef K to its untamed pop, the song quickly and deviously got under the skin, establishing itself as surely the next single teaser for the album.

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a 25 Minute Response Video to DESTROY your Argument follows with its own shade of the jangling goodness fuelling its predecessor; the song just as anthemic in its slightly more restrained but no less rascal of an incitement before Content Farm pokes at the appetite with its spikier pop punk antics with a mischievous wink at familiarity. There is a hint of bands like The Sums to the song and also within its successor, Bullies, another inherent indie pop soaked stroll which is pure pleasure courting nostalgia and modern DIY enterprise from within which a Top Buzzer whiff escapes. Featuring as a handful of tracks the featured keys of Dave Gillies, he one of a number of guests across the release including guitarist Cal Wiseman Murray, keyboardists Chris Elkin and Billy Samson, and backing vocalist Martin Smith,  the song like so many needs little help to captivate ears and a never too far from the surface smile.

The brief folkish medieval devilment of White Knight to F5 needed mere seconds to hook feet and lust, a success immediately repeated by next up Just Lovely, another incomplex pop jangle stocked with inescapable hooks and lo-fi misdemeanours recalling essences of bands such as Swell Maps and Fatal Microbes.

Across the pop ‘n’ roll of The Ad Hominem and the pop fray of Overton Window, band and album just accentuate their rich enticements, the first of the pair especially persuasive while Cognitive Dissonance eclipses both with its punk coated misbehaviour again hinting at the seventies and the antics of bands like O‘Level and Teenage Filmstars.

Edgelords provides a satisfying sing-along moment next, one proving very hard to resist within its melodic web with Abandoned Website following up its incitement with its own individual indie rural tinted jangle so easy to get involved with.

The album is completed by the outstanding Leeson Windfarm, a Scars hued encounter with espionage lined rhythms and intrigue loaded guitar. Vocally and lyrically, the song reflects on local and social observations, a regular spark to the band’s smart, playful words and those wicked song titles backed by similarly impish sounds.

As suggested at the start, The Hector Collectors is like few others, if any to be truthful, and as they re-energise their presence with new adventure in their sound that is not going to change any time soon, Remember the Hector Collectors? ..You Won’t Believe What They Sound Like Now!!!!! and its thickly enjoyable fun proof of that.

Remember the Hector Collectors? ..You Won’t Believe What They Sound Like Now!!!!! is out now; available digitally and on Ltd Ed vinyl @ https://thehectorcollectors.bandcamp.com/album/remember-the-hector-collectors-you-wont-believe-what-they-sound-like-now

https://www.facebook.com/thehectorcollectors/

Pete RingMaster 06/11/2018

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

The Tuesday Club – Art Is Magic

Trials and turbulences are no strangers to most bands but few as acute as that which impacted on British outfit The Tuesday Club and almost brought it to an end. Now though they are poised to release “unlikely album 3” in the shape of Art Is Magic, a slab of multi-flavoured rock ‘n’ roll which certainly gets under the skin in no time but an itch which just gets more delicious and addictive by the listen. It is their finest moment built across ten bold devilish tracks embracing old and new sounds with a unique imagination and their inimitable touch.

Formed in 2011 in Walmington-on-Sea, the renowned setting for British legendary comedy Dad’s Army, The Tuesday Club was an eight piece extravaganza of sound and creative revelry embracing the sights and mischief of their home town’s TV heritage. Their sound blossomed with the punk nurtured DIY attitude and inspiring sounds of the late seventies yet from day one cast its own aural image as proven by debut album See You Next Tuesday in 2013. It was a proposition though which was evolving from that first release and in open exploration by the band’s second album which was released as a quadrilogy of four EPs.

Devastation hit after the release of the first EP when drummer Terry Super Cockell tragically died. Though the band completed the album’s unveiling it was obviously without zeal; as they say the following EPs released in a ‘daze’, with the band falling to its knees and closing in on demise as members subsequently left. It was a challenging, life questioning and changing time which was not so obvious to the outside world at the time such the quality of those releases but maybe now best understood by checking out Reverse Family’s current project 365 days of songwriting, the band the solo project of TTC’s founding member Andreas Vanderbraindrain though he goes by Dermot Illogical for it. It is a still on-going colossal collection of tracks written across those times released as an EP a week for a year, many of its songs spawned from the darkness he personally fell into through those times.

TTC did survive though, its remaining members regrouping and finding a new breath and energy, stripping away “much of the old ‘glamour’ replacing it with a new urgency and directness.” Alongside vocalist Vanderbraindrain, the band now consists of guitarist Dave Worm, bassist/keyboardist Rogerio Marauder, and drummer Blairdrick Sharpely. As they suggested, the quartet has stripped back the TTC sound and brought forward its raw breath and instinctive imagination whilst broadening yet honing its creative flavourings and adventure.

Art is Magic opens with its title track, slipping in on a rhythmic coaxing until a lash of sound sparks a post punk lined stroll led by Vanderbraindrain’s distinctive tones. The song prowls the senses, keys simultaneously providing a melancholic yet mystique lined caress; it all uniting in an infectious swing and call to join its arcane devilry. Captivation was swift and only escalated as the track tempted and teased with its seventies lent enterprise.

It is a thickly potent start to the album keenly backed by the poppier rock exploits of Always taking things too far. It bounces around like a mix of Athletico Spizz 80 and Mammal Hum, a fusion of new wave and art rock which poked the appetite initially, whetted its lips further before thereon in fully teasing eager greed by the listen. It is a trait of the album as a whole, making an attention grabbing first impression but spawning lustier reactions by the play though some songs like Soulless City Syndrome had us instantly drooling. Its opening noir tinted intimation simply nurtured intrigue, the following electronic and tenacious punk ‘n’ roll of the song sparking the passions as it cantered lustfully through ears. The best track on Art is Magic, it twists and lures like an Adicts meets Zanti Misfits inspired dervish wearing a cape woven with threads of The Monochrome Set for one unique and gorgeous encounter.

It is a hard task to follow such a pinnacle yet Fruit Salad Girl with its spiky pop rock makes relatively light work of it, the infection loaded romp a nagging rock ‘n’ roll roar which had the body bouncing and vocal chords blaring in no time before Drowning My Sorrows allowed a breath to be taken with its folk pop saunter. Not that it is a dormant on the catchiness, its easy going but boisterous swing leading feet and hips away like a collusion of The Farmer Boys and Swell Maps.

Put your Faith in what you can control similarly has a laid back but tenaciously catchy gait and demeanour, again the band’s lo-fi instincts breeding a richly appetising temptation as rhythmically persuasive as it is melodically and lyrically sharp. Thus eager involvement was swift and as forcibly recruited by the bolder rousing punk ‘n’ roll of We are the Team, a song which is the band announcing they are undefeated and returning with new vigour and invention whilst creating a personal declaration for all to embrace.

It would be a shock not to have the scent of early Adam and The Ants somewhere within a TTC encounter, Let the kids run the country the irresistible moment within Art Is Magic as the band source their own earlier traits and another influences’ for a greed brewing slice of aural virulence before the darker tone and shadows of Rock and Roll’s not a science infests ears and psyche like a viral infection you cannot shake off, or in this case want to. The song reminded of short lived Welsh punks The Table at times but again TTC spin a web of sound and addiction all their own.

The album concludes with Who and youz army, a rhythmically tenacious and infectiously barbed slice of punk rock which would have aroused air punching crowds back in the day just as now. Its hooks are familiar yet inescapable and its character old school with the irritability of today; ingredients ensuring Art Is Magic goes out on a major high.

Listening to their album just hits home what we would be missing without The Tuesday Club and how lucky newcomers will be now discovering them through such a glorious romp.

Art Is Magic is released May 6^th with its launch party the same night @ The Lower Red Lion in St. Albans pre-ordering available now @ https://theperfectpopco-op.bandcamp.com/album/art-is-magic

http://thisisthetuesdayclub.co.uk/    https://www.facebook.com/thisisthetuesdayclub/   https://twitter.com/thetuesdayclub1    https://twitter.com/Vnderbraindrain

Pete RingMaster 30/03/2018

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Easter Teeth – Truckstop Fear

Within numerous instinctively magnetic musical lures for us is the temptation of rock ‘n’ roll duos. The past few years has unearthed a host of exciting and stirring propositions across an array of styles and adding to that seemingly ever expanding list is California’s Easter Teeth. Comprising of the Eymann brothers, Josh on vocals/drums and Tim on vocals/bass/keys, the band creates a predacious mix of punk infused post punk and noise rock and as proven by latest album Truckstop Fear, a blend which is quite irresistible.

Growing up listening to their mother’s array of cassette tapes including James Brown, Sam & Dave, and The Rascals while riding in back of the family station wagon, the siblings bring those spices with their subsequent discovery and love of punk, hardcore, and math rock into their own sound. It is as funky as it is irritable, as soulful as it is agitated and with its slim but rich body of rhythmic trespass and vocal energy a real fresh DIY breath in the world of noise.

Truckstop Fear is the successor to 2013 debut album Being Alone With Your Thoughts is for Inmates, the two full-lengths surrounding a split 7” EP with Moral Monsters in 2015 and two track single Shake Hands with Danger released early 2017. Within mere seconds the latest album grips ears and attention as opener Honey from the Carcass whips ears with Josh’s crispy beats, the bass a waiting hum as shouts and hits break into a hectic shuffle. Swiftly hips swing to the track’s funkiness, the senses cowering before its raw edge and scything beats; it all a corrosive temptation coloured by the electrified fuzz of keys. As the music, the vocal union of the siblings is bold and instinctive, a direct incitement hard to turn down.

The following Baby’s Got Cold Feet casts a minefield of shuddering beats as a groove woven bassline strolls with grumbling dexterity within the melodic flourish of keys. Like a scowling tango built on the attributes of Pigbag and Swell Maps, the song hits the spot with increasing addictiveness though it is soon eclipsed by the caustic Art Attacks meets mclusky tango of Play the Harp, Throw the Spear. It is a rabid trespass but with a restraint which only escalates its impact before the album’s title track raises the ante yet again. It too has the scent of numerous decades of rock ‘n’ roll in its uncompromising proposal shaped by the imposing skeletal steel frame set by Josh. Hooks and catchy enterprise erupt across its barbarous stroll, a blend of contrasts just as potent within the pair’s infectious vocal insurgency.

As the previous songs, each in turn built upon and outshone by the next, Good Intentions Paving Co. soon steals the limelight, its kinetic saunter an irresistible collusion between bass and drums enhanced by the ever rousing union of voice and Tim’s squirts of mania lined keys. The track is noise at its most majestic, and demonic, a virulent tirade of manipulative rock ‘n’ roll with a chorus only the deaf could resist joining.

Sit Down Party has its own breed of addictiveness, a fevered but again skilfully controlled incursion of sound and enterprise bearing hues of bands such as Pere Ubu, The Mae Shi, and Big Black in its design. What grabs ears though is something unique to Easter Teeth, an individual character of sound confirmed once again within the rhythmically viral, sonically lusty Inspiration Indiana and the senses stalking Just Curves, a track with something of The Mekons to it.

The album ends with Pick a Puppy, a piece of poppy noise punk with volatility in its heart and virulent dance. It is a superb end to a release which sparked a lustful appetite and hunger here for the band’s sound. At times the best rock ‘n’ roll comes raw, undiluted, and with a tart almost acrimonious flavouring; the evidence there within the wonderful wickedness that is Truck Stop Fear.

Truck Stop Fear is available on ZAP! Records @ https://easterteeth.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/easterteeth

Pete RingMaster 09/01/2018

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Day by day with Reverse Family

We all have different outlets for extreme emotions be they bred in grief, frustration, anxiety or romance for example. For many an artistic avenue is the release from such overwhelming trespasses and so it is with Reverse Family who are about to unleash a daunting but we can already assure you irresistible adventure for ears.

The Reverse Family is the solo project of Dermot Illogical, someone probably better known right now as Andreas Vanderbraindrain, the frontman of British outfit The Tuesday Club. Towards the end of last year, he released acclaimed debut album My Songs About Life Mid Crisis, a collection of multi-flavoured lo-fi experimental goodness which continues to hang around in the imagination and passions like an inescapable itch. It was an introduction which commanded attention and breeds real anticipation for the next epic outing with Reverse Family.

Starting in October, Dermot is releasing 365, a project made up of 52 EPs released as one a week for a whole year. Before panicking, shouting impossible, or mistakenly thinking anything that massive has to be more filler than thriller let us declare that with the evidence of the sampler sent by the man our way in our hands, it is going to be an escapade taking ears and imagination on a helter-skelter of honest and emotionally raw but instinctively fun exploration; a journey given greater intimate potency by Dermot’s diary entry of that particular day by the way of ‘sleeve notes’.

The tracks making up the project were all recorded DIY style at home between Jan 1^st 2015 and Dec 31^st 2015 with Dermot playing every instrument and sharing every syllable. Everything heard is as played and recorded; no editing or tampering made with every song bred in heart and spontaneity. It is an organic air and array of textures which grips the imagination as much as the sounds themselves; a fly-on-the-wall like climate baring the same open heart as that of their creator.

The catalyst to the project was the death of Terry, the drummer of The Tuesday Club. His sad passing came just as the band was deservedly stirring bigger and bolder praise carrying spotlights, a time topped by the band supporting Toyah at The 02 Islington and releasing their most successful and critically acclaimed EP to date. It was a world crushing time for the band and especially for Dermot who was also coming to terms with divorce, life dictating and changing illnesses for both parents as well as the constant struggle of being self-employed. It was a time many would have buckled under but Dermot focused all the suffocating turbulence into his music and turned it into a creative quest, one which at times you feel probably completely took over his world but gave him a survival and now the listener a spark for pleasure and thoughtful contemplation.

As the tracks we have reveal there is no ‘woe is me’ self-pity fuelling the adventure. Yes, it scratches his open wounds at times and is not always sharing smiles but every moment is an open insight and reflection on his feelings across the evolving year of those challenges and the life around Dermot in St. Albans with plenty of knowing black humour involved along the way.

The first track swiftly grabbing years was Future son – The Twa Twa’s, day 8 of the creative pilgrimage. Instantly it reminds of My Songs About Life Mid Crisis with its post punk twang and Dirk Wears White Sox era Adam and The Ants like character. A gorgeous hook lurks within the angular clamour, Dermot’s vocal delivery a swinging flirtation matching the similar allure of bass. The structurally organic design of the track alone is a web of lust clasping shenanigans, the song in its whole a psyche infesting treat.

Some tracks have an even rawer sound and temptation than others, This house is empty (day 10) one which borders abrasive in sound but within its causticity is an instinctive funkiness which has the body bouncing and appetite eagerly exploring words and emotion. There is a sense of despair and also hope carrying new beginnings felt with the track, a conflict most of us are no strangers too at some point and can grab with nodding recognition.

The clutch of songs within the sampler show the great array of styles embraced by the Reverse Family sound, the outstanding I stand alone (day 13) a post punk natured infestation managing to sound like a mix of Fire Engines, Swell Maps and unsurprisingly The Tuesday Club with Dermot’s distinctive tones yet is unique in every pore while MP3 (day 310) is a junction box of sonic wires casting a Devo meets Pere Ubu scented discord over the imagination.

The darker, grungier Faded colours (day 336) offers melancholy at its most magnetic, In my head (day 337) sharing a sonically and emotionally haunting incursion on the senses as pained as it is corrosively elegant, and both songs continue the broadening maze of flavours and emotional tempestuousness within the sampler alone. Like many tracks, each is also a relatively brief encounter; fleeting moments in an unsettled and often unsettling day though Bad cartoon (day 343) stays a little longer with its melodically jangling and evocatively persuasive as Bowie-esque toning draws the listener with seductive ease into its own personal melancholy.

The punk ‘n’ roll of Do it just for me (day 344) hits the spot just as easily, its tenacious canter a gentle cacophony of guitar, rhythms, and voice while I built a new contraption (day 356) shares a broad grin in its post punk/art rock pop. The pair relish in the addictive prowess Dermot constantly finds in his minimalistic but oh so potent grooves and hooks, though he saves maybe the most addictive for Breathy graffiti (day 365), its electronic poking the kind of inescapable nagging lust was bred for.

So that gives a hint of what is in store for us once 365 begins revealing its heart in a few weeks. It would be a little unrealistic to expect every one of the songs within the 52 EPs, each suggested to contain seven tracks, will hit the lofty heights of those on the sampler but do expect each to be the most honest and spontaneously shared temptations sure to intrigue and captivate like nothing else around today.

We for one just cannot wait!

The first of the 365 EPs will be released digitally from 2nd October 2015 through Perfect Pop Co-Op / Nub Country with one a week through to the first week of October 2018. For more information keep an eye on http://reversefamily.co.uk and https://www.facebook.com/reversefamily/ or through https://twitter.com/PerfectPopCoOp and the Perfect Pop Co-Op magazine.

Pete RingMaster 26/08/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Idles – Brutalism

Photo by Stephanie Elizabeth Third

An infestation of the senses, a raw roar on all our responsibilities, and a contagious noise fuelled trespass on everything in between, Brutalism is one of the essential incitements of not only 2017 but we would suggest the decade as a whole. The debut album from British quintet Idles rips into personal and social issues with the insatiable attitude and defiance unleashed in the late seventies, its irritable sound as much punk rock rage as it is a post punk/noise rock  enslaving of the imagination and psyche.

Each song from the Bristol five-piece of Joe Talbot, Mark Bowen, Lee Kiernan, Adam Devonshire, and Jon Beavis is a creative growl, a visceral antagonism with an infectious edge and mischief just as bruising and incisive. Dedicated in part to the loss of Talbot’s mother, who adorns the record’s cover, Brutalism is stretched with such invasive treats, from start to finish a mordant adventure, challenge, and accusation as witty as it is vicious, as devilish as it is ferocious. With Idles in the early days of an UK tour, their first album is sure to see it’s already eagerly devoured and anticipated 25 dates embraced by even greater fevered support.

Straight away band and album show uniqueness within a proposition which also swiftly inspires thoughts of bands such as The Fall, Swell Maps, and early The Horrors. There is so much more to it though as that originality shows, opener Heel_Heal cantankerously striding from an initial dispute with an intrusively nagging riff and rhythmic tenacity which alone lures keen attention as Talbot’s equally confrontational vocals snarl. Punk rock infested with crabbily textured noise, the track rumbles and grumbles; band vocals as anthemically rousing and spiteful as the general character of the outstanding starter.

Fellow Bristolians, The St Pierre Snake Invasion also come to mind with the song and successor Well Done, the second a sonically twisted and lyrically spiky shuffle making use of body and imagination like a peeved puppeteer. Its persistent jabs tenderise the senses for the scourges of sound which erupt to further scorch, Idles pressing all the right buttons for lusty reactions before uncaging the equally enslaving Mother. An irresistible bassline cores the next track, its dark tempting soon surrounded by swinging beats and scuzzy riffs, all uniting with Artery meets Gang Of Four scented tempestuousness. Again no punches in sound and word are pulled, one of numerous traits within the Idles sound which leaves there little to be taken lightly but plenty to find a seriously keen appetite for.

Date Night reveals a tango loaded with a rhythmic incitement which barely stays in the same place more than a second or two, its beats on hot coals but with a composure which aligns perfectly with the monotone growl of the bass. As guitars saunter and blaze, Talbot magnetically assaults with word and character, the volatile squall of the track then emulated in its own way by Faith In the City and its post punk ‘n’ roll causticity. A rousing irritant exposing essences hinting at bands such as again Artery and The Nightingales, submission to its lively acerbic inducement is quick and just as rapid as next up 1049 Gotho waltzes with irritated intent and pounding beats into ears and psyche. For all it and the other song’s choleric probing and inventive dexterity, sonic squeals a delight, there is a melodic lining which as subtle as it might be at times just inflames the catchiness and adventure of all escapades.

Wiry tendrils have ears encroached and alive as Divide & Conquer rises with its own particular grumble of sound, the guitars creating a web of raw enticement as bass and beats prowl with a testy air, Talbot stalking it all with his increasingly compelling tones. The increase in energy and ferociousness only adds to the captivation before Rachel Khoo and Stendahl Syndrome irascibly serenade and fractiously critiques respectively; both unloading their sonic and lyrical venom with snappy and quarrelsome devilry.

Next up Exeter has a slightly lazier gait but still imposes its punk ‘n’ roll canter with addiction forging rhythmic cunning as guitars and vocals get under the skin with their respective exploits like a Fatima Mansions/ Big Black collusion exploring creatively fresh impositions. Both tracks leave an already greedy appetite hungry for more, a lust more than fed by the kinetic stomp and sonic psychosis of Benzocaine and equally by the punk grumble and waspish word prowess of White Privilege.

Idles leave their arguably greatest moment for its final track, though each listen only elevates another moment to drool over. Slow Savage is a haunting dyspeptically lined embrace living up to its title as keys and voice fill the low-key and stark atmospheric mist hugging the imagination as a heartbeat of rhythm throbs. It is a dark, melancholic rapture violating as much as seducing the senses and a thrilling end to one exceptional release.

Being truly excited by something new or unique is a treat rarely found these days, Idles though have cracked that desire in fine style with Brutalism.

Brutalism is out now on Balley Records through iTunes and other stores.

Upcoming Dates on the Brutalism Tour…

March 2017

Thursday 16th – Brighton – The Prince Albert

Friday 17th – Tunbridge Wells – Forum

Saturday 18th – Bedford – Esquires

Monday 20th – Oxford – The Bullingdon

Tuesday 21st – Sheffield – The Plug

Wednesday 22nd – Newcastle Upon Tyne – Think Tank

Thursday 23rd – Aberdeen – Tunnels

Friday 24th – Dundee – Buskers

Saturday 25th – Edinburgh – Sneaky Pete’s

Monday 27th – York – The Crescent

Tuesday 28th – Hull – The Adelphi

Wednesday 29th – Nottingham – The Bodega

Thursday 30th – Liverpool – O2 Academy 2

Friday 31st – Wakefield – Unity Hall

April 2017

Monday 3rd – Stoke-On-Trent – The Sugarmill

Tuesday 4th – Preston – Guildhall

Wednesday 5th – Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach

http://www.idlesband.com/   https://www.facebook.com/idlesband    https://twitter.com/idlesband

Pete RingMaster 14/03/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Bait – Self Titled

If there is a sound which lives up to its creator’s name more than that of UK post punk project Bait, we have yet to have the pleasure. As in irresistible evidence in a self-titled debut album, it is a snare for ears and imagination; a lure body and instincts alike cannot ignore and as primal and creatively visceral as it is intricately woven.

There is very little we can tell you about Bait, next to nothing to be honest except that it is the solo project of a musician/visual artist which made a seriously impressive introduction to attention within the Alternative Occupations EP released by the Southend based and the outstanding Asylum’s label Cool Thing Records which now lets the band’s first full-length off the leash. Sound wise, Bait conjure a proposition which cannot escape inspiring eager references to Killing Joke in their early days and also of bands like Red Beat, the Malicious Damage label mates of Jaz Coleman and co at the time. Just as quickly though, the band’s own unique character and imagination is infesting album and psyche in what is simply one of the most exciting things heard here in a long time.

Must Meditate opens up the album, its initial coaxing of increasingly excited electronic pulses and vocal endeavour united under musty sonic atmospherics. It is an intriguing introduction boiling up with every second into a tempestuous challenge of metal, industrial, and post punk espionage. Attitude fuels the potent mix, vocal prowess adding to the agitated nature of the song whilst synths and rhythms swiftly bring Killing Joke’s debut EP, Turn to Red to mind.

It is an outstanding start quickly backed up and shadowed by new single Push The Elephant. It is a predacious proposition, stalking the listener even with its boisterous gait while drawing their physical and vocal involvement with an infection spreading alchemy of sound and invention. Wiry hook lined melodies and a brooding bassline only add to the virulence hungrily at play, a united wall of temptation stirring a lustful appetite and participation in no time.

Hate One Another, Love Your Selfie brings a dark funk infused proposal next, its minimalistic yet broadly contagious enterprise woven with the nagging potency of Pop Will Eat Itself. Like a seductress, the track weaves its body calmly around tears, deviously underlying wantonness adding to its lure before Waspy consumes the listener with its punk spawn dance. Beats swat the senses with belligerent keenness whilst guitars caustically bubble on their surface with the melodic tempering offered by keys only seeming to add to the cantankerous air of the track.

The track which provided Bait’s offering on the aforementioned EP is next, I’m Still Here a glorious prowl of hypnotic rhythmic trespass and vocal captivation within a swarming tide of riffs and bass predation. Like a sinister blood lusting yet mischievously devilish mix of Shock-Headed Peters and Brian Brain, the song is pure addiction sure to repeat in many ears and nightmares at its own whim.

Humour is as potent an asset of the album and sound as its invention, Greatest Of The Teeth and the inspirational attributes of Janet Street Porter breeding another attitude driven confrontation to get greedy over. Again thoughts find seventies flavouring to refer to, Rema Rema and to a lesser extent Swell Maps sparked in thought by the compelling incitement but as usual all hues in a tapestry of sound and imagination distinct to and acting as irresistible Bait.

The album concludes with the pair of MZ 4416 and As Far As the Rope Goes. The first is a hungry muscular rock ‘n’ roll assault loaded with more piercing hooks than an abattoir and just as meaty whilst its successor haunts ears and thoughts with angular grooves and deceptively toxic melodies amongst respectful rhythms as vocals snarl with defiance. Both provide a ridiculously enjoyable and striking album with the close it deserves, each adding to the net of lingering temptation quickly drawing back lustful attention.

Bait is a thrilling proposal, band and release as suggested something which gets the juices flowing and you get the feeling they have only scratched the creative surface. Happy Days!!

The Bait album is released March 17^th through Cool Thing Records @ https://bait.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=31492 with the single Push The Elephant out now.

https://twitter.com/hate_bait

Pete RingMaster 28/02/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Playboy Manbaby – You Can Be A Fascist Too b/w I’d Like To Meet Your Parents

How to describe Playboy Manbaby? Hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, they are a six piece punk band where imagining the Banana Splits meets Swell Maps in cahoots with The Tuesday Club and Zebrahead feels the closest in portraying the band’s deliciously creative rioting. They are mayhem in the speakers, irreverence in the imagination and quite simply and as shown by their new single, irresistible.

Described as “the contradictory soundtrack to the contemporary life experience”, Playboy Manbaby is made up by the combined creative mania of Robbie Pfeffer (vocals), Chris Hudson (bass), TJ Friga (guitar), David Cosme (trumpet), Chad Dennis (drums), and Austin Rickert (sax). The past five years has seen the band steal the hearts and support of their local music scene and tear up stages alongside the likes of Mike Watt & The Missing Men, King Khan & BBQ Show, King Khan & The Shrines, Rocket From The Crypt, Thee Oh Sees, Cosmonauts, The Spits, Black Flag, The Descendents, The Replacements, The Slackers, Teenage Bottlerocket and many more. Grabbing major attention on broader landscapes has yet to find Playboy Manbaby, we ourselves only being introduced to them through latest proposal You Can Be A Fascist Too b/w I’d Like To Meet Your Parents, but thanks to the ever impressive discovery of talent by Dirty Water Records, things could be about to explode for the band.

With new album Don’t Let It Be in the works, Playboy Manbaby tease the appetite with You Can Be A Fascist Too, the first single from the impending release. Originally scheduled for a February unveiling, it was brought forward to coincide with the US presidential inauguration. From the off it assaults and lures with a belligerent guitar jangle quickly followed by the raw incitement of Pfeffer’s vocals. Second by second new invasive hooks and salacious grooves fling themselves into the punk mayhem, band shouts and off kilter harmonies wagging a beckoning finger as effectively as the caustic riffs and tenacious rhythms.

The track is a treat and mischievous brawl easy to devour as too is its companion I’d Like To Meet Your Parents. In fact it just about steals the show with its less intrusive but just as virulent dexterity in sound and flirtation. Leading up to a chorus which needs mere seconds to recruit and chain listener participation, the song strolls with minimalistic yet alluring melodies and enticing hooks as vocals make a plaintive proposal with a similarly swinging canter. It is glorious stuff with a foot in seventies punk as the band’s unique modern day mania bellows.

Dirty Water Records have a growing reputation for the eclectic range of their releases, the Playboy Manbaby adding yet another thrilling facet and while becoming one of the label’s best singles yet.

You Can Be A Fascist Too b/w I’d Like To Meet Your Parents is out now on Dirty Water Records and through http://playboymanbaby.com/shop/ and https://playboymanbaby.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ButterGravyButter   https://twitter.com/playboymanbaby

Pete RingMaster 01/02/2017

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